If you’re a Christian, whether you can fully remember it or not, there was a moment when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life. You may have been seven, seventeen, or seventy. It might have arrived suddenly or after much consideration. Maybe you were praying with a parent, chatting with a friend, listening to a sermon, or reading a book. Maybe you were at an evangelistic event or at home alone. 

Whatever the details, for all who belong to Jesus in the present, there was a moment in the past when, by God’s grace, you passed from death to life, from darkness to light, when “you who formerly were far off [were] brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13)! And today we want to acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s role in that moment and in the moments leading up to it. More specifically, we want to celebrate with gratitude the drawing ministry of the Holy Spirit and the regenerating ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches that there is one God existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections, and worthy of the same worship, confidence, and obedience. Over the centuries, the Christian church has come to incapsulate this mind-bending, creature-humbling truth in a single word: trinity. 

Now, most Christians today eagerly worship God the Father and long to know and serve God the Son. But, relatively speaking, many are confused by God the Spirit. When it comes to the Spirit of God there’s often much we don’t know, things we wrongly think we know, and lots we’d still like to know. And, just as in our relationships with one another, the more ignorance that remains between us and our God, the more barriers to intimacy with our God. So, let’s get reacquainted with the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, God in us.

Not long ago one of my sons was given a remote-control drone as a birthday present. While he had fun almost immediately, mastery of the device alluded him as he chose to ignore the instruction manual and, instead, was content to repeatedly crash it into walls, into the ceiling, and into his siblings. As soon as my son unwrapped that toy he became a boy who owned a drone and, while he enjoyed it to a degree, his experience of that gift was limited by ignorance to its capabilities and proper use. 

Christians, likewise, have been given a great gift, that of eternal life. Unfortunately, not all believers read the instruction manual and, thus, fail to learn the extent of this gift and how best to enjoy it. Instead, we can become a people who haveeternal life but who fail to experience and express that life to the extent God desires. The Holy Spirit, speaking through John, wants to help us avoid that tragedy in this closing and cumulative chapter.

In baking a cake, there are some ingredients that are more essential than others. While sprinkles aid ascetics and nuts add texture, it’s the eggs, flour, and sugar that actually make it a cake. 

The same is true of a healthy church family. There are many potential elements that can be added to the recipe but they’re not all of equal importance. While a building may add stability and significant attendance can bring excitement, it’s commitment to the gospel and submission to the word, prayer and evangelism, baptism and communion, discipleship and discipline, love of God and love of God’s people that make it a church. And it’s this last essential ingredient we’re going to examine at this morning—a love for one another. The hard reality is, if a church family fails to love one another it cannot be and do what God desires it to be and do. Familial love is the eggs, flour, and sugar of church life. It’s an essential, foundational ingredient.

God wants those who belong to him to experience intimacy with him. That’s why he calls believers to pursue holiness (1:5–2:2), obedience (2:3–6), and familial love (2:7–11; 3:10–23), not because that’s how we’re saved but because that’s how we draw near to him once we’re saved. God so desires that his children abide in him that he tells us to avoid worldliness (2:15–17) and sin (3:1–9), not because if we don’t we prove we don’t belong to him but because such rebellion kills intimacy. God so longs for his people walk in his light and love that he warns us to avoid false teaching (3:24–4:6), not because it can steal our salvation but because few things cause more damage to a relationship than deception. And, as John reveals in our passage today, there are lots of lies out there, falsehoods and half-truths about Jesus that can, if entertained and believed, destroy trust, breed anger and apathy, and prevent us from enjoying the Lord.

Imagine I told you we were going to have a conversation about classic story structure, and invited you to finish the following sentence: “and they all lived…” Exactly. We all know it. In most cases, we probably expect it. And while it’s obviously not true of every story, the opposites are infrequent or undesirable enough that “and they all lived terribly ever after” just isn’t a thing we say. 

Think of the last fictional book you read or movie you watched (ones that actually resolved the story, not the ones with the cliffhanger setting up for the sequel) and I can almost guarantee there was a scene involving the punishment of the “bad guys” before seeing the happy future for the “good guys”. Because in many ways, part of that happy ending involves this acknowledgement that the evil ones are getting what they had coming, fair retribution for what they have done to the world and to the protagonists themselves. We know in our hearts, even in our fictional stories, that bad things deserve punishment, and a “happily ever after” with evil still on the loose just isn’t “happy” or “ever after”.

As I mentioned a few moments ago, today we’re going to get to the resolution of the prophetic story in the book of Joel. And in that resolution, we’re going to see everything required for that proper “happily ever after”.

We’re into the final two sections of the book of Joel and we’re now in part of the book where it finally starts to take a turn for the positive, where God’s people have been challenged to repent, and we now get to see God’s response for when they do so. The last two weeks described judgement on God’s people in the southern kingdom of Judah, and called them to repentance for their disobedience, and it was fairly simple to make the connection to see how those texts could still be relevant and applicable for us today. A passage that calls for turning from sin and turning to God, all for the sake of his glory can obviously draw our mind to our own struggles, temptations, and disobedience and what we should do about them.

Today’s passage is a little less obvious, at least in my opinion, because the majority of the verses are focused on God turning from his punishment, showing mercy, and even blessing the very people he had just been disciplining. While God has shown us all mercy, particularly through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he is not necessarily going to bless us or relent of discipline in the exact same ways he did for his people in Joel. This is a specific story of God’s mercy and blessing, not a template, not a “if you do this, God will do that” scenario, necessarily.

Specifically, in today’s passage we’re going to see God offering deliverance to his people, relenting of his discipline and blessing them through meeting their physical needs after the army and the locust invasions. He then promises a future deliverance available to all people, where he will offer to meet their spiritual needs through the outpouring of his Spirit.

Sometimes in times of struggle, difficulty, or suffering, we act as though all we need to do is apologize and everything will be okay. Sometimes we look at the suffering God allows in our life or the discipline he’s putting us through as a combination lock just waiting to be opened, a code to be cracked. “If I just ask forgiveness for this sin” or “if I just read my Bible this much” or “if I just go to church this many times” or “if I just donate this amount of money” God will have no choice but to bless me and take me out of this pain and put me into better life circumstances. It may sound a little ridiculous, and many of us probably wouldn’t say those things out loud, but I know I’m not the only one who has had times where we’ve thought it, or acted as though that’s the way it is.

The reality is we are told in the Bible that God will sometimes use or allow to help us grow, mature, learn, and become more like Christ. So while it’s okay to ask God to help us with or even remove us from situations of suffering or discipline, to apologize, or to be brought to confession, repentance, or positive life-change by those circumstances, that doesn’t mean God immediately owes us a supernatural rescue for doing as we’re told. Saying sorry doesn’t mean we won’t face discipline or consequences.

It’s Mother’s Day, and a sermon about divine judgement and locust plagues and starving animals probably isn’t what most of you came expecting today. But interestingly enough, the overall tone of the first chapter is not so different from some very common maternal phrases, like “sit here and think about what you’ve done”, “You can come back out when you’re ready to apologize and behave”, or “I hope you’ve learned your lesson”.

Today, we’re going to start with the first chapter, and as we read we’re going to see three specific types of calls to action: a directive to listen and tell, a directive to grieve, and a directive to repent; and each of these is followed by a description of the admittedly brutal circumstances that makes these actions necessary.

One of the greatest honours and aspirations for any athlete is to compete for their country on an international stage like the Olympic Games. They dream of wearing the flag and hearing their national anthem played as they stand on the podium. And many athletes make their country proud in those moments, competing and carrying themselves in an admirable and applaudable manner. But some bring shame to the nation they represent by cheating, lying, mistreating teammates and opponents, and even breaking the law. When this happens, the athlete is still a citizen of their county but they’ve failed to represent the values of their country. They’ve squandered the opportunity to showcase to the world the best that their nation has to offer. 

Christians are on Team Jesus. We wave a common flag and represent a heavenly nation. Our job is to represent well, not bringing shame but showcasing to the world the best our Lord has to offer. And according to 1 John 3, that means we love one another like Christ.