Every Perfect Gift – The Fourth Sunday after Easter

Come down, O Love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardour glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

There’s a lie working its way around the Church. It’s a lie almost as old as the human race itself. It is the whisper of the devil and the desire from our heart. Quietly, the venom goes into our bloodstream and poisons the mind. It is the lie that we can better ourselves without divine intervention. Perhaps if we gave a little more effort, put in some hustle, and exercised good behavior then we could achieve a closer walk with God, or so we say to ourselves. We forget that it is God who comes to us. He is the one who became man so that He could walk with us, lead us, and guide us.

Instead, we imagine ourselves as stranded in a lifeboat, floating in the sea lost, but confident in our rescue. Perhaps with a bit of rowing, a hint of ingenuity in building a sail, we can give an inch so God can sweep to take us a mile ashore. Yet the reality is we are drowned and sunk into the depths. We are Peter who sinks in the water, Jonah who is swallowed into the bowels of the ocean, and like the Psalmist, we “sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” (Psalm 69:2, KJV).

And God goes to the depths to find us, resurrect us from the deep, and breathe life back into our dead bodies. Only because God goes down, may we come up. We cannot ascend to the Father unless the Son comes down and the Spirit lifts us up. We may only “lift up our hearts” because the Lord has give us His Spirit to worship Him in truth. Because God comes down from the mountain, we are lifted up by Him so that we may meet Him where we are at in the valley of the shadow of death and then ascend with Him to the mountain of God. Therefore, if we cry out in faith like Peter saying “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30), sing like Jonah, “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God,” (Jonah 2:6), and praise with the Psalmist, “let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high,” (Psalm 69:29) then our spirit shall be marriages with the Spirit of God.

Perhaps you have been a lifelong member of the Church. Baptized as a baby, there has never been a time when you did not know Christ, for He has always known you. Yet when it comes to your sanctification, you think yourself responsible for your own renewal. It becomes burdensome, wearisome, and tiresome trying to bring about one’s own resurrection. You need to stop this thinking, for you are creating a new law whose burdens you cannot bear. Instead, rest weary sinner in Christ, and remember that His Father is now Our Father. And our Father is a good father indeed, for, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Epistle lesson, James 1:17, King James Version).

The Father will finish what He has started in you. Have faith and take heart. The Son not only redeems, He resurrects, rejuvenates, and regenerates all those whom He calls unto Himself. Therefore, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” (Gospel lesson, John 16:7, KJV). As a believer, who among us has not lamented that we do not see our Lord Jesus face to face? Yet the Lord encourages us that it is actually good that He ascends to the Father, for now He sends His Holy Spirit to cover the earth, just as He once hovered above the chaotic waters of creation. Moreover, the Holy Ghost no longer hovers above but descends to dwell below within all those who believe in Christ Jesus, by faith. He is the Comforter who brings true comfort. God the Holy Ghost is no mysterious stranger; He is the familiar Triune God who “shall not speak of himself” but “shall glorify” Christ Jesus. (John 16:13-14, KJV).

O let it freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light
shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

In this day and age, there is a lot of confusion about the Holy Ghost and His work. He is thought of as a stranger or a worker of peculiar gifts that many in the church either wish they had, fake they have, or rather never encounter. We have forgotten that on this side of Whitsunday (Pentecost), the Holy Ghost is our constant companion for those who confess Christ and trust in Him. The Holy Ghost is not some stranger to the Church but is the Spirit who enlivens it. He is the ever-present Comforter as we journey as pilgrims and strangers in this foreign land that is the world. He is not some specter who shows up and disappears on us until we reach the mountain top. He is God Himself who descends upon the Apostles, the saints in Jerusalem, and upon all believers across the earth. He is the One who prays for us and motivates us to pray. He is the One who lives within us and transforms us by the renewing of our minds. He is the “good gift” and “perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,” that James encourages us about. (James 1:17, KJV).

This perfect gift of the Holy Ghost is not for us to keep wrapped and hidden under the tree. He is a gift meant to be received by us, because He is for us. He is for you especially because God “alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men,” therefore the Father, through the Son, gifts us His very own Spirit. (Collect of the Day). This divine gift is a perfect gift. You need not add anything to your regeneration, you have what you need – scratch that – you have Who you need, the Holy Ghost.

Hence, the answer to our prayer, “Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Collect of the Day) is found in “the Spirit of truth,” and “he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13, KJV).

How does the Holy Spirit guide us into all truth? By rooting out all errors and falsity. The Holy Ghost, like the Father of lights, illuminates the world for what it is and distinguishes between the darkness of falsehood from the light of eternal Truth.

As the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us, regarding the Holy Ghost, “when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” (John 16:8-11, KJV). No one and nothing can stand between us and the Truth, for Truth Himself dwells within the sons and daughters of Eastertide. Christ is risen from the dead and He bestows life not only among those in the tombs but all of us dead sinners who are the “living dead” because of our sin. The Father, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” The Blessed Trinity regenerates, makes us born again, by begetting the Spirit of God within us. We bear the Spirit of sanctification because we bear Holiness Himself within us. This new birth makes us here and now in this old sinful world, a new creation and living with the eternal fountain of Living Waters that Christ promised the woman at the well.

And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace,
till he become the place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.

Be not burdened by your sojourning, be empowered by God Almighty. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son and “he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” (John 16:15, KJV). He leads you as God led by the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. Our pilgrimage to Jerusalem can only be completed by journeying with the Holy Spirit who guides and dwells within you, by faith. The Holy Spirit leads you even now by pointing to Christ and the very Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, that He inspired. He is the gift of illumination, revelation, and sanctification. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,” is our method of walking after the Lord. (James 1:19, KJV). We can only faithfully determine our steps on the way towards heavenly Jerusalem by quieting our hearts, silencing our minds, and being still within our souls. Terminate the ringing, chiming, and pinging of this fast-paced world governed by demonic devices, soulless apps, and dead machines which are always hurrying us but only speedily escorting us to end up in the same location: death and hell. Instead, pause the madness of the world and enter into the silence of your soul. Give pause and hear the Lord God speaking to you in the whisper of His Holy Ghost as He whispered powerfully in the ear of Elijah through a “a still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12, KJV). God the Holy Ghost hovers above your heart, informs your soul, and washes you clean through the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

This is the Way of peace in the mad warfare of the world against your soul. “[F]or the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20, KJV). Flee from the wrath of man and enter the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding. Only by abiding in the Son through the Holy Ghost will we be illuminated in our hearts, minds, souls, and strength to “lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.” (James 1:21, KJV). The devil works hard to tempt our fallen hearts, but God Almighty works more powerfully in the consuming fire that His holy presence, His holy dwelling, His tabernacling within our bodies, which are “the temple of the Holy Ghost.” (1 Corinthians 6:19, KJV).

We are saved by the good Father’s pleasure and will. As James taught us at the beginning of today’s epistle lesson, “every good” and “every perfect gift” is from the Father. How does one obtain a gift? Not by efforts, nor by strife, but by receiving. Therefore, “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:17, KJV).

Receive, dear saints, receive. Trust in the Gift-giver who is begetting within you the life-giving Spirit of Truth to save your souls, transform your bodies, regenerate your hearts, and set fire to the world.