We Have a Defence Lawyer

OT Lesson: Psalm 66:8-20 (NIV)

Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of His praise be heard;
He has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
For You, God, tested us;
You refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but You brought us to a place of abundance.

I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfil my vows to You—
vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
I will sacrifice fat animals to You
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.

Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth;
His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld His love from me!

NT Lesson: John 14:15-21 (NRSV)

‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. They who have My commandments and keep them are those who love Me; and those who love Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love them and reveal Myself to them.’

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. One quick announcement. Next Sunday we will have a pulpit exchange with the Purdue Korean Presbyterian Church. Rev. Joseph Park will come here and I go there. Now I think it is actually not fair. We have one worship service on Sunday morning but they have three.

Happy Mother’s Day! Mother’s Day is as you know the second Sunday of May. It was first celebrated in 1908 and became a federal holiday in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson. I guess some people must have not been happy about it, and in 1972 President Richard Nixon made Father’s Day a federal holiday as well. One good thing in Korea is that we have just one day of ‘Parents’ Day’ when we celebrate both parents at the same time which may save some money for the children. In America, people need to buy Mother’s Day gift and a month later Father’s Day gift, but in Korea, just one Parents’ Day gift.

Since the birth of Samuel, Hannah has been asking me every year what I would do for her on Mother’s Day. I am kind of a man of principle, not too much but somewhat, so I consistently gave her the same answer, “You are not my mother. Why should do anything for someone who is not my mother on Mother’s Day?” Then Hannah says to me, “I am the mother of your son.” “Well then, ask my son. Some day he will do something for you.” I assume that Samuel can do something for her next year since he is rapidly growing and changing these days.

If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments

For example, Samuel went to the Kindergarten Round-up at Harney Elementary School last week. So he will attend the kindergarten at Harney from next August. Samuel has been attending occupational therapy at Kids County in Brownsburg. The therapist recently told us that Samuel has mastered everything and is ready to discharge. So the coming Wednesday is going to be the last session. Samuel also has been attending Taekowndo for several months. At first he was making troubles and running around everywhere in the Dojo. But now he stays on his spot throughout the session and follows the instructions and directions of the instructors very well. But these things don’t mean that Samuel is all grown-up. He is still a boy, soon to be five, and makes lots of troubles everyday. And he is getting smarter both in good ways and bad ways. For example recently he developed a new tactic. That is whenever he does something he is not supposed to do, he comes to me and says, “Daddy, I always love you. And I like your shirts.” And then he confesses what he has done. Samuel thinks that he can avoid any troubles and escape all the consequences by saying these magic words first.  

That was actually true for a while. But then I also realised that he has been just using it. So I began to reply to him, “If you love me, you got to listen to Mommy and Daddy.” I think for the same reason Jesus also said the same thing at the beginning of today’s NT lesson, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” All Christians, all followers of Jesus, and all believers confess that they love God, that they love Jesus. But not all of them do what God wants them to do. Prophet Micah enlightened us and declared, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Instead of doing justice, many Christians close their eyes on injustice. Instead of loving their neighbours, so many followers of Jesus live in hatred and anger. And yet they repeat “I love you Lord” over and over again like a magic word. If I can figure out the tactics of five year old boy, God can also figure out the human tactics. And Jesus was fed up with that, and finally told His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.”

Advocate

Jesus continues to say, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate.” So today, let us focus on the word ‘Advocate.’ We all know that this Advocate is the Holy Spirit. But we have not studied Greek or Hebrew for a while. So let us do that today. An advocate is according to English dictionary ‘a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.’ To overly simplify it, this is someone who claps and says ‘good job’ whenever you do something. Basically all parents, and probably most teachers are the advocates, cheering and encouraging the children, ‘Good job,’ ‘Way to go!’ Well, the Holy Spirit of course does this to us. The Holy Spirit always encourages and recommends us to do good according to the will of God the Father. But that is not all He does.

In Greek, Jesus says παράκλητος (parakleytos). This παράκλητος (parakleytos) is a compound word. παρά (para) is a preposition meaning ‘the side of.’ κλητος (kleytos) is from the verb καλέω (kaleo) which means to call or to speak. By definition, παράκλητος (parakleytos) has two big meanings. One is ‘someone who is called or summoned to your side to help you.’ The other is a legal term used in the courtroom and the meaning is ‘someone who speaks on your side.’ I said that it is a legal term. So let us imagine that you are accused and sued. You are summoned and present in the courtroom for a trial. In America, what do you call someone who sits next to you and speaks for you? I think the title is a defence lawyer or defence attorney. And the Holy Spirit is our defence attorney. Then what do we call the other lawyer who sits on the other table, investigates, accuses, and sues you? I believe it is a prosecutor in America. In Canada, they call it a Crown attorney. Then what do you think is the prosecutor in Hebrew? That is שָׂטָן (Satan). Many people think Satan is a personal name like David, Jacob, or Peter, but it is actually a job title such as teacher, soldier, or farmer. The book of Job mentions Satan many times, and every time, it does not just say שָׂטָן (Satan) but הַשָׂטָן (Ha-Satan) which is ‘the Satan.’ And its job is to accuse, so the Satan is the accuser. In the legal courtroom, we may say it a prosecutor.

Heavenly Courtroom in the Book of Job

By the way when I was in Korea, I have never heard of the famous children’s books author, Dr. Suess. In America, everybody talks about Dr. Suess, and when I heard the name for the first time, I thought Dr. Suess is a law school professor. I was just reminded of this, speaking of legal matters and suing. Anyway, let us see the basic layout of the courtroom in America. In the courtroom, the judge sits on the front centre, you sit on one table with your defence lawyer, and the prosecutor sits on the other table. And there are jurors too. We don’t have a photo or a layout of the heavenly court. But the best description in the Bible comes from the book of Job. Let me read the Book of Job 1:6-12:

“One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Satan also came among them. The Lord said to the Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ The Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to the Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’ Then the Satan answered the Lord, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.’ The Lord said to the Satan, ‘Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!’ So the Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”

So in this description of the heavenly courtroom, have you realised that something is missing? There is the judge, that is the Lord God. There is the accused, that is Job. There is the accuser or prosecutor, that is the Satan. The other heavenly beings can be the jurors. So, what is missing? Job did not have a defence lawyer. You cannot overly emphasise the importance of having a defence lawyer, especially the good one. Without a professional and knowledgeable defence lawyer, you will most probably lose the legal battle even if you are innocent. On the other hand, if you can hire a super expensive and great defence lawyer, even if you did something bad, you may walk out free. The importance of the defence lawyer is beyond description, and Job did not have any. And you all know what happened to Job after this trial in the heavenly court. It is all because Job did not have a defence lawyer. You got to have a good lawyer, but even a not-so-good lawyer is better than no lawyer. And Job had none. Even before the trial, Job lost the case and he was doomed.

We Have a Defence Lawyer

But do not worry. The good news from Jesus Christ is that we have a defence lawyer, not just a good one but the very best one. So the layout of the courtroom for our trial in the last day might be similar to this. There is the Satan, the accuser or the prosecutor. He sues and brings you to the courtroom. He accuses you with many words, and probably those accusations must be true. And God is sitting on the throne in the front centre, being the head judge or the chief justice. Then you realised that the judge is actually your adopting Father. But the chief justice says, “I am not going to judge anything and anyone. My successor will do all the judgements.” Then on the right hand of the throne, Jesus Christ is sitting, and He is your adopting big brother who loves you very much. And there are tons of jurors who might be hostile or friendly to you. Then there comes your defence lawyer, which turns out to be your adopting mother. Can you possibly lose this trial? I think there is zero possibility to lose. Well, the jurors may say that you got to be in jail until you pay the huge fine which you cannot afford. Then the acting judge, Jesus Christ, says, “I have already paid for it. You my sister, you my brother, walk out free and stay in My Father’s house.”

All we need to do to win this last day trail in the heavenly courtroom is to love Jesus Christ by keeping His commandments. In the first paragraph in today’s NT lesson, Jesus says “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever.” This statement can be conditional sentences: “If you keep My commandments, that means you love Me. In that case, I will send you the greatest defence lawyer.” In other words, Jesus is telling us like this: “If you do not keep My commandments, that means you do not love Me. In that case, there will be no defence lawyer for you at all.”

Conclusion

Friends, as Christians, as followers of Jesus, as believers, we all confess day after day that we love God and that we love Jesus Christ. But today let us ponder and reflect on ourselves if we just saying it or truly mean it. If we mean it, we need to prove it by keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ. Then there is nothing to worry about because, not like Job, we do indeed have the greatest and the best defence lawyer. And we will never go to the jail but will live in our Father’s house where there are many dwelling places for us. Amen.