"A Spirit-Filled Person"

First Presbyterian Church
May 27, 2007; Day of Pentecost
Peter S. Buehler
John 14:8-17, 25-27

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."

It may be a Bible trivia question, but I'm curious why Philip is the one who asks Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.

Usually Peter is the disciple who asks the questions, the ones that are on the disciples' minds; Philip we rarely hear from. In fact, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke his name appears only in the lists of the Twelve and nowhere else. For some reason, in John's Gospel Philip is way more visible. He is one of the first disciples called by Jesus; he then finds his friend, Nathaniel, declaring, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth" -- all this after Jesus came to him and said simply, "Follow me." Obviously Philip was ready to do just that.

Tradition has it that Philip had the role of securing the provisions for the disciples, so it makes sense that at the Feeding of the 5,000 it is Philip Jesus seeks out  and asks, Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat? It was a test question, of course, which Philip flunked when he shook his head and said, Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little. It definitely showed his practical side, one which many of us would share; also that Philip was adept at buying food in bulk -- he was the one who made the trips out to Costco.

It may also be Bible trivia, but the Greek word used in Philip's request to Jesus, the word for satisfy when he says show us the Father and we will be satisfied -- a word used in the New Testament fewer than ten times -- is the same word which is translated enough in Philip's back-to-reality comment to Jesus, Six months' wages would not buy enough bread.

So Philip, among other things, is the How-much-is-enough disciple. He's the one who wants his faith to be a source of satisfaction, he's the one who will be satisfied when his questions are answered. He wants Jesus to show him the Father -- even though in John 14 Jesus has just told the disciples, If you know me, you will know my Father also. Philip, were you listening? We're tempted to dismiss Philip -- to assume that he has ADD and can't concentrate, or a serious hearing problem -- yet the fact is that his request, Show us the Father and we will be satisfied, is the same thing we hear ourselves asking.

We ask it in different ways: Lord, answer this prayer, this need of mine, and I promise that I will be satisfied. Lord, the future seems so uncertain and we doubt if the resources we have will be enough to keep us going. Lord, many more people in this world would come to faith -- people who desperately need faith -- if only you would satisfy them with proof that you are their Savior, Guide and Friend. Lord, the world seems more distressed than ever, more threatened and unstable than ever; show us one sure sign of your kingdom and that will be enough to trust you always. Something in our nature makes us want more than we already have. We are not as easily satisfied, it seems, as we are easily unsatisfied. We all have this in common with Philip; we all want to feel satisfied, to be sure.

Food scientists use the term "satiating power" to refer to those foods which make us feel full faster than others. The high satiating foods are those with high levels of protein, dietary fiber and water -- fish, meat, lentils and eggs, also fruits and vegetables, and boiled potatoes give us a full feeling fast. The stuff we crave, of course -- the high-fat fried foods, the cakes, the cookies, the croissants, the biscuits -- are all low in satiating power, so when we eat them it takes longer to feel full. Which is fine with us, actually, because there are always new pastries we have yet to try!

But might the same phenomenon be true in our spiritual lives? At what point does faith have satiating power? What does it mean to be satisfied in our souls? How is Philip asking our question, and how does Jesus respond?

Pentecost is the day the church celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit, but it could also be thought of as the day we celebrate that we are promised with Enough. The Holy Spirit is that power of God that gives us what we need when we need it, the power of Enough. And it begins with Jesus, the One who in himself, in his life, by his teachings, by his obedience, by his kindness, his strength, his healing, his courage, his prayerfulness, his love and peace -- his trust in his Father -- is enough. Jesus, in the words of theologian Shirley Guthrie, is our "prime example of what it means to be a Spirit-filled person."

How would you describe a spiritual person? Generally we think of how a person is, what they seem like to us -- how enthusiastic they are, how joyous they are, how centered and peaceful they are -- these are "spiritual" people. There are many books in the bookstore which will tell us how to achieve this kind of happiness and peace; there are classes, and videos, and teachers on television who will gladly guide us to inner peace and true spirituality.

Our friends and neighbors will tell us their ideas about spirituality; they'll tell us of the spiritual people they've met, the spiritual places they've visited. Sadly, the church is rarely spoken of as such a place, perhaps because of unhappy, even damaged memories of a place where preachers wielded fear rather than grace, a place where being seen was more important than being in worship, a place where people seemed the same after church as they were before -- unchanged, unaffected by good news and therefore undistinguishable from those who stayed home on Sundays. Should not the church of Jesus Christ be a place where the Holy Spirit is obvious? What might such a place look like?

I remember a walking tour that Kati and I read about on a visit to Savannah, GA; it sounded interesting, so while our sons slept in at the motel, we went to see Savannah's haunted houses, something for which the city was famous. After all, the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil had just come out and it talked about all this, so we were intrigued. As we walked through old neighborhoods and stopped in front of wonderful homes, our tour guide, a local history professor, told us stories of unexplained mysteries and hauntings which, if it had been at midnight and not 9 o'clock in the morning, might have sent us running back to our room. But then we walked by a church, and our guide said "And here's the old Presbyterian Church. Don't worry, there are no ghosts inside there. They don't even have the Holy Ghost in there!" Needless to say, I didn't identify myself.

But the question is a fair one: What is a Spirit-filled church? What are Spirit-filled people? Do they sing a certain way, preach a certain way, pray a certain way? Are they really vocal, with lots of Amens!, like some African-American congregations, or are they really quiet, like some Quaker churches?

These communities may be Spirit-filled indeed -- we've visited them and felt the presence of the Spirit and the warmth of the people. But there is no stereotype, there is no format, there is no one way to be Spirit-filled, except in Jesus. Jesus is our "prime example of what it means to be a Spirit-filled person," and in our shared commitment to follow him we learn what it means to be a Spirit-filled church.

Guthrie asks and answers the simple question, What kind of life is that? What does that life look like? "It is not the kind of life people in (Jesus') time… expected of a "spiritual" person. Rather it was the life of a person who went to parties, ate and drank, and had a good time." Like Jesus. "(Who) talked more about what people did with their money than about their sexual purity and was as interested in the health of their bodies as in their souls. Jesus was the friend and companion not just of the morally pure and pious but of the immoral, unbelieving sinners. He defended the cause of those who were rejected and despised by polite society and the religious and political establishment… He came to serve other people, not to assert his moral and religious superiority over them. He loved his enemies and did good to those who hated him. He trusted and served the God he called Father even when it did not pay off in personal success and happiness.. His life was the life of one who prayed even when everything he had worked and hoped for was denied him and he felt forsaken by God. (This) is the kind of life that is the result of God's Holy Spirit coming to dwell in a person." (Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, p. 295)

Which brings us back to Philip and his request of Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.It was what all the disciples wanted; Philip, the one who bought the bread and knew how much was enough, was the logical one to speak for the group. And while he didn't get the proof he wanted, Philip did hear the promise he needed: that the One he had been with all along, the Jesus of his journey, was the One who revealed God perfectly, the One in whom God had a human face, the One whose way was God's way, the One who would not leave him orphaned and alone, for the Holy Spirit would come and would teach and remind him, all the disciples, of all he had said and done.

To Philip and to us, Jesus promises the Spirit; he promises that this Spirit will always be enough. So much so that we can take the word out of our vocabulary.
We don't have to wonder whether or not we're "spiritual," or if our church is Spirit-filled. It's beside the point. Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit, his own life-giving Spirit, to his disciples -- to us and to all the churches; that is what we celebrate today, that Jesus has delivered on his promise. The Spirit is poured out!

The diversity of the world-wide Christian community is proof enough -- churches of all stripes and sizes, of all languages and races and nationalities, all ages and descriptions. We here at 21 East Constance Avenue are part of the picture. We also have a place at the table. Pentecost is our holiday too.

Because ultimately it's not about having the Spirit or not having the Spirit. When it comes to this Spirit, it's not about having, it's about living. So we live with faith, believing that this Jesus, the One we meet in the Scriptures, is enough for us, that his Spirit satiates us and guides us: freeing us from fear, opening us to others, showing us our neighbors -- the unloved, the friendless. As we commit ourselves to his peace, not as the world gives but as he gives, we learn what the words "Spirit-filled" mean.

For the Christian life is a life of learning; learning is what we're always doing. And we have a Teacher. Time and again he shows us what it means to be filled with the Spirit.