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When a questionable source says “trust me,” it throws up red flags. “Just trust me, I will keep my campaign promises,” says the politician. “Trust me, this elixir will cure all that ails you,” says the snake-oil salesman. “Trust me, she runs like she was brand new,” says the dishonest used car dealer. If we trust the word of the untrustworthy, we are fools.
The same red flags should go up anytime we hear a person say, “The Holy Spirit spoke directly to me and told me to do this or the Holy Spirit is telling you to do that.” That phrase should trigger an alert from our nonsense-detectors. This is why St. John tells us to “test the spirits” for truth or error.
I heard of a woman who boasted, “One day the Holy Spirit told me where to find a great parking space at the mall.” Another fellow went to his pastor and said, “The Holy Spirit told me to divorce my wife.” Or consider Houston- based televangelist Kerney Thomas, Jr., who used to send out letters with his (in)famous “Bible Red Blood of Jesus Handkerchiefs” because he claims that the Holy Spirit told him to send them to you in order to produce a miracle in your life. Of course, you need to send in whatever cash is in your wallet in order to cash in on the miracle. I quote from his letter that we got in our mailbox back when we lived in East Texas: “The Holy Spirit is in this letter and is speaking to you now while I write these words...The greater your sacrifice the greater your blessings...If you follow these ‘faith instructions,’ today is the day that will mark the end of all your troubles and the beginning of the best days of your life.” Is your nonsense- detector going off yet?
With so many competing voices telling us what the Holy Spirit supposedly wants us to do, how do we discern when the Holy Spirit is speaking and what He actually is saying? How do we know which voices to trust?
In 1 John 4, St. John tells us that we will hear the Holy Spirit speaking when He is witnessing to Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh. This means not only that the Holy Spirit is going to say a lot about Jesus, but He is going to point us to the very Word of Jesus and His prophets and apostles in the Bible as the source of our knowledge about God. This is in contrast to the false spirits, the false prophets, the spirit of antichrist, who produce man-made religiosity, dreaming that the Spirit works through handkerchief s and health, wealth, and success theology. Sometimes it is hard to spot false prophets because they say a lot of nice things about Jesus, but really the question must be, “Is what they are saying about Jesus in harmony with what He has taught in Scripture?” What St. John means is that Christ and His Word are testified to by the Spirit, not “Jesus + Works” or “Jesus + Miracles” or “Jesus + Success.”
In John’s Gospel, we learn where to look for the Spirit directly from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who teaches us to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking in Christ’s own Words and in the apostolic testimony about Jesus in the Bible. And our nonsense- detectors do not go off when Jesus speaks to us because by His resurrection from the grave, He has proven that whatever He says comes to pass, so His Word is truth (John 17:17, 20). In fact, Jesus is Truth Incarnate, as He says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6), so we dare not question Him when He says, “Trust Me.” Jesus says in John 18, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). And so His Word is completely trustworthy when in our Gospel reading He promises, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26).
In this world, it’s hard to find people you can trust. But the Holy Spirit is trustworthy, and He tells you that when you come in repentance to Jesus Christ, who gave Himself into death for your sins and rose for your justification, you have forgiveness of sins from God, which leads to life and salvation now and forever. Amen.
Rev. Roth pastors Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin.
