Sunday, February 24, 2008

Courage under fire (Acts 4.1-31)

 

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon February 24, 2008

Thing were going really well for the new believers led by the apostles. On a single day of preaching done by Peter “about three thousand were added to their number” as noted in Acts 2:41. And, 2:47 notes how the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. And, in chapter 3, we see Peter doing the impossible in the name of Jesus Christ; a forty year old man, a bagger, with the lifetime congenital defect to his legs that made him a cripple man since birth experienced the impossible, spectacular healing that allowed him to experience for the first time in his life what it was to walk and to jump. People were blown away by this amazing healing done by Peter in Jesus’ name. 3:10 states, “they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” Certainly it is not too difficult to imagine the magnitude of the amazement felt by the people.

Truly these were the sunny and glorious days for the newly found Jerusalem church. The biblical preaching, the exponential church growth, and the stunning miraculous healing, things couldn’t have gone any better for the church.

But, what we see in chapter 4 is this unfettered sunny days being overshadowed by darkness of persecution. It is like the lunar eclipse of this past Wednesday, the brightly shining moon in its full glory being overshadowed by the earth; slowly the moon turned from its luminous color to eerie shade of red until the whole moon was overshadowed by the earth.

As we make our ways through the chapters of the Acts of the apostles, you will notice this theme of worsening darkness of persecution. Chapter 4 is just the beginning.

This morning, what I want you to pay attention is the way the apostles and the believers react to this drastic change in their circumstance. When things got hot, when things got dangerous, when their evangelistic zeal to proclaim Jesus as Christ and Lord was matched by the growing rejection, hatred, and physical threats, I want you to notice the way the believers reacted to this dark change. I want you to pay attention to this because the way one reacts to the changing circumstances reveals great deal about the person’s faith. Another word, the way you react in dark days reveal true nature of your faith in Christ.

  1. Expect the opposition and rejection to your testimony of Jesus Christ

The theme of this year is this: “You are my witnesses.” And, as you get serious about being Jesus’ witnesses, as you get more active in sharing your faith, you can be certain of this; you will face rejection; you will face opposition.

Jesus said in John 15:20-21, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also… They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.Luke 21:12-13, Jesus warned his disciples what would happened to him when they become his witnesses, “they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them.”

This is precisely what happened to Peter and John just the way Jesus said it would happen to them. The leaders over Jewish communities detained Peter and John over night in jail. Next day, they convened the Sanhedrin which was the highest governing authority, the senate and the highest ruling authority, the supreme court of the nation; there were seventy one people in this Sanhedrin council; the Sadducees and the Pharisees made up the seventy and plus the high priest. It was like Peter and John being brought in front of the Supreme Court and the Senate meeting to be judged. The Sanhedrin had the jurisdiction over all cases except the capital punishment cases. This was why earlier Jesus was handed over to Romans to be crucified instead of they themselves crucifying Jesus. They took offense to Peter and John’s teaching and proclamation about Jesus.

  • Resurrection: Verse 2, it says that the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees “were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
  • Responsibility for crucifying Christ: It was not too long ago, when these same religious leaders and other Jews along with the Romans that they crucified Jesus. Peter explicitly tells this fact in verse 10, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead…” They thought they took care of Jesus Christ. But, now the exponentially growing believers after Jesus were testifying to the fact that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead.
  • Exclusive claim for salvation by Jesus alone: Verse 12, Peter claimed, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

If you were to make the same case to the secular minds about Jesus Christ, the likelihood of being taken seriously is unlikely. What is likely is you will offend the minds of people who embrace pluralism. Pluralism is the attempt to tolerate every religious claim and view as equally valid and true. It does this by attempting to find the common universal ground among the competing, exclusive truth claims while ignoring the nature of their exclusive claims. This is really the bedrock, the underpinning of our society we live in now. The exclusive claim by Jesus that he is “the way and the truth and the life” that “no one comes to the Father except through him found in John 14:6 goes against the fabric of our time. In the minds of pluralist, the Christ’s exclusive claim for salvation in him alone is bigotry, offensive, primitive, uncivil, and intolerant. For us to claim that only in Jesus salvation is found is appalling and backward to many.

So, as you and I get on board and get serious about being Jesus’ witnesses this year, we need to get this; the message of the gospel is offensive because it is the exclusive claim of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation and this goes against the common value of pluralism.

When I became a Christian at the age of fifteen after immigrating shortly to America, I began writing letters to my good friend in Korea who was not a Christian. I wrote to him how I was changing because of my newly found relationship with Jesus. I shared about Jesus Christ, what he meant to me, and how I was feeling, thinking, behaving differently. I shared the changes that I was experiencing because of Jesus. My friend who I grew up with, who I shared tons of fun moments of laughter, being silly and playful, who was warm to me wrote letters back to me. In his each letters, my friend wrote how he thought I was going through a religious phase, how I was becoming weak, weird, deceived. He dismissed my conversion, my relationship with Jesus as silly thing. His tone felt demeaning and removed. This was coming from my childhood friend.

Apostle Peter said, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you,” in 1 Peter 4:12. If you get serious about being witnesses of Jesus, you will face opposition and rejection from many. People will dismiss you as a bigot and won’t take you seriously.

As you take Jesus’ call to be his witnesses seriously and know that you must expect opposition and rejection, there has to be something within you that will make you stand strong and courageous.

In verse 13, you see this courage in operation. It says Peter and John’s opponents saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men… they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

If we are going to expect opposition and rejection, you and I must be grounded in this courage.

  1. Courage is for those who spend time with Jesus

The courage that the members of the Sanhedrin saw operating in Peter and John was the byproduct of their intimacy with Jesus Christ.

They were not extraordinary people; they were not trained in the theological school as their opponents were; they were no experts in the laws. But what was true about Peter and John was this, they had been with Jesus.

Can this be said about you? Can it be said that you are men and women of courage because you spend time with Jesus.

More time spent at the feet of Jesus and learning from him his way of life, you will become more like him. Courage to be witnesses of Jesus Christ comes from spending time with him. If we lack in courage, it is because we lack in spending time with Jesus.

Their courage caused them to declare, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” in Acts 4:19-20 when they were commanded not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus in verse 18.

Spending time with Jesus make you bold like Peter and John.

  1. Courage is for those who have people to call their own.

It says in verse 23 that Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

Do you have the people to call your own? Do you have the people to go back to and to share what’s going on as you try to be Jesus’ witness? Peter and John did.

When they got back to their own people, they were energized, encouraged. Look at the way their own people responded to their report in verse 24. They raised their voices together in prayer to God. The people you can call your own are the people who would pray with you earnestly.

Do you have people like that? It has been highlighted to us by God that along with the theme of being Jesus’ witnesses this year, another theme will be building up the small groups.

Our small groups are still in infancy. But, God’s going to use the small groups to provide you the people you can call you own, the people who would pray for you earnestly.

Here is what I want you to remember. It is going to take time to form lasting relationship. To share the sense of belonging, to earnest and genuinely pray for each other doesn’t happen over night or months. It will take time. It will also require effort from each of us. Relationships don’t happen by chances. Relationships happen when you intentionally seek each other.

So, be patient and be intentional. You will gain courage from people you belong to, people who pray for you.

4. Courage is for those who know God as Sovereign Lord.

Verse 24, when they prayed they called out to God, “Sovereign Lord.” The word Sovereign Lord is only used few times in the New Testament. It comes from a Greek word despovth". According to Low and Nida, it means “one who holds complete power or authority over another.” It is the strongest term that speaks to God’s absolute control in his power. We get our English word ‘despot’ from this Greek word. You may come across English word ‘despot’ in articles that might describe someone like Fidel Castro who have had absolute control over Cuba for long time until just recently. Of course, when despot is used for someone like Castro, it speaks to the exercise of power tyrannically and temporally regardless of how long they may rule over their countries. Our Sovereign God doesn’t exercise his power tyrannically; his control is not temporary.

The people declared in verse 24, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” Our God is the master, the one who has the absolute control over whole universe, whole creation. The Sanhedrin gave Peter and John the official command not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus.

Yet, in the prayer of their people, what we see is this conviction that their God was Sovereign God, the Creator over all creation. This would include all those who oppose and reject the message of Christ.

This Sovereign God, the Creator God is God who has spoken. Through the mouth of David, he wrote in Psalm 2, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” All the assaults and the oppositions and rejections against Jesus Christ will be in vain. God declared this long ago. “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.” Yet, their effort, their conspiracy against Jesus will be in vain because God has spoken as such long ago. What God says goes. This is what it means for Sovereign God to have the absolute power and authority over all.

Verse 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” Jesus wasn’t crucified by the will of the kings of the earth and the rulers. It was by the will of God, the Father. It was by the will of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who submitted to the Father’s will. Even at the cross, the darkest day of the history of mankind when God’s Son died, God was firmly in control. The darkest day was by Sovereign God’s will, by the Son of God’s will in submission.

As such in your darkest days, you will not stand alone for God is with you. Beyond the darkest days await the glorious days for God wills it.

5. Courage is for those who belong to God as his servants.

Verse 29, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” They identified themselves as Sovereign God’s servant. You cannot know God as Sovereign God apart from being his servants. To know God as Sovereign God means to assume the position of servant. And, to assume the position of servant is to know where you belong, you belong to God.

6. Courage is for those who ask for it from Sovereign God at where you are.

Do you see why Peter and John, their own people had such courage? They prayed unto Sovereign God. Verse 29, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” Verse 31, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” The words, courage in v. 13, boldness in v. 29 and boldly in v. 31 come from the same Greek word.

Notice that this confidence, boldness, courage is what they prayed for to Sovereign God; and they received their answer when the Holy Spirit came and filled them. It is the Holy Spirit who dispensed the courage, boldness to speak God’s word boldly. Another word, the courage that enables you and me to speak boldly the word of God is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Notice that they weren’t praying that somehow God would help them be safe and avoid any more confrontation. They pray for more of the stuff that got them into trouble in the first place. Another word, they are praying for boldness to be Jesus’ witness right where they were at. God grants courage for now, for here, for where you live, where you go, where you stay, where he sends you although it might be dark where you are. Courage is for those who ask for it from Sovereign God at where you are.

Conclusion

How do you receive this courage, the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It requires you to set your heart on being Jesus’ witness. Such determination comes by way of spending intimate time with Jesus. As you set your heart on being Jesus’ witness, you expect opposition and rejection. But, because you are not alone for you belong to your people, your small group, your church; you are encouraged for you surround yourself with a group of faithful prayer warriors.

How do you receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It requires the renewing of your mind, knowing clearly God as your Sovereign God. It requires you knowing who you belong to, to God as his servants.

How do you receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit? It requires you to ask for it from Sovereign God so that you can be effective witness here and now, wherever you are, wherever God sends you.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Find your true root, Acts 3:1-26

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon February 17, 2008

Here is a clip from

Jump to 4:00 mark to see Chris Rock’s response when he finds about his root.
.

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.

  1. 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.

  1. Find your true root by exercising your faith in the name of Jesus

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The beggar was placed probably by his family and his friends to bag for money at the temple gate called Beautiful.

The exact location clip_image006of 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!

  1. 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.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

God’s winning strategies to draw people to himself (Acts 2:42-47)

 

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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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?

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

God’s winning blueprint! (Acts 2:14-41)

 

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon February 3, 2008

“No Blueprint to Beat the Patriots: Giants face uphill battle against perfection in Super Bowl” reads the headline in the MSN website, referring to an article by Fox Sports.

Double-cover Randy Moss.

Blitz Tom Brady.

Attack the perimeter defensively with tosses and stretch plays designed to exploit New England’s aged linebacker corps.

Try taking advantage of Patriots safeties with seam and crossing routes in the middle of the field.

Blah, blah, blah.

For 18 games, NFL analysts have espoused different theories about how New England can be defeated. None of them have worked well enough to topple the Patriots entering Sunday's Super Bowl XLII matchup against the New York Giants.[1]

I am sure you out there New York Giants fan have thought this through. It is hard to believe there should be any New York fans in Chicago area… well we know who you are. J

Sometimes our headline seems to read similarly. “No blueprint to beat the perpetual sins of laziness, procrastination, ego-centric pride disguised in self-pity, anger, yelling,” “No blueprint to make faithful out of faithless coward,” “No blueprint to beat the apathetic, passionless spirit,” “No blueprint to change prayerlessness to prayerfulness,” “No blueprint to stop the bickering and fighting,” “No blue print to beat the sexual temptations,” “No blueprint to change the closed mind, hardened heart to accept Jesus as Christ and Lord,” “No blueprint to beat the fear of men to be Jesus’ witness.”

I am afraid we are like the New York Giants in this sense scratching our head not knowing how to beat the demons in our lives.

Today’s scripture passage clearly marks it for us that God is never helpless; God is never without the clear blueprint to carry out his sovereign, eternal plan; he has executed his blueprint to help us, to save us. The question is will you and I accept God’s blueprint of salvation?

When the people heard the disciples of Jesus Christ the sound the Spirit blowing like a violent wind and followed with them speaking unlearned languages declaring the praises of God, although many were amazed, some, however, made fun of them and said, “They had too much wine.”

Was there a blueprint to beat the skeptical crowd? Of course, the answer is the resounding yes. God has the winning blueprint.

  1. God’s winning blueprint involves the downpour of the Holy Spirit.

Standing along with other eleven apostles, Peter simply and firmly dismissed the false assumption of the crowd who thought the disciples were drunk. Do you remember from the last week how some made of fun of the disciples for what happened to them when the Holy Spirit rested, filled them?

Peter reminded them it was only 9 in the morning and was absurd to think they were all drunk at this hour. Then he set out to explain to them God’s winning strategy, the blueprint of his salvation.

To talk about God’s winning blueprint, Peter talked to them about the ancient prophecy of more than 800 years old. It comes from Joel 2:28-32.

It was a prophecy that foretold the time when God would pour out his Spirit on all people, sons, daughters, young men, old men, servants, men, women without discrimination. “In the last days” is the time between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. In these last days, the time between Jesus’ two comings, is the days of the Spirit. Another word, since the first coming of our Lord Jesus two thousand years ago until now is the age of the Holy Spirit and will continue to be so until Jesus returns again. Now is the time when all who believe in Jesus Christ can experience the outpouring of the Spirit.

But, there will be a time when the outpouring of the Spirit will cease; instead of the downpour of the Spirit, it will be the day of judgment of God to separate the goats from the sheep, the righteous from the unrighteous, the saved from the unsaved, the believers from the mockers, the followers from the ones who reject Jesus Christ.

God’s winning strategy against the ugliness of sins, killing with words, thoughts and actions, chaos, crisis, apathy, deadness, laziness, and aimlessness, dark emptiness and aching loneliness involves sending his Holy Spirit to rest upon his people, to fill them, to baptize them.

You see prior to Jesus’ coming, for over five hundred years, there was no prophetic voice heard in Israel. The prophetic voice of the prophets was the clear sign that the Spirit of God was with them. But for five hundred years leading up to the time of Jesus, there was no sign of the Spirit moving among them.

The Pentecost broke this silence. The Pentecost ushered again the wind of the Spirit to blow on people, to perform the impossible miracles, signs and wonders, to beat the impossible in people’s lives. This Pentecost was in the making since Joel spoke in the 8th century B.C. In this age of the Holy Spirit, God works directly at our heart level where our convictions, emotions, wills, the very core of who we are.

But lest we forget that the age of the Spirit came at a high price, Peter reminds us as he did with the crowd the necessity of the cross of Jesus Christ.

  1. God’s winning blueprint involved the costly price of his Son at our hands.

When you trace back in the gospels of what Jesus said about this era of the outpouring of the Spirit, what you find is the necessity that Jesus be killed, die on the cross, to be buried and to be raised on the third day. Here is an important statement about God’s winning blueprint from Peter in Acts 2:23 about Jesus’ crucifixion, “This man was handed over you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”

Ronald Goetz wrote in the Christian Century an article with this thought provoking title, “God’s Plan to Kill Jesus.” It speaks to this verse, Acts 2:23:

Here is a text to try our modern Christian souls. It appears to be on a collision course with the best of our liberal values. God is up to his eyes in the blood of Jesus! God in league with “lawless men”! How can any Christian argue with much conviction against capital punishment if God effects his purpose in such an unwaveringly bloody way? On what basic can we work for world peace if God required such a violent resolution of the conflict between creatures and himself? … Yet the soteriological necessity of Christ’s cross remains pivotal to the whole New Testament. The New Testament preserves nothing of any earlier understanding. We can’t attribute any serious authority at all to the New Testament unless we are willing to come to terms with the centrality of this text.[2]

The idea is that the cross, the death of Jesus was not accident. It was not something haphazardly conceived by God who ran out of options in dealing with humanity. No, God decided long ago, the Messiah, the Son of God, the sinless God-man, to undergo substitutionary death that is to be killed, to be crucified in our place along side of the two criminals with the help of the wicked men, the Roman soldiers and the Jewish authorities who handed over to Romans.

When the Son of God, Jesus was crucified on the cross, the Romans, the Jewish religious authorities thought it was their plan, their complete execution that killed Jesus. But, the whole thing was planned out by God. It was God’s plan, God’s initiative to hand his Son to be crucified with the help of the wicked men. Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…” It was God’s will, his plan, his thinking, to have his son be killed in the cruel crucifixion that pales the modern humane method of execution by lethal injection.

Jesus often talked about God’s blueprint to his disciples. He said in Luke 9:44, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” Mark 10:33-34, “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” He said in John 16:5-7, “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

To have God’s winning strategy to have his Spirit rest upon us, fill us, baptize us, to will and to act according to God’s will, Jesus had to die. God’s winning strategy meant God’s plan to have his Son be rejected, be killed in the hands of the wicked men.

  1. God’s winning blueprint involves cutting to the heart.

Going to back to Acts 2:23, yes it was God’s purpose, his foreknowledge, his blueprint that his Son be killed, but it was the hands of the wicked men who put him to death by nailing him to the cross. What does the nailing the Son of God, Jesus Christ on the cross mean? It meant rejection by the wicked men.

Do you find yourself rejecting the Son of God, Jesus Christ in your life? Is Jesus Christ your Savior, your Lord? If you reject him, if you had rejected him in the past, and I am afraid, we all have rejected Jesus one degree to another, and we are and we were that wicked men who put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Verse 37 writes, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”” What cut their heart? Majority of them didn’t physically nailed Jesus to the cross? Yet, by their rejection of Jesus Christ as their Savior, their Lord, they realized that it was they who crucified the Savior, the Lord on the cross. They realized that it was because of them Jesus was killed on the cross.

Have you been cut to the heart? The pain gets so intense that it feels like your heart is being cut through a sharpest knife? Do you know what that is like? Have you pound your chest, have you pound the ground, have you felt like tearing your clothes because pain is unbearable?

Have you come to the realization that it is you who crucified Jesus Christ by rejecting him as the one who saves us, the one who rules over us? That it is I who crucified Jesus Christ with rejection!

God’s blueprint to Salvation is for you to personally experience this pain of the cutting to the heart.

  1. God’s winning blueprint involves Jesus sending gift to his murderers.

The cutting to the heart is really the work of the Spirit through the truth of God’s word. When you take the word of God seriously, then the Spirit convicts you in regard to sin.

But, he also opens your eyes to the reality of God’s amazing forgiveness. Verse 33 says, “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”

What it says here is that it is Jesus who received the Holy Spirit and it is him who has poured out the Holy Spirit. By our rejection, it is you and I who crucified Jesus Christ to the cross; it is we who must take the responsibility of killing the Son of God by our rejection.

Yet, the amazing thing is this Christ whom we crucified with our rejection has not set out to vindicate his death, his unjust killing. He is not after us to destroy us. Instead what he did upon his exaltation was to send the Holy Spirit to us that we may truly know him. Instead paying evil with evil, Jesus pays evil with goodness. We crucify him with evil rejection and he sends us his precious gift.

Have you known anyone who sends the murder a precious gift? Well, that is exactly what our risen Jesus Christ does. He sent to us his precious gift of the Holy Spirit to us who crucified him with our rejection.

Having cut to the heart, the people asked Peter, “What shall we do?”

Peter replied in verse 38-39, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off- for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Repentance is preceded by the experience of being cut to the heart. Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus was cut to the heart when he realized that by persecuting the believers he was persecuting Jesus Christ. With being cut to the heart for rejecting God’s rule, to repent is to turn to God to ask for forgiveness and to come under his rule.

The next practical step to be part of God’s winning blueprint is to be baptized. This is physical baptism when a person confesses in the public Jesus as Lord and Savior and be baptized with water. If you have never been baptized either as an adult or as an infant, but you profess to be Christian, then take this to the heart and you need to be baptized.

If you were baptized when you were an infant, then you need to be confirmed by making that profession in front of the people that Jesus is Christ, Savior and Lord to you.

These are important external rituals that testify to the inward experience of the Holy Spirit.

Easter is coming and it will be perfect time to obey the scripture. So, you are Christian but have not yet been baptized ever or been confirmed, you need to talk to me. When you obey, the blessing follows.


[1] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7747796?MSNHPHCP&GT1=10937

[2] http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=719