Loss and Gain

Matthew 10:34-39

This account is covered in all three synoptic gospels, which provides us plenty of material to refer to when studying this passage. As we use Scripture to interpret Scripture, we would do well to note and study these additional passages: Mark 8:34-38; Luke 12:51-53; 14:25-33 

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth” is expressed as a question in Luke’s account (12:51): “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?”

Almost as important as the question, “Who do you say I am?” is the question, why do you think Jesus came?

There are many who would read different meanings into the “why” of Jesus’ earthly ministry (such as to be a political revolutionary who came to challenge and upend the existing power structure), but the only proper interpretation will come from what the Scripture has to say about Christ, and ultimately, what Christ had to say about himself in the gospels.

Whatever we think about Jesus today, must be informed by Scripture, for if we are following a Jesus of our own construct, we may find that we do not know him at all, and may even hear those damning words on Judgment Day, “I never knew you; depart from me.” (Matt. 7:23)

I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. Not a sword of war or vengeance, but a sword of division (disunion of opinion and conduct) (Luke 12:51). Luke’s account in the CEV says it so clearly, “I came to make people choose sides.”
This is not a new concept that is introduced in the New Testament.
Just before his death, Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel and charged them: “Choose this day whom you will serve…” (Josh. 24:15).

The call to men to repent from their sins and turn to Christ is a command which echoes the words of Joshua.

There is no neutrality when it comes to the things of God; there is no neutrality when it comes to Christ. We are not born into this world in a neutral state; we are born in sin (Ps. 51:8); we are by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind (Eph. 2:3). No one is born believing, which makes us condemned already (John 3:18) and under the wrath of God (John 3:36). When we are saved, we are delivered from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 1:10).
If we are waiting to let God decide our eternal fate when we die, it will be too late.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

Following Christ will cause divisions, even among families.

This does not mean we stop honoring and loving our parents. Jesus affirms this command in the gospels, even while calling out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes who invalidated the command through their tradition (Exod. 20:12; Matt. 15:4-9; Mark 7:9-13).

We are also commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 19:19); we are also commanded to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43-48). There is no contradiction here.
We are not given license to hate unbelievers. The unbelieving world is at enmity with God (Rom 5.10), just as we were before we were reconciled to God through Christ. Once we are reconciled to God and adopted as sons through Christ, division is created between us and the unbelieving world.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

While we love our families, neighbors and even our enemies, we love Christ first and most.

What is the greatest commandment?
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5), which Jesus affirms in the gospels (Matt. 22:35-40).

Jesus demonstrated this truth in his own life. First as a boy, when he remained in the temple after the Passover (Luke 2:41-51) while his parents journeyed home, and again by calling those who do the will of God his brother and sister and mother (Matt. 12:46-50). Jesus did not disown his earthly family, nor did he try to win their approval; he continued to honor them, while placing the Father first in all things. Jesus continued to honor his mother from the cross, placing her in the care of the disciple he loved (John 19:26-27).

Jesus will be second to no one. In asserting himself as the primary object of our love, Jesus is asserting his divinity (John 14:9).  Seeing him is seeing the Father; he and the Father are one. (John 10:30).
What we are seeing here is an application of Exod. 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before me” and Deut. 6:5: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

And whoever does not take his cross [daily] and follow me is not worthy of me.

Jesus goes on to say that we must deny ourselves. This is a much different mindset than the world would have us follow in their pursuit of self-love. The disciples understood the cross to mean only one thing: death. We would be foolish to apply any other meaning to it.

The saints who conquered Satan in Rev. 12:11, did so by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. It is said of them that they loved not their lives even unto death.

Christ demands that we place him first above all else – even our own lives. It is a matter of priority that we must exercise daily. (Luke 9:23)

Luke 14:25-33 summarizes what we have just covered:
“You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life. You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and come with me… you cannot be my disciple unless you give away everything you own.”

The Lord is unambiguous about his requirements for discipleship. He expects us to put him first – above family, self, and possessions.

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

This is a tremendous encouragement for the Christian who would take Christ at his word and put him first in all things.

What does he mean? The world in its present form is passing away; it will soon be gone (1 Cor. 7:30); if we try to hang on to our build on the things of earth, we will lose them; they are passing away.

Our reality is that we are new creations in Christ; the old has passed away, and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).  We have died, and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-4). That is why we must stop trying to preserve that which is perishing.

While it is true that our earthly relationships will change, it is also true that we gain much more in the process.

When we put Christ first, we can love as he does, that is, unconditionally. Our focus narrows, but out capacity grows.

We can properly love one another as Jesus commands (John 13:34), and the Scripture instructs throughout the writings of the apostles; we can love our brothers and sisters – people with whom we would not give a second thought to apart from Christ; we can lay down our lives for one another (John 15:13); we can love our neighbors, as the Samaritan loved the man who had been robbed on the road to Jericho (Luke 10:25-37); husbands can love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25); we can love our enemies – praying for those who persecute us and blessing when we are cursed (Matt. 5:43-48).

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29)

We gain the fellowship of saints.  Jesus is speaking of the Church, which we see vividly recorded for us in Acts 2:42-47; 4:32,34a:

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. There was not a needy person among them…”

God has promised to provide for our material needs that we may be wholly concerned for and engaged with the things of the kingdom (Matt. 6:25-33). He has also assured us that the relationships we gain will be far greater that those we lose – and the relationships we gain in Christ will carry over into eternal life, and the glory to be revealed in us (Rom:8:18).

Jesus demands and is worthy of our all, but we can be encouraged by the words of the Lord himself: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

Let us put Christ first in all things, for we have so much more to gain. Amen.

Have No Fear…

Matthew 10:16-33 

To set up today’s passage, let us summarize what has occurred in the preceding verses (1-15).  Jesus has called together his 12 disciples, equipping them to drive out demons, heal the sick, cleanse lepers and raise the dead, commissioning them to go to the lost sheep of Israel to declare the coming kingdom of God. They were given boundaries (“go nowhere among the Gentiles”), a message (“the kingdom of heaven is at hand”) and instructions as to how they were to conduct themselves.

Jesus gave his apostles situational awareness, warning them of the persecution to come; he also gave them instructions for when that time came. This was not a contingency plan in case of persecution; this was THE plan, for persecution WOULD come. Jesus was managing their expectations, and by extension, he is managing our expectations. We can expect to be sent, for we have been commanded to go, and we can expect to be persecuted.

By using the analogy of sheep among wolves, Jesus is giving the disciples a vivid picture of the nature of the attacks they would experience.

Wolves are methodical, coordinated, and relentless in their attacks. Wolves count on the herd reacting with fear and panic as they scatter in all directions; they use that reaction to isolate and bring down their selected prey. There is nothing subtle about their attacks as they catch and devour their prey.

And so, Jesus makes this analogy to manage the disciples’ expectations. Likewise, we will not be dealing with people with whom we have a mere difference of opinion, we will be dealing with people who are looking to scatter and devour the sheep, not sparing the flock.

Note the irony in the sheep being sent out. In the natural world, a shepherd would protect his sheep from the wolves.  But we have our Good Shepherd that goes before us, leads us, and protects us.

Sending us out among the wolves indicates the nature of the ministry we have been called to; it is proactive; it goes on the offense.  We are not to mill about the sheep pen waiting for people to come to the fence to hear the gospel; we are commanded to go (Matt. 28:19). We are to take the gospel of Christ out into the world, in the assurance that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Christ; we are to take the gospel out into the world with the assurance that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. Gates are a defensive mechanism; they don’t move. We are called to move against the gates, with the promise that they will not prevail.

Being wise as serpents and innocent as doves gives us a picture of conducting ourselves wisely, with situational awareness, but unlike the serpent that attacks when endangered, we are to be innocent as doves, by not defending ourselves, and when necessary, fleeing.

Jesus goes on to describe the different types of attacks that will be employed by men against his disciples: cultural and civil opposition, religious opposition, and familial opposition. These are not exclusive of one another; they will overlap.

We see in the Gospels and the Book of Acts how the religious leaders used the civil authorities to do their dirty work, as they tried to destroy the early church.

I want to note here that being delivered over to the courts and dragged before governors and kings is a God-ordained opportunity to bear witness to them. It is crucial that we remember this so that when it happens, our focus is not on finding a way out, but on using the circumstance as an opportunity to share the gospel.  After all, it is the enemies of God who need to hear the gospel – and such were we before we heard the gospel.

We are already experiencing cultural opposition in the U.S. where moral relativism and subjective truth are rapidly becoming the norm in our society. We are live in a culture born out of the sexual revolution of the 60’s where sex outside of God’s design, sex outside the confines of marriage –  is not only commonplace, but encouraged; where homosexual relations are not only commonplace, but celebrated by society and supported by our legal system; where the killing of babies in the womb is legal and celebrated as a constitutional right.
The proponents of these activities can be found in our cultural and educational institutions, our legislative bodies, and even churches. They are out and gathering in force, working to oppose, shame, and silence anyone who thinks and speaks otherwise; the proclamation of Christ and the teaching of Biblical truth puts us in direct conflict with popular culture.

The groundwork is already being laid for civil opposition in the U.S., as seen in the recent Supreme Court decisions making same-sex marriage a right, and an individual’s sexual orientation or transgender status irrelevant to employers.
That will put those of us who believe in Biblical manhood, womanhood, and marriage on the wrong side of the law. It gives the opponents of the gospel legal leverage to deliver us to the courts, while giving states authority to act against those (like Christian baker Jack Phillips) who will not comply with the new rules.

Religious opposition will come from both external and internal sources.

External: The Open Doors 2020 World Watchlist reports that nearly 3,000 Christians worldwide were killed for faith-related reasons (averaging 8 per day); nearly 9,500 churches or Christian buildings were attacked, and more than 3,700 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned. While this is happening primarily in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, we would be naïve to think that the United States will not be touched.

Internal: In the U.S. traditionally mainline churches and other Christian leaders are aligning with the popular culture in the acceptance and celebration of homosexual marriages and transgendered persons. The so-called Christian leaders that approve of and promote these practices are the “false prophets…who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” that Jesus warned us about (Matt. 7:15). If they see Biblical Christianity as out-of-step, what measures will they take to see that the rest of us fall into line?

19-20. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Notice that Jesus said when, not if.

In Luke’s gospel (21:14), Jesus is recorded as telling the disciples to “settle in your minds therefore, not to meditate beforehand how to answer…” We can rest in complete assurance that the Holy Spirit will give us “a mouth and wisdom, which none of [our] adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

In Acts 6:9-10 we read that those who argued with Stephen “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”

It was not the humiliation which early Christians dreaded, not even the cruel pain and the agony. But many of them feared that their own unskillfulness in words and defense might injure rather than commend the truth. It is the promise of God that when a man is on trial for his faith, the words will come to him. (William Barclay)

Fear not, fellow Christian, for should be you called to face trial for your faith, know that 1) God has ordained this opportunity to bear witness, and 2) God will fill your mouth with his words.

21-22. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.

Persecution is not limited to the outside of the home.
People who may not have anything in common with each other will be united in their hatred of Christians. As diverse as the population is in the U.S. there is a growing perception that Christians are bigoted and intolerant.

23 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Endurance is a mark of the true Christian. Remember the explanation in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:20): “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.” This is a picture of the “almost Christian” who joyfully attends services and participates in church activities, but is not abiding in the vine that is Christ. They bear no fruit and will be seen for what they are when persecution comes.

Also, endurance does not necessarily mean that we stand our physical ground; we’re not here to defend territory, we’re here to proclaim the gospel. Endurance may involve leaving a place of danger to flee to the “next town.” This is what happened when persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8). As the disciples scattered, they took the gospel with them and continued to proclaim Christ.

24-25“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Jesus explained why the persecution would come. John also includes this in his gospel (“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you”). We cannot expect that we will be treated any better than Jesus was during his time on earth.  Jesus was managing their perspective, and by extension ours, so when we do experience persecution on account of Christ, we won’t be thrown for a loop wondering why this is happening, and we won’t make the mistake of attributing it to other factors, such as politics, gender or race.

26-33. “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (ESV).

Jesus assured his disciples of God’s omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and care.  He assured them that they would go forth free of the fear of men that would otherwise weigh them down as they proclaimed Christ.

And preach boldly and fearlessly they did. The book of Acts records that the apostles were threatened, arrested, and beaten. Church tradition goes on to tell us that some of them were killed: Peter and Andrew by crucifixion; Matthew and Thomas by sword and spear; Mattias and Paul by beheading.

We have the same assurance, for we are called to proclaim Christ, free of the fear of men.

Prov. 19:2 says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice.”

If we go about our Christian walk in fear of men, and what they would do to us should we cross or offend them, we will never share the gospel from a secure place of confidence in the Lord (“in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”). Perhaps worse, when opposition and persecution does come, we will seek remedy from men and not the Lord.

As disciples of Christ, it is critical that we manage our expectations in the light of God’s Word. If we’re expecting only prosperity and smooth sailing because we are blessed and highly favored, we will be ill-prepared to endure the persecution that we’ve been assured will come.

I will leave you with a verse that should challenge each one of us: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Tim. 3:12-13)

If we’ve managed to get through our Christian lives; if our churches have managed to operate for years without experiencing any kind of opposition or persecution, then we must – especially if we believe this Bible – we must call into question our desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. Are we living and conducting ourselves in such a way that family and friends, neighbors, and coworkers, at the very least see a difference in us, and perhaps even look to oppose us?

If we believe that all things are possible with God, if we believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, then we must believe that God will give us the strength to stand and endure, without fear, in the face of persecution. We can declare with the Psalmist:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4).

Contemplating the Love of God

Romans 5:6-11

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Introduction

The British writer Dorothy L. Sayers wrote: “… If men will not understand the meaning of judgment, they will never come to understand the meaning of grace.” (Creed or Chaos)
In other words, good news is only appreciated when the bad news is understood. For example, we hear news of all the wonderful advances made in the treatment of different cancers, but until you receive a cancer diagnosis, you won’t fully appreciate the news of these new treatments.

In the chapter and verses that precede today’s passage, the apostle has laid out the doctrine of justification by faith, and as a result of being justified by faith, we have peace with God; we have obtained through Christ access into this grace in which we stand. We not only rejoice in hope of the glory of God, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, character, and a hope which does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.

As we look at today’s passage, Paul lays out the reason for our rejoicing in both hope and suffering, by reminding us of who we were before our conversion; he reminds us of who we were apart from Christ.

“For while we were still weak…”

While we were still weak, while we were still sinners, while we were enemies of God, while we were ungodly, Christ died for us.

What a picture of the love of God! In Matt. 9:35-36, as Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, he had compassion on the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd.

This is not intended to portray the people as deserving of salvation; this is intended to show the compassion of Christ. These same crowds were also weak, ungodly sinners; they were enemies under the wrath of God, described by Paul elsewhere in the Scriptures (Romans 3) as: not righteous, not understanding, not seeking for God. There are no exceptions here, as Paul charges that all – both Jews and Gentiles – are under sin. He continues, all have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one…there is no fear of God before their eyes. Paul is quoting from the Psalms and the Prophets (Isaiah and Jeremiah) to make his case – he is not introducing a new thought here.

When we begin to see the full picture of our sinful state, we begin to see the importance and impact of the words in v.6: “for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

We were weak; we were without strength; we were feeble and impotent. We were unable and unwilling to save ourselves. Paul describes it in his letter to the Ephesians as being dead in our transgressions.

“At the right time…”

Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Christ died for us at a time of God’s choosing, not by any human timetable. It was not a situation of mankind being ready for the revelation of Christ, as the Scripture has established that we would never be ready. This was part of God’s larger plan, a plan for a people he had already chosen and predestined to be adopted as sons through Christ (Eph. 1: 3-7; Rom. 8:29 -30); this was part of a larger plan to unite all things in heaven and on earth in Christ (Eph. 1:10).

“While we were still sinners…”

The fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, shows the extent of God’s love for us. As Paul wrote, one would scarcely die for a righteous person – that is, righteous according to human standards – but the Scripture tells us none is righteous, no not one;
Paul also writes, one might dare to die for a good person – again according to human standards, but again the Scripture tells us there are none of those.

The bottom line is that Christ died for an undeserving people (that would be you and I). This is how much the Father loves us; it reveals the untold depth of John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”

John exhorts us in his first letter to contemplate that love: “Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1 NKJV) Let’s not miss the importance of what John is saying.

This is not a casual, surface look at God’s love, designed only to give us a warm and fuzzy feeling; this is a call to take a deep, ongoing, meditative look at the love of God. It is such a deep love, that Paul prayed for the Ephesian church, that they would “have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”

This is not a reckless love, as some songwriters would have you think.  This is a love that reflects God’s eternal purpose and will to accomplish the redemption of a people that he selected from before the foundation of the earth to be conformed to the image of his Son
(Rom. 8:29).

We can tell people that God loves them, but we need to understand the love God has for us. It is a love (agape) that sacrifices and gives of itself. This love sacrificed for those who were unable and unwilling to love God in return; it sacrificed for those who were still at enmity with Him. That’s the love of God that we need to think about and understand; that’s the love that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

“Saved from his wrath…”

It is this love of God that has caused him to save us from His coming wrath.

We cannot contemplate the mercy of God without understanding the wrath we were under before Christ. The tax collector in Luke 18:13 understood, for as he prayed in the temple, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying God be merciful to me a sinner!

When we read about the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1:18), do we think only of those who do not know Christ?

Or do we also remember that we once lived and walked among them, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind? (Eph. 2:1-3).

Do we remember that God, being rich in mercy, and because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places? (Eph. 2:4–6)?

Do we take time to contemplate the mercy we’ve been shown?

Once we grasp our true condition apart from Christ, and the justifiable wrath of a holy God from which we have been spared, we can then begin to grasp the depth of God’s love for us and the depth of our salvation in Christ. And we will truly rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation.

Reconciliation is the work of God. God is the one who predestines; he is the one who call; he is the one who justifies; his is the one who glorifies (Rom 8:30-31).

The work of reconciliation was initiated by the Father, carried out by the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit. We contribute nothing to the process except the sin that made reconciliation necessary.

This is not to suggest that we engage in spiritual navel-gazing, contemplating our sin; that is dangerous and unnecessary. It is as we contemplate the Lord, through prayerful study and meditation on his Word, that we will understand more of God is, and understand more of who we were before Christ and who we are now in Christ.

Let us contemplate the love of God.

May God, according to the riches of his glory, grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:16–21)

Filled with the Spirit – Part II

Acts 2:14, 22-36

(If you haven’t read Part I of Filled with the Spirit please do so now)

Introduction

“Peter, standing with the eleven…”

Let us look at everything that has happened thus far: after the ascension, the disciples waited together; they were together when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. When Peter addressed the crowd that had gathered, he stood with the eleven.

If we are going to be effective in gospel ministry, we must stand together. The Bible has much to say about how we as the Body of Christ are to be with one another – which needs to be covered separately – but I’ll summarize it by saying this: it is only as we have love for one another that all people will know that we are the church (John 13: 35).

We must keep this at the forefront of our minds as our nation is divided over politics, race, and other issues. While there is a diversity of opinion within the Church on these issues, we must remember: Christ is not divided (1 Cor. 1:13).

There is only one church.  Jesus is building his church; he is not looking to advance our particular ministries.

“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:4-6)

Listen!

“…let this be known to you and give ear to my words…hear these words”  In other words, listen!

When we share the gospel, do we tell people that they really need to listen to what we have to say? Do we understand the weight and importance of the gospel message? Peter knew; that is why he prefaced the message with “give ear to my words…hear my words.”

In John 6:63, Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

The words coming out of Peter’s mouth were powered by the life-giving Holy Spirit, and were themselves spirit and life.

We have been charged by Christ to make disciples; we need to open our mouths and preach this life-giving message in the power of the life-giving Holy Spirit so that others can call on the name of the Lord and believe.

“How will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10: 14-15a, 17.

This Jesus…

If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, as we saw last week, we will boldly speak the word of God.

If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will speak the word of God for the purpose of pointing to Christ “for it is they [the scriptures], that bear witness to [Christ] “(John 5: 39),

People will use, and have used the scriptures to advance their own agendas. “…yet you refuse to come to me that you may have new life.” (John 5: 40)

It is one thing to hold up a protest sign that quotes scripture: “let justice roll down like waters” or, “do justice and … love kindness and … walk humbly before your God.” (Amos 5:24; Micah 6: 8), but if we are not pointing to Christ as the only solution to the sin we see manifested in our world, which includes racism, if we are not pointing to Christ as the way – the only way – to be saved and reconciled to God, then we are not fulfilling our mandate to preach the gospel and make disciples.

We can march with others and call for an end to the evil, but if we are not pointing the way to Jesus, then what are we doing? We are just hiding our light under a basket. (Matt. 5: 14.)

Peter pointed to the person and work of Christ, not just his teachings; he confronted his listeners with facts:

• “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know…”

These were undeniable facts as many who had been fed, healed, delivered, and even raised from the dead were either standing among the crowd, or had heard of these things – which is why they had come to see Jesus over a period of three years.

• “…this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

There was no denying the events that happened less than two months prior – everyone knew. And perhaps, some of those who mocked Jesus as he hung on the cross were standing among the crowd as well.

• “God raised him up…”
  Peter testified to what they had witnessed; this was not something seen or revealed to just one man, as is the case in other religions or cults, this was something witnessed first by the twelve, and then by more than 500 people over a period of 40 days. (1 Cor. 15:6; Acts 1:3). He did not speak of visions or apparitions: the disciples met and spoke with, ate with, and were taught by the risen Christ, who at the very first meeting showed his disciples his hands which still bore the marks of the nails, and his side, which still bore the mark of the spear used by the Roman soldier to confirm his death.
• Peter affirmed the divine power of Christ:
  “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”

Peter took the Scriptures that spoke of the resurrected Messiah (Psalm 16:8-11; 110:1) and pointed to ‘this Jesus,’ the now-risen Jesus of Nazareth.  He declared, according the Scriptures, this Jesus “whom you crucified,” both Lord and Christ.

What can we learn from this?

When we think of being filled with the Holy Spirit, we may first think of power and manifestations like signs and wonders, or depending on your church background, prophecy and speaking in other tongues. Perhaps we think of the help, comfort, and illumination of God’s Word that the Holy Spirit brings. Yet others, perhaps the more mature, may think of the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, and self-control.

But let’s not overlook this most important role of the Holy Spirit…

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 16:14-15: “He will glorify me…”

When we are filled with the Spirit, we will glorify Christ.

Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory (Heb.1:3); the Holy Spirit enables us to declare that glory to the rest of the world. These are the rivers of living water that Jesus referred to that flow from the heart of every believer (John 7:39).

• Are we filled with the Spirit?
• Are we speaking the Word of God with boldness, and declaring the mighty works of God?
• Are we pointing others to Christ in the things we say and do?
• Do we seek to glorify him?
  (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal 6:14)

These are questions for self-examination, not just for today, but for every day. Bringing glory to Christ should be at the forefront of our minds before we think, speak and act. (Or before we post to Facebook or send that tweet).

Don’t shy away from asking God to search your heart. God knows all; he is acquainted with all of our ways. Even before a word is on our tongue…he knows it altogether. (Ps. 139:3-4).

This should cause us to walk in the fear of the Lord, but also with great assurance, for if we would just ask him to search our hearts; if we would just commit our ways to him, he will make our paths straight and lead us in the way everlasting (Prov. 3:6; Ps. 37:5-6).

If we determine to know nothing except Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2); if we determine to see him increase while we decrease (John 3:30), Christ will be glorified in us.

To God be the Glory.  Amen.

Enjoy this song from Mark Altrogge

Filled with the Spirit

Acts 2:1-21

The day of Pentecost occurred 50 Days after the Passover. Also known as the Feast of Harvest, it was one of the 3 times during the year that “all your males appear before the Lord GOD.” (Exod. 23:14-17). This tells us why there were Jews in Jerusalem, from every nation under heaven.  The text gives us a list: Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.  (Areas known to us today as Turkey, Iraq, North Africa, Syria, and surrounding areas).

We see how God, in his wonderful sovereignty, brought the known Jewish world together to plant the seeds of the gospel in order for it to spread, starting in “Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

As we saw last week, the disciples were in one place, waiting for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5).  As they obediently waited, united in purpose, devoting themselves to prayer, the promise was fulfilled as the house was filled with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and divided tongues as of fire came to rest on each one of them.

Notice how each believer was individually filled; they did not have to go around chasing the tongues like someone in a money booth where dollar bills are blown around and the person in the booth frantically grabs at the cash.

The gift of the Holy Spirit was given to each believer.  We would be wise to take note of this, as there is nothing we can do to earn the filling of the Holy Spirit – just as in salvation – we need only to wait obediently on the Lord.

As each believer was filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak of the mighty works of God in other languages, languages that were understood by the hearers. They were amazed to hear the disciples speaking so, but perplexed as to what the event meant.

This is not going to be a treatise on tongues, as there are different points of view that will not be resolved here today, but I want to focus on the actions of the disciples once they were filled with the Holy Spirit. As recorded in the text, they disciples were proclaiming the mighty works of God, just as it says in Psalm 96:3 – “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”

God likewise desires to fill us with his Holy Spirit that we may tell of his works among all the peoples, as it says in Psalm 73:28 – “I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”

As the multitude came together – we are talking about a crowd in the thousands (Acts 2:41) – the Scripture tells us that Peter lifted his voice and addressed them. He briefly addressed the critics, dismissing the allegation of drunkenness, and proceeded to explain what was happening.  Notice how he began: “This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel…”

Peter started from the common foundation of Scripture (for he was speaking to devout Jews, who were in Jerusalem in obedience to the Scripture); he put the phenomenon everyone had just witnessed into biblical context.

He spoke in terms of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”

He went on to speak of the coming “day of the Lord” which will be a “great and magnificent day” for the people of God, but a day of judgment for those that are not his people.

From there he continued building the case for Christ, citing the recent events which many had witnessed, tying them to the Scriptures (messianic passages in the Psalms) with the result that about 3,000 souls believed and were baptized.

What can we learn from this? When we share the gospel of Christ, we must be rooted in Scripture – that is essential. We must also connect to the values may be common to us and the listener.  In this case, Peter was speaking to devout Jews.

In the case of Paul in Athens (Acts 17:16-31) he started with the statue representing the unknown god.  In his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 9:19–23) Paul says: “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”

The point here is to present the gospel in a way that is first biblical, and then meaningful to the listeners. We would be wise to listen before we speak. We would be wise to not beat people over the head with the Bible, trying to make them see their need for Christ.

The late Ravi Zacharias said, “It is self-defeating to trample underfoot everything others hold dear before giving them the message of Christ. My mother used to say, “There is no point cutting off a person’s nose and then giving them a rose to smell.”

In other words, it’s is our mandate to engage people with the Word of God (which means there should be a process of give and take), while staying out of God’s way. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin (John 16:8); it is the Father that draws (John 6:44); it is the Son that saves; it is the Holy Spirit that converts (Acts 16:14).  God does the hard work.

What does this have to do with Pentecost? As God gathered people from every nation and prepared hearts to receive and respond to his Word, he prepared and empowered the disciples to deliver it. That is what we see here on the day of Pentecost; a group of common Galileans, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent to proclaim the mighty works of God to those who were gathered in Jerusalem.

Look at the relationship between the filling of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the Word of God:

Luke 1:41-44 – “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Luke 1:46-55 – “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…”

Luke 1:67-79 – “And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied…”

Acts 4:8 – “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders…”

Acts 4:31 – “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

Acts 9:17-20 – “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit… And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues.”

Are we starting to see the connection? When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will speak the word of God with boldness.

This leads us to a question: what is coming out of our mouths?

Matt 12:34; 5:18 – “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

Let us not be discouraged when corrupting talk (Eph. 4.29) slips past our lips, but let us be repentant for we will not be completely free of the effects of sin until Jesus returns, and these perishable bodies, sown in dishonor and weakness, are raised imperishable, raised in glory, raised in power. (1 Cor. 16:42-43).

Eph. 5:21 tells us to “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, not only are we empowered to speak the word of God to those who need to hear it, but empowered to build one another up in the church; we worship and give thanks to God (because the Spirit’s function is to glorify Christ); we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Being filled with the Spirit is the fruit of salvation; it is the fruit of presenting ourselves before the Lord in prayerful, watchful, expectant obedience.

As we witness the events currently unfolding in our nation, people around us are trying to make sense of it all.  People are bewildered, amazed and perplexed as they try to make meaning of what they are seeing.  And yes, there are mockers who are interjecting their voices as well.

This is a time for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is a time for us to stand together and lift our voices, that we may speak the Word of God (or in the vernacular, ‘speak life’) to those around us with all boldness, speaking such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Eph. 4:29)

May we all be filled with the Spirit.  Amen.