Glady Branch Baptist Church: Recent Episodes
Glady Branch Baptist Church
A deep dive into the Biblical text, dissecting the details in the context of the grander Biblical story.
Don’t Be a HerodActs 12:18-24Pastor Wes
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Transcript
This past week ended up being pretty wild and chaotic- crazy amounts of rain, tornado warnings, a school board meeting discussing masks, schools starting up, but then getting immediately shut down because of flooding- we’re already living in a generally stressful season of history, and this week was probably one that could have escalated for many that stress. Now, there’s many scriptures we could look to, to help us remain centered and rooted in Jesus, in encouraging us how to positively react to the stresses of our environment. A verse that often comes to my mind is Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” For me, it’s helpful to remind myself not to be anxious, but to take all my concerns to God along with thanks to Him, and ask that He would honor this promise that His peace would guard my heart and mind in Jesus. I also think of 1 John 5:5 “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? It’s helpful to remind myself that God’s word says I will eventually have victory and be an overcomer, because of my persevering faith and belief in the work of Jesus.
Now hopefully you have some promises, some verses that you cling to, that you remind yourself of when you find your emotions getting out of hand, or your stress level increasing, so that you can be reminded of what you should do in these situations. But sometimes we also need to be reminded of what we should not do in these emotional, stressful situations. We often learn what not to do in life as a result of our own mistakes, and this is good- but what’s even better is learning what not to do by watching others make mistakes. Yes, much wisdom can be gained from watching Funniest Home Videos, right? Raise your hand if you learned what not to do by personally sticking something in an electric outlet. Raise your hand if you learned what not to do by watching, or hearing of someone else stick something in an electric outlet. This morning, I encourage you to learn from the mistakes made by someone else, a man known as king Herod. We’re going to note some characteristics he displayed in a stressful environment that ultimately lead to his death- characteristics we must be alert to avoid in our own lives as we face stressful environments.
Now, in this passage I’m referring to Herod Agrippa I. There are several “Herods” mentioned in the Bible, each related to one another by blood. There’s Herod the Great, who interacted with the wise men around the time of Jesus’ birth, who sought to kill Jesus by mandating that all male children in the Bethlehem vicinity two years old and under be killed. Then there’s his son Herod Antipas, who was ruling as king when Jesus began His ministry, who had John the Baptizer arrested and killed, and who was part of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. His nephew was Herod Agrippa I, the Herod we are looking at this morning, who ruled from 41-44 AD; so this gives you a little time perspective on where we are in history in this place in the book of Acts- roughly 10-15 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Later we’ll see another Herod, Herod Agrippa II who witnessed Paul being put on trial in Caesarea. But right now we’re looking at Herod Agrippa I, and before we look to our passage in Acts, I want to bring your attention to the stress he was feeling. King Herod was in the precarious position of being a Jew employed by Rome to keep things calm, peaceful, and orderly during the unrest that occurred as a result of this man Jesus. The religious leaders and others had formed mobs, things had gotten out of control as they stoned Steven, Jesus-followers were being hunted down and dragged from their homes, yet… miracles had been taking place, and no matter what pressure was applied, these Jesus-followers continued to defy orders and kept boldly sharing about Jesus. Things were divided; there was much unrest. Life was not easy for a leader who had to keep Rome happy and the Jewish people happy at the same time. And so, let’s look at how king
Herod unhealthily dealt with the stress. Let’s first revisit the beginning of the passage Pastor Dave walked us through last week, verses 1-3 of Acts 12…
Herod, in this stressful environment, decides maybe the peace would be best kept if he cracks down harder on the people who are getting the religious leaders all riled up. So, he puts in jail some more church people, and seemingly even without trial, has James killed with a sword. This isn’t just some random dude, this is James, brother of John, one of the 12 disciples, one of the guys who had been the closest to Jesus- in Jesus’ inner circle. And note what this in effect did- verse 3- it pleased the people. It pleased the religious Jews who had grown to hate this new group of people now known as “Christians.” Because it pleased the people, Herod thought it a good idea to arrest Peter and perhaps do the same thing to him. Now the outcome of James, very well could have been the outcome of Peter, but note verse 5- “but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” That word fervently means they were praying passionately and intensely- there was a burning in their hearts to cry out to God for His intervention. And as we saw last week, God in His goodness answered their fervent prayers and miraculously rescued Peter. As a side note, I think there’s probably a good lesson for us concerning prayer in seeing the church’s ironic response to God answering their fervent prayers- they told the little girl who had seen Peter that she was out of her mind. (verse 15) They didn’t believe her.Just make a quick note to self that if you’re going to pray fervently for something, be looking for signs of how God might be unexpectantly answering your prayers. Because that is often how He works. He very often answers prayers in the ways we least expect, and I believe we often miss the fact that He has indeed answered our prayers.
But back to king Herod- what I want you to notice in these first 3 verses of chapter 12, is that in this stressful environment, Herod was reacting not according to logic, not according to facts being sought out and discovered, not according to what was right or wrong, not even according to a personal conviction- Herod allowed his actions to be dictated by opinions and pleasures of others. Now, the Bible commands us in Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” While we are to do our best to promote peace, we as followers of Jesus cannot live our lives striving to please others. Paul says it like this “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10) In the book of Proverbs we find: “The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.” (Prov. 29:25) Throughout the Bible, scripture after scripture, we are warned not to live our lives or make decisions based on what others around us think, but rather solely on what God thinks. We are to look to His word, His teaching, His truth, and live to please Him alone. As soon as a stressful situation causes you or I to drift from what the Bible clearly says, that is the moment when confusion starts to settle in, with potential of leading us down a pathway that in the end leads to destruction and death. Don’t be a Herod. In the stress, don’t look for other’s approval.
After Peter was rescued by the angel of the Lord, Herod found himself in additional stress. Let’s read today’s passage in its entirety, verses 18-24, and then we’ll walk back through it step by step…
Alright, so we’re looking at how not to be a Herod, and we’ve already noted that in the stress, don’t look for other’s approval. Verses 18 and 19 here are going to give us a couple more ways to learn from Herod’s mistakes and aim not to do what he did. Verse 18… “No small disturbance” is the Biblical way of saying, there was a very large disturbance- people were freaking out! Back up in verse 6 we are told Peter was chained up with two chains, in-between two soldiers, locked in a cell with guards at the door. Verse 4 tells us that ultimately there were four squads of soldiers assigned to guard him. It was a big deal to Herod for Peter to all of a sudden be missing. It caused quite a stir amongst the soldiers and all eyes had to have been on Herod. So, what does he do in this moment of stress, as people are calling on him to make sense of the situation? Verse 19…
Packed in this verse are two different examples of what not to do in reaction to stressful circumstances. Number one, notice how quick Herod is to blame and hold someone else accountable, how quick he is to punish and throw someone else under the bus. He ordered that the guards be executed. Was it the guards’ fault that Peter was missing? No. Herod made the decision to arrest Peter, influenced by the pleasure of the people, and when God disrupted the situation, Herod was quick to judge and cast guilt on someone other than himself. All around us, we see the blame shifting, and it is very rare these days to see someone take responsibility for their own actions. Yet, at the very core of the gospel is the foundational idea that in order to receive Jesus’ forgiveness, in order to receive eternal life, in order to follow Him and His teaching- we have to take responsibility for our own actions. We have to realize our mistakes, our sins, the ways in which we miss the mark- and we have to humbly admit to God that we need His forgiveness and salvation. And that humble attitude of admittance, repentance, confession- is not to stop after the moment of receiving Jesus. No, we as His followers are to live in that humility as a lifestyle. We are to be quick to own things, apologize, and make things right. We are to do what we can do personally, to change ourselves rather than attempting to change others. We aren’t to seek revenge, that is reserved for God. We aren’t to be a judge, that position is reserved for God. Don’t be a Herod. In the stress, don’t be quick to blame others.
Then notice what Herod does next in the remainder of verse 19, he leaves the palace in Jerusalem where all the stress is, and goes to Caesarea. In Caesarea was another palace, right on the Mediterranean coast. In fact, much of its remains still stand today. It’s right on the beach overlooking the water, and there are large corrals for horse and chariot racing- it was kind of like a vacation/ entertainment palace. Now there’s nothing wrong with taking a vacation, and often it might be wise and best to remove yourself out from the place that is causing the stress, but I think rather what’s happening here is that perhaps Herod is running from the problem, attempting to ignore and escape the situation that God would rather him face directly. Here was an opportunity for Herod to dig deeper, to search for truth, to ask the right questions- hopefully leading him to the conclusion that these Christians served a living, powerful, miraculous God who has revealed Himself to mankind through the resurrected Jesus. But no… he chose to run from, and ignore the opportunities that might have led to this conclusion.
In whatever stressful situation you might find yourself, don’t be tempted to just “check out.” Don’t just put it on autopilot. Ask the questions: What is God wanting you to learn through the circumstance? How is He wanting you to react? Is He building your character in some way? How might He be wanting to work in the lives of those around you through the situation? Don’t be a Herod. In the stress, don’t run from and ignore what God wants you to face.Verses 20 and 21…
It seems that even in the Caesarean vacation palace, Herod was not able to truly avoid stress, but rather he was just confronted with yet another stressful situation. Two northern areas, outside of Israel- Tyre and Sidon, which would today be in modern Lebanon- these two areas were dependent on the hand of Rome in Israel for their food supply. We don’t know all the details, but it appears that there was some sort of conflict, some way in which the trade agreement was not functioning correctly, and the people of Tyre and Sidon united in their common frustration, and had won the favor of one of Herod’s own leaders. I’m sure this isn’t something Herod wanted to be bothered with, verse 20 tells us he was very angry with these people. This situation made him angry. Now anger is a response we often see from within ourselves or from others in stressing times, but anger in itself is not a negative, sinful response. Anger is a neutral emotion that can be acted upon for good (in Godly ways) or for bad (in sinful ways). Often anger is the emotion vehicle through which God’s people seek to right wrongs, stop injustices, or stand up for what is right. So even in Herod’s anger, there was opportunity for him to tune into the Lord’s work, to respond correctly to the Lord, and thus be used greatly by the Lord.
But this is not what takes place. I can imagine him rolling over from sunning on the beach and reluctantly, frustratingly- in anger- scheduling an official time for him to answer and deal with this issue. So, whenever the date and time arrives, perhaps beforehand he rinses off the salt and sand in one the luxurious bath houses, then gets on all his official, royal, fancy attire- and I’m kind of picturing king Julian in Madagascar- he’s like “let the peasants gather round to hear the great oracles of king Herod.” We don’t know exactly what he said, but it appears whatever speech he delivered sounded wise and authoritative because in verse 22 we are told… (verses 22-23)
This was the last straw, even the patience of God has a limit. And it’s interesting to note that perhaps Herod didn’t himself proclaim any connection to deity, rather the last straw was that he didn’t refute what others were saying about him, in order to give the credit to God. Pride can definitely eat at you from within, in this case Herod was literally eaten from within as a result of his pride. Through the supernatural working of miracles Jesus performs in the New Testament, He points to the future reality of His kingdom. God’s display of power illustrates the coming reality for those who trust in Him. This supernatural working of Herod’s death also points to a future reality, it illustrates the coming reality for those who pridefully reject God.
Now, most of us probably learned at an early age that bragging is not something good to do, but most of us probably enjoy it when someone else brags on us. We’re like, “it’s not pride if someone else said it,” right? There’s nothing wrong with giving or receiving a compliment and giving or receiving thanks where thanks is due, but very quickly- if we’re not careful- a line can be crossed where we start to elevate men and women or ourselves, and we ascribe a greatness to someone that should only be ascribed to God. We should be careful in justifying our words, our actions, our deeds, our viewpoints- careful not to become puffed up and proud of what we’ve said, where we stand, what we’ve done, or what we think. Especially in stressful life situations, it can become easy to blame others for all the bad, but then to take credit for whatever good there might be. Don’t be a Herod. In the stress, don’t react with pride. Verse 24…
Here’s the thing. With or without you and me, God is going to work and move and spread His good news. The advancement of His kingdom will not be stopped. You nor I, nor any other person, organization, politician, famous person, government can prevent Him from bringing about His Kingdom- and along with it- blessings for God’s people. But instead of standing in the way of Kingdom work, by seeking the approval of men rather than the approval of God, standing in the way by passing the blame on others, standing in the way by running from and ignoring what God wants you to face, or standing in the way by reacting with pride- instead may we be vessels God can use and work through for the building of his Kingdom and for the encouragement of His church.
Discrimination Within the Church - Still?Acts 10Pastor Wes
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Transcript
Last week we looked at the grace of God displayed in the life of Saul (who would later become known as Paul) He was known as a great persecutor (even murderer) of Jesus’ followers, but became himself a follower of Jesus. On his way to Damascus Syria, he encountered Jesus and that experience forever changed his life. It’s an incredible story. The believers in Damascus were nervously shocked, but eventually they embraced Saul within their fellowship. I think it’s pretty cool to learn that there even existed a group of Christ follower’s in Damascus. Damascus is over 200 miles away from Jerusalem, it was one of the major cities included in the Roman occupied region known as the Decapolis. That region might sound familiar to some of you, Matthew records that during Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, that there were some from the Decapolis region that had heard of His work and came to follow Him in His ministry. (Matt. 4:25) And then in the book of Mark, Jesus and His disciples landed on the eastern shores of the Galilee, which was considered the border to the region of the Decapolis, and there Jesus healed a man oppressed by a legion of demons. That man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him to go back to his home and tell the people the great things the Lord had done for him, and so in Mark 5:20 we are told “And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.” And a couple chapters later in Mark, we see Jesus return once again to minister on the Galilean shores of the Decapolis region. (Mark 7:31)
So here we are in the book of Acts, years later, and we see that because some curious few from Decapolis followed Jesus around the Galilee, and because of a healed man sharing about the work of Jesus with others in his hometown, and because Jesus returned to the border of that area- knowledge of Jesus has now spread miles and miles away from the land of Israel and there is now a group of believers meeting together in Damascus… whom Saul learned about, set out to hunt, along the way had a change of heart, and now is living in Damascus amongst those he had previously set out to arrest. And during his time there, some of the Jews living in Damascus made attempts on Saul’s life. I can imagine they were bothered by the few believers there, but they were really bothered by someone like Saul who was previously a devote religious leader like themselves, who had now become a bold and obnoxious follower of Jesus. But God protected Saul through the other believers there, in verse 25 of Acts 9 we see they lowered him down the city walls in a basket, and he was able to escape, making his way back to Jerusalem- verse 26. We later learn that Saul was in Damascus and other parts of Arabia for three years, before coming back to Jerusalem. (Gal. 1:18) Now, in returning to Jerusalem, we see in the following verses that the believers’ minds there were blown- they as well couldn’t believe Saul had truly changed- but with the help of Barnabas, eventually they put down their guard and Saul ministered amongst them until again, other folks were seeking to take his life. The believers in Jerusalem helped him escape to the coastal city of Caesarea, from where he got on a boat and sailed to Tarsus, a city in Turkey where Saul was born and raised as a child, before his family had moved to Jerusalem.
Now remember, Saul was one of the key leaders who had been instigating the persecution amongst the church- perhaps he was even the main dude heading up the persecution- but now having submitted to Jesus, there’s not too much persecution going on against the church- just some groups aiming their persecution directly at Saul. So, Saul took some heat off the church, and now with his move far away to Turkey, verse 31 tells us…
And in the verses that follow, we learn about more miracles that were done during this special time of God’s working and spreading the good news of Jesus. We learn about Peter traveling around Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and about how he heals a paralyzed man in the name of Jesus, and as a result, more people place their faith and trust in Jesus. And then Peter prays over a woman who has died- a well-known, kind-hearted woman who had loved others well- and she is raised up back to life. And as a result, more people place their faith and trust in Jesus. The city where this occurred was Joppa, a coastal city, now known as Yaffa/Tel Aviv. And about 40 miles north of Joppa is Caesarea, the city Paul sailed out of, and the city in which Philip eventually landed as he preached Jesus up the coast of Israel, back in Acts 8. (Acts 8:40)
So, while Peter is in Joppa and God is miraculously raising a woman back to life, God is also at work simultaneously in the life of a man 40 miles north in Caesarea- a man by the name Cornelius. And we’re about to see God’s orchestration of bringing Peter and Cornelius together, an extremely unlikely encounter that forever shaped the face of Christianity, an encounter that heavily impacted and completely transformed Peter’s perspective, and as a result broke down spiritual barriers, cultural tensions, racial discrimination, and spiritual elitism. May our reading of this encounter heavily impact and transform our perspectives, may we allow the Holy Spirit to shape our understanding of Christianity, and our understanding of God’s heart for those different than ourselves. Join with me as we read from Acts 10, if you don’t have a Bible, please feel free to grab one from the back of the pews- you’re even free to take it home with you if you don’t have one. There are a few different translations scattered throughout the church, find one you like and you’re more than welcome to keep it. Acts 10:1-2…
Verse 1 tells us this guy is a Roman soldier, a real deal Italian Roman soldier who, as a centurion, was in command of 100 men. Verse 2 tells us he is a decent guy- he fears God, has taught his household to fear God, he gives money to the Jews living around him who were poor, and he prays to God. Who knows how much or little he knew of God and what the scriptures say- it sounds to me like he’s just doing his best to do what’s right, and to be humble and gracious before his creator. And God wants to draw him into His Kingdom. Verse 3 and following… (Acts 10:3-8)
Now I want you to note that God very well could have directly given Cornelius the full message that God wanted to give him, yet God was fulfilling His promises to use the Jewish people as the mouthpiece proclaiming salvation to the world. In addition to this, I believe there was double work that God wanted to do that would best be accomplished in a corporate, unifying setting, rather than in an individualistic setting with Cornelius alone, and then Peter alone. So, Cornelius obeys and sends his men on to fetch Peter, and like we’ve seen before, this was just a single step of obedience, without knowing anything about the steps or results that would follow after this. Verses 9-16…
So, Peter has this dream- a vision- and having been hungry, perhaps he first thought this vision was a bit of a spiritual test. God gave the Jewish people dietary restrictions in the Old Testament, particularly concerning meat. For example, concerning land mammals, they were only to eat meat from animals that have a split hoof and eat grass. A cow is such an animal- so there was no problem with tenderloin steak or a juicy quarter pounder with fries. However, a camel or a rabbit, though they both eat grass, neither has a two part, divided/split hoof- it’s joined together- and therefore camels and rabbits were off the menu for Jewish cuisine. A pig has a split hoof, but doesn’t eat grass, therefore it too is off the menu. “Where’s the bacon?” No bacon for you! Concerning seafood, the animals that could be eaten must have scales and fins- salmon, tilapia, tuna, trout- all good. Shrimp, catfish, flounder, crab- no sir. Predatory birds were off the menu- no vultures, falcons, hawks, and also no mice or reptiles. And then there’s this verse that says do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk, which has been taken to mean do not eat diary with meat. In other words- no cheeseburgers, and especially no cheeseburgers with bacon! These are all part of what is known today as kosher food laws- and what that has to do with a dill pickle- I won’t take the time to explain- but just know these kosher food laws have been followed by Jewish people for thousands of years. Contained in the Old Testament law are also other guidelines concerning dress, family relations, sexual relations, cleanliness, disposal of excrement and carcasses, dates for certain celebrations- all kinds of rules for living that God gave the Jewish people upon their exit from Egypt. So, these laws were given specifically to the Jewish people living in a specific time, and while there is a little bit of debate surrounding understanding the Old Testament Law in light of the New Testament, one of the more predominate views is that the Old Testament law consists of three types of law: ceremonial, civic, and moral. The ceremonial laws related to Israel’s worship of God (temple activities, sacrifices, priestly duties) and are now considered fulfilled by Jesus- followers of Jesus are no longer bound to them- but the underlying principles behind the ceremonial laws: worshipping, loving, and serving God still apply. The civil laws pertained to Israel’s daily living and contained the consequences for harming your neighbor intentionally or unintentionally- and again Jesus fulfilled the law- followers of Jesus are not bound to ancient Israel’s civil codes, many of which would be very difficult to specifically follow in today’s modern cultures and societies. But still, there are many underlying principles that we can glean from these laws and apply to living with respect and harmony within our communities. The moral laws pertained to ethics, right and wrong, most of the ten commandments are good examples of moral law, and again Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection fulfilled even the moral law, but what Jesus taught is that His New Testament standard of keeping the moral law was even higher than what the Old Testament law stated- as He aimed at the purity of one’s heart, mind, and intent in addition to just merely the outward action of keeping the law.
The dietary laws fall under the category of ceremonial law- one who ate of the forbidden foods, or one who even touched a dead carcass of one of the forbidden animals was considered unclean, and thus not able to take part in the corporate worship of God. In the New Testament, Jesus teaches the disciples, (in the book of Mark) that food itself coming into the body does not defile one spiritually, but rather it’s the evil that comes out of the body, out from within one’s heart, that defiles one spiritually. And as we’ll see later, Paul will make the case in his letters that followers of Jesus are no longer bound to Jewish dietary restrictions, but- some believers to this day still attempt to abide by the Jewish Kosher food laws, not because they believe it’s a sin to eat bacon, but because they believe God set these parameters for the Jewish people out of a genuine interest for their well-being and health, and therefore it’s a good diet to keep. You can perhaps see some of the health concerns, especially for primitive societies, in many of the prohibited foods. Many of the prohibited animals don’t rid their bodies naturally of toxins, or they are scavengers who eat dead animals and even excrement- and thus have a higher probability of carrying diseases. But other theologians would argue that the dietary laws had nothing to do with health, but rather they were just laws to further set apart the people of God from the surrounding nations- laws given in order to make them look and act drastically different than the societies and cultures around them.
Now I don’t want to spend a huge amount of time on this, we’ll probably talk more about this as we get into some of Paul’s New Testament letters, but I wanted you to have a little background on the dietary laws as we look at Peter’s vision. And I’m going to go ahead and give you a spoiler alert- Peter’s vision has nothing to do with if it’s ok to eat bacon, or whether it’s ok to indulge in a cheeseburger. That’s not the take away here. Again, there are other scriptures you could specifically apply to the issue of foods, but as we’ll see, the issue here has nothing to do with food, rather it has everything to do with people. Let’s keep reading, verse 17… (Acts 10:17-23a)
Now I’m sure this had to be a little intimidating for Peter in light of previous encounters with Roman soldiers- you have to remember here that the Romans are the enemies of the Jewish people- the Romans are the conquerors, the oppressors, the unfair tax collectors of the land. The Romans believed in all kinds of false gods, their presence in Israel brought in all kinds of perversion of God’s commands- they were a ruthless people, despised by the Jews. But, God’s Spirit prepares Peter’s heart (verse 20) and says go with them without any “misgivings,” in other words- without any fear, regret, hesitation- because God Himself has sent them. Verse 23 (Acts 10:23-28)
And here in verse 28 we have the interpretation of the vision. Not just the Romans, but foreigners in general, were so despised that the Jewish people had created their own laws -not God’s Old Testament Laws, but their own laws- that made it illegal for a Jew to associate with a foreigner, much less visit a foreigner’s residence. Now there were many examples demonstrated to the disciples of Jesus showing God’s heart for other cultures and nations, but I think many of those examples were perhaps brushed off and explained away. The Samaritans were hated, but they were at least a mix culture of some Judaism. There was a rub with the Hellenistic Jews who had conformed to Greek culture, but they were still Jews more or less. Sure, Jesus healed the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter, and another Roman centurion’s servant, and as I mentioned earlier- the demoniac from the Decapolis region, but maybe the disciples saw these as isolated events, or as compassion that only Jesus could express, or they saw some of these acting “Jew enough” for them to temporarily overlook any differences in culture or nationality. Either way, somehow, Peter is just now realizing that Jesus has broken the cultural, racial, and spiritual barrier- no one should be considered unholy or unclean- no, God’s heart is that the whole world would follow Him and look to Jesus as King.
In the following verses, Peter then asks why he was summoned, and Cornelius then responds conveying what had happened with the angel of God telling him his prayers had been heard and for him to fetch Peter, and then Cornelius basically says, “Lay it on us Peter- tell us why we’re all here.” Verses 34-35…
Here it is again, the meaning of the vision- does God welcome to Himself only certain “foods”- certain colors, races, nationalities? No, he welcomes one who fears God and who does what is right- no matter their background, experience, color, ethnicity, household religion. Now before anyone takes this to mean God approves of universalism, and that all roads eventually lead to Him, let’s see what Peter says to them about what it looks like to fear God, do what is right, and be welcomed by Him- verses 38-43…
There we go: Jesus, sent by God, did good and healed, was put to death, but was raised up on the third day, this Jesus is the Judge of the living and the dead. His coming has been proclaimed by prophets for years and years, and EVERYONE who believes in HIM receives forgiveness of sins. Everyone who places their faith, trust, hope, and belief in Him and Him alone- receives forgiveness of sins and eternal life. This is the true gospel message, and anything other than this is not the true gospel message. It’s wild to think that as close as Peter was to Jesus, and the awesome ways in which God had used Peter- at Pentecost when thousands were saved, later healing the lame beggar at the temple gate and thousands more saved, raising someone back to life, etc.- despite all the good Peter was doing and the way God was using him, he was still intellectually missing the full gospel message. He still had been holding on to some internal biases, prejudices, spiritual and cultural pride- that was preventing him from seeing the full gospel, and preventing him from experiencing its full power. Author and seminary professor Chris Green says this: “Man has one problem: sin; there’s one Savior: Jesus; we’re all part of one race: human; with one hope: the resurrection.” That pretty much frames the Biblical response followers of Jesus need in dealing with the highly polarized issues of our time. Verses 44-48…
These Romans heard the gospel message and believed, and were instantly filled with God’s Holy Spirit. No delay, no laying on of hands, they believed and received God’s Spirit- and during this time the Spirit of God was displaying Himself through the gift of speaking in other languages, most likely for the quick startup and advancement of the gospel message around the world. Maybe the Romans understood Aramaic, the common trade language of the day, or perhaps Peter knew a little Latin and spoke to them in Latin (the Roman language of the day), or perhaps there was an interpreter, but I bet when these Romans received the Holy Spirit, they just might have begun praising God in Hebrew, the heart language of Peter and the others with him- which would have blown their minds and proved to them that God indeed had accepted these Romans. But there was perhaps even still some resistance from amongst these who accompanied Peter, but in verse 48 Peter ordered that the Romans would be baptized, making sure that no one would exclude them from taking that first step of obedience in publicly proclaiming their new life in Jesus Christ.
This issue of elitism was a big issue for the early church to tackle. In the chapters that follow we’ll see that even later there was still some resistance to the idea that God desires all of mankind to follow Jesus, and not just the Jewish race. Even today, this is still something I believe God’s people can wrestle with. I want us this morning to put ourselves into Peter’s shoes and to ask ourselves: “Is there anyone who we might consider unworthy of the gospel?” Now, I know that most of us can probably say, “No, we don’t think that- Jesus died for everyone”- and quote John 3:16. But perhaps by our actions we can appear to deem some people unworthy of the gospel, or unworthy of Jesus’ compassion, or we see them as in-capable of ever understanding Jesus. Have we perhaps written off the family member who is extra annoying towards us when we mention something of spiritual significance? Are there certain people we feel have rejected God and there is not much hope for them- because of their weird beliefs, or because of their lifestyle, or because of their viewpoint, or because of the monstrous sin they have committed, or because of the awful way they treated us? How about this, how well are we supporting organizations and people who are attempting to reach the unreached with the gospel? Could we perhaps, in action or lack of action, be deeming others unworthy of the gospel by personally not going to share with them, or by not praying for them, or by not giving financially to organizations/people attempting to reach them? Or, perhaps we are so overwhelmed with the problems of the world, with the viewpoints we feel are incorrect, with the widespread corruption, with all the people that disagree with us- that we forget “Man has one problem: sin; there’s one Savior: Jesus; we’re all part of one race: human; with one hope: the resurrection.”?
May we come to the same conclusion as did Peter, and may our lives and His church reflect this message: That God does not show partiality, but anyone who fears Him and does what is right by accepting Jesus, is welcome to Him. No matter the past, no matter the current situation, there is hope for everyone to turn to Him. And we never know when that day might be that someone who has been so opposed to Jesus their whole life, on day might finally do a 180 and choose to follow Jesus. A pastor friend of mine, his dad who is in his 80s, just last year after resisting Jesus his whole life- for 80 some years, finally placed his faith in Jesus. Don’t lose hope. Don’t write off people. Continue to live out and share Jesus to this world without partiality.
Philip and the Ethiopian: Steps of ObedienceActs 8:25-40Pastor Wes
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Transcript
We’ve been walking through the book of Acts, looking at the acts- the works- of Jesus through His newly formed church. And most recently, we’ve also seen attempts at human orchestrated acts/works, as Pastor Dave presented last Sunday- looking at a man named Simon who desired to “buy” the ability of giving out the Holy Spirit. And Peter called him out on it, calling out the human sin nature being displayed though bitterness and bondage to sin. God had, and still has, His way of working and moving in this world, and we can choose to humbly submit to His ways, or we can wrongfully try to push our own agendas and attempt to work in our own ways- according to our own selfishness, wisdom, and pride.
Now this man Simon, had believed in Jesus because of Philip’s proclamation of the gospel, but then Simon gave the impression through his actions that perhaps he hadn’t yet really fully surrendered to Jesus. And as Pastor Dave mentioned, we don’t know what happened in the life of Simon, whether he turned away and proved himself not to be a true follower of Jesus, or whether he repented and got his heart right with the Lord. We just don’t know the rest of his story. But we do know more about what took place in the life of Philip after this event. What took place- specifically Philip’s step by step obedience- is something I believe will offer hope, inspiration, and encouragement for each one of us this morning. So, let’s get into it!
We see in Acts 8:25, that after many believed in the city of Samaria- Philip, Peter and John were on their way back home to Jerusalem; and as they were traveling back, they stopped along the way in various villages within the Samaritan region and preached Jesus- Acts 8:25…
Now I imagine, this journey back to Jerusalem was a trip highly anticipated, I’m sure they were excited to be heading back home. If you look back to verses 4 and 5, we are given the impression that Philip was one of these “scattered” from Jerusalem, in other words he had left Jerusalem in order to avoid being dragged out from his home by the hand of Saul and others persecuting the followers of Jesus. Now maybe by this time the persecution has moved away from Jerusalem on to other regions, like Damascus as we’ll see in the next chapter of Acts, and if so- I can imagine Philip feeling a little bit of a relief and excitement to be returning back to Jerusalem. Perhaps there was a little feeling of accomplishment: “I did my part, I accomplished my mission, I shared Jesus with people in Samaria...” But look what happens in verse 26… and then verse 27: “So he got up and went…”
Now we don’t know how this angel appeared to Philip, whether it was in a dream, or in a face to face encounter, but I imagine the human reaction to this could have very well been “What? After the good things that happened as a result of my obedience to preach in Samaria? No- I’m ready for a break. You want me to go past my home in Jerusalem, after I’ve been away for a while (Samaria was a region north of Jerusalem) you want me to go further south, past Jerusalem, into the desert… to do what? I went to the big city of Samaria, and even little villages in Samaria, why would you tell me to go hang out on an unfrequented desert road, when I have my eyes set on my home in Jerusalem?” Now I’m just speculating, we don’t know for sure if all these thoughts passed through Philip’s mind, but if we put ourselves in his shoes, it’s probably not too far-fetched to imagine these types of thoughts attempting to break into his mind. I believe here we have another example of an opportunity for someone, Philip, to do things God’s way, or man’s way… and Philip chooses to submit to God’s way- not giving into any temptation to elevate his own desires and comfort, and, he takes this first step of obedience. Without knowing anything about where it will lead him, without knowing the results of doing what God through the angel told him to do, not having anywhere close to the whole picture, Philip just obeys and goes, doing what the angel of God told him to do.
Part of my wife and I’s story is that we were introduced through a friend while living 1000s of miles apart. And as we got to know each other via phone calls, letters, emails, I wrestled with God on what this relationship would eventually turn out to become. You see, I was previously engaged and had lost my fiancé in a car wreck, and that combined with the distance, and not having met Nikki face to face, made it very difficult for me to trust God, and difficult for me to have hope in what would be the result of this long-distance relationship investment. But one day as I was praying and expressing to the Lord these fears, concerns, hesitations- I felt Him very clearly speak to my heart that I didn’t need to mentally wrestle with the outcomes and results that would happen several steps down the road, no- I just needed to focus on the step God was prompting me to take today, and then let Him handle the further steps in their time, to let Him handle the outcomes and results down the road. I believe this is where Philip might have been here- maybe not quite understanding why he’s ended up here- why the Lord would allow him to get scattered from his home in Jerusalem, why Peter and John were able to return, but he was to travel further south… yet- he’s trusting the Lord, resisting any temptation to be disobedient- choosing to take that next step of obedience. Verse 27-28…
Ethiopia, also known as Cush in the Bible, was a region south of Egypt, that also bordered the Red Sea. According to our modern borders, much of modern-day Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia would have been included in the biblical area known as Cush or Ethiopia. This area, at that time, was one of the four great powers of the world. You had Rome, Persia, China, and Ethiopia- all very powerful earthly nation states. And so this man, this Ethiopian eunuch, was super high ranking. He was perhaps even considered to be second to the Queen- second in charge- of this powerful, wealthy kingdom. And it was a cultural norm in several nation’s royal courts for the male servants, the males running the day to day operations of the kingdom- for them to be castrated for the purpose of ensuring trustworthiness and dedication to their high responsibility role. This ensured there wasn’t any sexual activity with a queen, or a king’s hareem, and it also discouraged any possible overthrow attempts since eunuchs would be incapable of establishing their own dynasty through descendants. Now if you have any more questions about eunuchs, after the service Pastor Dave will be available to answer those questions. J
Now, you may be wondering “what was this guy doing coming to Jerusalem to worship?” He’s not Jewish, life is probably pretty good and luxurious for him down in Ethiopia, there were plenty of other “gods” for him to worship there, and the distance was roughly 500 miles away- which is a pretty long way when you’re traveling via horse drawn carriage. Personally, I think the answer to that question might be found in remembering that many years earlier, the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon to see with her own eyes the magnificent kingdom that God had blessed Solomon with. There she saw the temple he had built, and she tested him, and was thoroughly impressed with his God-given wisdom and blessings. The land of Sheba is now considered to have been the land of Ethiopia, so I believe that ever since the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon, there have been those coming from Ethiopia, especially those in governmental positions, in order to worship the one true God in Jerusalem. That’s my theory at least. And you can imagine Philip walking on this dusty, remote desert road that descends down from the higher elevation of Jerusalem, and there on the road from a distance he sees this dark-skinned man in a fancy, large, horse drawn chariot/carriage type thing, with a top, doors, open windows, a driver, perhaps some extra servants, and food/water/supplies attached on the back. Perhaps they had just stopped their journey for a quick break. Perhaps the scroll of Isaiah had just been purchased after visiting the Jewish temple, and here he is, reading out loud, what was written. And here in this moment, Philip is told to take another step of obedience. Verse 29…
Now, put yourself in Philip’s shoes… wouldn’t it be really easy to be like “God, you’re not talking out loud, but I kind of feel in my heart that maybe you’re nudging me to go up to this guy… but I’m not sure I can connect with him… I mean… he has different skin color than me, and his country’s customs are so different, he probably won’t even understand… as a servant of the royal court I heard those guys don’t even have a whoo hoo… J right? He’s already reading your word, I’m sure You can take it from here and speak to him… it’s probably better if you just connect him with someone back in Ethiopia… besides, he’s obviously super wealthy, he has all the Queen’s wealth at his disposal… I don’t want to bother him on his trip, he has a super long journey ahead of him… he might even get mad at me for having the audacity of approaching him, those are pretty long spears the driver and guards are carrying…” Aren’t these types of thoughts pretty common when God is nudging us to interact with someone over spiritual matters? We have to be aware and prepared that thoughts are going to attempt to dissuade us from interacting with someone on a spiritual level. But don’t be deceived, don’t give in to these thoughts- trust God and take that next step of obedience without worrying about the results and outcome. Do as Philip did, and even run, hurry as quick as you can to obey, verse 30. (verse 30-31)
God had gotten Philip to this point, through the circumstances of persecution in Jerusalem, through the encounter with Simon and others in Samaria, through the angel telling him to go down south to the desert road, through the Spirit in his heart saying to go up to the Ethiopian’s chariot. And I’m sure there were other God-obeying steps in his life beforehand that proceeded all these. And with each step, he’s adjusting and interacting according to what God prompted and according to the circumstance being presented. At this point in his journey walking with the Lord, Philip is probably starting to see why God had him take some of these previous steps- he probably at this point can see that God wants him to minister to this man who is seeking God through coming to Jerusalem for worship, and who is seeking God through reading the book of Isaiah. Let’s continue, verse 32… (verses 32-35)
It’s pretty awesome that God intended for Philip to be right here in this moment, as the Ethiopian was reading this specific passage, in which Isaiah was prophesying details about the death of Jesus the Messiah. And I like the way the bible says “then Philip opened his mouth.” He wasn’t shy. This was obviously a God orchestrated event, there wasn’t any reason to hold back or tip-toe around the truth- Philip opened his mouth. I think we as followers of Jesus really struggle with this at times- we sometimes don’t open our mouths in moments like these when we should, yet we open our mouths in other moments when we shouldn’t! Lord, give us peace, trust, and humility when we shouldn’t open our mouths; and courage, boldness, confidence when we should open our mouths. Verse 36 and following… (verses 36-40)
So, at some point, the carriage gets going again while Philip is talking about Jesus with this man, and Philip doesn’t seem to get antsy that he’s getting further and further away from Jerusalem, on a not highly traveled, lonely desert road. And judging from the Ethiopian’s question about baptism, it’s clear Philip not only explained about Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Jesus, but also explained what Jesus commanded His followers to do after choosing to follow Him. Perhaps Philip was aiming to give this man as much information as possible in the time he had, knowing that he probably would never see him again. How often is it that we bump into someone in life, in which we have a few minutes with them, knowing that more than likely, we’ll probably never see them again. It happens all the time. And yet, even in knowing we’ll probably not ever see them again, we’re a little nervous about what they’ll think of us if we get “too spiritual” with them. If anything, knowing we probably won’t see them again, should cause us to be emboldened to share an encouraging Jesus truth with them. That moment, right there, may be the exact moment in time in which God has
orchestrated you meeting them, so that you might be able to pray for them, or so that they could hear a scripture verse, or so they could receive encouragement to think more about their spiritual journey.
I still have a long way to grow in this area, but I’m trying to be more aware of opportunities in which God would have me to be bolder. I’m an introvert, and sometimes I have difficulty in engaging with people, especially people I don’t know. But again, I’m trying to be bolder, and take those first steps of obedience without worrying about the outcome. A couple weeks ago, my family and I were at a swimming hole in the forest, and we were the only ones there. It was awesome. And then all of a sudden, a van showed up and out poured a bunch of teenage campers with two camp counselors. Ugh. But we were friendly, and exchanged some small talk, helped them with the rope swing that was there, and I noticed one of the camp counselors had a tattoo in Hebrew. I asked him about it, and he told me he and his family were Jewish- in ancestry, not so much spiritually- as in they weren’t practicing Judaism. The brief conversation ended, but I felt like if there was an opportunity, I was supposed to encourage him in some way concerning his relationship with Jesus. Well, that opportunity happened a few minutes later, as he walked back to the van by himself while the rest of the group stayed by the water. I felt God’s Spirit tug on my heart to follow him and take a moment while no one else was around, to say something to him about Jesus. I very easily could have said “No, this is dumb, don’t bother him, I’m with my family on a break, what could I possibly say to him without sounding like a weirdo?” But, I took that step- I followed him to the van, wearing my swim trunks and my big rimmed Indiana Jones hat, and said (probably somewhat awkwardly) something like this: “Hey it was cool meeting you- I want to give you an encouragement and blessing, and tell you that your purpose in life, especially with Jewish ancestry, is to find Jesus and have a relationship with Him. May He guide you, lead you, and bless you in your life.” And he said thank you for that blessing, and then all the other campers came up from the river and began loading up in the van, and they were off. I have no idea what has taken place in his life as a result of that little conversation, but I don’t have to worry about the results, my part -your part- is to just take that next step of obedience no matter what it is we sense the Lord leading us to do.
It’s beautiful that here in this account, not only do we witness courageous steps of obedience from Philip, but also even from this new Ethiopian brother in Christ. Here he is with eagerness to take the next step of obedience in following Jesus, by getting baptized. No fear of getting delayed even further on their trip, no concern of what the chariot driver or other servants might think, no hesitation based on what might happen when he returns and the Queen and others hear about his new faith and the ceremony of baptism he took part in. Think about what could have been at stake here- his job was not a job someone would want to risk losing, I mean, he had body parts cut off in order to get this job. J I’m sure there could have been all kinds of thoughts entering his mind trying to persuade him to just play things cool, and process and decide later what he should work out concerning what he has now learned about Jesus. But no, he felt God’s Spirit nudging him to take another step, and seeing the opportunity of water (which probably wasn’t a common thing to see on a desert road) he then seized the moment, and took another step of obedience in getting baptized.
In verse 39, God’s intervention and orchestration ramps up to a whole other level and whisks Philip away to Azotus which is modern day Ashdod, Israel, a city on the Mediterranean coast, West of Jerusalem and north of Gaza. Scotty from Star Trek ain’t got nothing on God concerning teleportation. Beam me up Jesus! At this point Philip is probably further from Jerusalem than he was when meeting with the Ethiopian, and instead of trying to make his way back to Jerusalem, he goes up the coast (most likely because that’s the way God’s Spirit was leading him), stopping and sharing Jesus in the cities along the way, all the way up to the coastal city of Caesarea, which is way beyond Jerusalem and way beyond Samaria.
As with many of the events in Acts, this story is a big deal. In this extra-ordinary time, God was miraculously orchestrating events and circumstances so that people very much different than the Jewish people, would hear of Jesus and have the opportunity to receive His forgiveness and blessing. He loved this Ethiopian so much that he rerouted Philip’s life in order that this Ethiopian would get to hear of God’s love for him. And the knowledge of God’s love and salvation did not stop with this Ethiopian man- no, I believe he took with him this newfound knowledge- Jesus’ message of hope, forgiveness, and salvation- and through one slightly uncomfortable step of obedience followed by another, followed by another, followed by another… many throughout the nation of Ethiopia surrendered their life to King Jesus, and are now part of his eternal Kingdom as a result. Why do I think this? History tells us that in the 300s, Jesus’ gospel message in Ethiopia, by that time, had spread so widely that the nation adopted Christianity as it’s official religion. A nation loosely connected to the God of the Jews because of a historic encounter between their Queen and King Solomon, ends up professing Christianity as their recommended and official national faith, why? Because of one uncomfortable act of obedience, followed by another, followed by another, followed by another. The rerouting of Philip’s life, his step after step of obedience, ended up having eternal significance in the lives of millions of people.
I don’t know about you, but I pretty much loose it in my car when I’m following my phone’s directions and it all of a sudden says “rerouting.” That drives me crazy. Just get me to where I want to go, right?! Stop changing it on me. J Philip could have totally felt like God was doing this… rerouting… “What, the desert road?- I’m heading to Jerusalem!”… rerouting… “What, Azotus? …rerouting… “Caesarea?” And each step, he could have resisted those reroutes, he could have let them harden his heart towards God. But no, he trusted, and took one more step of obedience.
I want to ask, is there anyone here this morning that feels like their life has been somewhat rerouted by God? If so, I want you to consider who God might be wanting to share His love and truth with, as a result of your life reroute, and as a result of your next step of obedience. (repeat) As we’ve seen, these little steps of obedience can have massive effects- but don’t worry about the results and effects of your obedience, just focus on tuning in to the Lord’s voice closely that you can adjust to a reroute and take whatever that next step is, so that He can do the big things He wants to do in you, through you, and around you.
Right now, I’d like for you to hear from some of our folks here at One Church. They each have a quick, truncated, real life, true, personal story they want to share with you. And I hope that as they share, you and I would be encouraged and inspired to take one more step of obedience as His followers and witnesses.
What is your next step of obedience? There are specific ways in which God wants to use you, and He might not give you the full details, but trust He’s going to get you there- you just have to take one step at a time.
Stephen’s Sermon that Changed the WorldActs 6:9-8:4Pastor Wes
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Transcript
This morning we’re going to unpack another large portion of scripture, and there’s a bunch of golden nuggets scattered throughout it- go ahead and put your seatbelts on for a ride; I hope you’re ready to drink from the fire hydrant of God’s word. Pastor Dave walked us through the beginning of Acts chapter 6, where there was a problematic situation arising within the church. The Greek (Hellenistic) Jews were complaining against the native Jews concerning the neglect of their people when food was shared. This was a perceived racial problem, a group of people felt that they were being mistreated on account of their culture and ethnicity. Now this is the type of issue that could have very easily blown up and devasted the early church, tearing them apart, and damaging their testimony to the community. Fortunately, that was avoided- why? Because the issue reached the leaders of the church. And the leaders, in God’s wisdom, made some good decisions to resolve the issue and counteract any future tension. They delegated responsibility and formed a team of deacons (servants), who were men of integrity, men of the Spirit, men of wisdom who would see to it that there wouldn’t be any racial discrimination when it came to serving and taking care of needs within the church. Now, what’s interesting is that all of the names mentioned in verse 5, are all Greek names. Here you have 12 apostles, who are all native Jews, and when the Greek Jews came to them with this issue, they didn’t’ appoint native Jews to fix it, they appointed all Greek Jews to address the Greek Jews complaint. Brilliant. Totally nipped the problem in the bud. And what’s beautiful, is now they have leadership from two different groups of people, working in conjunction with each other in order to minister within the church, and in order to minister to those not yet within the church.
Now this is a really healthy reminder for us as One Church, to deal with issues, complaints, assumed discrimination- in like fashion. Don’t let murmuring, disgruntled-ness, problems- fester and spread throughout the body of Christ, no- bring the issue before the leadership and let’s take care of it in God’s wisdom. We are not immune to the same attacks that the early church experienced, we’ve seen the early church already attacked by Satan through governmental persecution, through an attempted embezzlement plot (Ananias and Sapphira), and now through a grumbling and complaining over a perceived unfair church dynamic. This third attack especially, is a strategy used over and over by the enemy to create division and ineffectiveness for God’s kingdom. Please be on guard against this, and attempt first to resolve any issues biblically and directly with those parties involved, and if that doesn’t work, then please come to the leadership so that together we can find a solution and cause no shame upon the name of Jesus Christ. You might even be seated right here this morning because of an experience of some sort of mistreatment issue from another church fellowship, and I want you to know that you are welcome here with open arms and we want to partner with you in your spiritual journey and partner with you in our call to minister to those inside and outside these walls, but if there are issues with another fellowship in which you have not yet dealt face to face with the parties involved and/or the leadership- then I highly encourage you to honor the Lord in this and do that- do all you can do to avoid causing any damage to the Body of Christ.
Now after the early church dealt with this issue, we’re presented with the story of what took place shortly afterwards, in the life of Stephen- one of these newly appointed Greek Jew servant-leaders. And here’s a spoiler alert- he’s about to preach the longest sermon we have recorded in the New Testament, and then be killed for it directly afterwards. Now he wasn’t killed for the sermon’s length- don’t anyone get any ideas- Pastor Dave and I don’t want to see any guns pulled out if we go a little longer one Sunday. In all seriousness, this is a big deal, Stephen is about to become the first martyr of the Christian faith, the environment within Jerusalem is about to change drastically, believers are about to disperse, and the gospel message is going to spread with them, and through this event eventually Saul will submit to Jesus and become known as Paul and will further spread the news of Jesus throughout the world. The is a game changer event. The message, the miracles, the unity of the Church- all these things were having great impact on the community around them, and many were newly placing their faith in Jesus, but in the tragedy of Stephen’s death, the growth of the Church exploded with new exponential gains. Miracles were cool, and the unity was awesome, but it was a game changer for the world to see that the message of Jesus Christ was even worth dying for.
God made sure that through this terrible tragedy, the church would be strengthened, empowered, emboldened, and the gospel message of hope would spread like wild fire to other nations. God used this man named Stephen to do this. We really don’t know much about him, other than what verse 5 tells us- he was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” and verse 8 tells us he was “full of grace and power,” and “was performing great wonders and signs among the people.” Before we get into his story much further, I just want to encourage you that that was enough- one bold act from someone full of faith, grace, and power of the Holy Spirit was the catalyst that changed the world. Stephen wasn’t one of the apostles, he wasn’t like one of the “special guys,” he could have perhaps even just been a relatively new convert to Judaism and then Christianity, but as we’re about to see, He had read God’s word and he knew it. And what I find interesting is that judging from his sermon, he probably could have very well joined with the apostles in their work of boldly preaching and teaching, but instead he served tables- taking on a servant-leadership role in an effort to maintain unity within the church.
Here at One Church, there’s many ministries and serving opportunities available, and we encourage you to plug into a place of service that number 1- you are equipped for, or number 2- you have a passion for, or number 3- there is just a need. Stephen wasn’t “above” serving food just as Jesus wasn’t above washing His disciples’ feet. I don’t imagine Stephen being passionate about distributing food to the Greek Jews, or Jesus having a special skill in washing feet (“Now Peter, this is my special technique for flossing in between toes…”) -no, they just humbled themselves and did it in order to minister to God’s people. Stephen seemed to be an “ordinary” dude, who was full of faith and the Spirit, who dug into God’s word, who was willing to humbly distribute food or boldly preach a convicting message before religious and governmental leaders. I want to encourage you even now, to be like Stephen. To be that ordinary man or woman, who spends time with the Lord learning His story and His truth, growing your faith and attentiveness to the Spirit, willing to serve in whatever capacity God might call you to- willing to jump in when a need arises, whether it be the smallest and simplest of tasks, or whether it be something carrying a much heavier weight, whether you get a pat on the back for it, or… whether it ends up costing you your life. This is the person I believe God is calling us to become. This is the surrender He desires from every one of His followers.
What we see in the remainder of Acts chapter 6 is that a group of people were debating with Stephen, and Stephen knew God’s word and was defending Jesus with wisdom and with authority of the Holy Spirit, and so in anger and frustration, this group stirred up a crowd and laid their hands on him, dragged him to the religious leaders, and then basically told accusing lies about him. Now this is interesting because beforehand, we’ve seen trials against Jesus-followers initiated by the religious and governmental leaders, but now this is the first time a trial has be initiated by the general public. And as we enter into chapter 7, we see Stephen take this moment before his accusers and the religious leaders, as a moment to remind them of the history presented in God’s word. He begins his message to them speaking of Abraham whom God called to leave his own country and relatives in order to follow God into a new place, the land in which they now stood. And from Abraham, there was Isaac, and then Jacob who had the twelve sons who would father the 12 tribes of Israel. One of those 12 was Joseph, who was sold to Egypt, but God provided for His people through Joseph’s position in Egypt. But years later a new King became ruler in Egypt and he enslaved this people of Abraham, who were becoming known as the nation of Israel. Not only did Egypt enslave Israel, but they even began killing Israel’s newborns for population control. But God saved a baby named Moses, who later as a man, God called to be a rescuer for His people. And through signs and wonders God led His people out of Egypt back to the land of Israel, where God used Joshua to drive out the other nations in the land. Years later, a man named David (who served as king) wanted to build a house for God, but Solomon his son, was the one who ended up building the temple for God... And every time I’ve read through the Bible and have read Stephan’s sermon here, I was thinking- “Man, Stephen’s building a case, He’s walking through the Old Testament, walking through Jewish history and is about to tie it all to Jesus,” but he gets to the subject of the temple and in verse 51 he stops his fast track story and drops a bomb on them… (verse 51-53)
And with this, they were intensely angered, Stephen then sees the heavens open up and cries out that he could see Jesus and God, and the people then rush at him and stone him to death. Some of you might remember the box gospel statement I mentioned a couple weeks ago. I hope that you were able to formulate a simple gospel focused response for when things get difficult, and I hope that you’ve remembered to use it. We talked about a general rule of not accusing people in that statement, as the apostles kind of did and thus negatively triggered their oppressors back in chapter 5. (Acts 5:30) Well, I guess Stephen didn’t learn from that incident and here he just blasts his listeners which ultimately triggered his death. As a side note, in 1 Timothy 3 and the book of Titus, there is outlined the qualifications for service as a deacon and then also the qualifications for service as an elder or pastor. And the qualifications are very similar concerning the integrity and godly living requirements, but the main difference in requirements is that elders/pastors are to be able to teach, and that is not listed as a requirement for the office of deacon. I wonder if Paul when he was writing those instructions to Timothy and Titus, if he was like… “the last time a deacon preached, he got stoned… and I was actually partially responsible for the stoning… maybe it’s better just to keep preaching out of the deacon role…”
So, in the past I’ve read this and have been kind of disappointed that Stephen didn’t just stick to the fast track Biblical story, and point them to Jesus though the chronology of Jewish history. But this time as I studied, with the help of some other pastors who are smarter than me, I now see that there was a different thread Stephen was weaving through his message. It wasn’t just the Jewish history through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, that would point to Jesus. He had a different angle he was working. Let’s look at his message a little closer. After recalling the promise to Abraham, Stephen reminded the people (chapter 7 verse 6) that God told Abraham (long before it would happen) that His people would be oppressed by the hand of those in a foreign land, yet- God would intervene as Judge and save them (verse 7) . And then Joseph was oppressed at the hand of His own brothers and sold to Egypt, yet- God was with Him (verse 9). And then God’s people were oppressed at the hand of Egypt, yet- God provided for them and protected Moses. (verse 19-20) Then Moses was oppressed at the hand of his own people when he attempted to stop an argument between brothers (verses 27-28), yet- God appeared before Moses in the burning bush and declared that He would be with Moses as He sent him to rescue the people through mighty acts (verses 35-36). After God rescued his people from Egypt’s oppression, Israel rejected God and Moses, and they then made with their own hands a golden calf to worship. Verse 41…
Throughout this message, Stephen is weaving in this idea that throughout the history of Israel, there has been a rejection of God’s plan and an embracing of the people’s own plans- a rejection of God’s work and an embracing of the people’s selfishness and work of their own hands apart from God. And yet, time and time again, God answered and rescued, and proved that it was His plan that would prevail. Stephen is building a case of mankind’s handiwork, verses God’s handiwork. This verse 41 is a little bit of a catalyst to the grand finale. I want to draw your attention to the words “rejoicing in the works of their hands.” In the verses that follow, Stephen then points out another work of their ancestors’ hands- the idols they made to worship while traveling from Egypt to Israel- and he contrasted these handmade idols with the God ordained work-of-hands that made the tent tabernacle according to God’s design, in which God inhabited. Verse 44… Do you see the emphasis on how it was made as God directed him, according to God’s pattern, in contrast to the objects of worship in which the people made according to their own plans and patterns in the previous verse 43? And then look at the climatic verses here, the punchline verses 48-50…
In his message up until this point, and then even in his accusation that followed, the point was that throughout history, there has been man’s work through his own hands, and there has been God’s work through His hands. And man’s work has resulted in oppression and rejection of God’s people, and God’s work has resulted in the salvation and blessing of God’s people. Here they stood in the courtyard of the temple, built by human hands, that represented for the religious leaders their place of work, their honor, their tradition, their pride, their zeal. The temple represented their achievements, their fulfilling of the law, their ability to cross all the “t”s and dot all the “i”s. And in contrast, God’s hand had orchestrated salvation in Jesus alone, God’s hand was doing miracles, God’s hand was empowering ordinary people like Stephen to wisely and boldly defend truth. The implication was that their hand was fighting against God’s hand- the very same message that Gamaliel had warned them with previously in Acts chapter 5. (Acts 5:38-39) And whose hand was going to win and be the hand that brought salvation and blessing to the people? God’s. (Typical Sunday School answer J) As hard as Stephen’s accusation was to hear, it was an opportunity for the religious leaders to see the pattern they were falling into- to realize they were doing things according to their own strength, plans, traditions- by their own hands- seeking their own prosperity, elevating themselves by squashing others… this was a clear opportunity for them to self-reflect and repent, asking the Lord for forgiveness and to, from that day forward, seek God’s work and not their own.
How easy would it be for us to fall into the same trap? To rejoice at the work of our hands, to take pride in our achievements, to wrongfully take the work of God and turn it into something through which we worship ourselves? May it not be so. It wasn’t that many years later that God allowed the Romans to completely destroy the temple, yet even through persecution, trials, oppression, and death- God’s real temple, the one made with His own hands- flourished. And you and I are part of that structure being built by God’s hands. One Church is part of that magnificent building being orchestrated by God. And it we’re not careful, we too can be like the religious leaders here who thought their spirituality was all about themselves and what they had accomplished. We too can start looking inward, instead of outward. We too can start thinking it’s all about our own needs being met rather than about how God wants to work and meet the needs of others.
Look at the last two verses of the chapter- even as Stephen was wincing at the pain of rocks hitting his face, he was surrendering to Jesus and concerned for others. (verse 59-60) How do you say that? How do you say- “Lord, take me, but just forgive these guys”?I think Stephen got it, it really clicked for him. His words echoed His master- His Savior, His King’s words on the cross- “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Stephen chose to continue building his life on, trusting in, modeling, submitting to- the work of God’s hands, rather than giving in to the temptation to pattern his life on the work of human hands- his human selfishness, pride, anger, resentment. But you don’t just wake up one day and suddenly feel prepared to submit to God’s work for better or worse no matter what- no, this kind of temperament comes from time with God in His word, soaking in His story, intaking His truth. He had committed to memory God’s word, this whole chapter 7 is sprinkled throughout with scripture he was citing, and he obviously spent time zooming out and learning the whole over-arching storyline of God’s word. He had spent enough time with God where he was able to just leap into this sermon, under extreme pressure, on the spot, without any head’s up, without time to prepare a specific message to address this specific situation. Now, yes, he had massive help from the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not going to remind anyone of scripture if they haven’t already internalized that scripture. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will be a reminder to us of what He said (John 14:26), but you can’t be reminded of something you’ve never read before. You can’t be reminded of a lesson you’ve never experienced. You can’t be reminded of a truth you’ve never processed. God, through His Spirit, wants to remind us, strengthen us, help us to remain in the work of His hands, but we have to put in the time with Him. When difficult times come, when life is unfair, when I’m staring death in the face- I want to be able to say “It’s cool, God take me if you want, but I want to see Your forgiveness extended to all I know, even to those who have been unfair, and even to those who seek to take my life.” In the midst of difficult, pressured situations, I won’t be able to have the peace to say those type of things unless I’ve already put in the time.
It’s kind of like Jiu-Jitsu. Most of you probably know about our Monday night Jiu-Jitsu classes, we have a parents with young kids class, and then afterwards an adult class. One of the biggest principles of Jiu-Jitsu is to be able to be calm in the chaos. To be relaxed and comfortable when someone is throwing punches at you, or is on top of you, or behind you trying to choke you out- Jiu-Jitsu teaches techniques that enable the practitioner to defend attacks, escape and control, and even turn the tables to where the aggressor’s attack becomes an opportunity to attack and submit them. Jiu is the Japanese word for gentle, and Jitsu is the Japanese word for art- it’s the gentle, calm art of self-defense. But with this being the case, every single person- myself included- every single person who begins to study Jiu-Jitsu, gets on the mat and exerts tons of energy. Every single person goes into panic-mode, resisting and fighting heavily, burning lots of energy, relying on their own strength and on their own quick responses for defense. And it takes weeks, if not months, sometimes a year or two- of time on the mat before it suddenly clicks, and you feel you have the mindset, the tools, the experience to relax and be comfortable in the chaos. You can understand that Jiu-Jitsu is the gentle art, and you can have the head knowledge that you are to remain calm so that you can survive whatever attack is presented; but when a fight comes your way, you won’t be able to respond in that gentle, relaxed manner unless you have… put in the time on the mat.
The art of following Jesus is very similar. You can know the Jesus type responses that we as Christian should have. You can have the head knowledge that we as Christ followers are to have His peace, and we are to be cool under pressure, and we are to respond in love no matter what the situation. We can read this account of Stephen and see that whether in life or in death, we are to honor the Lord Jesus. But we will not have these Jesus type responses unless we put in time on the mat- reading and praying through God’s word. Through that time, we will slowly discover, learn, apply- His truth to our lives. Now the other correlation here between this concept and Jiu-Jitsu, is that when we’re on the Jiu-Jitsu mats, we learn a new technique or two every time. The technique is presented, and there’s a time to slowly practice the technique with someone else, and practice a few variations in order to learn the different nuances of the technique according to the situation presented. After we learn the new technique, we’ll then simulate a fight on the mat. I say simulate, but it’s grappling, wrestling on the mat. And often what happens is that the new technique, because it’s so fresh in the mind, it doesn’t get acted out in the real-life application opportunity of the wrestling match. And so, when we “roll” on the mat, as we call it- as we wrestle- both participants have to be very intentional in creating opportunities in order to use the freshly learned technique. There has to be an intentionality to use the new technique in a seemingly real-life situation in order for that technique to be truly learned and internalized so that muscle memory kicks in and that technique can be relied upon in the future.
The same is true in our walk with Jesus. We can spend time on the mat, reading His word, learning truth, understanding principles, listening to sermons, studying “technique,” but if we are not intentional about applying those learned techniques to our real, day to day life- then they won’t really be of much use to us. We won’t be able to really, truly, personally rely on the truth of God’s word unless we have made a habit of not only reading it, but of attempting to practice it in real life scenarios. Stephen had put in the mat time, and here seized the opportunity to test the technique he had learned in real life and… he was killed as a result. But look at what happened as a result of his death, chapter 8:1-4…
Now you would think that perhaps this terrible tragedy would spark fear amongst followers of Jesus, and that there might be a little more hesitation to “preach the word” as Stephen did. But just the opposite happened. Look again at the connection between verses 3 and 4, verse 4 begins with the word “therefore.” Any time we’re studying scripture and we see the word “therefore,” we need to figure out what it’s there for. Here, verse 3 is the cause, with the word “therefore” connecting it to the effect in verse 4. Verses 3 and 4…
Saul is dragging people out of their homes, putting people into prison, therefore- wherever people from the church were dragged, wherever they were put, wherever they were scattered… they went about preaching the word. If ordinary Stephen- who wasn’t an apostle, who wasn’t one of the famous people, who wasn’t an original native Jew- if he could fearlessly preach with words and with his life, in the face of death… if he could do it, then by golly we all can do it.
Now it was totally cool, the sermon one of the famous guys preached- Peter, back a couple chapters ago. 3,000 people placed their faith in Jesus. Miracles were happening immediately afterwards. Everyone was in awe. It was good times, a pretty awesome high. Now contrast that with Stephen- not a famous guy- he’s chosen to wait on tables, calm down a racial dispute- and he preaches- and the result is not tongues of fire, not understanding, not immediate salvations, not miracles, but the result is rather cold, hard, depressing, real life stuff-hitting-the-fan type of a result. He gets killed and the church gets raided- dragged out from their own homes. But the sermon preached through pain is often more powerful than the sermon preached through blessing. And in time, Stephen’s testimony, and the good news of Jesus upon which he committed his life to, was boldly conveyed to the world and not 3,000, but rather millions were saved, and are being saved as a result of this scattering and preaching from ordinary guys and gals like Stephen. You can imagine the impact this had on Saul, how this primed him and actually made it possible in his heart for the dramatic change that was soon going to take place in his life.
Now I hope that none of you ever have to experience giving your life as a result of sharing God’s truth, then again… maybe that does sound better than getting taken out by cancer. Maybe dying as a result of sharing the gospel is a better way to go, I don’t know. God is sovereign, I’ll leave that up to Him- He has even our hairs numbered and has a plan even for our exit from this world. But regardless, whether you consider yourself as ordinary or extraordinary; whether you serve in little ways or you serve with great responsibility; whether you are new in the faith or mature in the faith; a new participant in One Church or a long-standing member of Next or Glady Branch- God has purpose for you and wants to use you for His glory. He wants to fill you with His Spirit and fill you with His wisdom, grace, and peace. But it's probably going to take some mat time. It’s going to take intentional time with Him in His word, and intentional attempts of applying His word to your real life. Throughout the book of Acts we see the early church go through ups and downs, good times and bad times, times of blessings and times of persecution- yet they continued to grow. They continued to focus on Jesus- on His word and teaching- no matter what the circumstance. May the same be said of us here at One Church.
Fighting Against GodActs 5:38-39Pastor Wes
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Transcript
This morning we’ll be looking at the events that took place in the life of the early church in Acts chapter 5, but I want to first share with you where we’re headed- I want to go ahead and let you know the key verses that we’re going to hone in on and work on applying to our lives, verses 38 and 39. One of the religious leaders is speaking, and he’s one of the top dogs amongst the leaders- he’s older, has tons of experience- many looked up to him as a wise teacher. So, concerning the apostles who have been arrested, he says to the other religious leaders… (verse 38-39)
These verses have huge implications for us- I can’t wait to dig into them with you. But in order to feel their full weight, we’ll need to back up and understand the full context. In Acts chapter 4 we learned that while being in this same area in the Temple courtyards, two of the apostles (Peter and John) were arrested and threatened that they were never to speak again of the name Jesus. But they prayed with the church and God answered their prayers giving them renewed boldness to continue sharing and teaching others about Jesus.
And last week we looked together in the first half of Acts chapter 5, soaking in the story of Ananias and Sapphira who were dishonest, in-authentic, and who were putting on a bit of a show to make themselves look godly. And in the midst of this special time of God’s working, God made it very clear that faking godliness was completely unacceptable. After God took the lives of Ananias and Sapphira, there was a renewal of fear, respect, reverence, awe- for God and His holiness. The church continued sharing with others within the church who had need, miracles were still happening regularly, more and more people were choosing to place their trust in Jesus, and they were all meeting together regularly in Solomon’s portico- or porch as we might say today. This area was basically built into the temple courtyard walls, imagine the temple building in the center with two smaller “town square” type courtyards that were surrounded by walls, and then that entire complex was surrounded by a massive courtyard- think basically a football field of flat open space to the front of the temple, and to both sides of the temple. And then all that entire area was surrounded by tall, military/castle type stone walls that on the inside portion attached to a roof covering that extended a little inwards towards the courtyard, supported by massive pillars. If you look on the screen there’s a pretty good rendering of what the Temple area looked like in Jerusalem in the book of Acts. Solomon’s porch was an area underneath one of the pillared coverings, and this is where the church was gathering- where they listened to the apostles and engaged with others in conversations about Jesus. And this is where round number 2 arrest takes place, this time it wasn’t just Peter and John, but it sounds like perhaps all the apostles were rounded up this time and put in jail. Let’s check it out, starting in verse 17… (17-21a)
So, against orders, the apostles are teaching and boldly talking about Jesus. And a mob of religious leaders come (most likely in collaboration with the Roman leaders) and put them in jail. But God sends an angel, leads them out, and then tells them to go back and continue teaching- and they do just that. Now, if I were in their shoes, I might have been thinking, “Uh… I don’t know Lord, this might be like baseball- 3rd strike and you’re out. Can we just go somewhere else to talk about Jesus?” It would be like getting pulled over for going 80 mph on the highway and getting off with a warning. And then God says to go pass that patrol car again, going 100 mph this time. I’d be like “God, I don’t know if that’s going to go so well- aren’t we pushing things just a little?” But, no, they’ve built this relationship with Jesus, and are learning to trust Him no matter what the circumstance, and so they go back and continue teaching despite any temptation to give way to fear.
Meanwhile, in the verses that follow, we learn that the leaders aren’t aware of the escape, and they send for the apostles in order to put them on trial, but they can’t find them, and are now greatly confused about what is going on. But then someone runs in and says “The same guys you arrested are out again teaching the people!” So, they go out again, round up the apostles another time, and make their now 3rd arrest, and this time, instead of throwing them in jail- they bring them directly in front of the jury, and say this to them, verse 28...
This is the “we told you not to do this” moment. It’s the pronouncement of the apostles’ clear violation. And the apostles could have responded in many ways- they could have gotten all riled up, been angry, they could have attempted to justify themselves, but no- look at their gospel-focused response, verse 29… (29-32).
They respond with just a clear, simple presentation of the gospel. To paraphrase their response, they basically said: “We live to obey God. God sent Jesus who was killed on a cross. God raised up Jesus. Jesus is the Savior who gives opportunity to repent in exchange for forgiveness. And this is our story.” They kept the focus on God, on the truth, on the heart of the matter. They could have responded and chased other justices and talked about human rights, political rights, suing, freedom of speech, whatever- but no, instead they just presented the gospel- clear and simple.
Before my wife and I went overseas we did a 3-day interrogation/security training. It was intense- guys dressed up in black would storm the classroom, take a “hostage,” and place them in a separate room to be interrogated. There was a video camera in the room that displayed on a screen to the rest of us what was taking place. There were different scenarios- different motives, threats, stories presented- acted out and taught on with the purpose of equipping those being sent out with the skills to handle a threatening situation while living in countries that could be hostile towards Americans or hostile towards followers of Jesus. And one of the most useful tools taught to us was the idea of keeping responses within a predetermined “box.” You had to keep it in the box. The box contained truthful answers that were simple, and that would keep things focused where they needed to be. Answers outside the box could dig deeper holes, could lead to further misconceptions, and could cause more endangerment to yourself and/or to others.
In our time overseas, we ended up utilizing our box responses quite often for our own safety at checkpoints when traveling in and out of areas. One of our box responses when we were questioned was something like “We’re volunteers with the such and such organization.” And no matter what question was asked, that was our response. “Why were you going into this area?” “We’re volunteers with the such and such organization.” “And who did you talk to?” “Sir, I’m sorry, we’re just volunteers with the such and such organization.” “And what is it that you do?” “Um, we’re volunteers with the such and such organization.”
And I believe this box strategy is kind of what the early church used over and over again when questioned, threatened, and interrogated. “Why are you talking about things that are contrary to our customs and beliefs? “We live to obey God. God sent Jesus who died on a cross but was raised back to life. He’s the Savior who gives forgiveness to the repentant.” “Why are you helping them?” “We live to obey God. God sent Jesus who died on a cross but was raised back to life. He’s the Savior who gives forgiveness to the repentant.” “What do you think about me slitting your throat if you refuse to renounce this Jesus guy?” “Well… we live to obey God. God sent Jesus who died on a cross but was raised back to life. He’s the Savior who gives forgiveness to the repentant.” How well we would do to already prepare our box statement as believers, so that no matter what challenging circumstances arise, our response would focus our own minds, and the minds of the those who might come against us- to be focused on the gospel. “We live to obey God. God sent Jesus who died on a cross but was raised back to life. He is the Savior who gives forgiveness to the repentant.”
Well, as good of a box statement as it was, the religious leaders’ response was not positive. Maybe it was because their statement did also have a little bit of accusation to it in verse 30, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death…” That was probably the trigger. It would be good for us to note, don’t accuse the interrogators in your box statement… hey, the apostles did as best as they could, they didn’t take the 3 day security training. Verse 33…
The phrase “cut to the quick” means the statement cut deep, it cut past the outward skin and deeper into the living, inside tissue. In other words, they were deeply offended and infuriated by their words. But, now here is where we get the wise counsel from the top dog religious leader, verse 34… (34-42)
Gamaliel was old enough to have perhaps been one of religious leaders questioning and listening to Jesus when Jesus was a young boy visiting the temple with His parents. (Luke 2:46-47) Later on in Acts (Acts 22:3), we’ll see that Gamaliel was whom Paul studied under before his surrender to Jesus. And whether Gamaliel was beginning to trust in Jesus or not, I believe that God used him here in this moment to speak Godly wisdom. He pointed out that previous uprisings had faded into nothing, and that perhaps this was something else that would also fade into nothing, and therefore they should not get heavily involved in trying to squash it. Or, if it was something that truly God was doing, then they should still not get heavily involved in trying to squash it, because they’d be fighting against the very hand of God. Now obviously, sitting on this side of history, we can clearly see that God was involved and that it was His will that the message of Jesus be taken to the ends of the earth. And there in the moment, the apostles clearly knew God was involved and that it was His will to spread the message of Jesus. And because of their confidence and their trust that God was at work, we see in verses 41 and 42 that the apostles just let this incident roll off their back like water on a duck, and they continued to teach and proclaim Jesus there under the temple porch gathering place, as well as in homes as they met together casually and organically in smaller numbers.
Now, surely a large part of the application of this passage to us today is to be bold in our witness no matter the situation, to have gospel-focused responses, to obey God above any governmental law. But I want to make sure you don’t miss the wisdom from Gamaliel here in verses 38 and 39.
I want us to put ourselves in the shoes of the religious leaders during this time. We’ve looked at the book of Acts so far mostly from the perspective of the believers, but now I want us to consider what was going on in the minds of the religious leaders. Now, some chose to believe in Jesus- some openly, others secretively. And some were really sincere in their attempt to please God and follow Him, but others were just going through the motions. Some had open hearts to Jesus and were perhaps shifting their stance after learning more and witnessing all the events surrounding His death and resurrection, but others had only become more hardened against Jesus. While there was some variation amongst them, generally speaking the “Jesus followers” were a bit of a threat to the religious leaders’ way of life. The situation was uncomfortable, with perhaps a mix of emotions- pride for attempting to keep their religion pure and untampered with, but also maybe some remorse and questions after sentencing Jesus to death. And they’re hearing about miracles, and this group meeting under the porch covering is growing each week, there’s less people coming to sacrifice in the temple- what had been comfortable, stable, and predictable for years and years- was suddenly being overturned. And they were fighting it, tooth and nail. Perhaps it was beginning to consume them- a desire to keep things from changing, to get things back to how they were, to snuff out anything that was causing discomfort. And Gamaliel’s advice was to stop fighting it so hard, because either things would just work out in the end anyway, or if it was God causing the changes they definitely didn’t want to be fighting against God.
Now again, some of these guys were godly and were really seeking the Lord- they knew their Bibles, they never missed a worship time, they spent time with God in prayer, and yet- they were still missing something that God was doing. Perhaps their own pride, selfishness, guilt, hard-headedness- was in the way of allowing them to see Jesus for who He is. If they only could see for a moment that it was God causing the disruption, that it was God bringing in a little discomfort, that it was God making things less stable, that it was God bringing the unpredictable into existence. He was causing this unexpected shift in the lives of the religious leaders, so that their lives would actually become improved, bettered, and blessed- but they weren’t seeing this element of the gospel and were actually resisting and fighting against the uncomfortable change. And if they would only stop resisting and fighting, they would be led to true life, joy, peace, and contentment through their surrender.
And see, this is where I believe you and I can sometimes live. God is doing something, or allowing something to happen, and… it rubs us. We somehow miss that it is Him at work ultimately behind the scenes- working in the midst of a fallen word, wanting to bring redemption to the brokenness of this world. Obviously, the best-case scenario would be to recognize how God may be at work, but if we are missing that, we would probably at least do somewhat ok if we just kept on and ignored the rub, trusting that it will work out eventually. But instead… we fight. We strive. We let circumstances dictate our emotions. We become reactive, and often not in Godly, gospel- centered ways. We react negatively to another’s counsel, or to a rebuke, or we respond with anger, or demand in our prayers that God would change things or change other people. We get defensive, bitter, frustrated, stressed. And I think we often fail to ask the questions of “How might God be working and orchestrating things through this situation?” How is God building my character and preparing me for His kingdom through this rub?” “How can I glorify God in the midst of this circumstance?”
Now yes, there are spiritual attacks that we need to discern and fight against, but that’s not what I’m referring to right now. The type of fighting that I am referring to is the self-preserving type of fighting and striving because things aren’t going like we want them to go. The religious leaders and the Jesus-followers both had reason to become frustrated and bitter as a result of self-preservation, rights infringement, unmet expectations, anger at God for not doing what they would prefer Him to do. The religious leaders filtered their frustration through the lens of their own self-esteem, but the Jesus-followers filtered their frustration through the lens of Jesus’ work on the cross. They both were experiencing negative life circumstances, but their responses to those circumstances were completely different, and thus their life trajectories ended up completely different.
There’s an illustration that someone put together that describes the difficulties we experience in life as being the “heat” of life. And we are all like trees growing in that environment of heat- at times, scorching heat. And our responses to that heat determine what are lives, as trees, produce. Often we respond to the heat of life in sinful ways, and we thus grow thorns. We react to life’s heat with escapism, depression, fear, anger, deceit. But if we can respond by applying to our lives the work of Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection- then we have the opportunity to grow fruit in the heat of life. Fruit of endurance, wisdom, patience, trust, joy. Our reactions and responses determine so much. And I believe that often we respond to life in ways that would give the impression that we, (like the religious leaders here) are missing some element of the gospel. Are there times in which we are, in the moment not seeing some part of the work of God through Jesus? How do avoid being like the religious leaders here? For them, the element of the gospel they were missing was the very foundation of the gospel- Jesus! And without a relationship with Jesus, you are missing so much of the life God desires you to have here on earth, and without a relationship with Jesus you will miss out completely on the life to come in eternity that He desires for you.
But if we have a relationship with Jesus, you and I can still, through our reactions and responses to life- ignore, miss, forget- elements of the gospel. I talked about the apostles’ gospel- centered “box response” to being questioned, threatened, and interrogated, and how we too could benefit from that model; but perhaps we could also benefit from having a bit of a personal box response prepared for any circumstance in life that might cause us to feel a little anxious and unsettled. To have just a little mantra, or small check list, or a verse we train ourselves to immediately recall whenever we start to feel like life-as-we-know-it is getting altered in some way, or when there’s a rub in a relationship, or when something unexpected happens. And it’s something that we probably need to decide now will be our response, before whatever happens, because in the moment it might be difficult to come up with a godly, gospel-focused response. This week I felt like my box response for when something happens that makes my blood pressure rise, my box response needs to be a prayer: “God, you are still fully in control. You are always at work in every situation. What might you be wanting to accomplish in this situation, or accomplish in my heart and life as a result of this situation?” How much healthier could I be if I were able to make that my first, go to reaction in every circumstance? Feel free to attempt to adopt that or a similar “box” prayer response, but maybe yours might be more like a statement followed by a scripture verse. Something like: “God is my Father who loves me in ways I can’t even comprehend, and I love Him too. He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28) Or maybe you need to aim to make your reaction just super simple: “God is with me.”
I want to give you a couple minutes to process this idea- I encourage you to right now in this moment, predetermine how you want to respond to life’s heat- from little annoyances to major upheavals. How can you go ahead and aim to bear fruit rather than thorns, for your responses to be filtered through the work of the cross rather than through sinful nature? I want you to go ahead and think of a personal “in the box,” gospel-centered type response so that you, (and those around you) would be able to focus on God’s work, and not fight against Him or miss what He might be doing on your behalf and for His glory.
The Church Model for Engaging in DifficultyActs 3-4:31Pastor Wes
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Transcript
It’s been cool to look together at the early church community described in the book of Acts, and to imagine what it was like during that time of God’s special anointing upon His people. God was moving in very unique ways as He was empowering His church to very quickly spread His message of repentance, forgiveness, and salvation through Jesus the risen Messiah. God broke the language barrier so other nations could hear of His deeds. His followers were boldly sharing with those around them. They continually devoted themselves to being taught, to fellowship, celebrating the Lord, eating together, and prayer. They helped those among them who were in need, and there was a spirit of gladness and sincerity of heart as they praised God and as He was adding to their number.
Today as we continue our study in the book of Acts, we’re going to take a bit of a “zoomed out view” of a large chunk of scripture. Most often on a Sunday morning we bite off a smaller passage of scripture and go through it verse by verse, but today I’d like for us to take a bigger section of scripture and we’re going to fly high and look at the events and application to us from an overarching, grander perspective. And I believe in doing this, God’s going to give us some good insight for our personal lives, and our corporate lives together as One Church. We won’t read the entire passage together, but I’m going to narrate the passage in my own words, yet highlight key verses and point out some observations as we go along. You can still follow along with me in your Bibles, we’ll start the narrative in Acts 3:1, it says…
Now the ninth hour would have been 3pm, and there’s evidence that suggest this was perhaps a long-standing Jewish tradition to have set times of personal prayer three times a day- at 9am, noon, and then 3pm. And so, people would perhaps stop in the field where they were working, or in their homes- or if they were able to- they’d come to the temple courts and spend a few minutes in prayer with God. So, Peter and John are heading to the temple at 3pm and if you continue reading, you’ll see that right there at the gated entrance to the temple courtyard is a man who couldn’t walk, begging for money. This was his gig- everyone was accustomed to seeing him there daily- this is how he made his living. And so, the man calls out to Peter and John, and even as he is calling out perhaps he’s already looking around to make sure he doesn’t miss anyone else coming in that he could ask for money. So, Peter wants to make sure he has the man’s full attention, so he says, “Look at us!” And the guy looks at them, expecting the coins to rattle his cup any second. But Peter says, verse 6…
Notice this wasn’t a “pray for God’s healing and then hope and wait for it” type moment. It was a command with instant effects. Now, as believers we pray for God’s healing, and many times in His mercy He answers our prayers with healing; but at other times He doesn’t heal, because He has a different plan. And there are groups today that would look at a passage like this and say “See, you don’t ask God for His healing, you just speak it into existence and claim that healing and it will be yours, just like Peter did here.” And then if healing doesn’t happen, it means you just didn’t have enough faith. I want to caution you that God is the only one with the power to speak things into existence. That is one of His attributes that separates Him from us. Yes, we are to aspire to be more like Him, and yes, our words are powerful, but we should be very careful in attempting to claim His attributes. As we move through the book of Acts and we see the powerful things God did, I want you to see that this was a very special time of God’s power- He was inaugurating the reign of Jesus, ushering in the beginning stages of His Kingdom, confirming the holiness and message of Jesus, and fast tracking the knowledge of Himself around the world. And Peter knew this- He knew God had given Him access to this healing power for a time. And as we see God work in and through the early church, we see that He manifested His power for specific Gospel focused reasons. But this season of extra-ordinary miracle working from the apostles didn’t last permanently. In fact, we’ll see later in Acts and in the other New Testament books that this season of Pentecost miracles appears to die down a bit as time went on. But in saying that, I know that God still works in similar ways, He still miraculously heals, and does things on behalf of His people and for His glory that are otherwise completely inexplainable- I just want you to recognize the specialness, the uniqueness of this super concentrated season of miracles we see at the beginning of the book of Acts.
Ok, back to the narrative- after Peter says walk in the name of Jesus, he reaches out his hand, helps up the man, and the man begins to walk and leap and praise God. Now all the people were amazed- they knew this was the same man they had seen there daily- who had been lame since birth, who needed help every day from others getting there and then back home. There was no question of “could this have been rigged?” but rather they recognized this was an impossible miracle from God. And so, as the people were looking strangely at Peter and John, Peter recognizes (in fact he was probably counting on) the opportunity to share about Jesus. Immediately Peter speaks to confirm that the miracle did not occur because of his and John’s power or piety, but rather the healing occurred through Jesus, who was put to death by even some of those standing right there listening. Yet, Peter explains, God raised Him back to life, and this was all part of God’s plan, as seen in the books of the prophets. And then he tells them what they should do in response to what he is sharing with them, verses 19-20…
I love the phrasing of this verse… Repent and return to God so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Isn’t that what the world needs right now- a refreshing season? Isn’t that what we ourselves, our friends, families, co-workers need- a time of refreshment caused by God’s presence? The Bible makes it very clear that what holds us back from that refreshment is sin in our hearts- a wandering in some way away from the Lord. Now obviously for the unbeliever, there is refreshment, peace, hope and renewal that will occur as faith and trust is placed in Jesus for the first time and His forgiveness received. But I think this verse speaks even to those of us who have received Jesus and his forgiveness. Even as we follow Jesus, as life goes along, it is inevitable that there will arise areas in our life in which we will need to repent and be corrected, and if we are able to recognize these areas, and confess them before the Lord- greater refreshment from the presence of the Lord will be the result.
Peter goes on to say that Moses and others from their ancestors foretold the coming of Jesus, and that Jesus was the prophet whom all must listen to or they would end up facing destruction. But God did not desire destruction for them, but He rather desired blessing for them- the blessing of Abraham. This blessing is given through Jesus, who desires to turn hearts from evil to Himself. Now, as Peter and John are interacting with the crowd and speaking these things, a bunch of formal religious leaders (the ones who crucified Jesus just two months earlier) come and arrest Peter and John. This had to have been a little shocking for them, since the last time these guys arrested someone from their group, they crucified Him (Jesus). I’m sure scary thoughts were going through their minds- “thanks for the cool miracles God, but are they going to kill us now?” So, they keep Peter and John in prison overnight, but look what verse 4 of chapter 4 says…
Sweet. Obviously, there were many who responded negatively to the message of repentance through Jesus (like the crew that arrested them), but this verse 4 tells us there was still a good number of those who took the words to heart and wanted to get right with God. Meanwhile… the very next day Peter and John are put on trial before the religious leaders. And there, Peter seizes a second opportunity to talk about Jesus. He tells how it is Jesus and Jesus alone who has the power to do this type of miracle, and that (verse 12) “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” How’s that for boldness? He basically told them “There’s no other hope for you other than Jesus- period.”
Now the religious leaders recognized their bold audacity, yet observed also that they were “untrained.” As in, they didn’t appear to have passed Pharisee 101 in school, or they hadn’t taken the class “How to Sound Religious.” They weren’t speaking in King James English with “thees” and “thous,” yet- they spoke with confidence. Interesting. They also realized there wasn’t much they could punish them for, the story was pretty clear whether they liked it or not- the guy who was healed was right there, walking around. They couldn’t deny the miracle, so they decided they would just threaten them to never speak of or teach about Jesus again. But, verse 19-20…
What an awesome response. “You guys figure out amongst yourselves whose authority is greater- yours or God’s, but either way, we’re not going to stop.” And the religious leaders threatened them even further after this answer, but then released them. And so, Peter and John left and found the other believers and reported to them what the leaders had said. They shared with them how they had been threatened to never talk about Jesus again- or else, and after filling everyone in on this negative change to their situation, they prayed together. I’m sure they were tempted to become fearful- and I’m sure that they realized their need for God to encourage them and give them guidance on how to respond to this serious change in situation. Everything had been hunky-dory for the past 2 months- it looked like God was allowing them to experience a little bit of Heaven on earth with miracles, awesome fellowship, unity, speaking in new languages, people listening and receiving the message. They knew God to be a miracle working God, yet after what had just happened with this arrest and threat, it was obvious God wasn’t just going to miraculously make life super easy every day. I’m sure part of them was thinking, do we move away somewhere else, do we become a little more discreet in talking about Jesus- do we only talk about Him behind closed doors, or is God wanting us all to just join Jesus in being crucified? Let’s read the passage together that records their prayer- this is a super critical pivot point for the early church. So, they tell the church about the threats, then in verse 24 they pray. (verse 24-31…)
Not a massively long prayer by any means, but an example of a prayer that was taken very seriously by God and answered with a physical display of His power during this special season. I want us to look a little more closely at how they prayed considering their difficult situation. Again, since Jesus arose from the dead, things had become pretty awesome. But now just 2 months later, there was a serious obstacle, a serious threat, a serious source of discouragement. The tide had turned. I’m sure you’ve probably experienced similar situations. Things were going ok, and then all of a sudden it’s like “God, what are you doing? Why did that happen? What am I supposed to do now?” Here we see the church immediately turn to God and talk to Him about it. Now, did they complain a whole bunch in their prayer? “God, it’s not fair… Why did You allow this to happen… I can’t believe we have to deal with this now.” No. Did they beg him over and over to do a bunch of different things? “Please God, just change their minds, miraculously don’t let them hear us… take the bad guys out of the situation… may we never be harmed by them…” No. Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong to complain to God- God wants to hear from your heart, and he’s big enough for you to voice your emotions to Him, and we have examples of David in the Psalms talking (rather singing) very candidly of his anger and frustrations- graphically voicing his concern and anger over those doing evil and over God’s appearance of being slow to intervene. And it’s not wrong to ask for God’s protection and salvation from enemies, we have examples of those type of prayers in Psalms as well. But in this scary scenario, I want you to notice the predominate elements of this prayer. Some might break it down differently than me, but I see 3 distinct sections in this prayer. The first section is one of praise and worship, in verse 24…
They start out praising God and addressing Him for who He is as creator of everything that exists. In praising Him they quoted scripture, describing God with the same words in which He described Himself to Moses in the book of Exodus. (Ex. 20:11) They recognized God for His authority and position as Maker and Ruler of the world. That’s a good way to start out, and put into context whatever negative situation is at hand. And then after praising Him with words from scripture, they framed their situation with scripture that applied to their situation, verses 24-26, quoting from Psalm 2 that foretold leaders would rise up against the Messiah; and in verse 27-28 they applied that scripture to their present situation. Lastly, they asked Him to work on their behalf: To see the threats, to give them confidence despite those threats, and to continue His miraculous work through Jesus.
Their prayer consisted of scripture praise, scripture remembrance, and scripture application. In the past, I’ve described this pattern of prayer as Praise, Promise, and Petition. Praising God for who He is, remembering His promises in His word, and then based on His character we have just praised and the promises we have just remembered, we then form our requests- what we petition of Him. This is actually a pattern of prayer we see throughout scripture over and over again, but this time as the church prayed in this way together, during this special season- the building shook. Notice it doesn’t say they all shook, and notice too what Luke the author notates as God’s answer: “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” and… began to see crazy miracles happen even more regularly. No, that’s not what it says. There were more miracles and wonders that would come, but the impressive, miraculous, building-shaking, God sized answer to this prayer was that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” The speaking with boldness was what was emphasized, just like we saw on the day of Pentecost- it wasn’t the speaking in tongues of other languages that was the end goal- the end goal was: clearly communicating the gospel. And here at a very critical moment that very realistically could have stifled the spread of the gospel, to the point in which you and I might have never even heard of the name Jesus, here in this moment the church has the wisdom to ask God for boldness no matter the threats; and God then grants them that boldness. You and I would in this situation would have also probably asked for the miraculous signs to continue in addition to that boldness, and like I said, that continued for just a little longer, then gradually began to fade- but what remained strong was a boldness in sharing so that the gospel ended up spreading through the Mediterranean, and then into Europe, eventually making its way over to you and I here in the United States. Incredible. The church triumphed and remained victorious even through the threats, the negativity, the persecution, the change from good atmosphere to bad atmosphere.
I want you to see this pattern of praise, promise, petition- this pattern was not just a form of praying- it was a lifestyle. What began this whole series of events? Peter and John were heading to express their worship- their praise of God- through the time of prayer with others at the temple. And along the way they had the opportunity to speak of God’s promises of a Messiah, to share God’s Word with those around them. And they then coupled God’s Word with an explanation of how His Word applied directly to those there listening- petitioning the listeners to react as a result of what was just spoken.
This pattern was present in the early church’s prayers, in their lifestyle, and even in their conversations- look at Peter’s defense chapter 4 verse 10… Do you hear his praise of Jesus: the exalting of the work of Jesus in his death and resurrection, and the exalting of His name that alone has the power to heal and do the impossible? Verse 11 Peter then quotes scripture, recalling the promise of God in His Word from Psalm 118:22 that the Messiah would be rejected, yet would become the very foundation of the structure God was building. And then God’s promise was applied to the current situation and topic being discussed in verse 12… Here the petition was more of a declaration of truth, a rhetorical response stated to urge them to trust in Jesus alone as the Messiah and only way of salvation.
This is Christianity 101, 201, 301, 401 and 501. This is the lifestyle, this is the way we grow, stay connected to the Lord, experience His work, impact others for His Kingdom. We live a life of praising God- recognizing His greatness, living a life of worship, thanking God even in difficult circumstances, confessing His wisdom and rightness. We learn and recall His promises- we spend time in His Word, we seek to understand His ways through this record of His works, we seek understanding, we share His Word with others. And then we petition- we apply God’s character and Word to our lives and to other’s lives and then petition God to work in our lives in accordance with His character and Word, and we petition others to respond to God’s character and Word in receiving Him and following His ways. Our time of worship on Sunday mornings even follows this pattern. We praise God through song, rehearsing again and again who He is and His attributes. We look at His promises, diving deep into His word, seeking understanding through what He has spoken and done. And we petition. We petition one another to apply the truth of God’s word to our daily lives, and we petition God in prayer to work on behalf of His people.
And my specific petition to you, and to God this morning, is that you would carry this simple formula with you, and no matter what situation arises that might tempt you to fear, doubt, get angry, frustrated, discouraged… that you would be able to step back and praise God for His goodness- even there in that difficult moment- recognizing that He is still good, and still in control, and still loves you. May you be able to recall His promises, searching out His word, knowing that there is something from His word that He wants you to understand there in that moment- for yourself, AND for those around you. And as you praise God and recall His promises, may He guide you in what to petition of Him, and what to petition of others. Live a lifestyle of praise, soaking in His promises, and making petitions that are framed by His praise and His promises.
Defending God's TruthActs 2:14-41Pastor Wes
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Transcript
Last week we looked at God’s heart for the nations of the world, as he miraculously provided a way for all the various nations present in Jerusalem to hear in their own language the mighty deeds of God. Yet, there’s always a critic somewhere, and the critics that day of Pentecost were mocking and saying that the disciples of Jesus were “full of sweet wine.” (Acts 2:13) Now, there’s probably a time to ignore critics and not to engage, and just keep on doing what you know is right. But there are other times in which it would be beneficial to engage, explain, and give an appropriate defense. There are probably many instances over the past several years which, in general, followers of Jesus have shied away from engaging with our culture, and have not offered much resistance in the form of an appropriate biblical response- times where we haven’t countered well the world’s deteriorating morality with solid biblical reasoning. And now looking back, many are now thinking maybe Christians in general should have been a little more vocal in our viewpoints. And even on a more basic, personal level, more than likely we each can probably recall a time or two (or more), when we probably should have been a little bolder in answering those who criticize God’s people and God’s truth. Peter obviously could recall a time when he could have engaged better with the critics- the night of Jesus’ arrest. That night, Peter chose to deny Jesus instead of entering into a potentially heated debate. Today we’re going to look at how much Peter has learned and changed since that dark night. And as we look at his response, may the Lord convict our hearts, and give us the tools and boldness to appropriately engage with others concerning God’s truth. Let’s look now at Acts 2:14-16…
Now before we continue reading the scripture from Joel that Peter proclaimed, I want you to notice the way Peter sets up His defense. It is so simple, and so transferable to us even today as we consider how to defend truth. Peter took initiative and was bold in standing up to engage. He raised his voice, which wasn’t out of anger, but his voice was raised just so all could hear him. He then respectfully addressed those listening, “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem,” and now that he had their attention and had respectfully addressed them, he then respectfully voiced his disagreement: “these men are not drunk, as you suppose,” then explained why that was not likely: “for it is only the third hour of the day.” The third hour of the day, according to Roman time was 9am. Now, I know there are those who are in a tough battle with addictions who wrestle with substance abuse even early in the day, but the general principle here is that there were way too many people at one time acting “drunk” at just 9am. That kind of widespread behavior would typically only happen in the bars and parties at night. So, he respectfully disagreed and gave backing to why that assumption was not correct. Then he pointed to scripture (which we’re about to read) in order to show the proper interpretation. To sum this up, it appears this equation for entering into a disagreement looks like this: 1. Boldly yet respectfully disagree (doing so in a manner where you are able to be clearly heard), 2. State why the other’s assumption is incorrect, 3. Give scripture and properly explain its meaning and significance to the situation. This is a fantastic, simple, 3 step formula for entering into spiritual/moral conversations with critics and mockers. Let’s look now at the scripture passage from the book of Joel that Peter uses in his defense, verse 17. (Acts 2:17-21)
Peter quotes from the Old Testament book of Joel, which contains prophecy describing the days of the Messiah. Now, there’s something you must know concerning many of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. The days of the Messiah are often described in the Bible as being great and awesome- as in celebrating the fact that the Lord’s salvation, provision, and restoration is coming; yet these days are also described as being terrifying and dreadful- as in the judgement of the Lord will come and He will slay His enemies and time as we know it will end. Those living during biblical times most often anticipated the prophecies concerning the Messiah to one day occur close together- thinking the blessing AND the judgement would all happen close together as the Messiah came, but we as believers living today have the gift of seeing the broader scope painted by the entirety of the Bible and history, and thus understand Jesus coming as the Messiah ushered us into a season of His blessing (yet still with persecution) as we await the Messiah’s return. And His return will end this current season and His judgement will be pronounced on this world, which will result in even greater blessing for His followers in His Kingdom.
With this in mind, let’s consider what Peter referenced from the book of Joel. In the last days, in the season of the days of the Messiah- God will pour His spirit on mankind. In other words, there will be a special presence of God poured on mankind that will cause many to prophesy- prophesy as in proclaiming what God has said, has done, and what God has said He will do. And this anointing with His spirit won’t just be available to the leading priests- no, it will be experienced by sons and daughters; young and old; men, women, and children. And that was what was happening right there in that moment. God’s spirit had been poured out; and men, women, children who were gathered together as God’s people, began to share boldly with these from all over the world who had yet to hear of the mighty deeds of God. But Peter didn’t stop there, he continued reciting from the book of Joel about the signs on earth and in the sky, and of the symbolic language inferring war and judgement and the end of the world as we know it. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and now this miraculous event to the nations of the world- basically kicked off a heavenly countdown that would ultimately end in the return of Jesus, His judgement on those who reject His salvation, and then the creation of a new Heaven and Earth. In the next verses Peter attributes these “Messiah signs” to Jesus, and then he moves on to other scripture in order to defend his position that Jesus is the Messiah the prophets (including Joel) were expecting, verse 22 and following… (Acts 2:22-28)
Then in the verses that follow, Peter goes on to explain that this passage from Psalm 16 that David wrote wasn’t referring to David Himself, but rather his words were referring to the Messiah who would be a descendant of David, verse 29 and following… (Acts 2:29-33)
Just in case that’s not enough evidence that David was prophetically referring to the Messiah rather than Himself, Peter mentions one more passage of scripture from David’s Psalm 110. Verse 34… (Acts 2:34-35)
Basically, what Peter is referring to from this verse is that David was saying, “The Lord God said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Jesus sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” He’s drawing out that King David knew one would come after him, who would be Lord AND God, in whom God would judge all those who were opposed to His plan of salvation. Verse 36…
And thus, Peter concludes His 3 point argument: Boldly yet respectfully disagreeing, stating why their conclusion was incorrect, then stating scripture and properly explaining its meaning and significance to the situation. Let me give some short, modern day examples using this same formula:
“No, true Christians are not racist. (disagree) True Christians follow the example of Jesus, and Jesus was obviously not racist. (therefore your conclusion is incorrect) Jesus told His followers to go and make disciples of ALL nations Matt. 28:19, but the Bible says that “people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, [man this is a long list!] brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [now listen clearly to this next part!]holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power.”2 Tim 3:2-5 In other words, the Bible tell us that true Christians obey Jesus and are unbiased in how they share God’s love and good news with others, but there are those who appear to be “Christian” in some sense of the word (holding a “form of godliness”) yet are living in sin and are actually denying His powerful work in their lives.” (Scripture and explanation) Here’s another example:
“No, I don’t agree with you- gender can’t be fluid. (disagree) Choosing one’s gender is inconsistent with what science shows us. (therefore your conclusion is incorrect) God created people as male and female Gen. 5:2, but people exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, and women and men thus exchange their natural function for that which is unnatural.” Romans 1:24-27(Scripture and explanation) We as God’s people, need to know what God says on the issues facing mankind, and be able to boldly and respectfully point others to the truth of His word. And what was the result of Peter’s defense using God’s word? Verse 37 and following… (Acts 2:37-41)
Peter’s words, or rather God’s word, pierced the people’s hearts. Hebrews 4:12 describes God’s word as “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” You and I might be able to make a decent argument, but the real power lies in God’s word, in His scripture, in this amazing book we call the Bible. The people’s hearts were humbled- they realized after hearing these words, they could not go on living, thinking, believing in the same way as they had before they heard these words. So, they asked, “what shall we do?” Peter responded for them to repent- in other words to admit their wrongness and God’s rightness, and thus do a 180 turn back to God; and then he told them to publicly proclaim their repentance/surrender to God/new life accepted, through the symbolic act of baptism. And please don’t think that repentance is one thing, and then baptism is another thing, and it’s the baptism that grants the forgiveness- no, it’s repentance AND the follow though showing that you really have repented and are taking the first step of obedience to Jesus by obeying Him to be baptized. The repentance and baptism go together. Now, also don’t take what I said to mean that if someone repents and accepts Jesus on their deathbed and then dies 5 minutes later before they get a chance to get baptized that they aren’t forgiven and saved. No, I don’t mean that at all. What I do mean is that repentance is what leads to forgiveness, and baptism serves as an outward sign and proclamation that one has repented and surrendered to Jesus. Now if you are here this morning or listening online and you have chosen to follow Jesus, but haven’t yet celebrated that decision by getting baptized, please reach out to Pastor Dave or myself and let’s work on getting that done.
Repentance, baptism, forgiveness, and then what? The end of verse 38 tells us: You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit- the Counselor, the indwelling presence of God in your life. And then verse 39 reiterates our last week’s conclusion that forgiveness, knowledge of God’s love and salvation, His gift of the Holy Spirit- is available to all. In this setting Peter was referring to those there right in that moment, and even their children back home, and then all those scattered across the face of the Earth. Verse 40 lets us know that Peter’s sermon was slightly condensed for the reader here in the book of Acts and that he continued in encouraging the listeners to be saved from their immoral culture, and to thus escape the judgement of the Messiah. And what’s crazy is that… they listened! Verse 41 tells us 3000 that day chose to surrender to Jesus, and to immediately publicly profess that surrender through getting baptized.
Now that number of 3000 is extremely significant. I have mentioned before how Pentecost was the Greek word meaning “fiftieth,” it was the 50th day after the Passover celebration, and that specific day was the day to celebrate the harvest of wheat. On the day of Passover Celebration Jesus was crucified as the Passover lamb whose blood saved the people, and 50 days later on the day of Harvest Celebration, 3000 souls were harvested for God’s kingdom. John Piper says that “it’s a shame that the term ‘Pentecostal power’ has for many people become more associated with speaking in tongues than with the harvest of world evangelization.” The speaking in tongues was not the main event, the speaking in tongues was just the vehicle through which God accomplished in extra-ordinary power His goal of making sure the whole world would know of His plan for salvation. God’s main objective is not empowering individuals with a special personal prayer language, but rather His objective is a harvest of souls, rescued from this world that is heading for judgement in a hurry.
This 3000 number not only contributed to more joy in God’s work during the Harvest Celebration, but I believe that specific number has even more significance. Throughout the Bible we see many parallels and threads woven- tying one event to another. An example of this on a large scale is: the Bible begins with creation and it ends with creation. The first creation in the book of Genesis gives us an idea of the world as God intended it to be, before evil was acted out by mankind. The 2nd creation in the book of Revelation shows us the world God intended will be redeemed and remade in even more brilliance and splendor. And everything in the middle describes the journey between one creation and the other. The first creation points to the second creation. So much of the Old Testament points to the New Testament, so much of the Old Testament sets up what would later be partially fulfilled in the New Testament and also fully fulfilled in the coming Kingdom.
We’ve talked about the Old Testament significance of the first Passover as God rescued his people from Egypt, and how that pointed to and culminated into the final Passover sacrifice as Jesus hung on a cross. Well, scholars and Jewish tradition tell us that 50 days after the first Passover in Egypt, was when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and received the commandments from God. We read in Exodus 32 that when Moses came back down the mountain, he found that the people had already turned away from wanting to follow God, and had made for themselves a little cow of gold to worship. Of course Moses couldn’t believe it, the people had just witnessed God’s spirit powerfully coming down on Mount Sinai with smoke and fire, and even so they somehow decided to trade their real creator God for a fake golden calf god. And so anger burned within Moses and he called out “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” (Ex. 32:26) He basically drew a line in the sand saying right now decide who you will worship: idols or the real God. After everyone had made their decision, the ones who repented and chose to worship the Lord God, killed everyone else. Now this isn’t prescriptive, it’s descriptive- just because it’s in the Bible doesn’t mean it’s an example to follow. Right or wrong, I’m just telling you what happened. And it says that “about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” (Ex. 32:28) 50 days after the first Passover, on the day that would later become the Celebration of Harvest (Pentecost)- on that day 3000 people died.
God was one day going to redeem the evil that took place in the garden in the first creation, and God was one day going to redeem the evil that took place leading up to the first Passover, and God was one day going to redeem the evil that took place on Mount Sinai that first day of Pentecost. And here in the book of Acts we have at least a partial fulfillment of God’s redemptive work concerning Pentecost. Where there was once death of 3000 people who turned away from the Lord in Egypt- there is now life through 3000 people turning to the Lord in Jerusalem. Concerning Passover- at the end of the gospel books and entering into the book of Acts we have at least a partial fulfillment of God’s redemptive word concerning the Passover Lamb. Where there was once death of a Passover lamb- there is now life through the resurrected Passover lamb Jesus who has ascended into Heaven. And the fulfillments of Passover and Pentecost are the events that pave the way for God’s second creation to come into existence. His redemptive work through the good news of Jesus as the Passover Lamb, and His redemptive work through spreading this news throughout the world through Pentecost- this redemptive work will be fully realized in the full installment of His coming Kingdom. It’s coming. And right now, we are still in this season of “Pentecost,” this season of making sure everyone possible is able to hear of the “mighty deeds of God.” (Acts 2:11)
And so my charge to you is to take advantage of the opportunity while we still have it, and to boldly and respectfully speak up and engage with others concerning your faith and your convictions- may you boldly and respectfully speak up concerning God’s word. And we’ll be praying that your words- God’s words- will pierce others to the heart and that your boldness and application of scripture would result in a harvest of many for God’s Kingdom.
Christian Perspective on Race and DiversityActs 2:5-13Pastor Wes
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Transcript
This morning we are continuing our walk through the book of Acts, and the passage we’ll be looking at is extremely timely and relevant for our day and age- the current hot topics of race and diversity. Pastor Dave a couple weeks ago got us started looking at this wild event we call Pentecost. Pentecost is a Greek word, basically meaning fiftieth. I had mentioned earlier that Jesus’ followers had met with Jesus up in the region of Galilee, and then had returned back south to Jerusalem, most likely because 7 weeks after the Passover celebration, there was another Jewish celebration known as the Celebration/Festival of Weeks, or the Celebration/Festival of Harvest. This Jewish holiday also became known in Greek as Pentecost, being that it happened 7 weeks after Passover (7 weeks, 50 days, Pentecost meaning fiftieth), and it was a time to celebrate the harvest of wheat, to thank God and remember Him specifically for His provision. You might equate it to how our modern-day Thanksgiving Celebration started- feasting with family, friends, neighbors- in thanks to God for the food goods harvested.
And so, what would happen is that, Jews from all over would come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover- Jews from villages all over Israel, and even Jews from all sorts of other countries, would all come back, and those who came from far would often stay in Jerusalem for Passover, and then remain there seven more weeks so they could also celebrate Pentecost. It was like a 2-month homecoming for God’s people every year with a special feast at the beginning (Passover) and then at the end (Pentecost). And so, it was on the day of Pentecost, the homecoming-ending-day feast of thanksgiving for the harvest- that God showed up with extra-ordinary power amongst His people.
Now before we take a look at our passage for today, there’s a couple things I want to point out from the first few verses in chapter 2 of Acts. Notice in verse 2 the word “suddenly.” This word conveys to us that the Holy Spirit is free and not conjured up by our own efforts. In Acts 1 we don’t see the early church attempting to conjure up the Holy Spirit that was promised to them, but rather they were meeting together, praying together, considering God’s word together- and God’s presence suddenly showed up. The Holy Spirit is not bound by anyone’s timing or technique for tapping into God’s power. We follow God’s instructions found in his word for how to live, and we pray asking for His presence to be with us and to guide us and we ask Him to show up in powerful ways and to do powerful things that only He can do. We live lives that are inviting for the Holy Spirit to work in, and we verbally invite, asking God to show up in unexplainable ways; but we cannot force His spirit to come. When He comes, He comes suddenly- on His terms, according to His ways, and according to His timing.
Next, I want you to consider the imagery of the tongues of fire in verse 3. Throughout the Bible there is an association between God’s presence and fire. There’s the calling of Moses at the burning bush, God’s leading of His people through the wilderness by a pillar of fire, the descending of God’s presence in the form of fire on Mount Sinai, fire coming from Heaven and consuming the offering at Solomon’s temple dedication. The people were even commanded to continually have a fire burning 24/7 inside the temple, most likely as a reminder of God’s 24/7 refining, holy presence with them. Now with this in mind, think of the implication this brings us, as we consider this fire appearing on each one of Jesus’ followers there that day. The people were used to going to the temple to see the fire there, reminding them of God’s presence, but now that presence rested on each of them as they gathered collectively. God’s people are now no longer defined just by attending a location such as the temple (or a church building) where they would hear God’s word proclaimed- no, we are now to be His temple where we proclaim His word wherever we go. This is further symbolized by the fire not being little bonfires resting on each of them, but rather a “tongue” of fire, a single flame that resembles the shape of a human tongue, the tool we use to speak.
And speak they did. In a miraculous way, God enabled them to speak on this specific day, for this specific time, to all those who spoke different languages, from all different cultures and countries, who had assembled there in Jerusalem. It was like a supernatural jump start, that was necessary for the good news of Jesus to spread quickly throughout the world. Let’s read the description of this event. (Acts 2:5-13)
People from all different nations and cultures, were gathered in Jerusalem. Jews had dispersed themselves, moving because of business, or as a result the exile to Babylon many years before, or as a result of the recent Roman presence in Palestine, etc. A portion of God’s people had spread out and assimilated into different countries of the world, but would come back to Jerusalem for the Jewish festivals. And there were even people from these foreign countries who had chosen to leave their own cultural religion of their native country in order to follow the Hebrew Creator God. Even these who were not Jewish by DNA, were now coming to worship Yahweh in Jerusalem during this special festival. People from the places we now call Turkey, Italy, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, countries in Northern Africa, islands off of Greece, and more. Now, we don’t know if verse 5 is a bit of a hyperbole, an exaggerated statement, just aiming to convey the general, grand idea that there was a ton of people from all kinds of countries, or if it really means literally every nation at the time. Also, we might consider that during the time of the Bible, the term “nation” wasn’t quite as rigid of a defined term as it is today, with our well-defined national borders and militaries, kings, presidents, etc. And quite possibly there were many other nations represented on this day and the author Luke just mentioned many of them, but not all- either way- there was obviously a lot of cultural and linguistic diversity, yet what brought them together was one thing: Was it their humanity? Was it their color blindness? A social agenda? No, they were brought together and unified spiritually, through worship, celebration, and acknowledgement of the one true LORD God, the one who had created them in His own image, according to their own uniqueness, and had given them salvation and provision.
That is the unity that is needed today. The world will never achieve unity through laws, social programs, military or political alliances, through Republican or Democrat agendas. We must acknowledge that we are image bearers of our creator. We must humble ourselves and recognize that no matter the color of our skin, we each somehow reflect the likeness of the God who created each of us. And we have the choice to function more accordingly to His image, or function less accordingly to His image. As we function more accordingly to His image- to His attributes, characteristics, His truth, His ways- as we humble ourselves and confess where He is right and we are wrong, as we obey the teaching of Jesus- loving God and loving others- then there is peace, unity, rest, blessing, and invitation for God’s Spirit to show up suddenly and powerfully. But, when we function less accordingly to His image- when we don’t pursue His attributes, characteristics, His truth, His ways- as we feed our own pride and selfishness, as we defend our own rights and rightness, as we ignore the teaching of Jesus- not loving God nor loving others- then there is friction, chaos, turmoil, struggle, and we quench the fire of the Holy Spirit before He even gets close to coming down upon us.
Notice in this passage, God’s desire for all these nations, for all the nations of the world, to hear the “mighty deeds of God,” as verse 11 puts it. God loves mankind, all of mankind who have all been created in His image. In the book of Revelation we are given a glimpse into what God’s heavenly Kingdom will look like one day, chapter 7 verses 9-10 say: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” In order for heaven to look like this- filled with people from every nation, tribe, people, and language- this event in Acts had to happen, and God’s church around the world continues to replicate this event by sending out those who will carry His message to others of different cultures, beliefs, nationalities, and languages. The Creator of this universe, desires to unify His creation, mankind- He wants to heal us from injustice, hatred, prejudice- but that will not happen apart from His creation turning to Him in repentance and receiving Jesus as King. There is brokenness in our governments, in our laws, our political parties, in our systems worldwide. The cause of the brokenness of our world, is that individuals, groups of individuals, businesses, corporations, governments, nations, even churches- have sinned against God, and have not sought the unity that can only be found through the transformative work of Jesus Christ. He is our only hope. The Bible tells us that sin, (going against our Creator- disobeying Him) is what causes brokenness in the world. The only race we are to blame is the human race- we are each guilty and in need of Jesus’ forgiveness and rescue. And the message of One Church is not just two churches coming together, but rather our message is that- unity in Jesus reaches across social and economic lines, across denominational lines, across multiple generations, across cultures, languages, borders- and that unity brings purpose, peace, fulfilment- and ultimately results in God glorified and His people blessed. Repentance is what this world needs- a turning to God for forgiveness, healing, and instruction- is what every individual, every race, every nation and culture needs.
It’s not just within this moment of Pentecost that we see God’s heart for the nations, this is not the first time we get a glimpse of God’s desire to unite people under His authority. Even before the nation of Israel was formed, God was already conveying His message of hope for all nations. God called Abram, telling him to leave his own country to go to another, and said “I will make you a great nation… and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3) It was through Abram, who became known as Abraham, through who’s descendants God formed a nation, that was to be a nation for the purpose of blessing all the other nations. Years later, after Abraham’s descendants had multiplied, and Israel had been formed, they became enslaved in Egypt. The people of Israel were treated horribly at the hand of the Egyptians, and yet, when God freed his people- there was still opportunity for the Egyptians (and others from other nations) to join them. Exodus 12:38 tells us that when Israel left, a “mixed multitude” also went with them. This mixed multitude, made up of Egyptians and other nationalities who were living in Egypt, became Jewish- not because of their blood and DNA, but because they recognized the one true God and chose to forsake all other identity in order to be known as the people who followed the LORD God.
That’s really where you and I need to be. Forsaking all other identities, titles, history of origin- in order to be counted among the people group who follow the LORD Jesus. A citizen of the Kingdom. That’s how the Bible describes the nationality of the followers of Jesus. Ephesians 2:5-6 describes us being dead in our transgressions- that’s our original origins right there- dead because of the disease of sin, but we are “made alive together with Christ,” for He has “raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:20 says it even clearer “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
You see, ultimately the promise to Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations of the world was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who not only died for the Jewish people, but died for every human being no matter what the nationality. We just looked recently at Jesus’ command to all His followers, to go and “make disciples of all the nations.” I think sometimes, in our day to day lives, at best we maybe remember Jesus saying to “make disciples,” but I think we often forget that He said to “make disciples of all the nations.” The question for each of us, if we claim to follow Jesus, is how am I personally attempting to fulfil that command? That might be a little convicting for each of us, right? We need to ask ourselves, and ask the Lord- how can I, and how can we as One Church, be intentional in obeying this command to make disciples of all nations? If it is the Lord’s desire to unite cultures, peoples, and nations under His authority, what role are we to play in accomplishing that?
The world has ideas about how to accomplish that unity as well. Unity apart from God, is no new idea either. In Genesis chapter 11, before Abraham is even mentioned, we read that the world was uniting in order to build a city and a tower that would reach the heavens. The people were aiming to make a name for themselves, and it appears they were doing so selfishly and pridefully for themselves, building and working and aspiring together- with the Lord being completely absent from their minds. And the scripture says that God came down and confused their languages, and so scattered the people all over the face of the earth. The place ended up being called Babel (meaning confuse) because the Lord confused the language of the people.
What a wild parallel. There’s the tower of Babel where we have the people turning away from the Lord- and the result was confusion in communication and disunity. And here in Acts 2 we have the early church turning to the Lord and the result was clarity in communication and unity. Now I’m no rocket scientist, but I think the lesson here is that if we want to see unity, we must turn to the Lord. Turning to Him in repentance, and seeking Him in His word, and letting Him love people through us. In contrast- if we get selfish, prideful, and ignore our God- surely confusion and disunity will be our experienced result.
As we seek community with one another and with those around us, I know that we often gravitate toward individuals who are like us- like us as in sharing the same interests, or as in being of the same age bracket or similar season of life- and that is awesome- I hope you find common ground and community with many in these areas; but I also want to encourage you to seek community and learn from those who are different from you, even in this very building. To be willing to learn from others who are older, younger; who have kids, who don’t have kids; who are new in their faith, who have walked with the Lord many years; who wear a mask, who don’t wear a mask, etc. Part of God’s plan, of His people being in community, is sanctification. Sanctification being defined as the process of becoming more holy, more set apart- it’s the process of becoming more like Him in our thoughts and actions here on Earth. If we’ve received Jesus into our lives then God already sees us as holy and perfect in His Kingdom, but sanctification is the process of us becoming more holy and perfect in our day to day life here on Earth. And God’s desire for us in relational community is that we would be challenged, stretched, refined, sharpened- as we gather together, placing our differences aside, so that we can continue being sanctified- in order that we might glorify God together as His church. Even the relationships that rub you wrong, are a God sent opportunity for you to be refined, and more sanctified in your relationship with Jesus. And then I want to challenge you to look outside the walls of this building, in order to see all the different people from different walks of life, from different cultures, from different nations of origin- and consider how the Lord wants to use you to speak to them, of the “mighty deeds of God.”
In closing, I want you to look at verse 13 again… Here was this great work of God taking place- people hearing and understanding God’s good-news-message in their own heart language- and yet, there were some that mocked this event. I want to warn you that even as God is working and moving- even as His people are making good God honoring choices, doing good God honoring deeds, and seeking unity- there will still be critics. You will be judged by this world for your parenting decisions, your convictions at work, your life choices, who you befriend. Even in all the beauty of two churches coming together, who are envisioning the body of Christ experiencing greater “oneness”- even as that is taking place, there will be mocking critics. It’s ok though, next week we’re going to look at Peter’s defense as he addresses the mockers with God’s word- and may we learn to do the same- making all our decisions based on the guidance and parameters God gives us in His word, seeking the unity that only He can give, so that we can live confidently and always have the defense of His word backing us no matter what the world may say.
Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word - May 12, 2021Pastor Dave
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Pentecost1 Timothy 1:52 Timothy 1:5-7Pastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalChickens and ChurchPastor Wes
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Transcript
Hey church! Before we talk about chickens and church, I wanted to say that in our last mid-week message, I presented some teaching on ADHD, and I need to apologize. Many might have been thinking “Where did that come from?” I just want to let you know that I didn’t have an agenda concerning ADHD or ADHD medicines- I wasn’t targeting any specific families in that teaching- the reason behind that subject was that I was assigned it to do a research paper in one of my graduate classes, and I should have explained that reasoning last week. And I made a statement that I want to briefly clarify, I mentioned that “Concerning matters of physical/mental/spiritual health- I am encouraging that we as believers, would seek first the Lord’s help, prayerfully searching our hearts and minds looking for any disconnect between our lives and God’s word, looking to see what resources and means that perhaps God has already provided naturally in this world, and then lastly prayerfully seek the counsel of doctors and medicine.”
I want to clarify that I am not advocating for doctors and medicine as a last resort, like as in a last-ditch effort when all else fails. My intent, my heart behind that statement, is that in every area of life-decisions, we as God’s people should make seeking the Lord first priority. When facing decisions, when navigating life’s choices, medical or other- there’s a proper order for believers to follow- a “chain of command” so to speak. We pray and seek the Lord, we evaluate our walk with Him, we look for resources/truth/guidance He has already given, and then we seek the counsel of others. The idea is that we do all these things- together- but in that order. I didn’t mean to sound like if you walk up to a horrific automobile accident, that you pray and ask God to heal the injured person, and if He doesn’t, then enter into a time of personal reflection and confession before the Lord, then go find a natural herb in the woods to control the bleeding, then if that doesn’t work, then and only then- call 911. No- call 911! But even in that scenario- yes, pray for the involved person’s healing, and seek the Lord- asking how He might be working in your heart and in the heart of this person through this terrible situation, consider that maybe there is something already there that God would have you use to help- maybe you have a first aid kit in your car, or can help flag traffic in order to keep the person safe until further help arrives, etc. My point was: don’t just seek doctors and medicine- as a follower of Jesus seek His wisdom and healing, weigh what spiritual lessons He might be wanting to teach through the situation, and consider some possible means of help that perhaps He has already provided. Cool? Cool.
I have a story I want to share with you that I think serves as a good illustration for us. Recently my family and I got away for a few days at the beach. My mom lives down the driveway from us, and she took care of our dog Layli, and our chickens while we were gone. Each day we let the chickens out of their coop in order to free range, and then we close them up back in the coop in the evening so that raccoons, ‘possums, neighborhood dogs, etc. don’t eat them. So, my mom was doing this for us, and she called us one day to tell us that Layli had jumped over the fence at her house and had ran back up towards our house. Layli was gone for about 30 minutes, and when she returned to my mom’s house, she brought down a chicken in her mouth. I said, “Well, mom, what happened- what did you do with the chicken- was it dead, will it be ok?” And she told me she was pretty confident that the hen wouldn’t survive, it was injured and breathing really strangely- gasping for air, and that she had put it in a cooking pot outside. I don’t know if she was planning on eating it the next day or what. But I prayed, I prayed something like “Lord, it seems like there is always some sort of drama when we try to leave town, in your mercy and goodness, please don’t let it be so this time. Please heal the hen, restore it to health, may nothing be lost or hurt or damaged while we are gone.”
Well, the next day mom called me and told me she couldn’t believe it, but the hen was up and walking around in her yard, and that she had tried to catch it to return it back up to the others and the coop, but she couldn’t catch it, and she had fallen chasing it around. I told her, “I’m so glad it’s alive, but don’t try to catch it, just let the neighbors know, and we’ll be home the next day and we’ll deal with it then.” I thought in my mind that hopefully it would survive another day and not get eaten by some predator during the night. When we got home, we couldn’t find that chicken anywhere. I was almost more discouraged than I was when I had first heard about Layli deciding to run away and chew on a chicken. I thought, “Lord, surely you didn’t answer my prayer, healing the chicken, only for it to get eaten by another animal in the middle of the night?” Well, another day and night passed, and mom called to tell us she saw the chicken again in her yard. My boys and I immediately raced down there and for the next hour or so, attempted to catch that bird. It was impossible. Even with the three of us, we couldn’t corral it, it would run up into the underbrush, and with every step through the briars and mountain laurel, it would just take another step away from us. It didn’t trust us- we were attempting to save its life, but all it felt was a threat. We ended up fanning out and bush whacking through the thick woods, slowly pushing it closer and closer to our house, until it finally recognized its surroundings, and entered into the coop. Whew- what a saga.
Through this whole ordeal, I couldn’t help but see the parallel illustration that Jesus gives in the Bible for His sheep. Jesus is the good shepherd, the one who goes out to find the lost sheep in order that He might care for it and bring it back to safety. (John 10:11-18, Matt. 18:12-14) In my mind, I related the other chickens to the body of Christ- the church; and myself and my boys as followers of Jesus concerned for one who has wandered off and is isolated. Do we love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to that degree, that, if they are isolated from the fellowship of other believers- whether it be by their own choice coming from a place of hurt, or whether circumstances out of their hands have hindered them from regular fellowship- are we willing to pursue them, through the thorns and thickets of life, even as they attempt to avoid us and run away- will we continue to lovingly pursue them, calling them back to safety and fellowship with others? Church- I want to encourage you to be alert and sensitive to the Lord’s leading in how He might want to use you to minister to someone who might be hurting and isolated.
Mid-week DevotionalA Christian Perspective on ADHDPastor Wes
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Transcript
ADHD (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder) is a rapidly spreading diagnosis, not just in the United States of America, but across the world. It is uncertain the exact source or cause of ADHD, but research seems to point towards a combination of factors: genetics, brain injuries, nutrition, and physical/social environments which possibly trigger an unbalance of chemical levels within the brain, which causes “inattentive” or “hyperactive-impulsive” behavior. Symptoms often displayed are described as a pattern of: not being able to complete work, fidgeting, squirming, interrupting, forgetfulness, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and disorganization. There is no standard diagnostic protocol for ADHD, rather medical professionals use many different behavioral checklists and rating scales in order to determine whether or not a patient is diagnosed with ADHD. Once diagnosed, the most common form of treatment is through stimulant medication. Stimulants increase the amount and longevity of certain chemical levels within the brain, and are the most common form of ADHD medication. There are nonstimulant treatments available, such as biofeedback, physical activity, being outdoors in nature, and cognitive behavioral therapy that have been used in order to treat ADHD as well.
However, there also exists much criticism amongst those who claim that ADHD is perhaps a pharmaceutical money-making scheme, one that exploits the ‘medicalization’ of problematic behaviors in children, especially in children who are expected to behave and learn a specific way in a public school. There exists much controversy between researchers who support ADHD and researchers who debate the legitimacy of ADHD as a true medical condition. For the follower of Jesus, does the Bible offer any wisdom concerning ADHD and/or symptoms of ADHD?
It has been suggested that perhaps Simon Peter displayed behavior of what would now be classified as symptoms of ADHD. Notice Peter’s impulsiveness in response to Jesus after the disciples obeyed His instructions to cast the nets into the deeper water and they caught a miraculous amount of fish, Peter rashly says “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) Peter again responds impulsively with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, in a way that could perhaps even be described as “hyperactive” when he suggests making tabernacles for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. (Mark 9:5) Peter’s actions with the sword, cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant and then moments later his denial, on the night of Jesus’ arrest, would seem to further indicate traits of hyperactive, impulsive behavior. (John 18:10) Perhaps even Jesus addressing Peter three times back to back, after the denial and resurrection (John 21:15-17), was an attempt of Jesus to make sure He was heard and communicating well His forgiveness and charge of love to one who struggled with, (perhaps) a learning disability, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity.
While suggesting that Peter had ADHD is highly speculative, one does get the impression from the gospel books that he does appear to be rash, impulsive, focused on the wrong things, and hard-headed. No matter where one stands on the validity of ADHD being a true medical condition or not, it is obvious that Jesus deeply loved Peter and used him powerfully, despite the negative character traits or negative medical symptoms he displayed.
Two other biblical passages to consider concerning ADHD is 1 Samuel 16:7, “God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” and Romans 12:2 “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” In any attempt to help behavioral or mental symptoms, it is absolutely critical to consider what God’s word says concerning the heart and mind. Often the outward symptom (outward appearance) is focused on, and treatment for the symptom is attempted, yet it is the heart that the Lord is most concerned with- it is often within the heart that the true root of the problem exists. The same can be said of the mind. This passage in Romans tells us that the life of the believer still needs transformation, and that transformation occurs through the renewing of the mind. It is the heart and the mind that control thoughts and behaviors, and both heart and mind need the redemptive, transformative, renewing work of Jesus in order to achieve the best results for life change.
Whether you are a parent whose child is expressing ADHD symptoms, or whether you, yourself, wrestle with ADHD symptoms, the example of Peter should be one of encouragement and hope. No matter the medical issue, the Bible is clear: Jesus has power to work through and use physical ailments for His glory and the benefit of His people. But even in knowing God has the power to heal any infirmity and any issue of the heart/mind, it is perhaps tempting for the believer to ask God, “Why was I made like this- why do I have to wrestle with this issue?” The Bible cautions us against this thought process in Isaiah 45:9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands '?” The question to God should not be “why Lord?” but rather, “What would you, Lord, have me do/know from this point moving forward?”
Now, I’m no doctor, and I have no right to counsel anyone medically, but because of the controversy surrounding ADHD, and because of increased concern surrounding brain altering prescriptions, I would encourage followers of Jesus to very prayerfully seek information and medical counsel before taking or administering ADHD medications. Prayerfully considering the state of the heart and mind spiritually is a good first step in attempting behavior modification. A next step might include trying some alternative, non-medicinal options, before ingesting mind altering pills. Research has proven that physical activity and being outside can help in focus and in allowing the release of vital chemicals in the brain. Nutrition, vitamin support, and diet modifications should also be considered in the treatment of ADHD symptoms.
Now, it might sound like I am completely against doctors and prescription medication- which I am not, that is not the case. My own child has a prescription for mind-altering medication that helps to control seizures. Rather, what I am advocating for, is that concerning matters of physical/mental/spiritual health- I am encouraging that we as believers, would seek first the Lord’s help, prayerfully searching our hearts and minds looking for any disconnect between our lives and God’s word, looking to see what resources and means that perhaps God has already provided naturally in this world, and then lastly prayerfully seek the counsel of doctors and medicine. So often it is doctors and medicines that we seek first, without giving any thought to the fact that we are children of the King, children of the Lord God Almighty, Creator of the Universe, the giver of life and gifts- the one who holds all power- even power to heal.
Ultimately, a believer wrestling with ADHD should take much comfort in the example of grace, patience, and forgiveness demonstrated by Jesus towards Simon Peter. We each are created so differently, each with such differing experiences and various struggles, and yet the love of Jesus extends to us all as He desires us to be formed more into His image, character, mindset, and behavior. God sees you, and loves you, may He give you wisdom, blessing, and victory in life as you pursue Him!
What To Do When God Doesn’t DoActs 1:9-26Pastor Wes
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Transcript
This Jesus whom we see worshipped in the book of Revelation, as the Lamb who is worthy “to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing”(Rev. 5:12) is the same Jesus in the book of Matthew who says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20) High and “lo” He is with us through the end of time and beyond. Last week we transitioned from the books of the gospel into the book of Acts, where Luke records the works of this newly established group of people that would be known as the “church.” What great timing for us as One Church to be looking at and learning from the early, first church.
I like what Pastor Dave said last week about how Matthew recorded that as the disciples gathered around Jesus in Galilee, some doubted- and by “doubted” Pastor Dave mentioned that perhaps they were doubting themselves and the role that Jesus was entrusting them with. Jesus definitely addressed their doubt and fear by immediately putting their focus back on Him, saying that all authority was His; and in his command calling for them to be His representatives, He was emphasizing that He would be with them- they wouldn’t be alone or have to work in their own efforts. They, (we) would have adequate support from Jesus as we attempt to share with and teach others about Jesus’ teaching.
I have been studying and attempting to connect Jesus’ great commission command in the book of Matthew (Go and make disciples of all nations) to His great commission command in the book of Acts (You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth). I think in the past I had considered both commands being given by Jesus around the same time, and Luke and Matthew just give different parts of the conversation. Before either Pastor Dave or I had looked too much into this, we were talking and I asked, “Are both passages describing the same event?” And Pastor Dave responded “Well, I think Jesus just ascended back into heaven one time, right?” All joking aside, if we look closer, the setting of Matthew is in Galilee (Matt. 28:16) and then when we get to the book of Acts, Jesus’ ascension into Heaven is set on the Mount of Olives, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. (Acts 1:12)
Now maybe you’re like “It doesn’t bother me one way or the other, who cares if Jesus left His disciples from a mountain in Galilee or a mountain in Jerusalem,” but for me I am wired to where I need what I am reading to make sense, and if there appears to be a contradiction in the Bible, I know there has to be logical reason behind it appearing that way. When that happens there must be something I am not seeing correctly, and I want to find out what it is. For those of you who might feel like that too, here’s what I think makes sense of these two passages. Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, during the Feast of Passover, and when He arose the disciples were still there in Jerusalem, and He appeared to them a few times there, but then instructed them to meet Him in Galilee. So, they went up to Galilee, and that’s where we see in the book of John Jesus meet them on the lake’s shore, where He served them breakfast and encouraged Peter’s love for Him to be shown through caring for His sheep. So why did they end up back down in Jerusalem at the beginning of the book of Acts? Well, the book of Acts tells us in chapter 1 verse 3 that Jesus appeared several times to His followers over the course of 40 days. Now perhaps they immediately heeded Jesus’ command in the book of Matthew and left the small villages on the shores of Galilee to go where the biggest concentration of people would be- Jerusalem. But, consider also that 7 weeks after Passover, was the Jewish Festival of Weeks- a celebration of the wheat harvest and a time of nation-wide remembering of God’s provision for them as a people. 7 weeks is 49 days after Passover, and the 40 days mentioned in the book of Acts would be in range for when people from all over Israel (including the disciples) would again be returning from their home towns and villages back into Jerusalem.
And so, the disciples are there, just a short walk from Jerusalem’s walls, on the Mount of Olives which overlooks the city. And it probably seemed like something heavy was about to happen, in verse 6 they asked Him “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” They were hoping their political situation would at that time be fixed. They had hoped Jesus would fulfil the prophecies foretelling His forever rule of justice- in other words they were hoping Jesus would exercise His authority as King and Judge, and kick out the Roman occupation. But there is another, future day coming in which Jesus will exercise His authority as King and Judge. As you and I wait for that day, it is so easy for us to ask questions like this, “Lord, is it at this time You… will make life better for us?” We all are waiting for that better life: better finances, better house, car, job, improvement in our relationships, happiness, health. And as we get antsy for these better things- as we pray for them- I wonder if Jesus wants to answer us in a similar manner as He did His followers here in Acts 1:7-8: “It’s not for you to know God’s timing, he’s sovereign and in control of those things, but focus rather on these two things: being filled with the Holy Spirit and being a witness here in your hometown, in your greater vicinity, and even beyond.” (my paraphrase) We need to take our focus off of the things we want God to hurry up and do, and place our focus onto the things God is wanting us to hurry up and do.”You might want to write that down, that might be really helpful the next time you are feeling impatient. Let’s look now at verses 9-11…
Wow. The answer to the question about ushering in the full heavenly Kingdom was answered not just with a statement putting the responsibility of action onto His followers; Jesus also answered that question by immediately ascending into heaven- basically enforcing His words with a physical act that showed there was work now for them to do on Earth before the day of His full Kingdom installation. And the two men in white, assumedly angels, reinforced that as well: “Don’t just stand around- get to moving- He’ll come back in the same manner.” (again, my paraphrase)So, what did they do? Verse 12… (Verses 12-14)
So, after Jesus ascended into Heaven, they went back to the house where they were temporarily staying at in Jerusalem, and were gathered together with other followers of Jesus in an upper room. Perhaps this is the same upper room in which the disciples ate the last supper with Jesus before His death, but not necessarily so. Most of the houses in Jerusalem during this time had flat roofs with fencing on the edge, that provided a large open space for meetings and gatherings that often took place in the cool of evening after the day’s work- and these spaces were called “upper rooms.” This passage tells us in the following verse (verse 15) there were about 120 persons gathered on this rooftop, and that leads us to believe this particular home seems to be a very large one, probably a multi-family unit owned by a fairly wealthy family. You can imagine them all gathered under the setting sun, maybe there’s kids running around, there’s emotion in the air as everyone is attempting to process the past month and a half of events: Jesus declared King, then he’s killed, then He raised Himself back to life, He’s appeared and re-appeared in closed rooms, it’s assumed that now He’ll be the King they expected, but instead He says wait in Jerusalem for His Holy Spirit to come down (and what does that really mean anyway?), and they are to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, and to the furthest parts of the earth, and then He flies away like Superman. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster. So, there’s men and women talking, praying together and for each other, supporting each other, sharing meals together- as they all process through everything. This is the setting, and all of a sudden someone clears their throat “ahheem”… verse 15. (Verse 15-22)
This is the new Peter. He’s starting to get it. Maybe for the first time in his life he is beginning to see the bigger picture, seeing that God is sovereign and in control, and that God has a plan He is working, and not even those who would appear to be enemies can stop it. This guy Judas who betrayed Jesus- who seemingly caused Jesus’ death- wasn’t an unexpected blip on the radar, he wasn’t a glitch in the matrix, he wasn’t a surprise variable thrown into the equation, no- God saw it coming from a long time beforehand, and everything was still working out according to His plan, for the benefit of His Kingdom and His people. And Peter is starting to see it. In verse 20 he recalls to them the verses in the book of Psalms that, at the time were descriptive of King David’s experience, yet also were foretelling of the man who would betray the Messiah. The old Peter, in response to Jesus speaking of His death, was like “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” (Matt. 16:22) And here’s the new Peter, whose perspective has been shifted, who has found new understanding and new life perspective from His time reading scripture. He’s now like “Oh, I get it. God has been working His plan from the beginning. It’s all good.” The question is no longer “Why did all this happen,” or ‘Why won’t God do what we expected Him to do?” or “When will God do what we wish He would do?”- the question is “What are we going to do now in moving forward?” And Peter’s suggestion, is that they would assign to full time dedicated ministry, one more eye witness who knew and experienced Jesus first hand, from the start of His ministry when John baptized Him, all the way up to when He ascended up into Heaven. Verse 23-26…
According to the criteria of needing to have known and been with Jesus over the span of His 3- ish years of ministry, they nominated Joseph (who had two other nicknames) and Matthias. And they prayed. I love this short, one sentence prayer, basically “God, You know all things, so show us the decision to make.” And they didn’t debate over it, have a vote over it, go home and “sleep on it.” And we don’t know exactly how they “drew lots” but it was a similar concept to our modern-day coin toss. “Heads Joseph, tails Matthias. God- may you guide the coin to land how You want it to land.” And the denarius landed on tails. Matthias was now set apart and recognized by the church for the specific work of being sent out as an apostle to make Jesus known.
All those gathered together were considered disciples of Jesus, and they would all be His witnesses, but some would be His witnesses as they continued working their “secular” job, some would be His witnesses as they continued their role in taking care of their family, but there were others dedicated to the specific work of being an apostle- an eyewitness of Jesus sent out on mission to teach, preach, and tell others about Him. The word apostle is most likely related to our word “postal” with the same Greek root meaning of being sent out- as in letters sent out to other places, or pastors/missionaries sent out to other places. We each, as followers of Jesus, are called to be His witnesses. We each are to be His disciples. But there are some that He draws out from traditional places of employment, into specialized areas of ministry. And while full time ministry is a heavy path to be led on, please don’t consider your journey with the Lord any “less than” than those whom He has called to full time ministry. Your obedience, your witness for Jesus in the place He has placed you is just as precious in His sight as the missionary called to the other side of the world. Somehow over many years, there has been this perspective cultivated that if you are really serious about following Jesus, then you will become a pastor or missionary. This just simply isn’t true. Jesus wants to use you right where you are. He desires for people to seriously follow Him- from all walks of life, in all different areas of life. Having personally, myself, worked in the music industry, in the white-collar corporate industry, the blue-collar manual labor industry, overseas mission field, and pastoral ministry; I have sensed God’s call to be His representative in each area and I believe He is calling each of us to walk with a missional, ministerial focus no matter where He leads us. I’ll never forget what my wife Nikki felt the Lord saying to her one day as she considered this concept. She sensed His conviction saying “Nikki, your obedience is just as important whether I tell you to move overseas to minister in a refugee camp, or if I tell you to take soup to your neighbor.” We each are called to be His representatives and witnesses. We just have been given different areas in which to do that in. Ok, back to the passage…
Now, maybe Peter and this first church should have waited, for the special filling of the Holy Spirit they were all anticipating, before making any ministry decisions. Maybe specifically nominating one other person was unnecessary, maybe God wanted to use Paul as this “12th Apostle.” The Bible doesn’t give any guidance to if this is what they should have done or not. But I have a feeling that if they were functioning with one mind and devoting themselves together in prayer, as verse 14 states, that surely God wouldn’t have let them somehow screw it up and make a wrong decision. God was surely moving amongst them and leading them, and leading even Peter in His speech here. But either way, the whole point is that they took what Jesus said seriously, and were able to view this hurtful betrayal by Judas through the lens of scripture and through the lens of knowing God is in control. They heeded Jesus’ instructions and stopped worrying about when God was going to do this or that. They took initiative and made a decision to move in a way that would give momentum to redeeming the past, and at the same time give momentum to building the future Kingdom. God was going to use them to spread the good news of His salvation no matter what curves or twists in the road were ahead- if they would continue to view life through the lens of His truth.
Now, I want us to walk through some practical truths that we can discern from this passage. Whenever we are tempted to ask all the “when” questions, all the “Are you going to do this thing now Lord?” questions, may we be reminded of Jesus’ words in verses 7 and 8. May we recognize He is in control, and may we wait for His Spirit to work in us, and allow His spirit to use us in speaking His truth to those around us.
Secondly, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of followers of Jesus meeting together with “one mind” and “continually devoting themselves to prayer” as verse 14 tells us. How do all of us from different experiences and backgrounds meet together with one mind? We all come with the mind that recognizes Jesus as Lord- Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. We humbly want Him to teach us and for Him be honored above all else, knowing that one day we will share in His greatness. We devote ourselves to prayer- praying for each other throughout the week, praying with others on the phone, before meals, along with the Pastor on Sunday morning as he leads in prayer, with others gathered on Wednesday nights for prayer. Whether gathered formally on Sundays or Wednesdays or through other church activities during the week, or gathered together informally over meals, in homes, at the workplace, on the phone or online- Jesus intends to work and move through, shape and mold, encourage and equip His followers as they meet together.
And a huge way in which we encourage and equip ourselves, and encourage/equip one another is through applying scripture to our current situations and life. Peter found scripture that spoke to what was weighing on his heart. He studied the scriptures to gain insight for his present situation. He found comfort in seeing in scripture that God knew beforehand what Judas would do, that God was going to judge Judas accordingly, and that scripture foretold of another who would take Judas’ place. Now scripture might not speak to you as specifically and detailed as it did concerning Judas, but there is an enormous amount of wisdom, and direct transferrable, truth- application-life-lessons to be gained from the Bible that speak on some level to any situation we have ever or will ever face here on earth. But you will probably need more than just our Sunday morning time in God’s word, to be most fulfilled and equipped for the mission Jesus has for you in this world. I encourage you to seek Him in His word throughout the week. He wants to speak to you. He wants to use you. He wants you to live with purpose and mission. And I’m sure there are questions we could be asking, concerning when is God going to do this, or that. But the question right now for you and I in our relationship with Jesus is “What are we going to do now in moving forward?”
Mid-week DevotionalActs 1 - about Luke, the authorPastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalSpiritual WarfarePastor Wes
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Transcript
A couple weeks ago, I presented a teaching on what I called Spiritual Jiu-Jitsu. My premise was that the high-level grappling, submission-based, gentle fighting art of Jiu-Jitsu is, in a way, intertwined with the roots of Christianity. I encouraged God’s people to wrestle with Him in a Jiu-Jitsu type way- holding on closer and tighter to Him, because only in being close to him can we find true blessing, forgiveness, hope, and purpose.
Now, there is another form of “spiritual fighting” the Bible mentions, that is often termed as “spiritual warfare.” The Bible mentions, concerning the follower of Jesus, that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12) Now you might feel that there are real people out to get you in life, while this may be true, the Bible is clear that mankind’s true enemy is spiritual in nature. Our enemy is one that wants to see God’s creation destroyed, families torn apart, minds distracted from truth, lives giving into temptation, lives in-effective for living for the things that really matter- ultimately our enemy wishes that death and destruction would reign in our lives rather than the life-saving presence of King Jesus.
Jesus describes this enemy as a thief, He says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). Peter, who had first-hand experience with this real enemy’s temptation, says this “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). Now, our natural reaction to words like thief, devil, a devouring-prowling-lion might create a little fear within our hearts. But nowhere in the Bible are we told to fear our enemy. No, we aren’t to fear any man, or any spiritual or physical enemy- in fact the only one we are told to fear is God Himself. Then concerning our enemy, we are to, again as Peter says “Be of sober spirit,” and “be on the alert.” When we think of being “sober,” we think of being in our right mind- not hindered mentally by alcohol or by any other drug. Now obviously being physically sober is necessary in order to be of sober spirit, but being of sober spirit is probably another level above just being physically sober. We could be physically sober, but in our hearts, in our spirit, we could still be distracted/hindered/handicapped by many things: over-focus on temporary worldly things, loving things more than Jesus, worshipping in our hearts something or someone other than Jesus, believing lies from the enemy, doubting God’s goodness, truth, and promises, etc. I believe what the Bible teaches us concerning spiritual warfare is not an over-focus on our enemy, his plans, and his tactics, but rather we are to focus solely on God- on His truth, His plans, His purpose. You aren’t to fear, because “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) God is greater, He is with you, and it is He who has the power to defeat the enemy in your life.
My family often sees a little bit of what you might consider spiritual warfare on Saturday nights. I often have trouble sleeping that night, or have bad nightmares, or out of the ordinary things happen. I assume it’s because come Sunday morning, there is an enemy who hates to see Jesus worshipped, who hates to see the body of Christ encouraged, strengthen, convicted, functioning- that enemy would much rather see followers of Jesus fearful, distracted, frustrated, tired, unmotivated to be with others of God’s people. This past Saturday evening, my wife and I were woken up to a loud crash inside our home. I got up out of bed to see what had happened, to find that a picture frame had fallen off our wall and shattered glass in the hallway. I swept the glass up against the wall so that no one would step on it in the night, prayed out loud asking for God’s protection for my family, and then went back to bed. In the morning I found that the picture that had broken was one amongst many wedding pictures of various couples, and it just so happened to be the wedding picture of my wife and I. I also noticed that the nail in the wall was still perfectly secure, even angled slightly up so that a picture frame wouldn’t slide off. I examined the picture frame, and though the glass had broken all on the floor, the frame itself and the hooking mechanism were still both perfectly intact. I tugged on some of the other frames to test their strength, and none of them budged. The bottom line was that everyone had been in bed, no one was moving around the house, nothing was shaking any walls- yet somehow the picture frame leaped off the wall and crashed on the ground.
Now, you might be reacting to this story in one of two ways- first you might be thinking, “Oh it’s nothing Wes, there’s some other scientific explanation,” and you might attempt to downplay any idea of an enemy in a spiritual world that would seek to distract or cause fear. Or, perhaps you might be leaning towards the other extreme and be thinking “Oh Wes, you need to perform some spiritual ritual, cast out demons, have a prayer vigil, and, and…” But I would advocate that you not adopt either of these views. The Bible warns us of a spiritual enemy, so yes- we are to be aware of and not pretend that enemy doesn’t exist, but nor are we to over-focus on his limited power or be tempted to fear. Our biblical response to this type of situation must be claiming God’s truth and promises, and asking for His intervening presence and protection- and then trust that God is fully capable of handling the enemy.
While God is all knowing, and all present everywhere, our enemy is not. If we have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, His spirit resides within us and there is no room inside us for the enemy to get inside our head. He doesn’t know or hear your thoughts as does God. For this reason, I have made it a habit of praying out loud. I want my enemy to know that I am standing on God’s truth, trusting in Jesus, and claiming His truth and promises. I want my enemy who comes to tempt me to know that I am claiming God’s word and promises, promises like “Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Often at the very mention of the name Jesus, I already sense God’s peace, and no longer feel threatened to fear.
I want to encourage you to be aware in your own life, to be of “sober spirit” and “on alert” against this adversary of mankind. In some places of the world spiritual and demonic activity is very obvious, blatant, and out in the open. But often here the spiritual activity taking place is much more subtle. One of the best tactics of the enemy around here is for you to be attacked, but not realize you are being attacked. He would love for you to not even notice it, but if you do, then he’d prefer for you to just brush it off as nothing, or for you to go to some weird extreme place of fear. Be alert, on guard, vigilant, not looking for the devil under every rock and around every corner, or blaming him for your own sin “the devil made me do it,” but have a healthy awareness that in this world there is a very real battle raging all around us for the hearts and minds of men and women. Recognize what is going on… when you’ve found new joy in being with God’s people and you’re learning a bunch, and all of a sudden something happens in your life that will now make it harder for you to make it to church… when you’re repairing a relationship and out of the blue a new circumstance is presented that would seem to undermine the repair being made… when you’re thinking about sharing Jesus with a friend and every excuse in the world immediately floods into your mind… Be alert. Search out some “go to” verses from scripture that you can claim in situations so that you would not give in to the tactics of the enemy who seeks to destroy your life, but that in Jesus you will be able to stand firmly in His truth and have life in Him more abundantly.
How To Deal With The PastPastor Wes
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Transcript
It was fun last week to zoom out a bit, and look at the resurrection of Jesus from the broader perspective of the whole Biblical narrative. Today we’re going to zoom back in and look at a really beautiful passage as we complete our study from the book of John, in his final chapter, 21.
Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection. Then He appeared to the two guys walking the road to Emmaus, and the two guys then went to tell the other disciples what had happened. As they were telling the other disciples about meeting Jesus, there Jesus appeared. I think this appearance of Jesus described in the book of Luke is probably the same appearance John describes in his account, the appearance of Jesus when Thomas wasn’t present. (John 20:19) Then eight days later Jesus appeared again with Thomas there. After that, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and then 2 other disciples (perhaps even the same two that were walking the road to Emmaus)- all these went fishing on the lake. And in very similar fashion to one of the first miracles He did early in His ministry, Jesus called out from the shore, telling them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, and the net became full of an insane amount of fish. 153 large fish to be exact. (John 21:11)
Now there’s lots of great little details that John mentions in his account, many I believe are mentioned so that we might better grasp the meaning and significance of the events, and others are just simply details recorded because John is vividly describing what happened in an eye witness narrative. Some of the details from John 21 that Pastor Dave walked us through, I want to point out again, because of their bearing on the passage we’ll be looking at today. First, notice in verse 7 that it is “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (the author John) who says “It is the Lord,” pointing out to Peter that’s it’s Jesus on the shore. And counterintuitively, Peter puts on his outer garment in order to swim ashore. Now, if you have ever attempted to swim with street clothes on rather that swimwear, you know that it is not an easy task. Can you imagine attempting to swim in the traditional “outer wear” rob that they wore during this time period?
The next detail I want you to note is in verse 9. As soon as Peter and the others arrive to shore, they are greeted with a charcoal fire, entering into a fire-side, camp type setting, which surely would have reminded everyone of the charcoal fire mentioned earlier, when Jesus was on trial and Peter denied knowing Jesus to those gathered around the fire. (John 18:18)
Lastly, in verses 10-11 we see that Jesus asks them to bring to Him “some” of the fish caught, and of the 7 men present, it is Peter who jumps up and doesn’t just bring “some” fish as Jesus requested, but rather Peter, by himself, drags the heavy bundle of fish through the water onto shore. So, there they are- gathered around Jesus- who is cooking fish and bread on the fire, and then serving them so they could eat. Verse 15-17…
Peter was surely shaken after that night he emphatically denied Jesus three times. I’m sure he felt like he had let Jesus down, the other disciples down, and himself down. Especially after that last meal they had shared together, when Peter, in front of all the disciples, declared “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” (Matthew 26:33) Have you ever made a promise, a commitment, declared a change in your life- only to later do the very thing you vowed never to do again? It’s a terrible feeling. This was Peter. Here he is, and there’s every opportunity in the world for PTSD to creep in- he’s sharing a meal (like the meal in which he declared his allegiance to Jesus), he’s at a campfire (like the campfire on the night of the denial), and he is publicly questioned three times (like on the night of the denial). And the event of the miraculous catch of fish, is reminiscent of the miraculous catch of fish when Peter was first learning of who Jesus was, where he was shaken to his core and cried out “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) On top of all that, Jesus gives another nod to Peter’s past by referring to his former name “Simon, son of John.”
It’s as if the whole scene has been created in order for Peter to be forced into dealing with the past. As if Peter is having to retrace every mistake, walk through, analyze and deal with his sin step by step, looking through the lens of his love for Jesus. The past can be a difficult thing. So often we want to forget about the past- to not be reminded of our mistakes or the bad things that have happened to us. Now, while it’s not healthy to remain in and dwell in the past, it is healthy to look into the past and process it with Jesus’ help, so that we can in a healthy manner move forward into the future Jesus has for us.
I want us to look at how Jesus deals with Peter’s past mistakes here. But first let’s consider how Peter is dealing with his past. The details I mentioned earlier give us a bit of a clue. Peter was so focused on the past that he didn’t even recognize who it was that was calling out to them from the shore. Even though the very same miracle was performed that was previously a pivot point for Peter in following Jesus, Peter somehow didn’t see it. John saw it, and had to snap Peter out of it- “Hey Peter- dude… you don’t recognize that miracle? It was the one that changed your life. Hello? Bro- it’s Jesus!” So Peter snaps out of it, puts on the tunic, and jumps into the water. Now, maybe there’s an argument that he put on the tunic out of respect for Jesus, like maybe he was in his underwear on the boat and felt it not proper to approach God Himself, whom He had been ashamed of and denied just a couple weeks ago- maybe under the circumstances it would have been like showing up for your traffic violation at the courthouse wearing a nothing but a bathing suit- maybe- but what I’m seeing here is also a little bit of unnecessary work, of trying a bit too hard, complicating the situation- making things harder than they need to be, almost out of penitence and punishing oneself for previous mistakes.
Then as I mentioned, in verse 10, Jesus tells “them”- as in all seven of them, to bring “some” fish over, as in enough for each of them to have a satisfying meal. But Peter, perhaps before anyone else could get to it, rushes over by himself, and drags all the fish ashore. Talk about being an overachiever. I mean he is working hard here, half punishing himself, and half “kissing up,” in a sense, to Jesus. But I don’t think Jesus is too impressed by all the extra suffering on Peter’s part. Look at how Jesus deals with Peter’s past here. You might expect Him to say something like, “Peter, are you sorry for denying me in front of everyone? You promise never to do it again? If so, then we’re good- I forgive you.” Does he say, “What were you thinking? Why would you do that?” No, but those are some of the things we often say when we deal with offering forgiveness to those around us, or to our children, but here Jesus shows us the heart of the matter when dealing with repentance, forgiveness, and grace. Jesus prompts the offender to consider what it is that their heart truly loves, and then challenges the offender in how to express that love. Don’t miss this truth this morning. So often we are focused on attempting to change our own behavior, or a friend’s, parent’s, spouse’s, or child’s behavior, and it’s not so much the behavior that needs to be attacked, it’s the love of the heart that needs to be re-directed. If we can re-direct the current of the heart’s love, then the behavior will fix itself. If we can fall more in love with Jesus we will become different, better people. If you can prompt your friend, parent, spouse, child to fall more in love with Jesus, they will become different, better people. Stop worrying about the behavior that is a problem- the behavior is only a symptom of the real issue. The real issue, the root of the problem, is the love of the heart. So often we replace a love for Jesus with a love for fun, happiness, money, pride, success- whatever- and if we could only realize that the earthly fun, happiness, money, pride, success will one day be vaporized and that the new reality we will be living in will be a reality constructed of the authenticity in which our hearts loved Jesus.
And Jesus knows that we are going to make mistakes- yes, you and I are going to mess it up. But the heart of Jesus is not a list of do this/don’t do that, it’s not a heart of beating you down when you mess it up, it’s not a heart of shame and guilt- the heart of Jesus is one that is tender, that asks us one question after we screw it up-“Do you love me?” In other words, “Who, or what is it that your heart is loving?” And our answer is “Yes, Jesus, I do love you. Forgive me for not showing it, help me to better express my love for You.” Or our answer is “No Jesus, I realize am not loving you. Forgive me for not loving You, help me to better see your love for me.” Because if we could really see His goodness, if we could see through the blinders, distractions and false narratives and really grasp His immense goodness and love for us- the affections of our heart would be drawn to Him like a powerful magnet, and again, we would become changed as a natural result.
Concerning the word “love” in this passage, perhaps you’ve heard before that the Greek language uses different words for our word “love” in English. There’s eros- a romantic love. Phileo- brotherly love. Storge- family bond type love. Agape- the unselfish, God-like, faithful and committed love. In the original Greek language used by the author John, he records Jesus as saying first to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you agape me, more than these?” After quickly analyzing his actions, Peter realizes he can’t truthfully respond, “Yes, I agape you”- (love you unselfishly, faithfully, with fullness and commitment)- no, he had screwed that up, so he humbly responds as “Yes, I phileo-type love you”- (you are my brother I love deeply). The second time, Jesus again uses the agape love word in His question, and Peter again responds using the phileo love word. But the third time Jesus questions, Jesus uses Peter’s word for love- phileo. “Simon, son of John, do you phileo love me as a brother?” And Peter responded “Yes, I phileo love you.” The nuance is subtle, but it’s as if Jesus basically says, “Ok, I’ll meet you there on your level. Let’s start with the phileo love.” And I believe we can then safely assume that it was Jesus’ desire from that point on, to help grow Peter’s phileo love into a more complete and solid agape love.
We all are wrestling with different things in our hearts, and we probably all express different levels of love or lack of love for Jesus, because of our past. Some of us grew up in church, and have had a great experience- yet we are tempted to “love” Jesus through our traditions, and maybe just recently we are learning how to better walk with Jesus and love Him in a more daily, natural, and authentic relationship. Others of us have had negative experiences with the church, and we’ve associated those experiences directly with Jesus, which has made it a little more difficult to love Him, and maybe just recently we have begun attempting to heal from those experiences and open our hearts afresh to the possibility of loving Jesus and drawing closer to Him. Maybe there are others that feel your experience with this guy Jesus is totally all new in comparison to your past experience, and you’re sorting through the desires of your heart even right now as we are gathered. No matter where your heart is, I encourage you to be open to the reality that Jesus wants to show you more of His love, and He wants your heart to be drawn to love Him even more.
Now throughout the bible we can find teaching on examples of what the outward actions and signs look like for one who loves Jesus, but here in this passage Jesus really simplifies the equation. “Tend My lambs.” “Shepherd My sheep.” “Tend My sheep.” He could have said, “If you love me, then be bold in your witness.” “If you love me, then never lie again.” “Peter, if you love me, then don’t be arrogant in your assessment of your devotion.” No, Jesus simplifies and comes back to what He had previously laid out as the most important commandments in all of scripture.Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:37-38) Love God, love people. If you love God, you will show it by loving people, especially His lambs and sheep who have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus.
There are subtle nuances here in Jesus’ words as well. “Tend My lambs.” The word “tend” suggests serving, feeding, patiently giving care to the lambs- lambs being the young sheep, the new sheep- the ones still growing. “Shepherd My Sheep.” The word “shepherd” suggests perhaps some firmer leading, guiding, and care for sheep- sheep being older, more experienced and “grown” than the younger lambs. Lastly Jesus says “Tend My Sheep.” Even older, more experienced and “grown” sheep need tender “lamb-like” care at times. Isn’t that where Peter is even right now? He’s no new lamb to this, he’s walked every day of the past 3 years hearing, seeing, experiencing the presence, work, and teaching of Jesus, and throughout that journey has shown himself in different places: as a mature sheep who Jesus affirmed- as in the time Peter responded to Jesus and said “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” and Jesus in return replied “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona.” (Matt. 16:16-17) Minutes later Peter showed himself as a mature sheep who needed firm shepherding as he told Jesus concerning His death “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” And Jesus responded firmly “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:22-23) And here in this passage in John, Peter appears to be a little more like a timid, humble, young lamb, as he responds to Jesus “I don’t know if I’m ready yet for agape loving you, how about phileo love?”
Just as we each are in different places concerning our heart’s love for Jesus, we need to understand that depending on the person and circumstance, we must express His love for others in different ways. There’s no question that if we love Jesus, we are to love His church, but that love for His church is sometimes tender, and yet sometimes firm. And the love we show to other followers of Jesus needs to be expressed in ways so that the youngest all the way up to the oldest, can receive it. (even in times when the oldest don’t act like they’re the oldest) And yes, Peter grew to be a leader in the early church, and yes, this passage is a call to other leaders, pastors, shepherds in the church, but I believe that tending to the flock is a responsibility for us all as followers of Jesus. No matter where you are in your journey with the Lord, no matter what your area of influence, I believe Jesus is calling you to a higher level of love for Himself, and calling you into a higher level of love for His people. And if we could solidify in our hearts our love for Jesus, that love would carry us through any of life’s difficulties. Look with me at the difficulty Peter would face, in which he would need his love for Jesus solidified firmly in his heart, verse 18. (John 21:18-19)
Peter would later be bound, and led to crucifixion because of his testimony for Jesus. The historians of the day wrote that Peter even insisted that he be crucified upside down, because he wasn’t worthy of dying in the same manner as did Jesus. It would appear that Jesus’ method of forgiveness, relationship healing, restoration worked. It would appear that Peter grew from phileo love of Jesus into agape love for Jesus.
Now this whole conversation could possibly be summarized and concluded by Jesus saying “follow me.” In other words, the gist of the conversation was for Peter to follow Jesus’ way of loving God and loving His people- but it appears this command wasn’t just spiritual in meaning, it was physical as well- Jesus was getting up from the campfire and wanted Peter to follow, to walk with Him. So Peter follows, and this is what happens, verse 20… (John 21:20-25)
I love this. Peter gets up with Jesus, and the other disciples are content to stay seated by the fire and chit chat, but John is like “I don’t want to miss anything this raise-himself-back-to-life-guy says or does” and he gets up to follow them. He jumps at the opportunity to get some more Jesus time! I hope that as we grow our love for Jesus, we would be the same. That we would no longer be content just talking about work, play, the ballgame- but that we’d be hungry to hear about and witness how Jesus is interacting with His other followers. So, Peter notices John tagging along behind them. Perhaps he asks about John out of genuine concern for his future, or perhaps he asks about him out of feeling annoyed by the eavesdropping, but judging from Jesus’ response it seems that Peter’s motive in asking about John is rooted in a feeling of something like “Ok Jesus, you’ve told me of my scary future, is this guy John’s future better or worse than mine?” It seems Peter was comparing the road he must walk with the road John must walk, and Jesus responded with an answer that basically told Peter not to worry about John’s future.
You see, there’s a difference between caring for God’s people and comparing with God’s people. You’re not caring for God’s people if you are comparing your road to theirs. You’re not caring for God’s people if you are sizing up their situation in light of your experience and situation. I’m not saying that there isn’t opportunity to teach and share with others from your own experiences with God- no, we definitely need that. We need to hear from each other and share with each other the things we have each learned on our personal journey, but what we don’t need to be doing is comparing our journey with others out of envy for where they are in comparison, or with a pat on the back out of pride because of where we are in comparison. Follow Jesus, be obedient to Him, walk on the road He has given you- whether it appears easy or difficult in comparison to those around you. Pastor Dave and I’s hope for ourselves and for each of you, is that we each would catch the vision of loving Jesus and tending to His sheep, with a Jesus-like humility and authenticity, void of any envy or pride. May we thoroughly address our past issues, looking at them through the lens of our present heart affection towards Jesus. And as we engage with each other- sharing each other’s burdens, hearing each other’s stories, learning from past experiences, witnessing each other’s struggles- may we constantly be encouraging each other to more fully love Jesus and His people.
Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word -- Colossians 3Pastor Dave
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Resurrection Day HIStoryPastor Dave and Pastor Wes
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Transcript
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was dark, and He said “Let there be light”; and there was light. Using His words alone, God spoke into existence- day and night; water, sky and land; plants and trees; sun, moon and stars; fish, birds, and all the animals. And then taking dust from the ground God formed man in His own image and breathed His life into Him. Taking a rib out of man he formed woman. And God loved His creation, and He wanted man and woman to truly love him as well, so when he formed them He allowed them to have freedom of choice. He didn’t program them as robots to automatically love and obey Him as their creator, no they would have to make that choice on their own.
So, Adam and Eve, for a time period, enjoyed a close relationship with their creator God, living in the tropical paradise of the garden of Eden. Life was good. No stress, no worries, no fears- just joy. There was fulfilling purpose, true peace, nourishment. It was the life we all desire in the deepest place of our heart, the life that we all sense we were intended to live. God had given Adam and Eve one command to obey: they could eat of any tree from the garden, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We all know what happened, Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of the forbidden fruit, and thus lost their innocence, their close friendship with God, and their home in the garden of Eden. Their one act of disobedience- their one act of sin- opened up a spiritual gateway to all of mankind. With that sin, difficulty entered into the world- mankind would have to work terribly hard in order to survive, in order to put food on the table. Survival of the human race would be painful- even in childbearing. Tension entered into the relationship between man and woman, and death began to haunt every single living being. On top of all this, moving forward, mankind would now have a real enemy to constantly deal with, not a slithering snake enemy, but the evil, slithering forces of Satan and demons that were represented by the serpent. (Gen. 3:14-19) If you think about it- all the pain, hurt, and difficulty with life in this world can be put into these categories: the difficulty of work and provision, the pain of birthing and raising children, relationship tension, death, and the tempting attacks from evil forces that persuade us to disobey God. The reason you and I get frustrated, stressed, fearful, angry, hurt- the reason is linked directly back to this event of disobedience that took place in the Garden of Eden. Yes, thousands of years later, the consequences of our inability to be fully obedient to God continually haunt us. Yet, as we see the problems of our day rooted in the curse of that day, we must also see that the solution of our day is also rooted in the promise of that day. To the serpent, representing Satan and the forces of evil, God said that though he may bruise the heel of mankind, mankind would end up bruising his head. Yes, God’s plan was that one day the forces of evil would be dealt a head crushing blow. And in order for mankind to understand the depth of God’s plan, God chose to reveal things one step at a time, properly taking time in order to successfully woo mankind’s heart back to His.
As the human race multiplied, so did wickedness and rebellion against God. Part of God’s plan was to reveal His holiness and justice to mankind, and thus Noah witnessed God’s judgment like no one had ever seen before, as those who had completely rejected God were destroyed in a catastrophic worldwide flood.
As the earth was repopulated, God chose the family of Abraham to reveal to the rest of the world His goodness and blessings. Abraham’s son Isaac had a son named Jacob, and through Jacob the nation of Israel was birthed. This nation was to know and understand the creator God, to walk in fellowship with Him, to be the mouthpiece through which God spoke to all of mankind. But even early in their relationship with God, they too rejected Him, just as Adam, Eve, and the others during Noah’s time did. The people of Israel broke fellowship with their God, and eventually found themselves enslaved by the nation of Egypt.
God still loved His creation, and thus saved His people by sending them a man named Moses. God performed miraculous signs and wonders that only He could do, in an attempt to captivate their attention and win them back into a love relationship with Him. In His very first command to them as a corporate entity, He told them to offer up a perfect, unblemished lamb as a blood sacrifice. This lamb was to die in their place. The sin and wrongdoing of the people was in effect transferred from themselves and placed instead onto the lamb. They were to eat this roasted lamb with bread that didn’t have any rising agents in it- no bacteria- just pure flour, water, and oil; and alongside the lamb and purified bread, they were to eat bitter herbs. They were to eat this meal quickly- standing up- not seated, because they were to soon rush out from Egypt. They smeared the lamb’s blood over their household doors, and this proved each household’s obedience, and they were able to live, as God judged their hard-hearted Egyptian neighbors with the death of the firstborn in every family. This special meal became known as the Passover meal, it was commanded by God to be done each and every year, it was to serve as a reminder of God’s rescue, a reminder that God requires perfection (unblemished lamb), a reminder that death would continue to be the consequence of sin, and a reminder that death would also somehow be the salvation for the one who obeyed God.
That same night the people of Israel were rescued by God, and He led them into the wilderness where He personally would teach them. He gave them the 10 commandments, and other rules as well that would help guide them in a right relationship with Him and with their fellow mankind. As time passed, what happened is that the people, for the most part, followed God’s rules, yet still rejected Him in their hearts. They were more concerned with checking the right boxes than they were with walking in a close relationship with their Creator God. They even preferred that a man would lord over them as king, instead of their creator God serving them as their King. Many kings led Israel further and further away from fellowship with God. King David however, was a king that pleased God, yet He pleased God not in living a perfect life. David had some massive catastrophic failures, but what pleased God was his heart. David admitted his wrongness, and he admitted God’s rightness. David sought forgiveness from God and chose to turn from His sin, following God and thus enjoying close fellowship with Him.
As mentioned, most of the other kings weren’t like David, they rejected God and brought the people further and further away from Him. The people still celebrated the Passover meal, but it’s significance- what it was pointing to- was just lost in a cultural tradition. Knowing God required perfection was mistranslated into trying to look perfect on the outside, knowing that death would be the consequence of sin was downplayed and ignored, and knowing that death would also somehow be the salvation for the one who obeyed God was perhaps written off as some sort of spiritual mumbo jumbo. Doesn’t sound too different than today- a world of cultural traditions, hypocrisy, ignoring the consequences of sin, not connecting any lines between the dots of the origin of this world, the problem of this world, what death has to do with it, and whose death is able to give life.
After many years of patience, and attempting to call the people to return to a right understanding of Him, God began to connect some dots so that His created beings could understand. The people had witnessed His just and holy judgement through the flooding of the earth, His salvation and mercy to Noah, His power through miracles in Egypt, His ability to rise up leaders like Noah, Abram, Moses, David. His people would, for a season, walk with Him in right relationship, but then would reject Him, His protecting presence would depart, the people would then realize their mistakes and repent, and then God would rescue. But God wanted this cycle to end. He announced through the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming… when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people… For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34) And then through the prophet Micah, God proclaimed that in Bethlehem a ruler would come, one whose origins were from long ago. (Micah 5:2) And through the prophet Isaiah, “the people who walk in darkness will see a great light… You [God] will increase their joy… You will break the yolk of their burden… For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace”. (Isaiah 9:2-7) These prophecies were announcing the coming of the Messiah, the eternal King that would come and make a way for man’s cycle of rebellion, sin, and death to be ended. The Messiah would come and would once and for all restore the fellowship between God and man. And He would serve as the final Passover lamb required for God’s rescue.
The majority of listeners went on with their day, shrugging off these messages, continuing to reject God. And God sent warnings to His people- that they needed to repent- that there would be consequences if they did not stop doing evil. But the people did not heed the warnings, and God sent the consequences He had warned them of. The nation of Babylon came in and conquered Israel, destroying Jerusalem and the temple, and the people were taken as captives back to Babylon. But… in Babylon, there existed some who had the heart of David, a repentant heart- who mourned their lack of fellowship with God, and longed with all their heart for God to bring the promised Messiah that would once and for all time break the curse of sin on humanity.
This minority group, waited and waited as the heavens were silent, knowing that one day God would save them, bringing them the Messiah that would restore the hope, peace, and joy that Adam and Eve experienced with God before disobedience entered the world. And in a completely unexpected surprise, God sent Himself as the promised Messiah, born to the virgin Mary and her fiancé Joseph, in the sleepy village of Bethlehem. The angel of God told Mary and Joseph to name Him Jesus, the Greek form of Joshua- meaning “God is salvation.”
Jesus grew into a man, and began announcing His reign as King, and began announcing the type of Kingdom in which He ruled. He invited all to turn away from the cycle of sin, rebellion, and disobedience, and to turn to God in repentance for His forgiveness. He wanted all to understand that He was sent by God in order to provide the way in which to have a restored relationship with God. He announced that the world we know would end, and that those who followed Him and received God’s forgiveness would live forever in a new place- His Kingdom, where there would be forever life, peace, joy, and happiness. He proved the validity of what He said by the impossible miracles He performed, giving sight to the blind, restoring the lame to walk, giving hearing to the deaf, healing the diseased, feeding the hungry, even bringing back to life the dead- all foreshadowing life in His kingdom. But He was very clear that He alone was the only way to gain entrance into the Kingdom. He said that He was the way, and the truth, and the life; and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. Upon seeing Jesus, a prophet by the name of John, called out saying “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) The Passover lamb from the time of Moses was the means of rescue of God’s people from Egypt, and it was the yearly means of rescue from sin and God’s judgement in the following years. But now God was identifying the Passover lamb (He Himself as Jesus) through which He would provide the opportunity for permanent, eternal rescue through His death for all of mankind.
On the night of His death, it just so happened, that it was the time in which the yearly celebration of the Passover meal occurred. That night he was gathered with his followers and as they shared a meal together, he taught them the new way in which to celebrate God’s rescue. They weren’t eating standing up as did Moses and the people during the first Passover. God’s word says they were reclining at the table, perhaps conveying the idea that because of what Jesus was about to do, people could finally have rest, and not have to scurry about in their own strength in order to arrive to salvation. There wasn’t any mention of bitter herbs, no, God was taking away the bitter herb curse of death. And the focal point wasn’t an unflawed, beautiful, wooly lamb, but rather an unflawed, beautiful, holy lamb of God who said “this is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19)
Not taking an animal’s blood to paint the outside of a home, rather Jesus showed true obedience in right relationship with God was something that must be internalized- not just performed on the outside. And so, taking the cup he said “Drink from it… for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28) And this is why to this day, we, along with followers of Jesus around the world, celebrate what has become known as the “Lord’s Supper.” What started as the Passover meal- a commemorating event of households that were obedient and “passed over” by the angel of death and thus rescued by God because of being covered by a lamb’s blood- that event is still celebrated by individuals and households who are now unaffected by the angel of death, because of God’s rescue provided by the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God.
As surprising as the manner in which God himself showed up on earth in the human flesh of Jesus, so was the way in which He made it possible to enter into His Kingdom. Jesus Himself said that He would suffer and die and then 3 days later rise from the dead, but when it happened everyone was shocked. They first were astounded that He was dead, and then 3 days later they were astounded that He was alive. Passover lambs in the past had stayed dead. This one though, Jesus, defied all reason, science, and logic. Knowing that it was mind blowing to the world, Jesus made certain to appear, and re-appear to many witnesses to prove that it was really so. Rome and the Jewish leaders surely made every effort to cover up and dismiss the truth of this impossible reality that had occurred, yet they were unable to. Murdering those who proclaimed the resurrection did not stifle the truth- no, the news of what Jesus had done only spread further.
And it wasn’t until sometime later that people began to look at God’s story from the beginning of creation and see that all along God was pointing to His rescue through Jesus. From the promise of bruising the head of the serpent in the beginning of the Bible, throughout all the Old Testament, entering into the gospel books of the New Testament, God is pointing to Resurrection Day. We can see that Jesus was the Adam who instead lived rightly and obeyed God, the Noah who would provide salvation from the destruction of the earth, Jesus was the Abraham who would bless all nations of the world, He was the Jacob who would have a nation of sons and daughters, He was the Moses rescuing His people from captivity, He was the perfect unblemished Lamb sacrifice for the sins of the people. He was the David whose heart pleased God as king, He was the Jeremiah, Micah, and Isaiah foretelling the future reality of the coming Messianic Kingdom. The New Testament books that follow the four gospel accounts, they point back to Resurrection Day. The whole reason behind them being written is Resurrection Day. But they also point forward to a future Resurrection Day, the day followers of Jesus will, like Jesus, be resurrected from the death of this world, into new life, life like it was intended to be. The Bible ends with a description of this new life… “a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.” (Rev. 22:1-3) The curse mentioned, is the same curse from the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3. The curse- of hard work, survival, pain, relationship tension, death- will be done away with in the life to come for the followers of Jesus, all because of Resurrection Day. Yes, the havoc of our real enemy will end as the serpent will eventually die from the mortal wound Jesus dealt to its head.
Jesus is bringing all creation back full circle to the beauty in which it was intended to be, He is the one sent for you and I, who is now preparing a place for His followers in His kingdom. This is the story of Easter- the story of rescue, repentance, redemption, and reconciliation- this is the story of the Bible, this is the most important story you will ever hear. And we have the freedom to choose how we will respond to this story. God is reaching out through His son Jesus, and we each have the choice to allow Him, as eternal King, to rule in our hearts. If you have any questions about how your story fits into His story, we’ll be available after the service, please come and let’s talk about it. As you leave today on this Easter Sunday, may His story of history remain fresh in your mind. May you be encouraged, thankful, and joyful as you soak in its significance, power, and hope.
Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word -- Holy Week 2021Pastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalSpiritual Jiu-JitsuPastor Wes
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Transcript
I’m going to go ahead and say something that may sound a little crazy, stepping out on a limb, and suggest that Christianity has its very roots entwined with Jiu-Jitsu. What? I’m serious, hear me out. It wasn’t called Jiu-Jitsu then, but as I read the Biblical narrative of Jacob wrestling, it sure sounds like the high-level grappling, submission-based, gentle fighting art that we now know by the name of Jiu-Jitsu.
The Bible starts with the book of Genesis, where we find out about the origins of the earth, mankind, and the universe. We see the story of judgement, salvation, and redemption through the flooding of the earth and through God saving Noah and his family. And then there’s the call of Abram, for him to leave his roots and follow God to an unknown place. Abram listened to God, and followed His voice. He made mistakes along the way for sure- telling lies of deception for his self-preservation- but he was counted as righteous because of his faith, because of his belief and trust in God. As a result, God promised immense blessing to Abram’s descendants. His name was changed to Abraham and in a God orchestrated miracle, he and his wife Sarah conceived a son in their old age, and named him Isaac. Because of Abraham’s obedience, Isaac was also blessed. But like his father, Isaac also lied and deceived in an attempt to protect himself. Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twins, Jacob and Esau- and we very quickly find out that this generational sin of deceiving/self-preservation was passed on now to Jacob as well. At the birth of the twins, Esau came out first, and Jacob was grabbing ahold of Esau’s heal, as if attempting to prevent Esau from coming out first. In that culture, being the first born was a super big deal- the first born received so much more of an inheritance from the family estate. Later in life Jacob ended up swindling Esau, giving Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for the first-born blessing. Well, stealing birth rights isn’t quite that easy, so later Jacob also had to deceive his dad Isaac in order to really get away with preserving and prospering himself, and he was successful in that deception. Esau was thus enraged, and vowed to kill his brother Jacob.
Jacob had to run for his life, fleeing to live in another land with his uncle Laban. There he worked for many years, and ended up marrying Laban’s daughters- Racheal and Leah. Laban was a bit of a scoundrel himself, but Jacob actually ended up being the smarter scoundrel and really prospered with flocks of sheep, servants, camels, donkeys, and children. But eventually, Jacob pulled the ultimate deception on Laban and took all of his family and possessions away secretly and began journeying back towards his original home. The big problem now, was the question of whether he and his family would survive the wrath of Esau. Esau, even after the many years, surely had not forgotten what Jacob did to Him. What good will it have been for Jacob to have swindled and self-preserved, and prospered all these years, if only to end up getting killed and robbed by his bigger, badder, older brother Esau? So, Jacob has this “Come to Jesus” moment in Genesis 32, He calls out to God, remembering the promise of God to Abraham and Isaac, he shows humility and repentance and says “I am unworthy of all the favor and of all the faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, ‘I will assuredly make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’” (Gen. 32:10-12)
In this prayer, Jacob is (maybe for the first time in his whole life) humbly admitting that he has been less than honorable in his dealings- he says “I am unworthy” of all God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness. Yet in that humility and repentance, he is gently wrestling with God in reminding God of His promises. It’s like there’s this tension in saying “God you have been good- even though I don’t deserve it. And even though I don’t deserve it, will you still show yourself to be good?” And then either God gives Jacob a wise plan, or perhaps Jacob is thinking “how much do I trust God to be good, and how much do I still need to just look out for myself?”- I really don’t know which one it is, but Jacob sends servants ahead with hundreds of goats and sheep as gifts to Esau, then he sends a 2nd, and then a 3rd caravan, and lastly sends his immediate family at the back of the line to meet Esau. The idea probably being that he assumes Esau will take out his rage on the first group or two, and maybe be softened by the gifts, so that by the time his immediate family and he himself meet Esau- hopefully by that time he’s calmed down and they’ll survive.
So there Jacob is all alone. Probably not knowing if he will ever see any of his family, possessions, livestock, prosperous shepherding career- ever again. It’s dark, lonely, and probably the question pounding in his head is “Is God good, despite my mistakes?” He’s probably wrestling mentally with God’s promises, his life built on deception, would God forgive him, would Esau forgive him, what limits are there to God’s faithfulness, had God’s patience run out, would God take away everything from him in this one dark night as punishment for the life he’s lived? He’s at a crisis of belief. He had already prayed, confessing his unworthiness, yet claiming God’s promises- and now there was nothing left to do but wait. Scripture tells us that a man then wrestled with Jacob all night. This “man” is obviously a powerful being, either an angel or Jesus Himself, and is obviously a Jiu-Jitsu master. Perhaps in some sort of a leg lock he dislocates Jacob’s hip. And Jacob- the grabber of heals- perhaps has this man in a heal hook, and the man says let me go- but Jacob is holding on saying “I’m not going to let you tap out unless you bless me.” I can imagine them both sitting, facing each other, one tweaking the other’s leg, one tweaking the other’s heal- and they’re like “Tap out!” “No, you tap out!” The longest, best, rawest, UFC Jiu-Jitsu show is going down! And there in that fight, the Jiu-Jitsu master man says, “Ok, what’s the name you go by?” Jacob tells him and the man says “No, not anymore. From now on you will be known as Israel.” Israel means the one who strives with God.
This is incredible! Jacob realized that this wasn’t an ordinary man, he says after the fight “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” (Gen 32:30) I’m sure he knew that at any moment during the fight, the “man,” probably God in human form (later fully revealed to us as Jesus), could have at any moment of the fight not only tweaked his hip, but could have smashed his body into a million pieces. Jacob, to be known from now on as Israel, gets up limping, yet so thankful for God and His mercy for not crushing him. He crosses over the river, walks to the end of the procession where his immediate family is, and there sees Esau approaching. He bows down to Esau seven times in humility, and here’s the moment of truth- Esau embraces Israel in a tackle hug and kisses him. Incredible! In what could only be described as a protecting act of God, Esau blesses his brother Israel, and allows him to pass unharmed with his family into the land known to us today as the land of Israel. And the rest is history. The nation of Israel, the nation Jesus the Messiah was born into, the nation through which the knowledge of Jesus spread to the ends of the earth, was birthed through this historic Jiu-Jitsu match that took place this one dark and lonely night of the soul thousands of years ago.
Jiu-Jitsu translates as the “gentle art.” Part of the idea behind it is to not inflict unnecessary damage to your opponent, but rather to hold onto them closely- so close that they are unable to cause any damage to you. As we wrestle with God- with understanding Him, His ways, His word- we must humbly realize that (like Jacob,) we are unworthy of His goodness, and yet, He is still good. May our wrestling with Him be in the form of Jiu-Jitsu- holding on closer and tighter to Him, because only in being close to him (even as we have questions and fears)- only in wrestling close with Him, can we find true blessing, forgiveness, hope, and purpose.
Can Christians Doubt?Pastor Wes
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Transcript
It would have been really amazing to have witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let me ask you a personal question right up front- would your faith be altered in any way, had you eye-witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection? If you had seen it with your own eyes, would you be, perhaps bolder in sharing with others? Would you be more confident in applying the Bible to your daily life? Would you have a deeper peace? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then the honest assessment we must conclude is that there could exist a bit of doubt in some areas of our spiritual journey. Now before you feel shamed or condemned, I want to let you know that it is okay to question, and wrestle with the truth of God’s word. First of all, there is no way that God is up in Heaven saying, “Oh no, Wes is doubting, what if his doubts lead him to the REAL truth and he finds out Jesus wasn’t really who He said He was?” No, of course not. God knows the Bible is true. His concern rather would be “Oh no, Wes is doubting, and he might be tempted to trade reality for a convincing lie.”
Secondly, if you have doubts, you are not alone. Scripture mentions others who had doubts, and God wasn’t somehow turned off by their doubts, rather time and time again we see God reaching out to mankind in our fears, pain, doubts- and meeting us where we are. God does not tire from working towards helping our minds see the truth- breaking us free from unbelief into belief. He’s a big God who loves you, and wants you to grow in your understanding and relationship with Him.
Thirdly, following Jesus requires faith, but it is not a blind faith. There are false religions out there with large pieces of evidence missing for their faith, with huge gaps in logic and common sense, whose practitioners must make giant leaps of blind faith in order to function according to their religion’s worldview. Following Jesus is not like that. There have been many who throughout time have sought to disprove the Bible, coming up with alternatives for the Biblical account of creation, for the worldwide flood, for the parting of the Red Sea, for the life/death/resurrection of Jesus- but all alternative theories fall apart at some point. As more data and research is gathered, there’s actually more and more evidence accumulating showing that history, science, and the Bible do not disagree. Rather, history and science are pointing to the reality that the Bible is indeed true and trustworthy, and so much can only be explained through accepting the truth of the Bible, the book that tells us of our Creator, miracle working God.
Now, I know that surely I’m not the only one here who has ever experienced doubt, that has needed God’s help in sorting through fears, misunderstandings, and questions. If you can be honest with yourself and God, we probably all have some ways to grow in our belief and understanding of the truth of God’s word. This morning, may you be encouraged! Know that God sees you right now- right now where you are in your journey- and know that He wants you to find answers to your questions. He wants you to be encouraged, emboldened, and strengthened in your faith. Let’s look at the end of John chapter 20 together, starting in verse 19… (verses 19-23)
Let’s stop there for right now. As we’ve been walking through the gospels in chronological order, recently we’ve looked at Jesus appearing to Mary there at the tomb on the day of His resurrection. He met her there in her pain and misunderstanding, he consoled her- speaking to the very root of her problem, and then sent her on a new mission to spread the good news of His resurrection. Then, as we looked at last week, Jesus appeared to two other followers of Jesus that same Sunday, as they were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, and in similar fashion, he met them there in their pain and misunderstanding, and opened their eyes to the truth of scripture concerning the Messiah. When he left them, they said to each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) That heart burn wasn’t indigestion, I imagine their feeling to be more of “I had a misconception, a false narrative (as Pastor Dave mentioned), and now I know what reality is, and I’m remorseful for my previous condition, but that remorse is overcome with the feeling of joy that knowing the truth brings.” Perhaps we could imagine the burning in their hearts as the sensation of false narrative being burned up by the truth of God’s word- the lies being dispelled by the very presence of Jesus.
As evening approached that Sunday, after disappearing from hanging with the two road-to -Emmaus-guys, Jesus then entered into the presence of His now 10, closest, or what had been, His closest followers. Judas is missing, and Thomas is missing. And more than likely, there were others amongst His followers gathered there as well. And verse 19 makes specific mention that the doors were shut- why? Out of fear of the Jews. There in their fear, Jesus entered. He didn’t burst in like a SWAT team raid- He was just simply there all of a sudden. And surely that was startling, so immediately He speaks “Peace be with you.” We be like “Yo, peace out”- and we leave the party. But Jesus enters the party and is like “Yo, peace in.” And he wasn’t a ghost, the next verse 20 tells us that He showed them His hands and His side where He had been pierced with the nails and spear. Real-life-Jesus didn’t knock, He didn’t open the door, He was just there- despite the closed (and probably locked) doors.
Jesus has the power and authority to go where no one else can go. To go where no doctor, or counselor, or pastor, or friend, or lover can go. There is no place of fear, doubt, struggle in which you can hide, where He is not willing and able to seek you out and meet you there in that place. And what is His objective? “Peace be with you.” He wants you to experience His peace. His joy, His satisfaction, His fulfillment. Many of you know the song “Reckless Love.” While I wrestle with the appropriateness of using that specific word to describe what our immensely holy creator God has done for us in demonstrating to us His perfect love- I appreciate the song’s message that conveys the idea that God is a God who pursues us with a powerful, non-stop love that continues despite our messed-up-ness. The bridge of that songs says “There's no shadow You won't light up, Mountain You won't climb up, Coming after me. There's no wall You won't kick down, Lie You won't tear down, Coming after me.” Those lyrics describe an overwhelming, pursuing love, but know that He doesn’t even have to kick down walls to come after you- no, he just moves right through walls. He doesn’t have to climb any mountains, He’s just already there speaking: “Hey, peace be with you.” The reality of the situation is that He is there, with you, inside those walls and wants to work with you to bring down those walls from the inside- to open up doors- with you, from the inside. The reality of the situation is you’re probably not up on the mountain top and Jesus is climbing up to get you, rather you’re in the valley, and you have to realize that He’s already there, and He is present, willing, and able to walk with you on that tough hike to get you up to the top of the mountain.
In saying this, I must clarify that though Jesus is all present and ever pursuing the hearts of mankind- we each have the responsibility to reciprocate His loving pursuit. To respond to, to accept, to receive, His presence and peace. For someone who has yet to surrender their life and place their full trust, hope, and belief in Jesus- for you the knowledge that Jesus is all present and ever pursuing you should compel you to graciously receive His love, presence, and peace- with a repentant heart admitting your need for Him and desire to follow His ways. For those of you who have taken that first step, the knowledge that Jesus is all present and ever pursuing you should compel you to make sure there’s not any rooms in your heart and mind in which you assume Jesus doesn’t have access to. You can’t hide anything from Him. He knows. He sees. And while He is present everywhere at every time, there are probably areas in each of lives in which He wants us to open the door for Him to enter. We close the door to this room, out of fear like the disciples, or out of hurt or pain or doubt, and He’s saying- “Hey, Wes- I technically already have access to that room. Just open up the door, let me work, together we can work through this.” He’s wanting us to open up every room, write it on every wall, sing it in every room- letting the good news of His work- His peace- permeate every single area of our lives.
And often His work of peace is a process. In verse 21, Jesus obviously needed to say again “Peace be with you.” Imagine yourself in your dining room at night, with the doors shut, house locked, and just as you go to serve yourself a scoop of potatoes, your eyes meet my eyes right there, standing at the table. That’s pretty creepy. I’m sure it would take a few minutes of me saying “Hey everything is good, I come in peace, there’s good reason for me being here.” And again, as we saw with Jesus’ encounter with Mary, as He engages with us in order to do a healing, recalibration work, His intent is not just that our hearts would experience peace, but His intent is that our hearts would receive peace AND we would then have purpose, intent, and mission in helping others to receive the same type of peace. May it be in our very DNA at One Church, the idea of us gathering together- as broken and messed up people, coming to admit our need of Jesus together, receiving encouragement and conviction together, changing our perspectives to mirror more the perspective of Jesus (together), and then being sent out together on His mission so that others might have the opportunity for the same experience.
And as we are sent out, we aren’t sent out alone. Verse 22 Jesus, not worried about the spread of any virus, breathes on the disciples and says “Receive the Holy Spirit.” That’s what He wants for you and I as well. To receive His spirit, then- to listen to His Spirit, to give more attention to His Spirit, to surrender more fully to His Spirit. And then He says something a little strange, verse 23…
What is Jesus saying here? From many other places in scripture, we know that only God can forgive sins. The religious leaders wrestled with Jesus saying He could forgive sins- even Jesus’ own disciples surely wrestled with this. The conclusion for the disciples wasn’t that they were wrong in thinking only God could forgive sins, the conclusion for the disciples was yes, only God can forgive sins, therefore Jesus must be God. The key to understanding this verse, is to look back at what Jesus had just said in verse 21. “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Why did the Father send Jesus? To give forgiveness of sins. As the Father sent Jesus, he sends us- in what mission? To offer forgiveness of sins. Not that we have authority or power in judging what sins to forgive and what sins not to forgive, but rather we are now on mission as representatives of Jesus to declare on what terms (as prescribed by Jesus) that God offers forgiveness. I like what John Piper says concerning this verse, He equates it as saying “When you tell people about what Jesus has done, speaking His word, about His work, in the power of His Spirit, He is the one speaking through you, so that if anyone believes your word, He forgives their sins. And if any does not believe your words, He doesn’t forgive them. And since you are His voice and His truth, He speaks of you forgiving them, and you withholding forgiveness.” I think that’s right on; we are merely just a conduit through which Jesus speaks His message of forgiveness.
Now, this is about to get real- let’s look at our man, Thomas, verse 24… (verses 24-29) Poor Thomas, we’ve given him the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” Of all the people mentioned in the Bible that doubted, made mistakes, and needed help in their belief- for some reason we single out Thomas and give Him the title Doubting Thomas. I mean, we don’t call Abraham, “Lying Abraham.” We don’t say “Depressed Elijah.” “Adultering David.” Even the other John, known as John the Baptist- Jesus said no one up until that time was greater than John- yet John doubted Jesus’ messiahship. From prison he sent word to Jesus asking, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:19) There’s the father of the boy tormented by a demon, who says to Jesus “I do believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) One of the best of all time, occurs later when Jesus ascends into Heaven, and the scripture tells us “When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some were doubtful.” (Matt. 28:17) Now how do you watch Jesus flying up into Heaven and think, “Uh, I don’t know, I did eat some mushrooms at Fujiyama’s last night that seemed a little undercooked.” Maybe if we had eye witnessed Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, maybe we’d still wrestle time to time with doubts. It seems to be a pretty common theme throughout scripture concerning human nature, no matter what God has revealed.
I imagine Thomas is hurt. He’s disappointed, frustrated, disillusioned. Maybe he’s given up on the relationships with the other disciples- maybe he’s feeling like “what’s the point anyway?” But perhaps there was a tiny ray of hope coming from his heart as the other disciples told Him they had seen Jesus. So, there he is, hanging out a week later, again behind closed doors (Even though the rest of the disciples had seen Jesus, His work of dispelling fear from them was still in process). And again, Jesus who is omnipresent (present everywhere at all times), reveals to them that he’s there in their midst. “Peace be with you.” I’d be like, “Jesus- you gotta stop doing that- you’re freaking everyone out.” But He was slowly weening His followers off of their physical dependence on Him, and ushering them into this idea that He is always present with them spiritually. And not only does He reveal Himself as omnipresent, He reveals Himself as omniscient (all-knowing). Knowing what Thomas had said in private to the other disciples, Jesus is like “I know what you said you needed in order to believe. And I want you to believe- so go ahead- touch my hands and my side.” Jesus didn’t judge, or make fun of, or demean Thomas- no, He gave Him a nudge towards the truth- so that his heart might also burn within him as did the hearts of the men walking from Jerusalem with Jesus.
As a result, in verse 28 Thomas answers Jesus saying “My Lord and my God!” Thomas wasn’t cursing or taking the Lord’s name in vain as a result of being startled by a thought-to-be-dead man suddenly appearing- no, he had just received the bit of information he lacked in order to see the whole picture, the proof that Jesus was alive- and seeing that proof, could only mean that Jesus was God in human form. This is in complete contrast to the story of Paul and Barnabas, recorded in Acts 14, when a man was healed from not being able to walk, causing people around Paul and Barnabas wanting to worship them with sacrifices, and they called out to the people saying “…why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you...” (Acts 14:15) They refused the worship, but here Thomas worships Jesus as God, and Jesus accepts and receives it- why? Because He is God.
And then look again at what Jesus says concerning us, today, in the second half of verse 29 “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” You and I have an opportunity to be blessed- though we did not eye witness Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection- we are blessed through our belief. And again, our belief is not blind- we have historical evidence, scientific evidence, and we have the testimony of others, of Jesus Himself, compiled into this amazingly intricate, yet beautifully simple book we call the Bible.
Thomas shouldn’t be known as “Doubting Thomas.” He should be known as the “one who overcame doubt,” or the “one who allowed Jesus to conquer his doubt.” More than likely, Thomas still had many questions, as I’m sure the other disciples had as well. But Jesus didn’t answer all of their questions there in that moment. His presence- His revelation to them was enough to get them started on their spiritual journey of seeking God for the answers. And John, the author of this account, used the story of Thomas as the crowning proof of the work of Jesus and the crowning proof of the work Jesus wants to do in the life of the reader. Look at what He says in the last two verses of the chapter… (John 20:30-31)
The very purpose behind John writing his account is so that you and I as the reader, would believe in the reality of Jesus, and may have true life (eternal life) as a result of knowing the truth. The book of John is written for doubters! Find yourself questioning? Heart wandering from the Lord? Read the book of John and remind yourself who Jesus is, what He did for you, and what He wants to give you. You might be asking, how can I even trust that what John writes is true? Let me answer that question by asking, what would John have to gain by lying? Did he and the other writers make up claims to boost their own authority, power, or wealth? No, what we find is actually the opposite. Sticking to their claims made them outcasts, persecuted, and poor. Most were killed for their claims. Would you be willing to die for a lie? JD Greer, the Pastor of Summit Church based in Raleigh says this: “Imagine Peter—he’s out fishing after Jesus dies and he says, “I know! Let’s tell everyone that He resurrected! And we’ll get to be the leaders of this new religion. Except, let’s teach everyone that Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world, and so we’ll give away all of our money; and when other people try to kill us, we won’t fight back. And maybe, just maybe, if we’re lucky, we can all get martyred through painful, humiliating deaths.” And all the disciples are like, “That’s a GREAT idea. Yeah. ME FIRST!” That just doesn’t seem that plausible to me.” I think he’s right. We have solid reason to believe every word that John and the other writers have written.
We have solid reason, evidence, proof, to trust Jesus with our questions, fears, and doubts. He has wounds in His hands and sides to prove His love and trustworthiness. Maybe you’ve been hurt- even abused- by the church, another believer, a pastor, who has misrepresented Jesus. Maybe there are some dots that aren’t connecting as you read His word. Maybe some of the stories recorded sound outlandish. Maybe you haven’t been able to answer a skeptic’s questions. Maybe the diminishing popularity of Christianity has you questioning if you really believe the authority of God’s word. I want to encourage you to consider that Jesus is in fact real and present. He is fully aware of and wants to walk with you through your questions, fears, and doubts. He wants you to find answers, so that you would be filled more fully with his Holy Spirit, so that you then would be better equipped to fulfil the unique mission and purpose He has for you, in bringing about His peace to others. There are answers out there- after all, He is the author of truth. I believe He wants to help you overcome your doubts and help you seek out answers concerning His truth.
My prayer for you today is that you would be completely honest with Jesus about your questions and doubts. And that you would choose to seek answers in Him- in His word- digging deeper, rather than pulling away, as we often do. Ask another believer to walk with you through the process of pressing into Jesus further, ask someone to walk with you through the process of seeing that His presence is manifested in every room of your heart.
Mid-week DevotionalSt. Patrick's Day SpecialPastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalAddicted to my Phone!Pastor Wes
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Transcript
In 2007 the iPhone was introduced to the world. Smartphones had been around for a little while, but they were given a massive boost that year with the introduction of Apple’s new product. Back then, I remember having very little interest. My normal, “dumbphone” worked just fine, and if I needed to sit down and work with a computer- I’d sit down and work with a computer- not stare at a tiny little screen. If I needed to mark something on my calendar, I’d pull out my pocket calendar and pencil- not trust some digital device to handle it for me. And I resisted, and resisted- for years- and then around 2012 I was given a smartphone for my work. It was pretty fun, having the world at my fingertips- but I remember my eyes feeling unaccustomed to the light and uncomfortable with looking at this small, handheld device. However, I ended up never going back to a dumbphone. It’s convenient to check emails on the go, have voice to text, use a little data to get something done if away from the internet, have calendars/reminders/alarms, GPS.
For a long season of time my family didn’t have internet at our home, and we were really thrifty on our cell phone plan, so, that equated to our data/internet usage on the phone being very limited. We’d make a list of things that we needed to accomplish on the internet, and do them at our places of work- before or after work. And then came the year 2020… schools closing meant students needing to be at home online and we ended up getting internet. From that point and moving forward, there were no longer any limitations holding us back on internet usage at home. And because of all the events and unknowns, it was somehow really comforting to check the news very often. What happened today that I need to be aware of? A Google news feed, what does Fox say about it, what are people hearing on Facebook, is this true, is this false, I better send this text, respond to that text, someone might be needing me… And all of a sudden, I realized I might be becoming really close to being addicted to my phone. The light emanating from it no longer hurt my eyes as it did years ago, but rather my eyes almost craved looking into the screen. My thirst for knowledge seemed unsatisfiable, I felt there was always something pulling me towards getting something done using my phone. I wanted to check it first thing in the morning when I wake up, to check it throughout the day, to check it before and after dinner, to check it right until the time I attempt to go to sleep.
Listen, church- we are worshipping beings. Every single one of us will choose to worship someone or something. We will worship knowledge, money, power, intelligence, fashion and style, convenience, recognition, skills, love, beauty, thrills, happiness, social media, Facebook “likes,” sex, pain killers, drugs, alcohol- all of these can become worshipped “idols”- or we can choose to worship our Creator. Now idol worship doesn’t always look like it used to, or like it does in other cultures around the world- with candles lit and people bowed before a statue. Rather, most often idols are erected through the things we spend the most time thinking about, the things that our hearts and minds are drawn toward, the things that we do habitually. Idols are put up through our desires and longings. And not only are we worshipping beings, but we are habitual beings. We are creatures of habit. And often the habits we form, end up determining who or what it is that we worship.
Perhaps you can relate to what I was saying about my cellphone addiction. Perhaps you are wrestling with other potential idols that are calling to you- calling for your attention, desire, love, and focus to be elsewhere, somewhere other than rested and stayed on the Lord. And we wonder why our hearts are often so restless. Listen to what Isaiah 26:3 says: “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.” In other words, God will give peace to the mind that is steadfast on Him, trusting in Him. I like the way the New King James version says it: “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”
As believers, we want that peace of God- so how do we keep our mind steadfast and stayed on Him in the midst of such a chaotic and distracting world that offers so many idols to worship? Paul, writing to believers at the church in Rome, says this “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Paul wouldn’t have written this if it had not been possible that believers could conform themselves to the world. We, even as believers, can tend to be conformed, imaging those in the world around us, instead of imaging the one whose image we were created to bear. In realizing that we all can be prone to conforming to the world, Paul says rather be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Even believers, who have had all their past, present, and future sins forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus, have need for the renewing of the mind. And how do we renew our mind? Through new habits. New habits that recalibrate, re-focus, draw our hearts away from the world, and re-center us on the truth, work, application of God’s word presented to us in the Bible. And as we do this, not only does the promise of peace from Isaiah 26:3 become obtainable, but as Paul states, through renewing our mind we can prove what the will of God is.
I want peace and I want God’s will to be clear in my life. And so, I am putting new habits into place that will focus me less on my phone, and more on the LORD. Will you join me in that effort as well? Identify and observe the things in your life that, without a change of habit, could very well become idols that enslave and create addiction, causing you to conform to the world, and miss out on God’s peace and will. Choose to renew your mind daily, even multiple times daily, through habits that cultivate worship of the One who is the only One, worthy of our worship.
Processing Life’s DifficultiesJohn 20:1-18Pastor Wes
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Transcript
It’s been really fun over the past several weeks walking through the gospel narrative, recalibrating our hearts and minds, as we focus on the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. It’s wild how many modern day, current issues are addressed in just the simplicity of the gospel. The truth, the meaning, the work, the application of what Jesus did and said- in His life, death, and resurrection- is absolutely timeless and so applicable to our daily lives. As we continue through the narrative in John 20, I trust this morning that God will make His word relevant, piercing, and powerful to you right now in whatever life situation or season you currently find yourself in.
Pastor Dave led us through the end of John chapter 19 last week, and I absolutely love how John narrates in detail the acts of Joseph and Nicodemus, who up until this point had been secret, fearful followers of Jesus. I love the encouragement they offer to us as they, in the midst of extremely unfavorable political, social, economic, and spiritual times- in witnessing Christ’s death- they were somehow emboldened to fearlessly ask for Jesus’ body, and then they chose to unashamedly cart around 75 pounds (or 100 pounds as in Roman pounds as some of your Bibles might read)- either way- they were carting around a ridiculous amount of embalming spices, not giving a rip about what anyone else thought. May your love, passion, commitment to Jesus be just as bold, and in whatever areas your heart is tempted towards fear, may the work He did through His life, death, and resurrection embolden you to new levels of sincere passion- following Him publicly, no matter what the world thinks.
Now the other gospel accounts give us the details that after these two men prepared Jesus’ body for burial, they then laid Jesus in a new tomb that Joseph had bought for himself, and then Pilate gave orders for that tomb to be guarded, and sealed. And by sealed, more than likely what that meant was “sealed” as in how a letter used to be sealed with a hot wax stamp. After the wax dried and the letter was sent, one could easily detect if it had been opened or tampered with along the way by evidence of the wax seal being broken. Of course, in this case it would have been a lot more wax and a much larger, giant stamp that placed a seal over part of the rock and part of the rock wall. There in that sealed tomb, Jesus remained for 3 days. If you have interest in exploring further the subject of, on what day Jesus was crucified and how many days it was before Sunday, do a search online for Last Supper Chronology Glady Branch, and you’ll find teaching on that subject.
Look with me now in John 20, starting in verse 1. (verses 1-10) So, Joseph and Nicodemus had come out from being secret believers, and had wrapped Jesus in linen wrappings along with the 75 pounds of spices, and then Mary comes three days later to add additional fragrances on Sunday morning. To her surprise the seal is broken, the stone covered tomb has been opened, and she assumes the Romans or someone else has moved the body. She runs back and gets Peter and the “other disciple whom Jesus loved,” which is the author John’s way of saying himself- in a humble third person description- although maybe not too humble since in verse 4 he mentions that he was much faster than Peter when running. Although John beat Peter there, John admits that it was Peter who entered first and noticed not just the linen wrappings, but also that the face-cloth was rolled up separately. I’m sure in the moment, these guys had a nervousness, and high alert awareness, and were taking in every detail that might clue them in on what had happened there. If the body had been taken, it would have made much more sense that the wrappings wouldn’t have been there. After three days of body decay, no one in their right mind would have thought it a good idea to mess with and take off bandages from a bloodied, three-day old corpse. They would have just grabbed the mummified corpse in one bundle and hauled it off. The rolled-up face covering set aside was a sign of intentionality, it wasn’t a sign of some sick persons or raging beasts stripping the corpse, tearing off bundles of bandages- no, care was taken in neatly rolling up a face covering that was no longer needed.
And John, in verse 8, lets us know that when he saw this evidence, he believed. Though he and all the disciples were previously told Jesus would be crucified and then resurrected, it was taken as a misunderstanding or an impossibility, and there in that moment, John recalls, that was the moment of his true belief. I hope that you too, can recall that moment of true belief- not necessarily when you started going to church, or when you learned about Jesus, but that moment when you really got it- and put your whole faith, trust, hope in Jesus. For John, that belief was a bit of a process. John had heard Jesus’ teaching for about three years, eye witnessed His many miracles, but here in this moment it all clicked, and he believed. If you’re wrestling with what that moment looked like in your life, then I encourage you to reach out after the service or during this week to have a conversation with either Pastor Dave or myself. So then, in verse 10 we see John and Peter, just matter-of-factly head home. In stereotypical male fashion, they were like “Well, nothing to see here. What else can we do? Let’s go home.” In contrast, Mary’s reaction is a little different- verse 11…
Mary, in perhaps stereotypical female fashion, is obviously more emotionally engaged, and is processing through everything. Guys typically often want to avoid the emotions and processing, and are often quick to move on to the next thing, or deal with fear/pain/stress with distractions, but gals are often better at digging deeper, processing, being patient to properly connect with the present emotions and life circumstances. And I believe that there is good purpose in God wiring men the way He did, and women the way He did. But look at the amazing encounter Mary was able to experience as a result of her soaking in the weight of the moment. (Verses 12-16)
Because Mary wasn’t in a hurry, because she didn’t stuff her emotions, because she was present in the moment, she was given the honored privilege of being the first one to see the resurrected Christ. He met her right there where she was, and asked her two very important questions- “Why are you weeping?” and “Whom are you seeking?”. I believe that as Jesus met Mary there in her difficult moment, He wants to meet you in your difficult moment. But you just can’t brush past it. You can’t just get up and go home immediately when you encounter confusion, stress, hurt, fear. No- whether guy or gal- you need to take a moment, as Mary did, and look at the situation dead in the eyes, absorbing the heaviness, honestly assessing the situation, and let Jesus met you there. And I believe that if you are still long enough, Jesus wants to ask you the same questions. “Why are you weeping- what is it exactly that your heart is breaking over?” You know, sometimes we feel confused, stressed, hurt, fearful and we attribute those negative sentiments with some surface level situation, and yet the true root of our negative sentiment lies deeper. We must stop, dwell in the moment, and ask ourselves, “What is this really about? Has my pride been hurt, my expectations crushed, my goals delayed, my trust broken…” And as we dig deeper, closer to the root, Jesus wants us to see that the bottom of the root is even deeper than we imagined, so He asks us the follow up question “Who are you seeking?” Ah ha…. who…
So often the confusion, stress, hurt, and fear we experience through our pride being hurt, expectations crushed, goals delayed, trust broken- so often those negative sentiments result from us seeking the approval of man, or from seeking the glorification of ourselves, or from placing our desires and hopes into the wrong things and into the wrong people. If only you could realize that the longing of your heart, the seeking of rest for your soul, the hope for fulfilment- can only be satisfied by the One who created you- the One who chose to reveal Himself to the world as Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, instead we often get lost in a sea of “I want to get to this place in life, I need more money, I need to find what makes me happy, I need to find good friends, my schedule just needs to be overhauled, if only that person would say they’re sorry, if I could just get rid of this bad habit, if only my spouse would…” And Jesus is over here calling out “Do you know why your heart is really restless? Have you thought about who it is you are really seeking?” Look at Mary’s response again, verse 15…
Look at what’s going on here. The problem is, or at least what Mary thinks the problem is, is that someone took Jesus, which then resulted in her not knowing what was going on, crushing her expectations, causing emotional trauma. Look at who she slightly casts the blame to- to Jesus Himself! It’s like she says “I am upset because someone crushed my expectations and that someone just might be you, gardener man.” That’s interesting because we actually often do the same thing. We miss the deeper root problem, and just skip ahead to placing the surface-problem-blame onto others, and quite often we place the blame on God Himself. “God if you just hadn’t of let that happen, if only you would do this miracle in my life, if only you would make things easier, why won’t you allow me to achieve this thing…” And we place the blame of our negative experiences and sentiments on the very one who wants to help us process those experiences and sentiments.
Not only does she unknowingly question/accuse Jesus, her solution is that if He indeed is responsible, she will then go and get the body, attempting to fix the situation, attempting to handle this surface level problem on her own. Can you imagine Mary being able to handle a dead man’s corpse on her own, by herself, anyway? Mary’s reaction is so true to our human nature, we often want to blame God, and then resort to fixing the problem our self. God sees us in our self-absorption, He sees us in our hurt, He sees us in our fears and He is calling out “Do you know the true source of your hurt? Who is it that you are desiring?” And often our response is “God, You allowed this bad thing to happen, so I might not be able to trust You. I tried You and You let me down. I’m going to take steps on my own apart from You to try to help myself.” And in His mercy, He attempts to snap us out of it, saying “Mary!” “Wes!” “Dave!” “Wake up, it’s me! You are weeping, you are hurt, fearful, stressed because you need more of Me! It is Me you are longing for! I am not the source of your hurt, I am the answer to your hurt- I am life’s answer you are looking for!”
Mary didn’t recognize Him at first, as He had a new body- just as we, along with all the rest of His followers, will be given a new, repaired, fresh body when we are resurrected. But she recognized His voice when He personally called her name. Often, we miss and don’t recognize Jesus’ movement, His working, His presence. We often blame Him for what appears to be bad, only to later realize that it was Him working actually for our good. And He is calling out to each of us individually, asking us to recognize Him as the loving, healing, forgiving Jesus that we know Him to be in our heart of hearts.
Look again at Mary’s response to Jesus calling out her name, in verse 16, she responds “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!” She could have responded “Lord!”, or “Jesus!” but instead she calls out “Teacher!” As we sort through our heartaches, and we answer the question of what and who it is we are seeking, our response to Jesus’ personal revelation to us must be “Teacher! Teach me. Jesus, take the position of teacher in my life! Show me the root issues, instruct me in how to deal with them, help me to know You are not the source of the problem but You are the source of the healing, teach me how to hope in You alone.”
In between verses 16 and 17 it appears Mary embraces Jesus, or is bowed at His feet clasping onto Him, and Jesus says in verse 17… Many have wrestled with the reason Jesus said these words to Mary, some have suggested a close embrace would have been inappropriate between a glorified-body-Jesus and a tainted-by-the-world Mary, but that conclusion doesn’t really make sense- if Jesus was somehow tainted by Mary’s clinging He would have prevented her from doing it altogether, not just stopped her after the fact. Some might suppose that anyone touching Him in any way would have been inappropriate- but later Jesus tells Thomas to touch his hands and side. I think what makes the most sense is that Jesus was bringing some sort of closure to that moment of processing emotions. We commended Mary earlier for not being in a rush, for absorbing the heaviness, and doing the heart introspection that gave way to Jesus engaging with her. But after taking time to process emotions, there comes a time to move on. There was mission, purpose, destiny for her to move on into from her pain. She was to be the very mouthpiece that announced the good news of Jesus’ life, and thus the hope of life for all of mankind. Jesus tells her, “Stop clinging, and go tell my brothers I’m alive and I’m ascending to the Father that is also your Father, to my God that is also your God.” And the very next verse 18, says…
Isn’t that a picture of what our engagement with Jesus looks like as well? We’re to bask in His presence, embracing, clinging to Him, sharing intimate moments with Him, meeting with Him intensely up on the mountain top, but then He sends us down into the valley to be on mission for Him- we are to announce to others that He is very much alive and that His Father can be their Father, and that even from the place in Heaven He has ascended to, He is still calling out and seeking relationship with every person in this world.
Perhaps too, Jesus, in telling her to stop clinging and then immediately saying He was going to ascend to the Father- perhaps in that, He was bringing some closure also to the physical aspect of His relationship with men and women. He was moving Mary on to the idea that He would be present with her in a different way- that she would need to learn to embrace Him spiritually rather than physically. She would need to learn to engage with Jesus in a spiritual manner, as you and I are learning to engage with Him, being that He (for the time being) does not walk among us in physical flesh.
Maybe even right now, you are hearing Jesus call your name- not in a physical audible voice, but in a spiritual, quiet voice inside, tugging on your heart in some way. I hope that you sense His desire to address with you any confusion, doubt, fear, hurt, stress that you might be experiencing. I want you to think about a negative sentiment or challenge you have experienced recently, or are currently experiencing. Think about your reaction, your emotion, and think about the situation that appears to have caused that reaction and emotion. Take a moment and think about that challenge, or challenges, you are facing. If it helps, you can bow your head and close your eyes. Whether the thing you are processing has been caused by others, or has been caused by past personal mistakes, or whether it is a result of us living in a fallen world- Jesus wants to help you walk through this thing. I challenge you to ask yourself, and prayerfully ask God, “What aspect of this situation does Jesus want me to see that I am not currently seeing?” Go ahead and even do that now, I’ll give you a few moments to process that. And then I want you to follow up that question with “To whom, to where, to what, am I seeking resolution?” This might be an opportunity to repent of not seeking first the Lord concerning your situation, or maybe it’s an opportunity to remind yourself and renew your trust in Him afresh. Either way, may you hear Him speaking to you, guiding you, and strengthening you in the mission and purpose He has for you.
Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word -- March 4, 2021Isaiah 40:31Pastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word -- Feb 24, 20212 Peter 3:18Pastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word -- A Mother's PrayerPastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalSharing Your Faith SimplyPastor Wes
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Transcript
We all know that Jesus wants us to share our faith with others, and there’s lots of creative tools we can use to help us do that. Such as:
Steps to Peace with God:
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God wants you to have peace and life.
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The problem is we are all in broken relationship with Him, separated from the Holy God, because of our sin. None of our attempts can mend that relationship, not good words, or religion, or morality
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God sent Jesus who lived a perfect life, satisfying His requirement for holiness, and Jesus in his death paid the penalty for our sins. Because of what He did we can have access to forgiveness and a restored relationship with God.
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We must respond to what God did in sending Jesus. We must receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Each of the four steps has scripture support, and at the end it gives guidance concerning repenting, believing and asking Jesus into your life.
FAITH:
F.orgiveness- we are all in need of forgiveness
A.vailable- forgiveness is available
I.mpossible- though forgiveness is available, it is impossible for us to earn on our own merit
T.urn- we must turn from our own path and turn to Jesus
H.eaven- is the place where those who turn to Jesus will live forever
ABCs:
A.dmit you are a sinner in need of a Savior (Romans 3:23 all have sinned, Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death)
B.elieve in Jesus (John 3:16)
C.onfess Him publicly as Lord of your life (Romans 10:9-10 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord…)
BRF!
Believe
Repent
Follow
As good as these outlines are, sometimes the difficulty in sharing our faith is in approaching the subject, yet doing so naturally and authentically, without it feeling like a forced business proposal. If someone were to walk up to you and say “Hey I want to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, how do I do that?” I’m sure most of you, hopefully, would be able to come pretty close on one of these outlines, and walk them through the terms of belief, repentance and following Jesus’ teaching. But something I believe we as God’s church need to do better at- whether pastor, missionary, introvert, extravert, super spiritual believer or new young believer– is being more kingdom focused and more aware of opportunities in which God wants to use us to share His good news. This is something that needs to be heavier on our hearts. It was heavy on Jesus’ heart, yet because of the seriousness of the subject, or out of fear of others opinions, we often find reasons not to share. Now, this is something I’m still working on, something that even with many years of being on the mission field overseas and pastoring, this is something God is still working on me to be better at. Right now I want to share some ways that recently I’ve found have been really helpful in facilitating more spiritual conversations.
Entering the subject:
With non-believing friends/family: Any experience of difficulty is an opportunity to share Jesus. Sick, difficult relationship, bad job experience- “Can I pray for you?” Or, “I’ve been in that situation before, and this verse really comforted me…” (share the verse), and then ask, “can I pray for you?” And then pray for them right there, by name, praying for their concern, but also praying that they would be willing to seek a right relationship with God through Jesus. After amen- “Spiritual family and support is so critical right now, I sense you could really use that support right now in this situation. I’ve gotten plugged in at Next/Glady Branch- it’s been an awesome journey of 2 churches from different backgrounds coming together as one. We’d love it if you wanted to come visit with us – we met Sundays at 10am.” Or after amen- “I can’t help but think that God is pursuing you through this difficult situation. Have you ever asked Him into your life?”
With a new friend/stranger: “Are you from around here? Have you found a local place of spiritual community, a local church yet?” If they say yes: “Where? And “What has God been teaching you lately, and/or how did you come to know the Lord?” That way you can find out where they are on their spiritual journey, and you should get a sense as to if they really know the Lord or not. If they respond with a No: “Spiritual family and support is so critical right now- I’ve gotten plugged in at Next/Glady Branch - it’s been an awesome journey of 2 churches from different backgrounds coming together as one. We’d love it if you wanted to come visit with us – our youth group is getting together next Sunday night,” etc. No matter what kind of NO is presented, you can still respond in this way. “No, I hate church,” “No, I’m Buddhist”- this answer still works. If they say No and they say something like, “I don’t know- there’s too many religions in the world,” or “I’m exploring different forms of spirituality,” then you can say something like “What makes Christianity different from all the other religions of the world - it is the only religion in which you are not able to earn your way into Heaven, but rather it is a free gift from God to those who admit they can’t do it on their own. Those who choose to receive the forgiveness of Jesus, those who honestly are attempting to follow Him instead of themselves, no matter how messed up they are, He is gracious and merciful in giving them eternal life.” And no matter what their No is paired with, you still ask, “Can I pray for you right now?”
At a restaurant: Tell your waiter/waitress, “We usually thank God for the food before we eat, is there anything we can pray for you before we eat?” And sometimes they’ll stick around to hear the prayer, but if they don’t, still pray for them and then let them know later that you did pray for them, and if you feel lead, you can always tag on, hey- “Spiritual family and support is so critical, I sense you could really use that support right now in this situation. I invite you to come check out the spiritual family at Next/Glady Branch - we meet Sundays at 10am.”
I hope that something I’ve presented to you will end up being a helpful tool, and that you will be encouraged to more boldly share the amazing truth of God’s rescue plan. And I’d love to hear back from you with any tips that you have found helpful in sharing your faith, as well as hear about your experiences you have had recently in sharing your faith.
Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word — “Z” = ZEAL!!!Pastor Dave
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Mid-week DevotionalConspiracy TheoriesIsaiah 8:11-15
Pastor Wes
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Transcript
We are living in a time where it is so easy to get caught up and sucked into all the informative sources that are available through news feeds, social media, and even friends. And it’s getting harder and harder to validate any newsworthy claim- these people are saying this, and these people are saying that, and you could spend hours, days, weeks attempting to investigate and get to the bottom of every story. And even whether you attempt to get to the bottom of the story or you just read the headlines, either way you probably still feel bombarded and overwhelmed with thinking through what is true and what is false, or considering what conspiracies might actually be true, or at the very least- feeling just a little bit of an uptick in anxiety concerning all that is taking place in our world. While the channels and access to information have changed over time, people’s sentiment of fear and anxiety concerning news and political circumstances has not changed. I want us to look quickly at a passage of scripture from Isaiah chapter 8, that was written about 2500 years ago, yet it is a passage still immensely applicable to our current day and age.
During this time in which Isaiah writes, God had spoken that judgement was coming to the land of Israel. And it was just now in the beginning stages. Jerusalem had been attacked, though not completely conquered, and many people had been captured and carried off to Damascus by the king of Aram. The king of Aram had also cut off the trade route by the Red Sea. The Edomites had attacked at the southern border of Israel and carried off captives. The Philistines had also invaded in some areas of Israel and taken over many villages.
And so, it was in this atmosphere that King Ahaz of Israel was reaching out to the king of Assyria for help. And yet God was saying that Assyria wasn’t going to help. (Assyria would actually end up being the country that, rather than help Israel, they would put the final blow on the country and fully conquer Israel’s northern kingdom) God’s prophets were saying one thing, yet the political entities were saying another thing, and there was doubt and confusion, there were conspiracies and various plans being forged behind closed doors. And God was calling out to the people for them to place their trust only in Him, and not place their trust in political allies, government deals, or military forces. Listen to what the Lord says in Isaiah 8:11-15…
Here God is calling His people not to be like the people fretting over rumors, news, and secret political moves. In verse 11 He says do not walk in the way of people who are like this, who call this or that a conspiracy, or who fear and dread what is to come. But rather, verse 13, the LORD alone should be the one to fear and dread. And then if we only fear and dread the LORD, notice what the LORD then becomes to us, verse 14: “Then He shall become a sanctuary.” This is an amazing principle. In situations of great fear, anxiety, and uncertainty- situations in which one would be thinking- “I need a sanctuary”- a quiet, protected, place of rest and peace; in these situations, God is saying fear Him alone, and He will become that sanctuary. We fear Him alone- not the circumstances, not the conspiracy, not the political drama- but we fear Him. And what happens is that He takes the fear placed in Him, and completely reverses that fear, turning it into protection, rest, and peace.
But look at what happens to the rest of those who do not fear the LORD alone, those who continue to fear conspiracies and the dread of events around them. The LORD becomes not a sanctuary, but if we continue in verse 14and intoverse 15, He becomes a “stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap.” And they will stumble, fall, be broken, snared, and caught.
Church, continue to be reminded of God’s charge to His people- as seen in so many places throughout His word- His charge to place your fear in Him alone, to trust in Him alone, to place your faith in His Word alone- and He will give you rest. He loves you church, trust and rest in His love!
Mid-week DevotionalShort Take in the Word -- "Y" = YouthPastor Dave
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Esther: A Christmas StoryEsther 9:21-22
Pastor Wes
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Transcript
In 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars: A New Hope. It was unknown at the time whether the movie would even make back the money that was put into its production. Well, it ended up becoming one of the most successful films of all time, and it was followed up by two sequels, and then years later 3 prequels, then some more sequels to the previous sequels- and if you’re like me you’ve probably lost track by now. Within the past 4 years or so, 2 films were produced a little bit outside of the larger chronological narrative, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. These 2 movies weren’t part of THE Star Wars story, but they were stories within the larger narrative, within the plot/setting/theme of Star Wars. Today I want to present to you not THE Christmas Story, but rather Esther: A Christmas Story.
Taking place a little less than 500 years before Jesus’ birth, the story of Esther resulted in a celebration very similar to our modern day celebration of Christmas. As a result of the historic events recorded in this book, Esther 9:21-22 tells us the people from that time on celebrated “the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from grief into joy, and from mourning into a holiday; that they were to make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and sending portions of food to one another, and gifts to the poor.” This holiday became known as the celebration or festival of Purim. Both Christmas and Purim are celebrated in honor of salvation from death, enemies, and sadness, both are celebrated annually, both span over a period of one month with 2 days specifically dedicated for celebration, and both holidays are celebrated with food, gifts, and charity.
Christmas is really the story of God rescuing mankind. It’s the greatest rescue event to have ever taken place in history. Christmas is the one great rescue event that all the other rescue stories throughout the bible are pointing to. God’s rescue of Noah and his family on the ark, God’s rescue of Abraham and taking Him to a new place, God’s rescue of Jacob and His 12 sons through Joseph in Egypt, God’s rescue of the forming nation of Israel through Moses, God’s rescue of Israel through the judges, God’s rescue of Israel though David against Goliath, God’s rescue of his exiled people through Queen Esther. During these days of Esther, the people of Israel were living as foreigners in Babylon and Persia because of their unwillingness to follow God- because of their unwillingness to recognize Him as their rescuer- as their Savior, their King, their Lord.
Yes, after the accumulation of many God orchestrated rescuing events, Israel still rejected God, which led to them being conquered and exiled and thus the story of Esther. During this time leading up to their exile, God began to more clearly announce His greatest and final rescue. As we looked at last week with Pastor Dave- prophets like Jeremiah would speak on God’s behalf, saying things like “Behold, days are coming… when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.” (Jer. 31:31) Prophets like Isaiah, through whom God said “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. (Is. 9:2) For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:6) Prophets like Micah, through whom God said: “But as for you, Bethlehem… From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” (Micah 5:2)
So the stage is set: historical years and years of God rescuing His people, God then promising a seemingly impossible final and eternal rescue, and right before that great rescue in which Jesus the Messiah would be sent, God Himself- born, crucified, and resurrected- just before that, He would give His people a rescue that would give them a glimpse into the Christmas rescue He was planning, that we His people would one day celebrate. Instead of reading the entire book of Esther to you, I am going to paraphrase it to you using my own words, but you are more than welcome to open your Bibles to the book of Esther and loosely follow along, and fact check me along the way. So are you ready to hear this Esther Christmas Story?
During Esther’s time, there is a king who rules over multiple countries, his rule stretching all the way from Northern Africa to South Asia. His name is King Ahasuerus, but because that name sounds a little bit like the name of a dinosaur, we’ll just call him by his other known name- King Xerxes- which might be what some of your bibles call him anyway. Now King Xerxes, having been ruler over such a massive area of taxable people, accumulated a massive amount of wealth. No nation could compare- they had conquered and conquered, plundered and plundered, taxed and taxed- and he decides to throw a massive seven-day party in the courtyards of his palace in Susa, a city in what is now known as modern day Iran. Anyone who could fit in his palace courtyard was invited- and we’re talking marble floors and solid gold and silver couches- and everyone could drink as much or as little as they wanted- drinks were on the house. It was party central, but the men and the women are celebrating separately in two different areas. On the last day of the party, the king is pretty tipsy, and he decides to call in his wife, Queen Vashti, basically to show her off and have all the guys gawk at how good looking she is.
Well, Queen Vashti has a little more dignity than that, and she refuses the king’s request, which after counseling with his servants, results in her being banished from his presence, and him thus seeking a replacement queen-wife. And what happens, is that the king sends out troops in order to find and bring to him the most beautiful, single ladies from across the entire land. They were all collected into basically a massive spa house, where they would spend a whole year receiving beauty treatments- fragrance and cosmetic treatments. Then each would have their one night with the king in his bedroom, and after spending the night with each, he eventually would choose one of them to be titled his queen.
Now just as a side note, as I’m telling you this biblical story, realize that some of what the bible records is descriptive and other parts are prescriptive. In other words, some things are describing events just as they were- right or wrong- good, bad, or ugly- not saying that we should imitate and do those things- and other parts are telling us prescriptive things- things to do and imitate. King Xerxes actions are obviously something the bible is describing not prescribing, so guys- realize this is not the biblical way to find a wife. Ok, back to the story-
As it turns out, Esther was one of the most beautiful, single ladies collected from the land, and King Xerxes eventually names her as his favorite, and she becomes queen. Esther, however, just happened to be Jewish- one of God’s people exiled from the land of Israel. Now the Jews living in the land were despised, picked on- there was racial inequality for sure- and because of this, Esther had not let the king know she was Jewish.
Now, just to make sure you’re tracking with me up to now, let me re-iterate that life is pretty crummy right now for God’s people. Things are bad politically- a tyrant dictator is in charge who can do whatever he wishes completely unchecked. Things are bad religiously- there is no temple, no assembling of God’s people, no sacrifices that cover the people’s sin. Things are bad socially- no one likes the Jews- they’re outcasts. Things are bad for women’s rights- if you’re slightly good looking you’ll probably get nabbed and imprisoned so that the king can have his fun and then display you as a conquered trophy, which I assume probably ended up putting all the online dating apps out of business. Yeah, all the young guys looking for a date were like, dude- all my potential candidates keep disappearing.
Now Queen Esther had an uncle named Mordecai who had raised her, and despite things being as bad as they were, he still respected the authority placed over him and when he heard about some wanting to take King Xerxes life, he reported it and saved the king from assassination. But the king soon placed in high power a guy named Haman who Mordecai just could not bring himself to respect. Mordecai was just not willing to bow before anyone except his God, or perhaps Haman was just a particularly super evil guy. Either way, Haman becomes super angry at Mordecai, and wants not only Mordecai dead, but he wants ALL the Jewish people dead. So, Mordecai asks the king if he would send a proclamation throughout the entire land, decreeing that each province was to carry out an annihilation attack on anyone Jewish- to take their stuff and kill them. The king says why not, and puts his official stamp of approval on the decree.
Upon hearing the news, Jews across the land- including Esther, lost all hope and wept and wailed bitterly. Everyone was thrown into deep despair, except for one man- Mordecai. Mordecai convinced Esther that, as scary as it would be, even though she was not permitted to do so, she would have to approach the king and attempt to do something to change the fate of God’s people. She rallies herself and agrees to do it, but requests that all the Jews in the city would fast for her- abstaining from food and drink for three solid days. At the end of those three days, Esther approaches the king, illegally, and invites the king and Haman to attend a special dinner she would prepare. The three of them eat a rich meal, and the king knows Queen Esther is buttering him up for something but Esther just delays and asks that they do another special meal together the following night.
Well, after the first night, Haman goes home feeling pretty good. He feels honored by Queen Esther and the king, but then he sees Mordecai on the way home and is filled with rage at the sight of him. He wants Mordecai dead now so that he can relax the next night at the second installment of Esther’s special dinner. After talking to his wife and friends, he commands that a massive hanging gallows be constructed in preparation for him acquiring the king’s consent to kill Mordecai. Meanwhile, that same night, the king can’t sleep. He needs someone to read him a bedtime story, and so a servant reads him a book of recent history that has occurred within his kingdom. And it’s read to the king about Mordecai the whistle blower who had once stopped an assassination attempt.
Now in the morning, Haman arrives to the king in order to ask about killing Mordecai. Before he can ask his question, the king offers him a question. The king asks “What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?” (Est. 6:6) Haman assumes the king is talking about him, and he responds “give him a royal robe, horse, and crown and then honor him by parading him throughout the city.” The king says “brilliant!” and then to Haman’s horror, the king tells Haman to do this for Mordecai. The irony! As soon as he gets back from parading around Mordecai, it’s time for the second special dinner with the king and queen.
At this dinner, the king again asks what it is that Esther wants, and she spills the beans asking for him to save her and the rest of the Jews from Haman who is intent on annihilating them. Haman is instantly terrified, the king storms off in anger, and when he returns he finds Haman begging, falling on the couch next to Esther and he assumes that Haman is already trying to get close to her to assault her there on the couch. So, the king orders Haman to be hung on the gallows that Haman intended for Mordecai, and then Mordecai is instantly promoted to take over the lofty position that Haman held. Rags to riches, it’s a fairy tale ending, except for the fact that the king had already decreed that the Jews were to be slaughtered on a certain day, and the king’s decrees cannot be revoked. But the king gives Mordecai and Esther the authority not to change his law, but the authority to make a new law in addition to the previous one.
So they get to quickly writing, and in their royal edict, they wrote that on the day assigned for the annihilation of the Jews, the Jews now had the right to unify, to defend, kill off, and plunder anyone who might rise up against them- without consequence. And this decree was then sent out throughout the entire land, from Africa to Asia, in multiple languages. When the day of annihilation arrives, the Jews defend themselves, killing off and plundering all those who had been their enemies. And then Queen Esther asks the king if, there within the city of Susa, if the Jews could fight another day, and it was granted to them. And ever since, that day and the following day of rest, became the celebration of Purim- two days to celebrate with feasting, rejoicing, gifts, and charity- two days within a whole month of gladness.
Now no analogy is perfect, every analogy breaks down at some point- but I want you to see some of the symbolism and parallels between this real-life story of Esther and the real-life story of Christmas. A decree has been made that people must die. And a very real enemy is extremely happy about this, and is working very hard to see this decree take full effect. But, a hero is sent who will intercede on behalf of the people condemned to death. The enemy would see to it that even the hero would be put to death. But because of the hero’s intercession, the tables are turned, and ironically it is the enemy who will be put to death. The hero, in the name of the King, pronounces the opportunity by which to escape the first decree of death. And in great gratitude for what the hero accomplished through saving the lives of the people and putting the enemy to death, the people thus honor and celebrate him for a whole month, with two days in particular of celebration- with gladness, food, gifts, and charity.
The hero of the great rescue we call Christmas is Jesus. The whole reason He was birthed to us in this world, was so that He might intercede between the people and God, and between the people and death. His life, death, and resurrection turned the tables on our enemy that wanted to see death come to Jesus and to us His people- and now it is rather our enemy and his followers who will experience death. Under God’s authority, Jesus pronounced a new decree of life for those wishing to escape the death that results from mankind’s disease of sin. In gratitude, and in honor of what Jesus did in coming to this earth, we celebrate Him. We celebrate His rescue. We rejoice, for Immanuel- God with us- has come, and will come again. We celebrate over food with family because light has entered this dark world. We give and receive gifts as reminders of the gift our hero Jesus has given us. Our hearts are drawn towards being extra charitable and giving, celebrating the charity, mercy, generosity of our King born to us, who desires to share His kingdom with us.
This Christmas, may you connect the dots of the Bible like never before, and really be able to soak in the heaviness of what we are celebrating. And I challenge you to look for opportunities to share with those who don’t truly understand what Christmas is all about. Speak up, because the reality is, that a true understanding of Christmas is a matter of life and death. And as always, if you have any questions about your relationship with Jesus, or any questions about what is being proclaimed from this platform- please see Pastor Dave or myself after the service and we’d be more than happy to listen and attempt to walk together alongside you in your spiritual journey.
Sunday MessageMake a Difference (M.A.D.) Mini SessionGuest Speaker Don Sunshine
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Sunday MessageChristian Use of the SwordMatthew 26:51-56
Pastor Wes
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Transcript
Last week Pastor Dave took us through verse 11 of John chapter 18. We saw the effects in Peter’s life of not watching and praying as Jesus had commanded His disciples to do. Under very difficult circumstances, under extreme stress and pressure, Peter- not having been watching and praying, reacted with little thought, in a way that Jesus had to immediately correct. Verse 10 tells us “Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus.” Malchus served the high priest, the high priest being the man chosen to represent the people before God Himself in the temple. And as a “slave,” Malchus, was probably more like a personal attendant, performing many duties, probably even including being a personal bodyguard for the high priest. And living in such politically, socially, economically, turbulent times, Peter was responsibly packing heat- he had his concealed sword permit, and in this heated moment he was reactive, drawing his sword, most likely aiming directly for the head of the opponent closest to him, who was leading the way for the high priest, who was then followed by other armed religious leaders, followed by armed Roman soldiers. It appears Malchus was a man pretty quick on his feet, and with a slight step back and head turn, Peter’s sword misses his head and slices instead his ear. And Jesus immediately jumps in to de-escalate the situation, verse 11 “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” Pastor Dave mentioned that there might arise a time to draw the sword in protection, but more often than not, the sword that needs to be drawn is the sword of the spirit- God’s word, contained in the Bible.
So, the question today is, how do we make sure we draw the correct sword in times of extreme pressure and tension? How do we avoid making the same mistake Peter did- reacting violently in a situation that would seem to justify such a reaction, when instead we should be reacting according to how Jesus would have us react? It’s not easy to be calm, cool, collected like Jesus when emotions are high. It’s not easy in the moment to stop and think, “ok, what would Jesus do?” Picture yourself in Jesus’ place here in the garden as the armed mob approached. Imagine the justifiable rage you might have experienced having been in Jesus’ shoes, having done no wrong, yet treated so wrongly and unjustly, having the very ones you wanted to help, turning on you and seeking to kill you, perhaps with the root motivation based in politics or hypocritical religiosity? I would be so furious and frustrated over the injustice. Perhaps we don’t even have to imagine ourselves there in that situation, all we have to do is look on the news or social media and see how violently others, (or ourselves) respond when we feel we have been treated unjustly or when we feel our political or spiritual view has been attacked. It gets reactive and violent, and escalates really quick.
The passage we’re looking at today is going to give us some help in times of tension (in addition to Jesus’ command to watch and pray) that will hopefully prevent us from blowing our fuse, taking up the wrong sword, and thus doing more harm than good. What I’d like for us to do, is to take a look at Matthew’s record of Jesus and Peter’s reaction to the armed mob, as the book of Matthew records more in detail what Jesus said in this tense, weapons filled moment. Matthew 26:52-56…
If we look back at verse 52, Jesus gives our first line of defense in helping us not take up the sword of violence. He gives a bit of a proverb, saying “all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” Jesus was perhaps even quoting a common saying that was widespread during that time. The general principle is that those who practice violence get hurt by violence. The saying we use today is “what goes around, comes around,” basically meaning that if someone treats others badly, they will in return be treated badly. Another saying we even more directly pull from Jesus is, “you reap what you sow.” You’ve probably heard non-believers talk about Karma. Karma is loosely what Hindus and Buddhists would call the Biblical principle of reaping what you sow.
Now, I don’t believe this verse is a call to Christian Pacifism, the idea that there is never a circumstance that justifies violence. If we look at the Bible as a whole, there are many passages that advocate for the taking up of arms, to fight and defend for what is right, a time to go to war, to protect those who cannot protect themselves. But the general principle, is that violence stirs up violence. This is our first line of defense, to realize that violence returns violence. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence.” A violent response will most likely be countered with a violent response. If we can realize this concept, and think about it before reacting, we can probably save ourselves a lot of fighting, tension, and stress. Consider how your quick, angry, violent attack is going to be received, and how it will then be retaliated. Before you send that text, before you type that email, before you post on social media, step back consider the principle that those who take up the sword, perish by the sword.
The account of this event in the book of Luke tells us that Jesus then healed Malchus’ ear. (Luke 22:51) If Jesus had not done that, can you imagine what would have happened as a result of Peter attacking Malchus? I don’t think there were many others amongst the disciples concealed carrying their sword, but I do image that every single trained warrior soldier there, had his hand ready to draw the sword- and it would have been a blood bath. Christianity could have ended right there in that moment. Jesus could have gone on to be arrested, crucified, and resurrected, but there wouldn’t have been any disciples remaining who would then go on to record His life, testify of His resurrection, and spread His hope around the world. You and I might have never heard the good news, that there is forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus. If Jesus had not healed that ear, the entire landscape of our whole world would look entirely different.
This thought leads us to our 2nd consideration we must have before we take up a sword: Healing returns healing. Healing will most likely be countered with more healing. This is just the reverse of our first principle- negative sowing produces negative reaping- but positive sowing produces positive reaping. Jesus healed the ear, performing His final miracle before His death on the cross, humbly healing a man who was obviously His enemy, who perhaps didn’t deserve to be healed- and as a result- millions of others afterwards have experienced spiritual healing. Listen to how Proverbs 15:1 expresses this concept “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.” This is an incredible truth that needs to remain at the forefront of our minds, especially as we function in this world that is so easily angered, that is so tense, so divided, so hostile. Forget about the craziness of the world even, if we can live out this truth with just our spouses and children- how much more peace could we experience? A gentle answer turns away wrath. So often when we humble ourselves, apologize, and offer the opportunity for healing in a relationship- the other person involved is able to then likewise humble themselves and apologize- the healing is reciprocated. But a harsh word stirs up anger. I’m sure we’ve all experienced harsh words stirring up anger, and how they only escalate a situation.
So, violence returns violence and healing returns healing. We must remember these truths before drawing the sword of violence, anger, hate, condescending words, blanket statements. And in verse 53, Jesus gives us a third truth to remember as we walk through situations of tension and hostility. (verse 53…)
This verse presents an incredible concept. Do you not think, that Jesus- in any moment of stress, tension, pressure- do you not think that He has the ability to immediately send legions of angels to adequately address the situation? Just in case you’re curious, a legion equaled at least 6000 troops. Looking to His 12 disciples- 1 betraying Him, 1 reacting in violence, 10 others shaking in their sandals- He says if the situation called for it, He could have not 12 fearful men, but 12 groups of 6000 powerful angelic warriors come down to fix the situation. Do you believe that He can’t defend Himself, His truth, His people- and that He needs your violent reaction in order for His will to be accomplished? This verse reminds us of the sovereignty of God. He is in control. He is all powerful. He is all-knowing. He is more than able to adjust any situation for His glory and for the benefit of His people. So instead of quickly reacting and attacking, we should be quietly seeking His help, wisdom, guidance, and power through any difficult situation.
For those who like outlines that follow a pattern, perhaps we could keep to our theme of violence returns violence, healing returns healing, and now say His power returns His power. In other words, if we seek His power first, then what we will receive is His power. In contrast, if we use our power (being selfishly reactive and violent), then the result will be our “power” being displayed, which in the grand scheme of things really won’t amount to being all that powerful.
Lastly, in verses 54 and 56 Jesus emphasizes that there are certain events, already mapped out in scripture, (that will in the moment seem really negative and bad) that must take place according to God’s plan to bring about ultimate peace, joy, blessing, and victory for His followers. Verse 54and 56…
The Bible contains so many prophecies that have been fulfilled, but there are also many that are yet to be fulfilled or have yet to be fulfilled to their full completeness. In last week’s midweek teaching, I mentioned God giving Daniel the sweeping prophecy of how kingdoms will rise and fall, and how He has it all mapped out up to the very end of time when earthly kingdoms will be done away with and His eternal kingdom will be fully established. If you are experiencing any 2020 political anxiety, I highly encourage you to get online and read or watch that message. But it’s not just earthly kingdom and political drama being fulfilled. Jesus, in many places throughout the gospels, warns that His followers will be persecuted for following Him- (especially leading up to the end of time) and that prophecy is being fulfilled around the world. As followers of Jesus, we must be careful as we witness injustice, persecution, attacks on God’s truth, attacks on freedom of religion, attacks on freedom of speech- we must be careful not to react violently- realizing that as Jesus says, the scriptures will be fulfilled.
In fact, all three of our previous concepts to consider before drawing the sword, are based in this final concept: Scripture truth returns scripture truth. The truth of the Bible will be played out as true in the world you and I live in. Jesus says you reap what you sow, and that is a solid, truthful concept that will be played out. The scripture says His power returns His power, and that truth will be played out. The truth of scripture will not be negated, it will return and continue to prove to be true over and over. The bible doesn’t say these specific words “His power returns His power”- no that’s just a general simple way I came up with to remember the concept. The bible rather says the concept a little more eloquently, like in 1 John 5:5- “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” The power to overcome the world, comes from believing in the power source of Jesus the Son of God- His power, returns His power. Isaiah 55:10-11 says “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” What is written in scripture is reliable, and will produce, manifest itself, in the reality of our lives. Scripture truth returns scripture truth.
This concept can be a bit of a “bad news and good news” concept for us. It’s bad news for those who chose not to trust the truth of God’s scripture. It’s bad news for those who rebel against its advice, warnings, commands. It’s bad news for those who don’t use it as the standard by which they live their lives. It’s bad news because the judgements and consequences laid out in the Bible will become reality in the lives of those who don’t heed its words. In contrast, “scripture truth returns scripture truth” is a good news concept for those who trust the Bible’s truth even in difficult situations. It’s good news for those who receive and live out its advice, warnings, commands. It’s good news for those who use it as the standard by which they live their lives. It’s good news because all the promises and rewards laid out in the Bible will become reality in the lives of those who heed its words.
Now how do we use this concept of scripture truth returns scripture truth to temper our reactions in tense, pressured, reactive-prone moments? Perhaps in order to really be able to apply this concept, we have to be familiar with scripture. To spend time in it so that when potentially reactive moments arise, we can recall its truth- we can remember the historical stories and examples of those who reacted with wisdom, and those who in contrast reacted with folly. If we spend time in it, taking in its promises and warnings, we’ll be able to recall verses like Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath…”
And then realize and accept the fact the Bible very clearly teaches that things on earth will get worse before they get better. Resist the urge to shout out “It’s unfair” and to react violently with words, demands, frustration, attacks- and rather step back to consider that the unfairness, injustice, stress- you are experiencing, could in fact be the very indicators that His salvation is near.
Church, watch and pray. And remember: violence returns violence, healing returns healing, His power returns His power, and scripture truth returns scripture truth.
Sunday MessageI AM … STILL ISJohn 18:2-11
Pastor Dave
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What an amazing journey we’ve been on as God has been molding two church families into one church. I think it’s pretty incredible where God has landed us in where we have been studying His word together. 3 years ago, Glady Branch embarked on a journey through the gospels chronologically. That means we’ve been piecing together the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the order that the events and teachings occurred. And when Next and Glady Branch began meeting regularly together a few months ago, it just so happened that we had just arrived in our 3-year journey through the gospels, in the book of John, chapter 14.