4th Easter

So when I think about my story of fully trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord, I feel a great sense of comfort that it seems to model that of my heros in the faith. If you did not know there is a bit of an East-West divide in Christian thought and the thinking of Western Christianity is very affected by the work of St. Augustine of Hippo. Quickly Augustine grew up wealthy, pagan dad and a Christian Mother. He was brilliant and taught in the academy at a young age. He talks about how he was trapped in a life of loose living. He threw himself at some of the philosophical schools of the day until he was disillusioned by them. Then he came to sit under the teaching of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. He started to realize there was something to this Gospel, these things his mom has been trying to teach hum but there was almost a block he could not see it.

I grew up in a nominally Catholic household. We would go to mass I took first communion, though I was the only sibling to not get confirmed. I knew how to mumble the creeds…ish, and I loved the narratives about Jesus life. But I didn't know about how salvation came. I thought the cross was a cruel act on a good man, and the Resurrection was the Aha…gotcha of history. Then I went to Christian Summer camp, someone layed out the tenets of the Gospel for me, that eh death and Resurrection of Jesus paid for my sin and guarantees everlasting life and suddenly all these spiritual premises under which my whole religious upbringing was based became real to me. I went back to mass and suddenly the Nicene Creed was the most wonderful description of faith I ever heard! And we would sing…Christ has Died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again…and it was like seeing the whole movie again for the first time. The Holy Spirit had used that moment at summer camp to reveal to me sin, righteousness, and judgment. In that he altered the whole course of my life.

Back to our beloved saint…he describes his conversion this way.

28. But when a profound reflection had, from the secret depths of my soul, drawn together and heaped up all my misery before the sight of my heart, there arose a mighty storm, accompanied by as mighty a shower of tears. ... So I retired to such a distance that even his presence could not be oppressive to me. .. lo, I heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and oft repeating, Take up and read; take up and read. Immediately my countenance was changed, and I began most earnestly to consider whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So, restraining the torrent of my tears, I rose up, interpreting it no other way than as a command to me from Heaven to open the book, and to read the first chapter I should light upon... I grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell —Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Romans 13:13-14 No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended — by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart — all the gloom of doubt vanished away.

The HS had opened the Eyes of this saint and he was soundly converted.

The thing I would convey to you from today’s text is that we should know what the work of the HS is and it should make us glad.

So let us look at today’s text and see how it wants us to think about the work of the HS

Verse 5. So Jesus will be absent as he ascends to go back to the father (Ascension) which we will celebrate next week Thursday May 18th.

Verse 6. This reality has caused sorrow for the disciples. Last week we talked about sorrow into Joy so we are not going to look at that again today but it is important if you want to revisit that. Right now we are going to keep our focus on the Holy Spirit.

Verse 7. Jesus tells us that the disciples benefit from his bodily absence as we will have the Holy Spirit.

So we do not have the bodily presence of Christ but we have the Holy Spirit why would this benefit us as believers. What I am about to walk through is some basic study of the Holy Spirit or pneumatology. Jesus is going to explicitly explain some of the things of the Holy Spirit to us. And when Jesus is absent and the Holy Spirit is present it means that his work goes from being local to Just Jesus to the work of Jesus going into the world through his church.

So Jesus present here in bodily form he is the place the work happens, Jesus is absent, the Holy Spirit here and we are the place it happens. What is this work that he is talking about..? That is in verse 8.

Verse 8. When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of three things

Sin, Righteousness and Judgement.

First note, this word convict (KJV Reprove, NIV Prove, CSB Convict): Eleg-cho: It is not a controversial verb, with different translations rendering a diversity of meanings. But since what we are about to be instructed about three major areas of the Holy Spirit all using this verb lets take a quick moment. To convict or reprove in this case has a legal connotation. That the Holy Spirit is going to win the case on these three areas. So its a pretty strong verbal meaning, more than just eliciting shame but bringing about actual cosmic consequence.

So that is the verb, what nouns will be effected. The conviction will be in the area of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Verse 9. There will be a conviction of the world on sin in that they have rejected Jesus. In the Gospel of John the whole world has put Jesus on trial, and now we see that it is infact the world that is on trial not Jesus Christ. And the world will be convicted guilty by the Holy Spirit. And now Jesus is leaving so it will not be a localized event…it will be the HS convicting the whole world for rejecting Jesus (BC THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN ME)

Verse 10 There will be a conviction about righteousness. Jesus is again performing the geographically specific work of convicting people. The Holy Spirit will take this message of righteousness to all places.

Verse 11. There will be a convicting of the world on judgement, because the counterfeit judgments of the devil will be silenced by the devil’s defeat and the true judgments of the HS. If you remember the devil is seen as the accuser of the saints. But he is also a liar from the beginning. Who in light of the devils counterfeit judgement is giving us the real thing? The Holy Spirit. Jesus on the Cross will defeat the devil and leave for us the voice of the Holy Spirit.

So to review our little study in the Theology of the Holy Spirit, Jesus work of teaching the world on sin righteousness and judgement is now taken over by the Spirit who is not limited by geography and the work will be even greater while Jesus is in heaven.

And just one more thing…if the Spirit’s work is evident among us, the result is that we look and we see Jesus as wonderful.

Verse 14 He will glorify me. Verse 15 All the Father has is mine; there fore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

In a place where the HSs work is evident we see Jesus as of the Father and having all that the father possesses.

The thing I would convey to you from today’s text is that we should know what the work of the HS is and it should make us glad.

So then what is the transforming principle of this text for us?

Well one thing that is ours todo is to carry on the ministry of the HS. Jesus ascends and goes to heaven. The HS descends on to us. We become the vessels by which the world is convicted of sin, righteousness and Judgement. We need to carry out this ministry. The church will be the means by which God makes these things known.

We have to comment on what is sin and what is not. Not Social media declarations but in those places where we have influence we have to stand for true justice, weather in issues of sex, life, race, oppression. We need to talk about righteousness, that is to point to the good the beautiful and the right. We need to declare judgement, that is the consequence for ignoring God’s standards.

Now all of this is intimidating, scary, the good news is that these conversations of conviction can take us to that blessed next step of talking about Jesus and his cross. We can talk about societal ills, and how Jesus is the victor over all things, including unjust social structures. We can talk about our failures for perfect righteousness and how Jesus perfectly meets that standard. We can talk about judgement and the tragedy of Hell and how Jesus’s work keeps us out of hell.

As Holy Spirit filled proclaimers we don’t stop with news of condemnations, we declare the Gospel of salvation.

This season of Easter will end with Trinity Sunday. That season of Church life that especially focuses on a Spirit filled church in the world as agents of redemption. My great hope for Trinity and its members is that when that season comes we will become some of the means by which God reaches this community, region, and wider world.

The thing I would convey to you from today’s text is that we should know what the work of the HS is and it should make us glad.

In the mean time. As we live in a place where people are shedding themselves of a Biblical world view and imagining that they can hang on to a universal morality at the same time. The Holy Spirit in this text is tasked with bringing us revelation…a revelation the world seems to think we do not need.

The thinking is we don’t need a revelation from a god to have morals around sex. And yet we are so confused about sex, to the point of destroying ourselves.

The thinking is we do not need a revelation from God about Race, and there is so much to be said here that cant be condensed to a sentence, but I will just say that we are not getting this right, but thank God that Christ came to save sinners for which I am chief

The thinking is that we do not need a revelation from God to think correctly about human dignity. Yet our whole paradigm about human dignity is to make race the determining factor in human dignity and not the image of God. While at the same time ignoring the dignity of the unborn and the oldest and most vulnerable.

The thinking is we do not need a revelation about the cross and the resurrection to have forgiveness and atonement. And yet lives and careers are destroyed with no chance of atonement based on 15 year old social media posts.

Brothers and sisters that is not the Gospel, remember that today we are going to confess our sins together and the priest will declare over us

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him; Have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We have the Holy Spirit. He reminds us of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgement. Hear him declare to you that your sins are forgiven in Christ, that you have Christ’s righteousness and that the ruler of this world in condemned.