C'mon, man!!

 

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.  --2 Timothy 4:2

Groucho Marx is credited with the quote, "When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out.  A best friend will be in the cell next to you, saying, 'Dang, that was fun!'"  We laugh, because that quote makes light of our sinful nature.  A friend, or companion, might be in the same predicament as you are, because both of you were engaged in unseemly behavior.  However, we all know that the best friend we could have would be one that keeps us out of jail in the first place.

In a spiritual sense, we often say that Jesus is our best friend.  We sing hymns like Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners.  I would like to posit that, while Jesus may be a Friend, our best friend in all the world is the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor--Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever." (John 14:16 AMP).

The Greek word for "Helper" (or "Comforter" in the KJV, "Advocate" in the NIV) is παράκλητος or paracletos.  It literally means, "one who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for the defense, legal assistant; an advocate."  If our friend Groucho found himself in jail, it would be advantageous for him to be friends with a lawyer, a legal advocate who could stand before the judge in court and plead his case.

Spiritually speaking, we who are called by God according to His purpose (Romans 8:28) have an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who stands before a holy God and argues on our behalf.  Therefore, we have assurance that when the Judgment comes, we who are covered by the blood of Jesus will not face condemnation, we will not be subject to the wrath of God, but instead will realize fully the grace of God.  We will avoid hell, and be ushered into a place prepared for us called Heaven.

A popular Christian hymn, God Our Father We Adore Thee has this verse:

Holy Spirit, we adore Thee!
Paraclete and heavenly guest!
Sent from God and from the Savior,
Thou hast led us into rest.
We adore Thee! we adore Thee!
by Thy grace forever blest.
We adore Thee! we adore Thee!
by Thy grace forever blest.

But wait, there's more!

We've already seen that the Greek word paracletos is a noun, and we have seen what it means.  There is a similar Greek word, a verb, that comes from the same root word.  It is παρακαλέω or parakaleō.  Twenty-three times in the New Testament that word is translated "comfort."  That makes sense--the Holy Spirit, our paraclete, is called "Comforter."

However, the verb parakaleō is found 86 more times in the New Testament, and is variously translated beseech, exhort, desire, pray, and entreat.  "Beseech" is kind of an archaic word that means to beg, or to make a request of someone in an earnest or urgent manner.  Paul said in Romans 12: 1, "I appeal (parakaleo) to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."  (ESV--the NIV translates it as "urge", the NKJV translates it as "beseech".  You get the idea.)

According to people who have studied New Testament Greek more than I have, the sense of the word paracletos is "One who comes alongside."  The verb form parakaleo, then, is not a description of a confrontation.  The Holy Spirit is not our accuser--that is Satan's job.  Instead of confronting us, He stands beside us, throws His arm around us, and says, "C'mon, Man!"

This exhortation can be positive, as in "C'mon, Man!  You can do it!"  It can also be negative, as in "C'mon, Man!  Not that way!!"  It is the Holy Spirit's job to guide us, to encourage us to good works, but also to chide us, to scold us a little when we get turned around.  This can be unpleasant at times, because it goes against our sinful nature, but it is ultimately for our good.

You may have grown up in a church that uses this form of call and response:

Leader: God is good.

People: All the time.

Leader: And all the time,

People: God is good. 

This simplistic view is sometimes dangerous.  It implies that if anything bad happens in your life, it is not of God.  The Old Testament prophet Isaiah says of God, "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things." (Isaiah 45:7, NKJV).  We can get into a theological argument here about the sovereignty of God, and disagree about if bad things happen to good people is it of God or of the devil.  I will tread lightly here, but I would remind us that "We know that all things (both good and bad) work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28 NKJV).

When the Holy Spirit comes alongside us, puts His arm around us, and effectively says, "C'mon, Man!" it inevitably leads to change.  Sometimes those changes are painful, especially if it deals with entrenched sin, or means that we have to stop being friends with sinful, unregenerate people.  If we are honest about our spiritual walk, we would have to admit that at some point in our past God had to kick our keister to get us into line. 

In our study of Scripture in it's original language and verbiage, the Holy Spirit is our paraclete, One who comes beside to comfort and to guide.  His work is summed up in the Greek verb parakaleo a combination of the preposition para (meaning near, beside, in proximity, or causal) and the word kaleo (meaning to call by name, to invite, or to give a name or a title).  Therefore surround yourself with people who are led by the Spirit to call you out, to call you by name, to come alongside and bestow upon you the name Christian so that you are bound to live up to it.  These people are truly doing God's work among men, by the grace and direction of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus.