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VICTORIOUS over Death

4/20/2020

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I love Peeps.
 
There’s something about gooey, sugary, artificially dyed animal shapes that really get a person hyped for Easter.
I enjoy trying to smoosh them together and see how many I can fit into my mouth at once.
And usually…they are the first thing to remind me that Easter is on its way.
Suddenly, they appear in a giant display at Food Lion visible as soon as I enter.
 
Not this year.
 
This year when I went to Food Lion?
Hand sanitizing stations.
Plastic gloves.
And plastic barricades.
 
Doesn’t it feel a bit like Easter has been overshadowed?
 
To be fair – this pandemic is still scary.
 
There have been 1,577,360 cases of COVID-19 and 93,637 deaths.
6.6 million Americans filed for Unemployment last week.
The stock market continues to volatilely jump up and down.
Experts warn that the curve hasn’t slowed down yet.
 
So…
When do we get a victory?
When do we get a win?
 
Right now.
 
Today we’re going to look at the very first Easter and remember the victory that’s ours Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. The Sadness of Easter
 
The lesson this morning chronicles a group of a women who were very close to Jesus. Their story doesn’t start on Easter, but on Good Friday:
 
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last...But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
 
They saw the nails pierce his hands.
They saw the thorns break his skull.
They saw him bleed.
They saw the soldiers mock him.
They saw the religious leaders mock him.
They saw random travelers mock him.
 
They saw him face.
They saw him weaken
They saw his life slowly slip away…
 
Until…
 
He was no more.
 
Instead of Jesus, there was a cold lifeless body.
 
What ensued next was a bit of a hurried event.
It was Friday afternoon.
By 6 pm, the Jewish Sabbath would start.
It was against religious law to have a dead person exposed and unburied once the holy evening began.
(Granted, you might expect it to be against religious law to kill the Son of God, but…who’s keeping track really…)
 
So…
 
The soldiers took his body down.
They quickly carried it to Pilate.
Pilate gave it to a volunteer,
who quickly wrapped up the body.
 
Linens around the head.
Linens around the body.
Linens around the feet.
Skip the ointments.
Skip the oils.
Skip the perfumes…
 
There wasn’t much time left.
 
Grab some soldiers.
Carry the body to a tomb.
Put it inside.
And roll a giant stone in front.
Get home in time for supper.
 
While all of this was going on, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (v.55-56)
 
And…
On that day of rest…
 
I imagine they couldn’t help but think of what they’d seen.
Flashes of the horrors that Jesus went through interrupting their daily thoughts.
 
Every door shut triggering the memory of that hammer.
Even the red liquid of the tomato soup matching the red of his blood.
Every unpleasant smell generating a nausea at what they’d seen.
 
They tried to busy their minds by busying their hands.
Crushing some herbs.
Mixing some ointments.
Heating things to the right temperature.
 
They needed to properly bury his body.
To do the things that time had not allowed them to do.
To give him the respect he deserved.
To get some closure on this death that was hanging over their heads.
 
Hmmm…
Death over their heads.
On the very first Easter.
 
I can’t help but notice that this year’s Easter and the first Easter have that in common because…
Like Easter 2020, the very first Easter began with DEATH hanging over the day.
 
But…
 
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. (v.1)
 
“Mary, you pour the myrrh on his feet.”
“I’ll take some frankincense to his head.”
“Other Mary, you put sprinkle some of your special blend near the torso.”
 
“Salome! How are we even going to do this? There’s that giant stone. It must weigh hundreds of pounds. Do you think the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb will even be willing to let us insi-”
 
They stopped.
They gasped.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. (v.3)
 
The women looked at each other.
Their question changed from who WILL roll away the stone to who DID roll away the stone.
 
Was it the soldiers?
Was it those nasty pharisees?
Was it some kind of grave robber?
 
But inside, they found nobody.
And no body.
 
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. (v.4)
 
Angels!
Messengers of the most high!
Divine servants of the All Mighty.
 
Holy.
 
The women fell to the ground with their faces in the dirt.
Because…
 
The only things more terrifying than DEATH is facing the one who CONTROLS it.
 
Angels were from God.
God hated sin.
They had sin.
Were they about to be struck down?
 
But the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”
 
You came here searching for a tomb.
A body.
Death sealed within.
 
But there’s no death here.
There’s no DEATH in Jesus’ tomb. He LIVES.
 
Stop being sad.
Start being joyful.
Jesus lives.
 
II. Victory Truths
 
Because Jesus lives, the Bible has some important truths for us to consider.
 
(1) When it comes to Death, Your Level of FEAR Depends on whom You’re TRUSTING to Defeat It
 
I remember growing up we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Beforehand, we divided up into teams in order to go and find as many Easter eggs as we could and put them in our basket. My team? We had Jon Lindloff on our team. Jon was the fastest kid on the block. He was the most athletic. He could jump the farthest. Whatever team he was on would end up winning whatever athletic contest he was in because he was that impressive. He was like the 7-year-old, small midwestern town version of Lebron James.
 
So…
When we were about to start the egg hunt challenge, we were pretty confident.
We weren’t afraid of losing.
Because we had Jon Lindloff.
 
As you face COVID-19, where do you find confidence for victory?
 
A latex glove? These can break.
Some sanitizer bottle? They only kill 99.99%
Social distancing rule? What if someone else doesn’t follow it?
 
Doctors? What if they’re so sleep deprived and tired they can’t give you the best care?
The government? What if can’t get along and come to a partisan agreement to help?
Scientists? What if they don’t discover a vaccine before it’s too late?
 
Trusting in an EARTHLY things to defeat death leads to High levels of FEAR
 
Because all those things?
They’re earthly.
Earthly things die.
 
You can’t trust in a thing that dies to defeat the things that causes those earthly things to die.
You need to trust in something that doesn’t die.
 
Back in the tomb, as the women were trying to process what the angels were saying about Jesus, the angels were trying to process how the women didn’t expect this resurrection. They said,
Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. (v.6b-8)
 
They remembered about the time Jesus said he was like Jonah. Jonah had been inside the belly of a big old fish for three day, then come out alive. Like how Jesus had been in the belly of the earth for three days, then come out alive. (Matthew 12:40)
 
They remembered about the time Jesus said the Pharisees should go destroy the temple, but he would rebuild it in three days. At the time, they had thought he meant the gigantic stone structure in which they worshiped, but he had really meant his body. (John 2:19)
 
They remembered when Jesus said he was the kind of Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. But one who did so confidently, because he had the authority to raise his body back to life again. (John 10)
 
They remembered when Jesus said plainly, “I am going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him. But three days after he is killed, he will rise.” (Mk. 9:31)
 
The truth is that…
Trusting in the HEAVENLY ONE leads to high levels of CONFIDENCE.
 
Jesus trustworthy.
He defeated death just as he said.
 
Jesus is trustworthy.
He’ll get you through what’s going on.
 
(2) Jesus Holds an UNBLEMISHED Record against Death.
 
This is the reason that the angel says to the women: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”
 
Not just because Jesus is living.
But Jesus is the LIFE.
 
A paraphrase might be:
“You really thought measly old death could defeat Jesus? Ha! Hey, Clarence. Put down your harp. You gotta hear this. It’s a good one.”
 
In fact, Jesus had already proven his power over death.
 
He met a young girl who had died a few hours before he made it to her room. Jesus grabbed her hand and brought her back to life.
Jesus stopped a procession for a young man who had died just yesterday. Jesus touched the casket and the brought him back to life.
Jesus missed the funeral of a friend of his and approached the tomb where his friend had been buried for over four days. Jesus opened the tomb and brought him back to life.
 
Jesus holds an UNBLEMISHED Record against Death.
 
And to the victor goes the spoils!
 
If you win at the Olympics, you get the gold medal.
If you win at the Super Bowl, you get a super bowl ring.
If you win a boxing match, you get the winner’s purse. (Which…I always thought was an actual purse. And I wondered why manly boxers carried purses, but…turns out they just meant money…whatever).
 
To the winner goes the spoils.
 
What are the spoils for Jesus’ victory?
 
Forgiveness.
Peace with God.
Eternal Life.
 
But here’s the thing.
Jesus didn’t take these spoils for himself.
 
He gives them to you.
Jesus’s VICTORY over death means you receive the SPOILS.
 
You have forgiveness.
You have peace with God.
You have eternal Life.
 
This means that when it comes to the Corona Virus, you will get the victory.
Regardless of how it comes.
 
God keeps you safe and you never get COVID-19. You win.
You get sick, but God heals your body. You win.
You get sick. You don’t heal. You die. But then you live forever in heaven!
YOU WIN!
 
(3) With hope in JESUS, there is ZERO reason to fear Death.
 
There’s a pretty fabulous Bible passage that talks about the victory Jesus had over death. It’s found in Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
 
There was a dad who was sitting outside with his little girl. They were playing. Enjoying the nice day.
When suddenly, a bee flew near them.
 
This was a bigger deal to the girl than to most. She was allergic.
Deathly allergic.
 
She began to cry.
She began to wail.
 
So…
Dad wrapped her up in his big bear arms.
He protected her.
 
The bee landed on his bicep and stung him.
 
After the sting, dad let the girl go.
The bee was still flying around, but dad wasn’t worried.
 
Why?
 
The bee’s stinger was stuck in him.
It couldn’t sting his daughter anymore.
 
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (v.56-57)
 
Death has lost its sting.
IT cannot sting you any longer.
It’s no longer separation from God,
But an entrance into the joys of heaven.
 
III. What Now?
 
(1) Share the Victory
 
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. (v.9)
 
There are others who are fearful.
There are others who are afraid.
There are others who are spending this Easter…with death hanging over their heads.
 
Give them Jesus.
 
It’s what the women were so excited to do. They ran out of the tomb. They left their spices behind.
Because suddenly all that mattered was telling others about Jesus’ victory over death.
 
Do the same.
Put everything else down.
Go to tell a neighbor.
Go tell a friend.
Go tell a family member.
Christ is Victorious!
Amen.

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IDOLATRY: & Church?

3/15/2020

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We are in the middle of our IDOLATRY sermon series. So far, we have…
 
(1) defined idolatry as PLACING anything in God’s PLACE.
(2) identified personal idols as those things that we FEAR, LOVE or TRUST more than God.
(3) marveled as Jesus loved US more than himself by going to the cross to win forgiveness for our idolatry.
(4) been empowered to discover our own idols and get rid of them
 
In order to do this, I think it’s helpful to consider the places you visit each week and identify the idols that tempt you in each location. For example…
 
…work, where your boss sends you email reminders to worship idols of money and career every five minutes on the five minutes.
…the local bar, where you go every Thursday to practice some Thirsty Thursday Theology.
…your gym, where bowing down to do burpees quickly becomes bowing down to your bodacious body.
…your couch, here you have a nice little altar set up to the Netflix God.
… the bedroom down the hall from yours, where this tiny little 5-year-old God that demands all of your time and energy be spent pretending to be a Paw Patrol Character with them.
 
But, as you consider places where idols tempt you to worship them, how many of you thought of…
 
…Church?
 
If we were playing Family Feud and the topic was “Place You’d Find an Idol in Modern America”, giving the answer “Church” is something that would cause Steve Harvey to do a double take.
 
Today we will be warned from God’s Word not to be deceived: church can absolutely be a place where idolatry lays hold of our hearts. We’ll consider if any idols have taken their way into our hearts and ask God’s help exposing and removing those idols. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Background of Ezekiel
 
The lesson for this morning comes from Ezekiel 8. A bit of background:
 
In 597 B.C. the Babylonian Empire defeated the people of Israel and carried many people back into Babylon as exiles. These people were apart from their country, apart from where they grew up, and apart from their families.
 
But the truth was that God had ordained this exile. For years, God had been warning the people of Israel through prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, that this would unless they stopped worshipping idols and returned to worshipping the true God.
 
They didn’t listen.
So, God allowed the exile.
 
One might expect the exile to be what finally caused the people to change their ways, right?
 
Enter Ezekiel. Ezekiel is one of the priests of God who had been carried off with the exiles to Babylon. In Babylon, God transforms Ezekiel from a priest that brings requests from the people to God to a prophet that brings messages from God to the people. God had Ezekiel present these messages to the people in strange ways.
 
Once, God had Ezekiel go the city square and lie down on his side for 390 days. This was to represent how the 390 years that the people had been engaged in the sin of idolatry. (Ezekiel 4:5)
Another time, God had Ezekiel build a miniature model of Jerusalem. Then, he took an iron pan and placed it as a wall against the model, representing a Babylonian siege that God would send against the people of Jerusalem. (Ezekiel 4:3)
Yet one more time, God had Ezekiel shave off his beard. Then, he took a third of the beard shavings and burned them (to represent the third of Jerusalem that would be set on fire), a third of his beard shavings he threw into the wind (to represent the third that would flee the city and be scattered), and a third of the beard shavings he threw into the air and slashed with his sword (to represent the third of Jerusalem that would die by the sword). All these things would happen if the people didn’t return from idols to the true God.
 
These action prophecies led to Ezekiel garnering quite a following. Many of the elders in the city spent time with Ezekiel hoping to be present for another strange prophecy.
 
Well…
 
On the fifth day of the sixth month, in the sixth year of the exile, Ezekiel is chilling in his house with some of the elders. (I imagine they’re drinking some wine and watching the latest episode of the Bachelor).
 
When suddenly, Ezekiel goes into a trance.
 
He sees the figure of a man.
Chest of blazing fire.
Legs of glowing metal.
 
It’s the LORD.
 
And the LORD reaches out his hands,
Grabs Ezekiel by the hair,
And lifts him into the air.
 
He soars with Ezekiel out of the walls of Babylon.
He skyrockets him past the desert plains.
He lifts him up past the mountains.
 
And sets him down in Jerusalem.
Right in front of God’s temple.
 
I’m sure Ezekiel was filled with excitement:
 
This is my home!
This is my temple.
This is where I worked!
That is where I carved my name into a rock.
Over there is where little Suzy Lou gave me a kiss on the cheek in grade school!
 
But…
As Ezekiel’s looked around his home…
He saw something…
 
Different.
 
II. Church Idols
 
(1) The Idol of JEALOUSY
 
The Spirit…brought me to the entrance of the north gate into the inner courtyard of the Temple, where the idolatrous image of jealousy, which provokes jealousy, was located. (8:3)
 
Can you imagine that? This is God’s holy temple. The place where you worship God and only God. And yet, there at the entrance welcoming you as you come in, is an idol.
 
At the entrance of our church, we’ve got some flowers.
We’ve got a bench.
We’ve got a sign that says, “worship this way.”
 
How would you feel if next week there was a big old statue of Buddha out front?
 
The idol that was in front of the temple is simply identified as jealousy.
While churches today might not have an actual, statue like idol at the entrance to their church, the IDOL OF JEALOUSY is absolutely a threat.
 
A while back, I noticed a young child that was in tears throughout the worship service.
Crying.
Wailing.
Having a hard time.
 
Afterwards, he was still having a difficult time, so I asked him, “What’s wrong?”
“My brother ate the last goldfish. I didn’t get as many!”
Mom said, “Yep. That’s pretty much all we cared about throughout worship.”
 
Jealousy is a threat to take over your time of worship and craft an idol in your heart.
 
“Would you look at that person? He’s got so many friends. I wish I was more like him.”
“Really? She’s engaged and I’m not? How is that even possible? I’m way better looking.”
“That musician is very talented. So…it’s kinda cool they just made a mistake…Knock them down a peg or two.”
“That guy shouldn’t be on church leadership. I’d do a much a better job than him.”
“Look! There’s pastor capitulating to the new people again. When he’s gonna spend more time talking to me!?!”
 
The thing about the idol of jealousy is that it provokes jealousy.
 
Remember the first sermon in this series? God said, “You shall have no other Gods… for I am a jealous God visiting punishment on those who hate me.” (Exodus 20:3)
You might be consuming with jealousy for other people.
That leaves God jealous for you.
 
And Ezekiel was in shock.
And God tapped him on the shoulder.
And said, “You will see even great abominations than these.” (v.6)
 
(2) The Idol of REPUTATION
 
Next, he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard, and I looked and saw that there was a hole in the wall. (v.7)
 
Instead of telling Ezekiel to get out his spackle and a trowel to fix it, God tells him, “to dig through the wall.” So, Ezekiel does. I don’t know that he had some kind of Ancient Hebraic shovel, but he dug until he had a space big enough for his body to fit through.
 
Then, God told him, “Look around at the abominations in this room.” (v.8)
 
As Ezekiel enters, he notices the walls are engraved with “Every form of creeping creature and every kind of detestable animal and all the filthy idols.” (v.10) This is most likely a reference to the Gods of the Egyptians. Hieroglyphics – that glorified hawks, cats, and beetles as Gods.
 
But Ezekiel hadn’t discovered ancient room that no one knew existed.
People knew about it
Temple people knew about it.
 
In fact, inside the room was a group of about 70 Israelite elders, burning incense and praying to the carvings.
 
But what’s interesting is that these men were hidden! From the outside, the room looked like a temple of God, but hidden deep within the inside? Idolatry.
Why?
 
They wanted to protect their REPUTATION. It’s the only reason that they kept up appearances as “priests” of God. They craved the REPUTATION of God followers even though their hearts were far from him.
 
REPUTATION is just as much an idol today.
 
“I don’t want to be at worship today. But I better go so that it looks good to others.”
“Lots of prayers on social media for the Coronavirus. I’d better post one too so I look like a good Christian.”
“I can’t confess my secret sin of pornography to the elders, because they might look at me funny. I’ll just put on a smile, act like everything’s ok, and keep sinning.”
 
Want to know the ironic part of this?
REPUTATION worshippers think that everyone is fooled.
 
According to verse 12, the worshippers in the secret room were saying:
‘The Lord does not see us.’ (v.12)
 
Ironic.
Because the one that was seeing them do this, was the very one they claimed didn’t see them.
 
And God sees it when reputation becomes our idols.
And he hates it.
 
But God wasn’t done yet.
God grabbed him by the hand.
And said, “You will see even greater abominations...” (v.13)
 
(3) The Idol of PROSPERITY
 
Next, God brought Ezekiel to the entrance of the gateway of the House of the Lord that is on the north side, and right there (he) saw women sitting and wailing for Tammuz. (v.14)
 
Tammuz was the ancient Mesopotamian God of fertility. According to religious myth, when Tammuz was healthy then the land would be fertile. He’d bless the farmer with healthy crops. He’d give them an abundance of grain. He’d make sure that there was a BULL market in ancient crops.
 
But when things went poorly, perhaps during winter or a famine, Tammuz had died. Then, it was up to the worshippers of Tammuz to bring Tammuz back to life through mourning and crying.
(Sounds like some kind of Disney movie: “If you shed a tear of true love for your idol, then Tammuz will come back to life.”)
 
But really, it wasn’t Tammuz they loved.
It wasn’t Tammuz they were sad that died.
It was their PROSPERITY.
 
PROSPERITY is a big idol in the modern church.
 
People that worship just to get a better job.
People that worship just to get more money.
People that worship just to find themselves a happily family.
 
Not that any of those things are bad on their own.
But LOVING them more than God is.
 
Even right now. There’s a pandemic of COVID-19.
And we’re praying to God to get us through this.
To keep us from illness.
To keep our jobs strong.
To keep our economy prosperous.
 
But…
 
Are we doing so because we LOVE God?
Or because we LOVE prosperity?
 
Because we TRUST God to take care of us…
Or we don’t TRUST life without stuff?
 
Because we FEAR God and know he’s in control…
Or because we FEAR the virus and think it is?
 
Worship is not a means for you to get PROSPERITY.
It’s a way to show trust in God when there isn’t PROSPERITY.
 
Because think about this.
You don’t have to mourn to bring the real God back from the dead.
 
He did that on his own.
 
And…
 
God turned Ezekiel around.
And led him away from the entrance.
And said, “You will see even greater abominations than these.” (v.15)
 
(4) The Idol of REBELLION
 
Finally, God brought (Ezekiel) to the inner courtyard of the House of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the vestibule and the altar.
 
This is the main event.
It’s the place where priests would offer sacrifices to God.
It’s the place where priests would offer prayers to God.
It’s the place where priests would sing worship songs to God.
 
Usually that was done facing the altar (not that God was the altar), but it was a visual reminder that all of their worship was directed to God.
 
But…
These men weren’t facing the altar.
Their backs were.
 
There were twenty-five men, showing their backsides to the temple of the Lord with their faces toward the east, and they were bowing down to the sun. (v.16)
 
Open.
Brazen.
REBELLION.
 
They didn’t care what God wanted.
They did what they wanted.
And what they wanted was to be like all the other nations.
 
Newsflash.
Worship isn’t about you.
It isn’t about what you want.
It isn’t about what you like.
It isn’t about what you desire.
 
It’s about God.
 
And here’s the warning, if you are making worship all about YOU, then it’s as if your back is turned to the altar.
As if you’re worshipping the sun.
As if you’re stinking a branch up God’s nose.
 
Look at that figure of speech in verse 17, “They are even sticking the branch up my nose!”
It’s the Old Testament equivalent to thumbing your nose at God.
Only the phrase is usually “stick a branch to my nose.”
 
God says that this open rebellion isn’t just a branch to his nose, but a branch up his nose.
This seems like a TERRIBLE idea.
 
III. The Church’s Real God
 
Because…
How does the REAL God feel about all this idolatry among his people?
 
Verse 18:
“I also will act in wrath. My eye will not show pity, and I will have no compassion. They will call out to my ears with a loud cry, but I will not hear them.”
 
This segues directly into the very next chapter. Where God tells his servants to go through out Jerusalem and bring destruction to all who worship idols. And the messenger is about to go.
But before he does, he gives the messenger one last instruction:
 
The Lord said, “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a TAV on the foreheads of those who moan and lament over the abominations being committed in her.” (v.4)
Those were the ones that God wouldn’t destroy.
Those who heard his message and repented.
 
But we need to talk about this “tav”. It’s a Hebrew letter that makes the sound of a “t”.
In the modern world, it looks similar to a lower case “n” just with a rocking chair like foot to the bottom left and a crossing between the two strokes at the top.
 
But…
 
If you trace the history of the tav back to the time of Ezekiel?
 
+
 
It’s a cross.
 
Not that anyone who read this at Ezekiel’s time said, “There is a savior who will come and die on the cross to remove our sins of idolatry in God’s temple…” But as we look back and see what Ezekiel was saying, “Isn’t this amazing?”
 
Jesus has covered your sins.
His death on the cross has covered.
 
He has covered your idolatry of jealousy.
He has covered your idolatry of reputation.
he has covered your idolatry of prosperity.
He has covered your idolatry of rebellion.
 
He has covered you with his blood, called you his child, and made you his church.
 
Rejoice! You are forgiven!
 
IV. What Now?
 
(1) Honor God in Church
 
This is the main principle of worship. We want everything we do to be Christ centered.
It’s why Jesus comes up so much throughout the service:
 
In the songs.
In the prayers.
In the lessons.
In the kids’ lesson.
In the artwork.
In the bulletin.
On the powerpoint.
in the sermon, etc.
 
That’s absolutely what God has called us as church leadership to do.
But God also calls you to honor God in worship.
 
To throw out your jealousies.
To throw out your worries about reputation.
To throw out your desires for prosperity.
To throw out your own sinful wants and desires.
 
Instead?
To worship God.
 
(2) Honor God AS Church
 
The Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that “you are the temple of God and the Holy Spirit lives in you.”
 
God loved you.
He bought you.
He threw out your idols.
And made your heart his temple.
 
In your heart, there’s a sign outside that says, “God is worshipped here.”
 
Remember that.
 
Because when you do, this whole thing about idolatry in church flips.
 
Instead of idols entering God’s domain of the church,
God’s church enters the idol’s domain of the world.
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Dear Church: Intro

10/6/2019

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At Gethsemane, we get a goodly amount of mail. At times, I’ll open the mailbox and it will be chocked full of letters. If I’m honest, I feel excited. Maybe I’ll get something cool.
 
So, I read the envelopes:
 
Precious Lambs’ Director.
Precious Lambs’ Director.
Bill.
Financial Secretary.
 
Gethsemane Admin.
Gethsemane Admin.
Bill.
Treasurer.
 
Letter to Julianna.
Letter to Julianna.
Bill.
Letter to…Me!
 
Oh!
How thoughtful.
Let me look inside:
 
“Dear Pastor,
I didn’t have Julianna’s address.
Could you get this to her.”
 
Maybe you feel the same way. If the letter is for someone else, it isn’t that exciting to you.
 
Our next sermon series is called Dear Church. It’s a study of the first chapters of Revelation. These first chapters contain a collection of seven letters written to seven first-century churches.
 
Yet none of these letters are addressed to “Gethsemane Church in Raleigh.”
None of them have the address of delivery listed as 1100 Newton Road.
None of them have your specific name on it.
 
So, you might wonder: “How valuable is studying a bunch of ancient letters that aren’t written to me?’
 
Today our goal is to identify the author, identify the recipients and discover the value these letters have for us. Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. The Writer
 
Our lesson starts in Revelation 1:1-2. It says: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servant what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw. (Revelation 1:1-2)
A couple of notes:
 
The word Revelation is the Greek Word apocalypsis. It’s where we get the word Apocalypse. It means the “unveiling of something that previously was hidden.” In this case, what is being unfolded is the future of the Christian church.
The writer is a guy named John. This is John the Apostle. The apostles were a special group of twelve men that Jesus had specially called to follow him for three years of ministry and continue his ministry after he left. During the time he was with Jesus, John learned deep theological truths and witnessed other worldly miracles.
 
In fact, John was one of a group of three Apostles that were witness to a few special events:
John saw Jesus’ face transformed into a brilliant sun like light.
John saw Jesus touch a dead girl’s hand and bring her back to life.
John saw Jesus in deep anguish as he prayed deep within a garden the night before he died.
 
In addition,
John saw Jesus die.
And John was an eyewitness to Jesus’ resurrection.
 
As a result, John wanted to share his experience. He wrote a book in the Bible called John. In that book, he wrote about all that Jesus said and did while on earth. Later, John wrote a letter to believers everywhere called 1st John. It encouraged believers in their Savior Jesus. Finally, John writes two more letters called: 2nd and 3rd John that deal with supporting the truth of God’s Word.
 
That’s four books of the Bible that John had already authored. Revelation is his 5th book.
This letter has value, because it comes from a guy whose life was intimately connected with our Savior.
 
Look what else John says about himself: I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. (1:9)
 
Notice that John calls himself brother. Even though he has led an impressive life, John does not refer to himself as “The apostle” or “the guy who knows a lot more than you.”
 
Nope.
 
John calls himself a brother.
A brother in sin.
A brother in salvation.
A brother in faith.
A brother in the church.
And…
A brother in suffering.
 
Like you, John knew suffering.
He knew the physical pain of life on this earth.
He knew the emotional pain of being ridiculed for his faith.
He knew the spiritual pain of fighting sin, of fighting guilt, of fighting loneliness.
 
Matter of fact, John wrote this letter while he was on the island of Patmos. He had been exiled there because of his faith. He was alone. He probably felt lonely. He was familiar with suffering.
This letter has value, because it comes from a guy who understood the struggles of believers.
 
II. The Voice behind the Writer
 
Yet…
 
John wasn’t a millennial.
He’s never been to the Triangle.
He didn’t own an iPhone.
He wasn’t familiar with how to run Windows 10.
He didn’t know any of the characters from Stranger Things.
John didn’t know what it was like for 21st century believers in Raleigh NC.
 
His letter might be valuable for a history class,
But not nowadays…
 
Look at what John writes next:
 
On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit. The Lord’s Day would have been Sunday. The fact that John was in the Spirit seems to indicate that he was in some form of worship.
 
Maybe singing songs to God’s praise.
Or on his knees in prayer.
Or preaching himself a sermon and writing down his own sermon responses.
 
When suddenly…
In the middle of worship all by himself.
On the island all by himself.
In prayer all by himself.
 
John heard someone else:
 
I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on the scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches.” (v.10)
 
Do you get it?
John’s letter; isn’t his own.
He wrote it down.
But it came from someone else.
 
It’s kind of like Siri. If you’re driving down the road and you don’t want to text and drive (because you shouldn’t text and drive), you can tell Siri: “Siri. Text Julianna: Hi Love, I’ll be home at seven.” Siri will write it down. Siri will send the message. Siri will let Julianna know: “Hi Bub, I’ll be home at eleven.”
 
Jokes aside. When you send a message through Siri, Siri writes it down, but it’s really your message.
 
It’s the same thing here.
John wrote it down, but the letter come from this voice.
 
So, who is the one behind John’s letter? The text is full of clues:
 
(1) Trumpetlike Vocal Chords
 
It says the voice was like a trumpet. (v.11) On the one hand, it could be a reference to the decibel level. A trumpet is loud and boisterous, so this simile may be a reference to the voice being loud and boisterous. (There’s a reason the trumpet plays the daily wakeup call in the military)
 
Or perhaps has a brass instrument like quality to it. It literally sounds like a trumpet with a nasal, air filled quality to its melodies.
 
Either way, trumpetlike vocal cords are other worldly. Because most people can’t speak louder than a trumpet. And most people can’t speak in a voice that perfectly mimics a trumpet. (Go ahead and try – I’ll wait.)
 
(2) Surrounded by High Priest Gear
 
When John heard the voice, he turned around to see where it was coming from. He wrote, “When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. (v.13)
 
All that language is very Old Testament.
Old Testament worship involved these very ornate golden lampstands that held the burning candles during worship.
Old Testament worship was led by a high priest who wore a long white robe reaching down to cover his sandals.
Old Testament worship robes were decorated by a golden sash across the chest.
 
John, who was familiar with Old Testament worship, would have understood that this was a high priest.
The only thing he wouldn’t have understood was…
 
Where did the high priest come from?
And how did he set up the lampstands without making a sound?
And can you get the golden sash on sale down at Target?
 
(3) Human-Ish
 
Look at John’s description of the high priest. He describes him as, “like a son of man.” (v.13)
 
A son of man is a human.
Just like a son of a cow is a calf.
And the son of a cat is a kitty.
 
But John is careful in his words. He doesn’t say, “a son of man,” but, “like a son of man.”
As in similar, but not quite.
As in like, but also unlike.
As in human, but more…
 
(4) Otherworldly Facial Features
 
Verse 14 describes why John didn’t consider him your average human. He writes, “The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.”
 
White hair isn’t unheard of. It’s common. Yet the emphasis on it being “white like snow”; gives the impression this is an otherworldly type of white.
 
And check out the eyes!
Yes, there are now contacts that exist that you can put into your eyeballs to change the color of your iris. If you have blue eyes and want brown, there’s contact lenses for that.
If you have brown eyes and want blue, there’s contact lenses for that.
If you have regular colored eyes and want yours to look like fire, there’s contact lenses for that.
 
But…
Those colors contact lenses weren’t invented until 2010.
And contact lenses in general didn’t exist until 1887.
 
So…
 
That’s fire in his eyes.
Otherworldly.
 
And that’s not it for the otherworldly facial features:
 
In verse 17 it says, “Coming out of his mouth was a sharp double-edged sword.”
And in verse 18 it says, “His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”
 
Otherworldly.
 
(5) Otherworldly Footwear
 
Look at verse 15: His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace.
 
Bronze is a precious metal. It’s used in making beautiful plates, decorations, and lampstands.
 
But…
 
How many of you today are wearing bronze shoes?
How many of you own bronze shoes?
How many of you have ever seen bronze shoes?
 
But then, notice that the bronze was glowing! Did you know that bronze begins to glow & melt at about 1562 degrees Fahrenheit?
 
This is other worldly.
 
(6) Trumpetlike Riverlike Vocal Chords
 
I love this note. Because earlier John said that the voice was like a trumpet. And then at the end of verse 15 he says, “his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.”
 
What’s the deal? Can John not tell the difference between the sound of trumpet and the sound of a river? Nope.
 
John’s just in such shock at the other worldly voice of this being that he is struggling for metaphors.
 
The voice is that amazing.
That otherworldly.
 
(7) Star Grasping
 
Verse 16 records, “In his right hand he held seven stars.” There is no distinction here.
It doesn’t say, “In his right hand were seven things like stars.”
Nope.
 
It doesn’t say, “Seven lights like stars.”
It doesn’t even say, “Seven shapes like stars.”
 
Just stars.
Legitimate, gas burning entities.
 
Three white dwarves.
Four red giants.
 
Or maybe…
Four red dwarves
And three blue giants.
 
Regardless, the fact that this being has legitimate stars in his hands…
Otherworldly.
 
(8) The First & the Last
 
Because the voice speaks again and said this: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” (v.17)
 
Think about that.
 
The voice says He is the First.
As in before all the sun.
As in before the moon.
As in before the earth.
As in before Adam.
As in before Eve.
As in before everything.
 
God.
 
And the voice says He is the Last.
As in after the sun.
As in after the moon.
As in after the earth.
As in after all Adams.
And after all Eve.
As in after everything.
 
Also, God.
 
But…
More specifically.
 
(9) Formerly Dead
 
The voice continues, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” (v.18)
 
How many people do you know who are dead? Lots.
How many people do you know who are dead, but then came back to life?
Did you know the Bible records at least 9?
 
The widow of Zarephath’s son…dead; brought back to life.
The Shunnamite woman’s son…dead; brought back to life.
A random Israelite body…dead; brought back to life.
The young daughter of Jairus…dead; brought back to life.
The young man at Nain…dead; brought back to life.
Jesus’ friend Lazarus…dead; brought back to life.
Tabitha, the faithful church widow…dead; brought back to life.
Eutychus, the sleepy church goer…dead; brought back to life.
 
But did you know…
All those people died again.
 
There’s only one.
Only one who died.
came back to life.
And stayed alive.
 
Jesus Christ.
 
TRUTH:
This letter is from JESUS.
 
Your Savior.
The one who lived for you.
The one who died for you.
The one who rose for you.
The one who lives for you.
The one who protects you.
The one who rules all things for you.
The one who will take care of you.
The one who will bring you home to heaven.
The one who will grant you eternal life.
 
This is a letter from Jesus Christ himself!
 
III. The Recipients
 
But there’s more. Look at the people to whom Jesus wrote this letter:
 
 Jesus said, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
 
And to be fair John mentions the seven churches that will receive the letter earlier. The churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. (v.11)
But…
Numbers are important in Revelation.
A few numbers come up frequently.
 
3 is the number of God. It represents the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
4 is the number of humanity. It’s close to God, but not quite. It represents the four corners of the earth that humans live upon.
7 is the sum of the two. It represents God in communion with humanity. It represents where God graciously connects with the souls he loves. It represents the place where God brings sinful lost humans into his family.
 
We’re talking about the Church.
 
Here’s the truth:
This is a letter written to YOU.
 
Dear believer.
Dear brother.
Dear sister.
These letters are important.
Because they are written to YOU.
And they have been preserved for YOU.
And they are being proclaimed to YOU.
And these words are from Jesus for YOU.
 
IV. What Now?
 
Pay Attention
 
There is no letter you have ever received more important.
No letter you’ve ever received with more value.
No letter you have ever received that comes from a higher place than these letters from Jesus himself.
 
Pay attention.
Take notes.
Read ahead.
Make sure you’re here.
If you can’t be, listen online.
 
Don’t miss the very important words of Jesus himself.
He loves you.
He cares for you.
He has a message for you, dear church.
Amen.
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ACTS: Multiplication Theory

8/4/2019

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Picture
Last week we continued to follow the apostle Paul as he left Athens and went alone on to Corinth. It seemed an impossible task, one man against a city of very devoted sinners. Of course, it wasn’t the first time God sent a man alone against unbelief like that, but it was an intimidating prospect, nonetheless.
But Paul did not stay alone for long. He reached out on common ground, met like-minded people, and before long a small congregation was blossoming. In fact, this pattern repeated most places he went. Even where he was forcibly driven out, he left behind a contingent of the faithful who continued the work after he departed. Though he made his rounds, sharing Jesus, strengthening churches, and moving on, each place he worked carried on the work without him.

Today, it is that effect in particular that we want to look at. That from the efforts of one, many can come to faith by God’s power. And each one of those many can reach out to just as many more. Let’s begin by taking a look at our reading for today, from Acts 18:

Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.


One hates to talk numbers when discussing the church. God wants all people to be saved. He does not measure success in numerical terms. The effectiveness of the Gospel or a congregation should not be measured in numerical growth. It’s a slippery slope to talk numbers.

That being said.

Foregoing issues of doctrinal divide and incorrect teachings, the number of people in the world with saving faith in Jesus could probably be estimated in the hundreds of millions. The number of people who have passed to heaven in the faith in the last 2000 years makes that number significantly higher. Imagine what that number would look like though, if Paul had been the only one teaching people about Jesus. If everyone who had come to faith by his efforts simply took that faith home and enjoyed it for themselves and that was that? God is all-powerful, but humanly speaking – how fast can one person share the faith with the world?

In fact, even Jesus himself said the task was too great. He said the workers were too few and to ask for more workers. He turned to his disciples, told them to pray for more workers that the lost and helpless sheep might get what they so desperately need.

And we’ve seen through the book of Acts how desperately people need Jesus. And people haven’t changed much since our time. As we look at the people in Acts who need Jesus, we don’t just see the same people in our world, we even see ourselves. We see either what we once were or struggle every day not to turn into.

We saw the group that loved just indulging in everything life had to offer in order to try to find happiness on any given day. Do you know that person? Have you tried it yourself? Or even given into it a little bit? The rush of whatever is great… but at the end you have to face reality. And it’s never the same the second time. You have to go bigger and better. And you get caught in an endless loop of one-upping everything that went before. Doesn’t even have to be a sinful vice. Could just be a hobby or vacation or something. You’re working towards that one thing that you say, “when I get here, I’ll be happy and content and everything will be good.” But it’s a hamster wheel. It doesn’t work. And you just have to do it all over again. It’s a hollow chasing of the wind.

We saw the group that preferred to work for satisfaction. That’s just as deceptive a trap. Either you work really hard and end up with a false sense of security from how great you are… or you more likely stumble and make mistakes and end up utterly discouraged that you just can’t seem to get it right. It’s just as bad as chasing those hollow pleasures to think that somehow my life, my worth, my joy has to come from how good I am at something. I can’t stop moving and working because if I do, I’ll realize how empty it really is and it’ll all come crashing down.

And the less said about the town of Corinth and their worship of Aphrodite, the better. Sexual sin is some of the most prevalent in our world. We all know someone caught up in it and we’d be utterly foolish to think that as Christian believers we are above it or immune to it.

All of these people in our world are people chasing empty lives, knowing on some level that something is missing but unable to fill it. And before we look down our nose, they are exactly what you and I would be except for God’s grace in saving us. They need someone to save them. They need a God who died to make these things right. To give them joy and comfort that lasts, water they can drink and never be thirsty again. They need Jesus to fill that void and calm their desperate pursuits.

Just like we needed Jesus to do the same for us. And to help us daily that we don’t go back to those ways. We’re here to plant Jesus in the heart of North Raleigh and beyond…because North Raleigh is full of hurting people who desperately need it.

But this is not a job that one man can do. It’s not even a job that a small team of called workers can do. It is the calling of every Christian to multiply the faith wherever you go.

Jesus told the disciples to pray for workers and then what happened next? He made his disciples workers and sent them out to work. Paul made friends of Priscilla and Aquilla and before long they were travelling with Paul and teaching other believers
And what about that list of people Paul sent greetings to in Rome? You know, at the point Paul wrote that letter, Paul himself had never even been to Rome? And yet he had a laundry list of people he personally knew who had gone there to carry out ministry for Jesus.

The mission of the church can be summed up simply in two words: Grow and Go. We are to grow the faith of existing believers and we are to go with that faith to share it with others. If you look at Jesus’ great commission that is exactly the directive you’ll find him giving. But the great way about how God works is that each person the Holy Spirit works on and brings to faith is another person to carry out that same mission. One reaches many, the many reach many more, and on and on it goes.

We are a congregation. A gathering. We are very different, with different backgrounds, different attitudes and quirks and foibles. But we are united as a gathering of believers in Christ to carry out his mission. This is not a passive club that we show up to, put our dues in the offering plate and go home with a little bit of salvation. The believers are the church and the church is the believers. Yes, to guide our path we call a man specially trained to lead and shepherd us. Yes, we call teachers to bring up our children. Yes, we appoint leaders to help keep the chaos a bit organized. But you are still the church.

And the ministry of the church is more than Pastor Kiecker can do alone. It’s more than the preschool teachers can do alone. It’s more than the church council can even do alone. It’s up to all of us. Every believer working together to accomplish that mission to multiply the church, to share the gospel message, give the Holy Spirit his moment to work and bring others to the faith you know and treasure.

We’ve talked about the people who are hurting, we know how badly they need it. We know that could just as easily be you or me. And yes, maybe they’ll reject it. God doesn’t hold us accountable for that. He does hold us accountable if we never speak up. If we never do anything. How can anyone believe if they don’t hear and how can they hear if we don’t speak?

Now, I know we’re not all equally equipped. That’s part of the reason we have different roles in the church. We are not all here to do exactly the same things. But we all have gifts that can be used to carry out this ministry. Use them! Maybe it’s not a direct outreach effort, but it’s still work that supports that outreach. Whether it’s helping worship run smoothly for the visitor or keeping our facility beautiful to glorify God or taking some task off another’s plate so they can focus on larger priorities – we all talents and gifts to contribute to the ministry.

And let me just backpedal for a second and point out that ministry is not all about outreach, either. Remember I said the mission of the church is to Grow and Go. Becoming a believer means we are saved, 100%. But it’s also not the end of our earthly walk with God. Faith needs to be fed, nurtured, and grown. The ministry to strengthen faith right here in our own midst through regular worship and study and devotion is just as vital as the ministry to reach outside of our congregation. Look at Priscilla, Aquilla, and Apollos strengthening each other through instruction and study of God’s word prior to really tackling the task of reaching out.

What are you doing to grow? Are you making a point to attend Sunday bible study or one of the mid-week groups? Do you have a devotional habit to dig into scripture regularly on your own? Do you have someone you can reach out to for help when you wrestle with a difficult section of the Bible? If you don’t feel up to the task of reaching out, then start by reaching in – grow your faith in the Word here and help others do the same. And, if you’re not sure where to start – which is super common, then ask. Ask Pastor Kiecker, ask me, ask the leadership. Any of us can point you in the right direction and give you resources to get started.

Brothers and sisters, we are the church. We are the gathering of believers called to do his work. Study his word, learn from him regularly, build yourself up in that truth and then share it out there with those who so desperately need it. Ultimately the work of salvation is up to the Holy Spirit. He is the one who changes hearts and brings people to faith. The success of our mission is in his hands, not ours. But he has chosen to rely on us for the opportunity. Study the gospel, share the gospel, that more can know Jesus, that more can share Jesus, that the most can be saved. Amen.
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ACTS: The Early Church Initiative - Volatility and Nobility

7/14/2019

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Picture

Last we left Paul, he was sharing the Gospel of Jesus in the city of Philippi. A time in his mission work that is filled with amazing stories:
 
About a woman named Lydia who heard that there was more to life than some riches and expensive clothing – that Jesus died to clothe her in the divine riches of eternal righteousness.
About a young slave girl who was also possessed by a demon. Paul met her, and by Jesus’ power that spirit was driven away from her giving her FREEDOM from evil itself.  
About a jailer who lived his life in fear at the hands of the Roman government. After hearing Paul sing hymns when he was in prison and not escaping when an earthquake freed him, the jailer asked about the reason for his confidence – and heard about how Jesus gives FREEDOM from fear, because he conquers everything: sin, guilt, and even death.  
 
Today we’re going onto the next part of the missionary journey. Surely, there are more amazing stories in store, right?
 
Before we begin, let’s pray: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. The Volatility of Thessalonica
 
Acts 17 describes where Paul journeys next: When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. (17:1)
 
If you look on a map, Philippi was in the middle of Macedonia about 30 miles from the coast. Paul left and headed about 30 miles to Amphipolis which was along the coast. From there, he went another 30-some miles to Apollonia along the coast. Finally, he gets to Thessalonica, another leading city of the ancient world.
 
Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. (17:2-3)
 
A few notes:
 
The Synagogue was the worship center for the local Jews. Since Paul was a Jew, it was a logical place to start because he would immediately have a connection with them: “You’re from the North Side of Jerusalem? So is my aunt. They’ve got good Matzah balls there. What are your thoughts on the Jerusalem Mudcats upcoming baseball season?”
 
Once making a connection, he reasoned from the Scriptures. The Old Testament (the same one that we have today) had already been collected and was read every Sabbath in worship. These people knew about God. They knew about the Messiah. They knew about the prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament.
 
That’s where Paul started. He used the Scriptures to explain and prove that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.
 
Maybe he read from Psalm 22, a Scripture written around a thousand years before Jesus: 
 
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (v.1) A message attributed to the Messiah and quoted verbatim by Jesus on the cross.
I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. (v.6) Jesus was despised. That’s why they put him on the cross.
All who see me mock me… “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him” (v.7-8) Which is exactly what the people said to Jesus as he hung on the cross.
I am poured out like water. (v.14) Which is what happened to Jesus after they plunged a spear into his side.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. (v.15) Jesus gets thirsty and receives a drink of vinegar wine soaked into a dirty old sponge.
They pierce my hands and my feet. (v.16) Which is what happens in a crucifixion with nails and what happened to Jesus.
 
And then Isaiah 53, about 600 years before Jesus:
We considered (the Messiah) punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. (v.3)
But he was pierced for our transgressions…Again, Jesus was crucified.
He was crushed for our iniquities… In his crucifixion, Jesus died as his lungs were crushed.
The punishment that brought us peace was on him. (v.4) And crucifixion was the capital punishment of the Roman empire.
He was cut off from the land of the living. (v.8) That meant the Messiah would die. Jesus died.
But after he has suffered, he will see the light of life. (v.11) That meant the Messiah would rise. Jesus rose.
 
And that’s not the only one. Look at Psalm 16:
You will not let your faithful one see decay. Faithful Jesus didn’t see decay. Three days later, his body’s blood was pumping again!
You make known to me the path of life. For Jesus, his path went out a stone sized, grave door.  
 
After three weeks of Paul’s teaching, some Jews believed.  
So did some Greeks. 
Some… were jealous. (v.5)
 
Who does this guy think he is? Telling us what the Scriptures say. I’ve been studying it my whole life!
And we’re supposed to follow this Jesus? Some carpenter? Nah-uh. I look more religious than him before I’ve had my morning coffee.
And don’t tell me I’m a sinner.
Don’t tell me that I need a Savior.
I am my own savior.
I’m good enough.  
 
So, here’s what they did:
 
They rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace: Hooligans, a few gang members, a couple of drunks from the bar, some guys who like to fight.
They formed a mob. “Be sure to scream and shout obscenities as we march through the city. There’s no better way to prove morality than obscenities!”
They started a riot in the city. Breaking flowerpots, knocking down lamp posts, setting a few bushes on fire.
They rushed to Jason’s house (a new convert and friend of the missionaries) in search of Paul and Silas to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” (v.5-7)
 
In short, the city was thrown into turmoil. (v.8)
 
Hmm…
Not exactly the incredible reaction of Philippi.
Why the volatile reaction?
 
(1) God’s Holy Word + Unholy Hearts = a Volatile Reaction
 
Chemicals mixed with other chemicals cause some interesting reactions.
There’s the classic science fair volcano mixture of baking soda and vinegar – it leads to a bubbling eruption.
Hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide produce this brightly colored toothpaste big enough for an elephant.
Place some gummy bear into a tube of potassium chlorate and suddenly the gummy bears will be dancing at a late-night disco club.
 
Here’s the truth:
When God’s holy Word mixes with unholy human hearts, there is a volatile reaction.
 
Think about it.
Sin is opposed to good.
God is good.
Therefore, sin is opposed to God.
 
And…
Sin comes from sinful heart.
Sin is still opposed to God.
Therefore, sinful hearts are opposed to God.
 
And quite frankly…
God is opposed to sin.
 
That’s what happened in Thessalonica. God’s holy Word connected with their hearts and there was a volatile reaction.
 
Now you might be thinking:
Good thing I don’t have an unholy heart.
My heart…is pure?
 
But…
Has it ever happened like this:
 
You’re sitting down for your morning coffee.
You open your phone.
You’re doing some quiet reading in the morning. 
 
Then…
Something convicts your heart.
A Bible reading.
A social media post.
An email from Pastor…
 
And…?
Explosion.
 
Don’t tell me that I’m sinning sexually. That’s my business.
Stop showing me my greediness. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Don’t tell me to forgive. You don’t know what I’m going through.
Stop calling out my unbelief. I’ll believe what I want to believe, when I want to believe it.
 
When God’s Holy Word mixes with unholy human hearts, there is a volatile reaction.
And if there’s a volatile reaction in your heart…
Then, there’s unholiness there, too.
 
(2) A Volatile Reaction does not Invalidate God’s Word
 
Even though the Thessalonians formed a mob and rioted, it didn’t invalidate God’s Word.
They were still sinners.
They still needed a Savior.
Jesus still was that Savior.
 
He still lived.
He still died.
He still rose triumphantly.
 
No amount of “raising a stink” can invalidate the truth of God!
 
I remember my wife once told me that I had a stain on my shirt. Because it was an expensive shirt that I liked a lot, I got upset. I told her. “No, it isn’t. It’s just fine.”
She said, “Umm…no there’s a stain.”
 
I said, “The shirts ok. I can wear it.”
She said, “No, there’s a stain.
 
I said, “Just leave me alone.”
She said, “I can do that. But the stain will still be there.”
 
If no amount of my complaining and volatility invalidates the truth of a common ketchup stain, then, no amount of our complaining and volatility invalidates the truth of God’s Word.
 
(3) A Volatile Reaction Cannot Stop God’s Word
 
When the mob made their way to ransack the place where Paul and Silas were staying, they weren’t there. Maybe they were out at the grocery store to pick up a few onions for soup that night.
 
But this was no coincidence:
God was keeping his Word safe.
 
When Paul and Silas do leave, God’s Word doesn’t. Jason and the other new believers remain and keep sharing the message of God’s Word:
God’s Word can’t be stopped.
 
Here’s the truth:
You can whine and complain all you want, but you won’t be able to stop God’s Word.
Because the Gospel comes from God.
People can’t stop God.  
Because…it’s God!
 
In fact, your volatile reaction?
The only thing that is does stop?
Your salvation.
 
II. The Nobility of Berea
 
The volatility didn’t stop the Gospel. That night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. (v.10) They weren’t downtrodden. They didn’t quit. They didn’t give up. They brought the Gospel to the next town and did the exact same thing.
 
And there’s still a reaction. Only this time, the reaction is a bit different: Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (v.11)
 
Paul’s sermons must have affected them similarly. (They were sinners too.)
 
Only instead of rioting, they began reading.
Instead of forming a mob, they formed a nice collection of highlights in their Scriptures.
Instead of ransacking the host’s home, they ransacked the collection of scrolls.
 
The Messiah was supposed to suffer? I don’t know about that. That seems wrong, yet…That’s what God’s Word says.
The Messiah would be rejected? How could people do that? I don’t know if that’s true, yet…That’s what God’s Word says.
The Messiah would rise from the dead? That’s impossible. It can’t happen, yet…That’s what God’s Word says…
 
It must be true.
 
Here’s a key truth:
Careful Examination of God’s Word Confirms Its Truth.
 
Because God’s Word comes from God.
God is truth.
His Word is truth.  
 
The truth is that the Messiah would suffer; Jesus did.
The truth is that the Messiah would die; Jesus did.
The truth is that the Messiah would rise; Jesus did – eyewitnesses confirm it!
 
The truth is that the Messiah would take away our sins; Jesus did.
The truth is that the Messiah would remove our guilt; Jesus did.
The truth is that the Messiah would defeat death; Jesus did.
 
The truth is that the “whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life…”
The truth is that the if you believe, you will have eternal life.  
 
When you think about it, there there’s just as much a volatile reaction in Berea as there was in Thessalonica.
Just…different.
 
Because as they study God’s Word…
Doubt goes up in smoke.
Fear is exploding into thin air.
The power of the devil is destroyed.
Grief evaporates.
 
This is the power of Jesus.
This is the power of his Word.  
 
III. What Now?
 
(1) Don’t Assume that You are Right-Side up
 
Toy Story 4 just came out about two weeks ago; I think it’s ok to give a spoiler…for Toy Story 1. It’s about a space toy named Buzz Lightyear who thinks he’s a real spaceman. Even though the other toys tell him: “The blinking light isn’t a laser. You aren’t in contact with the intergalactic space fore. You can’t fly.” Buzz doesn’t believe.
 
Until about halfway through the movie, when a younger sister gets ahold of him, dresses him up in dolly clothes and refers to him as “Mrs. Nesbitt”. Then, his world is turned upside down. Even though he’s been wrong the whole time. He is a toy and that’s the truth.
 
When the Thessalonians were in the middle of their uproar, they said about Paul, “He’s turning the world upside down.” That’s interesting language. Because they were right in assuming that their world was being flipped.
 
Only…
It wasn’t being flipped upside down.
But…right-side up.
 
Don’t be a Thessalonian.
Don’t be Buzz Lightyear.
Don’t assume that you’ve got your life perfectly together so that when God’s Word tells you differently, you assume that it’s being ridiculous.
 
Your heart is sinful; not God’s.
 
He’s right side up.
Because he’s right.  
Always.
 
(2) Ignore the Gut Reaction
 
Sometimes you might do something based on a gut reaction:
 
I got a feeling about this guy, so I’ll say yes to a date.
My gut is telling me to go ahead and say yes to that job.
My gut is telling me that…I probably shouldn’t eat a 13th hot dog.
 
In some instances, it’s fine.
But when it comes to God’s Word.
And it tells you to do something you don’t like.
 
Don’t trust your gut.
Your gut is part of sinful you.
Trust his Word.
 
Be nice to my enemy? My gut is telling me not to. But God’s Word says YES. I’ll do it.
Say that racist thing? My gut is telling me it’ll be funny. But God’s Word says DON’T so. I’ll forget it.
Sex with that person I’m not married to! My gut…my whole body is telling me yes, but God’s Word says WAIT. I’ll wait till marriage.
 
Ignore the gut reaction and follow God’s Word.
Because God’s Word comes from God.
And God – is holy.
 
(3) Be a Berean
 
Did you know the Bereans are the only group of people during the missionaries’ journeys that the Holy Spirit guides Luke to say about them: “NOBLE?” It’s a compliment, one directed at them because when they heard Paul speak and were unsure about his message, they didn’t trust their GUT.
 
They trusted God’s Word.
 
They didn’t trust a scientist.
They didn’t trust a friend.
They didn’t trust an article on Facebook.
They didn’t trust a tweet.
They didn’t trust a blogpost.
They didn’t trust what society says is acceptable.
 
They trusted God’s Word.
 
So, they examined it. The implication?
It was more than just a 10-second read.
It was more than just “Alexa, tell me if this is a good thing or a bad thing?”
It was more than just a 30-second perusal of #IsThisSinASinOrNot?
 
They examined God’s Word.
They poured over it.
They spent about as much time trying to decide if Jesus is Messiah or not as you might spend trying to decide if the critics really liked the ending to Game or Thrones or not.
 
They spent time examining God’s Word…
And it was worth it.
 
I met someone recently. He asked if we could meet because one of our church members had directed him to talk with me. We met up for coffee and he explained that he had been an atheist for most of his life. Then, some things happened that made him question whether he was on the right path. He examined various teachings:
 
Buddhist.
Hindu.
Judaism.
Islam.
 
But when he got to the Bible.
When he began reading God’s Word.
When he started reading the Gospel,
 
He believed.
 
As he was talking to me, he was talking to me as a believer – I didn’t do anything. He simply “examined the Scriptures” and…
An amazing reaction.
 
Doubt destroyed.
Faith created.
Salvation was his.
 
God’s Word is powerful. Trust Jesus.
There’s nothing more noble. Amen.  

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ACTS: The Eternal Importance of One

6/30/2019

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Last week we looked at the beginning of the second missionary journey. The purpose of the journey was to:

  1. deliver the decision of the Jerusalem Council that “grace meant grace” to neighboring churches.
  2. share the Gospel in brand new mission fields.
 
There were plenty of mission fields to choose from! The Gospel had its origins in Judea, a smaller country with a land area of a couple hundred square miles. Since the rest of the world was untouched by the Gospel, there was a lot more of the world that needed to hear about the Savior.
 
As a result, you might expect the mission team to head out to some largely populated area as quickly as possible to share the Gospel with the most amount of people.  
 
That would make the most sense because it would be the easiest way for Paul to “pad his stats.”
 
Have you ever heard that phrase? It’s a sports term. Sometimes you need to “pad your stats” in sports, because stats (or statistics) are key. They have been around since baseball cards started including them on the back of a player’s card. (Think about it: You don’t want to be that one guy with the .067% batting average. They can flip the card, look at your face and forever associate you with “not being that good at baseball.”)
 
Good stats, on the other hand, might increase the value of your card. It could improve your legacy. You might even get a reward. Stats are the reason that players sometimes stay in a game – even when their team is winning by a lot – to get a couple more hits and “pad their stats.”
 
If there was an apostolic version of baseball cards, you might expect Paul to “pad his stats.” He had a good run in his first season as missionary. In his second? It’d be an opportunity to bring his total number of people evangelized to the tens of thousands, to double the number of churches he started, and to better his average of “conversions” to “sermons preached.”
 
In today’s lesson God does the opposite. He guides the missionary team far away from the logical next steps in mission work, far away from what made them comfortable, and far away from what would have “padded Paul’s stats.”
 
Why? We’ll investigate God’s Word for the answer. Before we do, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. The Story
 
Acts 16 says this: “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.” (Acts 16:6-8)
A little bit of geography:
 
Phrygia and Galatia are to the north of Judea. They region starts to curve around the Mediterranean Sea to the east. This is essentially the route of the first missionary journey. In fact, Galatia is the name for the whole region of churches from that first missionary journey. It’s also the reason that Paul’s letter to these churches is called “Galatians.”
 
Paul and his missionary team went there to deliver the message from the Jerusalem council that “Grace meant grace.”
 
But then, they tried to head to the west to the province of Asia. There’s a lot of people in Asia. Some of the largest populations in the world are in Asia: China, India, Russia, even Bangladesh. While these countries wouldn’t have been as populated back then, there were still plenty of people in Asia who needed to hear about Jesus.
 
This seems like a logical next choice for mission work.
 
But they were kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. (v.6)
 
Now, Scripture doesn’t tell us how this happened.
 
An invisible force field?  
Roads that were shut down?  
A donkey that got sick?
 
Scripture doesn’t say.
But somehow, they concluded that they couldn’t go to Asia at this time.
 
So, they tried to go north. They came to the border of Mysia and tried to enter Bithynia… (v.7a) Bithynia is modern-day Turkey, a gateway into the northern kingdoms of modern-day Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. Again, there were plenty of people who need to hear about Jesus up there and it was a logical next step: just head north and BAM – you’re there!
 
But The spirit of Jesus would not allow them to… (v.7b)
 
And again, there’s no indication of how this happened:
 
A sinkhole in the road?
Timothy got the flu?
Soldiers force them to turn around?
 
Or maybe the Holy Spirit simply says: “Nope.”
 
So…
They can’t go west.
They can’t go north.
They came from the south.
 
They go east and went down to Troas. (v.8)
 
I imagine Paul was a bit confused:
Isn’t the Gospel for all people?
Aren’t there thousands of people to the West?
Aren’t there thousands of people to the North?
O Lord, why do you keep blocking our route?
 
As they settled down that evening, God gives them an answer:
…Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (v.9)
 
I don’t know how Paul knew he was Macedonian. (I’m unsure that I’m that familiar with genealogical and racial features enough to pinpoint someone from Macedonia just by viewing them)
So…
Maybe he was waving a Macedonian flag.
Or eating Macedonian food.
Or maybe he had on one of those t-shirts with the outline of Macedonia on it and the phrase: “Home.”
 
However, it happens, Paul immediately shared the news with his friends: “Guys, I know what God wants us to do! I saw a man…a Macedonian man. He asked us to come to Macedonia. He pleaded with us. So…get up! Pack up. He needs our help. They need the Gospel of Jesus now!”
 
The next morning, they do just that.
They head to the local harbor.
They obtain a ride on the boat across the Mediterranean.
It’s a couple days journey until they get to Neapolis.
From there they head to a leading city of Macedonia, Philippi.
 
And Paul might have been thinking:
 
This is great. God must have big plans.
If he had us travel 500 miles from our last stop in Phrygia, there must be a large amount of people he wants us to preach to.
If he had us jump on a ship, risk a shipwreck, and possibly get seasick, there must be crowds awaiting us.
If he is having us enter a Roman colony, with the danger of Roman soldiers and racism against Jews like us, there must be a second Pentecost awaiting us!
 
But…
When they get there…
 
There’s no Jewish synagogue to go preach at.
There’s barely any Jews in the city at all.
The whole atmosphere is foreign, confusing, and difficult.
 
The missionaries are there for a few days without the Bible recording anything of substance.  
 
Finally, they go outside the city gate to the river. (v.13)
 
Away from the population.
Away from the confusion.
Away…for prayer.
 
As they are praying, a group of women comes to the river.  
Most likely, they’re bringing their laundry to the river to do some wash.
And as they are washing their clothes…
 
…Paul can’t help himself.
 
Nice water, huh? Water…It’s important. But I know of something called “Living Water.”
I see you’re cleaning your clothing. But what have you done lately to cleanse your soul?
Look out that you don’t trip on a rock. Speaking of rocks – Jesus is my Rock. Is he yours?
 
And most of the women?
They don’t listen.
Just an annoyed smirk and a “Just let me do my laundry, weird religious dude.”
 
But…
One of those listening was a woman named Lydia….
The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. (v.14)
 
The Bible doesn’t tell us a lot about Lydia.
The Greek text of the Bible literally says that she was a purple dealer. A purple dealer wasn’t someone who passed out Crayola crayons. Her job was to dye clothing the color purple. It was a fine business to be in, because purple clothing was quite expensive. In fact, wearing purple was a sign of being rich. It was a status symbol (like wearing a Gucci dress with a Coach handbag or dressing in an Armani Suit with a pair of Air Jordan’s on your feet).
 
We don’t know much else about Lydia.
But…
She was a person.
A sinful person.
And just like any sinful person, she had reason for a Savior.
 
Maybe she’d gotten a good portion of her wealth in less than upright ways.
Maybe she’d spent so much time pursuing riches that her life felt void and empty.
Maybe she’d gone through a recent divorce with her husband; kept the money…and a lot of shame.
Maybe her visit to Philippi left her on the fringes of society, a refugee, alone.
Maybe she knew that the purple clothing she sold was only a façade; that could not cover the guilt upon her soul.
 
But when she heard about Jesus.
 
She heard about forgiveness for all her less than upright ways.
She heard about how Jesus brings eternal riches that will never leave you void or empty.
She heard about how Jesus’ death repaired her relationship with God and removed all her guilt and shame.
She heard about how Jesus rose from the dead and promised to be with his disciples so that they are never alone.
She heard about how Jesus’ gives us a robe, even more gorgeous than a robe of purple.
About how Jesus gave a robe of righteousness to completely cover her sins!
 
Lydia heard all of this.
And believed.

II. Notes about the Eternal Importance of One


That’s the point of this whole story.
It’s the point of the 500-some mile journey.
It’s the point of the trip on the ship.
It’s the point of the foreign Roman colony.
It’s the point of the trip to the river.
 
The point was getting the Gospel message to Lydia.
 
And this wasn’t Paul’s plan.
It was God’s.
 
Think about how God goes out of his way to save Lydia:
 
He came out of heaven…for Lydia.
He lived on earth…for Lydia
He died on the cross…for Lydia.
He rose from the dead…for Lydia.
 
Then, God guided Paul.
Blocked some paths.
Opened others.
Got him to Philippi.
Got her to Philippi.
So that there is a seemingly chance encounter at the river which leads to the eternal salvation of her soul.
 
Amazing!  
God did this because God placed eternal importance on one person, Lydia.
 
And…God has also placed eternal importance on YOU.
 
(1) See the Eternal Importance of You
 
Have you ever received a canned email from a company about how special you are?
 
I got one of those from Netflix recently.
I quit the subscription and they sent me a message that said they “loved having me as a customer” and they “hated to see me, Philip Kiecker, go.”
So…I signed up again.
Because they cared about me so deeply.
 
A while later, I was having trouble connecting, so I used the help app for Netflix to try and connect with a customer service representative and the representative texted me:
 
“Hi! How can I help?”
“I can’t get my Netflix connection to work.”
“Happy to help. Please provide your full name.”
 
I thought: “That’s odd. I thought they loved me as a customer and hated to see me go, but…”
I gave them my name.
Then, they said: “I’m sorry. There’s an outage. There’s nothing we can do to help, Fred.”  
 
Fred?
I thought they cared!
 
Maybe you feel that way about God.
Maybe you’ve been tempted to believe that God doesn’t care.
That you aren’t important.
That you are forgotten.
 
Not true.
 
God went out of his way to save YOU.
He came out of heaven…for YOU.
He lived on earth…for YOU
He died on the cross…for YOU.
He rose from the dead…for YOU.
 
And God arranged events in your life to bring you to saving faith.
 
Maybe he had your mom bring you along, kicking and screaming to church, since you’ve been 4 years old.
Maybe he had a friend invite you to worship, invite you again, invite you, invite you, invite you and invite you some more.
Maybe you had a chance encounter with a stranger at our modern-day version of the Philippian River –the local laundromat.
 
Somehow God brought saving faith to you.
Because you were eternally important to him.
 
And if you aren’t a believer yet, understand this:
God has arranged events in your life to bring you to this message right here.
 
Jesus loves you.
Jesus died for you.
Jesus rose for you.
Jesus is your Savior.
Believe.
 
(2) See the Eternal Importance of Others
 
Because Lydia didn’t stop with herself. Look at what happens next: She and the members of her household were baptized. (v.15a)
 
It isn’t likely that all her household was already down at that river doing laundry.
And yet – the baptism appears to have happened in the river, because it takes place before “She invited [the missionaries] to her home.” (v.15b)
 
That means Lydia must have went back home:
Told her family about Jesus.
Told her kids.
Her spouse.
Her mom.
Her uncle.
Any servants that might have been working at her purple factory!
 
Then, she led them all back to Paul.
Paul told them about Jesus.
And they were all baptized into his name.
 
Why did Lydia do this?
Because she saw the eternal value of her family.
She saw them as eternal souls in need of a Savior.
 
Just as God did. 
Just as God wants us to do.
 
Mr. Rogers used to have a song that he sung on occasion: “Who are the people in your neighborhood?” The song goes on to identify common 1980s neighbors – the mailman, the police officer, and the fire fighter.
 
That was in the eighties. It might be fun to hear an update:
Who are the people in your 2019 neighborhood?
 
The Whole Foods clerk.
The Starbucks barista.
The Uber driver.
The Amazon Delivery woman.
Even…the Google fiber installation crew. (They’re in everybody’s neighborhood…all the time.)
 
But these are more than just people in your neighborhood.
They are eternal souls in need of their Savior.
 
The mailman? An eternal soul in need of the Savior.
The police officer? An eternal soul in need of the Savior.
The fire fighter? An eternal soul in need of the Savior.
The Whole Foods clerk? An eternal soul in need of the Savior.
The Starbucks barista? An eternal soul in need of the Savior.
The Uber drive, the Amazon Delivery woman and the Google fiber installation crew…. Eternal souls in need of the Savior.
 
Pay attention.
That’s what they are.
And you, as a believer in Jesus, have what they need.
 
See the eternal importance of others.
Share Jesus. 
 
(3) See the Eternal Importance of Your Part in Kingdom Work
 
After Lydia’s household is baptized into Christ’s family, she doesn’t just bid adieu to the missionaries and go back to who everyday life.
 
Nope.
 
She invited the missionaries to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” (v.16)
She realized that God’s work wasn’t done in Philippi.
She figured that they would need a place to stay as they shared the Gospel in Philippi.
She might not have been an eloquent speaker like them, but she wanted to partake in the ministry in whatever way she could.
 
She saw the eternal importance of her part in kingdom work and she served…
…Happily.
 
The same is true here.
We have a big mission: To Plant the Message of Jesus in the Heart of North Raleigh (and Beyond).
That’s a lot of people.
In the triangle, that’s close to 2 million people.
 
We can’t do it alone.
So, we do it together.
Together with Jesus.

Let me tell you the story of Priscilla.
Priscilla had a child in need of childcare.
Priscilla searched online for a Childcare Center.
Priscilla found an ad that some of you developed.
Priscilla found an ad that your offerings helped support.
Priscilla visited Precious Lambs where some of you spend all kinds of time planning for, decorating, and building.
Priscilla enrolled her child in Precious Lambs where some of you taught her child about Jesus.
Priscilla brought her child for worship where some of you greeted her, made friends with her, high fived her.
 
Priscilla now knows about her Savior.
Priscilla now knows about his love for her.
Priscilla now knows about his love for her – because God works through all of you to make that happen.
 
That’s the eternal importance of one.
May God guide us to see our eternal importance as we are motivated to see the eternal importance of others. Amen.

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ACTS: Above All Else

6/9/2019

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We are restarting a sermon series that we did last summer. If you remember last summer, we went through a book in the Bible called “ACTS.” Acts is a book that describes the “ACTS of the Early Church.” This, by the way, is the Early Church in which our church finds its roots. The goal of the series was to discover (1) What the Early Church found important to do and (2) Consider how we might refocus on doing the very things that they did.  

Because I think it’s really easy for a modern church to get distracted.

Maybe you know this, but Facebook knows what you think. Their website records everything you do on Facebook. Then, they distract you with ads for the very things you’ve been searching for on your Facebook profile.

For instance, Friday was a teacher workday. The teachers had some food delivered from McAllister’s deli. And even though I wasn’t in charge of ordering that food…my account must have been logged into the computer that was used for ordering and... coincidence? I am getting all kinds of ads for McAllister’s Deli.

The same is true for being a pastor. Because I am a pastor, the majority of the ads I see on Facebook are about church from businesses aimed at churches. The ads usually go something like this: “Your Church NEEDS this!” It’ll lead to articles that say things like:
  • Every church needs to be posting on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat at least once per day.
  • Every church needs to be posting quotable quotes on Twitter at least twice per day.
  • Every church needs to be planning all of their worship online via this one very particular planning app.
  • Every church needs to have professionally produced mini commercials that they advertise with – or they shouldn’t advertise at all.

Now these things could be beneficial.
But when it comes to what church NEEDS to be doing…
I’m thinking the answer should come from God, not the advertiser paying good money to track my internet usage habits.
 
Today we are going to dive into chapter 2 of ACTs and use the story of Pentecost as a base point for review of the last year’s sermon series. (That’s about 14 chapters in one sermon). Our goal is to identify the thing “Above All Else” that the Early Church needed to be engaged in and understand why we need to be doing that same thing.
 
Before we do that, a prayer:
Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. God’s “Above All Else”


Acts 2 take places during Pentecost. It was an Old Testament festival that occurred “fifty days after Passover.” “Pente” a root form meaning “five.” That’s where we get the word “pentagon,” or “five-sided shape.” “Pente” meaning “fifty” hence, a festival fifty days after Passover.

It was a big festival. It happened every year. It drew thousands of practicing Jews to Jerusalem. This year was no different. The streets were filled with people. They were up early shopping the marketplaces and getting the items necessary for celebrating the festival later that day. It was just like every other year.
 
Until…

At about 8 o’clock in the morning, there was the sound of a hurricane-like wind. Only it wasn’t coming from the sky, but a small corner house.
After that sound was going for a while, out of the house, burst a group of men with what appeared to be flames of fire ignited on the top of their heads.
Men who, being from Israel, should not have known the 20-some different languages of the various people there in Jerusalem for the festival.
Yet they spoke clearly. Efficiently. Fluently.

It was amazing.
It was incredible.
It was…too good to be true.

Someone shouted: “They have had too much wine.” (2:13)
Because…getting drunk usually increases your language skills?
 
But the reality was that this was more than a house party.
This was more than a regular celebration.
This was divine and miraculous.

This was God!!!
 
And now with everyone’s attention focused exactly where God wanted it, God moves one of the men, Peter to stand up and speak this message:

“15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  17 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…’” (Acts 2:15-16)

That’s what’s happening! With the hurricane sound. With tongues of fire. With the different languages. This is God’s way of getting your attention.
Because…
About 50 days ago.
It wasn’t just 50 days until your 50 days celebration.

About 50 days ago.
You guys killed Jesus.
 
And this Jesus?
Wasn’t just some rebel.
Wasn’t just some teacher.
Wasn’t just some nice guy.

He was God.


He did miracles exactly like what you’re seeing here today!

He didn’t just cause storms; he stopped them.
He didn’t just make fire appear; but bread and wine and water.
He didn’t just speak different languages, but he spoke to dead people to make them alive.  

He did the very things that only God could do because he was God Himself.


And you killed him.
You killed God. 

But…

 
He’s God.
And death didn’t stick.
I saw Him.

He lives.


Now at this point the group that was listening started to get very uncomfortable.
Because some of the people who heard this were the very people that had been in Jerusalem 50 days earlier shouting for Jesus to be crucified.

And…if this was true…
Then, they had sinned.
 
And if this was true…
Jesus would be coming back to vaporize them.

What shall we do?” They cried.

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. (Acts 2:38)

And that’s it.
God’s message to the very people who killed Jesus…
About how they could get right with Jesus was simply this:

Repent.
Turn from sin. Turn to Jesus.
To turn from unbelief to turn to belief.

Their way into God’s kingdom was simply belief in Jesus!
 
And be baptized.  
To have someone pour water on you in Jesus’ name.
And the miraculous God who did these very miracles here today will work through that water to bring you forgiveness.
 
QUESTION:
Does that seem too easy for those sinners?
Does that seem too easy for any sinner?
Does that seem too easy for you, a sinner?

Guess what? That’s the main message of the God powered, God inspired Early Christian Church.
 
TRUTH:
The Early Church’s main message, also known as the Gospel, places you above all else.

It’s kind of like an internet troll. Someone who logs in and gets updates on your social media page or your blog…only because they can’t wait to go on your profile and argue…maybe post an obscene emoji and make you generally angry. Send inappropriate emails to every in your contact list, too.

How many of you wake up on a day to day basis and say: “I hope that internet troll guy is doing good today. Hey, maybe I should call him to check in. Better yet…Let me send him some Uber Eatz…what’s his favorite? Chicken wings?”

We have rebelled against God.
Like a spiritual internet troll to God we have repeatedly gone against him.
Consciously or not – when we complain about his rules, sin, do the opposite - we are completely against God.
Yet, He still did everything to save us!
In fact, he put YOU above everything else. Peter’s words bring that truth to the forefront.

(1) Above the Father’s Other Plans
Check out verse 23: “Jesus was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.”

This Jesus thing wasn’t an accident.
It wasn’t an incident that got out of control.
It wasn’t an UNPLANNED thing.

It was planned by the Father eternities before you were ever you.

In fact, God set things in motion from the beginning of time to achieve your salvation, to bring you forgiveness and to connect you to his kingdom.

Understand then…
God’s ultimate plan isn’t a fireworks celebration for himself.
It isn’t millions of people bowing down to him.
It isn’t to have his name be the most Googled name of all time.

It’s you.
In heaven with him.
 
(2) Above Jesus’ Own Life
Peter continues, “Jesus was handed over to you…and you put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (v.23b) Notice the phrase “Handed over.” It doesn’t say, “You actively took him by force,” but he was passively “handed over.”

Jesus knew God’s plan was to have him die.
And he still volunteered for it.

Not because it would be easy. It isn’t as if Jesus said, “You know what would be a lot of fun? To have nails jammed into my hands, to have my metatarsals separated by a spike, to press a crown of thorns deeply into my skull and to hang up there while everyone ridiculed me until my lungs gave up and I died.”

Nope.

Jesus went to the cross because…YOU.
Because He placed you above HIS OWN LIFE.

(3) Above the Holy Spirit’s Inconspicuousness
Peter continues, “Jesus has sent…the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (v.33)

How much do you know about the Holy Spirit?
Briefly: He’s God.
One of the three persons in the ONE Triune God.
He’s always been around.

In fact, he appears at the very beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 1 it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…Now…the earth was formless and empty and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

The Holy Spirit is there.
But then…
He is only mentioned in passing in a few vague Psalms and prophecies.

He prefers to do his work in inconspicuous mystery.

But then?
Pentecost.
And the Holy Spirit goes out of his way to draw our attention to his presence.

Why?

Because…YOU.

The Holy Spirit wants you to pay attention.

He wants you to see how Jesus’ put YOU above his own life.
He wants you to know how God put YOU above his other plans.
He wants you to know that the Gospel places YOU above all else.

II. The Early Church’s “Above All Else”

Fast forward:
Now the scene is a courtroom.

Peter is there.
But this time…he’s in chains.

And the people surrounding him are not a crowd of believers.
But…
Violent angry men.
The same violent angry men that killed Jesus.

And unlike some of the people at Pentecost, these people want nothing to do with Jesus.

In fact, that’s the reason they have Peter arrested!
They want him to stop teaching about Jesus.
They want him to stop preaching the Gospel.
They want him to stop…or else.

And Peter looks around.
They’re glaring at him.
He knows they’re serious.
Serious…and blood thirsty.

But…
He doesn’t care.

“We must obey God; rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
 
In other words:
The Early Church would keep preaching the Gospel.
They would keep telling people about Jesus.
Because they would place the Gospel above all else.

This is just one story that illustrates that.
Because throughout the book of Acts, the devil does everything possible to try and shove the Gospel to the bottom of the Early Church’s priority list.
But the Book of Acts is filled with stories where the Gospel triumphs!
 
Where it is placed above…

(1) 1st Century Racial Prejudices
 
Because the Gospel started among the Jewish people.
And the Jewish people – they had developed a superiority complex.
They thought themselves as God’s special people.
Afterall, the Old Testament was all about them.
They were God’s special people – to the point that they wouldn’t interact with non-Jewish people.
They wouldn’t eat a meal with them.
They would definitely not spend time with them unless they were forced to!

Enter a guy named Philip.
He’s on the road to Gaza.
He comes across a man who is an Ethiopian.

Normally Jews avoided non-Jews, but the Gospel doesn’t discriminate. “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’” (Acts 8:29)
Philip walked right up to the chariot, got into the chariot, sat right next to him in the chariot and shared the Gospel.
 
The Early Church placed the Gospel above Racial Prejudices.
This isn’t the only time.
 
Acts 8, says Philip also went to Samaria to continue telling non-Jewish people about Jewish.
Acts 13 and 14, chronicles an entire missionary journey specifically to non-Jewish people!
At Pentecost itself, the Gospel was presented in languages beyond Hebrew of the common Jewish people!

The Early Church placed the Gospel above Racial Prejudices.

(2) Social Status
 
This is a big deal. Because at that time, the most common religious entity – the Pharisees—loved rich people.
They loved people who could contribute to the upkeep of their gathering spaces.
They loved people who could also afford fine jewelry and fancy robes.
They loved people who would make them look cool by association.

Peter and John?

In Acts 3, the very first individual described hearing the Gospel?
A beggar.
A blind beggar.
A blind, homeless beggar.
A blind, homeless beggar at the bottom of social status.

And yet Peter is sure to bring him the message about how Jesus gives him the status of God’s eternal kingdom.

The Early Church placed the Gospel above Social Status.

(3) Jewish Traditions
 
To be fair, the Gospel is above any tradition.
Specifically, for the Early Church, Jewish traditions had become an obstacle to the Gospel.
And some of the staunchest Jewish traditions at that time had to do with food.

The tradition was that Jews only ate certain foods.
The tradition was that Jews only ate after washing their hands in a ceremonial way.
The tradition was that Jews never at in the home of a non-Jewish person.

Acts 11, Peter, who is 100% Jewish and 100% a follower of Jewish tradition…receives a vision.
In the vision, God tells him to go ahead – to eat meat – from…traditionally, unclean animals.

In other words, God tells him to break tradition. Peter refused by saying, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:14)

As soon as the vision is over, Peter receives a knock at his front door.
It’s a servant from a Roman Centurion – a non-Jewish, Roman centurion – who has invited him over to eat.

That’d be breaking tradition…but God had told Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15)

Peter went because he placed the Gospel above even his own traditions – all God’s doing. Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Acts 10:34-35
The Gospel was above Jewish Traditions.

(4) Above Personal Vendettas


One of the more famous accounts in the first half of Acts is the account of a guy named Saul.
Saul, who did not like the Gospel.
He did not like Jesus.
In fact, he persecuted those who followed Jesus by threatening them, beating them up, and throwing them in prison.

Until…
Jesus appeared to him.
Then he became a believer.

In fact, Saul became such a committed believer that he wanted to help the disciples share the Gospel.
Acts 9:20, 26-27 “At once he began to preach in the synagogues [in Damascus] that Jesus is the Son of God…When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.”

Because it’s not about them and what they feel. It’s about Jesus. We support others who want to share God’s Word

They put the GOSPEL above their own personal issues.

(5) Above Their Own Safety
 
Back to where we started.

The disciples began shouting the message of Jesus…
…in the middle of the very streets where Jesus had been put to death.
…surrounded by the very people who had supported his death.

But they didn’t care.
And this continues.

In Acts 3, they are put on trial.
In Acts 5, they are imprisoned.
In Acts 7, Stephen has stones thrown at him until he is killed.
In Acts 8, they undergo the aforementioned persecution of Saul.
In Acts 12, Peter is put on death row.

And at no point do they stop preaching.
At no point do they stop telling about Jesus.
At no point do they put their own lives above the Gospel.
Because the Gospel is about how Jesus put US above his own life.

III. WHAT NOW?


Consider these two truths:
The Gospel places you above all else. The Early Church placed the Gospel above all else.
Because of God’s work with the Early Church, you have the Gospel in your heart.

A simple What Now?
 
Put the Gospel Above All Else
 
I mentioned those Facebook ads at the beginning.
I think the devil works pretty similarly in our lives.
He’s smart. He watches us.
He knows the things that will distract us.
The things that will tempt us to think:
“God didn’t love you that much.”  And “The Gospel’s not that important.”

Rather than the GOSPEL above all else…
He wants you to place the ALL ELSE above the Gospel.

Don’t let him.
Stay focused.
PLACE THE GOSPEL ABOVE ALL ELSE!
 
Throughout this summer I am praying that God works in your heart to:
(1) understand more fully how God placed you above all else,
(2) throw light on areas in which you have placed other things above the Gospel,
(3) guide us, as a church, to refocus on placing THE GOSPEL above all else. Amen.
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Meditations: Value

3/6/2019

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What do you value?

Your spouse?
Your children?
Your health?
Your church?
Maybe even your God?

Let me ask again: What do you value?
And I don’t mean what SHOULD you value?
Or what do you think that I AM expecting you to say that you value.
But…reflect…what do you really value?
 
Sometimes my wife and I have a hard time deciding what we value. For instance, on a Friday evening we might be trying to figure out what we want to do. We could head over to Gonza’s Taco and have a delicious Mexican food style evening, or we could head to the local Pho joint for some delicious Vietnamese soup.

And I say, “I Don’t care.”
And she says, “You pick.”
And I say, “It doesn’t bother me.”
And she says, “I don’t know.”

So…what we do is we throw fingers. It’s a game used to decide what to do – kinda like casting lots. I count to three (1-2-3) and then we both hold out any combination of fingers (1, 9, or maybe 3). Then, we add up the total between the two of us. If the number is even, we go out for Vietnamese; if it’s odd, we go out for tacos.

It usually works.

But sometimes, what happens is that we throw out the number, it’s odd and I say, “Good. We’re going to tacos. It’s settled.”
But Julianna says, “Yes, but…can we go for Pho?”

Isn’t how much you value a “thing” best revealed in your reaction to not having the thing?
 
It’s the difference between missing out on your morning orange juice and missing out on your morning coffee.
It's the difference between missing a non-Conference game AND the UNC/Duke showdown.
It’s the difference between missing the “women tell all” episode of the Bachelor and the “After the Final Rose” episode.
It’s the difference between not getting a birthday present from an acquaintance and not receiving one from your spouse.

How much you value a “thing” best revealed in your reaction to not having the thing.
 
But then…
If that’s the case…
The biggest problem.
Not that it isn’t true, but that it reveals the things we really value…to. Our. Shame.  

“Should I get some sleep or stay up late talking to my friend in need?” I choose sleep, because I value it more.
“I could go home and spend time with my kids, but…I want my boss to be impressed.” I value my career more.
 “I could sit down and ask my spouse about their day…OR I could watch a rerun of the Office on Netflix…” I value it more?
 
Jesus has something to say about value. He says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Mt. 6:25-26)
 
Birds don’t seem to have a lot of value.

They aren’t very big.
Most are the size of my hand.
They can’t get jobs in the tech industry.
They don’t often receive medical internships.
They aren’t even valued enough to get a job in fast food!

Yet…God cares for them.

He gets the nightcrawler out of the ground for the little robin to eat.
He reserves a few kernels after the squirrel’s ambush for the sparrow to be nourished.
He uses a few bread crumbs tossed by a three-year-old down at Lake Lynn to give the duck a kinda fat gut!

Birds don’t have a lot of value.
Yet…God cares for them.

And if God cares for birds of little value, how much more will he care for you…of great value!

He’ll feed you (and if you were at the Fellowship meal – he maybe fed you more than enough).
He’ll clothe you. (and it appears he did that for all of you today)
He’ll give you a roof over your head. (And we have one over ours right now!)

More than that – Jesus died for you.

Because Jesus didn’t come to earth to save sparrows.
He didn’t die on the cross to redeem robins.
He didn’t rise triumphantly to triumph trumpet swans!

He did that for you.
Because…

You are more than a body.
You are more than organs, blood and bones.
You are more than a temporal, physical vessel that will be here for 70 years – 80 if we have the strength.

You are more than evolved slime.
You are more than a smart animal.
You are more than just “the dominant species.”

You have a soul.
You have an eternal soul.
You have an eternal soul that God wants to spend eternity with – so much so that He is willing to shed His Own divine blood on the cross!

Do you get that? When God was faced with the choice between losing you OR losing his life…
He didn’t haven’t to throw fingers.

He couldn’t bear the thought of losing you eternally and so he gave up his life just to be with you.

Wow.

So…What Now? Two things:

(1) Understand Your Eternal Value

Because it is easy to feel valueless.
It’s easy to feel worthless.
It’s easy to look at how other’s treat us, get in our head, and conclude: “I really, don’t have a lot of value. If any!”
 
When that happens, hear God’s voice.
Your value isn’t determined by how many hours a week you work.
Your value isn’t determined by how many pounds you can lift at the gym.
Your value isn’t determined by how many followers you have on Instagram.
Your value isn’t determined by how perfectly you parent.

Your value is determined by God.
And God was willing to die for you.
Because to God, you are invaluable.
Priceless.

(2)  See the Eternal Value of Things

I used to collect baseball cards. I collected baseball cards because my friends collected baseball cards. It was the thing to do.
I remember that I was trading cards with my friends and I saw this card pop up: A Juan Beringer.
I thought he looked cool.
He looked intimidating.
Also – it was signed!

I offered to trade for it.
What would I give my friend?
I’ll give him the Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card!

Turns out? Bad assessment of value.
Griffy Jr. Rookie? Worth over a hundred.
Juan Beringer? About five cents.

The more we understand our intrinsic, eternal value to God, the more we will value the things that have intrinsic, eternal value.

Things like a midweek Lenten meditation.
Things like personal Bible study.  
Things like Baptism.
Things like Lord’s Supper.
Things like singing Jesus Loves Me with your kids.
Things like meditation.
Things like sharing the Gospel with your coworker.   
Things like sharing the Gospel with our spouse.
Things like sharing the Gospel with our neighbor.

Friends, this is easier said than done. We live in a world that tells us to value anything but our Savior.
Best case it’s confusing, worst case – soul damning.

But tonight’s message is that Jesus values you.
More than His own life.

Value him.
And you will have eternal life.  Amen.
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FRESH: A FRESH Purpose

2/3/2019

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What is your purpose in 2019?  

Pay off the mortgage – and every action that you take, every decision that you make is with the goal of paying off that house?
Maybe it’s just to look good – and every food you eat, every movement you make has the goal of looking more like you did in your twenties?
Help your business grow – and every Facebook post that you share has the goal of taking your entrepreneurship to the next level?

We recently got a cat. Yep. A cat. It’s my first one – and I guess it’s not as bad as I thought because I’m still living. Her name is Minnie. Her full name is Minnie, Warrior Kitty.
Now – she can’t talk, but after watching her interact with our house for the past two weeks – I think I understand what her mission is for 2019. I think her mission is to defend the world at all costs against any button, any remote control, any dust ball and any stray tissue that dares cross her path!

Pretty lofty goals…I know.

We’re in the middle of a sermon series called FRESH. This week our topic is PUPORSE. We want to find a fresh purpose in God for 2019 – what kind of mission statement can we adopt in our personal lives to fulfill that purpose! Before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. A 1st Century Purpose

The section of God’s Word that we’ll study this morning comes from 1 Timothy 2. Timothy is a letter written to a young pastor named Timothy. It is written by Paul who was an older pastor that had a lot of experience starting churches.  In this section, he is giving Timothy some instructions on what he should be teaching the people. He writes:

I urge, first of all, that prayers, petitions, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people and for kings and all in authority. (1 Timothy 2:1)

Note the “First of all.” It identifies the first thing in a list of things that Paul will be telling Timothy to teach the congregation. But it also denotes a certain level of importance. This first teaching is of great importance to God’s kingdom; so, it is listed first. It’s important, by the way, in both the 1st century AND the 21st century. So…listen up.

The first thing that’s of great importance for Christians to do?

(1) Pray for All people.

That’s not easy. Usually people like to pray for people that they (1) know and that they (2) like. It’s why people pray for themselves (they like themselves). Also their family, their kids, their spouse, and maybe even a few people from church…but probably not all of them.

Paul’s instruction is more all-encompassing than that. Paul says to pray for all people.
That includes not only the people that we know and like…
But the people that we don’t know and might not like.

For the stranger across town.
For the stranger across the world.
For the coworker that you don’t like.
For the friend that’s no longer your friend.
For the rich guy who owns a mansion.
For the homeless guy on the street.
Even for the internet troll who puts an angry face on all of your political posts.  

God’s Word says to pray for all of those people.
That’s hard.

And then to top it all off - he says to pray for a group of people that probably ranks high on most people’s list of people that they don’t want to pray for:  
It’s like the coup de grace of un-prayable people.

(2) Pray for the Government.  
 
This is interesting timing. Because we just completed a month-long government shut down. And it is highly possible that there will be another one. A shut down where lawmakers and elected officials can’t coexist and are costing people their salaries; not their own, but the people who aren’t involved in those decisions and use that money to live on.

Does it seem hard to pray for those Washington guys right about now?  

If so, think about this:
The letter we are reading was written at a time when there was no democracy. There weren’t term limits. There wasn’t an opportunity to vote someone out of office if you didn’t agree with their methods.

There was the Roman emperor.
Using violent Roman soldiers.
To enforce his will.

And his most recent will? It was to throw Christians in jail, separate families, and even murder them.

Yet…Christians were still supposed to PRAY for the government.
That’s hard.
Since it’s been recorded for us, we are still supposed to pray for our government.
That’s hard, too.

But…maybe it depends on the prayer!
Maybe it makes sense for us to pray for the government to enact laws to make our lives better.
Or to make laws that give US a tax break.
Or to make laws that fit our own political agendas.

Is that what our prayers are for?  

Nope. Look at verse 2:
Pray…That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness. (v.2b)

For our godliness and holiness.
For a culture that amplifies our godliness and holiness.

To put it another way –
We are to pray that God helps us let HIS light shine.

II. God’s Mission Statement

Now – this prayer request comes from God’s Word.

So…Maybe that seems a bit – selfish.
Maybe that seems a bit – vain.
Let me get this straight God...YOU want me to pray to YOU for opportunities to make YOU more well- known?

This is not about God. Take a look at verse 3:
God our Savior wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

You can learn a lot about an organization by its mission statement.
Do you know PETA? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Their mission is to support the rights of all animals.  

Habitat for Humanity? Their mission is to bring people together to build homes and hope.
Starbucks? To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one cup at a time…
Domino’s mission statement? To sell more pizza.

What is God’s mission Statement?
Let everyone know how awesome I am?
Reign terror on all people.

Confuse people about what His plans?

Nope.

God’s mission statement is this:   
Save All People.

That’s really a God-sized mission statement, right?
Because God’s mission is not that some might be saved.
Or a lot.
Or even most.

Nope.

God wants all people to be saved.
And that mission is what guides his every action!

We saw it in our Gospel lesson for today.
Jesus had spent all night doing miracles.

He made the blind see.
He made the deaf hear.
He made the lame walk.

He made the guy with the cold better.
He made the woman with cancer well.
He made the child with epilepsy calm, healthy.

Jesus did miracle after miracle until it was too dark for people to come find him at the house he was at.

Early the next morning, before he got back to doing miracles, Jesus went up on a hillside to pray.
As he was praying, he heard a commotion in the distance.
It was his disciples:

Jesus! There you are. We’ve been looking all over for you.
I know it’s early but they’re here. The sick. The lame. Some kid who has a whooping cough. Some guy who can’t walk. There’s a woman who has a very bad fever. They’re all here – waiting at the house – waiting for you to heal them. We told them to wait but – Jesus, if we want to stay ahead of this, you’d better get back so that you can help them.


And Jesus listened.
He got to his feet.
And said something – rather strange:
“Let us go someplace else – to the nearby villages – that I may preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:38)

Doesn’t that seem strange?
Jesus usually helps people, right?

Yes.

And that is the exact reason that he doesn’t go back to down to heal the people who were physically ill.
He needed to head to other villages in order to help others who were spiritually ill.

In short, Jesus understood his mission: TO SAVE ALL PEOPLE.
He understood his mission even when the prayers and requests of all people were – “Don’t do that eternal soul saving mission; come over here and do the ‘make my life better now’ mission.”

It’s proof that Jesus wasn’t all talk. 
He wasn’t like some CEO who says that he wants to help lots of people, but when the going gets tough – isn’t willing to give up a cent.

Jesus…  gave himself as a ransom for all people. (v.6)
When the only way to save people from their sins was for him to give up his life…

Jesus didn’t bat an eye.
He came down to earth.
He lived perfectly when we couldn’t.
He died innocently in our place.
He rose triumphantly for the forgiveness of all of our sins.

And to be fair – we’ve talked about it very broadly.
God’s goal is to save all people.
But Narrowly, God’s mission has always been To. Save. You.

It’s why he’s speaking to you today.
It’s why he’s speaking to you in these words.
It’s why he’s speaking to your heart and imploring you.
Believe in Jesus.
Be saved.

III. Our Mission Statement

But that’s not the end of this lesson. Look at what Paul writes next:
For this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. (v.7)

A herald was specifically associated with royalty. The herald would give messages on behalf of the king. He’d carry one of those long, large golden trumpets – he’d blow the trumpet and deliver a message from the King. “Hear ye; hear ye; Whoppers are now 2 for $3 at the Burger King’s restaurant.” We use the word in a famous Christmas song – “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Herald angels are not a bunch of angels with the same first name: “Harold, I told you to put your halo back on!” Herald angels were messengers delivering a message from the Divine King: “A Savior has been born!”

Paul was a herald, too. His job was to herald the message of Jesus, the Savior.
To herald it in the marketplace.
To herald it in the synagogue.
To herald it at Uncle Lou’s backyard cookout.

Everywhere he went he heralded the message of Jesus.

Paul was also an apostle.  That’s a very specific job. An apostle is a word used to describe the 12 apostles and Paul. The twelve apostles were men who (1) saw the risen Lord Jesus, (2) were sent out by Jesus (3) were given the ability to do miracles by the Holy Spirit.

Undoubtedly that was very helpful for Paul! Because as he heralded the message of the Savior, the miracles that he was able to do would help to prove that his message was truth.
(It’s very similar to why Jesus’ did miracles. It was a supplement to his mission of Saving all people) Paul was able to do miracles as a supplement to help him share the message of Jesus which saved all people!

But what about you?
You might not be able to do miracles.
So…how do you fit into this mission?

Have you ever heard Mt. 28:19? It says, “Go and make disciples of all nations…by teaching them everything I have commanded you.”
Part of what the apostles heralded was the message of Jesus.
And another part of what the apostles heralded was the importance of sharing the message of Jesus. Take a look:

2 Corinthians 5:20, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as if God were making his appeal through us.”
1 Peter 3:15, “Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.”
Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.”


Do you get it?
You have purpose.
Your purpose is to be a supporter and a part of Jesus’ mission.

That’s a big deal.  
Your purpose isn’t just temporal, it’s eternal.
Your purpose isn’t just human, it’s divine.
Your purpose isn’t just to help something with something that will last a moment; your purpose it to help someone with something that will last for eternity.

You have purpose.

And that purpose is specific!! The apostle Paul did this in a very specific context. The Bible says that he was a teacher of the Gentiles. He didn’t just stay in the synagogues. He didn’t just stay with the people that were Jewish. He was specifically called to bring the message to the Middle East and Southern Europe.

You have a specific purpose, too.
In fact, you have a specific purpose that is key to God’s kingdom.
Because you can to share the message with people that Paul never will be able to do. 
You are can share the message with people that I can’t.

You are called to be a part of Jesus’ mission for your people.

Your family.
Your friends.
Your mom.
Your dad.
Your spouse.
Your kid.
Your coworker.
Your Facebook friends.
Your connections.

Not only do you have purpose, but you are key to God’s mission.
God will work through you to bring the message of Jesus to the people that you are connected to!
 
IV. What Now?

1. Pray for Mission Work

Do you remember what Paul was telling Timothy to tell the people? They were to be prayer warriors for the mission of God.
Since that message has been preserved for you and me to read today, we can say with confidence that God wants you to participate in his mission by being a prayer warrior for his kingdom.

That’s important. Because it’s really easy to pray for yourself.
It’s really easy to pray for God to help you with your cold.
To pray for God to help you with your work.
To pray for God to help you with your finances.

And to be fair – you should pray for those things.

But God also wants us to pray for the spiritual.
God wants us to pray for His Mission.

In fact, that’s what he tells us to do in the Lord’s prayer.
In God’s prayer we say, “Thy Kingdom Come.”
That’s not a reference to God becoming president of America in 2020.
It isn’t a reference to God setting up a Christian utopia on this earth.
It’s a reference to mission work!

Pray for mission work.
Add it to your Google calendar.
Write reminders to pray on your bedside post.
Pray for people you know that need to hear about Jesus.
Pray for people you don’t know that need to hear about Jesus.
And pray for the people that you plan to share Jesus with.

2. Herald!

If you are a teacher, you need to teach. 
If you are writer, you need to write.
Because if you are a coal miner, the most important thing for you to do is to mine coal.

If you are a herald, then the most important thing for you to do is herald!
To share the saving message of Jesus.

To herald at home.
To herald at work.
To herald at the dinner table.
To herald on a night out with friends.
To herald online.
To herald via text message.
To herald in person.
To herald in the heart of North Raleigh.

And, here’s the thing: when it comes to being a herald – it doesn’t do a lot of good to herald when no one is looking.
It doesn’t do a lot of good to herald quietly.
Be bold.
Be loud.
Be confident.
Be courage.
Speak loudly the message of Jesus for all to here.

Which may be a bit intimidating.
You might feel like you can’t do it.

But you’re never alone. God is always with you and may He continue to bless you as you live out your purpose. Amen.
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Learning from the Kids

12/16/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last Christmas I took a car ride with my family up in WI. When you go home to family, sometimes you assume the role that you did back when you were younger. Meaning that, on the car trip, I was relegated to the back seat next to my 2-year-old niece named Harper.

And she wanted to watch the Cookie Monster, “C is for Cookie” video on her mom/my sister’s phone.  So, my sister passed it back to me and I thought I’d set it up.
I pressed what I thought was the YouTube button.
The screen stalled.
I tried to get to the settings.
It remained stalled.
I swiped up and swiped right.
I was stuck on a screen of death.

I said, “I think I broke your phone.”
I said to Harper, “I don’t think you’ll be able to watch Cookie Monster.”
I held up the frozen screen, “See? It’s stuck.”
 
Harper shook her head.
She grabbed the phone from me.
Touched a few buttons.
And…in seconds:
Cookie Monster Video.

Sometimes you can learn from a kid.
Whether that kids is 12, 6 or 2 years old, sometimes you can learn from a kid.
Maybe you’ve had a similar experience – especially with technology or Paw Patrol character names.

But…what about theology?
What about the deep mysterious things about our relationship with the Almighty, All Holy, divine, eternal God?

That’s probably NOT a kid thing…
…Right!?!

At Jesus’ time, the religious elite did not think they could learn anything from little kids.
They didn’t think they could learn anything from common folk.
They thought a relationship with God is something that only the best of us (and you probably aren’t the best of us) could accomplish.

They believed in ascetic morality. “I have studied the amount of beard hair necessary to properly please God and I have grown my facial follicles accordingly. Trimming them each at exactly 30 cm – the number of holiness.”
They believed in exponential giving. “Here is my 10% tithe of cash for the church. And here is my 10% gift of seasonal spices – cumin, dill, nutmeg. And here’s 10% of the nutmeg that I bought down at Food Lion. And here’s 10% of the candy cane that my toddler was just licking.”
They believed in master-level scholarship. “I got straight A’s in Hebrew school, studied under Professor Gamaliel, and have been a part of the synagogue’s Torah reading club for 20 years! I think I just barely have enough knowledge for God to kind of like me. You? A plumber? Hmm…Well…I’ll pray for you…”

Essentially, they believed that a relationship with God is something that only the best of the best, the top of the top, the most impressive of the most impressive could ever hope to obtain at the end of an 80 plus year life of impressiveness!
 
But Jesus spoke differently. He said:
I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden the things of God from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Mt. 11:25)
 
As in, God didn’t make His message some kind of Mensa level puzzle.
As in, God doesn’t need you to buy his love with a Fortune 500 stock investment.
As in, God doesn’t reveal himself ONLY to hermits, who live on some snow mountain in the Himalayas, sipping green tea, fasting, and meditating within himself to remove all sinful urges.

God reveals himself in a message so simple that children can understand it. 
 
A while back one of my little friends was having a hard time with some of his friends. He had knocked down a block tower, called the teacher “stupid” and hit an assistant.
I asked him to calm down and when he did, we talked about how what he did was wrong. And God didn’t like it when we hurt other people that he had made.
And my little friend got very sad. Lip quivering. Tears in his eyes.


And I said to him, “But do you remember what that thing is on the wall?”
His eyes perked up immediately:

“A cross.”

“And who was on it?”
A smile formed on his face: “Jesus.”


 And what did he take away on the cross?”
He lifted his hands in the air: “Our sins!”


I said, “That means Jesus forgives you. I forgive you. And…”
He interrupted: “And God loves me.”

 
He was absolutely right.
But here’s the thing: I have sat in the counseling office with adults. Grown men and women – learned men and women – long time Christian men and woman -- who have confessed their sins to me – who have struggled with guilt and shame – who have been in tears over the things that they have done wrong…
 
And I have asked: What’s that thing on the wall there?
That’s a cross, but…that doesn’t help me?
Sure He’s the Savior…but Pastor do you realize how bad what I did was?
Pastor…I just don’t know if I believe it. Do you have a list of things I can do to make up for it?


Just because a child says it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Just because a child says it doesn’t mean it isn’t DIVINE truth.

And here’s the divine truth – that those little children are about to teach us:

God looked down from heaven.
God saw our sins.
God sent His Son Jesus to be born as a human.
To live perfectly.
To die innocently.
To rise from the dead triumphantly.
To give us the absolute, complete forgiveness of sins.
And then…because God wanted us to have forgiveness and a peace filled eternal relationship with Him so badly…God made his message so simple, so divinely accessible that even a child could know it.
Even a child could teach it.
Even a child could preach it.

And…

That is what is about to happen.
 
With the kids' program, you’ll probably see a couple things.
You’ll probably see a few kids cry.
You’ll probably see a few kids fidget.
You’ll probably see one kid in the back wave to his whole family.

It’ll probably be a bit off key.
It’ll sometimes be too quiet; it’ll sometimes be too loud.
It’ll probably be very, very cute.

But…

It’ll also be true.
It’ll also be divine.
It will also be life changing.
It’ll also be eternal life giving.

Listen to them.
Because you can learn something from kids.
And today… you must learn something from them.

This isn’t just a kids’ message…
It’s God’s message. 
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Gethsemane Lutheran Church
1100 Newton Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27615
(919) 539-2218
pastor@gathertothegarden.com
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