The Commission of the Holy Spirit - Part 8: To Glorify

REVIEW
 
Today, we will conclude our study of the Holy Spirit’s commission in our lives by looking at one of the last, and in the writer’s opinion, most important assignments that He has. But first, let’s quickly review what we have covered thus far:
 
We have seen that the Holy Spirit is commissioned to be like our own personal apostle. Which means that He is our Teacher, promised to teach us all things. He is our Reminder, promised to remind us of all the things that the Lord has already said to us. He testifies of Jesus (we will get more into that in a moment). He is a Convicter. No, not a condemner, making us feel guilty for our mistakes, but the One who simply shines light on things for us and convinces us of the truth. Along those lines, we saw that He is our Guide, guiding us into all truth. And finally, last week we saw that He tells us things to come—that is, He will show us the future, revealing to us all the glorious things God has in store for us and also showing us the difficulties that might lie ahead to both help us avoid them or simply be prepared for them.   
 
I highly encourage you that if you missed any of the first seven parts of this series, go back and listen to them on our website @ www.highpointmacon.com. These notes are also available on our sight as well, if you prefer to read these truths. However, even if you have heard all of these things and simply have not begun to see them working in your life, do yourself a favor and listen to & study them again. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, so the more you hear them, the more faith will arise in your hearts to receive the Holy Spirit’s ministry in your life. Amen?
 
GLORIFYING JESUS
 
So, this week, let’s move into the Jesus’ last words that He uttered to His disciples concerning the Holy Spirit before His crucifixion. Let’s look at John 16:14-15 where Jesus says, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
 
As I said earlier, I see this as the primary objective of the Holy Spirit—the number one thing that He is commissioned to do here on the earth—to GLORIFY JESUS! Notice that Jesus said at the beginning of verse 14, “He will glorify Me!”
 
The dictionary defines the word “glorify” as “to honor, praise, extol, or magnify.” Therefore, when one “glorifies” Jesus what they are doing is honoring, praising, extoling and magnifying Him. And we are told here that this is what the Holy Spirit does—He honors, praises, magnifies, and glorifies Jesus.
 
Now, of course, this does not mean that the Holy Spirit Himself is praising & worshipping Jesus in the way we do. He Himself is the Third Person in the Godhead. So, it should be obvious that God the Spirit is not worshipping God the Son. Which leads me to another point: 
 
WHY DO YOU CALL ME GOOD?
 
The majority of the Church uses this truth that the Holy Spirit’s ministry to glorify Jesus means that the Holy Spirit never needs to be glorified—meaning, we are not supposed to praise & worship the Holy Spirit. But I am the kind of person that I want to see it in the Word of God. Yes, if you can’t show it to me in the Bible, then I won’t put too much weight in it. And this Scripture, nor any other one that I know of, says that the Third Person of the Godhead does not deserve to be worshipped any more than God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, if the Holy Spirit is God, shouldn’t He receive some love too?
 
So, one time while I was in prayer, I began to praise the Holy Spirit just like I praise God the Father and God the Son. And as I was telling Him how good He is, a Scripture popped up in my heart. It was the very words uttered by Jesus to the rich young ruler, when he approached Jesus and called Him “Good Teacher…” And do you remember how Jesus responded to him? He said, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” (see Matthew 19:16-17).
 
Now let me say this: When Jesus said, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God” He was not saying He wasn’t God. What He was doing there was simply pointing the praise and glory back to His Father. You see, Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve—to serve mankind but also to serve His Father. In essence, one could say that He came to glorify Father God like the Holy Spirit came to glorify Jesus.
 
But that is exactly what I heard in my spirit that day— “Why do you call me good? There is none good but God.”
 
Now when I heard that, I immediately knew these were not Jesus’ words to me on that day; this is what the Holy Spirit was saying to me in response to me calling Him “good.” And do you know what I learned that day? From that He revealed to me that the same way that Jesus always reverted the praises He was receiving back to the Father during His earthly ministry, that is the same thing the Holy Spirit is doing today in His earthly ministry—He is glorifying Jesus! Yes, just as Jesus was sent by the Father and only said and did what He saw His Father say and do to where even when someone gave Him praise for something, He would give the glory back to His Father, likewise, the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to point us back to Him. Yes, the Holy Spirit only says and does what He sees Jesus saying and doing, and when someone tries to praise Him for something like I did on that day, He will point us back to Jesus. Church, the Holy Spirit has been sent to glorify Jesus in the same way that Jesus was sent to glorify the Father. Amen.
 
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GLORIFY?
 
So, what does it mean to “glorify” Him? Does it mean, like so many believe, to just raise one’s hands and say, “Jesus, I glorify You”? No, like it is with praise and worship, glorifying Jesus is not just saying, “Jesus, I praise You” or “I glorify You, Lord.” To glorify Him is to actually glorify Him—meaning, to both say and do things that bring Him glory. Let’s look at some Biblical examples:
 
This same word that is translated “glorify” here is predominantly used in the Four Gospels to describe what the people did when Jesus performed a healing or miracle. Some examples are Matthew 9:8, 15:31; Mark 2:12; Luke 5:25-26, 7:16, 13:13, 18:43; and John 11:4. In all of these someone was healed and either that individual or the people who saw the miracle first hand began to glorify God.
 
For example, in Luke 7:11-17, we have the account of Jesus raising the widow of Nain’s son from the dead. After Jesus touched the open coffin and told the young man to arise, he sat up and began to speak. Then we are told in verses 16-17— “Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us’; and, ‘God has visited His people.’ And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.” What report? This “glory report” of the young man being raised from the dead. Yes. But also what the people were saying about Jesus because of this miracle—that a great prophet had risen among them and God had visited His people!    
 
So, what do we see here? It is that when Jesus performed this miracle, it produced people glorifying God by saying certain things about Jesus. So, we can learn two very important lessons from this:
 
Number one, what glorifies someone or something is when people begin to say things that bring glory to that person or thing. In this case, everyone who witnessed this miracle began to talk, calling Jesus a great prophet. Now we know that He was and is more than just a great prophet. He is the Son of God. Nonetheless, this still glorified Jesus among the people by being acknowledged as a great prophet. But they were also glorifying God by saying that He had visited His people. How? Through this Man that they saw as a great prophet performing these miracles. And we are told in verse 17 that all of these things they were saying about Jesus spread even throughout all Judea and the entire region., So, it was not just that these people here in Nain were glorifying God, but it spread throughout the surrounding region—thus, the glory being given to God multiplied as a result of it spreading! Amen!
 
Therefore, to glorify Jesus is to speak words of praise that magnify Him! So, this means that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to help us to praise Jesus!
 
You know, some of us have a difficult time in praise & worship. For various reasons, many believers have a hard time entering in and glorifying Jesus. If this is you, I have good news for you! The Holy Ghost’s ministry is to glorify Jesus through you! Yes, He will make you a better worshipper if you will let Him. Simply ask the Holy Spirit on the inside of you to help you see Jesus in His glory. Ask Him to reveal Christ to you to where, like the prophet Isaiah, you see the Lord high and lifted up and you see His train filling the temple (Isaiah 6:1). I can guarantee you that when you see Him high and lifted up, the “high” praises of God will be in your mouth (Psalm 149:6) and your voice will be “lifted up.” Amen. 
 
But when yielded to, the Holy Spirit will also put the right words, verses, and phrases in your mouth that will glorify Jesus. He will put a new song in your mouth, hallelujah, and will help you worship Him in the most appropriate manner for that moment. Glory! This is worship that is done in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24)! This is, as Philippians 3:3 says, worship that is done by the Spirit of God. Amen.
 
Now the other lesson we can learn from our passage in Luke chapter 7 is one of the ways how the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus.
 
What was it that caused God to get glorified in this account? It was the miracle, wasn’t it? The young man being raised from the dead is what started all of this glory! Amen! Therefore, we can see here one of the ways that the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus—by performing miracles, signs and wonders! Amen! So, the Holy Spirit does not just glorify Jesus by saying something; He does it by doing something! So, the Holy Spirit’s ministry to glorify Jesus is also accomplished by Him performing His spiritual gifts in and through the church. Amen.
 
As I said earlier, this was the primary way that this word “glorify” was used in the Gospels—in the healings & miracles that Jesus performed. And when people received their miracle, both the Father and Jesus got glorified.
 
“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” John 15:8 Now in this verse we see this truth amplified because Jesus said here that what ultimately glorifies God is the fruit we produce. This is, of course, the miracles, but fruit can also be producing converts, making disciples, and simply bearing the fruit of the Spirit. All of this fruit glorifies God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord by producing this fruit in and through us.     
 
THAT WAS MINE!
 
Now do you remember that one of the things that Jesus said the Holy Spirit was commissioned to do was “testify” of Him (John 15:26-27)? And do you remember that we talked about how our testimony is meant to glorify Jesus, and not us? Therefore, what we spend time testifying of is what we essentially are glorifying. And this is why Jesus said what He did next in John 16:14-15.
 
Notice what Jesus specifically said the Holy Spirit will do that will also glorify Him: Jesus concluded His teaching on the Holy Spirit’s different commissions in John chapter 16 by saying— “…for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you” (verses 14-15).
 
So, after Jesus said, “He will glorify Me,” He went on to say it was “for” (or, because) He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. So, just as Jesus spent His time glorifying the Father by taking what was His and declaring it to His disciples, likewise the Holy Spirit spends His time on the earth glorifying Jesus and taking what is His and declaring it to us.
 
Did you know that this is another way in which we can glorify someone? When we receive what is someone else’s and declare to others. For example, if I were to hear a really good joke from one of you and then turn around and tell that joke to someone else—with it being understood who I heard the joke from in the first place—who does that “glorify”? The one who told me the joke in the first place, of course. Likewise, as we saw in verse 13, the Holy Spirit does not share things with us that originate from Him. No, He shares with us things that He has heard from Jesus. Therefore, all of the good news that we receive the Holy Spirit should glorify Jesus because it all originated from Him to start with. Amen? 
 
So, when Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will glorify Him by taking of what was His and declaring it to us, He was saying, “He shall praise me and bring me great honor by showing you my glory” (The Living Bible) and “He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.” (The Amplified Bible).
 
You know, I wish people would take the things I say when I stand behind this pulpit and share it—word for word even. Do you know why? Because it glorifies the Lord! Like Paul said in Philippians 1:15, even if people say the same thing we’ve said with the wrong motives, we can rejoice in the fact that the truth is being proclaimed—for it glorifies the One who gave it to us in the first place!
 
THE MIND OF CHRIST
 
Now, on the surface, it is hard to understand exactly what Jesus was referring to in these verses, but it becomes clearer when we compare it with what Paul said in First Corinthians 2:9-16:
 
Like we saw last week, in First Corinthians 2:9 the Apostle Paul starts off quoting Isaiah by saying, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” And again, there are many Christians today who love to quote this verse like it is some New Testament reality, but they forgot to quote the next statement: Paul went on to say in verse 10, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit!”
 
You see, under the Old Covenant it was most certainly true that they could not even imagine what God had prepared for those who loved Him, but now under the New Covenant, we have the Holy Spirit who is specifically commissioned to reveal to us these things that God has in store for us! Praise God!
 
Paul went on to reiterate this in verse 12 by saying that the Holy Spirit was given to us so that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. And these things that have been freely given to us are a direct reference to our inheritance! Do you remember how in John 16:15 Jesus said, “All things that the Father has are Mine”? He was specifically referring to the inheritance given to Him by His Father. So now that we have become children of God too—Jesus being the firstborn of many brethren—we have become joint heirs with Christ to “all things that the Father has” (Compare Romans 8:17)! And the Holy Spirit is specifically commissioned to reveal to us all the things that we are joint heirs of with Christ! Glory to God! This is part of what Jesus was referring to when He said that the Holy Spirit would “take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
 
In Romans 8:26-27 we are told that the Holy Spirit also intercedes on our behalf so that God’s perfect will for our lives will come to pass. And one way He does this is by revealing or communicating to us the thoughts the Lord is thinking about us—thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). So, when Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will “take of Mine and declare it to you” He also meant that the Holy Spirit would declare to us what the mind of the Lord is. And the Apostle Paul went on to say this same thing in First Corinthians chapter two:
 
He concludes this teaching on the Holy Spirit’s commission to reveal to us those things that were previously unknown by saying, “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (vs.16)! In other words, in the Old Covenant, when “eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor had entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for those who love Him” (vs.9), they were unable to know the mind of the Lord. But now, under this new and better covenant, we have the Holy Spirit—and He has been commissioned to reveal the mind of the Lord to us! So, when Paul said next in verse 16— “But we have the mind of Christ”—it was just another way of saying, “But we have the Holy Spirit, who declares to us the purpose and plan of Christ.” Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit is the mind of Christ!  
 
So, in John 16:14-15 when Jesus said, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you”, a good paraphrase would be— “He will honor Me, because He will share with you what I have (not only everything I possess in regards to My omniscience, but also everything I possess in regards to My inheritance). You see, everything that My Father possesses is Mine also. That is why I said that the Holy Spirit will share with you what I have.”
 
Therefore, the Holy Spirit’s commission is to reveal to us what is in the plan and purpose of Christ for our lives in everything from our inheritance in heaven to our calling on the earth. And guess what this does? It glorifies the One who made all of this possible—Jesus!
 
Saints, the Holy Spirit’s job, simply put, is to glorify Jesus. And as we’ve seen, He does this by helping us to praise & glorify Jesus in our own personal worship experience. He glorifies Jesus in what we say! He also does this by producing His fruit in and through our lives. He glorifies Jesus in what we do! And finally, He shares with us all of the grand and glorious things that Jesus has said and done for each one of us. He glorifies Jesus by declaring to us all of the things Jesus has prepared for us.
 
It’s all about Jesus, folks! And the Holy Ghost would share those sentiments. His ministry is designed to magnify, exalt, lift up and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s let Him do this through us today and every day. Amen?