30 May 2004 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
The Festival of Pentecost
Jesu Juva
“The Work of the Holy Spirit”
Text: John 15:26-27;
16:4b-11
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father,
and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
If the Holy Spirit had not been given by Christ to
His Church, the memory and knowledge of Christ would long ago have been
extinguished. Apart from the work of the
Holy Spirit, there would be no faith, no Church, no truth, no hope. Such is the nature of sinful mankind. On our own, we exchange the truth of God for
the lies of Satan. It happened in the
Garden of Eden, and it is still happening today. God says: I
have done it all for you – simply believe and trust in Me. Satan says: You can do it yourself, and that’s what God wants after all. He’ll help you if you need it, but He really
wants you to do it yourself. And
which of those two voices do we most often listen to?
We heard a real “do-it-yourself” story this evening
– the story of the building of the
But the world is full of the ruins of spiritual “do-it-yourself”
projects. Broken homes, broken
relationships, broken churches, broken people.
Self-help books and tapes and videos are flying off shelves, self-help
gurus fill arenas . . . but our world and society continue on a downward spiral. What further evidence do we need? When will we see that self-help is
really no help at all! Why are we
still trying to build ourselves towers to the heavens when all we see around us
is confusion and rubble?
Yet despite all of this, the memory and knowledge of
Christ have not been extinguished.
There is faith, Church, truth, and hope in this world. And that there is, is the work of the Holy
Spirit. For as we heard in the Holy
Gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit is to testify about Christ. Everything He does is to point us to the
person and work of our Saviour. And as
long as He is in the world, that is what He will continue to do. For only in Christ is the forgiveness, truth,
hope, and salvation that we need. Only
in Christ can us broken people be healed.
And as Christ has given us the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit gives us
Christ. He keeps us connected with
Christ. It is not our doing; it is His
doing alone. And that is what we
celebrate this day of the Festival of Pentecost – the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon the Church, and His work in this world for us.
And of this work of the Holy Spirit Jesus was
telling His disciples in the Holy Gospel that we heard. For of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says: “And
when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgment.” In all of these ways
He points us away from ourselves and
our abilities, and toward Christ. First by convicting us of our sin. And that includes the sin that we are born
with, the sin that we do by our actions, and the sin that we do by our inaction. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that you
and I could stand here this evening and confess that we are sinners; sinners
through and through; sinners in thought, word, deed, and desire. Many people in our world cannot do that,
because they think instead that they’re not so bad; that there must be
something good inside of them; thinking that yes they sin, but they also do
good, and that it will all be a wash in the end. And so the Holy Spirit, in order to lead us
to Christ, must first lead us to see ourselves for who we really are: failures
and rebels. Persons who cannot even
begin to live up to the perfection that God requires. And that this is a problem what we cannot fix
ourselves. No matter how hard we try, or
how determined we may be, we cannot fix ourselves.
Then once the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, He
then convicts us of righteousness –
not our own, but Christ’s. Once we
realize that we cannot fix ourselves, He leads us to the One who can; and who,
in fact, has done it for us. He
leads us to see the Son of God, not just as a good man or a prophet – but as
our Saviour. And He gives us the faith
to believe that all that the Son of God has done in the person of Jesus Christ,
He did precisely for me. He was born for me. He lived a perfect
life for me. He died and rose and ascended for me.
And all that He has done and accomplished and earned He gives to me. He takes what is mine – my sin and brokenness
– and gives me what is His – His forgiveness and perfection. And it is the Holy Spirit that has enabled
you and I and all believers to know this, and to believe. To look at the cross and see not only the
pain and punishment and consequences of my sin, but also to see there the
greatness and love of Jesus. Again, many
people cannot see that. They look at the
cross and fear. Only by the Holy Spirit
can we look at the cross and see our salvation.
And then, once the Holy Spirit was worked such faith
in us, He convicts us of judgment,
for “the
ruler of this world is judged.”
We now live in the conviction that Satan has been defeated. He struck Jesus with all that he had, all the
tools in his arsenal, to try to defeat our Saviour, and by defeating our
Saviour, defeating us – but he could not.
He lost. He was utterly and
completely routed. And so he is
judged. His lies, his temptations, his
misleading promises, his evil – all is exposed.
And exposed to the light of Christ, he and his evil must shrink
back. For evil loves the cover of darkness. It hates to be exposed. But that is exactly what Christ has now done,
and Satan now has no power over us. And
to know this is the work of the Holy
Spirit, because as you look around in our world today, it seems that exactly
the opposite is true! It seems as if
evil is in control and that our world is spinning out of control. But the Holy Spirit has convicted us and
given us the faith to believe that it is not so. What we see is not all there is. And the One who defeated sin, death, and Satan
in His death and resurrection is still the ruler of this world. We may not know the answers to all the “why”
and “when” and “how” questions we have,
but we can be confident that “everything is working together for good for
those who love God.” (Rom
And by this work of the Holy Spirit – this work of
convicting the world of sin and righteousness and judgment – it is God who
is doing the building. God the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit is active in the world, building not a
And the Holy Spirit is working. Working, in fact, in exactly the same way as
He did on that first Pentecost. Through
the preaching of the Word of God, through Holy Baptism, through Holy Communion,
and through the forgiveness of sins. (Acts
So as we celebrate the Festival of Pentecost, we are
celebrating not just an historical event – we celebrate the Lord’s work now . .
. in us, and in His Church, and in the world
today. His work which never fails. His work which does not tell us about how to
get along in this world, but which tells us about another
world. A world that is beyond anything
that we can experience here and now. A
world that was here before I was born, and will exist after I die. A world which will continue when all other
worlds are destroyed. That you and I may
live in that world, the kingdom of Heaven, is why the Father sent His Son, and
why the Son sent us the Holy Spirit. For
the work of the Spirit is to lead us to the Son, and the Son takes us to the
Father. And this God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three, is here and working for you. Here to take away your sin. Here that you may live. Here, that you may get to Heaven not by
building a way there yourself, but by being in and remaining in His
building; in His body; in Christ.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Amen.