Another Helper

John 14:15-19,21

On Pentecost, we may find ourselves in a kind of creative tension. On one hand, we believe that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a historical event that happened only once. On the other hand, there is a repetitive aspect that we often miss in our contemplation. I am not suggesting that we should have a concept of a first, second, or third Pentecost. That concept, of course, is not theologically correct. However, if we only emphasize the once-ness of Pentecost in terms of its historicity, something will be missing in our spirituality. Just as in Holy Communion, if we only remember, in the sense of merely recalling the past event, that Jesus died on the cross once in history, then I think we misunderstand Reformed theology.

In the Bible, remembrance is not merely a mental act of recalling the past. That is too shallow. When we partake in Holy Communion, there is a salvific dimension in which God reenacts and manifests His saving work again. In Holy Communion, we are said to be fed by Christ. We eat His body and drink His blood, symbolized in the bread and the wine. The Westminster Confession states that this is true eating and true drinking, in a spiritual manner. Jesus said, “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” Here we see the creative tension. On one hand, Christ’s death is a one-time historical event. It is heresy to teach that Christ dies again and again. On the other hand, there is a repetitive aspect in Holy Communion. We are fed again and again by Christ. We are fed His flesh and His blood. And this does not contradict the fact that the death of Christ happened only once.

Similarly, in Pentecost, we might also think that since the Holy Spirit has already been poured out once, that’s all there is to it. He is already in our hearts, so we no longer need to pray for the Holy Spirit. I think there is something missing here. Yes, it is true that the Holy Spirit was poured out once. It is true that the Holy Spirit has been given to the Church. It is also true that the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts and He does not come and go. But isn’t it also true that, realistically speaking, we are not always filled with the Holy Spirit? We can quench His work, and we can grieve Him. That is why we must continually ask for the Holy Spirit, for His fullness in us.

A Christian spirituality that speaks only of the ‘already’ but ignores the ’not yet’ is problematic. Likewise, a spirituality that emphasizes only the ’not yet’ without the ‘already’ is also problematic. Though, perhaps the tendency in Protestant churches is to emphasize the ‘already’ but neglect the ’not yet’. The Kingdom of God has already come, yet we still pray, “Thy kingdom come.” There is no contradiction here, only a creative tension. Similarly, the Holy Spirit has already been poured out, but is there also the ’not yet’ aspect in our lives? If we do not recognize this ’not yet’ dimension, we stop growing. If we believe everything is already in its fullness and perfection, then there is nothing more to seek or ask for. But that is not what the Bible teaches. The command to be filled with the Holy Spirit is continuous. Nowhere does the Bible say that, once the Holy Spirit is in our heart, we no longer need to ask for Him. That is a misunderstanding of Reformed theology.

It is quite interesting that when we read about the history of revivals, including those among the Puritans, we find that they still used the term ‘outpouring’ of the Holy Spirit. If we were to meet them today, we might advise them to attend our seminars. Yet these Puritans were Reformed, and I do not believe their theology was unsound. In fact, it may be our theology that is less sound. They understood that it is not enough to hold to a once-for-all concept without any repetitive dimension. Of course, we do not have to use that same term ‘outpouring’ if it bothers us. It is not in our vocabulary or tradition. But the point is this: if we only emphasize the once-for-all without the repetitive aspect, we are left with a static concept that merely looks to the past. We will not grow. When we read the Bible, we are invited again and again to pray for the Holy Spirit to fill the church and to fill us, again and again.

The apostles were told to wait for the Holy Spirit. They already knew that Jesus had risen, and they had even seen Him ascend to heaven with their own eyes. Yet, if we read in Acts, it was not automatic that this knowledge made them bold witnesses of the gospel. We cannot say they only knew cognitively. They truly knew. But even though they truly knew, they still needed the Holy Spirit. I am afraid that in our church, we are also stuck at that level of knowing. We know the gospel is important. We know Jesus rose from the dead. We know the Holy Spirit has been poured out. We know a lot. And I am not talking about shallow cognitive knowledge. This is deep and true knowledge. But knowing without being energized by the Holy Spirit will lead to another kind of Christian life.

In today’s church, when we see Christians who are truly faithful, we call them ‘giants of faith’ or ‘spiritual heroes’, while we call ourselves ’normal’. But maybe it is the other way around. Maybe they are the healthy, normal Christians, while we are the sick ones. We do not want to be perceived that way, so we shift the standard. We label them the extraordinary, and we are the ordinary. Yet we are the sick ones. Therefore, we must continually pray that the Holy Spirit fills and anoints us again and again, energizing our lives so that we can bear witness. The proclamation of Christ must become our lifestyle and not just the job of evangelists like Rev. Tong or Rev. Jimmy. It is the calling of every believer.

We read the phrase ‘another Helper’ in verse 16. ‘Helper’ here comes from the Greek Parakletos. It can be translated as helper, comforter, counselor, advocate, and so on. There are many variations. But in this passage, both the English and Indonesian translations agree on using the word helper. When we read this word, I wonder how we understand it. Sometimes, when we read the Bible, the problem is not with the text itself, but rather on how we project our own connotations onto it. We say, “God is my helper,” but maybe we reduce Him to a mere solver of our worldly problems. So the question is: helper for what problem?

We read in verse 15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The Helper here is the one who helps us to love Christ. That is our greatest problem: we do not love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. We do not love our neighbors as ourselves. That is the problem, and we need the Holy Spirit to obey this commandment.

Perhaps we do not see this as the problem. We look at our lives and think that we are not bad. We do not hurt others, we do not lie or murder, we are decent in doing our job. But Christianity is not moralism. If that is all, we do not need Jesus Christ. The uniqueness of Christianity lies in the Holy Spirit enabling us to love God and to love others. This double commandment of love should be the core of our life’s journey. Hence, our life problems are rooted in the fact that we do not love God with all our heart.

There are too many idols in our lives. It is not that Christ is absent, but He becomes just one among many. Nowadays, one of the trending topics for seminars in churches that will attract a lot of interest is the issue of mental health. I think it is positive that people today are more open about this issue, and we can be thankful for that. But why are so many people struggling with mental health today? There are many perspectives. One may say it is due to a toxic environment. Or it might be because of an abusive family or an overly competitive world. An Evangelical answer might be that because they are not loved enough. But if you ask Reformed Christians what the human problem is, including mental health struggles, the answer is more direct and may sound merciless: because we do not glorify God and enjoy Him enough.

It might sound harsh and blaming, but it is true. The love of Christ is never lacking. The problem is that we fail to grasp the fullness of that love. That is why Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus to understand how wide, long, high, and deep the love of Christ is. He wanted them to realize that if they truly grasped Christ’s love, His love is sufficient.

It is quite interesting that this passage is the first time in the Gospel of John where Jesus speaks about the disciples’ love for Him. Jesus had already shown His love perfectly, but now He invites them to love Him. This is not because Jesus feels unloved or because the Father’s love is lacking. Certainly not, because God is love. God, in all three Persons, is love. Yet when Jesus invites the disciples to love Him, it is for their own good. Sometimes we do not realize that being invited to love God is actually an invitation to be set free from the many idols in our lives. Idols can take many forms, whether money, family, or even church ministry. Anything can become an idol when we fail to connect it with our love for God. It may look like we are serving God, it may look like we are loving our family, it may appear sacrificial or generous, but it might actually be idolatry. When Jesus invites His disciples to love Him, it is truly an invitation to joy, to be liberated from the slavery of idols.

The Holy Spirit is given to us so that we can love God, because without loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we cannot enter into the abundant life that Jesus has provided for us. We may still be Christians, but live in spiritual poverty. Not the kind of poverty spoken of in the Beatitudes, but a kind of poverty that should not be there. A poverty that arises because, despite having access to the greatest treasure, we remain spiritually poor. What is the greatest thing Christians can ask for in prayer? It is to ask for God Himself. To ask for the Holy Spirit. What could be greater than the Holy Spirit? What could be greater than Christ? The Father gave the greatest gift to the church. Do we treasure it as the pearl of great value, compared to which everything else pales in comparison?

How much do we struggle in our prayer for the glory of Christ? How much of our prayer life is actually driven by unnecessary anxieties? No wonder people struggle with mental health these days. Our so-called needs and desires are so exaggerated and complex that we can no longer find sufficiency in Christ. True Christianity is simple: to be loved by God and to love God in return. To be loved by God, whose love is sufficient, and with that strength, to love Him back and to love our neighbors. And for this, we need the Helper.

‘Helper’ sometimes sounds like a low-status title. There is a joke where a wife complains to her husband because he treats her like a domestic helper. The husband responds by saying that in the Bible, the woman is created to be a suitable helper. We might not realize that in the Old Testament, ‘helper’ is actually one of God’s titles. When the woman is given as a suitable helper, it is not a lowly title. It is God’s own title. A theologian, Brueggemann, offered a beautiful interpretation. He described this as a kind of ‘secularization’ of God’s presence. That is, God the Helper, the One who helps human beings, now delegates this role by placing the woman in that position. But we often treat ‘helper’ or ‘servant’ as a degrading term, perhaps because our paradigm is shaped by a ‘boss vs servant’ worldview in which people strive to become the boss. Yet in the Bible, God is described as the Helper. And in this case, He gives commands, and the ones being helped obey. It is a total reversal, and clearly our paradigm needs to be corrected.

God is Helper because we truly need help. Blessed are we if, as we grow spiritually, we become more and more aware that we are helpless and not self-sufficient. That is the mark of spiritual maturity. In contrast, those who are not growing spiritually often feel they do not need help. Even worse, they see themselves always as the helpers for others. They are quick to lecture but unwilling to be taught. They are always ready to pray for others but refuse to be prayed for, as if they are spiritually flawless. They serve but do not want to be served. But a healthy anthropology includes being helped by others. The more we grow, the more we realize our need for help, not only directly from God but also from God through others. We give thanks for this good news: we do not always have to be the one serving. We do not always have to be the one praying for and counseling others. We can and need to be prayed for and counseled as well. This is a beautiful thing.

God is Helper. Jesus Christ is also Helper, which is why He uses the phrase ‘another Helper’. In the Gospel of John, we do not see Jesus explicitly called Parakletos, but we read in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” We have a Parakletos, a helper, an advocate, that is Jesus Christ. Jesus helps us to love God with all our heart. The Holy Spirit is given to energize us so that we can love Christ. The Holy Spirit mediates us to Christ, and Christ mediates us to the Father. Without Christ, we cannot love the Father. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot love Christ. Blessed are those who understand this secret. This is the good news.

For something to be good news, it has to come in the context of bad news. For someone who is already rich, winning a small prize might not feel like good news. We cannot really tell someone who is already healthy that the good news is he is healthy. It is not good news unless it stands in contrast with bad news. So what is the bad news that makes the gospel good news? The bad news is this: we are unable to grasp the depth of God’s love in Christ, and we are unable to love God. That is the real bad news. We are unable to glorify God and unable to enjoy Him. God wants to be enjoyed, but we are unable to enter into that enjoyment. Instead, we seek lesser pleasures elsewhere. That is the bad news.

The Holy Spirit is given to restore us, so that we may once again enjoy God and love Him. But if there is no resonance within us about this, then perhaps we have not yet been born again. Perhaps we are not truly in Christ and have not seen the kingdom of God. What we see is only the kingdom of this world with all its endless problems. We expect God to solve these problems, but there is no desire to love God. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” If we are born again, we will see the kingdom of God as a pearl of great value. All else will be counted as loss and rubbish, as Paul said. Can we say this together with Paul, not just intellectually or in theory, but from the depth of our hearts? Let us ask that the Holy Spirit be given to us, so that we may enjoy God in Christ even more.

Lastly, Christianity is a religion of mediation. In the Trinity, the Holy Spirit helps us to love Christ, and Christ helps us to love the Father. Christ Himself is the Helper who frees us from our sins and stands as our advocate, enabling us to know and love God. Verse 17 says, “even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be with you.” We know the Triune God. And if we know God as Helper, then we should be transformed to become little helpers ourselves. Helpers to whom? To this helpless world. Once again, to love the Father, we need Christ. To love Christ, we need the Holy Spirit. But the world does not know any of this. Who will bring the world to know the Triune God? Jesus has entrusted this mission to us.

So let us pray that we become a church that bears this witness, a church loved by God and that loves God. A church that loves one another, even though it may not be perfect. Jesus said that the world will know that we are His disciples if we love one another. God is love. Whoever claims to know God must live in mutual love, loved by God, loving God, and loving one another, including loving those still outside of Christ. May the Lord help us. May He give us the fullness of His Holy Spirit.