When Christ Goes the Holy Spirit Comes
On Pentecost we witness the transition in God's saving plan from the redeeming work of God the Son to the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit. John 16:5-11 gives a promise to us that is fulfilled by the Pentecost power of God. "When Christ Goes the Holy Spirit Comes." June 12, 2011.
His work is done. He was sent to win the victory and he went with everything he had. He focused on the goal with glaring intensity among cheers and jeers from the crowd. When others failed he persevered and struck out his opponents with superior skill. But he knew it was time for him to go, leaving the rest to the closer who would come in for the save.
In baseball that closer is the relief pitcher. In the Bible that closer is the Holy Spirit who comes to save. On Pentecost Sunday we witness the transition in God’s saving plan from the redeeming work of God the Son to the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit. “Now I am going to him who sent me,” Jesus updated his disciples about his exaltation to the right hand of God. “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt.” A promise to us and the wider world forged and then fulfilled by the Pentecost power of God. When Christ Goes the Holy Spirit Comes.
To convict the world for its lies
Like a starting pitcher delivers his ace throws not pacing himself for the long term but leaving it all on the field before leaving the game, Jesus gave all he had – his divinity, his humanity, his dignity, his humility, his death and love – as he delivered his ace blows to strike out sin, death, and the devil before leaving for heaven at his ascension. When Christ Goes the Holy Spirit Comes to take everything that Christ has done and put it to use in order to save sinners who repent. Christ once explained about the Holy Spirit, “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you … in a little while you will see me no more” (John 16:14,16). But some oppose God the Son’s work brought to them by God the Holy Spirit, putting them at odds with God in a worldly way that operates with fleshly, earthbound assumptions. The Holy Spirit comes to such people – the Bible refers to them as “the world” – not to comfort but to convict “in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” Even Christians aren’t immune to the influence of the world.
So Jesus explains, “In regard to sin, because people do not believe in me.” The chief sin, the capital offense is the refusal to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. That’s unbelief and it’s not just another sin but the sin. “Any who reject the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36), Jesus warns the world. Worldly thinking suggests that it is acceptable for a person to not believe in Jesus Christ just as long as they believe in something … that Oprah doesn’t have to believe in Jesus to have peace with her Creator and Eternal Companion. Uh, not according to her Creator.
Jesus continues describing the Spirit’s conviction of the world, “In regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.” The only way to righteousness, being right with God, is meeting the perfect standards of his righteousness. A .725 batting average is really good, and a .900 batting average is going to break records, but neither is perfect. Nobody, at every attempt to make contact with God’s commands, has hit every time. Even the best swing and miss, or some don’t even come to the plate at all. We can’t make ourselves right with God. But believers are right with God because our righteousness comes from the heavenly mercy of God, as Paul testifies, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:9). God rejects the worldly semi-righteousness that comes out of a person, but accepts the Spirit-provided righteousness that comes to a person from above, from Christ, by faith. That’s good news for anyone guilty of sin, and bad news for anyone who wants to invent their own religion.
Finally, the Holy Spirit convicts the world “in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” Worldliness thinks it can indiscriminately pledge allegiance to the devil, which makes him the prince of this world. Worldliness follows his deceptive lies like the “mercy killings” of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who died a week and a half ago at the age of 83, after a bizarre medical career that helped more than 130 patients commit suicide. Doctors are supposed to extend and enhance life, not end it. The devil stands condemned by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why team up with a loser whose lies don’t extend or enhance life but end it?
To counsel the Church with his truth
The wacko movie stars, Congressman Wiener and other misbehaving politicians, and weird scientists of the world may seem galaxies away from your Christian heart and home, making appearances only on screens or glossy magazine covers. But the same gravity of worldliness that pulls them down exerts its forces on us, and it has successfully pulled us down, sometimes without much resistance. With a slight sigh of disappointment Jesus told his disciples, “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things you are filled with grief.” Jesus’ disciples had little appreciation of what his leaving them really meant. Perhaps because they had little interest. They wanted Jesus to do things their way and worldly lies blinded them to the better way of God. But Jesus rebuilds their faith with saving promises: “The Counselor [will come] … When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:7,13).
God the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, comes as a consultant with the expertise that is always on-the-spot true, but better than a consultant he doesn’t come and go but the Holy Spirit stays, taking up his temple dwelling in us who believe. And his expertise is not experience-driven or research-based but timeless, absolute, divine truth that never fails. The Counselor also comes as a coach, who guides and instructs, who leads the way to success and calls us to account. The Holy Counselor not only helps us learn from mistakes, but he erases our sins from the books through the saving blood of Jesus Christ. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).
The Pentecost crowd heard the powerful promises of God and asked, “What does this mean” (Acts 2:12). The rest of the book of Acts becomes their own answer to that question as the Church gives, loves, prays, serves, worships and witnesses guided by the Closer, the Counselor who saves. Consider the Bible’s description of you and all believers, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). What does that mean for you? Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on June 12, 2011
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