Opening Prayer
Lord, let the Advocate come and bear witness in us. Amen.
Text: John 15:26–16:4
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”
Devotion
There shall be testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ in the world, and the Holy Spirit is the witness for He is truth. He testifies with convincing strength so that even the gain-sayers feel truth’s fire in their hearts. He testifies through the written Word, but He always uses believers as His servants in the task of witnessing as well. The holy Apostles who followed Jesus from the beginning are eyewitnesses. They tell what they saw and witnessed and felt with their hands, and this testimony conquers all lies. I understand these words of Jesus: “The Helper will testify of Me. And you (Apostles) also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning,” for I hear them testify and feel the power in them and can only marvel at their testimony above all. And yet it is not they alone who testify by the Holy Spirit, but all believers. The honor and difficulties of being called to witness belong to each Christian. Whoever believes on Jesus knows Him and presents Him to others in their Christ-like life. He is the picture of Christ and a living, true, and real presentation by the Holy Spirit. “Let your light so shine before men,” the Lord Himself says, “that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mat 5:16). “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Joh 13:35). And the Apostles exhort the saints to shine like heavenly lights among the dark generation of the world. The Church shall fulfill this call to witness in part by faithfully administering the means of grace, in part by living holy Christian lives.
So let all who by the grace of the Holy Spirit know the Son and the Father always and everywhere testify what they have experienced, and confess Him with all their words and actions. We will still be imperfect in our likeness to the Savior, but if we are His disciples, we must and we shall be seen to be like Him. Even an unfinished portrait drawn by the hand of a master is still beautiful and clearly shows its subject. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2Co 5:17). Your whole life and conduct, down to the smallest details, should be brought forth by God’s Spirit and permeated by Him. Holy you should live, patiently you should suffer and not let yourself be led away from the way of self-denial though all the world entice and threaten you and rob you of everything. This is not the old commandment which is weak on account of the flesh, but “a new commandment, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (1Jo 2:8).
Closing Prayer
But heavenly Father, help Your weak children. Give us life and grace to bear witness. Give us the great honor of standing in the ranks of Jesus’ witnesses and suffering evil for His name’s sake. Keep us from all hypocrisy. Let our mouth and our life proclaim truth from the heart, and bless this testimony until Your kingdom comes. Amen.
Hymn
O Light of heaven, e’er brightly shine,
And follow ev’ry step of mine;
The prince of darkness and his horde
In all the world do press me hard;
To their frustration they shall see
That You have now enlightened me.
Brightness divine, O shine on me
Where’er my path and wand’rings be;
Among God’s children let me stand –
By Your pure grace I understand
That wherever I wander will,
Your gracious light is with me still.
Kingo: Klar op, mit Hjerte, Sjæl, og Sind L 428:7-8 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Vater unser (ELH 383); alternate hymn: O Holy Spirit, enter in ELH 27:1