Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Joel 2:28,29
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  May 31, 2020

I want you to imagine that we’ve gone back in time, all the way to 1925. The Pittsburgh Pirates had won the World Series. The Great Gastby was the must read novel. Ford had introduced its first truck. And as you opened up your Montgomery Ward catalogue, you saw an ad for a Victor Victrola Talking Machine, a phonograph which played records. The ad shows the perfect American family–a mom and dad, two kids–a boy and a girl–and don’t forget the dog, all standing around their Victrola with joyous faces. And to the right of this idyllic picture is the slogan that has stood the test of time: “Everybody’s happy with the gift that keeps on giving!”

Victor Victrola actually patented the phrase, “the gift that keeps on giving,” in 1925. Once the patent expired, that phrase has been used to market banks, kitchen appliances, Kodak cameras, flowers, and many other services and products.

And that phrase came to mind especially this week as I was preparing not just for Pentecost, but for the opportunity to gather together once again. We heard a couple of weeks ago that Jesus promised to send his disciples a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is the One Last Gift that flows from Jesus’ victory on Calvary. But this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we see today was not a one-time event. As Joel foresaw and as we’ll see again today, unlike the Victrola, the gift of the Holy Spirit is truly a gift that keeps on giving. Let’s see anew how God is blessing us with this One Last Gift.

The prophet Joel is somewhat of an enigma. We don’t know his background other than his Father, Pethuel, who isn’t mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. We don’t know exactly when he prophesied or where. All we know is that Joel received a message from God to share with God’s people. Initially, it is a message of stern judgment. The people had once again turned away from God and turned to idols. To lead them to repentance, God was going to send a terrible plague of locusts that would completely devastate the land. Joel urges the people to repent of their rebellion and their rejection of God. He urges them to return to God and seek his forgiveness. God would be merciful. He would welcome them back with open arms. He would bless them once again. Joel says, “Celebrate, you people of Zion! Rejoice in the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, because he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as he did in the beginning.” God would send the rain again to restore what the locusts had destroyed. But even more than that, Joel is promising a greater blessing. “Rains in righteousness,” is certainly more than mere drops of water. The only source of life for a fallen world is the Savior, Jesus. Joel is promising the coming of the Savior. And then, after God sent the Savior, the promised Messiah, God had one last gift to give. 

“After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. Even on the servants, both male and female, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Just as Jesus had promised, after the coming of the Savior, God would send the Holy Spirit. Peter saw what happened on this day of Pentecost and knew that Joel’s prophecy had been fulfilled. God had poured out his Spirit. The disciples of Jesus, certainly the apostles but also all those who followed him, who were gathered in that room, received an outpouring of the Spirit. That outpouring allowed them to prophesy, to take God’s message to God’s people from all around the world who were gathered in Jerusalem on the great day of Pentecost.

It’s a wonderful story, isn’t it? What a powerful display of God’s power! What a marvelous gift those disciples received! But what does it have to do with you and me in 2020?

Do you remember what made people want to buy the Victor Victrola? It was marketed as “the gift that keeps on giving.” The reason that we talked about that earlier is because there’s a word in verse 29 that is similar. That word we translate as “pour out” is a durative in the Hebrew. What that means is that the action described happens in the future, but it keeps on happening, it keeps on going with no end in sight. In other words, God’s pouring out of the Spirit is a gift that keeps on giving.

Perhaps like no Pentecost before, do we appreciate this outpouring of the Holy Spirit! Perhaps like no Pentecost ever before, do we value that this outpouring is for us too! Certainly, the disciples already had the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, they couldn’t have come to faith in Jesus. But God here is promising an extra measure of the Spirit, an extra measure of revelation. You see, in the Old Testament, God spoke to the people through the prophets, he gave them his special message and they passed it on to the people. Even though all believers in the Old Testament had the Holy Spirit through faith, they didn’t have this special revelation relationship with God.

But Joel foresees a time when that would change. He says, “After the Savior comes, God will give that revelation relationship to all people, not just the prophets! Men and women, young and old, will all receive the special outpouring of the Spirit. And it will keep on happening with no end in sight.” Do you realize what that means? It means that this promise of God is for you! He promises to give you a special revelation relationship, just like the prophets of the Old Testament. We have received everything that God wants his people to know. It’s found right here in God’s Word. All of us, men and women, young and old, have the Bible at our fingertips. The writer to the Hebrews says, “In the past, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets at many times and in many ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” God speaks to you in his Word, through the Word made flesh. God has given you full revelation. In essence, God has made you a prophet. So how are you using that gift?

You see, the work of a prophet wasn’t simply to receive the revelation. The prophet’s job was then to take that revelation and share it with God’s people. “Oh, I can’t do that!” Maybe that’s your initial reaction. I would agree, not everyone can be a pastor or a teacher. Not everyone meets the criteria or has those spiritual gifts. But I don’t think that’s what people mean when they think, “I can’t do that.” Perhaps a little closer to the truth is they don’t think they are able to do it. Maybe you don’t feel qualified to share the good news about Jesus. But what makes a person qualified to share Jesus? Do you think the disciples, the apostles were qualified? Peter and the other apostles were not from the upper echelon of society. They had not spent years in school learning different languages. They were common fishermen, day laborers, even tax collectors. Yet, Jesus called them to share the good news! Why? Because what makes someone qualified to share Jesus isn’t found in themselves. What makes you qualified is the message you share and the person calling you to share it!

Joel literally says that God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh. Our flesh is tainted with sin. Since Adam and Eve first sinned, all flesh has been tainted with sin. That sinful flesh is without true fear of God, without trust in God, and with the desire, the inclination to sin. It’s worthless, lifeless, and helpless by nature. And yet, it’s on this flesh that God has poured his Spirit, because God made this flesh worthy by sending Jesus. Jesus, our rain for righteousness, washed away all of our sins. He watered our lifeless flesh and made it bud and flourish. By taking away our sins through his perfect life and innocent death, Jesus has made us worthy of the Spirit. Our flesh is a place the Spirit chooses to dwell! That message of forgivness and new life is a worthy message to share and the flesh that is called to share it is also worthy because of Jesus!

But maybe it’s not even that. Maybeyou know that you’re worthy, but you say “I can’t,” because you just don’t want to.

My friends, God has blessed us beyond what we can even imagine. All it took was a couple of months of not being able to gather together to make that realization hit home like never before. Never before have we appreciated how important this is and how important it is to share it! We fully realize that God has given us everything we need for life and for eternity. We truly lack nothing. But it is easy for our sinful nature to listen to the lies of the devil and tell us that that sharing the good news is scary or intimidating or will get us into trouble. And like everything the devil says, theres a small element of truth. Yes, sharing the good news of Jesus, putting your faith out there can be intimidating. It can be a little nerve wracking to see how people will react. But the devil only says those things because he wants more people with him in hell. He knows that the message you have to share will save people from hell. And it doesn’t have to be fancy or eloquent or rehearsed. As the hymn writer put it, “If you cannot speak like angels, if you cannot preach like Paul, you can tell the love of Jesus, you can say he died for all. If you cannot rouse the wicked with the judgment’s dread alarms, you can lead the little children to the Savior’s waiting arms.

This entire Easter season, we’ve seen how we are victorious because of Jesus. We’ve seen how fully and richly God has blessed us and continues to bless us. Today marks a transition. The colors of the Church have gone from white to red. We’ve finally been able to gather again. I don’t know if God allowed this virus to come, much like the locusts in Joel’s day, to lead us to repentance. But he’s given us One Last Gift. God continues to pour out his Spirit on us. To each one of you God continues to pour out his Spirit so that you can share the good news of him who lived and died and rose again for you, Jesus Christ your Savior. Use that gift! Let everyone you know see God gives this One Last Gift, a gift that truly keeps on giving. Amen.