Bible Talks - Traditional Church (Sunday 8am)
The gift of the Holy Spirit
Sunday, 19 November 2006
1. ‘Star Wars’ spirituality
Not sure about you, but I am one of those people not to have seen Star Wars: Episode III.
But I can lay claim to having seen the very first Stars Wars film – confusingly known as Episode 4 – on it’s first run, way back in 1977. And one characteristic of this series of films, right from the start, has been their pseudo religious content.
In fact, I guess we can’t really call it ‘pseudo religious’ any more: in the 2001 Census, more than 70,000 people in Australia declared that they are followers of the Jedi faith, the ‘religion’ created by the Star Wars films. That census found that one in 270 respondents - or 0.37% of the population - say they believe in "the force", the invisible energy that gives Jedi Knights like Luke Skywalker, their power in the films.
The Australian 'Star Wars' Appreciation Society President estimated there are approximately 5000 true, hard-core believers. He said: “For these people, films such as 'Star Trek', 'the Matrix' and 'Star Wars' aren't just pieces of cinema and entertaining escapism, they are ways to create new and personal spiritualities. People can identify with and gain great value from them; they can often quote great slabs of dialogue from the films, and analyse at length the deeper meanings and messages within the stories.”
Dr Adam Possamai (senior lecturer and researcher in the UWS Social Justice Social Change Research Centre) argues that we should recognise that popular culture can provide genuine inspiration for new religions, with these new spiritualities often drawing on religious symbolism from times gone by.
But putting aside the cloak-wearing, light-sabre waving strange people outside cinemas, what is clear is that people are searching for a sense of meaning and purpose, perhaps even a Messiah, a saviour figure like Neo in The Matrix, or Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. But in seeking a spirituality in popular culture, they often just end up being told 'you can be the saviour of yourself' – a message portrayed in The Matrix.
Different to such thinking, but perhaps stimulated by similar wrong thinking, within Christianity in recent years, we’ve seen a big move to a ‘new’ spirituality. We see it in ads for churches like ‘Spirit filled church’, encouragement to meditation practises, and the such. In the 90’s there was a big movement across the world, including Sydney, called the ‘signs and wonders’ movement, and it’s leaders claimed to have a fresh authority from God to perform all kinds of miraculous healings and the like.
2. The real Spirit.
Now, of course, the Holy Spirit is very real and in the Bible he does do all manner of miraculous things. But we must resist the temptation to allow popular culture and even our experience to define who the Holy Spirit is and what role he plays in our lives.
As always, we must understand the Holy Spirit as he is revealed to us in the Bible. And if we are to understand what the Bible is saying about the spiritual world, and spirituality, we have to consciously put out of our minds what the world is saying about these things, and not let them confuse us and lead us away from the truth.
One of the most important statements that the Bible makes about the Spirit of God is in the reading we had from Joel 2:28-32...
Why this slightly obscure passage from a little OT prophet? Because in Acts 2, on that great day when the Spirit comes upon Peter the other disciples, these verses in Joel are what Peter quotes as being fulfilled.
Acts 2
Turn to the Acts 2 passage that we read earlier.
There they are, the disciples, 50 days after Jesus death and resurrection, waiting in Jerusalem for the something that Jesus has spoken of, to happen. The Spirit comes upon them, and they start speaking in languages of the people around them, so that those people can hear and understand what Jesus has done for them. The scared, huddle of 120 are suddenly turned into a group of thousands by the end of that day, all following Jesus as Lord and saviour.
People say to Peter ‘Are you drunk?’, and he explains that it’s something far more significant than that: It’s the fulfilment of what Joel said would happen, and then quotes the passage we read tonight.
Joel 2
Let me very quickly remind you of the context of these few verses at the end of Joel 2.
If you recall 2:1-11 is the warning about the coming locust plague. There’s the powerful picture that Joel paints of an army of destruction coming upon the land. An army of almost superhuman character, v6 “At the sight of them, nations are in anguish, every face turns pale, they charge like warriors, they scale walls like soldiers ” and so on... A formidable army, that cannot be defeated. Joel sees this locust plague as the day of the Lord (v11), the day of God’s judgement. God is judging the nation of Israel with a plague of locusts that will destroy everything in it’s path.
And so the challenge of the next section – v12-17 is to repent. And repent in a profoundly significant and life changing way “rend your hearts not your garments” v13 says, “return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” and who knows, he may turn and have pity. Turn back to God now and maybe God will hold back from judging his people!
Then v18-27 we read of how God does rescue them from the plague of locusts, and further, that he will replenish the land, sending abundant rain and lush crops: v26-27“You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.”
Now, the book of Joel could actually end at that point. It’s nicely rounded out, it’s at the end of an argument, and most of us wouldn’t notice if the book stopped there. But it doesn’t, and Joel goes on, because God has given him something more to say. V28 “‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” God is going to do something afterwards, over and above replenishing the land, over and above sending away the locusts. God is now going to send his Spirit upon his people.
But it’s more than just that. God is going to send his Spirit on people so that they will dream dreams, and see visions. All God’s people will prophecy – that is what is now going to happen!
This wasn’t a new idea in Scripture – although it probably is to many of us.
3. All God’s people prophecy.
Back in Numbers 11, Moses was looking after all the affairs of Israel, and it was too big a job. So God suggested that Moses should delegate and share the load. He did. And God gave them His Spirit (Num 11:17), and the chosen helpers prophesied. But Joshua, Moses’ offsider, was worried about this, and whether these elders would take something away from Moses’ leadership. Moses’ answer is a classic. Number 11:29 “But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
Moses wished that all God’s people would become prophets of God, which is the same as saying that everyone of God’s people would have God’s Spirit living in them. What Moses wished is what Joel is prophesying will happen!
Joel is saying that there will be a day when God’s Spirit will live in all of his people, when all God’s people, young, old, male, female, will know God as the prophets knew God, that all God’s people would speak God’s word as the prophets speak God’s word.
But there’s more!
Joel continues in v30 to say “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
In other words, the turning aside of the locust plague which was the day of the Lord, the start of the ‘thunderstorm’, does not mean that the day of the Lord won’t happen! It’s still coming! And in that coming of the Day, a new element is going to take place – the Spirit of God is going to live in the hearts and minds of God’s people. But the Day will still come. And in that judgement that which is to be great and terrible, is there any hope?
Yes!... v32 “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”
Those whom God calls, who call on the name of the Lord, they will be saved in the day of judgement.
That is, God’s people are promised salvation because they call on the name of the Lord, and they are promised the coming of the Spirit.
These kind of promises occur in other prophecies as well.
Isaiah 54 speaks about people being taught by the Lord himself (54:13).
Jeremiah 31 talks about the new age when God is going to put his law in the minds and write it on the hearts of people, so that people will know God, as the prophets knew him.
Ezekiel speaks about something similar.
But the question is when will these things happen?
When is Joel talking about? What is the timing of these events? When is the ‘afterwards’ of v28? When is this judgement and pouring out of the spirit so that we might be rescued going to happen?
There were numerous historical events that were judgements on Israel – other locust plagues, invasions and similar calamities – culminating in the destruction of the political nation of Israel by Assyria and Babylon. All at God’s hand.
But of course, God also raised up other armies to rescue them out of Babylon, and to restore them to their own land.
But the pouring out of the Spirit of God had not yet taken place. The day of judgement had not finally come. The end of the world had not yet arrived, and the day in which God’s people all became prophets had not come.
Indeed, the reverse had happened, and for hundred’s of years, there were no prophets in Israel! The closing of the O.T. is several centuries before Jesus, and before a man called John the Baptist appeared, who was the last of the O.T. prophets even though he lived in N.T. times!
But with Jesus, things took a change. For with Jesus, he died and in his death, the sun was turned to darkness for several hours. The image of judgment, the locusts, turning the sky black, it was found in the judgement of the world that took place in the death of Jesus.
True, there’s more to the judgement of the world than the death of Jesus. He’s coming again to wind up this universe, but Jesus’ death was the battle that won the war - when Jesus paid the penalty for sin, and Jesus rose from the dead, to defeat death, the enemy of all mankind.
And all through the description of the death of Jesus, the language of Joel is used. In Matt 24 we read of the sun being darkened, and the moon not giving it’s light. In Mark 13 and Luke 21 Jesus talks about the end of the world in Joel language.
Just as the book of Revelation often speaks of locust plagues and the darkening of the sun to describe the end of the world.
But the really important fulfilment of Joel is in Acts 2. So lets turn back there now.
Acts 2:14ff that was read for us earlier. But notice how Peter changes v17? It was ‘afterwards’ in Joel, he now says, “in the last days”. For Peter, the fact that the risen Lord Jesus had just given his disciples his Spirit was a clear sign that the end of the world had come. The sign that God’s judgement was on the universe now. And that God’s people had now all become God’s prophets, and each one of them would now know the Lord just as Moses and Jeremiah and the others knew him.
4. Joel and Jesus.
But, I hear you saying, hang on, if this was the end of the world, why are we still here, two thousand years later?
Well, it’s because we are still living in the end of the world, in the last days. There is no more to come after the time we are in. We have BC – Before Christ, and AD – which is Latin for ‘The year of our Lord’. There is no ‘after AD’!
If you watched a footy game with the Eels playing, you watched the first half and second half – there is no third half! We are in the second half now... if not, extra time.
The last days are running out.... But notice that after the quote from Joel, Peter doesn’t seem to talk about the Holy Spirit.
He goes on to talk about Jesus – v22ff his death and his resurrection... Why?
Well, because a clear sign pointing to God’s chosen one, the Messiah, was that he would rise from the dead. And Peter quotes King David as prophesying that in v25-29.
So with the coming of the resurrection, comes the end of the world. With the coming of the resurrection comes the Messiah, with the coming of the Messiah comes the Kingdom of God.
Peter and the others are all witnesses to these key facts: That Jesus had risen from the dead – just like David prophesied!
And more than that, we know that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, because look what he’s done: he’s poured God’s Spirit into our lives.
Joel has already told us centuries before, that the giving of God’s Spirit to his people would be a sure sign that the Kingdom of God had arrived, that all God’s people, young old, male, female, would start prophesying – and that’s just what’s happened in front of all these people in Jerusalem!
It’s all there in Acts 2:33... but the punch line is a little further on in v36. Read it: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
And remember that verse back in Joel 2:32? “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved;”... Who is the Lord? Acts 2:36 makes it very clear: the Lord is Jesus!
So Joel’s punch line becomes “And everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved...”
And Peter’s audience are deeply moved by this and ask what they should do, and Peter responds with v38 “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.” This promise is not just for us, it’s for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.
Peter clearly sees Joel referring directly to Jesus in his death, resurrection and pouring out of the Holy Spirit. That Jesus is the one whom we call on for salvation.
5. The last days are now.
Jesus was no flash in the pan. He didn’t arrive on earth out of the blue. Rather, his whole role in dying, coming to life again, and the giving of his Spirit was foreseen centuries before by Joel. Which is why even today, if you call on his name, you will be saved. If you call on his name, you too will receive the Spirit of God!
And so we come to the last days. And sitting in this room here today, are some people who haven’t realised that fact.
There are some people here today who are living BC and some who are living AD. I don’t mean that we have some 2000 year old people here! But rather, that some of us are living ‘Before Christ’ and some of us are living ‘in the year of the Lord’.
For some of us here have never called on the name of the Lord Jesus, and have never received his Spirit into our lives, so that we would know God and speak God’s word.
And there are others of us here who are living in the year of the Lord, for we know the Lord is Jesus. He is the one who has died for our sins, he is the one who has overcome evil, he is the one who has risen from the dead. And in calling on his name, we have received the Holy Spirit. And have come to know God personally.
Which one are you? Which group do you belong to?
For those that call upon the name of the Lord, when the time of judgement comes upon them, or upon this world, you will be saved.
And those who do not call upon the name of the Lord, do not have the Spirit of God now, and when it comes to the day of the Lord, the Day of judgement, will be lost.
If you do not know Jesus as your Lord, why not ask about it today? Ask a Christian friend, or come and talk to me, or someone you know and trust.