The Holy Spirit's Work in Worship

Who Is the Holy Spirit? (Essence and Function)

Negative—not a thing, a force, or an energy

Positive—the third person of the God Head (Father, Son, Spirit)—the Trinity

In essence, the Holy Spirit is fully God

The Bible presents the personhood of the Holy Spirit in many ways throughout

He is repeatedly referred to with personal pronouns—he, him; not “it”

He also does things that are associated with personality

He: teaches, inspires, guides, leads, convicts us of sin, and he is grieved, to name a few

Divinity:

Has the attributes of God: eternal (Heb. 9:14), omniscient (1 Cor. 2:10-11)

Shares in the Trinitarian work of creation (Gen. 1:2)

Most importantly—shares in the Trinitarian work of redemption

Father sent the Son into the world (1 John 4:14)

The Son performed all the work that was necessary for our salvation (Phil. 3:9, 1 Cor. 15:3)

The Father and Son sent the HS into the world to apply salvation to us (John 15:26; Gal. 4:6).

The central work of the Holy Spirit is to apply the work of Christ and all the benefits of Christ to believers

“Spirit of Christ”

The Spirit is causes us to be reborn—primary agent of our salvation

The Spirit provides and applies God’s Word to believers

“Guarantee (down payment) of our inheritance” “Seal of our redemption”

Convicter of our sin

unifier of the Body (church)

We are baptized in the Spirit

Christ is the one who baptizes Christians, the Spirit is the content of our baptism

Another important point: the ministry of the Holy Spirit is different in the different epoch or dispensations of history

So, we must be careful not to identify the Holy Spirit as some sort of mystical aura or force that overtakes us and places us in some sort of trance. He is not represented by certain shades of lighting, by fog machines, or by synthesized keyboard sounds. Or as the Nicene Creed states:

He is the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshiped and glorified.

He has spoken through the prophets.

How does the Holy Spirit function in corporate worship? (spend the most time here)

Most common and dangerous understanding of how the Spirit works is that he creates an “atmosphere” that leads to mountain-top experiences—intimacy with God or immediate, tangible experience

Where does this idea come from?

Pentecostal/Charismatic Mvt.

Short history emphasizing music

Is this what Scripture teaches? We must not begin with experience, but God’s Word

Begin with fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)

Very clear descriptions of the evidence of the Spirit in the life of a person

Overall: Spirit of order—ordering creation, ordering redemption, ordering the believer’s life, and ordering worship

Specifically regarding corporate worship:

Much of the NT Epistles assume the area of corporate worship

It is the centrality of the church

ekklesia—the called out ones, the gathering

The church by its very natured consists of God’s people gathered together

So, corporate worship is the center and foundation of the life of the church

The heart of discipleship for the church

When we read the epistles, especially, we must have this understanding even if corporate worship isn’t always explicitly stated. Context helps us to clarify.

There are very specific references to corporate worship in the NT: Col. 3:16-17: Eph. 5:18-29

However:

1 Cor 11-14 provide some of the must thorough and succinct teaching we have in all of the NT on the nature and purpose of corporate worship

All rebukes and correction for wrong practice

11:2-16—The nature of headship and the roles of men and women, how this plays out in worship practice

11:17-34—The Lord’s Supper

12-14—Correct Understanding of the Spiritual Gifts

12—Explaining the Spiritual Gifts

13—the Primacy of love in all

14—Right practice of the gifts in worship

Overall emphasis is on imitating Christ and building up the body in love—this is really the theme of the whole letter which culminates in the practice of corporate worship

11:2-16—emphasizes the proper ordering of submission to headship—the authority of the Word, the headship of Christ over the church, the headship of a husband over his wife—emphasis on this order

11:17-34—emphasizes the mutual submission at the Lord’s Table

“You aren’t even participating in the Lord’s Supper”

“You come together for the worse”

Why? selfishness, self-willed worship, class division, bringing worldliness and preferences into the most sacred duty of the Christian—the corporate worship service

12—very instructive on the Holy Spirit’s work

Right Understanding

Comparison to pagan worship

Why does he bring this up?

Ecstatic, mindless, emotionalism was characteristic of pagan worship

Apparently, as in other areas, Corinthians bringing pagan worship practice into corporate worship (worshipping like Pagans, believing they are worshipping God—syncretism)

Apparently: counterfeit spiritual gifts

Paul: You were led astray and now you are bringing that into the worship of the one, true, living God!

You need to understand rightly

“Jesus is accursed” “Jesus is Lord”

Spirit of Christ

Paul goes on to describe the nature of the gifts:

Diversity of gifts, one Spirit, one God—repeats

Thesis: 1 Cor. 12:7

“manifestation of the Spirit”

how does this relate to our frequent modern understanding?

Ch. 13—the supremacy of love (really the heart of the letter)

14—With the proper foundational understanding, Paul then applies the ordering and right practice of the spiritual gifts in the worship service

Again, emphasizing the edification of the body—or building up in love

Difficulty discussing because of the nature of the gifts—cessationism

However, extremely instructive for us today

Corporate worship is ordered around the Word

The Word is authoritative, sufficient, and most be the center

Word-centered worship

The completion of the NT canon—the ceasing of the gifts

The purpose of the miraculous gifts—revelation from God

The Word of God is central to worship!

When the Word is truly central—the Spirit is working among the people!

Furthermore, the gathered church in the NT is the temple of God in the same way that the OT temple was

When a true church is gathered around and ordered by the Word of God, the Bible teaches us that the Spirit of God is present.

God is a God of order and not a god of confusion

Contrary to the common understanding that the Spirit primarily works through spontaneity and ecstatic experience, the Bible assigns no such characteristic to the way in which the Spirit works.

Furthermore, the Spirit is the very agent of God’s revelation—the one who is the author of Scripture—How could the Spirit of the Word, then, ever contradict his own Word?

The Holy Spirit does not work contrary to or outside the Word, but rather He is the one initiating and applying the Word.

This is why Jesus said John 4:24—spirit and truth

The Holy Spirit is the One who makes true worship of God possible by ordering applying his Word to his people.

Another point: the Holy Spirit is not only working in our midst during the actual participation of corporate worship, but also in the preparation leading to the Lord’s Day

Three primary areas:

The planning and ordering of the worship service

The preparation of the sermon

Essential to the Spirit’s work through the Word: Preaching

Leading the pastor in rightly interpreting and applying God’s Word

Preparing the individual member’s of the church

Lifestyle worship

Intentional preparation for the worship service:

Give Examples

What role do the spiritual gifts of prophecy and tongues have today?

What connection is there between the Word of God and the Holy Spirit?

Safe to say: the primary function of the Spirit is to give God’s revelation to his people

2 Tim 3:16—theopneustos —God-breathed

It is impossible to separate Word and Spirit

Going back—the differing ministries of the Holy Spirit

Much confusion happens because of a misunderstanding of revelation vs. illumination

What are some wrong expectations that people have of the Holy Spirit in worship? (include the dangers of those wrong expectations)

Spontaneity

Ecstatic, emotionalism; uninhibited—this is the very thing that Paul is rebuking in 1 Corinthians 12-14—Pagan worship practices in Corinth

Mountain-top experience vs. disciplined, spiritual formation

Maybe, in some cases, the remove the Holy Spirit all together—believing that it doesn’t really matter how we approach God in worship “as long as our hearts are in the right place”

More like a family reunion or a club meeting