The Work of the Holy Spirit

The book of Acts records the Day of Pentecost. The apostles were all together in one place and suddenly a sound like the rush of a mighty wind came from heaven and filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues of fire, distributed, and resting on each one of them. When my brother was little, he was fascinated with fire. So, Mom gave him a box of matches. She parked him on the back porch steps and told him to strike them all. He did. He watched each one burst forth in flame, and then settle and burn. Tongues of fire burst forth and rested on each one there, and then settled, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit burning within them, just as Jesus had promised.

John records Jesus comforting his disciples as they sat at table celebrating the Passover, aware that the Temple authorities were provoked and looking for Jesus, ready to strike. “If I didn’t go,” says Jesus, “the Counselor could not come to you. And you want the Counselor to come.” The title for the Holy Spirit here, elegchein, translated Counselor, is the word in Greek used in a court of law to name the lawyer who cross-examines a witness.
The work of the Counselor is to probe the world on its sinfulness and get a conviction. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us aware of our unworthiness, and the sheer and utter grace that God’s forgiveness is.

Brook Ginsler had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land while she was a student at Notre Dame. She tells about celebrating Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. “We celebrated Mass….. Just yards away from the actual ground where Jesus was born, we offered our prayers to the God who offered his only Son for the salvation of humanity. Here, where the Word became flesh, we dared to read the Word of God and eat of his flesh, the Body of Christ. I was moved, my heart and soul, to a state of wonder.

As the Mass proceeded, I considered how immensely fortunate I was to be one of perhaps 100 people at this holiest of sites, where the source of Christianity was born! Out of all Christians throughout the world, I was called to participate in the Eucharist in the place where my Savior came into the world. Needless to say, the words at the end of the Eucharistic prayer, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof . . .” have since taken on new meaning for me….I felt unworthy to be under HIS roof, for this was the first home of Jesus on Earth!…I did nothing to deserve the saving love of Christ, and this line of the Eucharistic Prayer is for me an acknowledgement of the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice. Through faith and dependence on his Word, his mercy, I shall receive the peace that can only come through Christ, and “my soul shall be healed.”

Jesus says, You want the cross-examiner to come. Because the cross-examiner is going to probe the world on its sinfulness, and it is only when we realize our sinfulness that we recognize our need for a Savior.

And the cross examiner is going to prove the righteousness of Jesus, that Jesus is worthy, Jesus is the Savior we need. William Barclay writes, “When you think of it, it is an amazing thing that [we] should put [our] trust for all eternity in a crucified Jewish criminal. What convinces [us] that this crucified Jew is the Son of God? That is the work of the Holy Spirit.”

And the cross-examiner will convince us of the judgment of the ruler of the world. Our world is now subject to the ways of evil and power, but the cross-examiner will reveal that the world’s judgment is wrong. Evil does not triumph. Death does not have the last word. The world is sinful because it does not believe that Jesus’ death is his victory. The world’s judgment is wrong, and the cross-examiner will set it right.

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is perhaps best known for her work on the 5 stages of grief. While she was researching and interviewing dying patients in the hospital, she noticed that sometimes, when she would go into a dying person’s room, the patient would be calm and at peace. She also noticed a pattern to who was so calm…the calm patients often had just had their room cleaned – by one particular orderly.

So, one day, she happened to pass this orderly in the hallway and asked her what she was doing with her patients. “I’m not doing anything with your patients!” exclaimed the orderly.

After she had convinced the orderly that whatever she was doing was good, she asked again, “What are you doing in my patients’ rooms?”

“I just talk to them,” came the answer, “You know, I’ve had two babies of my own die on my lap. But God never abandoned me. I tell them that. I tell them that they aren’t alone, that God is with them, and that they don’t have to be afraid.”

Through this orderly, the Holy Spirit transformed these patients’ view of death from the world’s view that death is something to be feared and faced alone to God’s view that death is a part of life, never faced alone, for God never abandons us in life or in death and there is no reason to be afraid.

Jesus tells the disciples, “I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all Truth.” Truth isn’t revealed all at once. The Spirit will guide us, as we are able to bear it, into all Truth. The work of God’s Holy Spirit is to reveal Truth to us. Jesus says, “He will glorify me.” “To “glorify” is literally to make visible the presence of God. (O’Day and Hylen)”
But how does this revelation happen? How does the Holy Spirit guide us into all Truth? How is the presence of God revealed in our lives?

The Holy Spirit guides us into all Truth as we seek it. After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles had returned to Jerusalem, and on the day of Pentecost were all together in the upper room. Acts tells us that they and the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers all devoted themselves to prayer. And there, Peter stood up and reminded them of the words of Scripture that had to be fulfilled.

We make ourselves open to the Holy Spirit through gathering as believers, prayer, and studying Scripture. We have to study Jesus’ life and follow his example. “The nearer we live to Jesus, the better we will know him. The more we become like Him, the more He will be able to tell us. (Barclay).”

When my brother finished striking the last match in the box, he walked inside and asked Mom if she had any more matches. He was not satisfied. He has had a life-long fascination with fire. He is now a Fire Safety Engineer for the City of Denver. When I asked him if I could use him as a sermon illustration, he offered to email pictures of him in the burn building at the fire academy.

The Holy Spirit guides us into all Truth as we seek it. As we study and develop in our understanding we are convicted that we need a Savior and convinced that Jesus, a Middle Eastern Jewish man who was executed 2000 years ago, is that Savior and led by the cross-examiner to the Truth that his death is our life. May tongues of fire burst forth and rest on each one here, and settle, filling us all with the Holy Spirit burning within us, just as Jesus promised. Amen.