Here's a little exert from a paper I'm writing for my Systematic Theology class this semester at Moody regarding the Holy Spirit's work. Let me know what you think:
The Holy Spirit’s work is incalculably essential to not only the sanctification of a believer but in the birth of a new believer. After reading Dr. William Baker’s “The Holy Spirit’s Role in Bringing about New Life,” the role of the Holy Spirit in the new believer’s life has really begun to make sense. I have often wondered what “click’s” in the heart of a person that finally allows them to give their lives to Christ. Dr. Baker writes, “…when we share the Gospel with ‘nice’ people we tend to assume that they will eventually respond positively, whereas when faced with ‘mean’ or ‘bad’ people we tend to doubt that they will ever be willing to hear and respond to our message.” How sad and true this is for us at times because we don’t understand the Holy Spirit and what He is up to!
And yet, conversion happens often at the least expected times and for the seemingly least receptive people out there. What is the deal? I believe it’s because the Holy Spirit is in the business of giving life! He’s the life-giver that keeps on giving!
All over Scripture we see the Holy Spirit’s work in giving life. The Psalmist writes, “When you send forth Your Spirit, they are created (Ps 104:30).” In Job, we find that if God, “should take back His Spirit to Himself, and gather to Himself His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust (Job 34:14-15).” Most notably, however, we discover the Holy Spirit’s foremost role in the creation of Man: “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen 2:7; cf Eccl 12:7).”
The above passages are all physical in nature, but the Holy Spirit also gives life spiritually. Jesus states in John 3:6-7, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” Erickson adds, “The flesh (i.e., human effort) is not capable of effecting this transformation. Nor can this transformation even be comprehended by the human intellect (Erickson 888).” Even more striking is the very next sentence Jesus states in John, “The wind blows wherever it please. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8).”
Of course, Jesus is exactly right. We don’t know where the Holy Spirit is working and it’s ignorant, if not downright childish, to think a “good” person will receive salvation - New Birth - more than a “bad” person will. I believe what Jesus is trying to teach is that just as we have no control over the wind and where it is going, so we have no control over the Holy Spirit’s work. It is the Holy Spirit who supernaturally turns a person from his or her ways of life (in the flesh) into the way of life (spiritually).
Finally, the Holy Spirit’s most profound moment in history came about during the Virgin Birth. Luke records, “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).” The same Holy Spirit that gives physical and spiritual life gave life to God incarnate –our Jesus – through Mary. The same Jesus Christ who the Holy Spirit enables us to come to that gives us eternal life.
I am convinced now, more than ever, that the Holy Spirit is the life-giver who keeps on giving! The ministry implications are obvious - we should be quick to pray that the Holy Spirit would move in our lives, our families lives, in our lost friends lives, in our churches and in the world. We should be quick to pay attention to where the Holy Spirit is working and become a part of His work. So many times we ask God to be a part of our work, when it is His work we need to be asking to be a part of.
