Easter Is the Beginning.

Mark 16: 1 – 8.

Introduction.

What a great day to worship the Risen Lord! It is probably no surprise that I love Easter. After all, I am a pastor…And pastors are supposed to love Easter. It is the one Sunday when everyone shows up on the same Sunday. Some people come to church on the first and third Sundays. Some people come to church on the second and fourth Sunday. Some people come to church on the fifth Sunday. Some people come to church on the Blue Moon. But, everyone adjusts their schedule to come to church on Easter. What is there not to like about a full church on Easter Sunday.

I also love Easter, because it is our Holy Day. At Christmas time, some Christians fight against the world’s attempt to steal our Holy Day from us. They have changed the greeting, “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” That’s not the case with Easter. The Post Office and the banks take Christmas Day off as a holiday. Again, that’s not the case with Easter. Of course, you could argue that Easter is always on a Sunday, when the Post Office and the banks are already closed. But, they didn’t take off on Good Friday! Mail delivery and banking went through as normal on Good Friday. And, I think that is a good thing. It tells us that Easter is for Christians. This is not a holiday for everyone. This is a Christian Holy Day.

Many Christian churches participate in the Season of Lent as a way to pray and prepare for Easter. This year, our church used the Season of Lent to pray…But it was not specifically a time to prepare for Easter. We were praying for our church. We prayed that God would help us to grow in our Worship, Evangelism, Discipleship, Missions, Fellowship and the look at the resources of our church as God’s resources—to be used for God’s purposes, and not for our own personal agendas.

In some ways, I believe we have been preparing for Easter by praying for God’s will to be done in our church. In other ways, we have not spent as much time reflecting on what Jesus has done for us. With that in mind, let’s take a brief look at the last week of Jesus’ life. Let’s look at what Jesus went through as he journeyed to the cross.

According to the Gospel of Mark—and really all four of the Gospels—Jesus knew where he was going when he made his last journey to Jerusalem. The cross was not a surprise ending for Jesus. In fact, Jesus had predicted to his disciples on three separate occasions that he would be betrayed, humiliated, presented to the Jewish authorities and crucified on a Roman cross. This was no surprise ending. Jesus knew what he was facing.

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a Sunday. He had sent his disciples ahead to find a donkey colt. They found the colt and brought it to Jesus. They placed their coats on the colt to serve as a makeshift saddle, and Jesus rode into the streets of Jerusalem. Jesus was greeted by a crowd shouting, “Hosanna!” Or, as Perry told us last Sunday, the crowd was shouting, “Save us!” Perhaps they intended for Jesus to save them from the Romans, but that is not what Jesus came to do.

Jesus entered the Jerusalem Temple that Sunday, but did not stay. It was already late in the day, so Jesus left Jerusalem to spend the night in Bethany—a small suburb of Jerusalem.

On Monday, Jesus returned to the Jerusalem Temple and cleansed the Temple. He evicted the money changers and those who were selling doves and lambs for sacrifices. He pronounced God’s judgment on the Temple by telling the people God intends his house to be a house of prayer for all nations…Not a den for robbers. Then, he went back to Bethany.

The Gospel of Mark doesn’t make much distinction between Tuesday and Wednesday. It probably doesn’t matter, because Jesus went to the Temple on both of these days and taught the people who were gathered in the Temple courtyards. Then, he went back to Bethany to spend the night.

On Thursday, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. When the disciples arrived at the upper room, they probably thought this would be just another Passover. It was a meaningful meal to them as Jewish men, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about another Passover with Jesus. They had probably had Passover with Jesus in the past. But, this was not another Passover for Jesus. Instead, Jesus took the bread and the wine; offered them to his disciples; and gave them an entirely new meaning. The bread represents Jesus’ body. The wine represents Jesus’ blood. Jesus told them that his life was intended to be a sacrifice of the covenant between God and God’s people. Jesus taught the disciples that he had to die in order to demonstrate God’s love.

On Friday, Jesus was put on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin. They convicted him of blasphemy and handed him over to the Romans. Then, Jesus was crucified.

I do not intend to reiterate the gruesome details of a Roman crucifixion. Let me simply say that the condemned person was beaten, mocked, stripped naked and nailed to a wooden cross. The pain experienced during crucifixion was worse than anything that human words could ever describe. In fact, the Romans invented a new word to describe the pain of the cross. It was not Agony. It was not Brutal. It was not Severe. It was Excruciating. This word Excruciating comes from two Latin words: ex (Out of) and crux (Cross) which mean “Out of the Cross.”

More than likely, the person being crucified would have been nailed to the cross by the wrists and the feet. Traditional art depicts Jesus as having nail prints in the palms of his hands. However, archaeology has revealed that the Romans put the nails in the person’s wrist in order to hold up to the person’s weight.

Have you ever bumped your “Funny Bone” and rolled around on the floor because it hurt so badly? The nerve that we call the funny bone runs through the wrist and would have been either smashed or severed by the seven inch spikes that were hammered into Jesus’ flesh.

This is only part of the pain that Jesus experienced on the cross. Yes, Jesus experienced excruciating physical pain. However, Jesus also experienced other pain that we might classify as emotional pain. Jesus was an innocent man. I don’t mean that he was innocent of the crimes he was accused of committing. Jesus was actually innocent in every sense of the word innocent. Jesus had never committed any sin. Although Jesus had been tempted in every way you and I are tempted today, Jesus had resisted temptation and remained pure. But Jesus was not crucified for his sins. He was crucified for your sins and my sins. Can you imagine the emotional weight and strain of having the guilt of the entire world placed on your shoulders? Many of us feel weighted down with our own guilt and sin. But Jesus felt the emotional weight of all guilt and sin.

On top of this emotional weight of guilt and sin, Jesus felt abandoned by all his friends in his moment of need. According to the Gospel of Mark, all of Jesus’ disciples ran away when Jesus was arrested.

Just a week before the crucifixion, Jesus had been surrounded by twelve disciples, a larger group of followers, a group of women and a crowd. Then just a day before the crucifixion, Jesus had made a bold prophesy—They will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Jesus knew that all his disciples would run away when faced with danger. Of course, Peter did not believe this was possible. Peter jumped to his feet and announced in front of God and everybody, “Though everyone else might fall away, I will never fall away.” But that wasn’t exactly what happened. Peter ran away—just like Jesus told him he would. Then Peter even denied Jesus in front of others.

In the Gospel of Mark, the last words spoken by any disciple were Peter’s words: “I don’t even know this man.” And Jesus died on the cross, while his disciples said, “I don’t even know him.”

However, the cross was not the end of the story for Jesus. And denial, betrayal and running away was not the end of the story for Peter and the rest of the disciples. Just as Jesus had promised his disciples, he was crucified; but on the third day he rose again.

Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.

2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb

3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"

8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

(NIV)

Mark began this story by telling us about three women who had been followers of Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. These three women had remained closer to Jesus than the disciples had. The disciples ran away. The women stayed at a distance and watched the crucifixion. They watched as Jesus’ body was lowered from the cross. And they watched as Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus’ body in the tomb.

There was one thing these three women knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. They knew that Jesus was dead. This explains why the women came to the tomb. They were not there to see Jesus. They were there to finish the burial.

Jewish tradition was to place spices and perfumes on the dead body and then to wrap the body inside cloths. However, the circumstances of Jesus’ death prevented the women from preparing Jesus’ body for burial. Jesus died on the day before the Sabbath Day right before sunset. Jewish people mark time differently from the way we mark time. We think of a day as morning and night. Jews think of a day as evening and morning. The Sabbath Day begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.

Since Jesus died right before sunset at the beginning of the Sabbath, the women could not prepare Jesus’ body, because it would have been a sin for them to work on the Sabbath. Since the Sabbath ended at sunset on Saturday, the women chose to wait until early the next morning, because no one likes to walk through a cemetery after dark.

It was unusual for the women to come to the tomb several days after a person died, but in this case, it was the earliest possible time for them to anoint Jesus’ body for burial.

When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. The body of Jesus was not in the tomb. Instead, there was an angel in the tomb who announced that Jesus was alive. Jesus had risen from the dead.

Death and resurrection was not the end of the story. It is a new beginning.

New Beginning for Jesus.

At the cross, it looked as if Jesus’ enemies had defeated him. This man, who claimed the power to forgive sins and demonstrated power over sickness and demons, had finally been stopped by a collaboration of Jewish religion and Roman politics. Ultimately, neither the Jews nor the Romans were Jesus’ enemies. Jesus loved the Jews. Jesus loved the Romans. The enemies of Jesus were death and Satan himself.

Death and Satan could not hold on to Jesus. The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus has triumphed over all his enemies. It demonstrates God’s stamp of approval on the life Jesus lived and his ministry of releasing people from slavery—slavery to sin, disease, death, demons, even releasing people from religion.

Resurrection is the beginning of a new life for Jesus. His life is no longer limited by time and space. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, AND he lives in each of us who believe.

New Beginning for the Disciples.

In the resurrection, we see that Jesus has kept all of his promises to his disciples. He was betrayed, tried by the Jews, handed over to the Romans, beaten and crucified…Just as he promised. But, Jesus also rose from the dead…Just as he promised.

The disciples, on the other hand, did not keep their promises to Jesus. When Jesus told them that he would be crucified, he also told them that the disciples would scatter and abandon him. Of course, the disciples refused to believe they would abandon their Lord. But, that is exactly what they did. When Jesus was arrested, they all ran away.

Despite the fact that the disciples abandoned Jesus, Jesus never gave up on his disciples. We know this by things the angel said to the women. Jesus told the disciples to meet him in Galilee. This is the place where Jesus first met his disciples. By going back to the beginning, Jesus is showing his disciples that they can start over. They have a second chance to follow Jesus and get it right by not abandoning him. AND, the angel specifically said, “Tell his disciples and Peter.”

Peter was ashamed of the way he turned his back on Jesus. After Jesus was arrested, Peter had three opportunities to stand up for Jesus. In each of these opportunities, Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter turned his back on Jesus, but Jesus never gave up on Peter.

The same thing is true for each of us today. There was nothing Peter or any of the other disciples could do to escape from the love and forgiveness of the cross. There is nothing that you can do either. However you might have failed, you are never out of the reach of grace. Jesus is calling you to go back to the beginning of your relationship with him. You can start over. The resurrection is another second chance.

New Beginning for the Gospel.

I believe Mark 16: 1 – 8 are the last verses in the Gospel of Mark. The most reliable manuscripts of Mark end at verse 8. But, verse 8 doesn’t really seem to bring closure to the story of Jesus. This has led some scholars to believe that the end of the scroll was either torn off accidentally or eaten by bugs or rats. It even led some later scribes to write their own ending to the Gospel of Mark. These are contained in verses 9 – 20.

While I believe verses 1 – 8 are the last verses of the Gospel of Mark, I do not believe this is the end of the Gospel. I think Mark is trying to bring about an emotional response in us as his readers. It’s like what we do when we talk to the television or the movie screen. “I told you to run man to man defense in this situation.” “Don’t open the door!”

Mark 16: 8 says, “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

We respond, “Don’t be afraid. God tell someone. Tell the disciples. Tell Peter. This is important. The world needs to know that Jesus is alive. If the women won’t tell the story of Easter, who will tell? Someone has to tell the world that Jesus is alive.”

Then we realize…Now, I am a part of the Gospel story. I need to join the women at the tomb. I need to take on their assignment. I need to tell someone that Jesus is alive. No one will ever know, unless I go and tell the Good News.

Conclusion.

Today marks the end of 40 Days of Prayer for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. It is the end of our prayer emphasis…But it is the beginning of our mission.

Jesus is alive. He invites each of us to meet him at the beginning of our relationship with Jesus. We can start over today, no matter how badly we have failed him. AND, Jesus invites us to join him in his Gospel. No one will know unless we tell them.

Jesus is alive. It is now up to us to tell the world.

40 Days of Prayer: Support Ministries

40 Days of Prayer

Week 6: Support Ministries

Matthew 25: 14 - 30.

I. Introduction.

Pictures of the church buildings:

1. Church Exterior

2. Church Exterior

3. Sanctuary Interior

4. Preschool Exterior

5. Preschool Entrance

6. Nursery

7. Monkey Room

8. Walk from Nursery

9. Walk from Nursery

10. Youth Room

11. Youth Room

12. Youth Worship

13. Youth Worship

14. Parlor

15. Parlor

16. Parlor

17. Parlor Kitchen

18. Parlor Kitchen

19. Welcome Center

20. Welcome Center

21. Welcome Center

22 – 32 Childrens Rooms

Read Matthew 25: 14 – 30

Matthew 24 contains one of Jesus’ extended teachings known as the Eschatological Discourse. “Eschatological” is a word they teach us in seminary. Specifically, they teach us never to use words like “eschatological” in our sermons. It basically means, “end times.” Therefore, we ought to read this section of Scripture with the knowledge that Jesus is teaching us about the “end times.”

This does not mean Jesus gave us a timetable or a checklist to follow. No. Jesus never told us exactly what we could expect at the end of time. Rather, Jesus simply taught us two things. On one hand, the world we live in will not last forever. It is temporary and by nature will one day come to an end. On the other hand, Jesus taught us that we would have to wait. In fact, this is the primary thing Jesus taught us about the end of the created order. It will not happen when we think it will happen. We need to be prepared to wait for the end to come.

Throughout all Christian history, we can find evidence of men and women who thought they knew more about the end of the world than Jesus knew. Men and women have made predictions. And each time, those predictions have proven false. Perhaps if we spent more time listening to Jesus’ actual teachings about the end of the world, we might actually follow his advice. Wait. Be patient. Stay busy.

This parable is one of five parables in this section of the Gospel of Matthew. These parables are part of a longer discourse, spoken by Jesus to teach his disciples about the coming day of judgment. In Matthew 24: 3, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them the signs of the time so that they would know when the final judgment would come. But Jesus surprised everyone in Matthew 24: 36, by saying that there were no signs. He said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

The five parables all focus on several common themes.

1. Judgment Day is really coming…It will come suddenly and unexpectedly.

2. It seems that judgment has been delayed by the master staying in a foreign country longer than anyone expected.

3. The characters in the parables are divided into two groups…Those who are ready…Those who are not ready…

4. Those who are ready will be rewarded in judgment.

5. Those who are not ready will be punished in judgment.

The theme of this parable is “Being Ready” for the Lord’s return. The parable defines readiness as “Responsibility”—especially responsibility with the Lord’s resources while he is not physically present on earth.

The master entrusted his own money to his servants so they could take care of it while he was away. He gave to each one according to his ability. Therefore, the fact that he gave five talents to one, two talents to the second, and one talent to the third indicates that he trusted them differently. He trusted one more than the others and one less than the others.

Many have interpreted this parable in terms of human abilities because of the use of the English word “talent.” However, this parable is actually about money. The talent was the monetary measurement equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual daily wage of a working man—it was the minimum wage of the First Century. If a man worked six days a week with no time off, he could earn one talent in about 20 years.

Since we do not trade in either denarii or talents, let’s estimate dollar amounts for this parable. Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, or approximately $15,000 annually. This means that in 20 years, a minimum wage employee would make a little over $300,000.

Therefore, the servant who was entrusted with one talent actually received $301,000; the servant who was entrusted with two talents received $602,000; and the servant who was entrusted with five talents received $1.5 Million. All three of these servants were trusted to take care of large sums of money—a fortune.

The issue at stake here is not properly understood in the amount of money. The issue is how responsible, or faithful, were the servants with what they had received. At stake here is what the servants will do when no one is looking. (Mothers could also think of this in terms of their children. If children are a gift from God, then mothers and fathers should think of our work as being faithful with what God has given us.)

Since this is a parable about the coming judgment that teaches us how important it is for us to be ready, we might expect the story to tell us about a wealthy master and his TWO servants. But that is not the case at all. This is a story about a wealthy master and his THREE servants. We might expect the parable to illustrate its point by telling about one servant who was ready and one who was not ready. But with three servants, the story gets a little more complicated.

II. The Successful Servant.

We believe that the three servants were each highly respected and trusted members of their master’s workforce. However, we also believe that the master did not trust them equally. If the master had trusted all three servants equally, then he would have divided his wealth into three equal parts to distribute among the three. This servant was trusted more than any of the others and received the most money.

Then the servant went to work with his share of the money and invested it wisely. We don’t know what he did with the money. All we know is that he was willing to take a pretty big risk in order to double the money from $1.5 Million to $3 Million.

When the master returned, he was pleased that the servant had earned an additional $1.5 Million. He rewarded this servant by commending him in front of all the other servants and inviting him into the master’s happiness—perhaps this is a special celebration, or at least it is a special, joyful relationship between the master and the servant.

From the world’s point of view, this servant received the most money…he made the most money…Therefore he was the most successful of the three…Is this God’s same view of what it means to be successful?

III. The Excellent Servant.

This servant was trusted a little less than the first. He received a little less than half of what the first servant received.

Just like the first servant, this servant also went to work investing his master’s money. And the same thing happened. We don’t know how he invested it, but it doubled his money…$600,000 became $1.2 Million…

It is always good when you can double your money. But even after his investment has doubled, it is still less than half of what the first servant has…$600,000 became $1.2 Million…But that is a far cry from $3 Million dollars… This servant was not the most successful of the three, but he did do his best with what he had been given.

In the world’s eyes, this servant was not the most successful. But he definitely did an EXCELLENT job. If we call the first servant the Successful Servant, then perhaps we can call this servant the Excellent Servant.

What was the master looking for? Was he looking for Success? Superiority? If so, then only the first servant would have pleased him. Verse 23 clearly states the master’s pleasure with this servant.

Read Verse 23… Does that verse sound familiar? This is exactly the same reward the first servant received… Read Verse 21

Since these two verses are exactly alike, I believe this is the key to interpreting the parable. God has not called us to be the most successful. God has not called us to be better than everybody else. NO! God has called us to do the very best we can possibly do with the resources and gifts he has blessed us with.

IV. The Servant Who Failed.

We often look at this servant and think that he wasn’t trusted. In fact he was trusted and was blessed with 20 years worth of salary—$300,000 in today’s money.

He had the same amount of time and the same amount of opportunity to act responsibly with the master’s money. Yet he failed.

Why did this servant fail? Because he acted out of fear of his master… Read verses 24 – 25. The other 2 acted out of love for master, they wanted to please him. This servant was afraid and wanted nothing more than to save his own life.

He didn’t think about his master. He didn’t think about the other servants. He only thought about himself and how he could continue to live the life he had always wanted to live.

There are times when we act like this servant. Anytime we respond to God out of fear of punishment, we fail just like this servant failed. Anytime we live in fear of what the world thinks about us, we have failed to do our best.

But anytime we give 100% of our time, money, abilities, etc—out of a desire to please God, we succeed like the first two servants.

V. Conclusion: Faithfulness and Stewardship.

The words the master spoke to the first two servants were identical: “Well done good and faithful servant.” The words spoken to the other servant were different: “You wicked, lazy servant!” In fact, I would argue that we should interpret these words as opposites.

For example, it is obvious to us that wicked is the opposite of good. But how often do we think of lazy as the opposite of faithful?

When we read this parable literally, we learn about how Christians ought to be faithful with the financial resources God has given us. And that is an important lesson for us to hear and remember in our current economic situation.

However, we can also read this parable spiritually. Jesus is coming back. He hasn’t come back yet, but he is coming back. How will we live and work in the meantime? How will Jesus find us upon his return?

Will Jesus find us good and faithful? Or will Jesus find us wicked and lazy?

Again, notice that in verse 21 and verse 23, the master’s joy was the same in each case. God does not require us to be the most successful. God is pleased with us when we are faithful, or excellent, with what we have been given.

What has God entrusted to your care? I didn’t ask how much or what you thought you deserved. What are you doing with God’s gifts to you? Are you faithful, responsible, excellent enough to be trusted with more?

What has God entrusted to our stewardship as a church?

· Over 400 average attendance in worship…

· $1.5 Million in annual receipts…

· $1.7 Million in endowed funds…

· 100,000 square feet of usable space…

· 2.5 city blocks…

· 6 ministerial staff positions…

· 7 support staff positions…

· Host of part-time custodial, kitchen and nursery staff…

40 Days of Prayer: Reaching In

40 Days of Prayer

Week 5: Reaching In

Acts 2: 42 – 47.

I. Introduction.

For the past four and a half weeks, we have been praying for our church. We are praying for God’s will to be done in our church and that God will make our church into the church he wants us to be. That leads me to an important point about church. What is a church?

Somewhere along the line, we learned some bad theology about the church. For example, do you remember this little saying we had when we were children? (Fold hands together.) “Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open it up, and see all the people.”

We taught that to our children when they were very young. One time, Collin put his hands together wrong. He had his fingers on the outside instead of the inside. He said, “Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open it up…Where are all the people?” Without missing a beat, I said, “Looks like it’s Sunday night.”

We taught it to our children, just like you taught it to your children. But, there is something wrong with that little game. The church is not made of buildings and steeples. The church is made of people.

As we pray for our church over these 40 Days of Prayer, we need to keep that in mind. We are not praying for God to help us build better church buildings. We are praying that God will help us become the people God wants us to become.

A good biblical image for this proper view of the church is the image of “The Body of Christ.” This image comes to us from the writings of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12…Jesus is the head…The church is the Body… Individual Christians are the parts of the body—arms and hands, legs and feet.

It is helpful for us to think of the church as the Body of Christ, because it helps us to see the church as a living and breathing organism. The church is more like a person than a building…There is no life in a building, but the church is alive. A building is stationary, but the church is constantly on the move. A building is made up of individual bricks, held together by mortar that can be seen and touched. The church is made up of individual people, held together by something unseen…

What is it that holds us together as a church? I suppose we could build a case for a common belief. We believe in Jesus as Lord of our lives, and that belief holds us together. Perhaps we could argue that we are held together by a common purpose. We want to do the work of Christ in our city and world, that that purpose holds us together. However, I do not believe either belief or purpose is what brings us together. Rather, I believe we are held together by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in each Christian personally and individually. AND, the Holy Spirit lives in the church.

Read Acts 2: 42 – 47.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.

45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

(NIV)

These verses describe the beginning of the first church. The first church did not have a sanctuary, a chapel, an education building or a Family Life Center. The first church was simply a group of 120 men and women who waited in Jerusalem for Jesus to give them the gift he had promised them. This gift was the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It is safe to say that when the Holy Spirit came to the church, these 120 men and women experienced a spiritual high point in their lives. We might even say they were “enthusiastic.”

Do you know what the word “enthusiasm” means? It comes from two Greek words: “en” and “theos.” The Greek word “en” is similar to our English word “in.” The Greek word “theos” means God. To say that a person is “enthusiastic” is to say that person is literally “filled with God.”

Immediately after the story of Pentecost, Luke goes to great lengths to show us how the early Christians maintained their “enthusiasm.” Yes, they were “enthusiastic” on the day of Pentecost. But they were also “filled with God” from that moment on. Their “enthusiasm” took on new meaning and demonstrated itself in a new kind of community. The new community is the church. And, the church is always “filled with God.”

There are two ways to know if a church is “filled with God.” First, you can tell a church is filled with God by looking at the church’s behavior. Second, you can tell a church is filled with God by looking at the church’s results.

II. The Apostles’ Teachings.

Luke tells us the early church was devoted to the Apostles’ Teachings. Before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, there were 12 Apostles and a total of 120 Christians. All of these people had lived with Jesus. The Apostles had sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all his teachings. The rest of the Christians had followed Jesus in the crowds, witnessing all the miracles and learning from Jesus’ public sermons. They knew what Jesus had stood for and what he had come to accomplish in his death and resurrection.

After the Holy Spirit came, over 3,000 new believers committed their lives to Jesus as Lord. These people did not have the same kind of knowledge and understanding about what Jesus had done for them. Therefore, it was now necessary for the 12 Apostles to share what they knew about Jesus with others.

The most important thing we can say about the Apostles’ Teaching, is to say that they were teaching others what Jesus had taught them. The Apostles were not making up new teachings to share with the new believers. They were giving others what Jesus had first given them. In the Twenty-First Century, this is the same thing as teaching the Bible. We teach the Bible, because the Bible is God’s Word. It contains the teachings of Jesus passed down to his Apostles, who in turn wrote it down so that we can know what Jesus has done for us.

III. The Fellowship.

The church was also devoted to a new kind of fellowship. This is the Greek word “Koinonia.” It refers to fellowship in the sense of Christian brothers and sisters relating to each other through the love of Christ. The heart of the word “Koinonia” is the Greek word “koinos,” which means common. In other words, these new Christians had something in common with the original 12 Apostles and the original 120 Christians.

I find it noteworthy that Luke does not say the early church was committed to “fellowship.” He says they were committed to “THE fellowship.” There is something different, something unique about the fellowship these Christians shared with one another. For me, I have always associated fellowship with the church. And, I have always associated church fellowships with pimento and cheese sandwiches with the crust cut off. That might be “a fellowship,” but it is not “THE fellowship” Luke was talking about in this passage.

THE fellowship is the significant bond we share with each other that can only come when the Holy Spirit is in us. When a man or woman places their faith in Jesus, something supernatural occurs. At the moment we profess our faith, God places his Holy Spirit in us to begin the work of shaping us into the image of Jesus. When a group of people whom God is shaping to become like Jesus gets together in the church, God begins to work on that church. God shapes that community of believers into the image of Jesus. Just as God is working on you and me as individuals to make us more like Jesus, so God is working on our church to make us more like Jesus.

THE fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters is different from the community life on non-Christians. God is forming us into a community like no other. He is placing in us the same loves and desires that Jesus demonstrated in his life. THE fellowship we experience is a missional experience. Sure, we like to hang out with each other and laugh together. But, we also feel called—even compelled by God—to meet the needs of the world around us and to share the life-changing message of the cross.

IV. The Breaking of Bread.

There is no better place to see community life in action than to observe people who are eating together. Some have interpreted this as a reference to the Lord’s Supper—the act of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Others interpret this as simply sharing food together. I prefer to think of this as simply sharing a meal together.

We believe the book of Acts is the second volume of Luke’s account of Christianity. The first volume is the Gospel According to Luke. One of the many consistent themes in the Gospel of Luke is the criticism Jesus faced as a result of his eating habits. In Luke, Jesus rarely ate supper with good, religious people. Most of the time, Luke tells us that Jesus ate supper with tax collectors and sinners. The religious folks did not like this, because it was against their customs to eat with people who were different from them. Jesus broke the religious and cultural norms of his day by sharing his meals with “undesirable” people.

Some of you are old enough to remember the civil unrest in our country during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. One aspect of the Civil Rights movement related to the restaurants and lunch counters in our country. The burning question of the day was: Should black men and women be allowed to eat with white people? The reason this was such an issue is because sharing a meal with another person is like saying we consider that person our equal. All social barriers are broken down when people sit shoulder to shoulder at the same table.

I find it remarkable that the 120 Jewish men and women who made up the very first Christians were comfortable eating at the same table with foreigners. They abandoned their Jewish, social norms in favor of a new kind of community where all who believe in Jesus are considered equal.

V. The Prayers.

Literally, Luke tells us the new community was devoted to “THE prayers.” This leads many scholars to interpret this as reference to the official Jewish practice of religion. In other words, the church abandoned their traditional social norms but did not abandon the worship of God in the Temple. In fact, we will continue to see the Apostles teaching and preaching in the Temple and showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Jews had been hoping for in the Old Testament.

That is a great historical fact, but it does not translate very well to our Twenty-First Century American, Christian lives. What does translate is the way the early Christians were committed to the power of God that is only possible through prayer.

What do you think about people who pray? Some people think prayer is a sign of weakness. They think people who pray cannot take care of their own needs under their own power and abilities. These people are exactly right. This is why we pray. We pray, because we need God. We pray, because we cannot make it on our own power and abilities. We pray in order to express our total dependence on God for even our smallest needs. Without God and his power, we can do nothing.

VI. Selling Their Possessions, They Gave…

This is a source of great debate. Among many theologians, there is a belief that the early church practiced a form of socialism. They claim that individual church members did not own property. They think this is God’s ideal for us, even today.

I do not subscribe to this interpretation. In fact, there is evidence here that Luke did not want to communicate this kind of shared property. Luke described the church’s action by using a Greek Imperfect tense. The Imperfect tense is used to describe “continuous action in past time.” In other words, we can translate this as “they kept on selling their possessions to give to those in need.”

This is to say that there was no single moment when every church member sold everything they owned and placed the money in a collective account. Instead, it seems to say that church members continued to own property, but they were willing to let go of their property in order to meet the needs of the church and the members of the church.

The best way to describe what the Christians were doing here is to compare it with stewardship. They used their personal possessions and their personal wealth in ways that demonstrated the life of Jesus. They gave to those in need, and they gave to advance the Kingdom of God missionally. They took care of each other financially, and they supported the ministry of the church.

VII. Conclusion: The Favor of All the People.

Luke tells us that the world looked at the church as a weird group of people. These people did not act like normal people. Normal people are so consumed by their personal and individual needs and wants that some people feel left out. Normal people join organizations in order that they might gain control and authority over other people. This was not the case with the early church. These men and women were joined together by the mysterious presence of the Holy Spirit. This bond caused them to live together in a strangely wonderful new community. The result was that the rest of the world wanted to be a part of this community.

Did you know that God has created all human beings with an innate desire for authentic community? This is the singular theme running throughout the pages of Scripture.

The Book of Genesis tells us that God created the first man and woman “in the image of God.” Being created in the image of God does not mean that we look like God or that there is a little piece of God inside every one of us. It means that God’s intention for humanity has always been that our lives would reflect God’s life. For example, the Bible teaches us that God is Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I can’t explain how God can be three and one at the same time. But, I can tell you that the nature of God demonstrates relationship and community. The Bible also teaches us that “God is Love.” Love is only possible through relationship with other people.

In the story of Creation, God created everything in the heavens and the earth. At the end of each day of creation, God said, “It is good. It is good. It is good.” There was only one exception. When God created the first man, God said, “It is not good…for the man to be alone.” So, God created the first woman…the first human relationship…the first community.

Adam and Eve lived together in the Garden of Eden in perfect community with each other, with God and with creation. However, this didn’t last very long. In the very next chapter, Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Sin entered into God’s creation. The result of this sin was broken relationship. Broken relationship between God and humanity…Broken relationship between human and human…Broken relationship between humanity and creation.

The rest of the Bible describes the great lengths God undertakes to demonstrate his love to humanity and to restore true community. Ultimately, God demonstrated his love for humanity by sending his Son to live as a model, to die as a sacrifice for our sins and to rise again as our hope of eternal salvation. Then, God sent his Holy Spirit.

There is only one story in the Bible. It can be told in many different ways. But, it is one story—God created us to be in community with himself and with each other; Humanity fell into sin and out of community with God and each other; God pursues us to restore community with himself and with each other.

The church is not a building or even a campus of buildings. The church is the community God intended and the community God forms through his Holy Spirit.

40 Days of Prayer: Missions

40 Days of Prayer

Week 4: Missions

Acts 3: 1 – 10.

Introduction.

As pastor of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church, I have regular opportunities to talk with people about what it means to be a Baptist. Or, to answer the question, “What do Baptists believe?” When I am in these situations, I usually make a list of four Baptist beliefs which I consider to be foundational to Baptist theology.

1. The Lordship of Jesus…Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Jesus. There is no other name by which we might be saved. Good works cannot bring us into a right relationship with God. Being a member of the right church does not give us eternal life in Heaven. Forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation are only possible through the Grace of God. We receive God’s Grace by believing that Jesus is Lord.

2. The Authority of the Bible…The Bible is God’s word to us. The Bible contains God’s expectations for the way we live our lives. The Bible reveals to us who Jesus is. The people who experienced Jesus physically during his life on earth were changed by their experience with Jesus. They wrote about Jesus so that we could know who Jesus is, and so that we could experience him spiritually. They wanted us to have the same experience they had. For this reason, Baptists believe the Bible; Baptists READ the Bible; and Baptists preach the Bible. It is not enough to believe the Bible if you are not going to read the Bible and allow it to be the authority for your faith and your life.

3. Everyone Must Make His or Her Own Decision to Become a Christian…Salvation is offered to us through Jesus alone. Salvation is a free gift of Grace. No one can work for salvation or earn salvation. Salvation can only be received. AND, salvation must be received personally and individually. No one can make this decision for you. Your church does not decide for you. Your parents and grandparents cannot decide for you. This is the reason why we do not baptize babies. Babies do not make their own decisions to be baptized. Someone else decides for them.

4. Every Christian is a Priest Before God…The biblical notion of priesthood has two sides. First, priests have access to God. Therefore, every Christian can hear from God and can speak to God. You do not need to go to your pastor to confess your sins. You can go directly to God. You do not have to go to your pastor to discern God’s will for your life. You can go directly to God and listen to his word. Second, priests have responsibility before God. In other words, God does not call us to sit idly in his presence. God calls each of us to serve God and to get busy doing God’s work in our world and in the church.

There is one more thing about Baptists that I often don’t talk about, but it is an important part of who we are. We have Missions in our DNA.

This is true about Baptists in general. This is true of the specific Baptists of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church.

Baptists have always been pioneers in missions, collecting millions of dollars annually to support thousands of missionaries in the United States and around the world.

The folks of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church have also been pioneers in missions. We have sent out missionaries from this church… One of our own members was the President of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention—Baker James Cauthen (1954 – 1979). We were the first church to sponsor Rick Warren in his dream to plant a new kind of church in Southern California.[1] And, we have helped to plant 12 mission churches in Lufkin. (Three of these 12 mission churches are still considered missions of our church—Cross Timbers Cowboy Church, La Casa del Alfarero and New Beginnings Baptist Church.)

Our missions involvement is the result of our commitment to Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples in Acts 1: 8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It is also a result of our belief that every person must make his or her own decision to become a Christian. If everyone is responsible for their own decision, then we are responsible to share the Gospel with them.

In some ways, Missions is very closely related to the work of Evangelism. But, I see an important difference between the two. Evangelism is reaching out to others to share the Gospel with them and to invite them to be a part of our church. Missions is reaching out to people who will never become a part of our church. They cannot become a part of our church, because they are separated from us by geography or by culture. Evangelism grows the church. Missions grows the Kingdom of God.

In the Book of Acts, we witness the early church on mission. They crossed boundaries, and they grew the Kingdom of God. This work began in Jerusalem and expanded into the regions of Judea and Samaria and eventually to the ends of the earth—just like Jesus had instructed them.

The Scripture that I want to look at this morning tells us about how the Gospel began to move around the city of Jerusalem. We often think about missions as reaching into the foreign fields. But, missions begins at home…Interestingly, mission work at home is usually more difficult than mission work around the world.

Read Acts 3: 1 – 10.

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer-- at three in the afternoon.

2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.

4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"

5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."

7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.

8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,

10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.(NIV)

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, worst 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. Luke tells us in Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.”

Two Miracles Happened that Day

It’s fairly obvious that this story tells us about a miracle that happened that day outside the Temple. It is obvious, because a lame man was able to walk for the first time in his life. However, this was not the only miracle in the story. This is the second miracle. The first miracle is that Peter and John NOTICED the lame beggar for the first time.

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 begin to notice the needs of other people…

Noticing Needs Can Transform 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 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, biology or environment. 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 in your life. 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.[2] 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!

Missions Involves Meeting Physical Needs AND Spiritual Needs

Peter and John responded to this man by meeting BOTH his physical needs and his spiritual needs. They met his physical needs by doing something miraculous. Through the power of God, they were able to help a lame man walk for the first time in his life. Most of the time, we will not perform miracles as dramatically as in this story. But we can perform miracles by feeding people who are hungry, providing clothes for people without adequate clothing, doing physical repairs to houses, applying a coat of paint to the classroom walls of a school campus…Meeting a physical need that people cannot meet for themselves.

But, missions always begins by first noticing the needs around us. This is only possible through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. If we are not listening to the Spirit, we will never notice the needs of others.

Conclusion.

In the Gospel of John, we read more about Peter’s brother Andrew than in any other place. John tells us that Andrew was one of the very first disciples to follow Jesus. Once Andrew met Jesus, he ran to get his brother Peter. Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus. In John 6, we read the story of Jesus’ feeding the 5,000. Andrew was the disciple who found the boy with the five loaves and two fishes. Andrew helped meet the physical needs of the crowd by bringing a little boy and his lunch to Jesus.

This is what missions ought to look like. Responding to physical needs and responding to spiritual needs.

[1] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Growth without Compromising Your Message & Mission. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), p. 37.

[2] 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.