Lk 3:21-22, 4:1-2, 14-15, recitation verse Lk 3:22
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
Last week, on Pentecost Sunday, we learned that the Holy Spirit visited His church. The Holy Spirit, who brought forth the birth of the Lord's church, applies all the benefits of salvation which Jesus earned to the saints such as calling, regeneration, faith, repentance, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification, while specially during the process of sanctification, the saints are gradually filled with the Holy Spirit to live a life of holiness and love according to God's will and grants the power to fulfill the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God. However, as we read today's passage, we can see that the fullness of the Spirit is expressed in various forms, and His manifestations are diverse. So trrough today's passage, I hope we can learn about the various forms of the Spirit's presence and share in His grace.
1) Last week, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. The event of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit came, marks the birth of the church under the new covenant initiated by Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. And also in the Old Testament era, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon only a few chosen individuals by God, while after Pentecost, the "Spirit" came to dwell within all believers. And also this event of the Holy Spirit's coming to His church on Pentecost can be understood theologically as a moment when Jesus ascended and seated to the right hand of God in heaven, initiating His heavenly reign, and simultaneously, on earth, as Rev. 1:6 says, the believers, His church, proclaims the kingdom of God as His kings and priests.
2) Furthermore, as we observed last week, the Holy Spirit, who came to His church on Pentecost and began indwelling believers, empowers them with power which enables them to proclaim the kingdom of God, in addition to the ministry of the salvation. So in order to be involved in this ministry, believers need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As we saw in the discussion of the filling of the Spirit in the process of sanctification and the empowerment of the Spirit for the proclamation of God's kingdom, different Greek verbs are used. When empowering the ministers of proclaiming the kingdom of God, the verb πίμπλημι (pimplemi) is used, while the verb πληρόω (pleroo) is used when instructing believers to be filled with the Spirit during the process of sanctification, as the verb πίμπλημι (pimplemi) is used to describe the sudden arrival of the Spirit and the manifestation of His power, often accompanied by bold proclamation of the Word or healing of the sick, on the other hand, the verb πληρόω (pleroo) is used primarily to describe the gradual increase of their obedience to the Spirit's guidance in the process of sanctification, bringing about a transformation in their character, often associated with expressions like being filled with wisdom or faith.
3) In today's passage, we can see Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit in various ways. In Luke 3:22, it is stated that when Jesus, before His public ministry, was baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. And in Luke 4:1, it is mentioned that after His baptism, Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He was tempted by the devil for forty days. And also in Luke 4:14, after the forty days of testing in the wilderness, it is recorded that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and His fame spread, and He taught in the synagogues, being praised by everyone. However, it is important to note that when Jesus received baptism from John, it is not to be understood as the first time the Holy Spirit came to Jesus. Since Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit had never left Him. The Holy Spirit was always with Jesus, nurturing Him with love and wisdom and protecting Him from sin. Therefore, the visible manifestation of the Spirit's descent upon Jesus at His baptism is a public declaration of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry and was God’s confirmation that God approves His ministry, saying "You are my beloved Son; with you, I am well pleased." Regarding the statement that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit as He came up from the Jordan River after His baptism in Lk 4:1, the verb used here is πληρόω (pleroo), which means to be filled with wisdom and faith. This indicates that throughout His public ministry, Jesus had the fullness of grace and truth (John 1:14) through the Spirit's guidance. So even when Jesus faced temptation from the devil after fasting for forty days, He did not rely on the power of the Spirit, but overcame the temptations with the truth of God's Word. On the other hand, in Luke 4:14, it is mentioned that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit after the forty days of testing and began His ministry. This can be understood as the filling of the Holy Spirit when the verb πίμπλημι (pimplemi) is used as He was always filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
4) Similarly, this various experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit which were present with Jesus also occurred among His disciples. Just as Jesus received baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of His public ministry (Luke 3:22), His disciples were anointed with the Holy Spirit as their official proclamation of their ministry to proclaim the kingdom of God when Jesus breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit” at Jn 20:22 on the night when Jesus was resurrected and appeared to His disciples. And also just as Jesus carried out His public ministry with the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were also enabled to fulfill their mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God after the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, filling them with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:4) so that they could fulfill their mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God with the power of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus did.
5) Through today's passage, we would like to learn few things. First of all, we would like to meditate on the subject of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Often, when we think about being filled with the Spirit, we tend to view it as a gradual process where the Spirit fills us to a certain extent as the Spirit will fill us more and more since the Spirit partially dwells within us initially. However, it is important to understand that the Holy Spirit as a person, started to dwell in us fully as a complete person, when the Holy Spirit first comes into us. Therefore, the statement of being filled or not filled with the Spirit refers to whether the Spirit fully governs and rules over us or not. When the Spirit completely governs us, we can say that we are filled with the Spirit, while on the other hand, when we say that we are not filled with the Spirit, it means that there are times when we follow our own will instead of the guidance of the Spirit. So by examining how much time the Spirit leads us each day and how much the Spirit leads us over every aspect of our lives, we can gauge the degree of being filled with the Spirit. Therefore, I believe that we should allow the Spirit to lead us in every area and every moment of our lives. This leads us to the second aspect to consider, which is the method of being filled with the Spirit. When we pray for being filled with the Spirit, it does not mean praying for the Spirit to dwell within us more. Instead, it means praying to become instruments of the Spirit's power and allowing ourselves to be offered up in prayer so that the Spirit can work through us. Additionally, in the process of growing in holiness, being filled with the Spirit (as described by the Greek word " πληρόω (pleroo)") means fully surrendering our thoughts, desires, and will to the Spirit, enabling Him to lead us. Therefore, the way to receive the fullness of the Spirit is to continually offer ourselves to be instruments of the Spirit and to entrust our thoughts, desires, and will to Him in every moment and situation. Finally, it is important to remember that receiving the Spirit's guidance, especially in our sanctification process, often involves receiving His instruction through God's Word, as mentioned in John 14:26 "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." While there are instances where God directly leads us, it is not always to be expected that supernatural methods will occur every time. Instead, we should believe that the Spirit guides us through His Word, which is typical way to lead us. Therefore, it is vital to continually read and meditate on the Scriptures, trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide us through His Word. In conclusion, I pray that all the saints in our church community, following the fullness and guidance of the Holy Spirit, may boldly proclaim the kingdom of God with power and may pursue the progressive guidance of the Spirit to live a life of sanctified love, bringing glory to God and experiencing the fullness of grace and joy in our lives.
Activity questions and thoughts behind
Q1 As Acts 2:38 says that "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," when we all repented, received water baptism, and received forgiveness of sins, we already received the gift of the Holy Spirit. If any of you have had an experience of receiving the Holy Spirit or the gift of the Holy Spirit, I hope that you can share your experiences and thoughts with each other so that we can sahre grace from one another.
(Through this question, I hope that it will remind us of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and that we will have confidence in it.)
Q2 The fullness of the Spirit is not about the Spirit gradually coming more to our hearts as we fervently pray, but it is about the Holy Spirit, who regenerates us and produces faith, repentance, and justification, already being present in us as a whole person. We have come to realize that the more we receive His guidance, the more we experience the fullness of the Spirit. I hope that as you reflect on your daily lives, you consider how much you sought the Spirit's guidance in every moment and situation and how obedient you were to His leading. By sharing what we have come to understand about the meaning of the fullness of the Spirit, we can have a time of sharing grace together.
(Through this question, I hope that we can recognize and believe in the Holy Spirit who dwells within us as a distinct person, who leads us through God's Word, and begin the practice of obeying His guidance in every aspect of our lives.)
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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