June 3, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
If I asked you this morning to take out a sheet of
paper and write down exactly who the Holy Spirit is, what would you write? How would you explain exactly who the Holy
Spirit is? Even though we know who the
Holy Spirit is, when it comes right down to it, it seems that of the three
members of the Trinity, it is the Holy Spirit about whom we know the
least. Though we have a pretty good
handle on who the Father is, and we are very confident that we know who the Son
is, when we seek to explain who the Holy Spirit is, many times it seems that
the explanation eludes us. Part of this
may stem from the fact that there are quite a number of different explanations
from different religious groups in our world today. When it comes to the Holy Spirit, there are
some who believe that he is nothing more than the wind of God—a divine, but
impersonal force that does the will of the heavenly Father. There are others who believe that the Holy
Spirit is more of an idea, a phase of God, so to speak, or even Jesus in disguise. But on top of that there are even those who
believe that the Holy Spirit doesn’t really exist at all. It is because of all of this that we want to
take a closer look at the Holy Spirit today, study what Jesus has to say about
him so that we will be easily able to answer the question, “Who is the Holy
Spirit?”
So, “Who is the Holy Spirit?” Quite simply, the Holy Spirit is the third
person of our Triune God. The Holy
Spirit is the Counselor or the Advocate whom Jesus promised to send to his
disciples after he, Jesus, had returned to his throne in heaven. In fact, as Jesus spoke to his disciples in
our lesson today, he reminded them that the Spirit of Truth who would come to
them, whom Jesus would send, was indeed truly God, just as Jesus was. Take a look at what Jesus says, “I have much
more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide you into all 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. 14
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to
you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit
will take from what is mine and make it known to you." (John 16:12–15,
NIV84)
With these simple and beautiful words, Jesus assured
his disciples that the Spirit of God, about whom they had learned from the
pages of the Old Testament Scriptures, was, in fact, the Holy Spirit—the third
Person of the Trinity. This Spirit of
God, or Spirit of Truth, as Jesus had called him, was the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit, who would be sent to the
disciples by both Jesus and God the Father, was indeed true God just as Jesus
and the Father are. This Holy Spirit,
who was promised to come to the disciples after Jesus had departed, was the one
who would bring glory to Jesus, to the Father, and to himself as he took what
belonged to Jesus and made it known to the disciples. For in the same way that Jesus did not speak
on his own accord when he was here on earth, but only spoke what his Father had
commanded him, so also the Holy Spirit would not speak on his own behalf but
would speak only what he had heard Jesus speaking. In the same way that Jesus had taken what belonged
to his Father and made it known to his disciples, so also the Holy Spirit would
take what belonged to Jesus and make it known to his disciples. In the same way
that everything that belonged to the Father also belonged to Jesus, so also
everything that belonged to Jesus belonged to the Holy Spirit as well, because
the Holy Spirit is, indeed, true God and one of the persons of the Trinity,
which why Jesus said in verse 14 and 15 of our lesson today, “He will bring
glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that
belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from
what is mine and make it known to you." (John 16:14–15, NIV84)
How incredible it is to hear Jesus speak about the
Holy Spirit in words like these! For in
these two verses, Jesus confirms that the Holy Spirit is a member of the
Trinity to be worshiped and adored as the Lord and God that he is. Though Jesus doesn’t go into dogmatic details
as to just how the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, he tells us that we can
be certain that he is truly Lord and God, just as Jesus and the Father also
are. Though the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit are three distinct and separate persons of the Trinity, they are
never-the-less, God Almighty! They are
our Triune God who has revealed himself to us as the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Though the Holy Spirit may
be the member of the Trinity about whom we seem to know the least, we know from
what Jesus tells us in our lesson today that it is the Holy Spirit who brings
us glory to the Father, the Son, and to himself, as he proclaims to us the
truth of God’s Word and calls us to faith in our Triune God.
What an amazing and most important office that is
given to the Holy Spirit! He is the one
who proclaims the Word of Truth. He is the
one who calls us to faith in our Triune God.
He is the one who lives in our hearts and speaks to our hearts, helping
us to grow in our knowledge of the Lord through the Word of Truth. He is the one who uses the Scriptures to
strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior, He is the one who comforts us
in all trouble and reminds us of the Truth by calling to our memories the very
passages of Scripture that we need to know in a specific moment, or even
guiding us in the direction that we need to go in our lives, just as Jesus
promised in verses 13 and 14 of our lesson today: “But when he, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide you into all 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. 14
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to
you." (John 16:13–14, NIV84)
This is exactly what he did for the disciples on the
Day of Pentecost! For as we heard this
past Sunday, when they heard the sound of the rushing wind and saw the tongues
of fire separating and lighting on their heads, they were filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to proclaim the Wonders of God in languages they had never
before spoken or learned. On that day,
when Peter stood up before the crowds and gave his extemporaneous sermon to the
people who were gathered there, it was the Holy Spirit who guided him in the
truth and gave him the words to say. On
that day, when 3,000 people were added to the number of believers, it was the
Holy Spirit who worked through the word being proclaimed and created faith in
the hearts of those people who believed.
Later, when the Apostles and the Evangelists sat down to write the words
of the New Testament, it was the Holy Spirit who guided them and breathed into
them the Words which they wrote down for our learning. Even when Paul, John, Peter, and others were
writing about the things that would happen in the last days, the Sprit was with
them telling them what was yet to come so that through their work, we might
believe!
But even though the days of the Apostles are long
past, that in no way means that the Holy Spirit’s work has come to a
close! Not in the least! For he is the one who is still guiding us in
the Truth of God’s Word whenever we read it, study it, or simply gather
together to hear it. He is working even
now as I am proclaiming the Word to you so that through this Word that you are
hearing, your faith may be strengthened and you might come to a more thorough
knowledge of our God and his Word. He is
the one who is present as simple water is connected with God’s Word, forming a
conduit for the Holy Spirit to enter the hearts of infants and create faith
there. He is the one who lives in our
hearts uttering prayers to our heavenly Father when we haven’t the words to
speak for ourselves. He is the one who
helps us to understand the Scriptures.
He is the one who moves the hearts of young people to train to serve him
as Pastors, Teachers, Early Childhood Educators, and Staff Ministers. He is the one who presides at call meetings,
be they the assignment committee that met just a few weeks ago, or be they
voters meeting in a church to call a new worker for the congregation. He is the one who is at work in the hearts of
those whom he calls leading them to the best decision for the Kingdom of God. He is the one who as at work in the hearts of
each and every believer, speaking to our hearts with the Word of God,
encouraging us in our faith in Jesus, and even leading us through this life,
directing us and our lives so that we might serve the Lord as he sees fit. Yes, it is the Holy Spirit who is at work in
every nation, among every people, speaking every language so that through the
Truth of God’s Word many more might come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ their
Savior, and receive the free gift of everlasting life to live with our Father,
our Savior, and the Holy Spirit for all time and forever more.
How amazing the Work of the Holy Spirit is! Though we may have been especially clear on
who the Holy Spirit is and what his work is when we began today, I think it’s
safe to say that all of us have been reminded of who he is and all he
does. Though there are many different
ideas floating around as to who the Holy Spirit is, today we have been
reminded, from the Bible, exactly who he is.
So now, when someone asks you to tell them about the Holy Spirit and who
he is, you can deliver a simple answer.
You can tell them that the Holy Spirit is true God, the third Person of
the Trinity, the one who works in our hearts, creating and strengthening the
faith that trusts in Jesus as our Savior.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
