Poured Out On All

The Spirit has been poured out on all God’s people

Introduce me

As Ewan’s said, we’re using the slido platform for live interaction so you can ask questions as we go. I want to do things a little differently this morning, though: if there are any terms I use as we go along that you don’t understand, please drop them in the Q+A right away and I’ll explain as soon as I see (there’s a delay of about 40 seconds built into livestreaming - techie stuff - so give it about a minute after you ask before thinking I’m ignoring you!).

It’s super important to me that you understand what I’m saying - particularly if you’re new to this or still exploring faith. Christians have lots of our own words which don’t make sense to the world outside and sometimes I use them without explaining. Or I forget not everyone’s familiar with this topic or that story - so if I mention something and you’re like “what is that?” please don’t feel silly - just ask. Chances are that others will share your question.

And likewise, if there’s something which you don’t follow, or you want me to expand on, let me know there too. Today I’ve put a couple of deliberate breaks in my talk so I can pick up those sort of things along the way. I won’t be able to respond to everything as we go, though - some things it’ll make sense to leave until later, and other time there’ll be things where we don’t all have the same questions, or care about the same things - while we’re all together on the stream we’re going to try and pick just the things which a bunch of people are interested in - so if there’s something you raise that I don’t address and you’d really like an answer, please just email [e-mail] afterwards and we’ll chat. If your question gets answered along the way, you can always go back and withdraw it - we don’t moderate so be polite.

Right, so where are up to in the story? Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven. The disciples have been told to wait for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. And then Pentecost: boom! a rushing wind, tongues of fire, and people suddenly speaking in others’ languages about God. As you can imagine, that got people’s attention - and the crowd, folk gathered from all around the world for a special festival, are asking questions: Acts 2:12 “What does this mean?”

Today we’re going to begin looking how Peter, one of Jesus’ key early followers, responds to that question. Really, the first half of Peter’s response is focused on answering that question: what does this mean? Next week, we’ll look at the second half where Peter moves on the the obvious follow-up question: so what should we do? So let’s hear from the bible together now - John’s reading for us this week. The book of Acts, chapter 2, and starting at verse 12. Over to John.

Acts 2:12–21 NIV

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, 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 glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

So what does this strange sign mean? No question it’s a weird event - but what does it signify?

Peter says, essentially, this-is-that. This Pentecost event? It’s that thing written about long ago, that event foretold in the Jewish scriptures by the prophet Joel. It’s what Joel described as God’s Spirit being “poured out”, Peter says. Now Joel might seem pretty obscure - it’s a tiny book hidden away at the end of our Old Testament - I guess while Peter’s been waiting for the Spirit, he’s been reading everything he can find about the Spirit.

But Peter says more: this-is-that, which means the Last Days have begun. These last days are the age when the Spirit is poured out - and these Last Days will come to an end. That why we’ve called our teaching series “Acts: The final chapter” - because the events we’ve already seen in the book mark out the time they lived in, and the time we still live in, as the last days - that is, the last chapter, the last phase before God draws things to a close.

Peter keeps quoting from Joel, though: he goes on to signs above and below, blood fire and smoke - signs yet to come - signs which will precede what Joel calls the “day of the Lord”, that end-point for the last days.

What’s this “day of the Lord”? It shows up a bunch of times in the Old Testament, and it’s the day of reckoning, the day when God steps in, calls time, and brings judgement. It’s a day God’s people have been warned to fear rather than look forward to in the Old Testament - Amos 5:18, for example - because they will face judgement in it too.

And yet Joel closes with hope: even as judgement comes, there is hope for rescue from it - because “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

[check slido]

Big stuff, right? There’s so much here that we could dig into but as I’ve been working on this passage in preparation, the thing I’ve been drawn to explore with you this morning is the amazing truth that in these Last Days, the Spirit is poured out on all. That sounds cool, right? Sounds important. But what does it mean for us, today?

Well let’s make sure we understand what Peter and Joel are saying first. Acts 2:17 “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.”

All people like.. everyone? That sounds pretty universal, right? And we’ve got that male/female/young/old emphasis on everyone here too. But notice as verse 17 continues, it’s your sons/your daughters/your young/your old? This prophecy was spoken to Israel, God’s ancient people - and it seems like that’s the “all” who are in view, all corners of God’s people - male, female, young, old. This is going to stretch everywhere among them.

But then verse 18 tells us it’s for God’s servants - so if you have bowed the knee to Jesus as God and king, then you would be right to understand yourself as God’s servant, a part of his people - and you would be right to think this was spoken about you - to you.

Why the big deal about all people? Well it’s a radical change from how it was before these Last Days. Although we see God’s Spirit at work in the Old Testament, the long story of God’s people, it’s only some people who have had the Spirit upon them - just a handful really through thousands of years and millions of people. And even for those people, it’s not all the time - just moments for some - where in the Last Days we’re told it is poured out on all. And you know how they say “no sense in crying over spilt milk” - because you can’t get it back - well “poured out” does suggest that same finality, that the Spirit it poured out, not going to be gathered back.

[check slido] Quick pause - any questions, anything you want to clarify?

Right let’s keep going. so in these Last Days there’s a fundamental change: the Spirit is poured out on all God’s people - which is what Peter says is happening right now in our story. What does it mean to have the Spirit poured out?

Here, we’re told people will prophesy, see visions and dream dreams. Some of you are thinking “YES! bring it on!” and others are thinking “uh-oh”. Prophecy, dreams and visions are all typical evidences of the presence of the Spirit in the Old Testament so it makes complete sense that Joel would reference them - through they’re not the only evidences by any means; hauling city gates up a hill is in there too.

But it’s worth noticing that Peter particularly emphasises prophecy here - see it’s repeated? “and they will prophecy”. This has been a bit of a conundrum for me as I’ve been preparing.

See, here’s thing: “declaring the wonders of God” in other languages - the Pentecost event which got Peter talking - isn’t that much like what we might normally label prophecy. In this book of Acts, whenever we get a description of what prophecy is, it’s foretelling what will come. And right here Peter’s building on the fact that the prophet Joel was foretelling what is now happening. It could be these wonders of God that the Spirit-filled disciples were speaking about were things yet to come, I guess.

But even if that is the case, we don’t want to universalise that, to say “ah, the Spirit poured out? That means prophecy”.

As we’ll hear in the weeks ahead, thousands will respond to this speech of Peter that we’re reading, and this pouring out will be fulfilled for them too - that’s what Peter promises at the end of his speech. We’re told about amazing things that follow right afterwards - but the surprise, if we were to pin this pouring out of the Spirit tightly to prophecy, is what’s celebrated about these new converts: their unity and community, not an outpouring of prophecy and dreams.

As we follow the story through Acts, we’ll certainly see some prophecy/visions/dreams - but loads of other stuff too. It’s not going to be the universal experience or even the dominant theme. Perhaps you’ll remember Acts 1:8 from previous weeks, where the Spirit is connected with power for proclamation? Hear me right, I’m not saying this is never the effect in Acts - it’s explicitly narrated for us some of the time. And I’m certainly not saying it’s never for today.

But what I want to say is these particular signs aren’t the point - they’re not the motive, the why behind the pouring out of the Spirit. They are exciting - more so to some than others! - but they’re the result, not the driver. God didn’t pour out his Spirit on all with the primary goal that we’d all prophesy/see visions/dream dreams/speak in tongues. Signs are signs - pointing to something else - because something even more significant has happened; something which must underpin all these signs Joel lists, and all the other amazing results of the Spirit poured out.

God has poured out his Spirit on all His people so that we know Him directly. That’s the root. The truly big hitter. That’s what all the signs point to, flow out of.

[check slido] Quick pause for breath - any questions, anything you want to clarify?

Let me open this idea up a bit more for you. God says he will pour out his Spirit. And that word has the sense of a torrential downpour, a deluge. Imagine being out in the rain, really really heavy rain - you’re soon soaked through, surrounded and covered by the rain. That’s the sense here - immersed in God’s Spirit.

And we have to remember our theology here: God’s Spirit is himself God - this is the trinitarian mystery at the heart of Christianity: we worship one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father. But the Holy Spirit is God just as the Father is God. Yeah that’s hard to get your head around but that’s what the bible teaches us.

So we have this picture of being immersed in God, surrounded by Him, totally wrapped up in Him, and the huge result is that we know God directly. This is what was promised by the prophet Jeremiah - Jer 31:34 : “No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord” all God’s people would know God - and that’s what’s come to pass in these Last Days.

If we know Him, it makes sense that we could be used to speak for him - which is prophecy. If we know him, it makes sense that we could hear from him - dreams or visions, like Joel says. If we know Him, if we’re directly connected, it makes total sense that we’d be changed by him - making sense of this new community life that’ll follow. If we know him, it makes sense that we can testify to him and his coming - making sense of this explosion of witness and mission which propels this earliest church forwards and outwards.

God is on me, in me - on you, in you, if you are a part of his people.

[check slido]

What does this mean? I can only scratch the surface of that HUGE truth - but here’s a starter:

You don’t need somewhere special to be with God, to know him - to encounter him, to have relational connection with him. To speak to him, to hear from him. To have access to his power.

It wasn’t always this way: if you know your Bible history, think of the pillar of fire / the tabernacle / the temple / Jesus - this is a fundamental change in how God interacts with his world, his people.

It’s wonderful news in lockdown when there are so many places we can’t go: we don’t need to go anywhere!. It’s wonderful news for brothers and sisters living under persecution who can’t have a building or go to one.

Not that cathedrals aren’t lovely, or that space has no significance - we’re humans, we’re affected by place. Our physical environment can be very helpful. But your relationship with God is not dependent on a place.

Even bigger, though You don’t need someone special to connect you and God, to be the go-between.

Again, it wasn’t always this way: if you know your bible history, think about the role of Moses, the Priests, the Prophets- this is a fundamental change

If you’ve bowed the knee to Jesus as king, if you’ve believed, you are directly connected to God. You don’t need me or anyone else to connect you. God the Spirit is alive within you right now.

Not to say that there’s no value from being with others: God has given people different gifts by his Spirit, put us together with all our differences for our good. Bible describes church as a body with many parts, all needed. But you have a direct connection to God - his Spirit is poured out on all his people. Don’t believe that others have a backstage pass where you can only watch from a distance.

[check slido]

God inside? You might be thinking “that sounds pretty incredible - but, but I feel pretty normal”? Or if you’re just exploring faith, and watching today, you might be thinking “Really? Christians I know don’t look much different from anyone else.” Could God inside really not make much difference to life?

It is, frankly an utterly amazing statement that I’ve been trying to get my head around this week as I prepare. I mean think about that: God inside - inside you, inside me. How can that not totally change my life? Change the world? And yet most of the time I feel just so ordinary and normal - sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s really true at all.

I know there have been times I have been more alive to the reality of God right here within me, and times where that’s been more of a fact in my head than an experience. But it is still a universal fact - in these last days, God the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all of God’s people - and believer, that includes you.

I have a suggestion for you - and for me - for something we can try doing about this huge truth and yet things just seeming far too normal. Can I ask you to set yourself an alarm - each day this week, as a tiny reminder to yourself: God the Holy Spirit is poured out on me; I am intimately connected to God himself. Go on - do it right now - I’ll do it too. A time that works for you. just one week of being reminded. Tell yourself this truth each day for a week. Bring it up to the top of your consciousness and live alive to it.

What exactly will that mean? What might be the result? It’ll be different for different people. Just like it was different for different people back then: prophecy; tongues; dreams; visions, yes; radical generosity; transformed lives; extraordinary unity; bold evangelism too.

One of our core values here at hope city is what we call theological generosity: if you’ve spent much time around Christians, you’ll know they don’t all agree about everything - and what we tend to do is to take our different views and divide into different tribes in different corners and all too often look down our noses at each other. There are things where there’s really no room for disagreement, things all followers of Jesus should agree on - like Jesus is the only way to God, or he really and physically rose from the dead. But there’s other stuff where it’s not so black and white from the bible - and that’s true when it comes to the activity of the Holy Spirit today.

Here at Hope City, we want to be a church where, rather than dividing over things where there are different views on what the Bible’s teaching, we come together as followers of Jesus anyway - for the sake of sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. So we know we have people with very different views among us today - and I’m delighted that’s true.

But for us to hold together well with these different views, we have to be generous and gracious towards one another - not poking each other in the eye with our own understanding or with living it out, but not having to hide it either - which means not being offended every time we run into someone living out a different view.

So this same truth of the Spirit poured out will have people expecting different things to flow out of it - and that’s ok. We share that truth - and we share the mission of Jesus in these last days, in this last chapter.

We’ve only really talked about the first part of our passage today but my time is gone. I think this truth is big enough that it was worth it. Peter carries on, quoting more from Joel: There is coming judgement but also a way out - calling on the name of the Lord. Who is this Lord? What does it mean to call on his name? We’ll see that laid out in our next passage next week.

If you’re here today exploring faith, I’m so glad you’ve stuck with me. I hope it’s been helpful to dig into this passage and into what Christians believe. I wonder if you’re intrigued by this idea of knowing God directly? By this promise of an intimate connection with God himself? Maybe you know some Christians and wonder how there could be anything to it - because generally speaking, we’re a pretty unimpressive bunch. But I want to point you to a sign you shouldn’t overlook: the church is still here, two thousand years later. Despite every power that’s tried to crush it, from Rome to Russia to China. That is the work of the Spirit, alive today in God’s people. Making ordinary people like us able to be and do something extraordinary. And you could be a part of it.

We’re in the Last Days. Judgement or salvation.

Just a few seconds to reflect and then we’ll respond to these amazing truths in song.

~~~

Special filling still

there’s a one-time change - Peter will finish his speech here with the promise that all those who believe will receive the Holy Spirit. Paul, one of Jesus first followers, writes later “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ [which is another way of describing the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit], they do not belong to Christ” - every believer has the Spirit; that’s the promise, and God keeps his promises: the Spirit is poured out on all God’s servants.

But there is an ebb and flow. Later on in this book we’ll read about moments of special empowerment - Peter will be “filled with the Holy Spirit” again before speaking in Acts 4:8, and the church, gathered in emergency prayer, will find themselves once again “filled with the Holy Spirit” in Acts 4:31. In fact, in Eph 5:18 we’re told “keep on being filled with the Spirit”.