If Christ is God’s “Why”, the Holy Spirit is God’s “How”

The Day of Pentecost, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Day of Pentecost is the one day of the church year that we really get to talk and think deeply about the Third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit. Who He is, what His role is for the Church and for each of us individually, and what His work is.

I think it’s appropriate that we review Luther’s teaching on this, from the Small Catechism, on the Third Article of the Creed:

THE THIRD ARTICLE: SANCTIFICATION

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”

What does this mean?

Answer: I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church he daily and abundantly forgives all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and on the last day he will raise me and all the dead and will grant eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true. [Tappert, 345]

The last 7 weeks, we have celebrated why we are Christians: the work of the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity: God the Son, which we say is His death and resurrection. Today, we celebrate the work of the 3rd Person of the Holy Trinity: God the Holy Spirit. Luther tells us that the Holy Spirit’s work is to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify. Put simply: if Christ is God’s “why”, the Holy Spirit is God’s “how”.

One of the scholars I read this week drew an interesting comparison: just as God the Son first came to be with us and do His Work (His death and resurrection) and then the Holy Spirit came to be our Helper, the Creed reflects the same order: first what we believe about the Son and THEN the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus himself explains in our Gospel reading this morning. John 15:26–27 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” As Jesus concludes His earthly work and ministry, the Holy Spirit will pick up where Christ left off. “Jesus must complete his redemptive work by his death, resurrection, and ascension, so that the Spirit may take all his work and by means of the gospel spread its saving power to the ends of the earth.” [Lenski, 1080]

John 16:8–11 “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.” The Holy Spirit will work in 2 directions: toward the world, and toward the disciples… but as He is sent to be “in” the disciples permanently, he will work through them on the world, which means the disciples are the instruments of the Holy Spirit. [Lenski, 1080] Does that mean only the disciples who heard Peter preach on that Pentecost Day 2,000 years ago? Nope. That’s you and me also. The Holy Spirit certainly did a lot of work that particular day…but that was just the beginning of His work in the world. That’s why we call this day the birth of the Church of Christ. That’s simply the day it started. The work has been ongoing ever since, and still continues.

If you asked Luther to summarize his explanation of the 3rd article of the Creed in one word, it would be: sanctification, which is just the fancy word for “to make holy”. We talked a couple of weeks ago about what “holy” means. Today, we’re talking about how we achieve it… which is to say, how the Holy Spirit achieves it in us. Luther says that “As the Father is called Creator and the Son is called Redeemer, so on account of his work the Holy Spirit must be called Sanctifier, the One who makes holy.” [Tappert, LC, 415]

We cannot believe in Christ or even come to Christ without the help of the Holy Spirit. He helps us by making us holy. He helps us by calling us to and gathering us in the Church (“the communion of saints”), by pointing us and directing us to our Savior and His atoning work (“the forgiveness of sins”), teaching us all about God’s love for us and His eternal plan for us (“the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”). It is the Holy Spirit Who “leads us into his holy community, placing us upon the bosom of the church, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ.” [Tappert, LC, 415] We couldn’t know a single thing about Christ, let alone KNOW Christ, if the Holy Spirit hadn’t first offered and preached the Gospel to us. Christ’s work is finished and complete, but if His work stayed hidden, and no one knew anything about it, then that work was in vain. The Holy Spirit’s work is to spread the Good News about the Son’s work.

Luther also says that “to sanctify is nothing else than to bring us to the Lord Christ to receive this blessing [of salvation], which we could not obtain by ourselves.” [Tappert, LC, 415–416] When you come to a service of worship on Sunday mornings, do you consider the reason(s) that you came? Maybe it’s because you get to see your friends or family… it’s a good staging area prior to Jane leading the siege on Captain’s Galley… you enjoy the music of the wonderful Cassavant organ and the sounds of our liturgy… you love the visuals in our sanctuary - the stained glass, the woodwork, the cross shape of our nave… you grew up in this church and you have so many wonderful memories here… Whatever your reason is, what would you say if I told you that the Holy Spirit Himself uses that to call you together with your brothers and sisters in Christ? He knows you well enough to know what will bring you here, so that once you’re here, you will hear your sins forgiven, the Gospel proclaimed, and you will receive the Sacrament - all of which will bring you closer to Christ. That’s His job, His work, and that’s how He does it. He’s good like that.

The Book of Concord (The Third Article)

Until the last day the Holy Spirit remains with the holy community or Christian people [i.e. the Church]. Through it [the Church] he gathers us, using it to teach and preach the Word. By it he creates and increases sanctification, causing it daily to grow and become strong in the faith and in the fruits of the Spirit.

Further we believe that in this Christian church we have the forgiveness of sins, which is granted through the holy sacraments and absolution as well as through all the comforting words of the entire Gospel. Toward forgiveness is directed everything that is to be preached concerning the sacraments and, in short, the entire Gospel and all the duties of Christianity. Forgiveness is needed constantly, for although God’s grace has been won by Christ, and holiness has been wrought by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word in the unity of the Christian church, yet because we are encumbered with our flesh we are never without sin.

Therefore everything in the Christian church is so ordered that we may daily obtain full forgiveness of sins through the Word and through signs appointed to comfort and revive our consciences as long as we live. Although we have sin, the Holy Spirit sees to it that it does not harm us because we are in the Christian church, where there is full forgiveness of sin. God forgives us, and we forgive, bear with, and aid one another.

Jesus did the HARD work - achieving our forgiveness and our salvation. Ever since, the Holy Spirit has been gathering us together in Christian community to ensure that the free gift of salvation is not only available to everyone, but offered and advertised. It’s one thing to put it on a shelf; it’s something else entirely to talk to others about how great it is, where to get it, and help them find it on that shelf. Yes, the gift is for each one of us. But the Holy Spirit isn’t satisfied with you merely receiving the gift. He wants you to share it with others, and He’s eager to help you do exactly that.

Just as on that Pentecost Day when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples and began to work on the world through them, He continues to work on the world through us. We may not be seeing tongues as of fire resting on us, and we may not be mysteriously speaking in foreign languages… but we are certainly able to let the Holy Spirit do good works through us. Some would like to call that “cooperating” with the Holy Spirit. That’s not very Lutheran language. I’d rather say “stop resisting” the Holy Spirit. If we’d just stop resisting Him, that sanctification will happen. He’ll make us more holy and the good works will naturally result from that.

What does that look like? That’s different for each of you. But when the Holy Spirit goes to work on you, don’t be surprised if you find yourself doing something you never thought you’d do. If you don’t believe me, let me remind you that He convinced a Baptist seminary student that she was actually a Lutheran… and He brought her here to be an intern - a church who hasn’t had an intern in about 40 years… with a supervisor who’s one of the newest pastors in the area… to a church that didn’t have the budget to pay an intern. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success, does it? But it certainly was! I defy you to tell me the Holy Spirit doesn’t do great but unusual things. What can He do through you? More interestingly… what can He do through US?

One more quote from Luther’s Large Catechism: “In these three articles [of the Creed] God himself has revealed and opened to us the most profound depths of his fatherly heart, his sheer, unutterable love. He created us for this very purpose, to redeem and sanctify us. Moreover, having bestowed upon us everything in heaven and on earth, he has given us his Son and his Holy Spirit, through whom he brings us to himself.” [Tappert, 419] That’s the ultimate goal of God’s plan - to bring us back to Him, to undo the separation caused by the sin of our first parents, and to help us enjoy eternity with Him. The Son made it possible, and the Spirit makes it happen. I pray that all of us will feel the Spirit at work in us, and allow Him to change us and grow us into the people He wants us to be.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.