MESSAGE BEARER MEMO

By Ryan Shaw

 

These bi-weekly memos are to provide encouragement, exhortation, and spiritual nourishment in the lives of those who have signed the Message Bearer Creed as you prepare to serve the Lord globally, and are influencing your peers with this vision.

 

The Holy Spirit – Part # 3

The Holy Spirit & the Great Commission

 

 

In this series of three Memos we have been looking intently at the person of the Holy Spirit. In the first Memo we focused upon who the Holy Spirit is and what His works are in the life of a believer. In the next Memo we considered the characteristics of a Spirit-filled life and what are conditions of becoming filled. In this Memo we will focus upon the wider influence and role of the Holy Spirit as the One who orchestrates and sovereignly reigns over the Godhead’s mission in the earth.

 

Two Volumes of the New Testament

As we learn of the Holy Spirit and His purposes in the world we come quickly to the conclusion that the Great Commission is truly central on the agenda of heaven. If we can break the New Testament up into two distinct portions we find that the gospels make up volume one. In the gospels we are told of what Jesus began to do and to teach. They detail his ministry and teachings right up to His ascension to the right hand of God. With the beginning of the book of Acts we enter volume 2 which takes us into the church age. Here we are shown what Jesus continues to do and to teach through the apostolic church after His ascension to heaven. The rest of the New Testament takes place during the church age. Volume one concludes with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Volume 2 opens with the ascension of Jesus and the curtain being raised upon the life of the church. Accompanying this life is the coming of the person of the Holy Spirit to continue on with the purpose of Jesus in the world.

 

Characteristics of the Church Age

In Mark 13 we find Jesus giving His apocalyptic discourse. He is looking ahead to the tribulations, hardships, and struggles that His people would encounter. This had a two-fold end in His mind. First, He was prophesying the quickly coming fall of Jerusalem, and second, he had a view toward the ongoing struggles leading up to the end of the world. In the midst of this somber outlook, He communicates two linked truths that are critical. First, He clarifies that the coming age is to be the age where the gospel is preached to all nations. His mission had been to focus exclusively on the Jews. That would change with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Second, the mission and purpose of the church would be marked by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This would enable believers to bear witness to Jesus powerfully, despite the costly consequences. The primary purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit was to equip Jesus’ followers for His mission to the nations. The Comforter was not sent merely to make an individual comfortable. He was sent to make them message bearers. This is still true today! This is a very contrary idea to most of our assumptions of the Holy Spirit which often minimize Him to an internal gift to individuals.

 

Jesus’ Mission Is Now Ours

Throughout the book of Acts we find the author Luke bearing witness of Jesus’ words in Mark. He emphasizes two characteristics that will mark the church age. The Holy Spirit’s manifest power and presence and the faithful witness to Jesus. The same Holy Spirit who had inspired Jesus to teach, heal, deliver, and proclaim the Good News would now come upon Jesus’ followers, marking them with His character and authority. His mission was now theirs. The same Spirit would also now be theirs and it is the Holy Spirit Himself who is the very power of that mission. This is a critical reminder to us today. To serve Jesus among the least reached of the world without the power of the Holy Spirit is to do so in a manner He never intended. The Holy Spirit’s limitless resources are available to clothe us with power from on high for this purpose.

 

The worldwide mission of the church did not originate with human leadership strategizing together that this would be a good idea. It originated with the Holy Spirit whose chief end is to glorify Jesus Christ through the Great Commission. The Holy Spirit is not only the power for mission but also the leader, orchestrator, and originator of the Great Commission. We become activated in the Great Commission by Him alone.

 

Six Functions of the Spirit in the Great Commission

Now that we’ve seen that the Great Commission is the Holy Spirit’s chief purpose in the earth, let’s examine what He actually does to accomplish this purpose. I will underscore six functions of the Holy Spirit in the Great Commission. First, as we’ve seen in past Memo’s the Holy Spirit fills people with power in witness. (Acts 1:8) In the face of opposition, persecution, hardship and struggle, the people of God are empowered and emboldened as witnesses of Jesus. (Acts 4:23-31) Second, the Holy Spirit gives gifts to His Church to carry out His work. No individual earns these gifts but are strictly given by His grace and for His purposes in the earth. There is to be no boasting regarding one or the other. The primary passages giving an overview of these gifts are Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. The comprehensive purpose of these gifts is effective witness to Jesus and the edifying and building up of the body of Christ.

 

A third function we find the Holy Spirit doing is guiding His people in their outreach. Throughout the book of Acts and the history of the missionary movement, the Holy Spirit is shown as one who guides and leads very practically. This includes leading one of His message bearers to a specific individual to witness of Jesus, (Acts 8) or leading a message bearer to an ethnic group (Acts 10), or even a specific geographical location. (Acts 16:6-9) The Holy Spirit will speak to those who seek to listen to Him. This can come in a host of ways: through the Scriptures, someone saying something that resonates in your spirit, a dream, a still small voice, a prophetic word, an impression that you perceive, and so on.

 

Fourth, the Spirit convicts and attracts people to the person of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is intricately involved in every person who comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit which convicts a person of their sinful nature and need of a Savior. This will usually come through a phrase or message that a message bearer gives, but is not a result of the message bearer’s words but of the Holy Spirit’s conviction. As we have seen, He is the One who is constantly reflecting glory and honor onto Jesus. He works to make Jesus attractive to those we are being a witness to. Sometimes this takes place over a long period and sometimes instantaneously.

 

Fifth, it is the Spirit that awakens hearts and minds to the word of God. This phrase “the word of God” most often meant the “message of Jesus” according to Luke in the book of Acts. (Acts 8:4; 18:5; 19:10; 6:7; and so on) Wherever the early church went they took the message of Jesus. Proclaiming this message is our prime tool in evangelism. If a person believes it is because the message of Jesus has awakened something within them and brought faith. More then other stories or strategies, proclaiming the message of Jesus Himself must be the essence of our evangelism as this seems to be what the Holy Spirit uses to awaken hearts to truth.

 

Lastly, The Holy Spirit brings repentance and faith. Acts 11:15-18 probably speaks of repentance at the gift of God. It is seen as the operation of the Holy Spirit that brings the Gentiles to repentance. Other passages seem to refer to this as well. (Acts 5:31; 2 Timothy 2:25) In reference to faith we are left virtually without doubt that the Holy Spirit is responsible for this work. The Holy Spirit enables an individual to proclaim “Jesus is Lord!” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

 

Closing

The Holy Spirit is a wonderful person that too few of us really know intimately. I am convinced that if we are to see the Great Commission accomplished in our lifetime, which I believe wholeheartedly is possible, it will be as a result of thousands of message bearers who are endued with power from on high. Let us embrace Him, grow in Him, and be filled afresh by Him, day by day.

 

 

Selected Bibliography

Howard, David, Student Power in World Missions (Downers Grove, IL; IVP; 1979)

 

Shibley, David, A Force in the Earth (Orlando, FL; Creation House, 1997)

 

Bush, Luis, The Move of the Holy Spirit in the 10/40 Window (Seattle, WA; YWAM

             Publishing; 1999)

 

To check out previous Message Bearer Memos and other resources for your journey, click here: http://www.svm2.citymaker.com/messagebearermemoarchive.html

Got a change in email or other contact info?  Let us know so we can keep connected with you!  Email messagebearers@svm2.net