The Holy Spirit's Mission
Notes
Transcript
Opener
Opener
I have gotten this question a few times. Am I still working at MSFT having taken over Bryan’s position as head pastor and the answer is yes I am. Part of the way we are making this church plant stuff work is we, the Summit, are supporting Bryan over the next year entirely. Bryan will be coming and preaching about once a month to help us (and particularly me) pull that off. This is our church plant in Sioux Falls. Hopefully in the coming years we will be able to set up a ministry fund that all the churches give toward with church planting. We have a great group of leaders here. We have seen more people stepping up. Going above and beyond. Church planting takes a lot of sacrifice from both those who send and those who go. I remember in our early days it wasn’t uncommon for people to say something like we like it here but we want to go to a church that is established. In other words one were there is not a lot of work.
For us church is always going to be more than being a mere service provider. We are a community of people founded on the Messiah being knit together in love through real relationships. Amen?
Next week is Baptism Sunday and we will be talking about Baptism specifically. Today we are going to lay a broader foundation in talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in particular to the person of Jesus Christ.
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“It is estimated to cost $350,000 to $500,000 to train a single Navy SEAL. To keep a single Navy SEAL operational and deploy able overseas it costs some where around 1,000,000 per year.”
A Navy Seal is an incredible valuable member of the military, but not necessarily the highest rank. Yet not being in the highest rank, does not correlate to the importance of their role. In fact a Navy seal could easily be much more valuable than many members of the military that out rank them.
This is true in other areas as well. In sales a front line salesman can be more valuable to a company than the manager over him.
An engineer at a company can be infinitely more valuable to an organization than the VP they role up under.
What my wife does 9-5 with our kids is infinitely more valuable then what I do 9-5 with MSFT. I really believe that. Let me just put it this way. My kids are irreplaceable my job isn’t.
Today we are talking about The Holy Spirit and His Role and really beyond that His motives and mission in His role.
Point 1: The Spirit has a Role
Point 1: The Spirit has a Role
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
Complex Unity
Complex Unity
Why are we talking about just the Holy Spirit? Why not God in general? Ah because even though there is only one God. He is complex in his unity. The Holy Spirit is a unique member of the God head. It is very important we understand this. This is something that is not just a NT thing either. It is seen throughout Scripture.
Gen 1:26
“Let us make man in our Image!”
God says, “Let us make man in Our image.” There is no hint in Scripture that we are made in the image of angels. The plural of majesty the best we can tell was not used at this time. This is likely a reference to the Godhead.
God is complex. God is one. There is only one God. The Father is God, The Son (Jesus) is God, and The Holy Spirit is God and fully God. Yet the Father is not the Son nor the Spirit. The Son is not the Father nor the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Son nor the Father. So they are distinct. Yet there is only one God. Theologians have said it this way… which is helpful. There is one God in essence. There are three persons who make up the God head.
Paradox
Paradox
The Scriptures are not okay with contradictions but they are quite comfortable with paradox. Take the incarnation. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Some of you may be thinking that one is a little easier. Is it though? Let me ask you this can God be tempted? He cannot. Was Jesus tempted? In every way in which we have been! It is paradoxical but not contradictory. So deep and mysterious. Same thing is true of the Trinity.
The trinity also alleviates other problems though. For example if God is love, and that is a defining attribute, how is it that God has existed in eternity solo. Yet if He is a trinity then it makes perfect sense. God has existed in relationship for all eternity. It even helps to explain the dramatic nature of some of the most profound passages in Scripture.
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Jesus existed in perfect harmony, glory, and presence with the Father for all eternity. He empties Himself… not of His divine attributes, but privilege . Trinity helps explain this.
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
When Jesus bears in His body our sins. For the first time ever that relationship with the Father becomes estranged. He has forsaken so we could be accepted. The Trinity helps explain this.
All that to say as important as it is that we are monotheist. We only worship ONE God. Not three gods, but one God. It is also just as important that we understand there are distinctive roles and functions that the members of the trinity take on. And the Holy Spirit plays a very important role!
Fuller Revelation in The NT
Fuller Revelation in The NT
We see this in the Old Testament, but it comes to center stage in The New Testament. What was hinted at in the Old gets shouted from the roof tops in the New. What was cloaked in the old, gets revealed in the New. This was part of the nature of the mission of Jesus Himself. It makes sense. Angels, prophets, signs and wonders pale in comparison to having the Son step down out of heaven and dwell among us.
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
The Roles of The Trinity
The Roles of The Trinity
The Son doesn’t just reveal more about Himself though but about the Father and the Spirit as well.
Some have said in regards to the plan of Redemption: The Father Sends the Son, The Son accomplishes redemption, and The Spirit applies redemption in the new birth. Same mission but different roles. We see this as well as we take a closer look at the ministry of Jesus.
Incarnation
Incarnation
You see all three members of the Trinity present at the incarnation
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
Holy Spirit, Father (Most High), and Son of God all at work but different roles.
Baptism
Baptism
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Jesus (The Son), The Spirit of God, and “a voice” who has to be “The Father” because it is His “Son”. Again all different roles.
Ministry
Ministry
From this point on you see Jesus do ministry “in the Power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) as He only does what “He sees the Father doing” (John 5:19). Again all different roles. But similarities across each example. The Father ordaining, commanding or sending. The Son Accomplishing, and the Spirit empowering or enabling.
The Cross
The Cross
And then at the cross you have all three members of the Trinity present but in distinct ways. The Father judging sin and accepting the most perfect and holy sacrifice. The son being that perfect sacrifice as He makes this offering “through the eternal Spirit” (Hebrews 9:14). Agin all at work but in different roles.
So we see the role of the Holy Spirit start to form.
Point 2: The Spirit is all about The Son
Point 2: The Spirit is all about The Son
Another way to talk about His role is to talk about His Mission and even a layer deeper, His motivation.
These are deep questions, but we can actually know the answer to them because Jesus tells us.
John 14 - The Mission
John 14 - The Mission
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
“After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
“In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
“He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
We see lots of things the Spirit is in this passage.
He is a helper
He will be with us forever
He is a teacher and revealer and a perfect one at that as He is The Spirit of Truth
He helps us specifically to love and obey
I want to bring to your attention in particular verse 26. He will “bring to remembrance all that I said”. He has a particular mission not to add something new. But to help them remember what Jesus had done and taught. Just as He had amplified Jesus ministry while Jesus was on earth at every stage so now He is pointing back to that very work. Notice the attention is on the work and teaching of Jesus.
John 16 - The Motive
John 16 - The Motive
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
The same thing again here in John 16, but it actually gets more specific. Not only is bringing to remembrance what Jesus taught He is communicating exactly what Jesus is saying. And then He says these beautiful words in verse 14, “He will glorify me.” We now get into the motive of the Holy Spirit… to glorify the Son.
So if John 14 tells us His mission to continue to amplify the finished work of Jesus. John 16 tells us the motive… to glorify the Son!
A Spirit Empowered Church
A Spirit Empowered Church
Do you know what a Spirit empowered church looks like? It looks like a Church that glorifies the SON!
Things of The Spirit
Things of The Spirit
It never goes… yeah that Jesus stuff is good but lets get into the things of The Spirit. The things of the Spirit are the Son.
Prophecy
Prophecy
Be weary of those who love prophecy but talk little of Jesus. The Bible says in Revelation 19:10, “The Testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy.” Why is that because the Spirit’s mission to remind and point us at the finished work of the Son and to glorify the person of Jesus! A prophet who makes little of Jesus but much of the next big dream I have no time for.
The Gifts
The Gifts
The purpose of the gifts, the supernatural equipping of the Holy Spirit, is entirely to build up the body of CHRIST! To build them into the fullness of Christ Jesus (Ephesians 4). Why? Because the Spirits mission is to glorify the SON!
Sin and Holiness
Sin and Holiness
Be weary of those who love mighty works and miracles, signs and wonders but care little of sin, righteousness, and judgement! Have they really missed out on the fact that he is called the “Holy” Spirit for a reason. And what is at the heart of the Holy Spirits ministry. Making those who believe in THE SON new creations. He is applying the work of Jesus on the cross to the believer. This is His primary gig. This is what He does.
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
The Holy Spirit is obsessed with the finished work of Jesus. He is on a mission to bring glory to the Son.
Point 3: The Spirit Reveals
Point 3: The Spirit Reveals
The Spirit Reveals our sinfulness
The Spirit Reveals our sinfulness
As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.
And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”
Now much has been made about Jesus initial response to this, “neither… but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” but you can’t stop there. There is a much greater truth to be had. This man’s get healed, trusts in Jesus, and causes quite the upheavel with the Pharisees. By the end of the passage the Pharisees here Jesus talking to the man as the man worships him. and the Pharisees ask him this:
“We are not blind too are we?” Speaking of spiritual blindness.
Jesus answers with this, “If you were blind, you have no sin; but since you say, “We See” you sins remain.”
In other words until you can admit you are a sinner you are not going to recognize the Savior!
One of the first things the HOLY Spirit reveals to us is that we are sinners. And you have to understand what His definition of a sinner is. Dead in your trespasses and sins and children of wrath. We were completely spiritually blind. It wasn’t to quote wreck it Ralph, “I am bad guy but I am not a bad guy.” No we were completely “lost” to use another spiritual term.
The Holy Spirit is like a flashlight and He shins that light over on you and what do you see? A sinner.
The Spirit Reveals The Son
The Spirit Reveals The Son
But that is not the only thing he reveals. That is necessary to the process, but He reveals something much greater. Something He is obsessed with. That Jesus is our great God and Savior.
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
The Holy Spirit reveals to us who Christ is.
And even as a Christian He wants to take you deeper in this. Paul prays this for the Ephesian church in chapter 1:
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
All things for believers, revealed by The Spirit, concerning the work and person of Christ. Because the Spirit is on a mission to bring glory to the Son.
Paul prays in Ephesians 3 this
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Again this is for believers, revealed or empowered by the Spirit, concerning the work and person of Christ. Because He is on a mission to bring glory to the Son.
You can lean into this as a believer. You can cultivate this as a believer.
You can pray those prayers.
You ask God to search you and convict you of sin.
You can be obsessed with the person of the Son in every aspect of the Christian life. Because that is the desire of the Spirit.
How can I get onboard with the Spirit’s Mission of glorifying the Son? What gifts do I have from the Spirit? How can I use them to glorify the Son? How can I glorify Jesus by loving and serving my family, my church, my neighbor? How can I glorify Jesus by mortifying sinful desires and doing the things that please God.
Close
Close
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
A mighty ship at full sail on the sea without wind is useless. So is the Christian in bringing glory to Jesus without the Holy Spirit.