Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Judges 3:9-11; Mark 1:1-8

“The Promise of the Spirit”

First Sunday after Easter

Rev. Meagan Boozer

We are in that “in between” time: the time between the resurrection of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus into heaven, and the Day of Pentecost. I think often during these days of how marvelous it must have been for those disciples to know that Jesus wasn’t forever gone from their lives. How wonderful to be able to see him and talk with him in those “in between” days after they had witnessed his death by crucifixion. I wonder how they slept at night with the amazing knowledge in their minds and hearts that Jesus wasn’t dead! He was alive!

I sure would like for those doors to open one day and have my friend Rev. Linda Harter walk through them. I have dreamed of her so often in these last months since she died. She always looks rested and happy when I see her in my dreams, and I always am so surprised to see her. “Wow,” I’ll say, “I sure didn’t expect to see you.” And she never talks; she just looks at me and laughs. Often she has children crawling all over her, and they are laughing, too. All of us who have lost people we love, we are all in the “in between time” between saying goodbye and saying hello. We don’t know how long this time will be for us, because we don’t know when we will go to be in heaven ourselves- and because we don’t know when Jesus will return and take us home together. We don’t know how long this “in between” time is for us- we just know the promise that being a “tweener” (someone in between) won’t last forever.

The people of God seemed to have always been living in “in between” times except for life in the Garden of Eden. Once we got kicked out of the Garden, we have been between one thing and another: In between Egypt and the Promised Land; in between living in the Promised Land, exile from it, and returning to it; in between earthly kings and the One True King- Jesus Christ. I think the people of God can be defined as an “in between” sort of people.

Long ago, as is written in the Old Testament, the people of God were a people who lived between the “promise of the Spirit” and what we call now, “the age of the Spirit.” Sometimes in this “in-between” time, the Holy Spirit of God would come upon a particular person at a particular moment for a particular task, and then the Spirit would lift. An example is in our Bible reading for this past week in Judges 3:9-11: But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the Israelites, who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the LORD gave King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.

See how the text tells us, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him?” Now, let’s back up and take a look at Exodus 31:1-5, “The LORD spoke to Moses: See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft.”

Now, let’s take a look at Judges 6:15 this is when God called Gideon to lead Israel. Gideon said to the Lord, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family?” Now look at v. 34, “But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.”

Let’s check out a couple of more instances where the Spirit of the Lord came upon particular people at particular times for particular tasks:

Judges 15:14- the story of Samson, “When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him; and the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.” A little later in the writings of the prophet Isaiah we read, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners…”(Isaiah 61:1)

How wonderful for the Lord to send His spirit to come and empower people to do his work! What a boost this must have been for those “in-between” people of God, to see regular people being strengthened physically, emotionally, and spiritually to accomplish particular important tasks! At times they might have thought, “Has the Lord forgotten us?” “Does he remember we are here?” And then, the Spirit would come and bring evidence of Gods presence, and the people of God could go on.

But God had promised his people that the Spirit would come one day for all people, for all times, for all tasks that would glorify God and build his kingdom. God promised his people that the Spirit would be available for more than particular people at particular time for particular tasks.

In Jeremiah 31:33 we read, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” You see, instead of the people of God trying to read and memorize and live out a list of laws, under the new covenant that law would become internal instead of external. It’s like this: if you go on a hike, you start off carrying your food and other supplies on your back. They definitely weigh you down and slow you up. But, when you’ve consumed your supplies, not only is the weight gone, but there is also new energy that comes from inside you. What God promised through Jeremiah was a time when the law would no longer be a weight on the outside, but would become a source of energy from the inside.

Ezekiel shows us how this will happen (36:26,27), “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you…”

Joel shows us to whom it will happen, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh…even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.” (Joel 2:28)

Just like those of us who miss our loved ones are living in anticipation of being with them again, the people of God from the Old Testament times were living in anticipation of having the Spirit of the Lord poured onto them. They had no idea when, they just knew the promise of being a “tweener” wasn’t going to last forever.

Now, let’s read our New Testament passage for today, which was also part of our Bible reading for this past week as found in Mark 1:1-8: The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Again, the promise of the Holy Spirit of God is being held out to God’s people like a worm at the end of the fishing line. And then, Jesus himself shows up.

Jesus was completely filled with the Spirit of God. The Spirit descended upon him when he was baptized (Luke 3:21). Now let’s look at Luke 4:1, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” Now look at v. 14, “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit returned to Galilee…”

The anticipation of God’s people increased as they were in the presence of Jesus regularly, who embodied the Holy Spirit of God. But even up to the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, the Spirit was not poured out. The people were still living in the “in between.” We read in Luke 24:49, only 4 verses before the end of Luke’s Gospel, “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Today, we are in between the resurrection and the Day of Pentecost, the day when we celebrate and remember the fulfillment of God’s promise to send His Holy Spirit to the people of God. But today, we also live in the age of the Spirit- because since that first Day of Pentecost, the Holly Spirit of God is ready and waiting to be poured out upon all people who desire him.

A couple of weekends ago, 9 people from this congregation who have been taking the Alpha course, took a Saturday away from doing all the stuff we usually have to do on Saturdays. The focus of our time away was teaching about the Holy Spirit. Every single person there said in our group discussions, “We’ve never been taught this.” Every person there wanted me to make sure that the whole congregation had the opportunity to know what the Bible says about the Spirit. We talked about the extreme stories we’ve heard of people who are, “baptized in the spirit,” and who do wild and crazy things and speak in unknown languages called “tongues.” We’ve all seen the TV programs where people are falling over, laughing uncontrollably, jumping up and down, screaming, etc.

Based on what we have seen, many of us have judged the Holy Spirit to be a spirit who comes and creates a ruckus among the people of God.

For the “in between” people, the Spirit came upon particular people at particular times for particular tasks. Now, that same Spirit comes upon all people who ask, any time they ask, for any purpose they have, as long as that purpose glorifies God and builds God’s kingdom.

Every Christian receives the promise of the Father when we open our hearts in faith as disciples of Jesus Christ. However, every Christian also has the calling to “be filled” with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), and “go on being filled” with the Spirit. A Christian who has the Spirit, but who is not filled with the Spirit is compared by Nicky Gumbel, the author and teacher of the Alpha Course, to be a furnace that has the pilot light ever burning. A Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit is compared to a furnace that is fully fired up.

Which are you? A pilot light Christian, or a fired-up, filled with the Spirit Christian? Which do you think our church is: a pilot-light church, or a fired-up, full of the Spirit church? The difference can be seen and can be felt- and I’m not talking about people falling over, speaking in tongues, shouting, laughing, etc. The difference comes out in moments of stress, in moments of crisis, and in moments of great celebration. Do we go down in moments of trouble and find it difficult to press on? Do we worry a lot? Are our moments of joy short-lived? Are we open to new ways to glorify the Lord and build the kingdom? In a Spirit-filled church there is a sense of anticipation, sort of like those in-between times when the people of God were waiting for God to send the Spirit. They were anticipating God doing something among them. In a Spirit-filled church, there is a sense of anticipation that God is moving, God is active, and God is working to change things, and change us in a way that more fully brings him glory and builds his kingdom.

I’m going to preach some more about this in these “in between” weeks, because it is certainly a subject worth our time. In fact, this may be a subject that will make the difference between whether we as a church body, are on track to die, survive, or thrive. In this day and age the world needs thriving churches.

Those disciples in those “in between” days were so thrilled to have Jesus among them again. But do we realize that we too, have Jesus among us through the gift of His Spirit? The promise wasn’t just for people who lived long ago. The promise of the Spirit is for all of us, right here, and right now. Amen

Spirit of the living God,

you bring new life to me.

Spirit of the living God,

flow like a river through me.

Flow like a river with streams of life.

Flow like a river, flow free.

Flow like a river with steams of life,

setting your people free.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

4-23-2006