Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt July 20th, 2025
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit- Part 3
Since the TV series “The Chosen” first aired in 2019 Teresa and I have seen every episode multiple times. I have appreciated the realism in how the disciples of Jesus have been portrayed. Their awareness of the actual identity of Jesus, as the promised Messiah develops over the course of the episodes. Their excitement over the miracles that Jesus performed and the power of His teaching continues to grow their faith and awareness that He was indeed the Holy One promised by God. One important thing that stands out is their inability to fully understand what the Scriptures foretold about the Messiah. They continued to miss what Jesus warned them about concerning His role as Messiah. They also completely misunderstood the role that would be carved out for His disciples. The final scenes from season 5 tells the story of the last Passover where Jesus once again reveals that He will be betrayed by one of them, arrested, beaten, humiliated, and crucified. They are so surprised because this was not at all what they assumed was going to happen when Jesus entered Jerusalem as the triumphant King of the Jews.
Of course Teresa and I know the story very well. We knew it before we began watching the series, but it was a reminder of the Spirit led life that Jesus was inviting the disciples to live into. Even after the resurrection when Jesus appears to His disciples and over 500 people, they were unaware of the truth that would shortly be revealed to them. For the disciples all of the events that led up to Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection didn’t prepare them for such an explosive outcome. Everything they once believed about the coming of the Messiah suddenly left them feeling betrayed and deceived. Then he appeared alive, actually like never before. Even after the resurrection and Jesus’ appearance to them they still were confused and were left wondering what was to become of them. I love the scene between Jesus and His disciples right before His ascension back to the Father. Listen to Acts 1:6-8, “And so when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? (here I imagine a very deep sigh coming from Jesus) He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
I love Jesus’ patience with these men who felt so ready to be His cohorts once He became the King of Israel, seated on the throne of David. They still were unable to assimilate what Jesus told them over and over and they wouldn’t until the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them and took up residence within them.
Most of us have heard this story over and over again as we’ve read the Gospels and the Book of Acts. Have you ever considered the metamorphosis that the disciples went through from the day they first met Jesus to the day of His ascension back to the Father some 3 years later? They thought they were ready to do anything that Jesus asked them to do. The truth is that even though they were ready, they were not yet equipped to do so. You and I aren’t either. It’s always been that way. Remember all the exploits of King David as a warrior beginning with his defeat of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. To understand that victory and all the amazing ways that he fought and won even though time and again the enemy far outnumbered Israel’s armies, we must first consider 1 Samuel 16:13,
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.”
Every Prophet of God spoke under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Listen to 2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
This same truth applied to the disciples of Jesus Christ. They would not accomplish the calling upon their lives until Pentecost and the release of the Holy Spirit. I believe that there are two reasons that they would have failed on the own, apart from the Holy Spirit, and these certainly apply to us today.
The first is that they would not have been able to stand up against an enemy that was much more powerful than Rome. An enemy that would exploit their weaknesses and leave them defeated.
Secondly, they would not have the courage to persevere, they had already shown that.
The Holy Spirit would impower them to fight with the weapons that were from the Holy Spirit and would vanquish the enemy and send him fleeing, at least for the time being. The Holy Spirit would also reveal to them the love and heart of God like they had never known before. They would persevere because they were indwelt by the Spirit and their love for the Lord was strong and worth living and dying for.
The truth is that for all our advancements in technology, science, medicine and myriads of other areas of life in comparison to 2000 years ago, we are still unable to understand the God of the universe and His Holy word apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The change in the Apostles from one day to the next was astounding because of the person and work of the Holy Spirit that was unleashed upon them and dwelt within them. The change was remarkable just as Jesus had promised.
Today is week 3 of our journey through the series “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit”. Today we will focus on the Holy Spirit as Creator and as the Spirit of Truth.
As we proceed I want to establish a hard and fast rule that we will allow to govern our focus on the Bible’s revelation of the Holy Spirit.
“The Holy Spirit will never move in a way that is not consistent with Scripture. The Holy Spirit is God and will never lead believers to act or believe in ways that contradict the teachings and principles found in the Bible, the word of God.”
This truth is crucial if we are to understand what it means to walk under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. No matter what happens in your life as a Christ follower you must always see everything through the lens of God’s word. Plus, even when God chooses to use you in extraordinary ways it’s never because of your greatness and abilities, it’s always about the Lord- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When our lives are lived for His glory then all that the Kingdom of God has for our blessing and protection are at our disposal.
I stand as a witness to this truth. I am constantly reminded about my sins over the course of my life by the enemy. He tells me that I am not worthy to be a priest and to be seen as a man of God. I remind him that it has never been about my worthiness but about God’s grace and mercy. I am not the man I once was, and by God’s grace I’ll one day not be the man that I am today.
So with that in mind let’s look at the Holy Spirit as Creator.
In the Appendage that we sent with the sermon text last week we saw that the Apostles’ Creed attributes the work of creation to the Father. And it’s absolutely true that the Father was the initiator of creation. But Scripture also makes it clear that the Son and the Holy Spirit were involved in this work. For instance, 1 Corinthians 8:6, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
The Apostle taught that creation comes from the Father and through the Son. And theologians have generally agreed that the Holy Spirit was the person of the Trinity that carried out the work, according to the plan of the Father and by means of the Son.
Throughout history, theologians have appealed to Genesis 1 to show the Holy Spirit’s initial creative work. This chapter describes how God made the universe and all its inhabitants “by the word of his power.” Listen to how the account begins in Genesis 1:1-2:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void; darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”
As we saw in week 1 and 2 the Old Testament doesn’t identify the Holy Spirit as a distinct person within the Godhead. However it does indicate that God created the world by his Spirit. And in light of the New Testament’s revelation about God’s Spirit, it’s legitimate to see these acts of creation as works of the Holy Spirit.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The first divine act in fitting up this planet for the habitation of man was for the Spirit of God to move upon the face of the waters. Till that time, all was formless, empty, out of order, and in confusion. In a word, it was chaos; and to make it into that thing of beauty which the world is at the present moment, even though it is a fallen world, it was needful that the movement of the Spirit of God should take place upon it.”
Genesis 1 says that during creation, the Holy Spirit was “hovering over the waters.” The Hebrew word translated “hovering,” is used only one other time in the Pentateuch, (the first 5 books of the Old Testament, attributed to Moses). In Deuteronomy 32:11, Moses used the metaphor of an eagle caring for its young to describe God’s relationship with Israel. This passage uses the same word to convey the idea of a powerful bird caring for and nurturing its offspring, fluttering or hovering over them for protection. So, when we read that God’s Spirit hovered over the waters of creation, the implication is that the Spirit was the parent that molded and nurtured the creation according to God’s word. It’s a very important idea being conveyed here because it lets us know that the Spirit was to move upon the darkness and chaos changing it to become what the will of God demanded.
In Genesis 1:1, 2, before the Holy Spirit’s work, creation was formless and empty. The picture is of darkness and chaos. There was no light, no sense of order or form, no plants, and no creatures. I think you’ll agree that the picture is bleak and hard to bear but in Genesis 1:3-31, the Spirit of God changed all that.
During the first three days, the Spirit dealt with the formlessness of creation. On the first day, he created light, as well as the domains of day and night. Genesis tells us that light, day, and night existed before the sun and the moon were created on the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19). This helps us to understand that light is more than a physical substance; it also has a supernatural aspect. Revelation 22:5 tells us that in the new heavens and the new earth, there won’t be any sun or moon. God Himself will be the light. We see the example of that from the beginning of creation.
On the second day, he created an expanse that divided the waters. We commonly refer to this expanse as the atmosphere or sky, which separates the water-filled clouds from the world below.
On the third day, he collected the waters in such a way that he created dry land, and also the plants that grow on the land. During these first three days, he formed the boundaries of creation by ordering the day and night, the sky and the waters, and the dry land with its vegetation.
During the next three days — days four through six of the creation week — the Spirit of God addressed creation’s emptiness. And he did this by filling the various domains he had previously created.
On day four, he created the sun, moon and stars to fill the domains of day and night that he’d created on the first day.
On day five, he created sea creatures and birds, filling the domains of the sea and the sky that he’d created on the second day.
And on day six, he created land animals and human beings to fill the domain of the dry land that he’d created on the third day.
One of the most important reasons that the Holy Spirit led Moses to write this account in such a way is that it reveals the purposeful intention of God letting us see a grand example of how the Holy Spirit created all things perfectly leaving nothing incomplete.
Moses was teaching the people of God that this was the very one who delivered them out of the land of Egypt and who giving them the land first promised to their Father Abraham.
Besides Genesis 1, several other Scriptures attribute God’s creative work to his Spirit. For instance, Isaiah 40:12-13 offers this description of the Spirit’s role in forming creation: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?”
The implied answer, of course, is “no one.” Only the Spirit of God has done these things. And Psalm 104:24-30 that we read this morning talks about the Spirit’s work in filling creation this way. Listen to verses 24-25, 28b-30,
“O Lord how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great… When you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.”
This passage mentions the creation of things like waters, plants, and creatures. And it attributes this work to the Spirit as the source of life and breath.
I love the creation story because it reveals that the order, the perfection, the beauty, the intricacy, glory, and wonder of God’s creation reveal a great deal about Him and His authority. The Holy Spirit is the one who brought chaos and darkness into beauty and light by just speaking it into being.
Let’s briefly consider some other examples of the Spirit restoring chaos and darkness. In the story of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon there is a great example of God dealing with prideful arrogance of one of the greatest kings in the ancient world. He steps out onto the roof of his palace feeling very proud of himself. Listen again to Daniel 4:30 “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty?” The words were still in his mouth when God replied and responds by taking his kingdom from him in such a way that God revealed that there is only one God who is King of Kings whose majesty is far greater than any earthly or heavenly being. In order to establish that truth God sends Nebuchadnezzar out in the fields to live as an animal eating grass like an ox. This went on for 7 years until God restores him to his former state of mind and as ruler over Babylon. When restored he bows down in humility before the Lord of creation and proclaims that God alone is worthy of praise.
I love the last verse of this chapter 4:37, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”
We can see a similar teaching in Romans 1:18-21, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
You might be asking yourself how the story of the Babylonian king and our Romans 1 passage point to the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy is referred to as the “Spirit of Truth” especially in the Gospel of John. John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
John 16:13, “ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
The Holy Spirit’s presence functions as a revealer of truth. His presence within us enables us to understand and interpret the Word of God if we are pursuing Him instead of the things of this world.
This is the Spirit who opens our eyes to the depth of our sin before God who is pure and Holy.
This is the Spirit that points us to Jesus Christ.
This is the Spirit that empowers the believer to persevere to the end.
This is the Spirit who brings joy and peace in times of turmoil and suffering.
This is the Spirit who opens up to us the path of truth and righteousness enabling us to more fully see and understand what it is that is being offered. The disciples found out that what they initially sought for was as garbage in comparison to the joy to be in the presence of the Lord both now and in the age to come. Let’s pray.
