Nick Bogardus

There are two usual errors people make in regards to the Holy Spirit: they either elevate him over the other two members of the Trinity, or they ignore him altogether. On one extreme it becomes hyper-individualized, experience-driven charismatic chaos. The latter is as warm and welcoming as North Korea in December. I pastor in the part of the country that birthed some of the largest charismatic movements of the past century, as well as some of the staunchest anti-charismatic churches. Most of the arguments that I heard involved the gifts of the Holy Spirit; as though they were the only activity of the Holy Spirit.. It wasn’t until later in my 20s that I saw two aspects of the Spirit’s work that helped me understand that being Spirit-filled is all about Jesus.

The Spirit Is All About Jesus

Before we get to that, I want to show that the Spirit is all about Jesus. We just spent the last two years as a church in the Gospel of Luke. Let’s look briefly at the Spirit’s work in that book.

• Luke 1:35 — Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary.
• Luke 1:41 — The Spirit fills Elizabeth and she prophesies about Jesus as Lord.
• Luke 1:67 — The Spirit fills the formerly-mute Zechariah to prophecy about God’s plan of redemption being fulfilled in Jesus.
• Luke 2:25 — The Spirit was upon Simeon who prophesied about Jesus, that he brings salvation.
• Luke 3:22 — The Holy Spirit descended as a dove upon Jesus at his baptism and the Father revealed him as his beloved Son.
• Luke 4:1 — The Holy Spirit filled Jesus and led him into the wilderness and sustained him through temptation.
• Luke 4:14 — The Spirit filled Jesus with power and he taught in such a way that he was glorified by all.
• Luke 4:17–19 — The Spirit inspired Isaiah to write about Jesus and his mission of redemption hundreds of years before he was born (Isaiah 61). The Spirit is upon Jesus for the rest of his ministry to empower him to be able to do what Isaiah foretold and what he proclaimed.
• Luke 10:21–24 — Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit about God’s plan for redemption being revealed to the disciples.
• Luke 11:13 — The loving Father gives the Holy Spirit generously to those who ask him.
• Luke 12:12 — Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would teach the disciples what they should say when they are called to testify before synagogues, rulers, and authorities.

What we see is that the Holy Spirit always reveals Jesus, in particular, his saving work. When you read Luke’s second book, Acts, you see the Spirit doing the same things through the early church. He doesn’t exalt a human. He isn’t there to give an experience for experience’s sake. The Spirit is sent by the Father through the Son to reveal Jesus as Lord, God, Savior, and King! It’s not about you or a place; it’s about Jesus.

The Hinge on Which All Turns

Martin Luther famously said that the church would stand or fall on the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone. In his book, The Bondage of the Will, he says to Erasmus,

“… you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot.”

What is the hinge he spoke about? The hinge is regeneration: whether or not mankind is born dead in their trespasses and sins, slaves to sin, and entirely unable to choose God on their own (wills that are bound)—or whether we are born with an innate goodness and freedom to choose God. That monergistic, or one-way, act of God in regeneration is the Holy Spirit’s work (John 3, Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31).

The Spirit Regenerates Our Dead Hearts

God sends the Holy Spirit to regenerate our dead hearts and give us new hearts, miraculously bring life where there was death, light where we loved darkness, and freedom where we were slaves.

The Spirit then works to convict us of sin, point us to the cross, and give us faith in Jesus’ finished work in our place for our sins, whereby we are justified (Romans 3–4). That work of convicting people of sin, leading us to the cross and repentance is what the Holy Spirit does in us until we die and meet Jesus face to face.

The primary means through which the Spirit works is through the proclamation of the gospel (Romans 10:14–17). This biblical imperative (2 Tim 4:2) is why we put such a large emphasis on preaching the gospel at Mars Hill Church.

What I came to see through the Bible and Luther was that being Spirit-filled was to be all about Jesus because to be Spirit-filled is to be gospel and cross-centered. To focus on the gifts of the Spirit, while good things, was to focus on secondary issues and to miss the Spirit’s primary ministry. Our justification and righteousness come from outside of us, in Jesus. Our faith, conviction of sin, and repentance also come from outside of us, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Before God, there is nothing we can account for on our own. Because of this, we can sing that, when we stand before the throne, we’ll stand in him complete, and we will lay our trophies down, all down at Jesus’ feet.

This originally appeared on the Mars Hill Church blog.

I wrote a recap of our first Pre-Launch meeting with Pastor Mark over at the Mars Hill Orange County site. We had prayed for 300 people but God blew apart our expectations and nearly 700 showed up to hear about Jesus, the Gospel, and God’s mission. I got to meet a ton of people passionate about people meeting Jesus in Orange County and heard great stories about people bringing Muslim families and people who left the church to hear the Gospel. I can’t wait to see where God leads all of this.

Jerome Tso took some great photos for us including the four below.

For the past two years, I’ve served on Mars Hill Church’s Media & Communications team as the PR/Media Relations director. On Monday, my wife, daughter, and I are flying to California to plant Mars Hill Church Orange County. The list of things I’m thankful for from being on this team feels endless but I wanted to share seven things I’ve learned from the fine men and women I’ve served alongside.

1.  The Gospel is sufficient. The good news of reconciliation to the Father through Christ on the cross is central to everything Mars Hill. It is easy for Christians, pastors, churches, heck even whole denominations, to veer from the sufficiency of the Gospel in the name of cultural accommodation. As incredibly talented and media-savvy as each person on this team might be, the Gospel is central in every team meeting, new hire, blog post, or video.
2.  Jesus is the hero. This is a result of the Gospel being primary. Because the Gospel proclaims Jesus as the hero of our salvation and of history, we make him the hero. If Jesus isn’t the hero of the video, testimony, graphic, or anything else, we don’t do it. The glory doesn’t go to an individual or even the church; it goes to Jesus.
3.  Christ and Culture aren’t mutually exclusive. I came here after ten years in the music industry and thought I understood a lot about culture, and I did in a sense, but what I lacked was an understanding of Christ and culture. As culture makers, we aren’t to accommodate Christ to culture, pit him against it, or see him as deistically aloof to it, but to see how he transforms it. Christ and culture aren’t mutually exclusive and they aren’t synergistic.  Instead, as Christians, we are to be faithful messengers of the Gospel in whatever role God has called us. It was the presence of thousands of faithful Christians, speaking and living the Gospel to those around them, that led to over 700 being baptized on Easter.
4.  Service to the church is primary. Some of these guys on this team did work at the church long before they ever got were paid for it. They painted walls, emptied trash, swung a hammer, and volunteered countless hours because they loved seeing people meet Jesus and wanted to play whatever role they could in that. That same servant’s heart permeates their approach to their work now. It is constantly humbling.
5.  Challenge the creative ones. In many corners of the church, the creative people in the church are catered to and sought after. In the case of Mars Hill, the creative people are challenged. They are challenged to serve and to be faithful where they are. Mars Hill’s culture is simultaneously encouraging because “creative” and “Christian” aren’t seen as mutually exclusive, but it is also challenging because it isn’t pandering.
6.  Know your priorities. While service and creativity are high values, they never subsume biblical priorities. We’re called to be faithful 1) Christians, 2) husbands and wives, 3) and fathers and mothers before anything else. I’ve learned more about being a good man, husband, and father than I could’ve imagined. The men here have shaped me and changed my life, marriage, and family in numerous ways. The first thing they do is to challenge me to love God first, my wife second, my daughter third, and everything else (including myself) after that. 
7.  Influence comes through humility. In summary, I’ve learned from a department made up of people who are Gospel-centered, Jesus-focused, missiological in their approaches, have servant hearts, and are immensely talented, but who keep the first things first. Simply by osmosis and the demonstration of their character, they’ve made me a better man and have played a crucial role in my development as we prepare to plant Mars Hill Church in Orange County. It is immensely humbling and we’re grateful every day that God brought us to Seattle.

Friends, it has been an honor. Thank you.

Nick