The Holy Spirit Does the Work (Not You) | Nicene Creed Series
The Holy Spirit's Work in the Church: Word, Sacrament, and the Ministry of the Gospel
By Pastor James Huenink | Maundy Thursday | Lenten Sermon Series on the Nicene Creed
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Reviewing Our Lenten Journey Through the Nicene Creed
During this Lenten season, we've been working our way through the Nicene Creed, talking about the different doctrines and ideas found there. We began by looking at the creed as a whole, seeing how the Nicene Creed was designed to protect us from a number of different heresies that arose as it was being formed — doctrines about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We talked about the two natures of the Son of God, how he is both God and man, how he came to die on a cross for us, and how he will return with glory to judge the living and the dead. Last week we talked about the nature of the Holy Spirit — how the Holy Spirit is truly God, and not just a force that emanates from God, how he works, makes decisions, and has will, and how he uses that for our benefit in the holy Christian church.
Tonight, we're going to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit — not his nature, but the work that he does in and among the church.
The Holy Spirit Enacts the Ministry of Jesus in the Church
It works out well, almost as if somebody had planned it, that this message falls on the night that Jesus gathered his nascent church together, broke bread, and said, "This is my body" — presenting them with his blood and saying, "This is my blood of the new covenant." Because it is the ministry of Jesus that the Holy Spirit enacts in the church.
The Holy Spirit is the power behind all of the work that the church does — all of the activity, all of the ministry, all of the word and sacrament, the forgiveness of sins. Everything about it is something the Holy Spirit does.
How the Holy Spirit Works Through Word and Sacrament
The Ministry of the Word
The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers the ministry of the word. As you gather here tonight, it is the Holy Spirit who is working on your heart and your mind as you hear the word of God — whether in the readings we just went through or in the sermon today. Saint Paul speaks to this in Romans 11, saying that we do not need to climb up into heaven to bring Jesus down or dig under the earth to bring him back up from the dead. Instead, "the word is near you, in your heart and in your mouth." That is the word of faith that we proclaim, and it is through this proclamation that the Holy Spirit gives you faith, forms you as a Christian, and guides and leads you.
Holy Baptism
The Holy Spirit works in Holy Baptism. God gathers together the holy Christian church on earth by the power of the Spirit, just as he did at Jesus's own baptism. When Jesus went out into the water to be baptized by John, the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus like a dove. It is that same Holy Spirit who comes to all who are baptized and gathers us into the body of Christ, so that by his death on the cross we die, and by his resurrection we rise to new life to live with him forever. Through baptism, the Holy Spirit works to continually lead, guide, and feed you.
Confession and Absolution
The Holy Spirit is the power behind confession and absolution — because it's not just some man in a robe forgiving your sins. If it were, you should all run away and never come back. When Jesus established the power to forgive sins in his church, he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and breathed on them, saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." It is the Holy Spirit who does this work.
Holy Communion
And it is the Holy Spirit who does the work of Holy Communion. When Christ gives us his body and blood in the bread and wine on the altar, the Holy Spirit is again the power behind that. The Holy Spirit is the one who works among us and gives us this beautiful manna in the wilderness, sustaining us on our spiritual journey through the world until Christ returns again.
The Good News: It's Not All on Your Shoulders
The beauty of all this is that the work we do — the real work of the church, everything that actually means something — is done not by me, not by you, but by the Holy Spirit. And that's great news, because I know that if it were all on me, I'd just screw it up. I imagine you feel the same way.
God is always the one at work in the church. We've talked about this throughout our entire series:
It is the Father who created — he didn't ask your permission or need your help.
It is the Son who redeemed — you didn't nail him to the cross or lead him there, but he went anyway.
It is the Holy Spirit at work in the church that makes the ministry and the work of the gospel actually happen.
It's not on your shoulders. Nor is it on mine.
The Danger of "If We Can Just…" Thinking
I know, though, that this is hard to accept. It's hard for you. It's hard for me. It's especially hard for pastors who think they're really good at everything and want to make it better. What we often develop is what I'd call "if we can just" thinking — fill in the blank:
If we can just get a better music program, that will bring all the kids in.
If we can just find a way to get kids on our campus…
If we can just make our programming more exciting…
If we can just be more liturgical — or more contemporary — everyone will be here.
If we can just be more hardcore in our theology, or more easygoing…
If we can just do more, or less, or tweak our programming just right…
…then finally the Holy Spirit will do his work.
But what that kind of thinking really means is that we believe we are in control — that we can make the ministry function, and that the word and the power of the Spirit just aren't enough today. And that's a heavy burden to carry, because then the opposite is equally true: if the church is declining, it's all your fault. If people are moving away because it's expensive in California, it's all your fault. If nothing has been going right, it's all your fault.
That cuts both ways, doesn't it?
Rest in the Spirit's Promise
But the joy is that none of that is actually our job. None of that is our burden.
The Holy Spirit is the one who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies this holy Christian church on earth. Our calling is to serve and love the people he brings to us, to be faithful to the things he calls us to do, and to trust that he does the work he has promised.
Which is why we gather on this Thursday night of Holy Week — to remember the great night when Jesus instituted this holy supper, to gather around the word and sacrament, and to celebrate the ministry of the gospel that the Holy Spirit accomplishes among all of us.
In Jesus' name. Amen.