The Spirit of Redemption - for Sunday 29th August 2021

In name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is the last in our series looking at how the Holy Spirit acts in the Old and New Testaments.

Over the weeks we have explored how the Holy Spirit is at work in the Creation of the world, how it is an agent for Prophecy, Justice, Truth and Inspiration, how it is our advocate and comforter, how it aids in pointing us towards Jesus the Messiah and how it can help us as we seek holiness and become closer to God.

The final area we’re exploring is the way the Holy Spirit works to help transform, redeem and save us all.

The Holy or Divine Spirit is one with God and the Son in the Trinity, all these aspects of the spirit cannot be separated, prophecy, truth and justice are all interconnected, as is the redeeming power of the Spirit with Jesus.

The word redeem is worth explaining, because it can have a few meanings, for example when you take a coupon to the shop for 20p off fairy liquid – other washing up liquids are available, this is a redemption, a redeeming of one thing of value, for another.

Now, I wouldn’t try to explain Jesus on the cross as being like trading in a token for a can of beans, or perhaps it is, but on a much greater, more cosmic scale, it was part of the transaction of redeeming, or saving us, from sin.

One of the understandings we have of Jesus, is that through our faith in him, He took all our sins from the whole of time to his death on the cross, redeeming his life for ours, so that we may be saved and receive eternal life.

This was a change to the understanding of sacrificial salvation in the Old Testament, in the letter to the Hebrews, it’s written, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

This was a break away from ritual sacrifice, once for all, and this is all captured in one of the most important verses in the Bible, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  

Interesting to note that here John writes simply, God gave his son. That is all. Not that God was punishing Jesus, or that he struck him down, or committed infanticide, or was wrathful or was satisfied. Only that he gave his Son, in fact, gave himself.

Gave himself with sadness, pity and despair, to the authorities, Roman, Jewish, all of them, into a trial by a biased, misled crowd. Knowing he would likely die unfairly, but that the result of a God being killed by humanity was the reset button the universe had needed for so long, to refresh and restore our relationship with our father in heaven.

As we know, Jesus’ story did not end on the cross, but in rebirth, transformation and resurrection. And this process of restoration is still going on, every time we come to church, receive communion, are blessed or are baptised.

This transformation is one which has continued through the ages, eternity in fact, for God is eternal.

In the passage from Isaiah, we hear that the spirit of God will pour onto a wasteland, restoring creation and bringing peace. Restoring, redeeming and re-creating a home of blessing and quietness.

This is a reminder that the Holy Spirit is not passive, it acts, moves, and directs. When we are blessed in the name of the Holy Spirit, it is a movement of spiritual favour and protection, which although unseen, is active, effectively a physical action.

To be blessed is not a small matter, neither is a sacrament like baptism or communion, and neither is that restoring spirit which brings Jesus back.

Time and again, the Holy Spirit is the agent for change, as when Jesus’ spirit left him when he died, then the spirit was restored in tongues of fire and flame at Pentecost.

Today, the Holy Spirit is as active in the world as it ever was, the challenge is being open to its presence with us.

In ch.4 of Pauls letter to the Ephesians, after listing a series of Christian virtues and vices, he writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal, for the day of redemption.”

The mark, or seal, is baptism, in the name of the Holy Spirit. And the virtues and vices are a reminder that Christianity is also intensely ethical, there are rights and wrongs, where the goal is ultimately, to move towards greater holiness, and change us all into the likeness of God.

And when we fall short, in our vices, we learn that the Holy Spirit grieves, which would be natural, as we are immeasurably loved by God.

And yet, I’d also argue, that we will always fall short because we are human.

In which case, how will any of us receive redemption, or be saved?

Well, this is absolutely possible, again, in John 3:16, Jesus said, “so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”

So, we must have hope in having eternal life, in being saved, for that is the desire of God,

And let’s remember that our theme is the spirit of redemption.

And while I believe that this is possible, almost certain in fact, it does not mean we must not strive towards fully adopting the Spirit’s gifts in in ch.12 of Pauls 1^st letter to the Corinthians, or their fruits, in ch.5 of Pauls letter to the Galatians.

As ever we must try to avoid reading chapters and verses in isolation, because at the end of chapter 12 in Pauls 1^st letter to the Corinthians, about spiritual gifts, he continues his thoughts with his moving passage about love in chapter 13, and to Paul, Love is the greatest gift of all, and he concludes by saying, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

Love, that old chestnut, for me, it always comes back to love,

There is one more point I’d like to suggest.

If we think of God as perfect and infinite love, would such love ever give up on us?

And, being infinite, God is not limited by time. There is no limit on when we will be saved.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ does not lose sight of us as we lock ourselves away in ourselves, and He does not let go of us, ever.

Some thoughts to consider, in the 3^rd century, Gregory of Nyssa, a Bishop, wrote that he believed that after death, evil would be burned away, enabling us all to be saved.

Julian of Norwich, a 15^th Century mystic, believed that sin was simply blindness and confusion; and that God’s love was the endless, wrath-free gentle love of God who never gives up on us – a God of pity, not blame; her conviction was that out of evil God can bring good; her belief that, in the end, God will do ‘some great deed’; and then that ‘All shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.’¹⁴

And this last phrase may sound a little bit light, but if all shall be well, then in that, let us have hope, for all is everyone, everywhere, ever, so that through the Holy Spirit, we will all be restored on the last day, our sins gone, and all shall be well.

Much has been written about how we are saved through faith. Some disagree, and some may be wrong, including me, but I do hold onto being loved by a God of Love, who through all that Jesus did, through grace and the Holy Spirit, God works, and will continue to work to save us, and restore us to him and one day, we will be with him in paradise.

Amen

Preached at St George's Church, Upper Cam. August 29th 2021.

Readings

Isaiah 32: 14-20

The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, ¹⁵till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. ¹⁶The LORD's justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. ¹⁷The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. ¹⁸My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. ¹⁹Though hail flattens the forest and the city is levelled completely, ²⁰how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys’ range free.

Hebrews 9:13-14

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

John 3: 1-16 

¹Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ ³Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ ⁴Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’  

⁵Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” ⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ ⁹Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ ¹⁰Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?  

¹¹ ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  

¹⁶‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.