Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon February 17, 2008
Here is a clip from
Did you catch what he said last? “If I had known this, it would have taken away the inevitability that I was going to be nothing.” If he known the fact about where he came from, the fact about his great, great grandfather, who he was and what he did, it would have altered the course of his life. That’s a huge statement. He speaks to the power of knowing one’s root.
Today’s message is about knowing your spiritual heritage, your spiritual root. Perhaps, being reminded of your spiritual root, you will shake off the defeated, passive spiritual attitude and take on the new attitude that your life is going to matter in God’s kingdom.
- Find your true root that goes back to Abraham.
Acts 3:24-26, apostle Peter spoke to the Jewish people who were amazed by what happened to the crippled bagger. Peter said, “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
The offspring of Abraham these verses refers to is Jesus Christ. It was Jesus, the promised offspring of Abraham, whom God raised up from the dead and sent first to Jews to bless them and the rest of the world.
When Peter spoke of God’s blessing through Jesus Christ, there was nothing vague about it. God’s blessing is turning each of us from our wicked ways to the way of Christ. Left to us alone without God’s blessing, none of us can escape the curse of sin, the wicked ways. But, God’s blessing reverses, undo the curse of sin puts us on the path to shunning evil and choosing all that is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy matters (Philippians 4:8).
Now, for the Jews, they may claim their physical root back to Abraham. But, what we learn from the Bible is that it is not the physical blood connection that makes a person a true heir of Abraham, but it is the faith that connects you and me to Abraham.
Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 4:12-13; 16-17, “it was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith… Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is father of us all. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed- the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”
Concerning Abraham, the writer of Hebrews wrote in 11:8-12,
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Abraham believed in God who gives life to the dead, God of resurrection, God who calls things that are not as though they were, God of creation, God who builds as the architect and builder.
Our connection to Abraham is through faith in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we too are counted among the descendants of Abraham as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- Find your true root by exercising your faith in the name of Jesus
The beggar was placed probably by his family and his friends to bag for money at the temple gate called Beautiful.
The exact location 
of the temple gate Beautiful is not known. It is thought that it might have been Nicanor Gate leading to the court of women. Jewish historian Josephus mentioned this gate as the gate of Corinthian bronze with exquisite workmanship that exceeded in value of those gold and silver plated gates.[1]
This would have been an optimal location to bag. People often came with the mentality that they had to impress God, and giving alms to the poor was one way to do it. This man had never known what it was like to walk since he was crippled since he was born.
To this man who expected money from Peter and John, Peter offered far superior. Instead of a temporary relief from money, Peter offered a complete solution to the man. Verse 6, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” His crippled legs he never used to walk became strong and made completely well, enabling him for the first time to jump and praise God. Until this moment, he had never walked up the steps of the gate Beautiful into the temple area. For the first time in his life, he walked up the steps and walked into the temple court. And, later, he went out to a placed called Solomon’s Colonnade giving witness to the power of the name of Jesus Christ.
When people thought it was by Peter and John’s power or godliness that made this man well, Peter proclaimed in verse 16, “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”
A commentator says about name. “In Semitic thought, a name does not just identify or distinguish a person; it expressed the very nature of his being. Hence the power of the person is present and available in the name of the person.”[2] Jesus, his name is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, meaning, “the Lord is salvation.”[3]
Who is Jesus? Verse 13, Peter declared Jesus as God’s servant, the victorious servant in suffering who was obedient to the point of death in order to accomplish the will of the Father as written in Isaiah 52:13.
Verse 14, he is “the Holy and Righteous One,” who was set apart to God to accomplish again his will and who was completely innocent of any crime or sin.
Verse 15, “the author of life” whom God raised from the dead. Jesus is the source life, the source of salvation.[4] The irony was that the people asked that a murdered be released in place of Jesus. The people killed Jesus, the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.
Whenever you find yourself praying to God, I want you to pause and reflect this fact that you are praying in Jesus’ name, the Son of God, God’s servant, the Holy and Righteous One, the author of life who made this crippled man well. F. F. Bruce commented, “Peter impressed on them that the power which had wrought the cure resided in Jesus’ name, and that the man had availed himself of this power by the exercise of faith.”[5]
Our root goes back to Jesus. To know the power of Jesus Christ, you and I must exercise our faith. And, the Bible is very clear that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ,” Romans 10:17.
The message is very clear. Nothing is too difficult for God. Anything that God sets his heart to accomplish he has done, he is doing and he will do. And, it is when you and I find ourselves praying, interceding in Jesus’ name with faith grounded in God’s word, you and I will meet the divine opportunities to see God at work.
This is our heritage as God’s people; you must be rooted in the name of Jesus!
- Find your true root of forgiveness and times of refreshing by repenting and turning to God.
Peter said, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” Acts 3:19.
To repent, to turn to God is the way you and I will find our true root. To repent is to change one’s mind. It is about renewing one’s mind in Paul’s language in Romans 12:2.
Going back to the beginning clip on Chris Rock, the tears he shed when he learned about his great, great grandfather was the tears of regret for not having known his true root. If he had known this fact, if he was given the opportunity to embrace his true root, he is certain that he would have had more aspiration, passion, zeal and hop in his life, to become greater.
For you and me, the road to become greater in our lives, is to go back to our root. It can happen when you and I embrace our true root in Jesus Christ.
As it was true two thousand some years ago when Peter preached, it still is true today that the only way to find our true root is through changing our mind and turning to God.
What do you need to change your mind about?
The great change that is required in us is right valuation, knowing what is truly valuable and important. What do you value the most? What is the greatest treasure in your life? The reality is that whatever you consider to be your treasure you will guard it with all your might.
The change of mind need to happen at this level of knowing what is really valuable and important. If money, clothes, fast cars, comfort, certain lifestyle, gadgets are important, then our time and effort will be diverted to what we think are important and valuable.
But, forgiveness and the times of refreshing is important, then we will go to God. If being witnesses of Jesus Christ is important, then you and I will spend building relationships with non-believing people.
We battle with apathy when we forget what is truly important and valuable in life. And, the only way out of apathy is right valuation, change of mind and turning to God.
This is how you and I will find our true root.
[1] F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Book of the Acts, Revised. Eerdmans, 1988, p. 77.
[2] EBCNT: Acts 3:4-6
[3] John MacArthurh, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Acts 1-12, Moody Bible Institute, 1994, p. 108.
[4] F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Book of the Acts, Revised. Eerdmans, 1988, p. 82.
[5] Ibid., p. 83.
No comments:
Post a Comment