Holy Spirit

Pentecost: The Holy Spirit & His Purpose

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The Holy Spirit is too often left on the sidelines in the circles of the church that I run in. Unlike Jesus, who we can picture in our mind’s eye as he walked the earth in a physical human body, the Holy Spirit is a mysterious being that makes us feel a little uneasy and leaves us confused—kinda like the smoke monster from Lost.

OK, so maybe you don’t picture the smoke monster when you think of the Holy Spirit, but I’m sure each of us has had moments of confusion and unease as people talk about the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of confusion and passion swirling around discussions on the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts, tongues, and baptism in the Spirit each incite passionate debate, but if we jump to these topics, we’ll miss what is absolutely clear concerning the Spirit in Scripture.

He’s the third person of the Trinity, and we certainly shouldn’t ignore Him. In fact, Jesus actually said it was better for him to go away so we could live with the Holy Spirit. So while we may not be able to describe some aspects of the Spirit, God has revealed why the Spirit has come to the earth to fill His people. We can be sure of His purpose, and His mission is incredibly good news for us.

The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us through the Word and empowers our witness for Christ.

Throughout the book of Acts, but especially in this week’s small group passage [Acts 2 – Pentecost], one finds that the Holy Spirit isn’t into doing crazy miraculous things for the WOW factor. Instead, each and every time, His actions are meant to point back to Jesus.

In Acts 2, Peter makes that incredibly clear when he explains in his sermon that the Old Testament told about the day that the Holy Spirit would come upon and save “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.” Who is that Lord? Peter quickly transitions from a focus on the Holy Spirit’s work of tongues to WHO that miracle was meant to lead people to call upon: Jesus, the Savior the Jews had been waiting for.

Ultimately, it’s the work of Christ that the Holy Spirit brings attention to and the people find themselves embracing. Sure, they were still amazed by what happened there that day, but they were changed by the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit revealed Christ through the sharing of Scripture, and without His work in the sharing of the Gospel, people will not be “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37), people will not see Jesus for who He really is, and they will not call upon the Lord and be saved.

Paul makes this very clear in the following passage:

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
-1 Thessalonians 1:4-5

We can share the Gospel all we want, but unless the Holy Spirit is with us, we have no hope of anyone responding. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is with every single believer in Jesus Christ. We can share the Gospel confidently, knowing that He is the one that will do the work on people’s hearts. We don’t get people into the Kingdom of God through our charisma or tightly wound intellectual arguments, but rather by simply witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. For, this is the very reason He has come to be with us: empowering us for mission.

So may we go with confidence and witness to our Savior, knowing that we’re united in purpose with the Spirit of the Almighty God.

Jesus Preps for Mission

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As we’ve been working through the story of Scripture over this past year, we now come to the New Testament. Since we last left off with prophets foretelling the coming of a Savior, the first chapters of Matthew share the miraculous birth story of the one they were foretelling: Jesus Christ. Now, we’re jumping ahead a few chapters into Jesus’ preparation for his mission.

In Matthew 3:13-4:11, we see Jesus baptized and tempted in the wilderness, and there’s a ton to learn from these passages. But three things stick out here that not only characterize Jesus’ life and ministry but should characterize ours as well.

1. Jesus gets his identity from the Father (3:17)

As Jesus emerges from being dunked the Jordan river, the Father declares His approval and His Sonship. We often read right past this as a simple truth about who Jesus is, but it’s this identity affirmed by the Father that gives Jesus the security to fight temptation, suffer persecution, undergo the torture of the cross, and ultimately die on that tree. Knowing he is God’s Son gives him the confidence to go wherever He leads, for he knows the Father will always work for the good of His children, especially His Son with whom he is well pleased.

The incredible thing is that in Jesus, we have the same identity and security. Unfortunately, the culture around us calls us to find our identity in so many other things: careers, relationships, success, etc. As a result, we experience fear, anxiety, anger, or insecurity. We need to follow our Savior and trust in the identity that he has given us through the Gospel by reminding ourselves of our adoption as children of God.

2. Jesus follows the direction of the Spirit (4:1)

Not only is finding our identity in God essential to life in this world, but Jesus also exhibits how we must be led by the Spirit. Jesus, as God himself, could have very well sought to do it all on his own, but instead, he followed the loving, gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit. And clearly, following the Spirit doesn’t mean we will always be led from one joyous, comfortable situation to the next. Jesus was led right into battle. But the Holy Spirit always leads to the good. In this case, Jesus was led to overcome temptation in the wilderness in contrast to the failure of our oldest parents: Adam and Eve.

Jesus sent us this same Spirit for our good, and it’s as we follow him into the difficult places that we will find life and victory just as Christ did. How do we do this? Primarily through the Word, prayer, and community, and it’s to the first of these that we now turn.

3. Jesus fights temptation with the Word (4:4, 7, 10)

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into battle, but it was a battle he was prepared for. Satan attacked with a variety of temptation that we all encounter in various forms throughout our lives: fame, success, power, etc. But Jesus overcame these strongest attacks even while at his weakest physically (He had just fasted 40 DAYS!!!), and he did this through the power of God’s Word.

If we hope to overcome temptation in our life and experience the fullness of abundant life that Jesus offers us right now, we must emulate him and know God’s Word so when we are faced with temptation, we have the means to overcome Satan’s lies with God’s truth.

May we be a people that emulate Christ for His fame and our good!