The Work of The Holy Spirit
In the blog on May 23 I shared from John 15 about the work of The Holy Spirit in bearing witness to Jesus. That text also indicates that we also bear witness to Jesus and his work. So, the bearing witness to Jesus is both the work of The Holy Spirit and our participation.
A further understanding of how the Holy Spirit "bears witness" to Jesus is found in John 16. In John 16:7ff Jesus makes some important statements about The Holy Spirit's work with respect to "the world."
Jesus begins by saying to his followers that "it is to your advantage that I go away (16:7)." What a statement to make to these men who have been with Jesus for 3 years. But his statement is that the advantage is that The Helper will be sent to them. Now the specific advantage seems to be in the area of bearing witness.
The specific advantage that Jesus seems to be referring to is the bearing of witness by The Holy Spirit (The Helper) to the world. This witness to the world is to "convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8)." The term "convict" has to notion of "convincing" or bringing someone to awareness of their need.
How often do we think that it is our job to "convince" people of their sin or their need of Jesus? This seems to be a misunderstanding of The Holy Spirit as the one who does the convincing.
REFLECT: How dependent are you and I on The Holy Spirit to do the convincing of others of their need of Jesus? How can we affirm and practice this in our interaction with others.