For the Common Good Pt. 3
Pastor Javier Vega
For the Common Good • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
As many of you know, a few months ago my wife, along with my mom, had the privilege of traveling on a mission trip to Kenya. During their trip they visited a neighborhood called Kibera, Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa. And this slum is only about 2.5 square kilometers in size — it is less than one square mile. It is roughly the size of Central Park in New York. And yet, estimates say that nearly a million (or more) people live there. Just imagine that — thousands upon thousands of people crammed into every square block, families and homes packed together in ways we can hardly picture in our own towns.
Now, because of that density, and because of the poverty and brokenness, Kibera is considered so dangerous that even locals are cautious to enter. So, you can imagine how much more dangerous it would be for foreigners. So, in order for the team to visit this neighborhood, they needed protection. At first the plan was to hire police officers, but that fell through. Instead, there was a young man who was part of Eden’s Hope ministry — this young man used to be part of a gang (this was until Christ rescued him) — he gathered some of his friends to form a protective group around them. To serve as their security. So, what made them so effective? The answer is simple: they knew the area, they knew the dangers, and they could anticipate things the group would never see coming.
Beloved this picture reminds me of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Scripture calls the Holy Spirit our Advocate “Paraclete,” — the One who comes alongside us. And just like those men guided and protected my wife, my mom and their team in a place filled with danger, the Spirit guides and protects us in this world. And as we saw last week the Spirit is not only with us, but within us. He knows the mind of God and He knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees what we cannot see. And He faithfully strengthens, comforts, and leads us as we walk through the dangers and uncertainties of this life.
So today, with this in mind, that is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to consider the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now, this morning we’re not going to walk through a single passage verse by verse as we often do. Instead, we are going to look at a number of passages, each of them highlighting different aspects of the work of the Spirit. From these Scriptures, I want us to see 7 key truths about the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. (This is not an exhaustive list) (Pray) The first work we will see this afternoon is that:
1. The Spirit Glorifies Christ and Points Believers to Him (John 16:13-14)
1. The Spirit Glorifies Christ and Points Believers to Him (John 16:13-14)
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you.
Here in V14 Jesus tells us that the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit when He comes will be to glorify Him. The word translated glorify here is the Greek word doxazō, which means “to praise, to honor, to attribute high status or value.” In other words, the Spirit’s work is to shine the spotlight on Christ so that we see His true worth. And here is the point: without the Spirit, we would never see the value, the majesty, the kindness, or the holiness of Christ. The Spirit of Truth will guide us into all the truth. And who is that Truth? Christ is the Truth. And on our own, our eyes remain blind we will never see this. As Paul explains in:
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, (V7-8) because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This is the natural condition of every human heart apart from the Spirit — blind, hostile, unable to see Jesus for who He is. But when the Spirit regenerates the heart, He opens our eyes. He removes the hostility and gives us life and peace. He enables us to glorify Christ — to finally see Jesus as the treasure that He truly is. And this happens as people are exposed to the Gospel through the preaching of the Word.
For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants on account of Jesus. (V6) For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God (Where?) in the face of Christ.
For this reason Jesus says in:
When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me.
2. The Spirit Empowers Believers (Acts 1:8)
2. The Spirit Empowers Believers (Acts 1:8)
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”
Beloved here is the truth is, if we are going to testify about Jesus, we not only need the Spirit to reveal His value to us—we also need the Spirit’s power to strengthen us. We just read in Romans 8 that the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. This means that when we proclaim the gospel to an unbelieving world, which as we saw last week is the means by which the Holy Spirit regenerates the heart of sinful men, there will also be resistance. Some will receive the message, some will reject it and some will oppose it, and unless we are empowered by the Spirit, we will not have the courage or endurance to continue.
The power that the Holy Spirit gives, as Acts 1:8 makes clear, has a specific purpose—which is to make us witnesses of Christ. The word translated witness in the Greek is the word martoos, from which we get our English word martyr. And that’s exactly what we see throughout the book of Acts: men and women empowered by the Spirit to testify about Jesus, even at the cost of their lives.
In Acts 4, Peter and John were brought before the authorities after healing a lame beggar. When commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus, they boldly declared that the man had been healed by the power of Christ. After being threatened and flogged, they were released and returned to their fellow believers. Listen to their prayer:
And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant it to Your bond-servants to speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” (V31) And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Do you see the result? The second work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is that He empowers us. He gives us boldness to stand firm, strength to persevere, and courage to bear witness to Christ—no matter the cost. (Which brings us to another manifestation of that power)
3. The Spirit Sanctifies Us (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
3. The Spirit Sanctifies Us (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, (V10) nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (V11) Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The word sanctified means “to set apart, to make holy, to dedicate.” (Purification) Beloved, this is the call to be different. Paul reminds the Corinthians that through the Spirit, a radical transformation has taken place. Once our eyes were opened to the beauty and worth of Christ, and once we were empowered to testify about Him, the Spirit began His ongoing work of sanctification—shaping and molding us into the image of the Son. This is what it means to be made holy. Those who once lived in sin no longer walk in that same pattern of life. We were sexually immoral, but we are no longer. We were idolaters, but we have been cleansed. The Spirit renews our hearts, purifies our desires, and empowers us to live in obedience to God.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, (And what is the result if we do this?) and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
The Holy Spirit gives believers the power to overcome sin—and that work of transformation, that continual growth in holiness, is what Scripture calls sanctification.
The Holy Spirit is the great beautifier of souls.
John Owen (Puritan Divine and Statesman)
And this is a work of the Holy Spirit.
4. The Spirit Brings Freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17)
4. The Spirit Brings Freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
What a beautiful truth! The Spirit of God brings freedom—His presence (Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom) freedom from servitude, from confinement, from oppression. But the question is, what is the source of the oppression? To whom or what is humanity captive? Scripture tells us: if we are not free, then we are slaves. Salves to what?
Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
This is the condition of the human heart—we are born in bondage to sin, unable to live as God has called us to live. And this is why the Spirit must come. He comes to reveal and testify about Christ, to cause us to be born again. He empowers us to proclaim Christ with boldness. He sanctifies us, cleansing us from all unrighteousness. And then, the Spirit sets us free—truly free. We can actually see the ministry of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus’ ministry. In Luke 4 Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue:
And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “the spirit of the lord is upon me, because he anointed me to bring good news to the poor. he has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (
The Spirit’s work has always been about liberation—setting captives free from the power of sin and death. And how are we set free? Jesus tells us in:
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
And who revealed to us the truth that set us free?
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.
Oh, beloved, do you see it? We’ve come full circle. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ, empowers believers, sanctifies hearts, and ultimately sets us free from the bondage of sin—so that we may live as sons and daughters of God in the freedom of His grace.
5. The Spirit Intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27)
5. The Spirit Intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27)
Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; (V27) and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Here we see another beautiful aspect of the ministry of the Holy Spirit—He intercedes on behalf of believers. The Spirit of God understands our nature and our reality: even though we have been delivered, sanctified, and empowered, we still struggle with the flesh. There remains a battle within us. As Paul says in:
For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want.
In the midst of this tension, we experience weakness. Because of our ongoing struggle with sin, there are times when we don’t even know what to pray for. Our hearts may be burdened, confused, or weary. But it is precisely in those moments that the Spirit Himself intercedes on our behalf. The word intercede means to make a petition on behalf of someone else—to plead for them. That is exactly what the Spirit does for us. He takes our weakness, our inarticulate groanings, and He brings them before the Father perfectly aligned with God’s will. As Paul writes, “He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,” because the Spirit’s will is the same as the Father’s.
Beloved, what a comfort this is—to know that even when we cannot find the words, even when we feel spiritually dry or defeated, the Holy Spirit is praying for us. He is aligning our hearts with the will of God and drawing us deeper into fellowship with Him. And because He is a person we will feel His nudging calling us to align ourselves with the will of God.
6. The Spirit Produces Fruit in the Life of Believers (Galatians 5:22-23)
6. The Spirit Produces Fruit in the Life of Believers (Galatians 5:22-23)
Beloved, before we look at the fruit that the Spirit produces, I want to take us on the journey of how this fruit comes about. How does this happen? What is needed for fruit to be produced? In order for fruit to exist, you first need a tree—and for a tree to grow, you need a seed. When the seed is planted, it grows into a tree, and once it matures, it bears fruit. The apostle Peter gives us a glimpse of this process in:
Since you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brothers and sisters, fervently love one another from the heart, (V23) for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. (V24-25) For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory is like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
Here we see the fruit of love manifested among believers. But where does that love come from? It springs from the imperishable seed of the Word of God, planted in our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit. This divine seed brings new life within us. Psalm 1 gives us another picture of this same reality. It says,
Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! (V2-3) But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, And on His Law he meditates day and night. (This person, the psalmist says) 3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Do you see the pattern? The seed is planted, the tree is nourished by the living water of God’s Word, and in time, it produces fruit. Jesus builds on this truth in:
Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.
Abiding in the Son is the same reality as living by the Spirit, for the Spirit is the one who unites us to Christ and causes His life to flow in us. And what does this fruit look like? Galatians 5:22–23 tells us clearly:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Beloved, this is the fruit the Spirit produces in us. The seed of the Word is planted in our hearts, the Spirit nourishes and grows it through our abiding in Christ, and the result is a life that bears the beautiful and lasting fruit of the Spirit.
7. The Spirit Gives Gifts to the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
7. The Spirit Gives Gifts to the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (V8-9) For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, (V10-11) and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
Now, beloved, we have arrived at the passage that started our whole journey into the person and work of the Spirit. Today, we won’t unpack every detail—I just want us to see it and get a glimpse of where we’re going. In fact, this is where the title of our series within the series comes from. And there’s one phrase I want us to hold onto as we close: “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
That’s the heart of it all. Everything we’ll study in chapters 12 through 14 of 1 Corinthians rests on this truth. If we miss it, we open the door to the misuse and abuse of spiritual gifts—to pride, manipulation, and selfishness. But if we keep this truth before us, that the Spirit gives these gifts for the building up of the body and for the glory of Christ, then we will experience the beauty and unity that the Spirit intends for His church. And with that in mind, beloved, let’s bring all of this together.
Church, as we have seen today, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is both personal and powerful. He is not distant. He is not abstract. He is the living presence of God at work in every believer. From beginning to end, our life in Christ is sustained by the Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit who first opened our eyes to see the beauty and worth of Jesus — glorifying Christ and pointing our hearts to Him. It is the Spirit who empowers us to live and to speak boldly, even when the world resists the message of the Gospel. It is the Spirit who sanctifies us — transforming our desires, cleansing our hearts, and making us holy. It is the Spirit who brings true freedom, breaking the chains of sin and leading us to walk in the freedom of God’s truth. It is the Spirit who intercedes for us when we are weak and weary, praying for us according to the will of the Father. It is the Spirit who produces fruit in our lives, shaping us more and more into the likeness of Christ. And it is the Spirit who gives gifts to the church, distributing them as He wills — not for our personal gain, but for the common good and the building up of the body.
Do you see the beauty of this, church? Every part of the Christian life — from our salvation to our sanctification, from our strength to our service — is the work of the Holy Spirit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. But with Him, we bear fruit, we walk in freedom, and we live for the glory of Christ.
So let me leave you with this exhortation: walk by the Spirit. Depend on Him. Listen to His leading. Yield to His sanctifying work. Use the gifts He has entrusted to you for the good of others and the glory of Christ. And remember — the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you. You are never alone, for the Spirit of God is with you, in you, and working through you.
May we, as a church, be a people filled with the Spirit — a people who glorify Christ, serve one another in love, and bear witness to the power of the Gospel in all we do.
