May the Holy Spirit Flood the Church!

Pentecost, 6/12/11
Joel 2:28-29


May the Holy Spirit Flood the Church!
I. Because that’s what all people need
II. To equip every Christian for kingdom work


With our lawns already turning brown here in this area of the state, we’ve almost forgotten that a month ago we were praying for dry weather. We nearly set a record for rain in April and May’s rainfall was well above average too. And because of it some homeowners faced flooded basements and other damage to their property.

But what we faced here is nothing compared to the recent flooding along the Mississippi River and, as we speak, in the Dakotas near the source of the Missouri River. Flood waters have literally covered homes and ruined crops. Imagine—all your belongings damaged by muddy, filthy water. Imagine going back into such a home a month later and seeing walls covered with mold and your once lovely, clean floors covered in silt and mud. It must be devastating!

Since we often—almost always—associate flooding with damage and destruction, it might come as a surprise when you hear me asking our gracious God for that very thing this morning. Today is the Festival of Pentecost in the Christian Church. Around the world Christians are hearing the message of how the Holy Spirit was poured out in abundance on believers. Not sprinkled out on believers. Not dripping down on believers. But poured out. In abundance.

Flooded. But flooded in a good way as when we are flooded with gifts, flooded with business opportunities, flooded with compliments. But there’s no better flooding that could occur than to be flooded with the Holy Spirit. And so, as we ponder God’s promise through his prophet Joel to pour out his Holy Spirit on Pentecost, our prayer is that he would continue to do so today. May the Holy Spirit flood the church! Let’s see why as we focus on this section of God’s word.

Part I.

I mentioned the devastation that floods bring, but can you think of a situation in which a flood is beneficial? Think back to your studies of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians not only looked forward to the annual flooding of the Nile, they depended on it. That annual flooding brought the life-sustaining water and silt needed for their farmers to grow crops. Without that flooding, there were no crops and the people faced food shortages and even starvation. Every Egyptian depended on that flooding.

Every sinner depends on the flooding of the Holy Spirit in a far deeper way. Joel writes, “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” You’re probably interested in one of the first words of that verse, the word “afterward.” After what? That’s one of the ways that Old Testament writers refer to New Testament times. But that’s not the word I want to highlight for you. Instead, look at the last word of that sentence, the word “people.” Actually the Hebrew word here is “flesh.” “People” is an acceptable translation of that Hebrew word, but the Hebrew word carries with it a negative connotation. We’re flesh by nature as opposed to being spiritual by nature, and that’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s eternally deadly. It means we come into this world without spiritual life. By nature our focus is only on what is fleshly, worldly and not on what is spiritual, heavenly.

And there’s nothing we can do on our own to correct this deadly deficiency. Recall Jesus’ words on this very subject to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to visit Jesus at night. Jesus said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6). We can’t create spiritual life within us or within someone else. By nature we’re spiritually dead and we’re doomed to remain that way.

What’s more, we’re not God’s friends by nature; we’re his enemies. The Bible describes the person without faith in Jesus as being hostile to God (Rom. 8:7). We come into this world with a love for self, not for God. Our natural inclination is live without God, and our natural sinful thinking is that, if we want a relationship with him, we’ll do something to create or cause one. The problem is, we can’t. We’re helpless. We’re hopeless!

But praise be to God for the work of the Holy Spirit! He gives spiritual life. Today we celebrate that work. Jesus referred to that work in on his conversation with Nicodemus. He said, “The Spirit gives birth to spirit” (Jn. 3:6). The Holy Spirit uses the good news about Jesus in his word and in Baptism to bring us to faith in Jesus, thus creating spiritual life within us.

That’s exactly what all people need! May the Holy Spirit flood the church!

In the recent past there’s been a good bit of discussion in the Christian church and even in our own synod, about “healthy” churches. One of the issues in that discussion is what constitutes a healthy church. Is it numbers of people? Is it a calendar filled with events? Is it a measure of how cross-cultural and cross-social a group of Christians is? Is it how active its members are in social programs for the community? While all these items are important to one degree or another, what our God considers most important is faithfulness to his word. That’s because he sends his Holy Spirit to us and to others through that word. To the extent that you and I have been guilty of convincing ourselves that we don’t need that word and the working of the Holy Spirit on a certain day or week or time, may the Holy Spirit bring us the forgiveness Jesus won for us by his life and his death. To the extent that you and I have convinced ourselves that our faith is strong enough and needs no further increase through the working of the Holy Spirit, may that Spirit bring us the forgiveness won for us by Jesus. And then, may he flood our hearts and minds through his word and sacrament because that’s what we need.


Part II.

From time to time you hear that a particular company or entity has the exclusive rights to something. In other words, the two parties have entered into an agreement that one of them will be the only supplier of the product that the other offers. It’s an agreement that benefits both.

In the Old Testament times God shared his message in a rather exclusive way. Think about it. God didn’t take his word and give it to every one of his Jewish people. Instead, he shared it with one person—usually a prophet—and that prophet then shared it with others. Often he used dreams and visions to communicate with the prophet so that he would know what to say. Those revelations were irregular. By that I mean the prophet never knew when the Lord was going to speak to him. That’s exactly the experience of the prophet Joel who wrote the words of our text. He received an exclusive message from the Lord.

But in New Testament times the Lord pours out his Spirit on all his people. Joel foretold that very thing with these words, “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. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” This flooding by the Holy Spirit is inclusive, not exclusive, and there are several reasons for it.

First, the Holy Spirit wants all people to know his word. That word brings forgiveness and salvation. God’s highest will is for all people to be saved. That happens when the Holy Spirit works faith in them through his word. Therefore he graciously floods each believer.

As people who know his word of salvation, we’re now uniquely qualified to share that word with others. The Holy Spirit doesn’t only flood his way into the hearts of a few people so that only a few can share his saving word with others. He floods the hearts of all his believers so that every believer can share his saving word with others.

And through that word, he equips us for kingdom work. In his grace and wisdom our God has not chosen to do his saving kingdom work all by himself. Instead, he has chosen to involve us, his people. He has given us the high calling and privilege of sharing his word of salvation with others. To accomplish that work, he gives each of us unique gifts—gifts to use in serving others in his kingdom. Look at all the varied gifts just in this group of Christians. There are times when those God-given gifts amaze me! And what saving kingdom work we accomplish when we use those gifts faithfully!

May the Holy Spirit flood the church to equip every Christian for kingdom work!

Instead of referring it as kingdom work, we usually refer to it as church work. So let’s ask ourselves a question: Who does church work? We all know the answer to that question, we just don’t like to say it. It’s you. It’s me. It’s all of us. We just hesitate to say it and to do. Our sinful nature would rather let someone else do it. Or, we can keep ourselves busy with a certain kind of church work just so that we don’t have to do another kind of church work which we know is more important, but we don’t want to do it. Or, we convince ourselves that we’re doing our part; the rest is up to someone else. Obviously, we’re wrong, sinfully wrong. The thing to do is pray—pray for the Holy Spirit to flood us. Let him flood you with the forgiveness of Jesus and the power of his resurrection. Let that flood come into your life as you focus on his holy word and receive your Savior’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Through those means the Holy Spirit fills you and empowers you for your life with him, a life filled with blessings for you and a life of sharing those blessings with others.

May the Holt Spirit flood his church, this church, each individual in it! Amen.