The Mission of the Spirit

One of the results of Jesus' coming is that we now have the Spirit in a way that the saints before did not. This has been the heritage of the Church since Pentecost. Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about who the Spirit is and what He does. Once again you have ditches on either side of the road. There are those who think that the Spirit does things that far exceed anything that the Bible talks about. And there are those who think that the Spirit doesn't do very much at all. We need to be careful of both of those ditches.

On that last night Jesus explained to His friends one aspect of the mission of the Spirit. Listen to what He said.

I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.  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. (John 16.4-11)

Once Jesus ascends to the Father He will send the Spirit. And one of the things that the Spirit will do is to deal with those who are in rebellion against the God who created them. We're going to spend some time this morning looking at what the Spirit does with the world.

Jesus explains the mission of the Spirit. He is going to 'convict' the world. There are two aspects to this work of the Spirit. For one thing, He will show people of the world their guilt. They have sinned. But just showing people that they are wrong isn't enough. So, here's the other aspect of the Spirit's mission. Having shown people their sin, He will move them to repent of it. Being convinced of their sin, they will repent and come to Jesus for forgiveness and change as they follow Him. The mission of the Spirit is the conversion of the world, changing it into disciples of Jesus, the Church.

Now, that's all well and good, but why does Jesus bother to tell this to His apostles? It's important that they understand this because they will be the means by which the Spirit will do this work. So, fast forward to the book of Acts. What do you see early on? You see the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And as a result, these apostles of Jesus start preaching. Because of that preaching, thousands are convicted by the Spirit. They hear about their sins, and they repent and become disciples of Jesus. And as you continue reading through Acts you see more of this preaching. You also see more lives being changed as people respond to that preaching and become disciples. How did all of that happen? The Spirit was at work using the preaching of those apostles, convicting the world and creating disciples.

So, you see, Jesus has a mission for these men, the preaching of the Gospel. But that mission will end in utter failure except for the fact that Jesus also has a mission for the Spirit, convicting the world. The two missions go together.

Now, we're ready for a question you might be thinking. 'We are not apostles. We have not been given the mission to preach. So, what does this text have to do with us?' Well, it's pretty clear that the Spirit has not finished His mission of convicting the world. He's still at it. And while there are no apostles anymore, He still uses the preaching of the Gospel as a tool. Now, none of you have been called to preach. But there is a fruit of preaching that is an important tool that the Spirit uses: your changed lives. Go back to Acts. It wasn't only the preaching that the Spirit used to convict the world.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul. … And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

As the world watched the Church it was impressed by what it saw. Lives were being changed.

It was never part of Jesus' plan that preaching alone would be the tool the Spirit uses. Yes, He will use preaching, but it is the kind of preaching that results in changed lives. So, you have a role to play in the mission of the Spirit. He will use your living as faithful disciples to convict the world.

Now, what kind of change in you will the Spirit use? Look at our text. Some of the change that the Spirit has in mind has to do with sin, righteousness and judgment. Even though you are disciples of Jesus there are aspects of these three areas that still need some work. And as the Spirit does that work, you will be even more useful in His mission of convicting the world. So, let's take a closer look at these three.

Let's start with judgment.

The Spirit will convict the world … concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

There has been a change in management. Satan is no longer the ruler of this world. At one time he controlled the nations and could have given them and their glory to whomever he pleased. That is no longer the case. The Kingdom of God has arrived. There is a new ruler, Jesus. And that is why this simple sentence was at the heart of the preaching of those apostles: 'Jesus is Lord.' The world does not acknowledge that. If it did, it wouldn't be the world. It would be the Church. We do acknowledge that. But not as completely as we might. There are aspects of Jesus' lordship that we have not grasped. But we will. As I've mentioned before, Christians submitting to the Lordship of Jesus are being tolerated less and less these days. You will feel the increasing pressure to compromise when it comes to Jesus’ lordship. But as you stand firm the Spirit will use your boldness to convict the world, to convert the world. It will be difficult. It will be painful. But our lives as saints who are committed to following Jesus as Lord over everything will be a tool in the Spirit's hands to change the world.

Then, there is righteousness.

The Spirit will convict the world … concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer.

The Kingdom of God has come and in coming it divides. There are those who are in the Kingdom and those who are left out - sheep and goats, younger brothers and older, citizens of heaven and citizens of hell. This is because something is required of those who would enter God's realm: righteousness. That's a church word, so let's translate it. God has standards. You need to be approved and thus accepted by the Father before He will let you in. Citizens of the world have not met this standard. They are not approved. But you are. Why? Are you better than they are? Do you behave yourselves while they don't? Clearly not. They are out. But you are in - because of Jesus.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

You are accepted, even when you sin, because of the righteousness of Jesus who stands before the Father. He was approved and accepted. His approval by the Father has been given to you. It is yours. You are accepted. Thanks be to God for that! You are accepted - but only because of Jesus. That is why you are in. You know that, but, in some ways, you don't. So, you want the approval of others and work to get it by succeeding at something. And you think that the same thing will work on the Father. He will approve of you because you are so good. You read your Bible and pray regularly. You are a good parent, a good student. You don't do the nasty things that so many others do. So, you must be okay with God, right? But the Father, in His mercy, exposes those lies, sometimes painfully. And you see reality. You aren't all that good. Not even close. But you are still approved and accepted - because of Jesus. As you learn how to be comfortable with the presence of sin in your life - hating it but not allowing it to disturb your sense of acceptance - you will show people what Jesus is about. And the Spirit will use you to convict the world.

Then there is the sin of unbelief.

The Spirit will convict the world … concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.

Jesus is the Savior. He has come to rescue us. But rescue us from what? He rescues us from ourselves. We get into such messes. Jesus has come to rescue us from all of that. And that is such a gift. To refuse that gift is a great sin. We become tools in the Spirit's hands as we admit our sin - our messing it up again and again and again - and then come to Jesus to be rescued, again and again and again. We become tools in the Spirit's hands as we make it clear that we don't have it all together. But we believe in Jesus. Our lives work to the extent that they do only because of Him. The Spirit will use that to convict the world.

You have not been called to preach. But you do have a role to play in the conversion of the world. You have been called to be the Church. You are called to be a community of people who are learning what it means to follow Jesus as Lord. You are called to be a community of people who are learning that you have no righteousness of your own but that you are nonetheless fully approved and accepted by the Father because of Jesus. And you are called to be a community of people who are learning what it means that Jesus has come to rescue you from yourself. The Spirit doesn't need perfect people to change the world. He needs people like you who are working at learning what it means to be the cherished saints of God.