[Notes of a sermon preached at St Andrew’s, Eaton (Norwich) on 16th March 2025.]

Text: Joel 2:18-32; Acts 2:1-4, 12-21

Can the Church be born again?

The first question is: Does the church need to be born again?

We can all point to shining examples of Christian faith and of flourishing congregations.

But:-

• Church attendance has halved in 35 years.
• The number of men and women entering training for the ministry has fallen by over one third in the last 5 years.
• The Christian church in this country is beset by deep divisions over marriage, sexuality and gender
• There has been a terrible series of sexual abuse scandals leading one commentator to declare that the Church of England is in a state of ‘panic and fear’.
• Another has predicted that, if the present decline continues, the Church of England will be extinct by the year 2060.

This is not the first time that the world has been ready to pronounce the last rites over the people of God.

It happened in the days of the prophet Joel.

The first half of the book paints a picture of devastation.  A terrifying plague of locusts has stripped the land bare.  The trees stand like skeletons and the ground is a bare as a desert.  1:10 ‘The grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails’.

Chapter 2 presents a still more horrific scene.  And, most unnerving of all, 2:11, it is the Lord himself who is at the head of this army of destroyers.

God’s people have become an object of derision.  2:17 – “Where is their God?”  v19  – ‘A mockery among the nations.’

No particular sin is specified.  But it is clear that God’s people have wandered far away from him.

What can be done?

Ch 1 – Cry to God.  V14 ‘Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God; and cry to the LORD.’

Ch 2:1-17 – Return to God.  12 ‘Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.’

Ch 2:18-32 – Rejoice in God

The great turning point comes in v18 ‘Then the LORD became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.’

21 “O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!”

23 “O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God;”

26 ‘Praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.’

But there is more:

V28f  ‘And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

This outpouring of the Spirit of God will be irrespective of gender (your sons and daughters); age (your elderly…your young men); and social class (your male and female servants’).

It will involve prophecy, dreams and visions.  (Prophecy: people will know the mind of God, and will declare it.)

We don’t know how or even if this was fulfilled in Joel’s day.

But, one day, centuries later, at 9 o’clock in the morning, on the third day of the third month of the year, seven weeks after Jesus’ death of the cross, the Holy Spirit came in a rush!

Acts 2:2-4 – ‘And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.’

“What does this mean?” Peter replies v16 – ‘This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.’

And so the Christian church was born.

But can it be born again?

At first sight, Peter seems to quote Joel word-for-word.  But there are a couple of important and fascinating differences.

This is for all people

According to Joel 2:32 Salvation will come to those ‘in Mount Zion’ and ‘in Jerusalem’.  Peter misses that bit out.

But look down to Acts 2:38f “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

This is for all time

V28 Joel’s ‘afterward’ becomes ‘in the last days’.  Heb 1:1 ‘In these last days’.  1 Pet 1:20 ‘[Jesus] was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.’

For all people; for all time.  History bears this out.  Time would fail me to tell of…

The Great Awakenings of the 18^th and 19^th centuries…the revivals of 1859 and 1903/4…spiritual renewals in East Anglia and North East Scotland in 1921…movements of the Holy Spirit in East Africa, 1927, Hebrides, 1949, and Nagaland, Northeast India, 1976.

At such times, God comes with power, leading to deep repentance, effectual prayer, powerful proclamation, evangelistic success, and spectacular improvements in social conditions and public welfare.

Can the church be born again?  Scripture and history say, “Yes!”.

Joel shows the way.

(a) Cry to God in prayer.  ‘When God acts, he can do more in a minute than man with his organisation can do in fifty years.  Let us realise this tremendous possibility, therefore, and plead with God to make known his power and to manifest his glory in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation of people…For God’s sake, for the glory of his name, let us intercede and pray for a visitation of God’s Spirit.’  (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

(b) Return to God in penitence.  When the Holy Spirit comes with power:

‘Confession of sin becomes the order of the day.  Those who have sinned in private will make their confession before God whom they have wronged.  Individuals who have sinned against other individuals will go to those persons and make their peace.  Those who have sinned publicly will find the grace of Christ to make public confessions.’ (R. O. Roberts)

(c) Rejoice in God

Rejoice, because the Father heart of God still responds to those who cry out to him, and welcomes with open arms those who return to him.

Rejoice, because Jesus Christ is still ‘able for all time to save those who approach God through him.’

Rejoice, because the Holy Spirit is still being poured out, regardless of age, sex, or social class.

Rejoice, because the church can be born again.