“Sound the Trumpet!”
Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
Remember the sales slogan for Morton Salt? “When it rains, it pours.” Sometimes that’s true with blessings, and it’s often true with calamities. In Joel we see how God uses a devastating plague of locusts to bring His wayward people to repentance. In Bible days people ate locusts, but locusts ate their crops and caused havoc. God has some interesting ways of getting our attention. He then promises to heal the land, if they repent. What will it take for us to turn to God and take Him seriously? Sometimes it takes an army of locusts. What needs to happen for us to accept and obey God? Joel took a trumpet in hand and (in 2:1) sounded an alarm.
We know very little about Joel. His name means “Jehovah is God”. Scholars think he may have been a priest from Jerusalem because of his detailed references to the Temple. Joel is sometimes called the “prophet of Pentecost” because he tells of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (3:28-32). Peter quotes Joel, announcing that the Spirit is available to all who call on the Lord. (Acts 2). Some people think the Old Testament is silent regarding the Holy Spirit; Joel provides one of several references to the Spirit of God, which upholds the doctrine of the Trinity and the unity of Scripture.
Joel condemns empty, ritualistic ritual. I saw a movie in which a family were arguing during a liturgical service, then automatically they responded, “And also be with you.” In chapter 2 the prophet warns, “Rend your heart and not your garments” (vs 13). Repentance was often demonstrated in Bible days by loud weeping, wailing, by covering one’s head with ashes and by tearing one’s clothes. It looked impressive, but it was often an outward, insincere show. Joel is saying, “Let your broken heart show your sorrow; tearing your clothes is not enough.” God knows whether we’re really sorry or just pretending. It’s OK to mourn over sin, as long as we’re sincere. Joel is condemning insincere repentance.
Jesus says the same thing as Joel in His Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6). Giving to the poor, prayer and fasting were important signs of our relationship with God, but God sees our heart. Jesus points out that some people are charitable only because it makes them look good publicly. If we go to church to impress people, we’re missing the blessing and we’re being hypocritical. It is what we think and believe, our motives, our reasons for doing good that counts with God. He sees within us—our thinking, feeling, our desires…He knows if we’re genuine believers or not.
The prophet Joel issues a trumpet call to repent (2:1). If I were teaching a class (instead of preaching), I’d ask you for a definition of the word repentance. What DOES it mean to repent? 2:13 provides a vivid description: “rend your hearts...return to the Lord” There we have it, the 2 elements of repentance—-sorrow and a change of direction. We repent when our hearts are broken by our sin, when we realize how our wrongdoing, our offenses, is what led Christ to the cross. And when we see the enormity of our iniquity, we turn-—we begin to walk in a new direction, with new goals. We surrender to the Lordship of Christ. We were living for self; now we’re living for God, and for His glory. In sorrow, we turn from sin and self to Christ. If we reject salvation, we turn our backs on eternal life…but God is waiting to forgive. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He waits for us to return with open arms and a heart filled with compassion.
Though repentance initially leads us to God, repentance is also an attitude and action that continues throughout our lives. Whenever we fail, whenever we sin, we are called upon to repent as the Holy Spirit convicts us of our transgressions. True repentance is admitting that what God says is true, and because it is true, we change our minds about our sins and about the Savior. Unbelievers call evil good and good evil. Holiness is seeing life through the eyes and mind of Christ. It’s been said, “Religion is giving God what He wants.” How religious are we? If we’re not devoted to God and His will, our religion needs adjustments. I’ve heard people say over and over, “I don’t have time for God.” All that means is that other things are more important. Joel tells us in ch 1 to “wake up” (5), “mourn” (8) and “despair” (11) until we journey back to God.
What keeps us from repentance? We’re not moved to repent-—maybe we need a trumpet blast like the one Joel gave Israel, or some locusts, something to wake us up from our apathy. Part of our problem is that we value freedom too much. James Bond has a license to kill; we think being American gives us a license to sin. Freedom and liberty are not excuses to live lawlessly. Maybe there should be a Statue of Responsibility in San Francisco Bay to balance the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.
It’s easy to read Joel and think, “Well that’s good for some people, but I’m not all that bad.” The Good News is that God wants us to turn from our past to Him, whether that past was horrendous or simply mediocre. We can grow up in a crack house or a church, but we have the same need—-of having our sins forgiven through the blood of Christ.
It’s important that we understand that repentance isn’t behavior modification. Some people think repentance is self-improvement, so they clean up their act, while their hearts remain the same. Sin brings us a sense of shame and grief—we become burdened by our wrongdoing, and that’s what leads us to seek change. We can clean up the outside, but that isn’t enough. We need to “rend our hearts, and not just our garments.” Joel isn’t saying that outward grief over sin is wrong—but it must match the condition of our heart. God is not fooled by playacting.
I heard a Bible teacher say that when we sin we should simply “confess it then forget it.” The problem with that is, the mouth can by-pass the heart. This reminds me of stories about Mafia hitmen murdering people, then going to Confession, knowing they were going to kill again. Jesus said to a woman caught in adultery, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). True repentance is sorrow converted into action.
Have you ever made New Year resolutions? Joel asks us to consider why we make changes in our lifestyle. If our reasons are centered in self, then our resolutions are rooted in pride. Take dieting for example. We can diet to look more attractive, or to be healthier so we live longer, but our primary motive for this or any other self-improvement is to bring glory to God. The Bible says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (I Cor 6:19) which means we need to take good care of them. When we get our priorities right, we care more about what God thinks of us than what others think. Good intentions are good only if they come from Biblical convictions.
In the midst of dire warnings and severe judgments, Joel holds out the possibility that God will gladly relent (2:14). He then issues another argument, another reason for us to live right—-vs. 17, “Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” When so-called believers live apart from God’s expectations, it reflects not only on them—-it makes our faith look ingenuine. Mark Russell, a political satirist, said during one election year during the primary season that all the candidates were claiming to be born-again Christians; he added, “This could give Christianity a bad name!” That’s really the point Joel is making in vs. 17—-what we do reflects ultimately on God. How will our behavior affect ourselves, others, and the cause of Christ?
If you feel far from God, He hasn’t moved. God seems remote when we distance ourselves from Him. We live apart from God when we fail to structure our lives around Him. Prayer can be an afterthought when we’re faced with important decisions. God wants us to seek Him first. Unfortunately, what often happens is, we decide on our own, then ask God to bless our decision. But then there are some are far from God because they’ve been pretending to be Christians. “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone” (Chuck Swindoll).
Joel began with a prophecy about the destruction of the land and concluded with a prophecy about its restoration. He began by urging repentance and ended with the promise of forgiveness that repentance brings. A wonderful promise is held out to us in vss. 28-32: The promise of the Holy Spirit, along with the assurance that all who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.
