Live audio and sermon notes for my message at Central Church of Christ, Stockton, CA; for June 16th, 2019. This is the seventh message of seven-week series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, called In Step With the Spirit: getting to know the third Person of the Trinity.
Note: This was originally supposed to be my Pentecost sermon, but I didn’t get to preach it on Pentecost. Because on the day the church celebrates its birthday, I was celebrating another birthday–the birth of my son August. So I preached this the week after Pentecost.
The texts read during worship were Isaiah 61.1-2; Acts 1.2b-9; and Acts 2.38-39.
The main resources I’m using for this series are:
Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Downers Grove: IVP, 1996).
Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith(Downers Grove: IVP, 2012).
Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: IVP, 2006).
Note: This sermon takes its outline primarily from the book by Christopher Wright, recommended above, particularly from pp 150 – 55.
To listen to the sermon audio, please click the link below.
Recap: the Spirit empowered Christ’s mission
Today, we’ve come to the final lesson in our series Keeping in Step With the Spirit. We’ve spent the other six weeks of this series becoming more familiar with the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
We’ve learned that the Spirit is the divine choreographer who teaches us to dance with God.
To watch for the Spirit moving in the world, stirring up hearts and preparing people and communities to know God.
We’ve come to know the Spirit as the midwife of creation, who sustains our world every day, and one day will renew all creation, making it Eden again.
We’ve learned to listen for the Spirit’s voice speaking to our hearts through the scriptures.
And we’ve learned to appreciate our passions, talents, and skills as the Spirit’s work in our lives. To be used for God’s glory and the common good.
Then we saw that the Holy Spirit empowered Christ’s ministry.
Jesus didn’t do what he did all on his own. He relied on the Spirit. His mission was guided and directed by the Spirit. And he carried out his ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We learn this at the very beginning of Christ’s ministry. His ministry began exactly when each of our ministries should begin: When he was baptized.
Remember what happened? We heard about it a couple of weeks ago. Right after his baptism the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit came down on him in the form of a dove, and God the Father told him: You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.
Here’s what happened: When Jesus was baptized, God the Father poured out the Holy Spirit on his Son to equip him for the ministry he sent him into the world to do.
I love that! At Jesus’ baptism, you see all three Persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Luke 4 tells us that Jesus preached his first sermon a few weeks after he was baptized. And when he stood up in the assembly to preach, his message was from the book of Isaiah, where it says: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.
Okay, so we need to talk about this idea of anointing.
Two titles we see for Jesus in the Bible are Christ and Messiah. Those words both mean anointed. That’s because in ancient times one of the ways you’d recognize a new leader—a king or a priest or a prophet—was to anoint them with oil. You’d pour oil on their head.
When you anointed someone, you showed that they’d been set apart for a particular purpose. Anointing someone invested them with power and authority.
But instead of being anointed with oil, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit.
When he was baptized, the Spirit was poured out on him to give him power and authority for the work his Father sent him to do.
Now when Jesus preached that first sermon from the book of Isaiah, he told everyone—everyone back then and everyone now—exactly why the Father had sent him. He told them—and us—what he’d been anointed by the Spirit to do.
He told them—and us—that God had sent him, and poured out his Spirit on him to finally preach some good news to the poor. To bind up the brokenhearted. To restore sight to the blind. To liberate the captives and comfort all who mourn.
When Jesus preached his first sermon, he said that God had anointed him with the Spirit so he could proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. A time of amnesty. A season of mercy and grace and forgiveness for whoever needs it.
So last time we saw Jesus’ Spirit-filled, Spirit-led mission had four dimensions: Justice; compassion—or mercy; enlightenment; and liberation.
In other words, Jesus came to restore and heal and make things right.
To show mercy to people who were poor and hurting and struggling. Who’d been ignored, forgotten or abused.
He came to open our eyes to the truth about God and God’s love, God’s judgment, and God’s forgiveness.
And he came to set people free, body, mind, and spirit. So we can be everything God created us to be.
So that was Christ’s Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, Spirit-driven mission: Justice. Compassion. Enlightenment. And Liberation.
That’s what God the Father sent his only begotten Son into the world to do. It’s what he was anointed by the Holy Spirit to accomplish.
Well church, guess what? Christ’s mission is also our mission.
The church exists to continue Christ’s mission in the Spirit’s power
We’re here to continue his mission of bringing justice, mercy, enlightenment, and liberation to the world.
How do we know that? Because the Bible tells us so.
As Jesus began his ministry, he said: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.
But before he returned to heaven, to reign with God the Father, he told the church: As the Father sent me, so I am sending you (John 20.21).
Jesus said that to his disciples then. And he still says it to us now: I am sending you.
But he didn’t send them or us out into the world alone.
Because the very next thing we read is: Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
He sends the Holy Spirit with us.
Christ relied on the Spirit to guide him, direct him, and empower him. If Christ needed the Spirit to accomplish his mission, so do we.
And Christ has given us the Spirit to be with us. To go before us. And to move and work among us. To lead us and empower us on our mission.
From the moment we yield our lives to God’s love and forgiveness, we are called into ministry and mission. And we’re given the Holy Spirit to help us do what God wants to get done.
How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us so.
We heard it in our readings today. In Acts 2.38-39, Peter told the people gathered for the festival of Pentecost:
Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Remember how I said that, just like Jesus, your ministry begins as soon as you’re baptized? When Christ was baptized, immediately the Holy Spirit came to rest on him. This passage says the same thing happens for us. God gives his Spirit to you when you are baptized.
The gift of the Holy Spirit wasn’t just something the first Christians got. We know this because of what Peter said next. He told them: [Slide 10] This promise—that promise includes the gift of the Holy Spirit—is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.
So that includes us. The church here and now, today. We are the ones who are in a far off place and time. We’ve been invited into God’s life and God’s love just like the first believers, and every generation of believers since.
And our mission has not changed. It’s still the mission God began with Christ. To bring justice and mercy and enlightenment and liberation.
And just like the Spirit went with Jesus on his mission, guiding him and empowering him to do what God wanted done, the Spirit also goes with us. Leading us and empowering us to do God’s good will.
So now I want us to spend a few minutes getting a clearer picture of the size and scope and target of the church’s Spirit-fueled mission.
The Spirit and the birth of the church
Here’s what you need to understand. It’s not just about individuals getting saved. The same Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who created the world is working to rescue, redeem, and renew the world.
You know how we can know that? The Bible tells us so.
A little background on where I want to go the rest of our time together.
Last Sunday was Pentecost, the birthday of the church.
Just as we saw a few weeks ago, our world was born when the Holy Spirit moved over the darkness and chaos. At Pentecost, the church was born when the Spirit moved over a room full of Jesus’ disciples.
And when Peter preached his first sermon to those gathered for Pentecost—a sermon that resulted in 3000+ baptisms in a single day—he preached from a passage in the book of Joel. And he said, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit—is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.
In other words, the Spirit anointing the newborn church for its mission in the world was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
The scope, size, and target of the church’s Spirit-empowered mission
And from Peter’s sermon on Joel, we learn three things about the church’s Spirit-anointed, Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered mission.
- The Spirit’s work in and through the church is universal in scope.
- The size of this mission is cosmic, embracing all creation.
- The target of this mission is salvation.
So let’s take a few minutes to learn about our Spirit-anointed mission, prophesied by Joel, confirmed by the Apostle Peter at the birth of the church.
- Scope: Universal (Acts 2.17-18; Joel 2.28-29)
[all people = all flesh = people of all races]
What we see is people of all races, men and women, young and old, rich and poor empowered by the Spirit to use their gifts for the church’s mission.
Everyone has something to bring to the table; the Spirit has given everyone a gift and a role to play in God’s great gift of salvation.
2. Size: Cosmic (Acts 2.19-20; Joel 2.30-31)
[“Cosmic” doesn’t just mean people]
Day of the Lord / apocalyptic imagery
Symbolic language, use modern analogies; basically means “earth-shaking,” turn world upside down
Larger agenda: liberation of all creation from bondage to death and decay (Romans 8); renewal of all creation (Rev 21.1-5)
In the meantime, imagine how the church, full of people exercising their Spirit-given talents and passions in service of justice, mercy, enlightenment, liberation could shake things up!
3. Target: Salvation (Acts 2.21; Joel 2.32a)
Day of the Lord was a terrifying day of judgment in Old Testament prophecy; but here it’s transformed into a day of hope
All those who change their hearts and lives and surrender to God’s love will be saved
Remember—God is looking to rescue, redeem, and restore all things—not just humanity. This is about taking part in that great cosmic redemption.
Big idea: Jesus doesn’t create a church and then add the Spirit; Jesus sends the Spirit and the church is born.
The Spirit empowers the church for greater impact
Conclusion: John 14.12: I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father.
Focus on Jesus’ words: Even greater works than these …
Great works church has done in the world [saving baby girls from exposure, hospitals, universities, Sunday schools for literacy]
What will this generation do, empowered by the Spirit?
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