Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon February 10, 2008
It wasn’t supposed to happen. The Giants were more than 10 points underdog against the Patriots. The Patriots had 18-0 record going into the Super Bowl. They were labeled as an unbeatable team with the superstar quarterback Tom Brady with already three Super Bowl wins under his belt. But, we all know what happened. For many years to come, this game will be remembered as the greatest upset in the history of football. The Giants set a new standard now for what it means to be an underdog. How did they do it? How did they beat the unbeatable team?
One article from Associated Press titled, “Giant’s defensive strategy was simple: Attack- Pats had no room to run, while Brady was pressured.”[1] Another article reads, “Relentless Giants defense makes name for itself.”[2] The Giants sacked Brady five times and knocked him down on 10 occasions. The Giants’ defensive player Michael Strahan said, “We’re a bunch of misfits that somehow came together and won… We’re a bunch of misfits who believe in each other.” Mike Singletary in the week before the Super Bowl told the Giants how he appreciated their old-school mentality.
The winning strategy was their relentless pressure and attack by their defensive players against one of the best quarterbacks among many.
Think about the early church. They were the misfits of the society; fisher men, tax collector, a former demoniac Mary Magdalene from whom seven demons came out among others. Peter and John were considered by others as just plain “unschooled, ordinary men” (Acts 4:13). The only thing that set them apart was that they had been with Jesus. What began with twelve disciples and one of them to become a deserter and betrayer, just like that after the Holy Spirit came upon them and rested on them and Peter delivered the gospel message, three thousand were added to their number. Against all odds, the church that began with misfit twelve and among them a betrayer grew and grew for the last two thousand years that Christianity is now the major religion.
Today, we are going to look at God’s winning strategies for growing and victorious church by going back two thousand years ago and consider what God did with the Jerusalem church.
- God’s winning strategies only make sense when you understand God’s goal, to draw people to himself.
Before we can really understand God’s winning strategies, we need to understand the big picture God has for us.
His big picture is to draw men and women, young and old from the different races, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, cultural distinctions, to bring misfits together to make a beautiful mosaic of people of God.
God’s big picture is to draw people who want nothing to do with him to transform them to be a people who are devoted to him, his way, and his purpose.
God’s big picture is to draw people to himself.
To this end, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to take on humanity, to suffer and to die as God-man for the sins of the world, to raise him from the dead in three days, to exalt him to his right hand, so that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” To be saved is to go from being an enemy of God to a lover of God, a child of God, to go from being indifferent to God to being devoted to God, his way. It is about brining people who are far from God closer to God.
To this end, Jesus Christ has poured out the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33) to empower his people to be his witnesses to the world, to declare that Jesus is Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). So that through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, people who are far from God can have relationship with God as God’s children to mind their Father’s business.
God’s big picture, his goal is to draw people to himself.
As I study the word of God, the phrase that continually lingers in my mind is this, “You are my witness.” This is Jesus speaking to me and you. We are Jesus’ witnesses. The apostles were the eye witnesses of Jesus, Lord and Christ who lived, suffered, died and raised to life, who was exalted to the right hand of God. As God’s big picture was to draw people to himself, the apostles and the early Christians, their big picture was to help people draw near to God. They did this by being Jesus’ witnesses.
God is looking to draw more people to himself; to accomplish this he is looking for men and women who will wake up each morning with the renewed sense of being Jesus’ witnesses. Imagine how things will change if you wake up each morning with the deepening conviction that you are Jesus’ witness and live out this conviction each day.
Jesus says to you, “You are my witness.” Have you embraced this identity? My hope and prayer is that by the end of this year, this identity of being Jesus’ witnesses to draw people to God is no longer foreign idea, but a part of who we are, how we do things in life.
- To help people draw closer God, you need to devote yourself to the teaching of the apostles.
To devote is “to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty” according to Low and Nida.
That is exactly what the Giants did. From the beginning of the game till it ended, the defensive team had one thing in mind, to attack continually with intense effort to frustrate and prevent the quarterback from completing the drives. They never lifted up this pressure against the Patriots. They persisted. And, they did it as an underdog.
When the Holy Spirit rested upon them, when the life of Jesus Christ preached to them, the result was this persistent drive to know God deeper. God draws people to himself so that they can know God deeper. And, the fundamental of helping others know God is you yourself going deeper with God. You must have the firsthand knowledge of who God is. The early Jerusalem Christians went deeper with God by devoting, continually persisting with intense effort in spite of difficulty to the teachings of the apostles.
Today, there are no longer apostles as they were in the early church life. No one can make direct claims to have been with Jesus from the beginning, to be eye witnesses of his resurrection. What we have is the teachings of the apostles that have been passed down to us in the Bible, in the New Testament specifically.
This devotion, this continuing and persistent effort against difficulties to God’s word is a mark of a Spirit-filled and growing Christian. To be Jesus’ witness, you must major in God’s word; you must study hard, give your continuing and persistent effort to learn what God says to you in his word.
Yes, it is true that there are obstacles, difficulties to reading, meditating, being claimed by God’s word. Busyness, laziness, apathy, it is all there. Yet, the true mark of Jesus’ witnesses are the ones who overcome them with the Holy Spirit’ help. As with any discipline in sports, if you want to attain certain marks of competency, confidence and capability, you got to start somewhere and make sacrifice. If you don’t take the first steps of running, you will never run the 5 K race. If you don’t jump into the water and swim, you will never finish the laps. If you wait for some kind of lighting inspiration that will make you take that first steps, you might never take the first steps.
Take the first step and depend on God for his sweep help. Back in the sanctuary is the copies of the Bible reading schedule. Make the first step and take it with you. If reading four chapters each day is overwhelming, just do one chapter at a time. It will only take five minutes.
There is got to be this conviction in your heart that God’s word is vital to your existence. To move from being away to closer to God, daily dose of God’s word to fill your mind, to renew your mind is vital. How can you be Jesus’ witness when God’s word he cherished as his food is not important to you? How can you be Jesus’ witness when knowing him is not important to you?
There is no power, no desire, no initiation to be Jesus’ witness unless there is this growing persistence, continuing effort against all difficulties to study God’s word.
What’s going to happen when you devote yourself to God’s word, when you study God’s word? Verse 43 tells us what happened. It says, “Everyone was filled with awe.” They were filled with awe not because they saw great miracles, but because the word of God was moving their hearts.
God’s word is inspired by God’s Spirit. When you read it, meditate on it, when you ask how can I obey God’s word, and when you strive to obey it, what you are going to discover is the Spirit of God filling you more and more, enable you to delight more in knowing God, obeying God, doing his work. The Holy Spirit prompts you to read God’s word because it is the way you are going to know the deep things of God, God’s heart and mind, it is the way that you are going to draw closer to God. God’s word must be indispensable, daily sustenance that without you cannot live.
You are walking around with empty stomach, yet you don’t realize how hungry you are, how weak you are, how emaciated you are. May the Spirit of God awaken you to the hunger and drive you to intimate knowledge of God.
- To help draw people to God, you need to devote yourself to prayer.
I love what John MacArthur says about prayer. In his commentary on Acts, he wrote, “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence.”[3] When we pray in Jesus’ name, our prayer becomes the electrical impulse that travels down through the path of never cells that reaches down to the muscles that can move mountains. Jesus said in John 14:12-14, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
The greatest miracles is for anyone who are far from God, who are the enemies of God, who are disappointed, angry, and mad at God, who are indifferent towards God, people like you and me to become God’s children who possess the pure delight in God and in all that he has done and is doing and will do. To cross the great chasm of unbelief, skepticism, opposition, apathy, laziness, love of self and materials, to reach life in the center of God is the greatest miracle.
And, such miracle can only happen by the omnipotent muscles of our God. It is prayer that fires up the signals to God to move his omnipotent muscles and to perform his great miracles.
God has convinced some of you of this truth last year and you’ve learned to devote yourself to prayer, to use “the slender nerve” to move the omnipotent muscles of God.
There are many avenues in our church to use the slander never. Six days a week, there are prayer meetings between 6-7 am. On Wednesday, there is Downpour Prayer meeting between 8-9:30. Each Sunday morning there is Sunday morning Intercessory prayer meeting from 9-9:45.
Then there is the closet prayer in your own home where no one is around, where you can have intimate time with the Lord.
Then, there is the prayer of daily moments when don’t have to be bond by time or space. Whenever you breath, you can breath out prayer to God who hears you all the time.
If we are not seeing miracles, if we are not seeing people coming to faith in Jesus Christ, if we are not seeing people drawing near to God, it is because you and I have not asked for God’s miracles.
We serve God who can flex his omnipotent muscles. If you want to see miracles, doesn’t it make sense to devote, to continually persist with intense effort against obstacles to pray?
- To help draw people to God, you need to devote yourself to fellowship with Christ.
It says that the believers devoted themselves to the breaking of bread in verse 42. This breaking of bread certainly refers to communion, sharing the Lord’s Table. It is through the communion, we are visually and tangibly reminded of the miracle of drawing near to God.
The fact that any of us can draw near to God, the fact that any of us can be loved and cherished by God as his children, the fact that we are new creation, is amazing miracle. And this amazing miracle was made possible because Jesus suffered and died and was raised to life.
To be Jesus’ witness is to testify to this fact, this reality of the cosmic cost of God’s Son’s life and the cosmic miracle of resurrection.
But, unless we are steeped in Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, unless we are immersed in Christ’s experience, unless we identify with Christ in his suffering, his death and his resurrection, there is no witness.
True and powerful witness begins with deep identification with Jesus Christ. Formally, we do the communion once a month. But, in practice, you can participate in the spirit of communion every day, every moment. Reminding yourself consciously Jesus died suffered for you, he died for you, and he gives you victory through his resurrection doesn’t require a time and space. It is something you can do anytime and anywhere.
In order to help people draw closer to God, you and I must be steeped in this amazing love of Jesus Christ. When you find yourself immersed in God’s love, you cannot help but have this growing, burning desire for Christ to be known.
- To help draw people to God, you need to devote yourself to public gathering.
Verse 46 says “Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” This is Jerusalem church made up with the newly converted Jews to Christ. When they became believers in Jesus Christ, they did not abandon public gathering. They went to the temple courts to gather together.
To draw people to God, you and I must diligently meet together publicly to praise God (v.47), to learn God’s way, to be reminded the heavy cost of Jesus Christ’ death and resurrection, God’s miracles. Can you imagine what it was like to fore three thousand plus new believers to gather together and see each other? They are witnessing three thousand plus faces of God’s miracles, how God flexed his omnipotent muscles.
We need that constant reminder of God’s omnipotent muscles to save people. When we gather in the church, we see God at work.
- To help draw people to God, you need to devote yourself to small groups.
Not only did they gathered publicly in the temple courts, verse 46 says, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”
Their small group gatherings were marked by gladness. And, gladness has the meaning of rejoicing greatly. To meet each other at homes brought them great joy. When was last time you felt this way about other believers in our church? And “sincere hearts” can be understood as simple hearts without stumbling rocks of selfishness. We all know what it is to hang out with selfish people. It bores us, irks us and irritates us. Do you know what it is to hang out with unselfish people?
This sincere heart, unselfish heart, stems from their spirit of generosity. Verse 44 says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.”
Now, this is not a proof text for communist idea of sharing wealth. Communism forces everyone to share, riches from the riches are taken by force even by death. But, the sharing described in our passage was completely voluntary. And, for them to meet each other’s home points out the fact that they didn’t all sell all of their possessions. If they all did, they would be destitute.
What they got is this. By receiving the life of Jesus Christ, they realized that they gained the true rich. Jesus Christ came to earth to give himself generously for us, to empty himself for us. And, as the Spirit of Jesus Christ filled them, they too were overwhelmed by the spirit of generous giving.
The fact they knew each other’s need and met each other’s need without feeling shame or shaming should tell you their relationships weren’t superficial. They were true friends in Christ.
Now, as a church, we don’t have this down yet. The extent of the small groups happens after church service thus far. But, our goal should be to take the small groups beyond Sunday afternoon.
What we want to see is “breaking bread at home.” Going out for lunch or dinner is good, but there is something special about hanging out at home. Friends do that. Again, we don’t have it down yet. We don’t have specific strategies to foster this kind of small group growth yet. But, I am praying for this as well as many of you are praying.
Conclusion
Now you may ask, where is witnessing in this picture? It is important to know that witnessing isn’t just about talking to a person about Jesus Christ. Especially in this day and age when people are skeptical of truth claim, all the more they need to see how Jesus Christ makes difference in our daily lives.
John MacArthur says, “The church will still be effective in bringing sinners to Christ when it manifests the same key elements of spiritual duty that marked this first fellowship.”[4]
God’s big picture is to bring people to himself. Let’s do all that we can to devote ourselves to God’s word, prayer, fellowship in Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, public gathering and small group gathering. This really is the foundation of our witness to the world.
[1] http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/04/giants-defensive-strategy-was-simple-attack/
[2] http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3229530
[3] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Acts 1-12, Moody Bible Institute, 1994, p. 85.
[4] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Acts 1-12, Moody Bible Institute, 1994, p 80.
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