The Day of Plenty-Cost

Pentecost

Today is the day that Christians celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday- or 7 Sundays after Easter.

Pentecost is the celebration of Act’s 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples fulfilling Jesus’ promise to send them an advocate in John 16. Let me read that promise to you today, because it is going to form our conversation.

John 16:5–15 (ESV)

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still 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 the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Why is today’s sermon called the day of “Plenty-Cost”? Because on this day there was a plentiful exchange. The gift of the Holy Spirit cost Jesus plenty- it cost him his life.

Now, Jesus promises this Holy Spirit to us in John 16, but if we unpack his words we find not only a promise, but also a description of what the Holy Spirit will do for us and in us. Today I want to teach through the three things that this passage says the HS will do for us, so that we can have a better understanding of how the Spirit works in us, because the ministry of the Holy Spirit is more than crazy pentecostalism or hyper spirituality.

Conviction

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin-

The work of the Holy Spirit begins with conviction. Because the Holy Spirit of God wants to transform us, his ministry must begin in conviction; because without being convicted of our sin we find no need to be transformed.

Two brothers were convicted of stealing sheep many years ago in England. In accordance with the punishment of those days, they were branded in the forehead with the letters “ST” for sheep thief. One brother, unable to bear the stigma, fled to a foreign country where he died full of bitterness and was buried in a forgotten grave. The other brother chose not to run away. He said, “I can’t get away from the fact that I once stole sheep, but I will remain here and make the best of it. I’ll change my way of living, do what’s right and try to get back the respect of my neighbors, as well as my own self respect.” The years passed, and he gradually established a reputation for his integrity and respectability, his honesty and worth. Then one day a stranger was in town and he happened to notice this old man with the letters “ST” branded on his forehead. He asked one of the local people what that meant. After pondering for a while, the villager said, “It all happened so long ago that I can’t remember the particulars. But I really think the letters are an abbreviation for the word “Saint.”

God’s desire for us is to be transformed just like the man in this story, but we need something to drive us to be transformed, thus enters the HS.

But here’s the challenge for many contemporary Christians; conviction does not feel good, and many times the Holy Spirit is only presented as an emotional high, or goosebumps, or something magical. But listen to this

2 Corinthians 7:9-10 “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

Oswald Chambers: "Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God."

Guidance

When we are convicted we need a new way to go. So the Holy Spirit offers us guidance. When we walk with Jesus we are choosing a new path, and that path can be hard to navigate. Jesus himself said that narrow is the gate that leads to life, and wide is the road that lead to destruction. And when we are learning new, unfamiliar, and narrow roads, we often need a guide.

Robert Smith wrote in "Doctrine That Dances":

"When I meditated on the word 'Guidance,' I kept seeing 'dance' at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person, and gentle guidan’’’ce and skill from the other. My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw 'G: I thought of God, followed by 'u' and 'i.' 'God, 'u' and 'i' dance." God, you and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead."

The Holy Spirit can guide us in righteousness, but we have to be willing to let him lead. How often do we lean to the Holy Spirit to help us clean up messes that the Spirit would have kept us out of in the first place?

But then, let’s take this a step further, listen to what the Bible says in Romans 8:14 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” The Bible lays out different attributes for those Christians, and one of them is that the children of God are lead by the Spirit of God. So, if someone were to evaluate your claim of being a Christian by your willingness to be lead by the Spirit of God- would they come to the conclusion that you are a Christ follower?

I know God/the Bible says not to but....

I read something that other day that said the Holy Spirit does not just make you raise your hands, cry, or dance. Sometimes it makes you confess, forgive, apologize or be quiet.

Glorify

Finally, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would glorify him. This is the thing that concerns me the most when I hear lot of folks talk about the Holy Spirit. The end goal of the Holy Spirit is not us- it is Jesus.

Too often the Holy Spirit is reduced to a Christian self help device. We tell people that the HS will bring the joy or fill them with peace, or shower them in love- and that is true he will do all of those things- but why? The end goal for the HS is not to just provide self improvement for us- but to glorify Jesus. So the matter is not the what- but the why!

BuLet’s say that you are a Christian who is struggling with nicotine addiction and you feel like the Holy Spirit is leading you to quit- the why matters. Now, will it improve your health- absolutely; will it help your Christian witness- of course it will; maybe your spouse doesn’t like you doing it so could it improve your marriage- certainly. But the ultimate why is to glorify Jesus , to either to lift him him up higher in your life and draw you into deeper relationship with him; or to give you a witness and testimony to glorify him so that others will be drawn into relationship with him. If we cut off the glorification of Jesus then we have reduced the HS into nothing more than an alternative to the nicorete patch.