WALTZ UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Sermon Notes: The Holy Spirit At Work

Intro: Today is recognized on the Church calendar as Trinity Sunday, a day we recognize our God as One but in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we sang in our opening hymn, “God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity”. Although some religions portray God as a three headed being with one body, Christianity defines God as One God, consisting of three separate, but equal, persons, always acting in total unity while operating in different ways. It’s not a human concept, and therefore difficult for us to fully grasp and totally agree on. Even expert theologians can’t agree completely. But the underlying understanding of our God is that we have a loving Father, a Savior who died as our salvation from sin, and the Holy Spirit, who is actively working in our lives, and all three make up our One, Holy God.  

 

 I. “I believe in the Holy Spirit”

A. We further state our basic beliefs about the three persons of the Trinity in the three part Apostle’s Creed, and adopted later in church history, the Nicene Creed. One of the unfortunate weaknesses of the Apostles Creed is that while it defines the basic understanding of God, the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, it states only that “we believe in the Holy Spirit”, without elaborating on anything we believe about the Holy Spirit. The Nicene Creed, which I intend to present in more depth in the near future, elaborates more on the Holy Spirit as The Lord, the giver of life [who] proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.

B, Generally speaking, we’ve learned much about the Father as the focus of the OT, and know about the Son by His incarnation as a human during His earthly ministry. We not only learned about Him, but He taught us much more about His Father. But we don’t know as much about the Holy Spirit, and often misunderstand that third Person of the Trinity. Last week we celebrated Pentecost as the birthday of Christ’s Church, the coming of the Holy Spirit’s breathing Divine Life into the Church, Who has continued to be a very significant force in the Church, and in the world today, although not given as much attention as is deserved. So, this morning, I want to focus on the Holy Spirit.

C. We often hear about twins, or even triplets, tending to look and think alike, even though each has a separate identity. Our Triune God is like that, thinking and acting as One while operating separately. The Holy Spirit has been present in that Trinity since at least Creation, hovering over a formless world of chaos to create order by setting the boundaries of the heavens, lands, and waters. The Holy Spirit was very active throughout the OT, providing temporary powers to people when needed, such as Sampson’s supernatural strength, or to prophets like Isaiah for their prophetic visions foretelling God’s immediate plans for the people’s future, as well as His longer-range plans to restore the world to Himself.

Leaders like King David also experienced moments of prophesy through the Holy Spirit. We even see the Holy Spirit baptism of Jesus at the start of His ministry, then leading Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. During this time, the Holy Spirit was an active force that came upon individuals when needed, but left when the need was no longer. But the Spirit still functioned as an equal, yet separate being of the Triune, Holy God.

D. We may not think of the Spirit as a person, with a gender, but Scripture never refers to the Holy Spirit as an ‘it’, always as ‘He’. In our Gospel lesson, Jesus is telling the disciples of His imminent departure, then tells them of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the Advocate, saying “When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own. He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.”  So He is a person, not an ‘it’. Now the gender distinction as male is irrelevant, but having only two choices, the association with power gives the male option more credence. However, for those of you who have read or watched The Shack, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as an Asian woman, and ‘God ‘the Father’ as a black woman. It may have shaken our previous biases, but yet opens up our thinking to beyond such human distinctions. When Jesus uses the term Advocate, He is showing the Holy Spirit in terms of our defense attorney, which in today’s world would be quite acceptable as a woman. Although we could continue with either gender, I’m going to use ‘He’ to be consistent with Scriptural usage.

 

II. Come, Holy Spirit

A. Although I said that since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, I need to clarify that by saying if we invite Him in. Last week, at the baptism of Rilynn, I talked about the Holy Spirit’s Prevenient, or coming before, Grace that begins to nudge us at birth to accept Jesus as Savior. At the moment we accept Christ as Savior, as we enter into salvation as Justifying Grace, the Holy Spirit begins indwelling in us, guiding us on our path of Sanctifying Grace, or setting us apart for God’s use. Some churches believe that you must also actually be baptized in the Holy Spirit, at which time you would show evidence by speaking in tongues.

Paul asked believers in Ephesus, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”, at which time Paul laid hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. In the Methodist Church, like in many others, the various ceremonies of baptism, confirmation and membership include an invitation to the Holy Spirit, but without requiring speaking in tongues without proper understanding and monitoring. The greater emphasis is on the Holy Spirit’s Presence in our daily Christian lives.

B. The Holy Spirit also has a distinct personality. We believe God is Love, but God doesn’t just possess the characteristic of Love - He is Love by nature, the essence of Love, and therefore only acts out of Love. His absolute love may cause Him to be angry, hurt, jealous, and forgiving. In that same way, when Jesus identifies the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, He is not just truthful by nature, He can only function with absolute Truth. In the early church, people often sold their possessions and gave money from the proceeds to the Church. It was a voluntary act, but in Acts 5, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, lie to the Church about giving all their proceeds when they actually held back some for themselves, and the Holy Spirit strikes them dead. The Holy Spirit is Truth and He was teaching the church the consequences of lying to the Spirit. Even though we may not experience such severe consequences, we fool ourselves if we think we can lie to the indwelling Holy Spirit.  

C. We can grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul warns the Ephesian church not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but does not give any particular consequences. But once we accept the Holy Spirit into our lives, we grieve Him by ignoring His nudging, continuing to walk our own sinful path. Even then, the Holy Spirit remains within us, continually moving within us toward righteousness. He won’t leave us, unless we commit the unforgivable sin. But what is the unforgiveable sin?  If, after knowing the power of the Holy Spirit, we direct Him to leave us alone in our sinful state, He may do so. What makes this unforgiveable is that there is no longer anything to motivate us to seek forgiveness, because it’s the Holy Spirit within us that constantly pushes us to seek forgiveness. So, if we worry we’ve committed the unforgivable sin... we haven’t, because we wouldn’t have such a worry without the Presence of the Spirit within us. God’s mercy is too great to ever give up on us, and always willing to forgive us.

 

III. John 16:1-13

A. We shouldn’t see the Holy Spirit as merely a watchdog, ready to take action if we sin, or force us to do things against our desires. Seeing the Holy Spirit in such a way is the negative way of seeing Him at work. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate. The Greek word for Advocate is Paraclete, which literally means one who comes alongside of. A Helper.

As our Advocate, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to help us overcome our human sinfulness. Like a defense attorney who comes alongside us, helping our inability to overcome violation of a law. Another word for Advocate in earlier translations of the Bible, is Comforter, assuring us of God’s Presence especially in knowing forgiveness when we’ve sinned.

E. During His earthly ministry, Jesus had human limitations. But as He says in John 3:17, He didn’t come into the world to condemn the world – it was already condemned, but to save us. The Holy Spirit isn’t limited by time or distance. His powers are intended to help us, leading us to Jesus. So we should see the Holy Spirit as a proactive force, helping strengthen our relationship with our God, and live the life we were created to.

F. Paul tells us in Romans 8:26-27 that, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans, and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Other translations use ‘sighs too deep for words’, or groanings which cannot be uttered, Instead of wordless groans. Did you ever feel so deeply about something, perhaps joy or deep sorrow, that you just couldn’t find the words to express those feelings? That’s what this passage conveys about the Holy Spirit. We don’t always even know how we ought to pray, but the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, who knows the mind of the Triune God, intercedes for us with the God who loves us so deeply, when our human words cannot.

 

III. Galatians 5:1-4; 36-40

A. Or Epistle reading goes even further. In the first part of that passage, Paul has been preaching the freedom that Jesus offers from the slavery to sin. Freedom from the penalty of the letter of the law which we can never live up to. Instead, through forgiveness, we are freed from the yoke of slavery. But then religious leaders came preaching to the Gentiles in the Galatian church that they had to obey the letter of the law, specifically in circumcision, if they were to be saved. No, says Paul, you’ve been set free from that yoke by the grace of God. But don’t then live by the sinful desires of the flesh either. Sexual immorality, drunkenness, hatred, fits of rage, dissensions, selfish ambitions – things we constantly come in contact with in this world. But rather, walk by the Spirit and don’t gratify the desires of the flesh. The Spirit even provides us qualities that enable us to do that - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Like fruits from the Tree of Life.

 

Conclusion: Do you know the Holy Spirit in your life?  How can you tell?

   First of all, do you believe the Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity, not just a power or an influence?

   Do you affirm the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?  Are you being drawn to Christ? If you’re placing your trust in Christ, then the Holy Spirit is working in your life.

   Are you becoming more like Christ? If so, it’s because the Holy Spirit is working in your life.

   And are you serving Christ? If so, it’s because the Holy Spirit is at work, glorifying Christ in you.

   I pray it is so, so that we may be fully able to say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Amen