Radical Repentance

Let's walk through the book of Joel together. The message of this book was a message of repentance. The verse that I have pulled from Joel that I would call the theme verse is Joel 2:12-13, "Yet even now,” declares the Lord,“return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”Return to the Lord your God,for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster."
 Joel is lumped into what we call the minor prophets.  They are called minor because they are shorter in their content, not in their message.  This Book is full of truth and we can learn much from it. 
Let's start by reading Joel 1:1-20;

 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:2 aHear this, byou elders;give ear, ball inhabitants of the land!cHas such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?3 dTell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.4 What ethe cutting locust left, fthe swarming locust has eaten.What the swarming locust left,gthe hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left,hthe destroying locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and iwail, all you drinkers of wine, because of jthe sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.6 For ka nation has come up against my land,kpowerful and beyond number;lits teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.7 It has laid waste my vine and splintered my mfig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.8 Lament like a virgin1 nwearing sackclothfor the bridegroom of her youth. 9 oThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord.pThe priests mourn,pthe ministers of the Lord.10 The fields are destroyed,qthe ground mourns, because rthe grain is destroyed,rthe wine dries up, the oil languishes.11 sBe ashamed,2 O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley,tbecause the harvest of the field has perished.12 The vine dries up;uthe fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up,

and vgladness dries up from the children of man. 13 wPut on sackcloth and lament, pO priests; xwail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, wpass the night in sackcloth, pO ministers of my God!yBecause grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. 14 zConsecrate a fast; zcall a solemn assembly. Gather athe elders and aall the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. 15 Alas for the day! bFor the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty3 it comes. 16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, cjoy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 dThe seed shrivels under the clods;4 the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because ethe grain has dried up. 18 How fthe beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.5 19 To you, gO Lord, I call. hFor fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, hand flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20 Even the beasts of the field ipant for you because the water brooks are dried up, hand fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

 

The Word of the Lord came to Joel, son of Pethvel.  We don’t know much about Joel, except his name means “Jehovah is God”.   There are other men in the Bible named Joel, but most likely none of them are the Prophet Joel. Not knowing much about Joel is on purpose. I think that this reflects many of the prophets who lived out their message.  Like Ezekiel, Isaiah, and even Hosea, the message is a message from God.  The Book of Joel is about the message, not the man.  There is nothing about the man that could distract us from the message.  I do love the poetry in this book, and the parallels.

 

We also do not know when this Book was written.  There are scholars that will try and date this book, but these are all just guesses.  I will not try and date it, because as we will discover, the date is not important. John Calvin said it best, “As there is no certainty, it is better to leave the time in which he taught undecided; as we shall see, this is of no great importance”. What is important is that Joel had witnessed a devastating invasion of Israel by locusts. Joel also knew that this was an act of God Himself. It was not by mere chance, as revealed in verses 2-4. 

 

  Here we see, that utter devastation had come to the land of Israel.  The details that Joel gives are truly remarkable.The first swarm is most likely the adult locusts that moved in because of the drought conditions. This dry land would have been perfect for the females to lay their eggs. Once they hatched, the young locusts would hop around and eat any vegetation in sight. They could cover four to six hundred feet per day, eating everything they could reach.  Once they molted and became adults, they would fly up and eat what ever was left. The locusts left nothing!  Consuming any plant in sight, even the trees; they would eat clear through to the bark, sometimes snapping limbs in half.  This was certain disaster for Israel. 

 

How does Joel handle this situation?  How do we handle natural disasters today? For one thing, if we only consider it natural, the disaster would start on its own and stop on its own. Some might take a disaster like this more lightly, being a natural occurrence. Some might try and put on their good Christian smile and just keep telling everyone that all is good, not a big deal, just be happy.  That is clearly not what Joel did!  He took this disaster very serious. Yet, others might proclaim that this is the end of the world “I have been telling you this was coming! It is the end of the world! I have been warning you!” These are the gloom and doom people who are always looking for the worst in every situation. Joel was neither of these. He simply told it like it was, and it was bad!

In verse 2 Joel even asks the elders, “has anything like this had happened before?” This is clearly a rhetorical question. Joel knows nothing like this had happened before. Now let us look at the people Joel was addressing:

a.) The elders, they would know the history and could start telling the people. Especially the young people, we should be teaching them.  Tell them, so that they will remember and tell the next generation.  These elders will be leading the people through this time of disaster.  You will be leading the people, so be prepared.  Joel goes to them first.

 b.) The drunkards; it is interesting that this is the next group speaks to. The drunkards here will be affected by this disaster. There will be no more wine until the next season.  I love how Joel says “awake” because he is telling them, “hey, wake up!”  We can all be like drunkards sometimes, wondering around in life with little care of what is going on.  Joel is saying wake up; wake up from your drunken stupor! Don’t let yourself drift in off into a joyless state of misery. Do not live your life as if there is no care in the world, which is the way drunkards live pretending there is no God.                                          Joel says, “Wake up and weep!”

This is how the Lord works, He uses disasters to take away our pleasures in life specifically Christians who get their pleasure from something other than the Lord. When we are being self-centered, instead of God centered, Joel is saying wake up weep, wail and cry out because this is bad! I love the poetry and analysis to show the depth and destruction the locusts have caused.

In verses 6-7 we have figures of speech describing the destruction of the locusts. The Lord is also saying, all these are mine. Notice the words My land, My vine, My fig tree, it is all the Lords and He can do with it what He pleases. Next we see the Lord calling His people to repent.                          

In verse 8 the drunkards are called to lament, that is to mourn lake a bride who is just married and about to start the honeymoon and all of a sudden her husband is dead. That is the kind of mourning Joel is talking about. All of the bride's hopes and dreams are destroyed. They went from the happiness of joy into the pain of hurt.

Does our sin crush us, do we hurt?

In verses 9-10 we see no more offerings, the priests mourn, the fields are destroyed the ground mourns. Sin has brought deep sorrow to the whole universe, even the ground mourns.

Paul even hits on this point in:

Romans 8: 19-21 "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

   (Even creation waits to be restored through Christ, and the work done on the cross.)                                                                                        

c.) The farmers (v.11-12), they would be the most affected by this disaster.  This group would have worked so hard, put in so much time and energy into making crops, all for nothing. No crops, not anything! Joel continues to describe how nothing will escape this disaster.  Look at verse 12 again, the vine, the fig tree the pomegranate, the palm and apple trees all affected.  I love the way Joel closes this verse, “gladness dries up from the children of man”.  It reminds me of Adam and Eve in the garden, man in his innocence was able to fully enjoy God and His creation. But sin ruined that, man was kicked out of the garden and now we work the ground and sin has affected everything, even our joy and gladness. If only God's Spirit would be poured out once more, if only the Spirit that hovered over the waters at creation would come and show this life giving power!  Then joy would return.

d.) The priests and ministers are next to be spoken to (v.13-14) and given solemn commands.  These men were supposed to lead the people.  We see what they are to do themselves, and how they must lead the people during this time.  First, when judgment falls on God's people, the ministers must be the ones to take the lead and mourn before the Lord.  Second, they must lead the people in doing the same.

Today, we must see this disaster the way Joel saw it, as a judgment on God's people and a time to mourn over our sin and repent. Often we look around at other people going through a disaster, and wonder what they did to deserve that. It is tempting to pass judgment on others, when in fact; we should be looking at ourselves, wondering why disaster has not fallen on us. Examine our own hearts.

Next Joel tells the people and us that this disaster should remind us of the great disaster that is to come. The Lord's judgment is final. (v.15-18) The Lord will return. We will look at this more in Chapter 2.  Disasters and calamities should remind us all that one day Christ will usher in the great and terrible Day of the Lord. Are you prepared for that day? Also, it should lead us into self-examination and repentance, what we have been talking about. As Christians, this should not bring fear to us but instead, hope and joy.

 

Hebrews 12:6  “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastens every son whom He receives.”

This should bring us hope that the Lord is drawing us near to Him; the Lord uses these things to wake us up out of our stupor and draws us close to Himself. Praise God He is working in our lives. Don't be in love with the things of this world. God says “look to Me, I control this world. I am God alone; joy and gladness come through Me.” If we put our joy and gladness in the things of this world and God takes them away, what is left? Trust in Him, have faith.  A relationship with the Most High God alone brings joy and affirmation in times of trial.  

Joel closes with a prayer, (v.19-20) showing that he is not merely a man on the outside looking in.  But he is also partaking in this judgment and will actually do what he is calling the others to do.  He cries out to God.  The Holy Spirit leads us to true and real repentance, not just the appearance of it, and a repentance that changes your life. All this can only come through the accomplished work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection.

The Beauty of Biblical Balance

Over the past several weeks I have had this struggle with adjusting my schedule to fit all the areas that need time in my life. As a bi-vocational pastor I struggle constantly with my time. I usually work 45 to 50 hours a week not including my drive time. But my main struggles are taking the proper time to love my wife, love my neighbor, bringing up my children in the nurture of the Lord, praying, studying God’s Word for personal growth and for sermon preparation, spending enough time with the flock, counseling, spending enough time in discipleship, spending enough time with non-christians, and just spending enough time with my family (my first flock).  Over the past few weeks this struggle has totally drained me physically, spiritually and emotionally. I have had struggles to work through with my first flock (family) that have been hard to walk through, things I have never experienced before. In these struggles I have had to totally rely on the Lord to lead me in the right direction. Doing that has been draining! I praise God in these times that He never leaves us or forsakes us. I thank Him that even in times when I didn’t want to rely on Him, He was still there leading me towards Himself. I also praise God for faithful friends that continue to encourage me. Mary is always there even when we don’t agree in the decisions I might be making. She is a great helper and best friend. I also praise God for Gregg. He is always there to just listen and encourage me to keep fighting the good fight. He will  always ask the hard questions. Those are the kind of people we need in our lives.

D.A. Carson, in this month’s themelios magazine has a good article on the subject of biblical balance. The first point hit home for me;

1. Balance in the Use of Our Time, While We Attempt to Be Faithful to Scripture

The Bible exhorts us to discharge many responsibilities, all of them time-consuming: to work, love our neighbor, love our spouse, bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, pray, meditate on God's Word, meet together with other believers for mutual edification and corporate praise, bear witness to the gospel with unbelievers, and much more. If we are elders/pastors/overseers, the work of teaching demands careful study, while the teaching itself extends indefinitely beyond Sunday morning sermons to include one-on-one Bible study, small group study, training others, and counsel of many kinds for the people in our flock, including the members of our own family. All of these are good things; all of them require time. The same Scriptures insist on proper cycles of rest: God gives his beloved sleep. Add to this pile the peculiar rush of duties that befall us in peculiar circumstances: a family member falls critically ill; two children are graduating from university about the same time that a third is getting married; the family business is on a knife-edge between a great leap forward and going belly-up-and all of these circumstances are under God's providential arrangement.

The needed balance in the face of such demands turns on right priorities in using the time God has given us, along with refusing to feel like dismal failures because we cannot squeeze thirty hours of living into twenty-four. We have all the time that God has wisely allotted; there is no more. We can work away at making our use of time more efficient; above all, we can pursue godly priorities. And we can trust the wisdom of our good and wise heavenly Father.

At times I do begin to feel like a dismal failure because I cannot squeeze 30 hours into 24. And in those times I allow that to eat at me and even effect my time of rest. There are times when I get those things above out of balance. But praise God that I can trust Him to lead me back into balance. I will continue to stumble through areas of my life but my Lord does not stumble! He is faithful!

 I encourage you to go read the themelios article online. You can get it here, http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the_beauty_of_biblical_balance

GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS...

Our mission at BRBC has always been to serve the community that the Lord has put us in. The Lord has planted us in Blue Ridge so we are a part of this community. We are a church plant about to finish our third year in Blue Ridge. We have grown in many ways, we have walked through many struggles together and the Lord has been faithful. Sometimes when we go through trials we can become negative in our thinking and focus on negatives and totally miss the joy of seeing what the Lord is doing. As I look around BRBC I see many families “growing up” in their walk with the Lord! Jesus is changing lives at BRBC and it is amazing to watch. 

In all of this I have had to reevaluate everything we do as a church. I believe through all of this we might have lost focus a little. It is so easy to become inner-focused when we walk through tough trials together. We have mourned together and truly loved each other during this time. But now I think it is time to get back to the basics. We have decided that as of last week we are going to cancel all weekly activities at the church except our Sunday morning gathering. So we will have our Sunday gathering and our weekly Lifegroups that meet in homes and that is it. This is to provide you with every opportunity to go out and use the gifts the Lord has given you. We can get wrapped up in doing things “in the church” and then we actually stop “being the church”. 

 At BRBC we must again look back to our mission as a church and focus on that mission. This is something every individual Christian in the church becomes a part of. We all need to reevaluate the gifts that the Lord has given us and then look at how we are using those gifts for the glory of our Lord and Savior. 

As a church and individuals we need to again look to Jesus. 

Jesus was sent by the Father; 

• To a particular people 
• Into a particular society,
• Culture and time.
• Jesus dressed the way they dressed! 
• He was part of their society! 
• He didn’t meet at the same place every week and tell people that if they want to learn about Him from Him then they must come to this particular place every week. 
• He ate with sinners and tax collectors! 
• He sent out His disciples! 
• He healed the sick!
• Fed the poor!

A missional church follows the example of Jesus!

We can’t heal but Jesus still can! We can love the sick like Jesus did!

We can’t save anyone but Jesus still can and is! We can love the lost like Jesus did!

We can still feed the poor like Jesus did!

A missional church looks for what God is doing in the community and jumps on board! 

That is what I want us as a church to focus on. What is Jesus doing in our community? Where is He working in people’s lives? Where can I jump in and join the Lord? 

I read a blog the other day that really reminded me of what our focus should be and our need to go back there. The blog is from Brandon Levering. You can check it out over at the Gospel Coalition. I have copied some of the post below. It will be good for us to read this and learn from it. 

1. Church plants clearly define their mission and keep it before them in everything they do.

When you’re starting from scratch, almost everything is intentional. The feel of the webpage, the flow of the nursery system, the types of ministries, the shape of the worship service—everything is painstakingly considered and prayed over to retain focus and clarity for staying on mission.

But the longer churches have been doing something, the harder it is to remember why they do it. It’s easy to lose focus and become cluttered and fragmented in programs and ministries. This lack of clarity and focus can lead to passionate resistance to strategic changes. We can learn from church plants about recapturing the focus of your mission and holding it clearly and consistently before the congregation.

2. Church plants feel an acute sense of urgency to engage in evangelism.

This is the simple fact of planting a church: if it doesn’t grow, it will die. And most church planters are not interested in transfer growth; they want to see conversion growth. So urgency for congregation-wide evangelism is woven into the church’s DNA from the beginning.

But the longer a church does its thing and the larger it gets, the greater the pressure to divert attention to the needs of the church itself. We need more programs for families, programs for children, programs for teens, programs for singles. We might have a program for outreach, but the idea that every member is called to be a missionary in his or her own sphere of influence has long since dissipated. Established churches need to think like church plants in regaining the urgency of life on mission.

3. Church plants tend to better understand the culture they’re engaging.

Researching the target culture is an important part of every missionary endeavor; church plants are no exception. A lot of work goes into understanding the history and spiritual climate of the area, not least identifying the prevailing cultural idols. When ministries are shaped, hospitality is a key virtue. Everything is done with awareness and love for newcomers and nonbelievers, who are often unfamiliar with church lingo and culture.

Just as established churches tend to increasingly focus inward, they also tend to become isolated from the surrounding culture. Routines that were once strategic and meaningful become rote. Elements of church life and worship that were initially shaped for the sake of mission become part of a cherished heritage that must be guarded at all costs. To even speak of engaging culture can invite an eye of suspicion. And yet God has given us his timeless truths to be proclaimed and applied in ever-changing times and places. Revitalizing our awareness of the surrounding culture and engaging people who live and breathe that cultural air (inside and outside the church) is crucial to our faithfulness in gospel mission.

4. Church plants use a wider portion of the congregation in service.

An experienced friend once commented that planting a church is like trying to build a boat from scratch . . . when you’re already in the water. It’s not just all hands on deck—you don’t even have the deck yet to lay hands on. The context of urgency and camaraderie that comes from working so closely together at those early stages often creates a more pervasive culture of service in a church plant.

Established churches tend to embody the classic 80-20 rule: 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. When the focus and clarity of the mission dissipate and urgency wanes, it’s a lot easier to participate in church as a spectator rather than as a partner in gospel ministry. As established churches work on recapturing focus in mission, that focus should translate into congregation-wide service.

5. Church plants are more likely to think strategically about planting more churches.

Church plants naturally understand the importance of continually planting newer congregations. As Tim Keller suggests, planting “is one of the best ways to renew the existing churches of a city, as well as the best single way to grow the whole body of Christ in a city.” Several leading church planting networks hold out this expectation of ongoing involvement from the start.

It’s a lot harder for established churches to think about sending away some of their resources, or even some of their best people, for this kind of ministry. Few established churches have a thoughtful plan to keep this strategic investment close to their mission and vision. Passion and commitment to planting new churches is more crucial to the health and vitality of established churches than many of us realize.

The point in all of this is not to foster a “grass is greener” mentality for established churches. Neither is it to romanticize church planting—any planter will testify to the vast difficulties he faces, not least the potential drift toward the very challenges discussed here. Rather, the simple exhortation is for established churches to keep learning and thinking about why we do what we do, and to recognize that some of our best tutors will be those who come behind us.

Brandon Levering serves as lead pastor at Westgate Church (EFCA) in Weston, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Carissa, have three children.

I would really love to hear your input on this. Let’s discuss it. What can we do to better serve the community Jesus has put us in? How can we become the gospel giving church that the Lord has called us to be. I am excited and looking forward to your response. 

Pastor Kevin