The High Calling of Parenthood
Luke 2: 41 – 52.
I. Introduction
Many people do not realize it, but the Bible has contributed several important phrases and expressions to our modern English language. People who have no idea that they are quoting the Bible use common expressions like…I have seen the handwriting on the wall…The team had no chance of winning. They were led as a lamb to the slaughter…He has washed his hands of all guilt…It was a David and Goliath match up…
Of course, you realize that these expressions originally came from the Bible. But did you know that some of your mother’s favorite expressions also came from the Bible? They were originally spoken by biblical mothers to their biblical sons:
Samson! Get your hand out of that lion. You don’t know where it has been!
David! I told you not to play with that sling in the house! Go practice your harp. We pay good money for your harp lessons.
Abraham! Stop wandering all over the countryside and get home for supper!
Cain! Get off your brother! You’re going to kill him someday!
Noah! How many times have I told you not to bring home stray animals?
James and John! No more burping at the supper table. People are going to start calling you the Sons of Thunder.
Judas! Have you been in my purse again?
Jesus! Close the door. Do you think you were born in a barn?
Every church I have ever been a member of recognized Mother’s Day as a special day of the year. Many churches actually celebrate Mother’s Day as if it were a Christian holiday—right up there with Christmas and Easter. But Mother’s Day actually has NOTHING to do with the church…It is not a Christian holiday AND it was not begun by a church.
Mother’s Day actually began in 1907, when Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, PA gave out carnations—her mother’s favorite flower—to every person who attended her mother’s funeral service. She continued to give out carnations each year to honor her mother on the second Sunday in May. She eventually began a letter writing campaign that resulted in the U.S. Congress passing legislation to designate Mother’s Day as the second Sunday in May and an official U.S. holiday. (And the people at Hallmark cards have been eternally grateful!)
Of course, I am not trying to say that churches should not recognize mothers or that Christians should not observe Mother’s Day. NO! Godly Mothers have made a tremendous impact on Christian men and women for centuries.
In fact, where would our churches be today without Mothers?
On the Sunday of Mother’s Day, I am always faced with several questions. How can I preach a sermon that honors our mothers AND honors the Risen Lord Christ? How can I preach a sermon that relates just to the women of our church—and even then, just to the women who are mothers?
Today, I want to broaden our focus somewhat and preach about godly families and the High Calling of Parenthood.
(Read Luke 2: 41 – 52.)
Jesus was one of those children who was in the church every time the doors were open. His parents were very serious about following the requirements of the Jewish Law—we know this because they had him circumcised on the eighth day. Jesus’ parents were serious about supporting the local synagogue in Nazareth—we know this because they made the customary sacrifice for a first-born son by offering two doves. And they were serious about attending the annual Passover Festival in the Temple at Jerusalem—we know this because Luke tells us a story about what was probably Jesus’ first Passover in Jerusalem.
In order for Mary and Joseph to attend Passover in Jerusalem, they had to make several sacrifices. They had to use up their entire two-week vacation from work to travel on a journey that lasted several days all the way from Nazareth down to Jerusalem for a week-long celebration…And then travel back home again.
More than likely Mary, Joseph, Jesus, James and the other children did not travel alone. The Bible does not tell us specifically, but we have discovered from ancient culture that in the interest of safety people usually traveled in groups. And it would not have been difficult for Mary and Joseph to find a group of religious pilgrims—just like them—who were willing to make the 70-mile trek from Nazareth to Jerusalem. After all, the Jewish Law actually REQUIRED all Jewish men over the age of 12 to attend the Passover celebration in Jerusalem.
Now 70 miles doesn’t sound very far by modern standards. On Monday of last week, I drove to Dallas and back in one day to attend a committee meeting at the BGCT building. According to my odometer, this was a 358 mile round trip…In one day.
However, there were no interstate highways and gasoline powered cars in the ancient world. The only way they had to travel was by foot. And the standard rule of thumb was that a person could only travel about 25 miles in one day. That puts Jerusalem about three days away from Nazareth.
The Passover festival was a special time for the Jewish people. You and I normally think of Passover as a time when the Jews remembered what God did for them to rescue them out of Egyptian slavery. God sent nine terrible plagues on Egypt, but Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. Then God sent the tenth and final plague. The firstborn child of every family died suddenly, in the middle of the night. That is every family except the Hebrew families who had the Blood of the Lamb splattered on their doorposts. Death PASSED OVER these homes, and God commanded Moses to institute a feast to mark this as the beginning of the year for God’s people.
However, Passover was more than just remembering what God had done for the people long ago. It was a seven-day event that did two things…Remembering that God saved his people long ago…Celebrating that God has saved me…
After a week of celebration, worship, and feasting on wonderful foods Mary, Joseph and the other vacationers were tired and ready to get home. They gathered everything they had; they divided into two groups and they began to head home.
It was normal for large groups of pilgrims to travel in two groups. The first group was made up of all the women and children. The second group was all the men. The women and children traveled ahead of the men for one main reason. Since Nazareth was too far away to make it home in just one day, the women had to go ahead to find a comfortable place to set up camp for the night and to begin preparing the evening meal. The children traveled with their mothers and could normally be found playing and laughing and dancing alongside as they traveled.
I imagine that as Mary and the other women traveled along, Mary had a lot on her mind. She had to set up the tent for the family and prepare supper before Joseph and the men arrived. She had all that laundry to do once she got home. She had a full week ahead of her when she, Jesus and James finally got home. Where are Jesus and James? I haven’t seen them for several miles. Well, there’s James…I guess Jesus is traveling with the men now that he has finally turned 12.
I think this is probably how Jesus got left behind. A Jewish boy was considered a man when he became a bar mitzvah or the Son of the Covenant. Since this happened at age 12—and Luke tells us Jesus was 12—Mary thought Jesus was with the men, and Joseph never gave it a second thought.
When Mary and Joseph finally realized that Jesus was not with them, they did what any parent would do…They PANICKED! They rushed back to Jerusalem as quickly as they could and began searching in all the places where they thought Jesus might be. They looked on the Streets…In the Market Place…In the Toy Stores…On the Playground…At the Ball Field…Then, in a desperate move they looked in the Temple—Surely he won’t be in the Temple…
And that is where they found him…In the Temple…Sitting…Listening… Asking questions of the religious leaders…And the religious leaders were amazed that such a young man of only 12 would be so knowledgeable and interested in spiritual matters…
We can’t really blame Mary for being angry. She was just being a good mother who was worried about her child. Mary snapped at Jesus, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you!”
I just love Jesus’ answer… “My father? No, ma’am. I am in my Father’s house. I never left my Father’s side.”
Most of us are accustomed to hearing Jesus’ reply as something like, “I must be in my Father’s House.” But actually, Jesus never used the word “House.” He literally said, “I must be in my Father’s…”
This expression could mean “in my Father’s House”… “in my Father’s Business”… “in my Father’s Presence”… And Jesus spent his entire life doing just that…He spent time in the Temple…He did the Father’s Business…And He lived daily in God’s presence…
Jesus’ answer is not a smart alec reply. No, Jesus is surprised that Mary couldn’t find him. Jesus was surprised because Mary and Joseph had taught him about God’s Love…They had trained him to follow after godly ways…And they had demonstrated the importance of spending time with the Heavenly Father. He was only doing what he had seen them model for him.
This is the highest calling any parent could ever fulfill…To rear children in such a way that they develop into men and women of God…Men and women who earnestly desire to please God and spend time with him every day…
Jesus ENJOYED spending time with God, because that is how his parents trained him…
How can we fulfill this same calling with our children today? I say that we should follow the example set by Mary and Joseph…
II. They Lived Out a Godly Example for Their Children.
This is the only story the Bible tells about Jesus’ childhood…But it implies a lot about his parents’ spiritual life…
They lived and obeyed the Law and demonstrated what it meant to be faithful…
How can we truly expect our children to love God and live godly lives, if we are not modeling that for them at home? A hard truth for any of us to accept is the fact that most of us turn into the same kind of adults we watched our parents model for us.
III. They Took Their Children to Church.
Don’t you think it is interesting that the only story we have about Jesus’ childhood happened in church?
The Father’s House…God’s People…Both played an important part of Jesus’ life and development as a child…
How can we expect our children to go to church and grow with God’s people if we don’t take them to church as children? Ask yourselves a question: Do you go to church as often as your parents took you to church as a child? For many of you the answer is that you go to church LESS frequently than your parents. And, our children will more than likely go to church LESS frequently than we do.
IV. They Helped Their Children Develop Into Whole Persons.
Read Luke 2: 52…Jesus grew and developed in four important ways…
Physically…Food, Shelter and Clothing…
Mentally…Education and Training…
Spiritually…Discipleship…
Socially…Children must learn how to get along with others…
V. Conclusion
The High Calling of Parenthood requires more than simply providing physically and educationally for our children…We are called to develop children into the Image of Christ.
If we do not model Christ like behavior and Christ like desires for our own children, then where do we expect them to receive that? Will our children learn to live Christ like lives at school? Probably not! Will our children learn to live Christ like lives at church? The answer is “Yes, But…” Yes, children will learn to love and follow Jesus at the church. BUT, parents have to bring your children to church.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008: When Worlds Collide
When Worlds Collide
Acts 5: 12 – 42.
I. Introduction.
Most of you know that my family had an unusual opportunity about four years ago. I was invited to come back to Waco to a job I had held six years earlier.
I had been associate pastor and college minister in a church in Waco for about five years. During that time, I felt God calling me to be a pastor. So, we moved from Waco to Mississippi to serve as pastor. While in Mississippi, I started working on a doctor of ministry degree at Truett Seminary. By the end of 2004, I had completely finished all of my course work and was trying to write my final project.
The course work had not been too much of an interruption for my responsibilities. However, the writing was very difficult. I tried to write in my church office, but could not. I tried to get out of the office and write, but could not. I was making very little progress.
At the end of 2004, I got a call from the pastor of the church in Waco, asking me to return to my old position to help them rebuild the college ministry. I immediately said, “No. But I promise to pray about it.”
The same day the pastor from Waco called, we discovered that the obstetrician who had delivered both Collin and Nathan returned to his practice. He had hired another doctor to help him in his practice and take over the responsibility of delivering babies. That doctor had left to start his own practice, so our old doctor started delivering babies again. Since Shauna was expecting JoEllen, we thought this might be a good opportunity for us to use the same doctor and the same hospital for all three babies.
Then, we realized that living in Waco would give me better access to the Baylor library and to my major professor. So, over the next three days, we started thinking God might be calling us to Waco.
Moving back to Waco was unusual. There are not very many ministers who have the opportunity to go back to the same church. (Most churches don’t want a former minister to come back, because they are glad he left in the first place.) But the church made us feel like we were “coming home.” We still had some good friends in that church, and we quickly made new friends.
It wasn’t strange for us at church. It was strange when we were at the grocery store or in a restaurant. We would see people in town, recognize their faces, and wonder “How do I know this person?” Or, this is my favorite…I saw a man named Tom in the grocery store one day, I walked up to him, called him by name and said, “Tom, what are you doing here?” He didn’t know what I was thinking, so he told me he had to go to the store to by milk. That is when I realized, “Oh yeah. We moved back to Waco.”
When I first saw Tom, I thought I was seeing him somewhere where he didn’t belong. I thought I was caught in the Twilight Zone, or that my worlds were colliding.
For six years, my Waco world and my current world had been two separate worlds. By moving back to Waco, my Waco world and my current world had collided.
This is a kind of silly illustration about worlds colliding. But the New Testament does teach us that Christians live in two separate worlds. We are living “in the world, but not of the world.” As long as we are here on earth, other people consider us as “aliens and strangers.” In a sense, we walk around in a world in which we do not really belong. On one hand we are citizens of this world—Lufkin, Texas, the United States of America, planet earth. On the other hand we are citizens of the Kingdom of God—we will never feel “at home” until we leave this earth and experience eternal life in heaven.
Jesus told the disciples they would feel this tension. However, as long as Jesus was with them, they never truly experienced it. But they began to experience the tension of colliding worlds after Jesus ascended into heaven.
Read Acts 5: 12 – 42.
This story ought to remind us of the story of the crippled man who sat outside the temple begging for money. Peter and John reached out to the crippled man and offered him assistance. They did not give him financial assistance. They introduced him to Jesus, and Jesus changed his life.
In much the same way, we see the apostles preaching the Gospel around the city of Jerusalem. It became common knowledge that the new Christian church would meet regularly in a place known as Solomon’s Colonnade. Their meetings were similar to our meetings with only one difference. The Christians worshipped God and preached the Gospel just like we do. They even collected an offering of money just like we do. But they also healed the sick. People with every known illness and disability came to the worship services, and through the power of Jesus they were healed.
I struggle with this reference in the book of Acts. If it had only happened one time, it would be easy to explain. But, the apostles worked miracles on numerous occasions throughout the book of Acts. There were dozens or even hundreds of people healed of sickness as a result of the power of God in the apostles. Does this mean we are doing something wrong? Should we have healing services each week when we gather to worship? Or, should we do as some others have done and say this is a gift from God that has ceased—no longer to be used in contemporary society?
I am not willing to say that the gifts have ceased. But I am also not willing to say that I have this gift. I have never been used of God to heal a sick person. Yet, I believe God is the same “yesterday, today and forever (cf. Hebrews 13: 8).” If God has not changed, then perhaps we are supposed to continue to believe in God’s power to heal through human agents.
Healing the sick was an important part of the spread of the Gospel in the book of Acts. I think Luke is documenting for us the reasons why the Gospel spread so quickly in such a short period of time. It was very difficult for people to deny the death and resurrection of Jesus when they could witness with their own eyes the power of God working in the lives of everyday, ordinary people.
Because of this healing ministry, the early church experienced explosive growth. The church started with 120 people. On the day of Pentecost 3,000 more became converts. When Peter healed the crippled man, another 5,000 people were convinced to become followers of Jesus. And, now Luke tells us that he has lost count. He simply says, “more and more men and women believed in the Lord.”
This was a church that was making a difference in their society. They were using the gifts God had given them to address the needs of real people. If we were to apply this to our own church and our own situation, then we would need to ask ourselves if we are using our gifts to meet the real need of real people.
Again, let me reiterate…I do not have the gift of healing. I don’t know anyone in this church who has the gift of healing. But we do have gifts. We have financial resources, physical resources and compassionate members. How are we using our gifts to meet the real needs of real people in our community?
When a church is known as a community of people who make a difference in their community, people begin to notice. On one hand, Luke tells us that the church was growing as more and more men and women believed in Jesus. On the other hand, Luke tells us that people were also afraid to associate themselves with the new Christians. Why would anyone be afraid of being a Christian?
Jerusalem was an unusual city. The political leaders of Jerusalem were also the religious leaders. Since this was during the period of time when Israel was controlled by the Roman Empire, it probably means that the Roman government had assigned some sort of political power to the Jewish religious leaders. More than likely, this means that the Roman government held the Jewish religious leaders responsible for the political actions of the Jewish people. If a political revolt broke out among the Jewish people, the religious leaders would be held responsible. The religious leaders had two very important things to protect. They had to protect the religious traditions handed down for centuries, and they had to protect the peace. Actually, they were only protecting one thing—themselves. They protected their personal power in the Law, and they protected their own lives by maintaining peace.
So, we are not surprised at the response of the Jewish religious leaders. When the apostles started making a difference in Jerusalem, the religious leaders arrested them and tried to stop the work of the church.
The Jewish leaders placed the apostles in jail, but the jail could not hold them. God opened the jail doors and commanded the apostles to go right back out into the streets and keep preaching the full Gospel.
The Jewish leaders provide us with a little comedy in this story. Nothing they do seems to go right. They arrested Peter and John several days ago but had to release them when they could find no charges to bring against them. They arrest the entire band of apostles and can’t even keep them in the jail. Now these same “criminals” are out on the streets being hailed as heroes by the ordinary citizens of Jerusalem. What is a self-respecting religious leader to do? Well, there is only one thing they could do…Arrest them again.
But there is a catch. In Acts 5: 26, Luke tells us the religious leaders had to be careful in arresting the apostles a third time. The people of Jerusalem loved the apostles so much, that if the authorities used any force the people might revolt. It is ironic here how two groups of people could respond so differently to the same miracles and message. The miracles confirmed the message of the apostles to the people. The miracles and the message caused those in power to feel threatened.
The difference can be found in the kind of lives each group of people had in the “here and now.” In other words, the citizens of Jerusalem knew what it felt like to go to bed hungry and to suffer with diseases that had no known cure. The religious leaders knew what it felt like to be the wealthiest and most powerful men in their culture. The regular folks dreamed of a better life. The religious leaders could not dream of anything better than life as they knew it. Life was already pretty good for them. But faith in Jesus promised something even better for the regular folks of Jerusalem.
If the apostles were allowed to keep preaching their message of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven, then the religious leaders would not continue to hold power over the people. The people would begin to live as the apostles lived. They were unafraid of anything the authorities could do to them. In fact the apostles stood up to the authorities and declared, “We must obey God rather than human authority.”
The religious leaders were so enraged by this statement that they decided to kill the apostles and put an end to Christianity once and for all. But their plans were stopped by a member of their own group. A wise and well-known Rabbi, named Gamaliel spoke up. He reminded the others that this was not the first time Jerusalem had faced similar circumstances. In fact there were two other such occurrences. In both cases, the people got excited, but the excitement died down when the movement’s leader died.
In verses 38 – 39, Gamaliel said, “Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
This statement is significant for several reasons:
1. He is right! The work started by these apostles exploded into a worldwide phenomenon that we now call the Christian church. They did not stop the apostles, and they could not stop the apostles. Even if the religious leaders had chosen to kill the apostles, God would have raised up someone else to carry the message around the world. How do I know this? Because that is what happened. Look at what happened to the original twelve disciples of Jesus: Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus; Ten of the remaining eleven were martyred for their faith in Jesus; and the only one who was not killed for his faith was persecuted and eventually secluded on a deserted island. In Acts 5, we read about the threat to kill the apostles. They were actually killed later. Their murders did NOT stop the work of God.
2. It shows spiritual insight. Gamaliel was no ordinary man. He was a Jewish Rabbi. He was a FAMOUS Jewish Rabbi. And he was a member of the ruling elite. In fact, he was so well respected that the rest of the leaders actually followed his advice not to kill the apostles. Gamaliel’s insight and speech to the Sanhedrin stand out as unusual in this story. We might have expected Luke to paint a highly negative picture of all the leaders. But he doesn’t. He shows us one man who truly loved God and did not want to fight against something new God was doing in the world. Luke used Gamaliel as an example of the kind of impact the Gospel can have. The message of salvation through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus applies to all classes of people. Salvation is for the common people, and salvation is for the wealthy elite. But no matter who you are, the message is the same. There is “no other name by which we might be saved.”
II. Conclusion.
The apostles had been through quite an ordeal by the time Gamaliel “called off the dogs.” He saved their lives, but he could not prevent the leaders from punishing the apostles. They were beaten and released.
After their release, two very significant things took place. First, they praised God for considering them worthy of suffering. Second, they went right back to preaching the same message of salvation.
The apostles had experienced a collision of worlds. Their world of faith collided with a world that hated the message they preached.
This is the same world we live in today. God has not called us to control the political world. God has called us to two things: Preach the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; and Make a difference in the world by using our gifts to meet real needs of real people.
Acts 5: 12 – 42.
I. Introduction.
Most of you know that my family had an unusual opportunity about four years ago. I was invited to come back to Waco to a job I had held six years earlier.
I had been associate pastor and college minister in a church in Waco for about five years. During that time, I felt God calling me to be a pastor. So, we moved from Waco to Mississippi to serve as pastor. While in Mississippi, I started working on a doctor of ministry degree at Truett Seminary. By the end of 2004, I had completely finished all of my course work and was trying to write my final project.
The course work had not been too much of an interruption for my responsibilities. However, the writing was very difficult. I tried to write in my church office, but could not. I tried to get out of the office and write, but could not. I was making very little progress.
At the end of 2004, I got a call from the pastor of the church in Waco, asking me to return to my old position to help them rebuild the college ministry. I immediately said, “No. But I promise to pray about it.”
The same day the pastor from Waco called, we discovered that the obstetrician who had delivered both Collin and Nathan returned to his practice. He had hired another doctor to help him in his practice and take over the responsibility of delivering babies. That doctor had left to start his own practice, so our old doctor started delivering babies again. Since Shauna was expecting JoEllen, we thought this might be a good opportunity for us to use the same doctor and the same hospital for all three babies.
Then, we realized that living in Waco would give me better access to the Baylor library and to my major professor. So, over the next three days, we started thinking God might be calling us to Waco.
Moving back to Waco was unusual. There are not very many ministers who have the opportunity to go back to the same church. (Most churches don’t want a former minister to come back, because they are glad he left in the first place.) But the church made us feel like we were “coming home.” We still had some good friends in that church, and we quickly made new friends.
It wasn’t strange for us at church. It was strange when we were at the grocery store or in a restaurant. We would see people in town, recognize their faces, and wonder “How do I know this person?” Or, this is my favorite…I saw a man named Tom in the grocery store one day, I walked up to him, called him by name and said, “Tom, what are you doing here?” He didn’t know what I was thinking, so he told me he had to go to the store to by milk. That is when I realized, “Oh yeah. We moved back to Waco.”
When I first saw Tom, I thought I was seeing him somewhere where he didn’t belong. I thought I was caught in the Twilight Zone, or that my worlds were colliding.
For six years, my Waco world and my current world had been two separate worlds. By moving back to Waco, my Waco world and my current world had collided.
This is a kind of silly illustration about worlds colliding. But the New Testament does teach us that Christians live in two separate worlds. We are living “in the world, but not of the world.” As long as we are here on earth, other people consider us as “aliens and strangers.” In a sense, we walk around in a world in which we do not really belong. On one hand we are citizens of this world—Lufkin, Texas, the United States of America, planet earth. On the other hand we are citizens of the Kingdom of God—we will never feel “at home” until we leave this earth and experience eternal life in heaven.
Jesus told the disciples they would feel this tension. However, as long as Jesus was with them, they never truly experienced it. But they began to experience the tension of colliding worlds after Jesus ascended into heaven.
Read Acts 5: 12 – 42.
This story ought to remind us of the story of the crippled man who sat outside the temple begging for money. Peter and John reached out to the crippled man and offered him assistance. They did not give him financial assistance. They introduced him to Jesus, and Jesus changed his life.
In much the same way, we see the apostles preaching the Gospel around the city of Jerusalem. It became common knowledge that the new Christian church would meet regularly in a place known as Solomon’s Colonnade. Their meetings were similar to our meetings with only one difference. The Christians worshipped God and preached the Gospel just like we do. They even collected an offering of money just like we do. But they also healed the sick. People with every known illness and disability came to the worship services, and through the power of Jesus they were healed.
I struggle with this reference in the book of Acts. If it had only happened one time, it would be easy to explain. But, the apostles worked miracles on numerous occasions throughout the book of Acts. There were dozens or even hundreds of people healed of sickness as a result of the power of God in the apostles. Does this mean we are doing something wrong? Should we have healing services each week when we gather to worship? Or, should we do as some others have done and say this is a gift from God that has ceased—no longer to be used in contemporary society?
I am not willing to say that the gifts have ceased. But I am also not willing to say that I have this gift. I have never been used of God to heal a sick person. Yet, I believe God is the same “yesterday, today and forever (cf. Hebrews 13: 8).” If God has not changed, then perhaps we are supposed to continue to believe in God’s power to heal through human agents.
Healing the sick was an important part of the spread of the Gospel in the book of Acts. I think Luke is documenting for us the reasons why the Gospel spread so quickly in such a short period of time. It was very difficult for people to deny the death and resurrection of Jesus when they could witness with their own eyes the power of God working in the lives of everyday, ordinary people.
Because of this healing ministry, the early church experienced explosive growth. The church started with 120 people. On the day of Pentecost 3,000 more became converts. When Peter healed the crippled man, another 5,000 people were convinced to become followers of Jesus. And, now Luke tells us that he has lost count. He simply says, “more and more men and women believed in the Lord.”
This was a church that was making a difference in their society. They were using the gifts God had given them to address the needs of real people. If we were to apply this to our own church and our own situation, then we would need to ask ourselves if we are using our gifts to meet the real need of real people.
Again, let me reiterate…I do not have the gift of healing. I don’t know anyone in this church who has the gift of healing. But we do have gifts. We have financial resources, physical resources and compassionate members. How are we using our gifts to meet the real needs of real people in our community?
When a church is known as a community of people who make a difference in their community, people begin to notice. On one hand, Luke tells us that the church was growing as more and more men and women believed in Jesus. On the other hand, Luke tells us that people were also afraid to associate themselves with the new Christians. Why would anyone be afraid of being a Christian?
Jerusalem was an unusual city. The political leaders of Jerusalem were also the religious leaders. Since this was during the period of time when Israel was controlled by the Roman Empire, it probably means that the Roman government had assigned some sort of political power to the Jewish religious leaders. More than likely, this means that the Roman government held the Jewish religious leaders responsible for the political actions of the Jewish people. If a political revolt broke out among the Jewish people, the religious leaders would be held responsible. The religious leaders had two very important things to protect. They had to protect the religious traditions handed down for centuries, and they had to protect the peace. Actually, they were only protecting one thing—themselves. They protected their personal power in the Law, and they protected their own lives by maintaining peace.
So, we are not surprised at the response of the Jewish religious leaders. When the apostles started making a difference in Jerusalem, the religious leaders arrested them and tried to stop the work of the church.
The Jewish leaders placed the apostles in jail, but the jail could not hold them. God opened the jail doors and commanded the apostles to go right back out into the streets and keep preaching the full Gospel.
The Jewish leaders provide us with a little comedy in this story. Nothing they do seems to go right. They arrested Peter and John several days ago but had to release them when they could find no charges to bring against them. They arrest the entire band of apostles and can’t even keep them in the jail. Now these same “criminals” are out on the streets being hailed as heroes by the ordinary citizens of Jerusalem. What is a self-respecting religious leader to do? Well, there is only one thing they could do…Arrest them again.
But there is a catch. In Acts 5: 26, Luke tells us the religious leaders had to be careful in arresting the apostles a third time. The people of Jerusalem loved the apostles so much, that if the authorities used any force the people might revolt. It is ironic here how two groups of people could respond so differently to the same miracles and message. The miracles confirmed the message of the apostles to the people. The miracles and the message caused those in power to feel threatened.
The difference can be found in the kind of lives each group of people had in the “here and now.” In other words, the citizens of Jerusalem knew what it felt like to go to bed hungry and to suffer with diseases that had no known cure. The religious leaders knew what it felt like to be the wealthiest and most powerful men in their culture. The regular folks dreamed of a better life. The religious leaders could not dream of anything better than life as they knew it. Life was already pretty good for them. But faith in Jesus promised something even better for the regular folks of Jerusalem.
If the apostles were allowed to keep preaching their message of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven, then the religious leaders would not continue to hold power over the people. The people would begin to live as the apostles lived. They were unafraid of anything the authorities could do to them. In fact the apostles stood up to the authorities and declared, “We must obey God rather than human authority.”
The religious leaders were so enraged by this statement that they decided to kill the apostles and put an end to Christianity once and for all. But their plans were stopped by a member of their own group. A wise and well-known Rabbi, named Gamaliel spoke up. He reminded the others that this was not the first time Jerusalem had faced similar circumstances. In fact there were two other such occurrences. In both cases, the people got excited, but the excitement died down when the movement’s leader died.
In verses 38 – 39, Gamaliel said, “Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
This statement is significant for several reasons:
1. He is right! The work started by these apostles exploded into a worldwide phenomenon that we now call the Christian church. They did not stop the apostles, and they could not stop the apostles. Even if the religious leaders had chosen to kill the apostles, God would have raised up someone else to carry the message around the world. How do I know this? Because that is what happened. Look at what happened to the original twelve disciples of Jesus: Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus; Ten of the remaining eleven were martyred for their faith in Jesus; and the only one who was not killed for his faith was persecuted and eventually secluded on a deserted island. In Acts 5, we read about the threat to kill the apostles. They were actually killed later. Their murders did NOT stop the work of God.
2. It shows spiritual insight. Gamaliel was no ordinary man. He was a Jewish Rabbi. He was a FAMOUS Jewish Rabbi. And he was a member of the ruling elite. In fact, he was so well respected that the rest of the leaders actually followed his advice not to kill the apostles. Gamaliel’s insight and speech to the Sanhedrin stand out as unusual in this story. We might have expected Luke to paint a highly negative picture of all the leaders. But he doesn’t. He shows us one man who truly loved God and did not want to fight against something new God was doing in the world. Luke used Gamaliel as an example of the kind of impact the Gospel can have. The message of salvation through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus applies to all classes of people. Salvation is for the common people, and salvation is for the wealthy elite. But no matter who you are, the message is the same. There is “no other name by which we might be saved.”
II. Conclusion.
The apostles had been through quite an ordeal by the time Gamaliel “called off the dogs.” He saved their lives, but he could not prevent the leaders from punishing the apostles. They were beaten and released.
After their release, two very significant things took place. First, they praised God for considering them worthy of suffering. Second, they went right back to preaching the same message of salvation.
The apostles had experienced a collision of worlds. Their world of faith collided with a world that hated the message they preached.
This is the same world we live in today. God has not called us to control the political world. God has called us to two things: Preach the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; and Make a difference in the world by using our gifts to meet real needs of real people.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008: Faith and Community
Faith and Community
Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11.
I. Introduction.
When I was pastor in Mississippi, I was expected to become a member of the Canton Rotary Club. I had never been a member of a service club before. I had been given opportunities to join clubs when I was in high school and college, but I had never joined. In high school, I played on the high school soccer team and worked during soccer season as a referee. I wasn’t a hardship case; the kind of student who had to work to help support my family. But I made a little spending money by refereeing soccer games and doing something I enjoyed doing.
In college, I had a little bit of scholarship money and a work study job in order to play soccer. We practiced every day during the season, and when it wasn’t soccer season, I managed to find plenty of things to do with my time outside of clubs.
So, I didn’t really want to join the Rotary Club…
But there were a group of 80 year old men who would not take “No” for an answer. There was one man in particular—Robert Filgo—who insisted that I join the Rotary Club. When we first got settled into town, Mr. Filgo called and told me that he would pick me up on Thursday for Rotary. I was to be his guest.
We went to the local “fish house.” I don’t know if we even have “fish houses” in Texas. In Mississippi, a “fish house” is a restaurant that just appears on the side of a two lane highway, usually in the middle of nowhere. They are places to eat fried catfish—I say fried catfish as if there is any other way to eat catfish. They aren’t the fanciest of restaurants, but the fish, hushpuppies and French fries are always pretty good.
The fish house had a large back room, reserved every Thursday for the Rotary Club. The room had seating for about fifty people. The Rotary Club had forty members and a regular attendance of 25 – 30.
When I walked into the back room, the first thing I noticed that day was that the Rotary Club was all men. The second thing I noticed was that I was by far the youngest man in the room. I estimate that when I eventually joined, I brought the average age down to approximately 89.
Mr. Filgo took me to his table and invited me to sit down. We were the first ones at our table. The next man to come to our table told me that I was sitting in his seat. So, he took the seat next to me. The next four or five men who came to our table told me that I was sitting in Cecil’s seat and Cecil was in Jim’s seat, so everyone had to find a new place to sit. It was very uncomfortable for me to know I had messed up the entire Rotary Club by sitting in Cecil’s seat.
We ate our catfish, and the Rotary president called our meeting to order. We stood. Someone said a prayer. We saluted the flag and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, I noticed the only woman in the room. She was the piano player. The song leader stood up and announced that there would be no song books that day, because we would sing a song everyone knew by heart. The Rotary Song.
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
That Spells Rotary…
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
Is known on land and sea…
From North to South…
And East to West…
He profits most who serves the best…
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
That Spells Rotary…
Well, it was my first time at Rotary and my first time in any club meeting, so I did not know the Rotary Song. I just stood there feeling dumb, lost and not a little bit uncomfortable.
Then, we heard a presentation from an invited guest. At the conclusion of his presentation, the Rotary president came back to the microphone and announced, “Let’s stand and say the club motto as we are dismissed.” Again, I didn’t know the club motto, so I stood uncomfortably and then shook hands with all the well meaning Rotarians as we left the fish house.
When I got back to my office, I thought about how uncomfortable the whole scenario had been and how I would probably NEVER go to the Rotary Club again.
And then, all of a sudden, rather unexpectedly…I had a thought. I wonder if this is the way people feel when they come to church?
If someone comes to our church today for the first time, how will they perceive church? Do we seem to be a genuine community of people who welcome new people? Or, do we seem like a “closed group?” Do we have strange customs and rituals that outsiders find uncomfortable and just a little disturbing?
Do new people know where to sit? Do church members draw attention to the fact that someone is sitting in their seat?
Do we sing songs that sound strange to new people? Do we expect them to know the words to the strange songs?
I don’t want to sound too negative about the church. There is a negative side to our community. But there is also a very positive side.
If you subscribe to the email prayer list, then you have seen several “Thank You” notes come through your email this week. Three of our church members communicated through this email list how God answered their prayers. And all three of these “Thank You’s” said something like this, “I just don’t know what I would do without my church family.”
Church is perhaps the only community many of us have that truly takes care of each other during the trials of life. We pray for each other in times of crisis. We bring food to people who are grieving or to people who are recovering from surgery. We provide a community of support like nothing else in the contemporary world.
But, this begs the question…Why would anyone want to be a part of the church in Twenty-First Century American culture? The answer is very simple. People will want to be a part of our community, IF they can see that we are making a difference. However, if the church is just a place to go on Sundays and kill a couple of hours, then they have better things to do with their time.
In the book of Acts, it was obvious that the church was making a difference!
Read Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11.
It seems rather ordinary. Luke gives us an ordinary look into the life of the early church. On one hand, this reads sort of like a news account of the normal ordinary occurrences inside the early church. If this were a small town newspaper, it would end with the classic statement: “And a good time was had by all…”
On the other hand, Luke reports something rather extraordinary. The church was a new and different kind of community. It was not like the Rotary Club. It was not like the Junior League. It was not like the PTA. This is a group of people who are committed to each other. They genuinely loved each other and they truly meet the physical and emotional needs of their culture.
Don’t let this Scripture worry you. I do not intend to suggest that we give all our money to the church and form a socialist society where no one has his or her own property. I don’t want to suggest this, because I don’t believe it was what was taking place in the early church.
In the first place the Scripture says that the church members sold their property “from time to time.” If this had been a socialist society, they could not sell their property “from time to time.” No, they would have sold their property ONCE. Then, no one would have any rights to claim individual or family property.
In the second place, the Scripture specifically says that Barnabas sold a field that he “owned.” This was Barnabas’ field. Perhaps it had been handed down through his family for generations. Perhaps it was a field he had bought with the money he had earned in his own employment. Either case, it belonged to Barnabas and not to the leadership of the church.
The key concept for us to grasp in this story is the concept of using our possessions to demonstrate our faith. Barnabas was a man whose life had been changed by a relationship with Jesus Christ as his Lord. Barnabas’ faith was not something he simply talked about. Barnabas lived out his faith by using his resources or his possessions as a source for blessing other people. He saw a need in his church, and he took action to meet that need. He saw a family in need, and he took action to meet that need. In other words, Barnabas allowed God to use him to answer the prayers of other people.
II. The Difference Between Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira.
The story that comes after this, makes Barnabas’ story difficult to interpret. Barnabas sold a field and gave ALL the money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira sold a field and gave a PORTION of the money to the church. God honored Barnabas’ gift, but God killed Ananias and Sapphira.
On first glance, it seems that God wants people to give all their money to the church. Anyone who withholds money from God will be struck dead on the spot. But that is not how I read this story. I think we need to take a close look at the motives for the ones who gave their money to the church.
The Barnabas story comes right on the heels of Luke’s explanation that the church members sold property and gave the proceeds in response to real needs in the community. The Ananias and Sapphira story comes right on the heels of the Barnabas story. The need had been met. Ananias and Sapphira were not trying to meet a specific need. They were giving for another reason.
I think there are two choices for Ananias and Sapphira’s motivation. Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira were giving because Barnabas’ gift made them feel guilty. Or, and this is what I believe is the case, Ananias and Sapphira were jealous of the attention Barnabas got for his extraordinary gift. So, they tried to imitate Barnabas’ generosity. They wanted other people to think they were doing the same thing Barnabas had done.
However, Ananias and Sapphira did NOT do the same thing Barnabas had done. They sold property. They gave money to the church. They told the church they had done the same thing Barnabas had done. BUT, they were lying. They were trying to get credit for something they did not do. They wanted to be recognized by the church and rewarded for being generous.
III. Faith Leads to Community.
Money is not the only thing this Scripture talks about. Money is just the only thing we notice when we read it.
Money is actually the third and final thing mentioned in this Scripture.
Verse 32…All the believers were one in heart and mind…
There was a unity among the church members like nothing the ancient world had ever seen. This does not mean the Christians / Believers had turned into robots or that they had stopped to think for themselves. No. This indicates a kind of selflessness that is only possible through Jesus.
Naturally, all people think about themselves. It is unnatural for people to think about others or to be concerned about what other people need.
This can be true in the church as well as outside the church. Would you believe there are people who think church is all about them? I don’t mean our church. I’m talking about people in other churches. I know it is hard even to imagine this. But there are people who will go to one church as long as it “meets their needs and expectations.” And the moment things are not going the way they think they ought to go, they drop out.
This is the normal state of human life. Everyone wants the very best for themselves. It’s not normal to think about what other people need. It’s not normal, but it is possible once our lives have been changed by Jesus.
Verse 33…With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all…
Everyone who saw this church knew there was something different about the people and the community they made up. This church was not focused on itself. This church was focused on the people outside the church. They knew Jesus. They had been changed by Jesus. And, they wanted their friends, family members and neighbors to know Jesus too. They told the story of Jesus: his death and resurrection. They witnessed to everyone and invited them to become a part of their community.
IV. Conclusion.
The message of Acts 4 and 5 is a message about being changed by faith in Jesus. It’s not about money. But the way we use our money is one way we can know about the change in our lives.
In some ways, I think Twenty-First Century America is a lot like First Century Jerusalem. Money is our god. Money is our Lord. We will do anything just to have a little more money. We allow money to control us and boss us around.
If Jesus is the Lord of your life, then you can only have one Boss. Jesus is Boss. Jesus is the One who controls us. Money does not control people who are followers of Jesus.
We can use our money in ways that demonstrate our love for Jesus and the people of our community.
Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11.
I. Introduction.
When I was pastor in Mississippi, I was expected to become a member of the Canton Rotary Club. I had never been a member of a service club before. I had been given opportunities to join clubs when I was in high school and college, but I had never joined. In high school, I played on the high school soccer team and worked during soccer season as a referee. I wasn’t a hardship case; the kind of student who had to work to help support my family. But I made a little spending money by refereeing soccer games and doing something I enjoyed doing.
In college, I had a little bit of scholarship money and a work study job in order to play soccer. We practiced every day during the season, and when it wasn’t soccer season, I managed to find plenty of things to do with my time outside of clubs.
So, I didn’t really want to join the Rotary Club…
But there were a group of 80 year old men who would not take “No” for an answer. There was one man in particular—Robert Filgo—who insisted that I join the Rotary Club. When we first got settled into town, Mr. Filgo called and told me that he would pick me up on Thursday for Rotary. I was to be his guest.
We went to the local “fish house.” I don’t know if we even have “fish houses” in Texas. In Mississippi, a “fish house” is a restaurant that just appears on the side of a two lane highway, usually in the middle of nowhere. They are places to eat fried catfish—I say fried catfish as if there is any other way to eat catfish. They aren’t the fanciest of restaurants, but the fish, hushpuppies and French fries are always pretty good.
The fish house had a large back room, reserved every Thursday for the Rotary Club. The room had seating for about fifty people. The Rotary Club had forty members and a regular attendance of 25 – 30.
When I walked into the back room, the first thing I noticed that day was that the Rotary Club was all men. The second thing I noticed was that I was by far the youngest man in the room. I estimate that when I eventually joined, I brought the average age down to approximately 89.
Mr. Filgo took me to his table and invited me to sit down. We were the first ones at our table. The next man to come to our table told me that I was sitting in his seat. So, he took the seat next to me. The next four or five men who came to our table told me that I was sitting in Cecil’s seat and Cecil was in Jim’s seat, so everyone had to find a new place to sit. It was very uncomfortable for me to know I had messed up the entire Rotary Club by sitting in Cecil’s seat.
We ate our catfish, and the Rotary president called our meeting to order. We stood. Someone said a prayer. We saluted the flag and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, I noticed the only woman in the room. She was the piano player. The song leader stood up and announced that there would be no song books that day, because we would sing a song everyone knew by heart. The Rotary Song.
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
That Spells Rotary…
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
Is known on land and sea…
From North to South…
And East to West…
He profits most who serves the best…
R-O-T-A-R-Y…
That Spells Rotary…
Well, it was my first time at Rotary and my first time in any club meeting, so I did not know the Rotary Song. I just stood there feeling dumb, lost and not a little bit uncomfortable.
Then, we heard a presentation from an invited guest. At the conclusion of his presentation, the Rotary president came back to the microphone and announced, “Let’s stand and say the club motto as we are dismissed.” Again, I didn’t know the club motto, so I stood uncomfortably and then shook hands with all the well meaning Rotarians as we left the fish house.
When I got back to my office, I thought about how uncomfortable the whole scenario had been and how I would probably NEVER go to the Rotary Club again.
And then, all of a sudden, rather unexpectedly…I had a thought. I wonder if this is the way people feel when they come to church?
If someone comes to our church today for the first time, how will they perceive church? Do we seem to be a genuine community of people who welcome new people? Or, do we seem like a “closed group?” Do we have strange customs and rituals that outsiders find uncomfortable and just a little disturbing?
Do new people know where to sit? Do church members draw attention to the fact that someone is sitting in their seat?
Do we sing songs that sound strange to new people? Do we expect them to know the words to the strange songs?
I don’t want to sound too negative about the church. There is a negative side to our community. But there is also a very positive side.
If you subscribe to the email prayer list, then you have seen several “Thank You” notes come through your email this week. Three of our church members communicated through this email list how God answered their prayers. And all three of these “Thank You’s” said something like this, “I just don’t know what I would do without my church family.”
Church is perhaps the only community many of us have that truly takes care of each other during the trials of life. We pray for each other in times of crisis. We bring food to people who are grieving or to people who are recovering from surgery. We provide a community of support like nothing else in the contemporary world.
But, this begs the question…Why would anyone want to be a part of the church in Twenty-First Century American culture? The answer is very simple. People will want to be a part of our community, IF they can see that we are making a difference. However, if the church is just a place to go on Sundays and kill a couple of hours, then they have better things to do with their time.
In the book of Acts, it was obvious that the church was making a difference!
Read Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11.
It seems rather ordinary. Luke gives us an ordinary look into the life of the early church. On one hand, this reads sort of like a news account of the normal ordinary occurrences inside the early church. If this were a small town newspaper, it would end with the classic statement: “And a good time was had by all…”
On the other hand, Luke reports something rather extraordinary. The church was a new and different kind of community. It was not like the Rotary Club. It was not like the Junior League. It was not like the PTA. This is a group of people who are committed to each other. They genuinely loved each other and they truly meet the physical and emotional needs of their culture.
Don’t let this Scripture worry you. I do not intend to suggest that we give all our money to the church and form a socialist society where no one has his or her own property. I don’t want to suggest this, because I don’t believe it was what was taking place in the early church.
In the first place the Scripture says that the church members sold their property “from time to time.” If this had been a socialist society, they could not sell their property “from time to time.” No, they would have sold their property ONCE. Then, no one would have any rights to claim individual or family property.
In the second place, the Scripture specifically says that Barnabas sold a field that he “owned.” This was Barnabas’ field. Perhaps it had been handed down through his family for generations. Perhaps it was a field he had bought with the money he had earned in his own employment. Either case, it belonged to Barnabas and not to the leadership of the church.
The key concept for us to grasp in this story is the concept of using our possessions to demonstrate our faith. Barnabas was a man whose life had been changed by a relationship with Jesus Christ as his Lord. Barnabas’ faith was not something he simply talked about. Barnabas lived out his faith by using his resources or his possessions as a source for blessing other people. He saw a need in his church, and he took action to meet that need. He saw a family in need, and he took action to meet that need. In other words, Barnabas allowed God to use him to answer the prayers of other people.
II. The Difference Between Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira.
The story that comes after this, makes Barnabas’ story difficult to interpret. Barnabas sold a field and gave ALL the money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira sold a field and gave a PORTION of the money to the church. God honored Barnabas’ gift, but God killed Ananias and Sapphira.
On first glance, it seems that God wants people to give all their money to the church. Anyone who withholds money from God will be struck dead on the spot. But that is not how I read this story. I think we need to take a close look at the motives for the ones who gave their money to the church.
The Barnabas story comes right on the heels of Luke’s explanation that the church members sold property and gave the proceeds in response to real needs in the community. The Ananias and Sapphira story comes right on the heels of the Barnabas story. The need had been met. Ananias and Sapphira were not trying to meet a specific need. They were giving for another reason.
I think there are two choices for Ananias and Sapphira’s motivation. Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira were giving because Barnabas’ gift made them feel guilty. Or, and this is what I believe is the case, Ananias and Sapphira were jealous of the attention Barnabas got for his extraordinary gift. So, they tried to imitate Barnabas’ generosity. They wanted other people to think they were doing the same thing Barnabas had done.
However, Ananias and Sapphira did NOT do the same thing Barnabas had done. They sold property. They gave money to the church. They told the church they had done the same thing Barnabas had done. BUT, they were lying. They were trying to get credit for something they did not do. They wanted to be recognized by the church and rewarded for being generous.
III. Faith Leads to Community.
Money is not the only thing this Scripture talks about. Money is just the only thing we notice when we read it.
Money is actually the third and final thing mentioned in this Scripture.
Verse 32…All the believers were one in heart and mind…
There was a unity among the church members like nothing the ancient world had ever seen. This does not mean the Christians / Believers had turned into robots or that they had stopped to think for themselves. No. This indicates a kind of selflessness that is only possible through Jesus.
Naturally, all people think about themselves. It is unnatural for people to think about others or to be concerned about what other people need.
This can be true in the church as well as outside the church. Would you believe there are people who think church is all about them? I don’t mean our church. I’m talking about people in other churches. I know it is hard even to imagine this. But there are people who will go to one church as long as it “meets their needs and expectations.” And the moment things are not going the way they think they ought to go, they drop out.
This is the normal state of human life. Everyone wants the very best for themselves. It’s not normal to think about what other people need. It’s not normal, but it is possible once our lives have been changed by Jesus.
Verse 33…With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all…
Everyone who saw this church knew there was something different about the people and the community they made up. This church was not focused on itself. This church was focused on the people outside the church. They knew Jesus. They had been changed by Jesus. And, they wanted their friends, family members and neighbors to know Jesus too. They told the story of Jesus: his death and resurrection. They witnessed to everyone and invited them to become a part of their community.
IV. Conclusion.
The message of Acts 4 and 5 is a message about being changed by faith in Jesus. It’s not about money. But the way we use our money is one way we can know about the change in our lives.
In some ways, I think Twenty-First Century America is a lot like First Century Jerusalem. Money is our god. Money is our Lord. We will do anything just to have a little more money. We allow money to control us and boss us around.
If Jesus is the Lord of your life, then you can only have one Boss. Jesus is Boss. Jesus is the One who controls us. Money does not control people who are followers of Jesus.
We can use our money in ways that demonstrate our love for Jesus and the people of our community.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008: Grander Vision Living
This sermon is the fourth and final in a series of sermons based on a book by Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006). During these four weeks, our church members are meeting in Sunday night small groups in the homes of church members. We are using the Just Walk Across the Room small group curriculum produced by Willow Creek. The small group format includes four components: (1) food / fellowship time; (2) watching the Just Walk Across the Room teaching DVD; (3) group discussion; and (4) each person prays for three specific people they know who are "far from God." The four weeks will conclude with an event to invite the people we have been praying for to come to the church for an informal meeting to receive more information about our church and a brief presentation of the Gospel.
===============
Grander Vision Living
Acts 4: 23 – 31.
I. Introduction.
I don’t know what your Sunday School class chose to study this week, but I hope you did the lesson from Matthew 9. It is the story of one of Jesus’ disciples named Matthew. We have reasons to believe that Matthew and Levi are the same person. At least their stories are exactly the same in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the call of the first five disciples sounds something like this: One day Jesus was walking along the shore of the Lake of Galilee. As he was walking, Jesus saw two brothers repairing their fishing nets. The brothers’ names were Simon and Andrew. Jesus made eye contact with Simon and Andrew and issued a very simple call, “Come. Follow me.” The brothers dropped their nets, stopped what they were doing and devoted their lives to following Jesus.
The same day, walking along the same shore line, Jesus encountered two different brothers—James and John, the sons of Zebedee. James and John were sitting in their father’s boat. Perhaps they were planning to cast off the shore and begin a day of fishing. Perhaps they were in the boat sorting the fish they had caught earlier. Again, Jesus got their attention and issued the same, simple call, “Come. Follow me.” James and John got out of their father’s boat and committed themselves to a life of following Jesus as his disciples. The Gospels never tell us what might have happened to Zebedee. We know that James and John never went back to work in their father’s boat. Perhaps he took early retirement. Perhaps he went bankrupt. Or perhaps he had to hire two new fishermen to replace his sons in the business. All we know is that James and John never went back to the life of fishing for fish.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all agree that Simon, Andrew, James and John were the first four disciples to follow Jesus. These Gospels also agree that the first teaching Jesus gave these four fishermen-turned-disciples was something like this: “Stop fishing for fish. Come with me and we will fish for people.”
In terms of a fisherman who has devoted his entire life to the skill, craft or even luck of making his living pulling fish out of the water, Jesus’ words to these first disciples describe a “Grander Vision” for living life. Jesus gave them a greater purpose for their lives. They had spent years pursuing fish. Now, Jesus wants them to pursue people.
According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the next disciple Jesus called was a tax collector. Mark and Luke tell us this tax collector’s name was Levi, but the Gospel of Matthew tells us his name was Matthew. We believe this was the same man, because it is the same story. Jesus found Matthew sitting at his toll booth, collecting taxes. He was sitting by the Lake of Galilee, so we can infer that he was doing one of two things. Either he was collecting a toll from the people who traveled along the road, or he was counting the fish caught out of the lake and charging taxes to the fishermen. Either way, Matthew was hard at work when Jesus walked up. Jesus did the same thing when he encountered Matthew: He made eye contact and issued the simple call—“Come. Follow me.”
On one hand, Matthew responded to Jesus in the same way Simon, Andrew, James and John responded: he stopped what he was doing and committed himself to a life of following Jesus as a disciple. On the other hand, Matthew did something different. Matthew threw a party for all of his tax collector friends.
Tax collectors in the ancient world did not have a good reputation. They were regarded as traitors who showed more allegiance to the Roman Empire than they did to their fellow Jews. They were also known to be unethical in the fees they charged the tax paying citizens. In short, tax collectors were known as “sinners.” So, when we say that Matthew threw a party for his friends, we are saying that Matthew threw a party for sinners. This was just too much for the Pharisees to handle. Jesus—the newest Rabbi / Teacher on the scene—was attending a party with sinners.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. There are some modern day Pharisees who do not believe Christians should attend parties with sinners. They focus all their attention on the verses of Scripture that teach us to “keep ourselves separate and unblemished from worldly pursuits.” They completely ignore the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus, who actually preferred to spend his time with people who did not know God.
On Saturday night we are going to have our own “Matthew Party” here at the church. I want you to bring your friends. We are taking extra precautions to ensure that our “Matthew Party” lasts one hour or less. We are going to eat hamburgers; Shauna and our musicians will play some music; we will show a video highlighting the activities of our church; and I will close with a brief presentation of the Gospel. The only way this will work is if you bring guests. This will NOT be a church fellowship! This is an opportunity for church people and non-church people to spend time together in order to introduce people to Jesus.
Approximately 120 adults and youth have been meeting in small groups. I have encouraged each person to pray for three of their friends. Now, it is time to invite your friends. I think you should be honest and tell people, “We are having hamburgers in the Family Life Center. You will learn more about what our church does. And, my pastor is going to tell you what we believe.”
Simple. Anyone can come. But, please remember…This is not a church fellowship. It is an opportunity to introduce your friends to Jesus.
If you have not participated in a small group, you can still come. You can come, IF you bring someone with you. We need to know how many people are coming by Tuesday. Fill out the “Matthew Party” form. Give us your name and the total number of people in your party.
The “Matthew Party” is one way we can connect with the Grand Vision Jesus has given First Baptist Church. On one hand, some of us are very comfortable in our church. We know the songs. We have our own seats on Sunday mornings—seats that automatically form to shape our bodies. We are comfortable with the programs, activities and ministries this church provides.
But…something is wrong if we think church is all about us. Something is wrong with us if we think we are supposed to come to church only for the things that church provides us. Of course, we do provide ministries and activities so that you can get something out of church. But that is not why we are here. We are here to advance the Kingdom of God and push back the realm of Satan.
Read Acts 4: 23 – 31.
II. Verse 23: “On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.”
A. On their release…
These words connect the following descriptions and teachings to the narrative of Peter and John before the Sanhedrin. Peter’s preaching had stirred up the Jewish people and had led to 5,000 conversions. The Sanhedrin knew they had to put a stop to this Gospel preaching. However, they had no charges against the disciples, so they were forced to let them go.
B. Went back to their own people…
The Sanhedrin and the Jewish political / religious leaders had some things in common with Peter and John. After all, Peter and John were Jewish by birth. However, there was one significant difference between them. Peter and John were followers of Christ. When the Bible says, “they went back to their own people,” it is describing the common life of Christians.
I first moved to Texas in 1994. Very soon after I moved here, I read a newspaper article about the way Texans view themselves. There is no other state in the United States of America quite like Texas. Did you know that approximately 50% of Texans view themselves as Texans first and Americans second? This is not true about any other state. Only in Texas.
Christians ought to be the same way. We might find ourselves living in the United States of America—or even living in the great state of Texas—but our primary identity comes from our relationship with Christ. And when we find ourselves in trouble or hurting or under persecution, there is only one place we should want to come. To church, to be with “our own people.”
III. Verse 24: “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
I wish I didn’t have to tell you this. Of course, I have lots of options. I could lie to you, or I could preach like the TV preachers do. I wish I could tell you that Christians do not have the same kinds of pain and suffering found in the rest of humanity. I cannot say that and tell the truth.
Christians suffer two types of pain. First, we experience the pain of being human. Death, divorce, broken relationships, cancer…This is the pain of living in a fallen world. Second, we face persecution that comes as a direct result of our faith in Christ. Just as we recognize a difference between us and the world, so the world sees us as different from them. As a result, we are excluded and even discriminated against.
However, as Christians, we can face pain and disappointment with confidence and with power. We can walk through the “valley of the shadow of death” knowing that God is with us. We experience God’s presence through our prayers and through the times we gather in the church with “our own people.”
IV. Verses 24 – 30: The Prayer.
Notice that the Bible says “they raised their voices together in prayer.” I can find two explanations for this expression. It might mean that the entire church started praying the exact same words in unison. However, it is more likely that the church prayed together in antiphony. The leader would pray out loud one line at a time. The congregation would repeat the same words out loud.
A. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
The God who comforts us in our time of need is the same God who created us. The God who created us has a plan and purpose for our lives.
B. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.'
The God who created us is the same God who has revealed himself to us in Scripture. This is significant because it shows us that God is the One pursuing us. God has not left us to our own devices. God loves each person individually and desires a relationship with each of us.
C. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
God’s pursuit of us did not end with the Jewish Scriptures of the Old Testament. God sent his Son Jesus into human history. By naming Herod and Pontius Pilate, we can place the life and death of Jesus into a historical timeline.
D. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
I do not believe this is a defense of a “predestinarian” view of God. This does not teach us that everything that happens is necessarily God’s will. It is a specific reference to the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion was God’s plan from the very beginning. The crucifixion is not God’s plan
B. It was always God’s intention to pursue human beings and go to the great lengths of sending his only Son to die on the cross for our sins.
E. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
This is NOT what I would have prayed! I would have prayed for God to protect me and to prevent me from being arrested again. They prayed for BOLDNESS and for COURAGE to keep on preaching, no matter what they might encounter.
F. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
There are two sides to presenting the Gospel: miracles and preaching. It is God’s job to do the miracles. It is our job to do the preaching. We don’t get to decide what miracles God performs. The only decision we make is whether or not we will be faithful to describe God’s miracles in terms the world can understand.
God still performs miracles. He heals the sick. He quiets the storm. And most frequently, God changes lives. God takes a worldly, unashamed sinner and transforms him or her into a follower of Christ. This is a miracle. Our own stories of salvation are miracle stories to be shared with non-Christian people. Their lives can be changed too!
V. Verse 31: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
When God’s people pray, God shows up. We know that God showed up, because the room was shaken. AND, because God’s people continued to preach with BOLDNESS, even in the face of certain persecution.
VI. Conclusion.
There is a pattern in Acts 4, that is consistent with everything that has happened so far in the book of Acts. The church gathered for worship. The church scattered to witness. This was the pattern for the earliest church, and it continues to be the pattern for our church in the Twenty-First Century. This is God’s Grand Vision for us. We are not supposed to gather for worship and scatter to complain or compare our church to other churches. We are to leave this place of worship encouraged and emboldened to tell non-church people about God’s plan of salvation.
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Grander Vision Living
Acts 4: 23 – 31.
I. Introduction.
I don’t know what your Sunday School class chose to study this week, but I hope you did the lesson from Matthew 9. It is the story of one of Jesus’ disciples named Matthew. We have reasons to believe that Matthew and Levi are the same person. At least their stories are exactly the same in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the call of the first five disciples sounds something like this: One day Jesus was walking along the shore of the Lake of Galilee. As he was walking, Jesus saw two brothers repairing their fishing nets. The brothers’ names were Simon and Andrew. Jesus made eye contact with Simon and Andrew and issued a very simple call, “Come. Follow me.” The brothers dropped their nets, stopped what they were doing and devoted their lives to following Jesus.
The same day, walking along the same shore line, Jesus encountered two different brothers—James and John, the sons of Zebedee. James and John were sitting in their father’s boat. Perhaps they were planning to cast off the shore and begin a day of fishing. Perhaps they were in the boat sorting the fish they had caught earlier. Again, Jesus got their attention and issued the same, simple call, “Come. Follow me.” James and John got out of their father’s boat and committed themselves to a life of following Jesus as his disciples. The Gospels never tell us what might have happened to Zebedee. We know that James and John never went back to work in their father’s boat. Perhaps he took early retirement. Perhaps he went bankrupt. Or perhaps he had to hire two new fishermen to replace his sons in the business. All we know is that James and John never went back to the life of fishing for fish.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all agree that Simon, Andrew, James and John were the first four disciples to follow Jesus. These Gospels also agree that the first teaching Jesus gave these four fishermen-turned-disciples was something like this: “Stop fishing for fish. Come with me and we will fish for people.”
In terms of a fisherman who has devoted his entire life to the skill, craft or even luck of making his living pulling fish out of the water, Jesus’ words to these first disciples describe a “Grander Vision” for living life. Jesus gave them a greater purpose for their lives. They had spent years pursuing fish. Now, Jesus wants them to pursue people.
According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the next disciple Jesus called was a tax collector. Mark and Luke tell us this tax collector’s name was Levi, but the Gospel of Matthew tells us his name was Matthew. We believe this was the same man, because it is the same story. Jesus found Matthew sitting at his toll booth, collecting taxes. He was sitting by the Lake of Galilee, so we can infer that he was doing one of two things. Either he was collecting a toll from the people who traveled along the road, or he was counting the fish caught out of the lake and charging taxes to the fishermen. Either way, Matthew was hard at work when Jesus walked up. Jesus did the same thing when he encountered Matthew: He made eye contact and issued the simple call—“Come. Follow me.”
On one hand, Matthew responded to Jesus in the same way Simon, Andrew, James and John responded: he stopped what he was doing and committed himself to a life of following Jesus as a disciple. On the other hand, Matthew did something different. Matthew threw a party for all of his tax collector friends.
Tax collectors in the ancient world did not have a good reputation. They were regarded as traitors who showed more allegiance to the Roman Empire than they did to their fellow Jews. They were also known to be unethical in the fees they charged the tax paying citizens. In short, tax collectors were known as “sinners.” So, when we say that Matthew threw a party for his friends, we are saying that Matthew threw a party for sinners. This was just too much for the Pharisees to handle. Jesus—the newest Rabbi / Teacher on the scene—was attending a party with sinners.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. There are some modern day Pharisees who do not believe Christians should attend parties with sinners. They focus all their attention on the verses of Scripture that teach us to “keep ourselves separate and unblemished from worldly pursuits.” They completely ignore the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus, who actually preferred to spend his time with people who did not know God.
On Saturday night we are going to have our own “Matthew Party” here at the church. I want you to bring your friends. We are taking extra precautions to ensure that our “Matthew Party” lasts one hour or less. We are going to eat hamburgers; Shauna and our musicians will play some music; we will show a video highlighting the activities of our church; and I will close with a brief presentation of the Gospel. The only way this will work is if you bring guests. This will NOT be a church fellowship! This is an opportunity for church people and non-church people to spend time together in order to introduce people to Jesus.
Approximately 120 adults and youth have been meeting in small groups. I have encouraged each person to pray for three of their friends. Now, it is time to invite your friends. I think you should be honest and tell people, “We are having hamburgers in the Family Life Center. You will learn more about what our church does. And, my pastor is going to tell you what we believe.”
Simple. Anyone can come. But, please remember…This is not a church fellowship. It is an opportunity to introduce your friends to Jesus.
If you have not participated in a small group, you can still come. You can come, IF you bring someone with you. We need to know how many people are coming by Tuesday. Fill out the “Matthew Party” form. Give us your name and the total number of people in your party.
The “Matthew Party” is one way we can connect with the Grand Vision Jesus has given First Baptist Church. On one hand, some of us are very comfortable in our church. We know the songs. We have our own seats on Sunday mornings—seats that automatically form to shape our bodies. We are comfortable with the programs, activities and ministries this church provides.
But…something is wrong if we think church is all about us. Something is wrong with us if we think we are supposed to come to church only for the things that church provides us. Of course, we do provide ministries and activities so that you can get something out of church. But that is not why we are here. We are here to advance the Kingdom of God and push back the realm of Satan.
Read Acts 4: 23 – 31.
II. Verse 23: “On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.”
A. On their release…
These words connect the following descriptions and teachings to the narrative of Peter and John before the Sanhedrin. Peter’s preaching had stirred up the Jewish people and had led to 5,000 conversions. The Sanhedrin knew they had to put a stop to this Gospel preaching. However, they had no charges against the disciples, so they were forced to let them go.
B. Went back to their own people…
The Sanhedrin and the Jewish political / religious leaders had some things in common with Peter and John. After all, Peter and John were Jewish by birth. However, there was one significant difference between them. Peter and John were followers of Christ. When the Bible says, “they went back to their own people,” it is describing the common life of Christians.
I first moved to Texas in 1994. Very soon after I moved here, I read a newspaper article about the way Texans view themselves. There is no other state in the United States of America quite like Texas. Did you know that approximately 50% of Texans view themselves as Texans first and Americans second? This is not true about any other state. Only in Texas.
Christians ought to be the same way. We might find ourselves living in the United States of America—or even living in the great state of Texas—but our primary identity comes from our relationship with Christ. And when we find ourselves in trouble or hurting or under persecution, there is only one place we should want to come. To church, to be with “our own people.”
III. Verse 24: “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
I wish I didn’t have to tell you this. Of course, I have lots of options. I could lie to you, or I could preach like the TV preachers do. I wish I could tell you that Christians do not have the same kinds of pain and suffering found in the rest of humanity. I cannot say that and tell the truth.
Christians suffer two types of pain. First, we experience the pain of being human. Death, divorce, broken relationships, cancer…This is the pain of living in a fallen world. Second, we face persecution that comes as a direct result of our faith in Christ. Just as we recognize a difference between us and the world, so the world sees us as different from them. As a result, we are excluded and even discriminated against.
However, as Christians, we can face pain and disappointment with confidence and with power. We can walk through the “valley of the shadow of death” knowing that God is with us. We experience God’s presence through our prayers and through the times we gather in the church with “our own people.”
IV. Verses 24 – 30: The Prayer.
Notice that the Bible says “they raised their voices together in prayer.” I can find two explanations for this expression. It might mean that the entire church started praying the exact same words in unison. However, it is more likely that the church prayed together in antiphony. The leader would pray out loud one line at a time. The congregation would repeat the same words out loud.
A. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
The God who comforts us in our time of need is the same God who created us. The God who created us has a plan and purpose for our lives.
B. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.'
The God who created us is the same God who has revealed himself to us in Scripture. This is significant because it shows us that God is the One pursuing us. God has not left us to our own devices. God loves each person individually and desires a relationship with each of us.
C. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
God’s pursuit of us did not end with the Jewish Scriptures of the Old Testament. God sent his Son Jesus into human history. By naming Herod and Pontius Pilate, we can place the life and death of Jesus into a historical timeline.
D. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
I do not believe this is a defense of a “predestinarian” view of God. This does not teach us that everything that happens is necessarily God’s will. It is a specific reference to the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion was God’s plan from the very beginning. The crucifixion is not God’s plan
B. It was always God’s intention to pursue human beings and go to the great lengths of sending his only Son to die on the cross for our sins.
E. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
This is NOT what I would have prayed! I would have prayed for God to protect me and to prevent me from being arrested again. They prayed for BOLDNESS and for COURAGE to keep on preaching, no matter what they might encounter.
F. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
There are two sides to presenting the Gospel: miracles and preaching. It is God’s job to do the miracles. It is our job to do the preaching. We don’t get to decide what miracles God performs. The only decision we make is whether or not we will be faithful to describe God’s miracles in terms the world can understand.
God still performs miracles. He heals the sick. He quiets the storm. And most frequently, God changes lives. God takes a worldly, unashamed sinner and transforms him or her into a follower of Christ. This is a miracle. Our own stories of salvation are miracle stories to be shared with non-Christian people. Their lives can be changed too!
V. Verse 31: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
When God’s people pray, God shows up. We know that God showed up, because the room was shaken. AND, because God’s people continued to preach with BOLDNESS, even in the face of certain persecution.
VI. Conclusion.
There is a pattern in Acts 4, that is consistent with everything that has happened so far in the book of Acts. The church gathered for worship. The church scattered to witness. This was the pattern for the earliest church, and it continues to be the pattern for our church in the Twenty-First Century. This is God’s Grand Vision for us. We are not supposed to gather for worship and scatter to complain or compare our church to other churches. We are to leave this place of worship encouraged and emboldened to tell non-church people about God’s plan of salvation.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008: The Power of Story
This sermon is the third of four sermons based on a book by Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006). During these four weeks, our church members are meeting in Sunday night small groups in the homes of church members. We are using the Just Walk Across the Room small group curriculum produced by Willow Creek. The small group format includes four components: (1) food / fellowship time; (2) watching the Just Walk Across the Room teaching DVD; (3) group discussion; and (4) each person prays for three specific people they know who are "far from God." The four weeks will conclude with an event to invite the people we have been praying for to come to the church for an informal meeting to receive more information about our church and a brief presentation of the Gospel.
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The Power of Story
Acts 4: 1 – 22
I. Introduction.
Last Sunday, I preached a different kind of sermon. I preached a sermon with points. I grew up with preachers who preached points. The joke we often tell about sermons is that they contain three points and a poem. Of course, the pastors I grew up with didn’t read poetry or use poetry in the pulpit. They usually preached three points and a death bed story—a story about a man or woman who finally recognized his or her need for Christ at the very last possible moment.
In my own preaching, I have tried to do something different. I like to say that I preach “pointless sermons.” What I mean by that is that I try to stick with one point, or sometimes two points. If I can communicate one point in a way that you leave here understanding the one point, then I feel like I have been successful.
I do this for a couple of reasons. First, how many times have you heard a pastor preach a three point sermon and walk away thinking you just heard three sermons? Second, how many times have you heard a three point sermon that lasted as long as three sermons?
I believe there is a place for three point sermons. There are some things that are best communicated by listing three or more points. In fact, I think of three point sermons as a kind of list. And everyone needs to keep lists. Some of you are probably making a list right now. You are thinking, “I need to buy eggs, milk, bread, peanut butter…” Or you are thinking, “I need to go to the bank, the grocery store, and then take my taxes to the Post Office.” Lists are important. But, lists are hard to remember.
Last Sunday, I preached a list of ideas about building relationships with people outside the church. I honestly do not believe there is anyone here who can recite the list back to me right now. In fact, you might remember that I had a hard time remembering the list while I was preaching. I had to go back and look at my notes to make sure I didn’t leave anything out.
This is why I like to preach stories. You may not remember the list I gave you last week. But you do remember the story I told you. I told you about a man who had been crippled for his entire life. He sat outside the temple, begging for money. Peter and John saw the man. And, even though they did not have any money, they gave him something. They introduced him to Jesus.
I don’t think I am very different from other people. I go to the grocery store and forget to buy the things on my list. I go through my work day and forget to do things on my “to do” list. But I can remember stories. I am interested in stories and want to listen to people who tell stories about their own lives. This is especially true when someone tells me a story they are passionate about.
Read Acts 4: 1 – 22.
Today’s story begins on the front steps of the temple and moves to the Jerusalem City Jail and then to the courtroom of the Jewish Sanhedrin. This story represents the first resistance the disciples faced since the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It gives us a peek into the future of the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel is preached, people will be divided. Some people will hear the Gospel and respond with repentance and faith. Other people will hear the Gospel and recognize the Gospel as a threat to their way of life and do everything in their power to stop other people from coming to faith.
This story also contains a portion of Peter’s second sermon as well as his testimony before the Jewish authorities.
Peter’s first sermon happened on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the first Christians, and all the people of Jerusalem heard the sound of a roaring wind. The wind attracted the crowd, and Peter preached the Gospel to the gathered crowd. Three thousand people were saved that day.
Peter’s second sermon happened after a 40 year old crippled man had been healed. This man had been crippled from birth. He sat on the front steps of the temple, begging for money from the Jewish people who came to the temple for their daily 3:00 prayer time. When the man asked Peter and John for money, Peter reached out his hand to the crippled man and said, “Silver and gold have I none. But what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!”
When this man was healed, he could not keep it secret. He stood, he walked, he jumped, he yelled, and he gave glory to God. Again, this attracted a crowd, and Peter used this as an occasion to confront the Jewish people with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Peter’s second sermon contained a very Jewish presentation of the Gospel. He started in the Old Testament, the Bible for the Jews. He quoted from Moses, Samuel, Isaiah and all the prophets. He showed them how Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the fulfillment of every Jewish hope described in their Scriptures. Jesus fulfilled all the hopes of Israel. But, the Jewish people collaborated with the Roman government to crucify Jesus. Of course, that is not the end of the story.
Peter told the Jewish men and women of Jerusalem that they were responsible for killing Jesus, but God was responsible for bringing Jesus back to life. They had killed the Messiah, but they could not kill the hope the Messiah brought for Israel.
This is the beginning of a long New Testament debate about who is the True Israel. The Jewish religious leaders claimed that God would keep the promises of the Old Testament to anyone who was born into the nation of Israel. Peter told his audience—and Paul later takes up the same argument—that True Israel does not describe a race of people related to one another through biological birth. NO! True Israel describes the men and women who place their faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Promised Messiah.
The promises God made in the Old Testament will be fulfilled. God will never break the promises he made. However, these promises will be fulfilled in the lives of True Israel.
II. The Jesus Story.
The story that Peter told that day is the story of the Gospel. I will call it the “Jesus Story.” It is the same story we are supposed to tell in the Twenty-First Century. The story has never changed, because God has never changed.
Every man and woman who has ever lived has the same basic need. We are sinners and are unable to have a relationship with God.
God has demonstrated his moral standard for us in the Law of the Old Testament. God wants us to live moral and righteous lives—lives free from murder, hate, sexual immorality, lies, gossip and slander.
However, we are incapable of living this kind of life. At our basic human level, we are rebellious and do not want to follow God’s plan for our lives. On our best days, we earnestly desire to live moral and righteous lives. But, we cannot do it. We are our own worst enemies. We desire righteousness, but we fail to live up to the standards God set for us. Often, we fail to live up to the standards we set for ourselves.
God recognized our human predicament and provided a way. As Peter said in Acts 4: 12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” God sent his Son Jesus as the only way we might be saved.
No human being is capable of meeting God’s requirements for morality and righteousness. But we can meet God’s requirements for salvation. As Peter preached in Acts 3 and 4, the only way to be saved is to let Jesus do it for us.
III. Our Story.
When we reach a point in life that we realize we cannot meet God’s requirements for morality and righteousness, we can enter into the Jesus Story through faith. We enter into the Jesus Story by praying something like this: “God, I cannot meet your requirements. I need Jesus to forgive me of my past and lead me in a new future.”
At this moment, the Jesus Story becomes My Story as well.
When we tell the Jesus Story to our friends and family members, it is important for us to show how the Jesus Story is also Our Story. And the only way to do that is to talk about the change Jesus brought about in your life.
We see this in the confrontation that followed Peter’s second sermon. The healed man caused a scene. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached the Jesus Story to the crowd. After Peter’s first sermon, 3,000 people were saved! After Peter’s second sermon, 5,000 people were saved! He gets better every time he preaches!
Five thousand new Christians attracted a different kind of crowd. The Jewish religious leaders gathered around Peter and John and tried to get them to stop preaching. They asked the question all authority figures ask when someone is breaking the rules. They asked, “Who gave you the right to do this?”
Their question gave Peter another opportunity to tell the Jesus Story. And as Peter retold the Jesus Story, the religious leaders noticed a change in Peter and John. Peter and John were simple, uneducated men. They had not studied in the Jewish seminaries. They were not trained in rhetoric or in public speaking. They simply told their own personal stories about Jesus, and they told those stories with passion.
Before Peter and John met Jesus, they were fishermen. They did not have an education, because they did not need an education. They had been taught by their own fathers how to make nets, repair a boat, catch fish and sell fish in the marketplace. But after they met Jesus, their lives were changed. They knew the Bible, they understood the promises of God and they communicated salvation to Jewish men and women with passion.
Later in the conversation with the religious leaders, Peter tells us about another change that took place in his life. The religious leaders recognized that Peter and John believed in the message they were preaching. But, they still felt the need to stop them from preaching. So, with all the authority of the Jewish political and religious systems they commanded the disciples to stop preaching. In verse 19, Peter said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
This is a bold statement. Peter stood face to face with the same people who had crucified Jesus. These people had the political power to crucify Peter also. These people had the religious authority to expel Peter from worshipping in the temple. And Peter looked into their eyes and said, “I will not obey your command.”
Do you realize who this is speaking? This is the same man who only 52 days earlier had been confronted by a slave girl. In the ancient world, women had no power, and slaves could do no harm to people who were not slaves. When a woman with no power whatsoever asked Peter if he were a disciple of Jesus, Peter denied ever knowing who Jesus was! Now, Peter was standing up to the most powerful people in the Jewish political and religious world.
Peter’s story would sound something like this: “I was a simple, uneducated fisherman. I had heard about the Old Testament Law before, but I knew I could not measure up to God’s standards. Then I met Jesus. He told me that God loved me and wanted me to spend eternity in heaven. Jesus changed me from a simple fisherman into preacher who tells other people how they can go to heaven.”
Or, Peter could tell his story like this: “I thought I was so brave. Everyone thought I was the guy who never backed down from a fight. But that wasn’t me. I was afraid to tell a slave girl about my religious beliefs. Jesus changed my life. Now, I not only believe Jesus is the only way to be saved, but I will risk my life for Jesus who died for me.”
IV. Conclusion.
In January 2005, I started working on a project for the church I was serving in Waco. The pastor in Waco had visited a church in Minnesota that used testimonies in their worship services every week. Each week someone would stand behind the pulpit and in less than five minutes tell the story of how they became a Christian. The Minnesota church called these stories “Faith Stories.” We wanted to start doing the same thing in our church in Waco. So, it became my responsibility to develop a way for people to write their stories and tell them in less than five minutes.
The most important part of telling your story is to tell how Jesus changed your life. If you were an adult when you became a Christian, this will be easy to describe. Maybe you were caught up in your career and making more money, but the Jesus Story helped you find something eternal to live for. Maybe you thought you could one day be good enough to meet God’s moral and righteous requirements, but the Jesus Story helped you discover God’s plan for salvation.
But, if you were like me…I became a Christian as a child. I heard the story of Jesus, the crucifixion and resurrection since I was an infant. It was hard for me to recognize what kind of change took place in my life. But, there was a change. This is my story: “I always believed that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again. I took it for granted. But one day I realized that Jesus died for me. I realized that God loved me and wanted me to have a relationship with him today and forever in heaven. I always believed that Jesus died for everyone. But it changed my life when I realized that Jesus died for me.”
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The Power of Story
Acts 4: 1 – 22
I. Introduction.
Last Sunday, I preached a different kind of sermon. I preached a sermon with points. I grew up with preachers who preached points. The joke we often tell about sermons is that they contain three points and a poem. Of course, the pastors I grew up with didn’t read poetry or use poetry in the pulpit. They usually preached three points and a death bed story—a story about a man or woman who finally recognized his or her need for Christ at the very last possible moment.
In my own preaching, I have tried to do something different. I like to say that I preach “pointless sermons.” What I mean by that is that I try to stick with one point, or sometimes two points. If I can communicate one point in a way that you leave here understanding the one point, then I feel like I have been successful.
I do this for a couple of reasons. First, how many times have you heard a pastor preach a three point sermon and walk away thinking you just heard three sermons? Second, how many times have you heard a three point sermon that lasted as long as three sermons?
I believe there is a place for three point sermons. There are some things that are best communicated by listing three or more points. In fact, I think of three point sermons as a kind of list. And everyone needs to keep lists. Some of you are probably making a list right now. You are thinking, “I need to buy eggs, milk, bread, peanut butter…” Or you are thinking, “I need to go to the bank, the grocery store, and then take my taxes to the Post Office.” Lists are important. But, lists are hard to remember.
Last Sunday, I preached a list of ideas about building relationships with people outside the church. I honestly do not believe there is anyone here who can recite the list back to me right now. In fact, you might remember that I had a hard time remembering the list while I was preaching. I had to go back and look at my notes to make sure I didn’t leave anything out.
This is why I like to preach stories. You may not remember the list I gave you last week. But you do remember the story I told you. I told you about a man who had been crippled for his entire life. He sat outside the temple, begging for money. Peter and John saw the man. And, even though they did not have any money, they gave him something. They introduced him to Jesus.
I don’t think I am very different from other people. I go to the grocery store and forget to buy the things on my list. I go through my work day and forget to do things on my “to do” list. But I can remember stories. I am interested in stories and want to listen to people who tell stories about their own lives. This is especially true when someone tells me a story they are passionate about.
Read Acts 4: 1 – 22.
Today’s story begins on the front steps of the temple and moves to the Jerusalem City Jail and then to the courtroom of the Jewish Sanhedrin. This story represents the first resistance the disciples faced since the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It gives us a peek into the future of the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel is preached, people will be divided. Some people will hear the Gospel and respond with repentance and faith. Other people will hear the Gospel and recognize the Gospel as a threat to their way of life and do everything in their power to stop other people from coming to faith.
This story also contains a portion of Peter’s second sermon as well as his testimony before the Jewish authorities.
Peter’s first sermon happened on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the first Christians, and all the people of Jerusalem heard the sound of a roaring wind. The wind attracted the crowd, and Peter preached the Gospel to the gathered crowd. Three thousand people were saved that day.
Peter’s second sermon happened after a 40 year old crippled man had been healed. This man had been crippled from birth. He sat on the front steps of the temple, begging for money from the Jewish people who came to the temple for their daily 3:00 prayer time. When the man asked Peter and John for money, Peter reached out his hand to the crippled man and said, “Silver and gold have I none. But what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!”
When this man was healed, he could not keep it secret. He stood, he walked, he jumped, he yelled, and he gave glory to God. Again, this attracted a crowd, and Peter used this as an occasion to confront the Jewish people with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Peter’s second sermon contained a very Jewish presentation of the Gospel. He started in the Old Testament, the Bible for the Jews. He quoted from Moses, Samuel, Isaiah and all the prophets. He showed them how Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the fulfillment of every Jewish hope described in their Scriptures. Jesus fulfilled all the hopes of Israel. But, the Jewish people collaborated with the Roman government to crucify Jesus. Of course, that is not the end of the story.
Peter told the Jewish men and women of Jerusalem that they were responsible for killing Jesus, but God was responsible for bringing Jesus back to life. They had killed the Messiah, but they could not kill the hope the Messiah brought for Israel.
This is the beginning of a long New Testament debate about who is the True Israel. The Jewish religious leaders claimed that God would keep the promises of the Old Testament to anyone who was born into the nation of Israel. Peter told his audience—and Paul later takes up the same argument—that True Israel does not describe a race of people related to one another through biological birth. NO! True Israel describes the men and women who place their faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Promised Messiah.
The promises God made in the Old Testament will be fulfilled. God will never break the promises he made. However, these promises will be fulfilled in the lives of True Israel.
II. The Jesus Story.
The story that Peter told that day is the story of the Gospel. I will call it the “Jesus Story.” It is the same story we are supposed to tell in the Twenty-First Century. The story has never changed, because God has never changed.
Every man and woman who has ever lived has the same basic need. We are sinners and are unable to have a relationship with God.
God has demonstrated his moral standard for us in the Law of the Old Testament. God wants us to live moral and righteous lives—lives free from murder, hate, sexual immorality, lies, gossip and slander.
However, we are incapable of living this kind of life. At our basic human level, we are rebellious and do not want to follow God’s plan for our lives. On our best days, we earnestly desire to live moral and righteous lives. But, we cannot do it. We are our own worst enemies. We desire righteousness, but we fail to live up to the standards God set for us. Often, we fail to live up to the standards we set for ourselves.
God recognized our human predicament and provided a way. As Peter said in Acts 4: 12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” God sent his Son Jesus as the only way we might be saved.
No human being is capable of meeting God’s requirements for morality and righteousness. But we can meet God’s requirements for salvation. As Peter preached in Acts 3 and 4, the only way to be saved is to let Jesus do it for us.
III. Our Story.
When we reach a point in life that we realize we cannot meet God’s requirements for morality and righteousness, we can enter into the Jesus Story through faith. We enter into the Jesus Story by praying something like this: “God, I cannot meet your requirements. I need Jesus to forgive me of my past and lead me in a new future.”
At this moment, the Jesus Story becomes My Story as well.
When we tell the Jesus Story to our friends and family members, it is important for us to show how the Jesus Story is also Our Story. And the only way to do that is to talk about the change Jesus brought about in your life.
We see this in the confrontation that followed Peter’s second sermon. The healed man caused a scene. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached the Jesus Story to the crowd. After Peter’s first sermon, 3,000 people were saved! After Peter’s second sermon, 5,000 people were saved! He gets better every time he preaches!
Five thousand new Christians attracted a different kind of crowd. The Jewish religious leaders gathered around Peter and John and tried to get them to stop preaching. They asked the question all authority figures ask when someone is breaking the rules. They asked, “Who gave you the right to do this?”
Their question gave Peter another opportunity to tell the Jesus Story. And as Peter retold the Jesus Story, the religious leaders noticed a change in Peter and John. Peter and John were simple, uneducated men. They had not studied in the Jewish seminaries. They were not trained in rhetoric or in public speaking. They simply told their own personal stories about Jesus, and they told those stories with passion.
Before Peter and John met Jesus, they were fishermen. They did not have an education, because they did not need an education. They had been taught by their own fathers how to make nets, repair a boat, catch fish and sell fish in the marketplace. But after they met Jesus, their lives were changed. They knew the Bible, they understood the promises of God and they communicated salvation to Jewish men and women with passion.
Later in the conversation with the religious leaders, Peter tells us about another change that took place in his life. The religious leaders recognized that Peter and John believed in the message they were preaching. But, they still felt the need to stop them from preaching. So, with all the authority of the Jewish political and religious systems they commanded the disciples to stop preaching. In verse 19, Peter said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
This is a bold statement. Peter stood face to face with the same people who had crucified Jesus. These people had the political power to crucify Peter also. These people had the religious authority to expel Peter from worshipping in the temple. And Peter looked into their eyes and said, “I will not obey your command.”
Do you realize who this is speaking? This is the same man who only 52 days earlier had been confronted by a slave girl. In the ancient world, women had no power, and slaves could do no harm to people who were not slaves. When a woman with no power whatsoever asked Peter if he were a disciple of Jesus, Peter denied ever knowing who Jesus was! Now, Peter was standing up to the most powerful people in the Jewish political and religious world.
Peter’s story would sound something like this: “I was a simple, uneducated fisherman. I had heard about the Old Testament Law before, but I knew I could not measure up to God’s standards. Then I met Jesus. He told me that God loved me and wanted me to spend eternity in heaven. Jesus changed me from a simple fisherman into preacher who tells other people how they can go to heaven.”
Or, Peter could tell his story like this: “I thought I was so brave. Everyone thought I was the guy who never backed down from a fight. But that wasn’t me. I was afraid to tell a slave girl about my religious beliefs. Jesus changed my life. Now, I not only believe Jesus is the only way to be saved, but I will risk my life for Jesus who died for me.”
IV. Conclusion.
In January 2005, I started working on a project for the church I was serving in Waco. The pastor in Waco had visited a church in Minnesota that used testimonies in their worship services every week. Each week someone would stand behind the pulpit and in less than five minutes tell the story of how they became a Christian. The Minnesota church called these stories “Faith Stories.” We wanted to start doing the same thing in our church in Waco. So, it became my responsibility to develop a way for people to write their stories and tell them in less than five minutes.
The most important part of telling your story is to tell how Jesus changed your life. If you were an adult when you became a Christian, this will be easy to describe. Maybe you were caught up in your career and making more money, but the Jesus Story helped you find something eternal to live for. Maybe you thought you could one day be good enough to meet God’s moral and righteous requirements, but the Jesus Story helped you discover God’s plan for salvation.
But, if you were like me…I became a Christian as a child. I heard the story of Jesus, the crucifixion and resurrection since I was an infant. It was hard for me to recognize what kind of change took place in my life. But, there was a change. This is my story: “I always believed that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again. I took it for granted. But one day I realized that Jesus died for me. I realized that God loved me and wanted me to have a relationship with him today and forever in heaven. I always believed that Jesus died for everyone. But it changed my life when I realized that Jesus died for me.”
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008: Living in 3 D
This sermon is the second of four sermons based on a book by Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006). During these four weeks, our church members are meeting in Sunday night small groups in the homes of church members. We are using the Just Walk Across the Room small group curriculum produced by Willow Creek. The small group format includes four components: (1) food / fellowship time; (2) watching the Just Walk Across the Room teaching DVD; (3) group discussion; and (4) each person prays for three specific people they know who are "far from God." The four weeks will conclude with an event to invite the people we have been praying for to come to the church for an informal meeting to receive more information about our church and a brief presentation of the Gospel.
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Living in 3 D
Acts 3: 11 – 29.
I. Introduction.
My parents have always been the last people in the United States of America to adopt the current technology. We were the last household in America to buy a microwave oven. In fact, they still have the same microwave they bought in the late 1980’s. It is approximately the same size as a Toyota Corolla.
Shauna and I have been married for 15 years, and we are personally responsible for purchasing every CD player, DVD player and cordless phone my parents have ever owned. We take a lot of pride in the Christmas presents we have bought them through the years. If it were not for us, their grandchildren would not be able to watch videos at my parents’ house.
I remember very well the summer of 1977. It was the day my dad finally broke down and purchased our very first color TV. I did a little research to find out how far behind my parents were in 1977, and discovered that the last “new” television program broadcast in black and white took place in December 1967.
(Incidentally, my parents kept that 1977 RCA color TV until my brother and I bought them a new TV for Christmas 1998! The old TV was approximately the same size as a Toyota Sequoia. And for several months, the new TV sat on top of the old TV in their living room.)
I can remember watching all my children’s programming in color for the first time. I discovered that Big Bird is yellow, and Grover is blue. I discovered that most TV programs are better in color. There is only one exception! The Andy Griffith Show is not better in color.
Now, there is even newer technology for television: high definition. And, I suppose I am just like my dad…Because I have not yet subscribed to HD. But my brother has, and I got to watch the college football Bowl Games at his house in HD. And, everything looks better in HD.
The title of my sermon comes from the second section of Bill Hybels’ book Just Walk Across the Room. In this section, Hybels suggest a way for us to live in order to become better witnesses for Jesus. He calls it Living in 3 D. This does not refer to three-dimensional like when you went to the movie theater to watch Jaws 3 or Meet the Robinsons. These are three steps each of us could take, which will help us communicate our faith to people who are far from God.
Develop Friendships…Discover Stories…Discern the Next Step…
Read Acts 3: 11 – 29.
Last week, we read the story of Peter and John going to the temple to pray at 3:00 in the afternoon. Each day, they had encountered the same crippled man sitting on the front steps of the temple. Either they had never noticed the crippled man before, or they had never thought they had anything to offer the man. However, after they had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter and John no longer saw this man as a crippled beggar. Now, they saw him as a man whose life would be better if he knew Jesus.
Peter reached out his hand to the crippled man and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…Stand up and walk!”
When this man stood up, he began to walk and run and jump and give all the praise and glory to God. Since it was the customary time for good Jewish men to come into the temple to pray, this caused a commotion. A crowd gathered around, and Peter did what Peter did best…He confronted the Jewish people with the Gospel. He told them the story of Jesus and how Jesus fulfilled all their Jewish, religious hopes. He told them about the crucifixion and how God was at work in the crucifixion, reconciling God and sinful humanity. AND, Peter told them that they were ultimately responsible for the death of Jesus.
This story is one of many biblical stories about sharing the Gospel with others. Some of you might be gifted to do exactly as Peter did in Acts 3. Others of you may not have the same kind of confrontational nature as Peter. Don’t worry. God has not called all of us to be just like Peter. However, God has called all of us to share our faith.
It is amazing how many Christians have tried to “make deals with God.” Perhaps you can relate to this. Some people have literal conversations with God that sound something like this: “God, I am willing to study the Bible every day and read the Bible through every year. I will memorize Scripture, and I will even teach other people what I learn about Scripture. But, please ask someone else to share the Gospel.”
Other people may never have a literal conversation with God like that. But that is the way they live their lives. Can you relate to that? Does your spiritual life include telling other people about Jesus? Perhaps you have memorized the entire book of Psalms. Perhaps you spend twenty hours per day praying for the sick. Perhaps you have given away half of your financial net worth to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. These are good things. But God never intended for us to trade away our responsibility to tell other people about Jesus. The only way for God’s Kingdom to advance into the realm of Satan is for people like us to tell other people about Jesus.
I. Develop Friendships
A. Spend Time with People who Are Far from God
Who are you spending time with on a regular basis? I work in a church office. I visit church people in their homes and in the hospital. I do weddings and funerals for church people. It is possible for me to spend an entire week around Christian people only. Most of you don’t work in a church, but perhaps all the people in your place of business are Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Perhaps all of your friends come from this Baptist church or another church in our town.
The fact is that the longer a man or woman is a Christian, the more he or she spends time with other Christians. We connect with other Christians, because we have something in common. Friendships develop out of common interests. Sometimes, our common interest is a faith in Jesus Christ.
There are two distinct approaches to the Christian life. The first is what some people call the colony approach. I call it the “hunker down” approach. This is what we do when we run away from non-Christian people. We go to church on Sunday mornings. We work in Christian environments. We spend our leisure time with Christian people. We even send our kids to a Christian school. In short we do everything we can to “hunker down” with other Christians and have no weekly interactions with people who do not know Jesus.
The other approach is Living in 3 D. This is similar to what we witnessed in the life of Jesus.
The religious people did not like Jesus, because he spent all of his time with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus did not hang out with church people! Jesus spent his time with men and women who lived far from God. And, the result was that the Kingdom of God grew as lives were transformed by the Gospel.
B. Invest in Genuine Relationships
If we want to follow the example Jesus set for us, then we need to develop some relationships with people who are not like us. I know it is natural for Christians to seek out other Christians for friendships just like it is natural for Democrats to seek out other Democrats and for Republicans to seek out other Republicans. I am not suggesting that you do something unnatural. I am suggesting that you find non-Christian people with whom you already have a connection.
If you are an avid fisherman, spend some time getting to know other fishermen. If you are addicted to coffee and go to the same coffee shop every day, spend some time getting to know the people you see every day.
C. Resist Viewing People as “Projects”
The last thing I ever want you to do is to be fake. I genuinely want you to become friends with non-Christian people.
I remember when Shauna and I first got married, she auditioned for a singing role in the Mississippi Opera. A woman in the opera company showed an interest in Shauna and invited her to sing in some promotional spots. Then, this woman invited Shauna and me to her home for supper one night. We met her husband, we ate supper, we drank coffee, we enjoyed small talk. Then, they asked how we liked the coffee. We said it was very good. They said, “It is Amway coffee. We would like to sign ya’ll up to be in Amway with us.”
When we refused to sign up, the relationship ended. We were just a “project.” They were no longer interested in us when we would not convert.
II. Discover Stories
A. Listen First
If you are a friendly person and already have many friends, then you don’t need me to tell you this. You probably learned this in kindergarten. Everyone’s favorite subject to talk about is themselves. I like to talk about my own life. You like to talk about your life. We all like to talk about ourselves.
If you want to develop a true friendship with another person, start by asking them to tell you about his or her own life. Listen as other people talk about their families, their jobs, their hobbies, their political views, anything they want to talk about.
B. Speak Later
Once you have listened to someone else talk about his or her favorite subject, then you can talk about your favorite subject. Talk about your family, your job, your hobbies, your political views, anything you are interested in. This is how a friendship begins to develop. When the time is right, talk about Jesus.
C. Allow the Holy Spirit to Lead
This is where prayer is important. If you have a genuine friendship with another person, you will want the best for them. This is especially true for Christians who have non-Christian friends. Begin to pray for that person’s spiritual life. And ask God to open the door for a spiritual conversation.
A spiritual conversation might begin when the other person asks you, “How are you able to manage all the stress in your life?” Or, “Why were you not available to eat breakfast with me last Sunday?” Or, “What do you get out of going to church every Sunday?”
III. Discern the Next Step
God has gifted each Christian with different personalities. Just as you ought to be an authentic friend, so you should be authentic to yourself. It is OK to be the person God created you to be.
A. Confrontational Evangelism
1. Peter
2. Acts 3: 11 – 15
B. Intellectual Evangelism
1. Paul
2. Acts 17: 16 – 21
C. Interpersonal Evangelism
1. Jesus
2. John 4: 4 – 10
D. Invitational Evangelism
1. Andrew
2. John 1: 40 – 42a
E. Evangelism through Service
1. Dorcas
2. Acts 9: 36 – 38
F. Testimonial Evangelism
1. Man Born Blind
===============
Living in 3 D
Acts 3: 11 – 29.
I. Introduction.
My parents have always been the last people in the United States of America to adopt the current technology. We were the last household in America to buy a microwave oven. In fact, they still have the same microwave they bought in the late 1980’s. It is approximately the same size as a Toyota Corolla.
Shauna and I have been married for 15 years, and we are personally responsible for purchasing every CD player, DVD player and cordless phone my parents have ever owned. We take a lot of pride in the Christmas presents we have bought them through the years. If it were not for us, their grandchildren would not be able to watch videos at my parents’ house.
I remember very well the summer of 1977. It was the day my dad finally broke down and purchased our very first color TV. I did a little research to find out how far behind my parents were in 1977, and discovered that the last “new” television program broadcast in black and white took place in December 1967.
(Incidentally, my parents kept that 1977 RCA color TV until my brother and I bought them a new TV for Christmas 1998! The old TV was approximately the same size as a Toyota Sequoia. And for several months, the new TV sat on top of the old TV in their living room.)
I can remember watching all my children’s programming in color for the first time. I discovered that Big Bird is yellow, and Grover is blue. I discovered that most TV programs are better in color. There is only one exception! The Andy Griffith Show is not better in color.
Now, there is even newer technology for television: high definition. And, I suppose I am just like my dad…Because I have not yet subscribed to HD. But my brother has, and I got to watch the college football Bowl Games at his house in HD. And, everything looks better in HD.
The title of my sermon comes from the second section of Bill Hybels’ book Just Walk Across the Room. In this section, Hybels suggest a way for us to live in order to become better witnesses for Jesus. He calls it Living in 3 D. This does not refer to three-dimensional like when you went to the movie theater to watch Jaws 3 or Meet the Robinsons. These are three steps each of us could take, which will help us communicate our faith to people who are far from God.
Develop Friendships…Discover Stories…Discern the Next Step…
Read Acts 3: 11 – 29.
Last week, we read the story of Peter and John going to the temple to pray at 3:00 in the afternoon. Each day, they had encountered the same crippled man sitting on the front steps of the temple. Either they had never noticed the crippled man before, or they had never thought they had anything to offer the man. However, after they had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter and John no longer saw this man as a crippled beggar. Now, they saw him as a man whose life would be better if he knew Jesus.
Peter reached out his hand to the crippled man and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…Stand up and walk!”
When this man stood up, he began to walk and run and jump and give all the praise and glory to God. Since it was the customary time for good Jewish men to come into the temple to pray, this caused a commotion. A crowd gathered around, and Peter did what Peter did best…He confronted the Jewish people with the Gospel. He told them the story of Jesus and how Jesus fulfilled all their Jewish, religious hopes. He told them about the crucifixion and how God was at work in the crucifixion, reconciling God and sinful humanity. AND, Peter told them that they were ultimately responsible for the death of Jesus.
This story is one of many biblical stories about sharing the Gospel with others. Some of you might be gifted to do exactly as Peter did in Acts 3. Others of you may not have the same kind of confrontational nature as Peter. Don’t worry. God has not called all of us to be just like Peter. However, God has called all of us to share our faith.
It is amazing how many Christians have tried to “make deals with God.” Perhaps you can relate to this. Some people have literal conversations with God that sound something like this: “God, I am willing to study the Bible every day and read the Bible through every year. I will memorize Scripture, and I will even teach other people what I learn about Scripture. But, please ask someone else to share the Gospel.”
Other people may never have a literal conversation with God like that. But that is the way they live their lives. Can you relate to that? Does your spiritual life include telling other people about Jesus? Perhaps you have memorized the entire book of Psalms. Perhaps you spend twenty hours per day praying for the sick. Perhaps you have given away half of your financial net worth to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. These are good things. But God never intended for us to trade away our responsibility to tell other people about Jesus. The only way for God’s Kingdom to advance into the realm of Satan is for people like us to tell other people about Jesus.
I. Develop Friendships
A. Spend Time with People who Are Far from God
Who are you spending time with on a regular basis? I work in a church office. I visit church people in their homes and in the hospital. I do weddings and funerals for church people. It is possible for me to spend an entire week around Christian people only. Most of you don’t work in a church, but perhaps all the people in your place of business are Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Perhaps all of your friends come from this Baptist church or another church in our town.
The fact is that the longer a man or woman is a Christian, the more he or she spends time with other Christians. We connect with other Christians, because we have something in common. Friendships develop out of common interests. Sometimes, our common interest is a faith in Jesus Christ.
There are two distinct approaches to the Christian life. The first is what some people call the colony approach. I call it the “hunker down” approach. This is what we do when we run away from non-Christian people. We go to church on Sunday mornings. We work in Christian environments. We spend our leisure time with Christian people. We even send our kids to a Christian school. In short we do everything we can to “hunker down” with other Christians and have no weekly interactions with people who do not know Jesus.
The other approach is Living in 3 D. This is similar to what we witnessed in the life of Jesus.
The religious people did not like Jesus, because he spent all of his time with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus did not hang out with church people! Jesus spent his time with men and women who lived far from God. And, the result was that the Kingdom of God grew as lives were transformed by the Gospel.
B. Invest in Genuine Relationships
If we want to follow the example Jesus set for us, then we need to develop some relationships with people who are not like us. I know it is natural for Christians to seek out other Christians for friendships just like it is natural for Democrats to seek out other Democrats and for Republicans to seek out other Republicans. I am not suggesting that you do something unnatural. I am suggesting that you find non-Christian people with whom you already have a connection.
If you are an avid fisherman, spend some time getting to know other fishermen. If you are addicted to coffee and go to the same coffee shop every day, spend some time getting to know the people you see every day.
C. Resist Viewing People as “Projects”
The last thing I ever want you to do is to be fake. I genuinely want you to become friends with non-Christian people.
I remember when Shauna and I first got married, she auditioned for a singing role in the Mississippi Opera. A woman in the opera company showed an interest in Shauna and invited her to sing in some promotional spots. Then, this woman invited Shauna and me to her home for supper one night. We met her husband, we ate supper, we drank coffee, we enjoyed small talk. Then, they asked how we liked the coffee. We said it was very good. They said, “It is Amway coffee. We would like to sign ya’ll up to be in Amway with us.”
When we refused to sign up, the relationship ended. We were just a “project.” They were no longer interested in us when we would not convert.
II. Discover Stories
A. Listen First
If you are a friendly person and already have many friends, then you don’t need me to tell you this. You probably learned this in kindergarten. Everyone’s favorite subject to talk about is themselves. I like to talk about my own life. You like to talk about your life. We all like to talk about ourselves.
If you want to develop a true friendship with another person, start by asking them to tell you about his or her own life. Listen as other people talk about their families, their jobs, their hobbies, their political views, anything they want to talk about.
B. Speak Later
Once you have listened to someone else talk about his or her favorite subject, then you can talk about your favorite subject. Talk about your family, your job, your hobbies, your political views, anything you are interested in. This is how a friendship begins to develop. When the time is right, talk about Jesus.
C. Allow the Holy Spirit to Lead
This is where prayer is important. If you have a genuine friendship with another person, you will want the best for them. This is especially true for Christians who have non-Christian friends. Begin to pray for that person’s spiritual life. And ask God to open the door for a spiritual conversation.
A spiritual conversation might begin when the other person asks you, “How are you able to manage all the stress in your life?” Or, “Why were you not available to eat breakfast with me last Sunday?” Or, “What do you get out of going to church every Sunday?”
III. Discern the Next Step
God has gifted each Christian with different personalities. Just as you ought to be an authentic friend, so you should be authentic to yourself. It is OK to be the person God created you to be.
A. Confrontational Evangelism
1. Peter
2. Acts 3: 11 – 15
B. Intellectual Evangelism
1. Paul
2. Acts 17: 16 – 21
C. Interpersonal Evangelism
1. Jesus
2. John 4: 4 – 10
D. Invitational Evangelism
1. Andrew
2. John 1: 40 – 42a
E. Evangelism through Service
1. Dorcas
2. Acts 9: 36 – 38
F. Testimonial Evangelism
1. Man Born Blind
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
The Single Greatest Gift: Sunday, March 30, 2008
This sermon is the first of four sermons based on a book by Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006). During these four weeks, our church members are meeting in Sunday night small groups in the homes of church members. We are using the Just Walk Across the Room small group curriculum produced by Willow Creek. The small group format includes four components: (1) food / fellowship time; (2) watching the Just Walk Across the Room teaching DVD; (3) group discussion; and (4) each person prays for three specific people they know who are "far from God." The four weeks will conclude with an event to invite the people we have been praying for to come to the church for an informal meeting to receive more information about our church and a brief presentation of the Gospel.
The Single Greatest Gift
Acts 3: 1 – 10.
I. Introduction.
For those of you who do not know this: I am a sports junkie. And March is the best time of the year for sports on TV. I had three teams in the NCAA tournament this year, and I filled out a tournament bracket for the first time in my life. My bracket doesn’t look so good right now, because only one of my three teams is still playing.
If you have been following the basketball games on TV, then you have seen a few commercials over and over and over. I find one of the Cadillac commercials to be very sad. There is a man driving a Cadillac and talking about all the luxurious features. But he begins the commercial with these words: “Life is just high school with money. What are the cool kids doing? What kind of cars do the cool kids drive?”
Why didn’t we leave these kinds of popularity contests behind us when we graduated from high school? The meaning of life should not be defined by the “stuff” we accumulate. Cars and houses and popular friends do not last forever. George Strait was right when he sang, “I’ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.” We can’t take our “stuff” with us when we leave this earth.
As Christians, we are not supposed to get caught up in the world’s pursuit of temporary things. Of course, there is nothing wrong with working for nice “stuff.” The problem is when we make accumulating “stuff” the primary focus of our lives. It’s a problem when we become “Possessed by our possessions.” Don’t let your finances and the size of your house define your character.
I would not stand up here on a Sunday morning and talk about the world’s view of possessions and popularity if I was only worried about the world. No. I fear that we as the church have allowed the world to influence us more than we have influenced the world. Of course, you know that when I say “the church,” I am not just talking about Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. I am talking about all Christians and all Christian churches, but I am also talking about First Baptist.
The culture has transformed our church more than we have transformed the culture.
Consider what churches do to attract a crowd. Sometimes churches try to look more like a three ring circus than a church, so people will come in the doors. I even know of a church in the Houston area that has a spotlight roving all over the room until it finally stops on one person. If the light stops on you, then you win an XBox 360, a flat screen TV or a new truck.
God has not called us to give away prizes! God has called to give away something infinitely more valuable. We are to give away Jesus—the single most important gift we ever received and the greatest gift we could give away.
In Acts 3, we read a story about a man who was down and out. He was looking for a handout from the disciples Peter and John. He asked for money, but they did not give him what he was looking for. They gave him something infinitely better.
Read Acts 3: 1 – 10.
There was no such thing as Disability in the First Century. There wasn’t even AFLAC supplemental insurance for folks who could no longer work for a living…
This man born lame had only one means for survival…He had to beg for money. The routine would have been the same for this man every single day. Friends or family would carry him to a place where he could be seen by many people. He would probably wear the dirtiest, filthiest, most torn clothes he could find so people passing by would feel sorry for him.
And this guy had a good spot. He sat at the gate to the Temple…On the front steps of the church…So that all the religious folks would have to step over him as they went about their daily religious routines…
The Bible tells us in verse 1, that Peter and John were walking into the Temple at their regular hour of prayer. We can assume from this statement that this was a daily activity for the disciples. Of course, if we read Acts 2: 46, we don’t have to assume anything. Luke tells us in Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.”
There was nothing unusual about this day. Each day at 3:00, the disciples went into the Temple to pray. This is what all good Jewish men did in the first century. If they lived in Jerusalem, they stopped what they were doing at 3:00 so they could go to the temple. If they didn’t live in Jerusalem, they went to their local synagogue. There was nothing new or unusual about this day.
But neither was there anything new or unusual about this lame beggar. Peter and John had probably stepped over him every day for weeks. But for some reason they had never noticed him…
Maybe they were used to looking away…Or, maybe they just didn’t feel any compassion for a man in this predicament…Or, maybe they never thought they could do anything for him… Or, maybe they did what you and I do when someone walks up to our car window at a traffic signal—they looked straight ahead and pretended that no one was there.
Whatever their reasons might have been, there was something different this day…There was something that caused them to notice a lame beggar sitting on the steps of the Temple at 3:00 prayers…
I think Luke, the author of Acts, has placed this story where it is so we will make a connection between this story and the story that came before it. The story before this one was the story of the first Christian Pentecost…The day the disciples were in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit came upon them with power…
I think that Peter and John had stepped over this man for days and weeks because they never had the power to do anything….They were not connected to the power that comes from the Holy Spirit…But when the Holy Spirit came, they had the power to do something…
And that is exactly what they did…They did something! Peter said, “Look at me. Do I look like I have any money? I am just as poor as you are. I left a lucrative career as a fisherman to become a traveling preacher. But I do have something I would like to give you. It is better than money.”
Peter reached down to the beggar, held his hand and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—Walk.” I want you to notice a couple of things about what can happen to you when you are connected to the Power of God…
II. Power of God Transforms Lives.
Two lives were transformed in this story: the lame beggar and Peter…
1. Man lame from birth experienced both a physical transformation and a spiritual transformation.
2. Peter experienced a spiritual transformation.
The physical change that took place in the lame man is obvious. When Peter commanded him to stand and walk, the man stood up and walked. But that is not the only thing he did. He started jumping and running…And one other thing. He was also continually praising God. Notice that he did not praise Peter and John. He praised God. In other words, he knew that God was responsible for this miracle.
Some people suggest that since this man lived in Jerusalem, he had probably heard about the miracles Jesus performed. People just like this man had come face to face with Jesus and were healed of their disability. But not this man. Perhaps he had tried to come to Jesus, but was unable as a result of his disability. Now, it was Jesus who had healed him.
Later in this Acts 3: 16, Peter told the gathered crowd that this man had been healed by faith in Jesus. This is not simply a physical miracle. It was both physical and spiritual.
It is important to note that the ancient world attributed every disease and disability to the presence of evil. In our contemporary world, we would never associate physical disability to sin. We attribute it to genetics or biology. Therefore, this appears to be a physical solution. Yet, in the eyes of the religious people of the first century, this man was lame as a result of his own sinfulness or—since he was lame from birth—the sins of his parents. Again, this causes us to think of this miracle in spiritual terms. Peter did not heal this man. Jesus healed him! Jesus gave him a spiritual solution to his physical problems.
Peter also was transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. For some reason, Peter had ignored this man every day as he entered the temple at 3:00 to pray. But now that Peter had the Holy Spirit in him, it was different. He noticed a fellow human being in need. AND…This is the most important part…Peter saw this man as another person who would be better off if he had Jesus in his life.
How do you think of other people? I know what you say you believe. You say that you believe everyone would be better if they knew Jesus like you know Jesus. But is that how you live your life? When you drive into your driveway at home and your neighbor is mowing the grass next door…Do you think he or she would have a better life if they knew Jesus? When you buy a cup of coffee at a coffee shop or a gas station…Do you think the person taking your money would have a better life if they knew Jesus? What about your boss at work? He makes more money than you make. He takes better vacations than you take. But, would he be a better person if he knew Jesus?
That is a hard question to answer. I know you believe other people need Jesus in their lives. But do you make the effort to introduce other people to Jesus?
For the man in our story today, it is obvious how he needed Jesus. He needed to be healed! But what about the people we know who seem perfectly happy without Jesus? There are some preachers who will say that it is impossible to be happy without Jesus. And, I suppose there is part of me that believes that as well. But, I know a lot of people who seem to live happy and fulfilled lives without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
One obvious answer is eternal life. I believe in a real heaven and a real hell. Life does not end at the grave. For those who place their faith in Jesus and give him control of their lives, heaven awaits. For those who do not place their faith and lives in Jesus, hell awaits.
In addition to eternal life, I also believe in abundant life. That is Christian language for the hope and help Jesus provides us as long as we live on this earth. If you can imagine this with me, imagine a husband and wife riding in a sports car. The man is in the driver’s seat, and the woman is sitting right next to him. The man has his right arm around his wife and he is waving to all his friends with his left arm. He has NO HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL.
Everything is perfect and happy…as long as the road is straight. But how will they manage when the road becomes rough or curvy? The rough and curvy times are the times when we most need the hope and help only Jesus can provide.[1] In my personal experience and in my experience walking with many of you through rough and curvy times, this is when our faith in Jesus sustains us!
III. Power of God Is Never Hidden.
The first thing I want you to notice about the power of God is the way Peter could not keep it hidden. When God is at work in our lives, people will notice it. No matter what God does—whether it is big or small—everyone knows God is the one who did it. Not Peter. Not John. Not even the man born lame. God did it, and everyone saw.
Several places in the New Testament we read about a battle between flesh and spirit. Early pagans thought this was a battle raging inside every human being. Flesh was understood as evil, and spirit was understood as good. Live by the spirit, and you can save yourself. Live by the flesh, and you will be just like everyone else.
In a Christian understanding, this is not an internal battle. It is an external battle. At the moment of salvation, God places his Holy Spirit within each of us. The Holy Spirit begins immediately convicting us of sin and convincing us of righteousness. But at the same time, the world begins its work on us through temptation and appeals to our popularity. We have to choose. Will we let the culture around us transform us? Or will we let God’s Holy Spirit transform us?
If we keep walking past people in our lives without ever showing them the power of God in our lives, then the world is winning. But, if we have the power of God, which cannot be hidden…If we truly believe that we have experienced something through Jesus that everyone else needs in their lives…If Jesus is the greatest gift we have ever received and we want to share that with others…THEN the Spirit of God is winning.
IV. Conclusion.
There is an ancient story about Saint Thomas Aquinas. It is told that Aquinas once visited Pope Innocent II in the Pope’s treasury room. The Pope was surrounded by treasures and was actually counting his money when Aquinas arrived. The Pope said, “You see, Thomas, the church can no longer say, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’” Thomas replied, “True, Holy Father, but neither can she say, ‘Rise and walk.’”[2]
Do you believe that Jesus still changes lives? Do you believe that your faith in Jesus is something everyone needs?
[1] Lee Strobel, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary: How to reach friends and family who avoid God and the church. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993). This is Lee Strobel’s illustration about his life before he became a Christian.
[2] F.F. Bruce, The Book of Acts (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1988), pp. 77 – 78.
The Single Greatest Gift
Acts 3: 1 – 10.
I. Introduction.
For those of you who do not know this: I am a sports junkie. And March is the best time of the year for sports on TV. I had three teams in the NCAA tournament this year, and I filled out a tournament bracket for the first time in my life. My bracket doesn’t look so good right now, because only one of my three teams is still playing.
If you have been following the basketball games on TV, then you have seen a few commercials over and over and over. I find one of the Cadillac commercials to be very sad. There is a man driving a Cadillac and talking about all the luxurious features. But he begins the commercial with these words: “Life is just high school with money. What are the cool kids doing? What kind of cars do the cool kids drive?”
Why didn’t we leave these kinds of popularity contests behind us when we graduated from high school? The meaning of life should not be defined by the “stuff” we accumulate. Cars and houses and popular friends do not last forever. George Strait was right when he sang, “I’ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.” We can’t take our “stuff” with us when we leave this earth.
As Christians, we are not supposed to get caught up in the world’s pursuit of temporary things. Of course, there is nothing wrong with working for nice “stuff.” The problem is when we make accumulating “stuff” the primary focus of our lives. It’s a problem when we become “Possessed by our possessions.” Don’t let your finances and the size of your house define your character.
I would not stand up here on a Sunday morning and talk about the world’s view of possessions and popularity if I was only worried about the world. No. I fear that we as the church have allowed the world to influence us more than we have influenced the world. Of course, you know that when I say “the church,” I am not just talking about Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. I am talking about all Christians and all Christian churches, but I am also talking about First Baptist.
The culture has transformed our church more than we have transformed the culture.
Consider what churches do to attract a crowd. Sometimes churches try to look more like a three ring circus than a church, so people will come in the doors. I even know of a church in the Houston area that has a spotlight roving all over the room until it finally stops on one person. If the light stops on you, then you win an XBox 360, a flat screen TV or a new truck.
God has not called us to give away prizes! God has called to give away something infinitely more valuable. We are to give away Jesus—the single most important gift we ever received and the greatest gift we could give away.
In Acts 3, we read a story about a man who was down and out. He was looking for a handout from the disciples Peter and John. He asked for money, but they did not give him what he was looking for. They gave him something infinitely better.
Read Acts 3: 1 – 10.
There was no such thing as Disability in the First Century. There wasn’t even AFLAC supplemental insurance for folks who could no longer work for a living…
This man born lame had only one means for survival…He had to beg for money. The routine would have been the same for this man every single day. Friends or family would carry him to a place where he could be seen by many people. He would probably wear the dirtiest, filthiest, most torn clothes he could find so people passing by would feel sorry for him.
And this guy had a good spot. He sat at the gate to the Temple…On the front steps of the church…So that all the religious folks would have to step over him as they went about their daily religious routines…
The Bible tells us in verse 1, that Peter and John were walking into the Temple at their regular hour of prayer. We can assume from this statement that this was a daily activity for the disciples. Of course, if we read Acts 2: 46, we don’t have to assume anything. Luke tells us in Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.”
There was nothing unusual about this day. Each day at 3:00, the disciples went into the Temple to pray. This is what all good Jewish men did in the first century. If they lived in Jerusalem, they stopped what they were doing at 3:00 so they could go to the temple. If they didn’t live in Jerusalem, they went to their local synagogue. There was nothing new or unusual about this day.
But neither was there anything new or unusual about this lame beggar. Peter and John had probably stepped over him every day for weeks. But for some reason they had never noticed him…
Maybe they were used to looking away…Or, maybe they just didn’t feel any compassion for a man in this predicament…Or, maybe they never thought they could do anything for him… Or, maybe they did what you and I do when someone walks up to our car window at a traffic signal—they looked straight ahead and pretended that no one was there.
Whatever their reasons might have been, there was something different this day…There was something that caused them to notice a lame beggar sitting on the steps of the Temple at 3:00 prayers…
I think Luke, the author of Acts, has placed this story where it is so we will make a connection between this story and the story that came before it. The story before this one was the story of the first Christian Pentecost…The day the disciples were in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit came upon them with power…
I think that Peter and John had stepped over this man for days and weeks because they never had the power to do anything….They were not connected to the power that comes from the Holy Spirit…But when the Holy Spirit came, they had the power to do something…
And that is exactly what they did…They did something! Peter said, “Look at me. Do I look like I have any money? I am just as poor as you are. I left a lucrative career as a fisherman to become a traveling preacher. But I do have something I would like to give you. It is better than money.”
Peter reached down to the beggar, held his hand and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—Walk.” I want you to notice a couple of things about what can happen to you when you are connected to the Power of God…
II. Power of God Transforms Lives.
Two lives were transformed in this story: the lame beggar and Peter…
1. Man lame from birth experienced both a physical transformation and a spiritual transformation.
2. Peter experienced a spiritual transformation.
The physical change that took place in the lame man is obvious. When Peter commanded him to stand and walk, the man stood up and walked. But that is not the only thing he did. He started jumping and running…And one other thing. He was also continually praising God. Notice that he did not praise Peter and John. He praised God. In other words, he knew that God was responsible for this miracle.
Some people suggest that since this man lived in Jerusalem, he had probably heard about the miracles Jesus performed. People just like this man had come face to face with Jesus and were healed of their disability. But not this man. Perhaps he had tried to come to Jesus, but was unable as a result of his disability. Now, it was Jesus who had healed him.
Later in this Acts 3: 16, Peter told the gathered crowd that this man had been healed by faith in Jesus. This is not simply a physical miracle. It was both physical and spiritual.
It is important to note that the ancient world attributed every disease and disability to the presence of evil. In our contemporary world, we would never associate physical disability to sin. We attribute it to genetics or biology. Therefore, this appears to be a physical solution. Yet, in the eyes of the religious people of the first century, this man was lame as a result of his own sinfulness or—since he was lame from birth—the sins of his parents. Again, this causes us to think of this miracle in spiritual terms. Peter did not heal this man. Jesus healed him! Jesus gave him a spiritual solution to his physical problems.
Peter also was transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. For some reason, Peter had ignored this man every day as he entered the temple at 3:00 to pray. But now that Peter had the Holy Spirit in him, it was different. He noticed a fellow human being in need. AND…This is the most important part…Peter saw this man as another person who would be better off if he had Jesus in his life.
How do you think of other people? I know what you say you believe. You say that you believe everyone would be better if they knew Jesus like you know Jesus. But is that how you live your life? When you drive into your driveway at home and your neighbor is mowing the grass next door…Do you think he or she would have a better life if they knew Jesus? When you buy a cup of coffee at a coffee shop or a gas station…Do you think the person taking your money would have a better life if they knew Jesus? What about your boss at work? He makes more money than you make. He takes better vacations than you take. But, would he be a better person if he knew Jesus?
That is a hard question to answer. I know you believe other people need Jesus in their lives. But do you make the effort to introduce other people to Jesus?
For the man in our story today, it is obvious how he needed Jesus. He needed to be healed! But what about the people we know who seem perfectly happy without Jesus? There are some preachers who will say that it is impossible to be happy without Jesus. And, I suppose there is part of me that believes that as well. But, I know a lot of people who seem to live happy and fulfilled lives without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
One obvious answer is eternal life. I believe in a real heaven and a real hell. Life does not end at the grave. For those who place their faith in Jesus and give him control of their lives, heaven awaits. For those who do not place their faith and lives in Jesus, hell awaits.
In addition to eternal life, I also believe in abundant life. That is Christian language for the hope and help Jesus provides us as long as we live on this earth. If you can imagine this with me, imagine a husband and wife riding in a sports car. The man is in the driver’s seat, and the woman is sitting right next to him. The man has his right arm around his wife and he is waving to all his friends with his left arm. He has NO HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL.
Everything is perfect and happy…as long as the road is straight. But how will they manage when the road becomes rough or curvy? The rough and curvy times are the times when we most need the hope and help only Jesus can provide.[1] In my personal experience and in my experience walking with many of you through rough and curvy times, this is when our faith in Jesus sustains us!
III. Power of God Is Never Hidden.
The first thing I want you to notice about the power of God is the way Peter could not keep it hidden. When God is at work in our lives, people will notice it. No matter what God does—whether it is big or small—everyone knows God is the one who did it. Not Peter. Not John. Not even the man born lame. God did it, and everyone saw.
Several places in the New Testament we read about a battle between flesh and spirit. Early pagans thought this was a battle raging inside every human being. Flesh was understood as evil, and spirit was understood as good. Live by the spirit, and you can save yourself. Live by the flesh, and you will be just like everyone else.
In a Christian understanding, this is not an internal battle. It is an external battle. At the moment of salvation, God places his Holy Spirit within each of us. The Holy Spirit begins immediately convicting us of sin and convincing us of righteousness. But at the same time, the world begins its work on us through temptation and appeals to our popularity. We have to choose. Will we let the culture around us transform us? Or will we let God’s Holy Spirit transform us?
If we keep walking past people in our lives without ever showing them the power of God in our lives, then the world is winning. But, if we have the power of God, which cannot be hidden…If we truly believe that we have experienced something through Jesus that everyone else needs in their lives…If Jesus is the greatest gift we have ever received and we want to share that with others…THEN the Spirit of God is winning.
IV. Conclusion.
There is an ancient story about Saint Thomas Aquinas. It is told that Aquinas once visited Pope Innocent II in the Pope’s treasury room. The Pope was surrounded by treasures and was actually counting his money when Aquinas arrived. The Pope said, “You see, Thomas, the church can no longer say, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’” Thomas replied, “True, Holy Father, but neither can she say, ‘Rise and walk.’”[2]
Do you believe that Jesus still changes lives? Do you believe that your faith in Jesus is something everyone needs?
[1] Lee Strobel, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary: How to reach friends and family who avoid God and the church. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993). This is Lee Strobel’s illustration about his life before he became a Christian.
[2] F.F. Bruce, The Book of Acts (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1988), pp. 77 – 78.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Seeing Is Believing: Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008
Seeing Is Believing.
John 20: 19 – 31.
I. Introduction.
In 1999, Dave Kaiser was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. Of course there aren’t very many people in Texas who know anything about Dave Kaiser, but Dave Kaiser stands at the very center of the most memorable moment in Michigan State football history.
In the 1953 Rose Bowl, Michigan State and UCLA played to a 14 – 14 tie. With only 7 seconds remaining in the game and the score tied, Michigan State had the ball on the UCLA 24-yard line. The game would come down to a 41-yard field goal attempt.
Legendary Michigan State football coach, Duffy Daugherty, loved to re-tell this story. With time running out, Daugherty had a decision to make. His regular field goal kicker was injured and unable to take the field. There probably wasn’t enough time to get the ball in the end zone. The only alternative was to turn the Rose Bowl over to his back-up kicker Dave Kaiser, who had never even attempted a field goal in his college career.
Daugherty called Kaiser off the bench and sent him onto the field to try to win the game. With everything riding on this one last kick…The snap was perfect…The hold was perfect…And the kick…Perfect…Right down the middle, giving Michigan State a 17 – 14 Rose Bowl victory.
Once the celebration had ended, the Michigan State coach congratulated Kaiser on his game winning kick but also corrected him for not watching the ball after the kick. “You’ve got to watch the ball. If you take your eyes off the ball, you might let up on your kick too soon and not have enough follow through for the ball to make it to the goal post. Why didn’t you watch the ball?”
Kaiser said, “I was watching the referee to see how he would signal. I left my contacts in the hotel. I couldn’t even see the goal posts.”
He watched the referee…To see the signal…Because seeing is believing. He couldn’t see the goal posts, so he looked at what he could see.
Our culture has taught us that very well. I’m sure that is one reason why traffic is usually slowed to a standstill when there is a wreck on the highway. Even if the accident is on the other side of the four-lane highway. All traffic comes to a stop so we can stick our necks out and see for ourselves.
I think the disciples shared that same sentiment. If Jesus really has been resurrected, then I am going to have to see it to believe it. Our Scripture today is a description of the first time they saw Jesus after the Resurrection.
This is one of my favorite Scriptures…It is certainly my favorite Resurrection account. Because it focuses on my favorite disciple…Thomas.
How do you think of Thomas? If I were to ask all of you to say the first word that came to your mind when I named a Bible character, I have no question in my mind that the answers would vary from one person to another. For example, if I said “Paul.” Some of you would say “Missionary,” others “Theologian,” others “Confusing,” and so on. If I said “Ruth.” Some of you would say “Loyal,” others “Smart,” others “Spiritual.” But what if I said “Thomas?” I believe that most, if not all, of you would say “Doubting.”
Today, as we read this text I want you to take a special notice of what we have traditionally labeled “Doubt.” It really was not doubt. Thomas has been accused of something that really is not true.
Read John 20: 19 – 31.
II. Retell Story.
It was the first Easter Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene had gone early to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid to rest, so that she could prepare his dead body with flowers and perfume. She could not have done this the day he had died because it was too close to the Sabbath.
The Jewish Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. If Mary had gone to the tomb on Friday afternoon, she wouldn’t have finished her work on Jesus’ body before the sun went down, and it was not acceptable for a Jewish woman to work once the Sabbath had begun. So she had to wait. The earliest possible time that Mary could have prepared Jesus’ dead body would have been at the end of the Sabbath, after sunset on Saturday. But who wants to be in a cemetery in the dark? So Mary went to Jesus’ tomb at sunrise on Sunday morning.
John told us, in his Gospel, that Mary discovered something that caught her off guard. The body of Jesus was missing. Of course Mary and the other disciples had not understood that Jesus would be Resurrected on the third day, so she assumed the worst. “Someone must have stolen his body.”
Mary ran immediately to find Peter and John and tell them the Bad News. “You’ve got to see what I have seen. The body of Jesus is missing! I saw it with my own two eyes. Jesus is nowhere to be found! Come and see for yourself.”
Peter and John were just like you and me. They had been taught by their culture “Seeing Is Believing.” Therefore they had to go…They had to see for themselves.
Of course, it was just as Mary had described. The tomb was empty. Jesus was gone.
Peter and John did the only thing that made sense. They ran to find the rest of the disciples. When they had found as many as they could find, they gathered together in their secret place. We believe this was the very same room where they had eaten the Last Supper with Jesus only four days earlier. But the mood was different this time. The disciples were not gathered in a Passover celebration. There was no party going on around them. Rather, the mood was fearful. In fact, John specifically told us in verse 19 that the disciples were so afraid of the Jews that they locked the doors behind them.
Can you imagine that? The first Easter Sunday worship service ever, and the church met behind locked doors because they were afraid someone else would find out that the tomb was empty. I imagine the disciples sat in complete silence. There was no laughing or joking like the last time they came together in that room. No, this time the disciples were listening in fear. Listening for footsteps. “Did you hear that? Is someone coming? Does anyone know we are here?”
Then, suddenly, without any sound, without even opening the door, Jesus appeared in the room with his disciples. And it may surprise you what happened next. Jesus did three things.
First, he had to calm his disciples down by saying, “Peace to you.” Imagine how frightening it must have been to see someone standing in front of you, someone who you had watched suffer an agonizing and painful death only three days earlier. There was no doubt in their minds that Jesus was dead, because they had watched him die. They had seen with their own two eyes. And now here is that same man standing in front of them.
Second, Jesus showed them his hands and side. Why do you think Jesus showed them his hands and side? Because those are two of the places where Jesus suffered injuries. His hands had been nailed to the cross. His side had been pierced by a spear to make sure he was literally and actually dead. And Jesus knew that he had to show them his wounds in order for them to believe. Because Seeing Is Believing.
Third, Jesus sent the disciples out on a mission. Jesus said, “Just as the Father has sent me, I am now sending you.” Jesus gave them a mission to spread the word. The disciples were to leave that room with the power of the Resurrected Christ in them and to tell everyone about the forgiveness of sins that only Jesus can provide. And that is exactly what they did.
The disciples left that place intent on sharing the Good News. (Notice how that has suddenly changed. Mary ran to tell the Bad News that the tomb was empty. The disciples ran to tell the Good News that the tomb is empty.) And who should be the first person to hear the Good News? Thomas.
For some reason, Thomas was not one of those gathered in the upper room that first Easter Sunday. Now I have heard many sermons criticizing Thomas for being absent that day. Some say he had returned to his old way of life. Others say that Thomas was off by himself grieving over the loss of his friend Jesus. But what does the Bible say? The Bible is silent here. It gives no reason for Thomas’ absence. In fact, if you will notice Jesus’ words to Thomas you will notice that Jesus did not criticize him. If Jesus did not blame him, perhaps we shouldn’t blame him either. Perhaps we should allow the Bible to speak for itself.
What is there to criticize Thomas about anyway? Should he be criticized for being the only disciple willing to show his face in public, three days after the execution of Jesus? Should he be criticized for not being behind locked doors, paralyzed by fear like the other disciples?
The truth about Thomas is this: He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If we say anything else about Thomas, then we say something that the Bible is unwilling to say.
Thomas is an interesting character. The Gospel of John is the only book of the Bible that tells stories about him. And John tells three stories. These three stories give us an interesting perspective on Thomas.
We first encounter Thomas in John 11, when Jesus has been called to come to the aid of his dying friend Lazarus. The problem was that Lazarus lived in a region where the people wanted to kill Jesus. So Thomas spoke us and said, “Let’s go with Jesus to Bethany, so we can all die with him!” Thomas was just being realistic. These same people tried to kill them a few days earlier. They would probably try it again.
The second story about Thomas is found in John 14. In this story, Jesus taught his disciples about the way to the Father. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms, I am going there to prepare a place for you. If I go, then I will come again to you. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Once again, Thomas spoke up. “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” I admire Thomas for this. He didn’t want Jesus to think he understood something that he didn’t understand. Thomas was just being honest.
And then Thomas showed up in our story today. The disciples ran to him and proclaimed the Good News…Jesus Is ALIVE! Then, Thomas uttered his most famous words, “Unless I see the nailprints in his hands, and jab my finger into the holes in his hands and side, I will not believe.”
Does that sound like doubt to you? It doesn’t sound like doubt to me.
Instead, it sounds like Thomas said, “I didn’t have the same kind of opportunity that you had while locked behind the doors of the upper room. And I will not believe until I get to see what you got to see…The nailprints in his hands and the hole in his side…Because Seeing Is Believing.”
This is an important lesson for us to learn today. Sometimes preaching is not enough. Think about that. Thomas had ten of the greatest Christian preachers of all time preaching the Good News to him. Peter, James, John…Just to name a few. But preaching was not enough. Thomas had to see to believe.
I have an idea why Thomas had to see in order to believe. He had to see Jesus for himself, because the lives of the other ten disciples were so dominated by fear and cowardice that it didn’t look as if they had seen the Resurrected Christ. In other words, their testimony was not enough because their lives did not reflect the Peace, Love and Joy of the Resurrected Christ.
Thomas didn’t doubt Jesus. Thomas doubted the other disciples! He couldn’t believe their words, because he couldn’t see a change in their lives!
III. Conclusion.
It was one week later…The Sunday after Easter, when Jesus finally appeared before Thomas. Jesus held out his hand, uncovered his wounded side and invited Thomas to touch him and to feel those wounds. What happened next is a big surprise. Thomas did NOT touch Jesus. Instead, he dropped to his knees and declared, “You are my Lord and my God.”
When Thomas saw the risen Lord standing in front of him, he was so overwhelmed…He was so convinced, that he could no longer doubt…He could no longer wonder…He could no longer contain himself…He had to confess, “Jesus is Lord and God!” He didn’t have to touch him…Seeing Is Believing.
The greatest doubter…The one who best represents our culture today…Made the greatest confession of faith of all time. Thomas was able to make this confession because he heard the Good News preached and he saw the Resurrected Christ.
The evidence for Jesus' resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.—Wolfhart Pannenberg, German theologian (1928—) Wolfhart Pannenberg, in a conversation with Prism magazine
There are people in your lives who are searching for the same things today. Your family members, your friends, the people you work with or go to school with. Their greatest need is to hear about the Grace and Forgiveness of Christ…AND…To see that your life has been changed by the Resurrected Christ.
Does your life reflect the Peace, Love and Joy of the Resurrected Christ? If not, then words will continue to be ineffective…Seeing Is Believing.
John 20: 19 – 31.
I. Introduction.
In 1999, Dave Kaiser was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. Of course there aren’t very many people in Texas who know anything about Dave Kaiser, but Dave Kaiser stands at the very center of the most memorable moment in Michigan State football history.
In the 1953 Rose Bowl, Michigan State and UCLA played to a 14 – 14 tie. With only 7 seconds remaining in the game and the score tied, Michigan State had the ball on the UCLA 24-yard line. The game would come down to a 41-yard field goal attempt.
Legendary Michigan State football coach, Duffy Daugherty, loved to re-tell this story. With time running out, Daugherty had a decision to make. His regular field goal kicker was injured and unable to take the field. There probably wasn’t enough time to get the ball in the end zone. The only alternative was to turn the Rose Bowl over to his back-up kicker Dave Kaiser, who had never even attempted a field goal in his college career.
Daugherty called Kaiser off the bench and sent him onto the field to try to win the game. With everything riding on this one last kick…The snap was perfect…The hold was perfect…And the kick…Perfect…Right down the middle, giving Michigan State a 17 – 14 Rose Bowl victory.
Once the celebration had ended, the Michigan State coach congratulated Kaiser on his game winning kick but also corrected him for not watching the ball after the kick. “You’ve got to watch the ball. If you take your eyes off the ball, you might let up on your kick too soon and not have enough follow through for the ball to make it to the goal post. Why didn’t you watch the ball?”
Kaiser said, “I was watching the referee to see how he would signal. I left my contacts in the hotel. I couldn’t even see the goal posts.”
He watched the referee…To see the signal…Because seeing is believing. He couldn’t see the goal posts, so he looked at what he could see.
Our culture has taught us that very well. I’m sure that is one reason why traffic is usually slowed to a standstill when there is a wreck on the highway. Even if the accident is on the other side of the four-lane highway. All traffic comes to a stop so we can stick our necks out and see for ourselves.
I think the disciples shared that same sentiment. If Jesus really has been resurrected, then I am going to have to see it to believe it. Our Scripture today is a description of the first time they saw Jesus after the Resurrection.
This is one of my favorite Scriptures…It is certainly my favorite Resurrection account. Because it focuses on my favorite disciple…Thomas.
How do you think of Thomas? If I were to ask all of you to say the first word that came to your mind when I named a Bible character, I have no question in my mind that the answers would vary from one person to another. For example, if I said “Paul.” Some of you would say “Missionary,” others “Theologian,” others “Confusing,” and so on. If I said “Ruth.” Some of you would say “Loyal,” others “Smart,” others “Spiritual.” But what if I said “Thomas?” I believe that most, if not all, of you would say “Doubting.”
Today, as we read this text I want you to take a special notice of what we have traditionally labeled “Doubt.” It really was not doubt. Thomas has been accused of something that really is not true.
Read John 20: 19 – 31.
II. Retell Story.
It was the first Easter Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene had gone early to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid to rest, so that she could prepare his dead body with flowers and perfume. She could not have done this the day he had died because it was too close to the Sabbath.
The Jewish Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. If Mary had gone to the tomb on Friday afternoon, she wouldn’t have finished her work on Jesus’ body before the sun went down, and it was not acceptable for a Jewish woman to work once the Sabbath had begun. So she had to wait. The earliest possible time that Mary could have prepared Jesus’ dead body would have been at the end of the Sabbath, after sunset on Saturday. But who wants to be in a cemetery in the dark? So Mary went to Jesus’ tomb at sunrise on Sunday morning.
John told us, in his Gospel, that Mary discovered something that caught her off guard. The body of Jesus was missing. Of course Mary and the other disciples had not understood that Jesus would be Resurrected on the third day, so she assumed the worst. “Someone must have stolen his body.”
Mary ran immediately to find Peter and John and tell them the Bad News. “You’ve got to see what I have seen. The body of Jesus is missing! I saw it with my own two eyes. Jesus is nowhere to be found! Come and see for yourself.”
Peter and John were just like you and me. They had been taught by their culture “Seeing Is Believing.” Therefore they had to go…They had to see for themselves.
Of course, it was just as Mary had described. The tomb was empty. Jesus was gone.
Peter and John did the only thing that made sense. They ran to find the rest of the disciples. When they had found as many as they could find, they gathered together in their secret place. We believe this was the very same room where they had eaten the Last Supper with Jesus only four days earlier. But the mood was different this time. The disciples were not gathered in a Passover celebration. There was no party going on around them. Rather, the mood was fearful. In fact, John specifically told us in verse 19 that the disciples were so afraid of the Jews that they locked the doors behind them.
Can you imagine that? The first Easter Sunday worship service ever, and the church met behind locked doors because they were afraid someone else would find out that the tomb was empty. I imagine the disciples sat in complete silence. There was no laughing or joking like the last time they came together in that room. No, this time the disciples were listening in fear. Listening for footsteps. “Did you hear that? Is someone coming? Does anyone know we are here?”
Then, suddenly, without any sound, without even opening the door, Jesus appeared in the room with his disciples. And it may surprise you what happened next. Jesus did three things.
First, he had to calm his disciples down by saying, “Peace to you.” Imagine how frightening it must have been to see someone standing in front of you, someone who you had watched suffer an agonizing and painful death only three days earlier. There was no doubt in their minds that Jesus was dead, because they had watched him die. They had seen with their own two eyes. And now here is that same man standing in front of them.
Second, Jesus showed them his hands and side. Why do you think Jesus showed them his hands and side? Because those are two of the places where Jesus suffered injuries. His hands had been nailed to the cross. His side had been pierced by a spear to make sure he was literally and actually dead. And Jesus knew that he had to show them his wounds in order for them to believe. Because Seeing Is Believing.
Third, Jesus sent the disciples out on a mission. Jesus said, “Just as the Father has sent me, I am now sending you.” Jesus gave them a mission to spread the word. The disciples were to leave that room with the power of the Resurrected Christ in them and to tell everyone about the forgiveness of sins that only Jesus can provide. And that is exactly what they did.
The disciples left that place intent on sharing the Good News. (Notice how that has suddenly changed. Mary ran to tell the Bad News that the tomb was empty. The disciples ran to tell the Good News that the tomb is empty.) And who should be the first person to hear the Good News? Thomas.
For some reason, Thomas was not one of those gathered in the upper room that first Easter Sunday. Now I have heard many sermons criticizing Thomas for being absent that day. Some say he had returned to his old way of life. Others say that Thomas was off by himself grieving over the loss of his friend Jesus. But what does the Bible say? The Bible is silent here. It gives no reason for Thomas’ absence. In fact, if you will notice Jesus’ words to Thomas you will notice that Jesus did not criticize him. If Jesus did not blame him, perhaps we shouldn’t blame him either. Perhaps we should allow the Bible to speak for itself.
What is there to criticize Thomas about anyway? Should he be criticized for being the only disciple willing to show his face in public, three days after the execution of Jesus? Should he be criticized for not being behind locked doors, paralyzed by fear like the other disciples?
The truth about Thomas is this: He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If we say anything else about Thomas, then we say something that the Bible is unwilling to say.
Thomas is an interesting character. The Gospel of John is the only book of the Bible that tells stories about him. And John tells three stories. These three stories give us an interesting perspective on Thomas.
We first encounter Thomas in John 11, when Jesus has been called to come to the aid of his dying friend Lazarus. The problem was that Lazarus lived in a region where the people wanted to kill Jesus. So Thomas spoke us and said, “Let’s go with Jesus to Bethany, so we can all die with him!” Thomas was just being realistic. These same people tried to kill them a few days earlier. They would probably try it again.
The second story about Thomas is found in John 14. In this story, Jesus taught his disciples about the way to the Father. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms, I am going there to prepare a place for you. If I go, then I will come again to you. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Once again, Thomas spoke up. “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” I admire Thomas for this. He didn’t want Jesus to think he understood something that he didn’t understand. Thomas was just being honest.
And then Thomas showed up in our story today. The disciples ran to him and proclaimed the Good News…Jesus Is ALIVE! Then, Thomas uttered his most famous words, “Unless I see the nailprints in his hands, and jab my finger into the holes in his hands and side, I will not believe.”
Does that sound like doubt to you? It doesn’t sound like doubt to me.
Instead, it sounds like Thomas said, “I didn’t have the same kind of opportunity that you had while locked behind the doors of the upper room. And I will not believe until I get to see what you got to see…The nailprints in his hands and the hole in his side…Because Seeing Is Believing.”
This is an important lesson for us to learn today. Sometimes preaching is not enough. Think about that. Thomas had ten of the greatest Christian preachers of all time preaching the Good News to him. Peter, James, John…Just to name a few. But preaching was not enough. Thomas had to see to believe.
I have an idea why Thomas had to see in order to believe. He had to see Jesus for himself, because the lives of the other ten disciples were so dominated by fear and cowardice that it didn’t look as if they had seen the Resurrected Christ. In other words, their testimony was not enough because their lives did not reflect the Peace, Love and Joy of the Resurrected Christ.
Thomas didn’t doubt Jesus. Thomas doubted the other disciples! He couldn’t believe their words, because he couldn’t see a change in their lives!
III. Conclusion.
It was one week later…The Sunday after Easter, when Jesus finally appeared before Thomas. Jesus held out his hand, uncovered his wounded side and invited Thomas to touch him and to feel those wounds. What happened next is a big surprise. Thomas did NOT touch Jesus. Instead, he dropped to his knees and declared, “You are my Lord and my God.”
When Thomas saw the risen Lord standing in front of him, he was so overwhelmed…He was so convinced, that he could no longer doubt…He could no longer wonder…He could no longer contain himself…He had to confess, “Jesus is Lord and God!” He didn’t have to touch him…Seeing Is Believing.
The greatest doubter…The one who best represents our culture today…Made the greatest confession of faith of all time. Thomas was able to make this confession because he heard the Good News preached and he saw the Resurrected Christ.
The evidence for Jesus' resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.—Wolfhart Pannenberg, German theologian (1928—) Wolfhart Pannenberg, in a conversation with Prism magazine
There are people in your lives who are searching for the same things today. Your family members, your friends, the people you work with or go to school with. Their greatest need is to hear about the Grace and Forgiveness of Christ…AND…To see that your life has been changed by the Resurrected Christ.
Does your life reflect the Peace, Love and Joy of the Resurrected Christ? If not, then words will continue to be ineffective…Seeing Is Believing.
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