alpha@wefc

Who Is The Holy Spirit & What Does He Do? Sat, 31 Oct, 2009

Introduction

Of the three persons in the Trinity – Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit is often the least known and understood. Yet He is vitally and intimately involved in our initial conversion, as well as in our ongoing growth as Christians. Our awareness of His work in our lives can bring us great joy, hope and fulfilment.

Even among Christians, there can be misunderstandings and confusion about who the Holy Spirit is, and what His role is. So, today, let’s learn a bit more together, shall we?

As we begin, let me pray. One of the things that the Holy Spirit does is to guide believers into God’s truths (John 16:13). So let’s pray that we will allow Him to do so.

A. Who is the Holy Spirit?

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1. The Holy Spirit is a Person within the Trinity

It’s very important to know that the Holy Spirit is as much a person as God the Father and God the Son. He is not an impersonal “it”, nor an influence, a phantom, or an apparition. He is not some force, like in Star Wars: “may the force be with you.”

Our view of the Holy Spirit is coloured by our use of the word “spirit” in casual conversation. For example. We speak of “the spirit of the times”, or say that “a spirit of expectancy swept through the participants at the Alpha Retreat as they eagerly latched on to every word that Pastor Shern was saying”. But the Holy Spirit is a person. And not just any person, but part of the Trinity, equal to God. He is referred to as “God’s Spirit” (e.g. 1 Corinthians 3:16), and He is eternal (the “Eternal Spirit”, Hebrews 9:14) and He is omnipresent (“where can I go from your spirit?”, Psalm 139:7).

Some misunderstandings about the Holy Spirit stems from the fact that the work of the Holy Spirit is not as visible or prominent as that of God the Father or of Jesus the Son. We tend to misunderstand the things that we are not so sure about. So some people – Christians included – have resisted the Holy Spirit, out of ignorance or even fear. Perhaps that He will take control of them, turning them into robots or something.

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2. The Holy Spirit was promised by God the Father and by God the Son

In the Old Testament, God promised a new type of relationship with His people and the gift of the Holy Spirit to make this possible. One famous passage is found in the writings of the prophet Ezekiel:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

- Ezekiel 36:26-27

But these prophecies concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit remained unfulfilled for at least 300 years. It was with the coming to earth of Jesus, the Son of God, that there is a great activity of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible records for us that Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God. Jesus had a particularly intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Him (Luke 1:35). Jesus was anointed by the Spirit at His baptism (Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice through the Spirit (Hebrew 9:14), and He was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit (Romans 1:4).

And in the New Testament, Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who follow Him:

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

- John 14:26

The term “Counselor” conveys the idea of one who comes alongside us to guide, advise and help us. Counselling would obviously not be possible if the Holy Spirit was just some impersonal influence.

Jesus’ promise was fulfilled on the day that we call Pentecost: the day when the disciples were first filled with the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts tells the amazing story. Soon after Jesus was resurrected and went back to God, one day the believers were gathered in Jerusalem. Suddenly a great wind and tongues of fire came upon them, and with the filling of the Holy Spirit, the disciples received the ability to speak new languages, and received great boldness and power to tell others the good news about Jesus (Acts 2).

God has promised to give His Holy Spirit to every Christian.

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

- Acts 2:38-39

But that brings us to the next part of our talk.

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B. What does the Holy Spirit do?

One way to understand the work of the Holy Spirit is to see Him as the one who executes, or carries out, the purposes and plans of God. Even though the work of the Holy Spirit is self-effacing, He is also God and therefore directly affects us through His divine ministry. He is the one who carries out God’s purposes – creation, conviction of sin, spiritual regeneration, enlightenment, sanctification (making us holy), and glorification. This sounds very profound but we will understand this better as we go along.

When we become Christians, we are born again. When God’s Spirit and the spirit of a man or a woman come together, a new spiritual being – a Christian – is created. This is what it means when we talk about being “born again”. We have new life because we are spiritually born again. We are born into a new spiritual family – the Family of God. When you and I were born physically, we were born into a human family. When you and I are born again spiritually, we are born into God’s family.

The work of the Holy Spirit can be understood in terms of a family. All those profound terms earlier: in a sense, they are to do with how the Holy Spirit produces in us a family likeness. Who looks more like your mother? Your father? A grandparent? Well, the Holy Spirit produces in us a family likeness. As we allow Him to work in us, God’s image in us becomes clearer and clearer, and we will look more and more like Jesus. God the Holy Spirit assures us of our relationship with God the Father, and helps us develop this relationship. He also unites us with our brothers and sisters, and gives us different gifts and abilities. And He enables this family to grow in size!

We can perhaps summarize the work of the Holy Spirit in 2 ways:

1. The Holy Spirit enriches our relationship with God our Heavenly Father

As we have said before, the Holy Spirit brings us new life, causing us to be born again. But His work does not stop there. He continues to create that family likeness in us, thus enriching our relationship with God. There are several aspects to this:

First the Holy Spirit helps us to know that we are children of God!

…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

- Romans 8:14-16

This is an awesome privilege and perhaps the greatest experience that Christians have: to know, deep within us, that we are loved as God’s children.

Second, the Holy Spirit helps us to develop this relationship. He helps us to pray:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

- Romans 8:26

and He enables us to understand God’s truths in the Bible – so that we will know God our Father better and better.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

- Ephesians 1:17

In addition, the Holy Spirit helps us in other wonderful ways to develop our relationship with God our Father and to live lives that show forth His purposes. We’ve alluded to some of these earlier. The Holy Spirit:

• Guides us to truth (John 16:13)
• Reveals Jesus to us (John 16:14)
• Comforts us (John 14:16)
• Counsels us (John 14:26)
• Gives us power to tell others about Jesus (Acts 1:8)
• Helps us in our weaknesses (Romans 8:26)
• Brings unity to us (Ephesians 4:3-6)
• Gives spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11)
• Gives spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)

2. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to all the children of God

Like any parent, God gives gifts to his children. Each person is uniquely different, so He gives different gifts to each person. These are called “spiritual gifts”, and they include many different gifts, like the gift of shepherding, or the gift of administration, or the gift of mercy, or the gift of hospitality. You’ll discuss more about spiritual gifts during small group discussion time later.

Spiritual gifts are given for us to use to help the rest of the family. You may have seen spiritual gifts in operation in church? There are those with the gift of shepherding: often they are care group leaders or pastors. Then there are those with the gift of teaching. Those with the gift of helps, who quietly work behind the scenes in very practical ways. Those with the gift of faith, who believe that God can do great and wonderful things beyond our imagination, and who are often the prayer warriors and intercessors.

Each of us has at least one spiritual gift. You may or may not yet have discovered what that spiritual gift is. Either way, you’re in for an exciting journey, as you grow in the use of this gift!

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Conclusion

Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. If you are truly born again, God’s Spirit is in you. But the problem is that not every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Why is this so important? And how can we be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Let’s briefly recap.

Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God, one of the 3 members of the Trinity. His coming was promised by God the Father and by God the Son. What does the Holy Spirit do? He enriches our family relationship with God: causing us to be born again into God’s family, and then by growing the family likeness in us. He also gives us special gifts which we are to use to help others in God’s family – our brothers and sisters – to grow and to serve God better.

- Ps Shern