No Longer Orphans: The Spirit Who Comes Alongside

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This Sunday we are looking at the Holy Spirit, and we’re going to enter into a series on the Holy Spirit.

One thing I don’t want you to do is to confuse the fact that we’re talking about the Holy Spirit, to think that God is someone that we can merely discuss intellectually or academically, like we’ll talk about the Holy Spirit. We’ll talk about biblically what the Holy Spirit does, who the Holy Spirit is. But we need to keep in mind we’re talking about a person. We’re talking about a God who wants to be known and is known by us and knows us, knows our story, and lived, bled, died, rose from the dead, sent the Spirit that we might live in relationship with Him.

So this is an academic exercise, and we’ll say some things that are about ideas. But we need to know the person. You know the person.

And so today, on this day of Pentecost, I want to focus in on one passage in John 14. Jesus is talking to His disciples in the upper room. Shortly before He’s crucified, He says this:

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)

And I want to declare this good news over us today: 

God has not left you orphaned.
The Spirit of the living Jesus is with you, in you, and for you.

One of my favorite people right now that I don’t know—famous people. I like you all better than this person. But of the people I don’t know that are famous, I really like Theo Von. Theo Von is a comedian. He’s an actor. He’s got one of the top ten podcasts in the United States of America.

But what I love about him is that he’s super authentic. He’s super vulnerable, and he’s really genuine about where he is. He’s honest with where he is. He struggles with some addiction. He struggles with loneliness and depression, and he’s really honest about it.

One day I was watching a podcast, and it was just him and the microphone, looking into the screen, and he’s talking about how lonely he is. He’s famous. He’s super, uber famous. He’s surrounded by people, but he’s lonely.

And he says this. I’ve shared this with you before, but it just stuck with me. He says:

“The hard thing about being alone isn’t that you don’t have anyone. It’s that no one has you.”

No one has you.

I wonder if some of us in this room know exactly what Theo is talking about right there.

Maybe it’s not a loneliness you can name. Maybe you’re surrounded by people. You’re active, you’re busy, you’re doing things. You’re running kids from place to place. You’re going and doing things. But at the core, you’re not sure that someone actually has you. Not really you. Not the full you, right? Not the one that’s scared. Not the one that’s failed. Not the one that doesn’t know what to do next. Not the one who’s fallen off the wagon in their recovery. Not the one who doesn’t know how to parent their kids or how to work through a difficult marriage.

You don’t feel like someone has you. You feel maybe alone.

I think we could call this the orphan wound.

Jesus says, “I won’t leave you as orphans.”

I think humanity has this ancient fear that runs to the very beginning—this orphan wound—that we are fundamentally alone, that no one has us. That maybe not even God has us. That God is silent. That God is absent. That God is distant.

I’ve told you this story before, but I’ve got to always remember this. I honor this eighth-grade kid, Preston, from 20-plus years ago when I was his pastor.

I got to know this kid, Preston, and he was in eighth grade. I was at his house. We were playing video games, and this kid was really unique. He was showing me this empty tank that once held pet sea monkeys. I didn’t know you could have pets like sea monkeys.

The tank was empty, and he was telling me:

“When I got these sea monkeys, I was really stoked. I cleaned their cage. I fed them. I was very interested in creating this environment where they could do really well. But then I kind of forgot about it. They became boring a little bit, so I didn’t clean their cage anymore. I kind of forgot to feed them every couple of days. Eventually I just forgot to feed them, and they were left to fend for themselves. Eventually they turned on one another. They ate each other, and now they’re all dead.”

And then he said:

“I think that’s how God is with us. I think this is how God is with us—that He made us a world, that He was interested in us, but then He just lost interest.”

“He made us a world. He was interested in us. But then He just lost interest. He walked away, and now we’re just destroying ourselves, trying to get what we can out of this.”

This ancient human fear—that we are lonely, that we are alone, that no one has us, that God is distant, that God is absent, that God doesn’t care, that He’s forgotten us.

Well, into this loneliness, into this lie that we believe, we proclaim this truth: that

God has not left us orphans.
The Spirit of the living Jesus is with us, in us, and for us right now.

Right now. Can you say “right now”?

Right now.

Not then. Not in the future. But right now, God’s Spirit is present and with us.

Let’s look at verses 15 through 17. Jesus talks about how He will send His Spirit.

He says:

“If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.”

So Jesus is in this upper room. He’s with His disciples hours before His arrest, and He is preparing them because these guys have been with Him day and night for three years, walking with Him, seeing amazing things. They have all their hopes and dreams, national hopes and dreams, on this man.

And He knows the disciples will be shattered when He’s arrested and crucified.

So He’s preparing them. He’s saying, “I will not leave you.”

You hear this? He says, “I am leaving, but you will not be left.”

Jesus is leaving physically, but He is not leaving His disciples spiritually. He will not leave them.

He promises a Paraclete.

Can everyone say “Paraclete”?

Paraclete.

What it means is “one called alongside.” This is what’s translated Advocate or Comforter, Counselor or Helper in these translations.

It is used five times in the New Testament.

A Paraclete in the ancient world was one who stood beside you in court when no one else would. It was someone who advocated for you, stood with you when no one else was there to be with you. When you had no one else, a Paraclete would come alongside and advocate for you.

So Jesus is promising His very Spirit.

Now He says “another Paraclete.” There’s two ways that word “another” can be used. There’s another of a different kind and another of the same kind.

And so here He uses the word “another” of the same kind.

So we believe in the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. One God, three persons.

Jesus says He’ll send His Spirit of the same kind. It’s Jesus’ presence that will be with us.

He will not leave us. He will not leave us. He will not forsake us.

So there’s a lot of things we could say, and I’m going to say more in the coming weeks. Today we’re going to hone in on this:

What does the Paraclete—the one who comes alongside—do? How does He advocate for us when He comes to us?

I think the Spirit speaks to and advocates for your belovedness, your belonging—that you are loved, that you are chosen, that you are held, that you were made in the image of God.

The Paraclete, to us, the Spirit of Jesus, stands between you and your accuser. Right between you and the enemy, the liar, Satan, the deceiver—the one who speaks lies to your life and says:

“You aren’t worthy. You aren’t beloved. You are alone. You’re not enough.”

And Jesus stands between that liar and you, and He whispers:

“You are His. You are God’s. You are loved.”

The Spirit of truth speaks truth.

And He says:

“You are valued. You’re beloved. You’re a child of God. You’re made in the image of God. You are not left. You are a treasure.”

The Spirit, it says later in chapter 16, will remind you of all that Jesus said and did.

Now this is big.

He’s going to remind us of all that He said and did.

Well, what are some of the things that Jesus said and did?

One of Jesus’ main messages is that He reminds us, He speaks life and love and belovedness to us.

What did Jesus say?

He said, “Look at the sparrows in the field. Look at the flowers of the field. See how they don’t toil or work, but they’re provided for. Why do you worry?”

He says, “How much more valuable are you than a sparrow?”

What else did Jesus say?

He said, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.”

He said, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

He said, “Blessed are those who mourn.” Those of you who mourn and are buckled down by grief, you will be comforted.

He says, “Blessed are you who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for justice. I hope you will be satisfied.”

See, He reminds us that we are loved and we are cared for and we are provided for. That we are full of dignity and worth. That we are children of God, made in the image of God, loved by God.

That’s what the Spirit reminds us of.

A friend of ours, a neighbor on the street that I’ve known for many years, recently found a girl that he really, really likes.

And he was saying:

“I want to get clean. I want to get clean. I want to get clean.”

He told his girlfriend, “I’m not worth the dog poop.”

He didn’t say “dog poop,” but that’s what he meant.

And that breaks my heart.

I said, “No one should believe they’re not worth dog poop.”

Everyone is of immeasurable worth, made in the image of God, a child of God.

The Spirit of the living God wants my friend to know that it doesn’t matter if he’s stuck in his addiction. It doesn’t matter if he’s stoned out of his mind. It doesn’t matter what he’s done. Jesus is whispering to him that he is loved, that he is not alone, that he is beloved, that he belongs, that God is for him and with him.

So I want to ask you:

Where do you feel like, when you fail, or when you’re not happy with how you’re living—when you yell at your kids, or you fall off the wagon in your recovery, or whatever it may be, when you turn to porn or shopping or whatever you do to console that ache of loneliness in you—how do you imagine God’s posture toward you? His disposition toward you?

I hope you imagine that He loves you.

Here’s the thing. Here’s the thing.

The Holy Spirit, in those moments, is not condemning you. He is calling you.

The Holy Spirit is not condemning you. He is calling you.

He’s calling you into life. He’s calling you into joy. He’s calling you into peace. He’s calling you into relationship. He’s calling you into your identity as a child of God, as one loved and cherished and treasured.

He’s calling you also out.

He’s calling you out of destructive behaviors and thoughts. He’s calling you out of destructive patterns of living. He’s calling you out of bad ideas about how God loves you, views you, and how others condemn you.

He’s calling you out of those things and into life, into your belovedness. He’s calling you out of shame, out of self-condemnation.

So God has not left you orphaned.

Can I say it again?

The Spirit of the living Jesus is with you, in you, and for you right now.

Thank you. I keep on believing that. Thank you, Rachel.

Right now.

Let’s unpack this verse:

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

I think this is the heart of God that is revealed in Jesus.

He comes to us.

He comes to us all the way—in a body, in a human body, in human experience and human vulnerability—all the way to the cross.

He comes to us.

He won’t leave us.

An orphan in the ancient world was not just someone who lost their parents. It was someone without protection. There was not a safety net there. It was someone without legal standing. It was someone without belonging. It was someone very vulnerable.

And Jesus here is making an identity claim. He’s speaking to identity.

He’s saying:

“You are not unclaimed. You are not unprotected. You are not unprovided for. You are not without status in the household of God. I will not leave you vulnerable. I will not leave you.”

He’s saying:

“You have someone, and someone has you.”

You have someone, and someone has you.

I’ve shared this story before as well, and my brother has given me permission to share it.

My brother Alex was adopted into our family at 11 years old, and he had a really hard 11 years before that.

There were times where he wasn’t fed and he wasn’t cared for for hours and days.

He tells a story of one time when he was really young. He was locked in his room, and he was hungry. He was really, really, really thirsty.

He wanted a drink, and he fell asleep.

In his sleep he had a dream—or a vision—that he was in a school, and Jesus was by the water fountain and invited him to come take a drink.

And Alex went to Him and took a drink.

Then he woke up, and he wasn’t thirsty in real life.

Jesus did not leave him as an orphan. He came to him.

And that sounds supernatural, and it is.

And I believe the Holy Spirit will come to us like that.

But you know what else is supernatural?

There are mundane miracles as well.

There’s the miracle of us about to eat together and be filled together, right?

God meets us in community.

He meets us through the church.

The church is filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit will not leave us as orphans. He will come to us.

We come to one another.

God provides for us in one another.

God provides for us in medical advancements and chemo.

God provides for us in financial support.

All these ways God is coming to us.

He’s not leaving us.

He is for us. He is with us. He is in us right now.

So Jesus says then in verse 20:

“On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you.”

Now here’s where Jesus gets a little esoteric, right? A little crazy, a little out there. It’s hard to think about.

But the only way I can describe it is like this:

You know, intertwine my hands.

This is how we are in the life of God.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit—one God, three persons—sharing life and love with one another for eternity.

And by the Spirit, we get invited into this holy union of love, this communion of love, this family of love, this belonging, this healing that God’s love provides.

We are wrapped in His love, wrapped in relationship with our Creator, and invited into this life of love.

The Spirit of God comes to us, invites us into it, draws us into the very life of God, and in that is our healing.

So we’re not left as orphans.

The Spirit of the living Jesus is with us, in us, and for us right now.

So how am I learning to live this?

Because I’ll tell you, I often forget that Christ is right here, right now, with me.

Do you?

Does anyone else?

A few weeks ago, I was on my couch early in the morning. I was just sitting there with my dog and with the Lord, and I just started crying.

And I haven’t cried—cried like that. I cry at sad movies or sad music. You know, when Benji goes away forever, it makes me sad. I tear up a little bit, but usually I can suck it back into my eyeballs.

However, this time I was just weeping. Crying. Crying from the gut.

I can tell you—and I’m happy to share the specifics with you in person—why I think I was crying. There were a few reasons.

But at the core, it was this realization that I could be more available, more emotionally available, to my children, to my family, to my wife. I realized I haven’t been there.

But the point is this:

What broke this open in me, what was so healing, was that I believe it was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit coming to me, being with me, opening me up.

So these were tears of conviction. God was calling me out of numbness toward those who need me to be emotionally open and available.

He was convicting me.

But they weren’t tears of condemnation.

They were tears of healing.

They weren’t tears of despair.

And so I’m slowly learning that it is in the presence of the Spirit that I will receive all that I need to be the father I need to be, the husband I need to be, the pastor I need to be, the neighbor I need to be, the friend I need to be.

And I’m learning that the Spirit isn’t waiting for me to get it together, or to read another book, or to figure out another spiritual practice.

He’s not waiting for me to do that before He shows up.

God is already here.

He’s already near.

He’s already present.

He’s already on the move.

He’s already in relationship with me.

He’s already moving.

And you know what’s really encouraging?

Not only is the Holy Spirit not leaving me orphaned, He’s advocating for me.

He’s advocating for me, reminding me of my belovedness.

And He’s coming to me.

But He’s also coming to the people that I have failed to come to.

Does that make sense?

He’s coming to those orphaned by my inability, by my sin, by my lack of ability to be there.

He’s coming.

He will not leave those you love orphaned.

He will come to them too.

And He will advocate for their belovedness when you are unable to.

And so I take great comfort in knowing that God loves the people I love more than I love them.

And He can speak to the depths of their hearts, to the needs that they have that we can’t access.

The Holy Spirit can do it.

And so He speaks to their belovedness too.

So our job is to be present to the presence of God that is already here.

To be available. To make ourselves available to God’s availability.

Because God is always available.

And this is why we don’t try to pray—and when we do sing songs, I always qualify it.

A lot of times we’ll sing songs, we’ll pray, we’ll ask God to show up. We’ll ask the Holy Spirit to come.

And I don’t like that language.

I get what we’re trying to say, but the Holy Spirit is always and already here.

He’s with us.

He doesn’t leave us.

He doesn’t forsake us.

He’s coming to us.

He won’t leave us as orphans.

So we’re not orphans trying to get God to come to us, begging God to come here, convincing God through our behavior, through the right belief, or whatever, for Him to show up.

He’s already here.

So what does that mean?

It means we need to wake up to the presence of God that is already here, already alive.

And the way we do this—there are a lot of ways—but the big thing is we need to get still, don’t we?

Still and silent, just for a little bit, so that we can hear what God is saying.

So that we can hear that Paraclete, that One who comes alongside, that Advocate, speak to our belovedness and remind us of the belovedness of the people that are around us.

So that He can guide us.

So that He can counsel us.

We’re so busy, right?

I think we’re busy trying to be self-reliant, trying to protect ourselves.

We’re busy being cynical because of the ways that faith communities have wounded us, or people have wounded us.

We aren’t still enough to allow the Spirit to speak to us and to minister to us.

So my question is:

What would it look like for you to get still and to believe and to live from the truth that God has not left you orphaned?

That the Spirit of the living Jesus is with you, in you, and for you?

What would it look like as a parent?

What would it look like as someone struggling in their marriage?

What would it look like as someone struggling with recovery or addiction?

What would it look like for you to believe and to trust that the same God who showed up in the upper room 2,000 years ago with those disciples is showing up in the upper room of your life, of your heart?

So I want to end with this simple prayer, and you can take this with you this week.

We’ve got a slide for this.

It’s pretty simple.

And if you’ve done a breath prayer before—we’ve done breath prayers here before—this is a simple way to connect your body with your prayer and allow your mind to really focus on what you’re praying.

And so we’re going to breathe in, saying to the Lord:

You are here.

And breathe out:

I am not alone.

So let’s do that.

You are here.

I am not alone.

So you can breathe in:

You are here.

And breathe out:

I am not alone.

Again:

You are here.

I am not alone.

God, we declare and we want to live in this truth:

That You have not left us as orphans.

That Your Spirit, living, alive, and active, is with us, in us, and for us.

And God, we allow You to speak into our identity:

That we are loved.

We are forgiven.

We are chosen.

We are cared for.

We are claimed by You, the living God of the universe.

So help us, God, not to live from this anxiety of loneliness, but to live from the confidence that not only is someone with us, but someone has us.

And that You have us.

In Jesus’ name, amen.