25 April 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 17
1. After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
5. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
6. When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
7. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."
8. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
-- this morning, we are continuing in our series on the "how's" of revival by looking at the four criteria that God gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- as you remember, in this verse God told us that when we are confronted with trials and troubles -- when plagues and famines and hardships come upon us because we have turned away from Him -- that if we return to Him, that He will bring healing and restoration and revival on our land
-- this verse reads, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"
-- last week we talked about what it takes to humble ourselves before God
-- this week, we are going to be talking about what God means and what we are to do when He tells us to "Seek His Face" -- we'll talk about this more, but in a real, general sense, seeking the face of God means that you see Him as He really is -- it means that we brush aside all of our perceptions and illusions and doubts and that affect our vision and that we see the real and true God standing before us
-- as the old song says, "I can see clearly now the rain is gone" -- that's the heart of seeking the face of God -- getting rid of everything that is blocking our vision so we can see the Son
-- you know, I've always had poor vision my whole life -- I got glasses when I was in the third grade and I wear contacts now, but I never really considered my vision a problem until lately -- wearing glasses or wearing contacts was just something I had to do -- and when I put them on, I could see as good as anyone else -- better, in fact, than some people who refused to admit they had a problem
-- wearing glasses never hampered me from playing sports or hunting or fishing or anything else -- I was able to participate in every activity my friends did -- it never slowed me down
-- but recently, especially over the last year, I have been having issues with my vision that I do call a problem -- all of you out there who are over 40 years old probably know exactly what I'm talking about -- I just cannot see things close up and it is about to drive me crazy
-- I was trying to thread a hook the other day and I couldn't see the eye of the hook to put the fishing line through it -- I was trying to read something and I had to keep pushing it farther and farther away from my face until it cleared up -- most recently, I have found I have a problem seeing the hymnal up here -- I have to hold it way down in order to read the words -- it is just frustrating to not be able to do something -- to not be able to see something -- that I used to be able to see without a second thought
-- I used to get upset when I'd go to Walmart and these little old ladies would park their buggies right in the middle of the aisle and block it and stand there looking at the shelves for what they were buying -- I'd complain to myself as I squeezed by them about them being the in the way and I'd think to myself, "Why won't they get closer to the shelf and make room for everybody else?" -- but I think I understand them a little better now, because I caught myself doing the same thing just yesterday -- I think they have to stand that far back in order to read the labels -- they are having a problem with their vision
-- vision problems are things that people start to experience as they get older -- I asked my eye doctor about my problem seeing close up -- he said the technical term for it is "presbyopia" -- the first part of that word, "presby" means "old man" or "elder" -- the second part, "opia" means "eye" -- so, he told me, presbyopia just means your eyes are getting older and you can't see as well as you did when you were younger
-- but just wait, he said, there's other problems you can look forward to as you get older that can cause degenerating eyesight -- cataracts, glaucoma, astigmatisms, or just increasing problems with near- or far-sightedness -- it just comes down to this, he said, when you get old, you just can't see as clearly as when you are young -- and that's very true
-- I've got a couple of nieces who have just recently reached the age where they are ready to get driver's licenses -- one of them is 17 and has been driving now for a couple of years and the other one just turned 15 and just went and took her tests so that she could get her learning permit
-- and, if you've had a license for a while, you might not remember how stressful it was to get your first license -- you had to study and study and study so you could pass the written test and then you had to take the driving test with that evaluator just sitting there watching your every move
-- but there's one part of that test that my nieces didn't worry about at all -- the vision test -- because they're young, they can see -- they have no problems seeing -- they have great vision
-- but the next time you go to renew your license, watch the older people in the room -- they're not worried if they get asked about their driving ability -- they're not worried if someone asks them what a particular rule of the road is -- they've got a lifetime of driving experience -- but when they face that vision machine, they get worried -- because they know that their eyes are older and they can't see as well as they used to be able to and if they can't pass the vision test, they will lose their right to drive
-- vision problems are, indeed, something to be concerned about -- but our concern shouldn't just be about our physical vision problems -- but also our spiritual vision
-- I have been pondering the meaning of God's command to "seek His face" in 2 Chronicles 7:14 over the last several weeks -- and, you know, I never really understood it -- it seems like that phrase "Seeking My Face" is nothing more than a general term for all that we do in the church
-- I mean, when I read that verse, doesn't that one command, "Seek My Face," seem a little redundant? -- isn't that what we're already doing? -- God tells us in this verse that if we want revival -- if we want healing and restoration -- then we are to humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways -- wouldn't those three things really just mean that we are seeking His face?
-- but God must mean something more here -- He must mean something different -- just like His call to us to humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways meant that we had to change something that we had been doing to get right with Him -- seeking His face must also mean that we have to change something that we have been doing -- the question is "what?"
-- and here's where I think the spiritual vision part comes in -- just like with our physical vision, as we get older, our spiritual vision starts to degenerate -- it starts to get a little worse -- we just can't see as clearly as we once did because we have let years and years of life and experience and religion cloud our vision
-- remember when you were first saved? -- you didn't care so much about denominations -- you didn't care so much about conservative vs. liberal theology -- you didn't care so much about what type of music we sang or what version of the Bible we used or anything else that is so important now -- all you cared about was Jesus -- He was the most important thing -- He was your all in all -- He was all that you saw
-- but, over the years, we let religion and life and experience cloud the way we see Jesus -- instead of seeing the real Jesus clearly like we used to, we have revisioned Jesus in our own fashion -- liberal churches see Jesus as liberal -- conservative churches see Jesus as conservative -- contemporary worshipers see Jesus as breaking the mold -- traditional worshipers see the traditional Jesus that was in our Sunday School pictures -- everybody in the church sees Jesus in a different way -- we all claim the name of Jesus -- we all speak the name of Jesus -- but, when we do, we're all talking about somebody different -- somebody that only we see because He has been filtered through our clouded vision
-- but God doesn't want us to see Him through our filters -- God doesn't want us to see Him as we have made Him out to be -- God wants us to see Him as He is -- and, so, when God tells us to seek His face, He is commanding us to clear our vision -- to remove the layers of film left by years of religion and experience and life and to see Him as He truly is -- to see His real face -- to see the real God
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 17:1-8)
-- in this passage in Matthew 17, we read of an experience that three of Jesus' disciples had when they saw Jesus as He truly was for the first time in their lives
-- don't fall into the trap of thinking that when the disciples first saw Jesus -- that when Jesus first called them to follow Him -- that they looked up and saw a blinding light and a halo around Jesus and they immediately knew He was God and they jumped to their feet and followed Him
-- Isaiah 53:2 says that Jesus had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. -- in other words, when Jesus' disciples looked at Him, they didn't see God in physical form -- they just saw a man like themselves -- someone that they lived with and followed and listened to because He had insights into God's teachings that were new and had life
-- it wasn't until later that they began to realize that there was more to Jesus than just another gifted rabbi -- it wasn't until later that they began to see Jesus for who He was
-- the only time Jesus let them see Him as He truly was was during the transfiguration that Matthew tells us about here in this passage -- let's look back at this again and think about it in terms of seeking God's face
-- look back at verse 1 in this passage
1. After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
-- Jesus had 12 disciples, but He only took three of them with Him to this mountain -- there's a lesson there for us -- we can all be in the presence of Jesus, but only those who come to Him with eyes wide open -- only those who come to Him without preconceived notions -- will see Jesus as He truly is
-- the call to seek God's face is to go with Jesus to the mountain -- to put aside the filter and the cloud of life and religion and experience -- and to see Him in His glory
-- verse 2
2. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
-- Matthew tells us here that Jesus was "transfigured" -- the Greek word that is translated here literally means "metamorphosis" -- a change in form -- while we read that Jesus' face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light, there's obviously a lot more going on here than Jesus just changing His clothes
-- what happened on this mountain was that Jesus was transformed -- He took on another form -- He changed from being just a man to appearing in His glorified form -- Peter, James, and John witnessed this man that they knew becoming something else -- for the first time in their lives, they saw Him as He truly was
-- at that moment, all that they thought they knew about Jesus was stripped bare -- no longer was this just the Galilean carpenter and rabbi that they knew -- no longer was this just a fellow first century Jew -- no longer was this just the man who shared their fire
-- everything about Him was changed -- His clothes -- His features -- His appearance -- His very being -- they no longer looked at Jesus the man -- they looked at Jesus the God
-- their vision had been cleared and they would never look at Him the same way again
-- verse 3
3. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
-- Matthew tells us that Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountain and that Peter, James, and John saw them standing there talking with Him -- the question is, "Why?" -- Isn't the real issue the fact that Jesus was now standing before them in His transfigured, glorified form -- who cares about Moses and Elijah?
-- they're there for a reason -- Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the prophets
-- for Peter, James, and John, their former vision of God was based on these two things -- their idea of who God was and what God was supposed to do and how God was supposed to act was based on the law of Moses and the revelations revealed to God's prophets
-- over the years, the true image of God revealed in the law and the prophets had gotten blurred as life and experience and religion changed who the people saw -- why do you think the Pharisees missed seeing Jesus as Messiah when He was on earth?
-- because the Jesus they saw was not the Messiah they were looking for -- they had made up in their minds who the Messiah was and how He would look and what He would do, and when Jesus showed up, He didn't fit their image -- He wasn't who the Pharisees were looking for, and so they rejected Him
-- the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration is to demonstrate to the disciples that who they are seeing now -- this Jesus who is standing before them glorified as King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- is the real Messiah -- the real Jesus -- the real God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
-- verse 5
5. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
6. When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
-- as if to punctuate the lesson here for the disciples, God the Father descends upon the mountain, enveloping it in a cloud like familiar passages in the Old Testament, as He pronounces to the three terrified disciples -- "This is My Son"
-- in other words, the Father was making sure Peter, James, and John got the message -- this Jesus who was standing before them was the real Jesus -- the true Jesus -- the Jesus stripped of all worldly affectations
-- this was the Jesus that they were supposed to follow -- this was the Jesus they were supposed to preach -- this was the Jesus that they were supposed to worship
-- this was Jesus, not the man they thought they knew -- not the image of the Messiah they had been taught to look for -- this was the real deal -- and this was who they were to see when they looked on the face of Jesus from now on
-- verse 7
7. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."
8. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
-- for us, this morning, the heart of this passage comes at the end of verse 8 -- "they saw no one except Jesus"
-- all the layers of life and religion and experience that had clouded their vision had been removed -- their eyesight had been restored -- and they saw no one and nothing other than the real Jesus
-- this is the heart of the commandment that God gives us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 when He tells us to seek His face -- we are to see nothing but Jesus -- we are to look past the things that blur our vision -- the trappings of our man-made religion -- the experiences of life that have jaded us to the truth of God in our midst -- the cynicism and doubt that comes with age -- we are to clear our vision and see nothing but Jesus
-- that is what God means when He tell us to "Seek His Face"
III. Closing
-- since 1541, from the moment he completed his painting, "The Last Judgment," the name Michelangelo has been synonymous with The Sistine Chapel
-- for the past 450 years, travelers from around the world have gone to Rome and visited the Vatican just to see this remarkable painting by Michelangelo on the ceiling of this chapel just north of St. Peter's Basilica
-- but until recently, no one really knew what a masterpiece it was -- you see, in the intervening 450 years, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel has been coated with the grime of life -- wax and soot from candles burned over the years -- crystalline accretions of salt that had leaked through the roof and outer walls -- dust and dirt -- oils and animal fats and old cleaning solutions from years gone by -- all of this obscured from vision the true picture that Michelangelo had painted
-- you could see it -- you could make it out -- but it wasn't as clear or as vivid or as sharp as when Michelangelo first painted it
-- beginning in 1980, the Vatican took steps to restore the painting to its former glory -- using modern, professional techniques, experts took decades to painstakingly restore and renew the original painting -- in the process, they revealed colors and details -- angels and other spiritual beings -- that had been covered for years by grime
-- now, for the first time in 450 years, visitors to the Sistine Chapel can truly see what Michelangelo painted
-- when God commands us to "seek His face," He is commanding us to undergo a spiritual restoration in our hearts and in our vision -- He wants us to remove the grime of religion -- the soot of life -- the crud of experience -- so that we can see Him as He truly is
-- we do this through His word -- we do this through His Spirit -- we do this by spending time with Him alone
-- just as Jesus had to carry His disciples up on the mountain, away from the crowds, in order for them to see Him in His glory, we need to remove ourselves from the trappings of this world and spend time with God if we are see Him as He truly is
-- a god of our making will never bring revival -- a god of our making cannot heal or forgive or restore -- it is only when we seek out the true God of the Bible that we will see healing and restoration and revival in our land and in our homes and in our churches
-- as we close today, I want to encourage you to commit yourself to spending some time alone with God this week -- just you and His word and no one else -- no commentaries where others tell you what they think it means -- no religious texts that explain the passages in light of denominational understandings -- just you and God, alone on the mountain -- with open eyes and an open heart and a willingness to put aside your preconceived notions of who God is so that you can experience the real God in your life
-- let's pray
Saturday, May 01, 2010
SERMON: STEPPING DOWN FROM THE PEDESTAL
18 April 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Chronicles 7
11. When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace,
12. the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
14. if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
-- this morning we are going to be continuing in the series that we started last week which we began by asking the question, "Yes, but how?"
-- "Yes, we want all that God has to offer" -- "Yes, we want to become the people who God uses" -- "Yes, we want more of God in our lives"
-- all of us are painfully aware that we need a revival in our land and in our homes and in our churches like never before
-- just this week, we saw a federal judge rule that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional -- the message that is being broadcast from the halls of Congress to the White House to the courts of justice is that we should look to the Government for answers and for life rather than the God of our forefathers
-- every decision -- every new Government program -- every new restriction on our religious freedom is making us more and more dependent on man and encouraging us to trust in the Government instead of the God who created us -- the answer is obvious -- now, more than ever, we need God again
-- in this familiar passage in 2 Chronicles, King Solomon has just completed building the temple in Jerusalem -- his father, David, had originally desired to build a home for God in Jerusalem, but God had refused because David had been a man of war -- instead, God chose to gift Solomon and to build the temple through him
-- and after years of toil and labor, the temple has finally been finished and consecrated as a holy place in Jerusalem -- as the place where the people of Israel could meet God and offer their sacrifices and themselves in service to Him -- as the place that declared to the world that this nation followed God and no one else
-- that very night, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a vision and gave him this promise that stands for all of God's people -- God told him that there would be times when disasters would come on the people -- that there would be times of trouble and trial -- of plague and pestilence -- that would come because the people had turned away from Him
-- "but," God said, "the people may have left Me, but I have not left them -- the people may have turned from Me, but I have not turned from them
-- and when all of this happens -- when the trials and troubles become too much to bear -- when My people -- the people who are called by My name -- are ready to return to me -- if they will do these four things -- if they will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land
-- so, if our desire is to see our nation healed -- if our desire is to see America restored -- if our desire is to see God glorify Himself and His people in this country once again -- if our answer is "Yes" -- then these four things are the "how" -- these four things are the path to revival -- the path to restoring life -- the path back to God
-- regardless of what the courts say, the National Day of Prayer is still scheduled for the first Thursday in May -- May 6 -- the Government can do a lot of things, but they can't stop prayer -- and they can't stop God -- and they can't stop us from doing what God has called us to do
and, so, for the next three Sundays leading up to May 6th, we are going to prepare ourselves to return to God -- I am going to lead you in three sermons through these steps to revival so that on this National Day of Prayer we might fulfill the fourth requirement as we join with the rest of God's people in this land -- in defiance of the court decision but in obedience to the God who created us -- and cry out in prayer for His hand to move and to hear our prayers, to forgive our sins, and to heal our land
-- but, first, we have to prepare ourselves -- so let's begin this morning by seeing what it means to humble ourselves before our God -- if you would, turn over to Philippians 2 and let's start our study there
II. Humbleness
-- as you're turning there, let me ask you a question -- what does it mean to be humble? -- what does a humble person look like?
-- the dictionary defines humbleness as not proud or arrogant -- as being submissive or lower ranking than another person -- and both of those definitions are right on the mark -- those are exactly the attributes that God wants us to seek in our lives
-- look at verse 5 in this passage in Philippians 2
5. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
-- your attitude -- your mind -- should be the same as Christ Jesus
-- humbleness starts in our minds -- it starts with our attitude -- it starts with a choice on our part -- if we are to be humble people -- if are to humble ourselves before God as He tells us to do in 2 Chronicles 7:14, then we have to choose to do so -- we have to choose to humble ourselves so that God might be exalted
-- but, this goes against our very nature -- our natural tendency is not to be humble, but instead to be filled with pride -- in fact, we are encouraged to be prideful from the moment we're born -- we're told to take pride in our accomplishments -- to be proud of our work -- proud of our heritage -- proud of our country -- proud of everything that we do -- and for those kids who don't quite get it, we even have self-esteem classes so that they can learn how to become prideful in their own lives
-- to be proud means that we exalt ourselves and our accomplishments and our lives -- to be proud means that we put ourselves on the throne of our lives -- to be proud means that we can make it on our own without anyone else's help
-- did you know that the very first sins recorded in the Bible were pride?
-- in Isaiah 14, we read how pride was Satan's downfall -- Satan started out as Lucifer, God's anointed cherub -- ordained with every precious stone -- beautiful in all his ways
-- but in his heart, he was prideful -- he desired more than he had -- and he said, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
-- Lucifer's pride led him to try to become higher than God -- to take God's place -- and so God cast him down from heaven and he became Satan
-- and, then, in the Garden of Eden, it was Adam and Eve's pride that made them take the forbidden fruit and disobey God -- just like Lucifer, they desired to become like God -- to know what God knew -- to be equal to Him -- and they took the fruit and ate it and brought sin into the world
-- it has been said that pride is the root of all other sins because pride makes us want to be God in our own lives -- that's why we read in the Bible that God hates pride so much -- in Proverbs 8:13, we read, "I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech" and in James 4:6, we read that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble
-- God's desire is for us to be humble -- to have the attitude and mind of Christ and to choose to humble ourselves so that God might be exalted
-- verse 6
6. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7. but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
-- if any one person had a right to be prideful, then it was Jesus -- we can never forget that Jesus was not just a man, but He was God incarnate -- God in the flesh -- if any person had a right to exalt Himself on earth, then Jesus was the one -- but He didn't
-- these verses tell us that Jesus made Himself nothing -- in other words, the God of all the universe -- endowed with all glory and majesty and honor -- put all that aside and humbled Himself and came to earth for us
-- even though He was God, Paul writes, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped -- He willingly stepped down and took on the role of a servant and became one of us
-- when Jesus walked among us, He showed us what it meant to live a humble life -- born in a manger to a poor Jewish carpenter's family -- He never had any position of honor in life -- He didn't have fame or fortune -- in Luke 9:58, Jesus said, ""Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." -- the God who created all things didn't even have a home
-- He lived as one of us -- He ate and slept as one of us -- He lived life as one of us so that we might learn what it meant to humble ourselves before God and submit to Him in all our ways
-- from Jesus, we learn that to be humble is not to pretend that we have no gifts or talents -- from Jesus, we learn that to be humble is not to pretend that we are nothing or that we have nothing -- from Jesus, we learn that to be humble is not to walk through this life saying, "Woe is me"
-- no, to be humble means that we are making a choice -- we are choosing to step down from the throne of our life -- we are choosing to not be in charge but to let God be in charge -- and we are choosing to use the gifts and talents that He gave us for His glory and not our own
-- verse 8
8. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
-- in this verse we read of the ultimate act of submission -- Paul tells us that Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient to God and willingly went to the cross
-- Jesus did not do what He wanted to do -- in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was clear that Jesus did not want to go to the cross -- who would? -- what man would willingly go and suffer such a painful, excruciating punishment as that and die for something that they had not done? -- you can see in His prayers and in His actions that night that Jesus did not want to go to the cross, but yet He prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done" -- and He humbled Himself and accepted God's will for His life and His death and went to the cross and died for us
-- to be humble means that you put aside your own wants and wishes -- your own goals and plans -- and you submit your will to God's -- you step off the throne and put God on the throne -- and you do what He wants you to do and not what you want to do
-- to be humble means that we are letting God be God in our lives -- "humility is an honest and objective reflection of our real relationship to God" -- by choosing to live as Christ and to humble ourselves before God, we are demonstrating the truth of the fact that we are dependent on God -- our life -- our being -- our very existence depends on Him
-- as someone once said, "All that we have comes from God -- our lives, our salvation, our hope, our Christ. God has given all; nothing is our own. God gives; God will take away; God will give again."
-- when we recognize that we are not and cannot be in control of our own lives and we live in that understanding, then we are finally submitting ourselves to God and paving the way for Him to work in our lives -- that is why humbleness is the first step towards revival
III. Closing
-- The story is told of two ducks and a frog who lived happily together in a farm pond -- these three animals were the best of friends -- they would spend the whole day playing together in their waterhole -- but, when summer rolled around, the pond started to dry up -- and as it got smaller and smaller, it soon became apparent that the three friends would have to move.
-- This was no problem for the ducks, who could easily fly to another pond -- But the frog was stuck -- he had no way to leave this drying waterhole and go to another place to live -- so they thought and thought and finally, the frog came up with a brilliant idea -- he told the ducks to find a stick and put one end in each of their mouths so the frog could hang on to the middle with his mouth as they flew to another pond -- they tried it and the plan worked well--so well, in fact, that as they were flying along a farmer looked up in admiration and saw the frog suspended on the stick between the two ducks and said in amazement, "Well, isn't that a clever idea! I wonder who thought of it?" -- The frog said, "I did..." -- and that was then end of that
-- that's the way of pride -- the Bible tells us that pride goes before the fall -- and as soon as you open your mouth and exalt yourself, you find yourself falling flat on your face before God and everyone else
-- pride is insidious -- it is so hard to get rid of -- as Mac Davis put it, "Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way" -- but, if we are going to follow God -- if we are going to live for Him -- if we are going to see revival in our lives and in our homes and in our country, then we are going to have to put our pride aside and submit ourselves in humility to God
-- humbleness is the essence of Christianity -- it is following the example of Christ -- it is letting God be God and recognizing that we are not in control and He is
-- as I close this message and leave you with the first answer to the question, "Yes, but how?" may we join together to pray in the words of Thomas Merton -- "Give me humility, in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride, which is the heaviest of burdens."
-- for, as James tells us in James 4:10, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
-- let us pray
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Chronicles 7
11. When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace,
12. the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
14. if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
-- this morning we are going to be continuing in the series that we started last week which we began by asking the question, "Yes, but how?"
-- "Yes, we want all that God has to offer" -- "Yes, we want to become the people who God uses" -- "Yes, we want more of God in our lives"
-- all of us are painfully aware that we need a revival in our land and in our homes and in our churches like never before
-- just this week, we saw a federal judge rule that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional -- the message that is being broadcast from the halls of Congress to the White House to the courts of justice is that we should look to the Government for answers and for life rather than the God of our forefathers
-- every decision -- every new Government program -- every new restriction on our religious freedom is making us more and more dependent on man and encouraging us to trust in the Government instead of the God who created us -- the answer is obvious -- now, more than ever, we need God again
-- in this familiar passage in 2 Chronicles, King Solomon has just completed building the temple in Jerusalem -- his father, David, had originally desired to build a home for God in Jerusalem, but God had refused because David had been a man of war -- instead, God chose to gift Solomon and to build the temple through him
-- and after years of toil and labor, the temple has finally been finished and consecrated as a holy place in Jerusalem -- as the place where the people of Israel could meet God and offer their sacrifices and themselves in service to Him -- as the place that declared to the world that this nation followed God and no one else
-- that very night, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a vision and gave him this promise that stands for all of God's people -- God told him that there would be times when disasters would come on the people -- that there would be times of trouble and trial -- of plague and pestilence -- that would come because the people had turned away from Him
-- "but," God said, "the people may have left Me, but I have not left them -- the people may have turned from Me, but I have not turned from them
-- and when all of this happens -- when the trials and troubles become too much to bear -- when My people -- the people who are called by My name -- are ready to return to me -- if they will do these four things -- if they will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land
-- so, if our desire is to see our nation healed -- if our desire is to see America restored -- if our desire is to see God glorify Himself and His people in this country once again -- if our answer is "Yes" -- then these four things are the "how" -- these four things are the path to revival -- the path to restoring life -- the path back to God
-- regardless of what the courts say, the National Day of Prayer is still scheduled for the first Thursday in May -- May 6 -- the Government can do a lot of things, but they can't stop prayer -- and they can't stop God -- and they can't stop us from doing what God has called us to do
and, so, for the next three Sundays leading up to May 6th, we are going to prepare ourselves to return to God -- I am going to lead you in three sermons through these steps to revival so that on this National Day of Prayer we might fulfill the fourth requirement as we join with the rest of God's people in this land -- in defiance of the court decision but in obedience to the God who created us -- and cry out in prayer for His hand to move and to hear our prayers, to forgive our sins, and to heal our land
-- but, first, we have to prepare ourselves -- so let's begin this morning by seeing what it means to humble ourselves before our God -- if you would, turn over to Philippians 2 and let's start our study there
II. Humbleness
-- as you're turning there, let me ask you a question -- what does it mean to be humble? -- what does a humble person look like?
-- the dictionary defines humbleness as not proud or arrogant -- as being submissive or lower ranking than another person -- and both of those definitions are right on the mark -- those are exactly the attributes that God wants us to seek in our lives
-- look at verse 5 in this passage in Philippians 2
5. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
-- your attitude -- your mind -- should be the same as Christ Jesus
-- humbleness starts in our minds -- it starts with our attitude -- it starts with a choice on our part -- if we are to be humble people -- if are to humble ourselves before God as He tells us to do in 2 Chronicles 7:14, then we have to choose to do so -- we have to choose to humble ourselves so that God might be exalted
-- but, this goes against our very nature -- our natural tendency is not to be humble, but instead to be filled with pride -- in fact, we are encouraged to be prideful from the moment we're born -- we're told to take pride in our accomplishments -- to be proud of our work -- proud of our heritage -- proud of our country -- proud of everything that we do -- and for those kids who don't quite get it, we even have self-esteem classes so that they can learn how to become prideful in their own lives
-- to be proud means that we exalt ourselves and our accomplishments and our lives -- to be proud means that we put ourselves on the throne of our lives -- to be proud means that we can make it on our own without anyone else's help
-- did you know that the very first sins recorded in the Bible were pride?
-- in Isaiah 14, we read how pride was Satan's downfall -- Satan started out as Lucifer, God's anointed cherub -- ordained with every precious stone -- beautiful in all his ways
-- but in his heart, he was prideful -- he desired more than he had -- and he said, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
-- Lucifer's pride led him to try to become higher than God -- to take God's place -- and so God cast him down from heaven and he became Satan
-- and, then, in the Garden of Eden, it was Adam and Eve's pride that made them take the forbidden fruit and disobey God -- just like Lucifer, they desired to become like God -- to know what God knew -- to be equal to Him -- and they took the fruit and ate it and brought sin into the world
-- it has been said that pride is the root of all other sins because pride makes us want to be God in our own lives -- that's why we read in the Bible that God hates pride so much -- in Proverbs 8:13, we read, "I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech" and in James 4:6, we read that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble
-- God's desire is for us to be humble -- to have the attitude and mind of Christ and to choose to humble ourselves so that God might be exalted
-- verse 6
6. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7. but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
-- if any one person had a right to be prideful, then it was Jesus -- we can never forget that Jesus was not just a man, but He was God incarnate -- God in the flesh -- if any person had a right to exalt Himself on earth, then Jesus was the one -- but He didn't
-- these verses tell us that Jesus made Himself nothing -- in other words, the God of all the universe -- endowed with all glory and majesty and honor -- put all that aside and humbled Himself and came to earth for us
-- even though He was God, Paul writes, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped -- He willingly stepped down and took on the role of a servant and became one of us
-- when Jesus walked among us, He showed us what it meant to live a humble life -- born in a manger to a poor Jewish carpenter's family -- He never had any position of honor in life -- He didn't have fame or fortune -- in Luke 9:58, Jesus said, ""Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." -- the God who created all things didn't even have a home
-- He lived as one of us -- He ate and slept as one of us -- He lived life as one of us so that we might learn what it meant to humble ourselves before God and submit to Him in all our ways
-- from Jesus, we learn that to be humble is not to pretend that we have no gifts or talents -- from Jesus, we learn that to be humble is not to pretend that we are nothing or that we have nothing -- from Jesus, we learn that to be humble is not to walk through this life saying, "Woe is me"
-- no, to be humble means that we are making a choice -- we are choosing to step down from the throne of our life -- we are choosing to not be in charge but to let God be in charge -- and we are choosing to use the gifts and talents that He gave us for His glory and not our own
-- verse 8
8. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
-- in this verse we read of the ultimate act of submission -- Paul tells us that Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient to God and willingly went to the cross
-- Jesus did not do what He wanted to do -- in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was clear that Jesus did not want to go to the cross -- who would? -- what man would willingly go and suffer such a painful, excruciating punishment as that and die for something that they had not done? -- you can see in His prayers and in His actions that night that Jesus did not want to go to the cross, but yet He prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done" -- and He humbled Himself and accepted God's will for His life and His death and went to the cross and died for us
-- to be humble means that you put aside your own wants and wishes -- your own goals and plans -- and you submit your will to God's -- you step off the throne and put God on the throne -- and you do what He wants you to do and not what you want to do
-- to be humble means that we are letting God be God in our lives -- "humility is an honest and objective reflection of our real relationship to God" -- by choosing to live as Christ and to humble ourselves before God, we are demonstrating the truth of the fact that we are dependent on God -- our life -- our being -- our very existence depends on Him
-- as someone once said, "All that we have comes from God -- our lives, our salvation, our hope, our Christ. God has given all; nothing is our own. God gives; God will take away; God will give again."
-- when we recognize that we are not and cannot be in control of our own lives and we live in that understanding, then we are finally submitting ourselves to God and paving the way for Him to work in our lives -- that is why humbleness is the first step towards revival
III. Closing
-- The story is told of two ducks and a frog who lived happily together in a farm pond -- these three animals were the best of friends -- they would spend the whole day playing together in their waterhole -- but, when summer rolled around, the pond started to dry up -- and as it got smaller and smaller, it soon became apparent that the three friends would have to move.
-- This was no problem for the ducks, who could easily fly to another pond -- But the frog was stuck -- he had no way to leave this drying waterhole and go to another place to live -- so they thought and thought and finally, the frog came up with a brilliant idea -- he told the ducks to find a stick and put one end in each of their mouths so the frog could hang on to the middle with his mouth as they flew to another pond -- they tried it and the plan worked well--so well, in fact, that as they were flying along a farmer looked up in admiration and saw the frog suspended on the stick between the two ducks and said in amazement, "Well, isn't that a clever idea! I wonder who thought of it?" -- The frog said, "I did..." -- and that was then end of that
-- that's the way of pride -- the Bible tells us that pride goes before the fall -- and as soon as you open your mouth and exalt yourself, you find yourself falling flat on your face before God and everyone else
-- pride is insidious -- it is so hard to get rid of -- as Mac Davis put it, "Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way" -- but, if we are going to follow God -- if we are going to live for Him -- if we are going to see revival in our lives and in our homes and in our country, then we are going to have to put our pride aside and submit ourselves in humility to God
-- humbleness is the essence of Christianity -- it is following the example of Christ -- it is letting God be God and recognizing that we are not in control and He is
-- as I close this message and leave you with the first answer to the question, "Yes, but how?" may we join together to pray in the words of Thomas Merton -- "Give me humility, in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride, which is the heaviest of burdens."
-- for, as James tells us in James 4:10, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
-- let us pray
SERMON: WHAT A DIFFERENCE
11 April 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Acts 4:23-31
23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "`Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. '
27. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
-- what a difference a week makes! -- just last week, our stores and homes and churches were filled with the signs of Easter -- bright spring colors -- big Easter bunnies -- chocolate candies -- dyed eggs -- colorful new dresses
-- families and churches came together to hunt Easter eggs and to share time together -- we got up early to watch the sun rise and to worship God -- and many of us enjoyed the various Passion Plays that were presented throughout our communities
-- our churches were actually filled as members and friends who rarely darken our doors lined the pews to spend Easter with their family in the house of God to remember and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
-- you know, out of all the doctrines of the church -- out of all the foundational beliefs that we have as the people of God -- none are more important than the resurrection of Christ -- in fact, in 1 Corinthians 15:14, the Apostle Paul wrote that "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." -- in other words, the resurrection is so important that our very faith and belief system rises and falls with the truth that Jesus died and was raised from the dead on the third day
-- if Jesus did not rise from the dead, Paul writes, then we are wasting our time -- but, we know that Jesus did rise from the dead -- the Bible tells us so -- the eyewitnesses of the resurrection tell us so -- even other writers hostile to Christianity in the first century make note of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead -- and the Holy Spirit confirms it in our own hearts
-- so, what does that mean to us? -- it means that it's still Easter! -- last Sunday -- Easter Sunday -- was only the beginning of the season, not its climax -- it was only the beginning of a new way of life, not a one-day holiday
-- because Christ rose from the dead, we have hope of eternal life -- because Christ rose from the dead, we have been empowered with the Holy Spirit -- because Christ rose from the dead, we have been sent forth as His ambassadors to share the good news of salvation and power over sin and death to everyone we meet
-- we should be standing on the street corners shouting the good news to everyone -- our churches should be filled with jubilant worshipers -- our homes and our lives should be demonstrating the power of the risen Christ -- we should be seeing lives changed and hearts transformed and people growing more like Jesus everyday
-- that is what Easter Sunday was all about -- that is what Jesus' life and death and resurrection were all about -- but, oh, what a difference a week makes!
-- already, the Easter decorations have been taken down -- the eggs eaten -- the chocolate candies a fond memory -- the stores have moved on to the next holiday -- and the people who were here last week have moved on -- today is traditionally the Sunday with the lowest church attendance all year long -- it's like Easter never happened
II. The Resurrection Life
-- which begs the question -- if Jesus did rise from the dead, then why aren't we seeing Easter year-round? -- if Jesus did rise from the dead, then why aren't we seeing a difference in our homes and in our families and in our churches? -- if Jesus did rise from the dead, then why aren't we seeing a change?
-- certainly, Jesus' resurrection made a change in the early Christians -- it certainly had an impact on the disciples -- it was their experience with the risen Christ that led the disciples from being fearful followers of a dead rabbi into being sold-out believers who turned the world -- the religious -- the cultural -- and the political world -- upside down through their teaching
-- it was the resurrection of Christ that grew the church from a handful of followers on Good Friday into over 3000 saved souls on Pentecost -- it was the resurrection of Christ that gave Peter and John and James the boldness to stand up to the crowds and to the religious leaders and to proclaim forgiveness of sins through Jesus -- and it was the resurrection of Christ that gave feet to the Apostle Paul, leading him to carry the message of Christ to the far-flung reaches of the Roman empire
-- this same resurrection that we celebrated last Sunday should be empowering us and leading us onward to do great things for God, too -- as Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:4-6 -- "There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism -- one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
-- if we have the same body and Spirit as the early church -- if we have the same hope as the early church -- the same Lord -- the same faith -- the same baptism -- the same God and Father -- and have been touched by the same resurrection as the early church, then we should be living lives that are sold-out for Christ -- we should be making a difference in this world, just like them -- and we should be seeing the same fruit in our homes and our lives and our churches as they did
-- this call of Christ is not just for those people back then -- it's for all of us here and now -- in the places and among the people that we live and work with every day -- it's a mission of making sure the poor get good news -- of releasing captives and welcoming them back into our communities of faith -- it's a mission of healing and restoring the sick, the lame, and the blind -- of rebuilding the broken and making it better -- of witnessing to and joining the work of God's kingdom whenever and wherever it may be found -- and of declaring God's saving love and power that brings us eternal life through Christ -- both with our words and with our actions
-- that is what we should be experiencing -- that is how we should be living -- that is what Easter is all about
-- I read a story one time about a man who borrowed a book from a friend -- as he read through it, he found a bunch of places that his friend had underlined -- that had obviously spoken to him as he read -- and out in the margin next to each of those underlined passages were the letters "YBH"
-- when he returned the book to his friend, he asked him about those letters -- What does "YBH" stand for? -- his friend replied, "Yes, but how"
-- this Sunday, those three letters should be written on our hearts and our souls -- "Yes, we should be living life as the early church -- yes, we should be going forth and ministering in Christ's name -- yes, we should be living sold-out for Christ and should be seeing fruit in our homes and in our churches -- yes, we should be doing all that the early church did -- yes, but how?"
-- Easter was about the "Yes" -- Easter was about experiencing the risen Christ -- Easter was about recognizing and receiving the call of Jesus to go forth in His power to minister to others in His name
-- for the next several weeks, I want us to talk about the "How" -- how did a ragtag group of believers in the first century with no visible power -- no prestige -- no influence -- no religious or political standing -- how did they turn this world upside-down for Jesus? -- and how can we do the same? -- how can we see revival in our homes and in our lives and in our churches? -- how can we start living up to the call that Jesus has given us?
-- I think the best way to begin to answer those questions is to start at the beginning -- to see how the early church fulfilled the call of Christ so that we might share in their experiences, as well
III. Scripture Lesson (Acts 4:23-31)
-- so, let's look again at this passage from the Book of Acts -- and before we dig back into these scriptures looking for the "How," let me give you the context to let you know where we are at in the story
-- this passage occurs on the heels of the resurrection -- as you know, Jesus stayed with the disciples for 40 days following that first Easter -- teaching them and discipling them and preparing them to take over His ministry -- and 10 days after His ascension, we read of the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers and to infuse them with His sanctifying power
-- this passage occurs after Pentecost -- after the church has begun to grow -- Peter and John have been preaching and teaching throughout Jerusalem -- and after healing a crippled beggar at the Gate Beautiful leading into the Temple -- they were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin and warned to stop preaching in the name of Jesus -- this passage opens up immediately after they were released by the Sanhedrin and gives us one very clear picture of the "How" that we are looking for
-- so, if you would, look back with me at Acts 4, starting at verse 23
23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.
-- the early church has just received its first experience with persecution -- ever since the crucifixion and the resurrection and Pentecost, the disciples had been left alone -- no where do we read that they were persecuted or harassed at any turn
-- but now, as the power of God is being made manifest within the walls of the Temple -- as the ministry of Jesus continues to threaten the established order of things -- we see the start of persecution
-- the issue that really faced the early church was how to respond to this persecution -- this was the first real test of the early church
-- Luke tells us here that when Peter and John were released from jail, they went back to their own people -- in other words, Peter and John went to church -- this speaks to the purpose of the church -- we exist, not merely to gather together on Sunday to worship God -- we exist to encourage and strengthen one another in our trials and in our failings and in our triumphs
-- Peter and John had just been arrested by the same people that had killed Jesus less than two months before -- certainly, they should have been in fear for their lives -- remember what happened the first time their lives were threatened -- the disciples all fled the Garden of Gethsemane and left Jesus there -- Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus
-- but, this time, rather than shrinking away in fear, they went to their own people -- they went to the church -- to encourage and to be encouraged -- to strengthen and to be strengthened
-- the first thing to do, then, when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to turn to the church -- but, in order to do so, we have to first be the church
-- Luke tells us that after Peter and John reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them, that the church raised their voices together in prayer to God
-- the second thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to turn to God through corporate prayer
-- notice that it says that they lifted up their voices "together" -- they were in one accord -- they were in unity with each other -- and this is key
-- when we are faced with the issue of persecution -- when are faced with the issue of living out God's commands in our homes and in our churches -- then we must come together as one to pray for God's guidance
-- but, honestly, our churches are rarely like that, are they? -- the one complaint I hear more from unchurched and dechurched people is that the church is divided -- that factions in the church argue with one another -- and that is true -- church can be a very divisive place if people rely on their own wisdom and understanding -- if people put their own agendas and goals ahead of God's
-- the issue is not what I want or what you want or what any group in the church wants -- the issue is what God wants -- and the message here is that the church should come together -- in one accord -- to seek God's will and direction and purpose for everything that goes on in the name of Christ
-- if we could just learn this one lesson, then we would really start seeing God's power made manifest in our churches
-- let's look at their prayer -- look back at the second part of verse 24
24b "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "`Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. '
27. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
-- it should be noted here is that the Greek word that we see translated here as "Lord" or "Sovereign Lord" in this passage is not the usual one that we see translated as "Lord" throughout the New Testament
-- usually, we see the Greek word "kyrios" translated as Lord -- this is more a title -- it signifies majesty or deity -- it was used by the early church to affirm that Jesus was the Messiah -- that Jesus was God
-- but, the Greek word that we see here is used to denote one who rules over others -- it was applied to the highest magistrate or officer -- it denotes authority, power, absoluteness in ruling -- it stood for authority or absolute rule
-- what this tells us is that when the early church first experienced persecution, they appealed to God -- not on the basis of His deity -- but on the basis of His absolute rule -- of His sovereignty
-- in other words, the church humbled themselves before God -- they recognized His authority, not only over them, but over everyone and everything -- on other words, in this prayer they were recognizing that God was in total and complete control of the situation they were in as they faced persecution from the Romans and from the Jewish leaders
-- there's a song on the radio right now that says, "I am a friend of Christ" -- and that is true, but that is not the relationship that the church in this passage is considering -- they are bowing to the authority and sovereignty of God -- they are recognizing that He is in charge of everything -- He is in charge of the Romans -- He is in charge of the Sanhedrin -- He is in charge of the church, and so they come to Him in humbleness, seeking His face and His will for them as their absolute and divine ruler
-- the third thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to recognize and submit to God's authority
-- the fourth thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to stand on the promises of God
-- how many times do we stand and sing that song, "Standing on the Promises," but fail to do that which we have just proclaimed?
-- in this prayer, the church looked back to the prophecy that God had given King David in Psalm 2 -- God had told them that opposition would come -- that the nations would rage against Him -- that the people would speak against the Messiah -- that the kings and rulers would take their stand against Jesus"
-- God knew that this would happen -- He knew what they were going through -- and He said He would take care of it -- this Psalm that the church quoted in their prayer goes on to say, "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them -- He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath"
-- so, in other words, the church prayed the promise of God -- they asked Him to fulfill His words and His promise through them -- they were affirming their trust in God's ability to see them through the storm
-- there are so many promises in Scripture that we are failing to see come to pass in our lives and in our churches -- not because they are not true -- but because we doubt their truth and we fail to stand on those promises as the fulfilled word of God -- if we are going to be the church who lives in the resurrection power of Christ, then we are going to have to stop just mouthing the words with our lips and start standing on the promises in reality
-- verse 29
29. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
-- the last thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to actually do the Lord's work in the world and fulfill His call with our lives and with our churches
-- notice how the church closes its prayer here -- they don't just ask for protection from evil, but they ask that God would be glorified through the evil and the persecution -- they pray for boldness to press on and to speak His word to others -- they ask that He would work through them to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders -- they prayed that God would do great things for the kingdom through them
-- you sense in this closing of the prayer an echo of Christ's words in the Garden of Gethsemane -- "Not my will, but thine be done" -- the church came together here to pray, not for themselves, but for God -- to pray that God's word and message would go forth -- that others would hear it and that lives would be changed and hearts and minds transformed through the power of the resurrected Christ
-- the empty tomb does not bid us to gather together on Sundays and to preach to the choir -- the empty tomb and the risen Christ bid us to go and make disciples -- to do God's work -- to minister in His name, even in the midst of trials and troubles -- even in the midst of persecution -- so that, through us and the power of Christ, others might live
-- verse 31
31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
-- prayers like this shake the world -- when the church was finished praying, God answered their prayer by showing them His power -- He shook the room where they were meeting to let them know that He was going to shake the world through them
-- their prayer was answered -- they were filled with the Holy Spirit -- and they were empowered to go forth and proclaim the word of God boldly, even in the face of persecution
IV. Closing
-- so, what does this mean for us? -- it means that God did not quit working when the Bible was written and the binding put on the book -- it means that God still changes hearts and transforms lives -- it means that God still wants to use His church to further His kingdom in this world
-- God wants us to be His hands and feet -- He wants to use us to be dynamic agents of change in our world -- but we can only do that if we allow Him to work in us and through us and if we actually get up and go out and do what He has told us to do
-- we began this message looking for the "how" -- in this passage, we saw five ways that the early church lived out the call of God in their lives:
-- first, we have to be the church and turn to the church for encouragement, enlightenment, and empowerment
-- second, we have to turn to God through corporate prayer, praying in one accord
-- third, we have to recognize and submit to God's authority
-- fourth, we have to stand on the promises of God
-- and, fifth, we have to actually do the Lord's work in the world and fulfill His call with our lives and with our churches
-- our goal when we meet together should be to take the promise of Easter and make it "yes" in our lives and our world -- these steps are the starting point to make that happen
-- so, as I close in prayer, I want to ask that you would prayerfully consider where we are today in this church -- are we the dynamic, powerful church that we see portrayed in Scripture -- are we living the "yes" of Easter?
-- if not, then let's come together in one accord and ask God to give us wisdom and direction as we seek to fulfill His call in our lives
-- let us pray
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Acts 4:23-31
23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "`Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. '
27. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
-- what a difference a week makes! -- just last week, our stores and homes and churches were filled with the signs of Easter -- bright spring colors -- big Easter bunnies -- chocolate candies -- dyed eggs -- colorful new dresses
-- families and churches came together to hunt Easter eggs and to share time together -- we got up early to watch the sun rise and to worship God -- and many of us enjoyed the various Passion Plays that were presented throughout our communities
-- our churches were actually filled as members and friends who rarely darken our doors lined the pews to spend Easter with their family in the house of God to remember and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
-- you know, out of all the doctrines of the church -- out of all the foundational beliefs that we have as the people of God -- none are more important than the resurrection of Christ -- in fact, in 1 Corinthians 15:14, the Apostle Paul wrote that "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." -- in other words, the resurrection is so important that our very faith and belief system rises and falls with the truth that Jesus died and was raised from the dead on the third day
-- if Jesus did not rise from the dead, Paul writes, then we are wasting our time -- but, we know that Jesus did rise from the dead -- the Bible tells us so -- the eyewitnesses of the resurrection tell us so -- even other writers hostile to Christianity in the first century make note of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead -- and the Holy Spirit confirms it in our own hearts
-- so, what does that mean to us? -- it means that it's still Easter! -- last Sunday -- Easter Sunday -- was only the beginning of the season, not its climax -- it was only the beginning of a new way of life, not a one-day holiday
-- because Christ rose from the dead, we have hope of eternal life -- because Christ rose from the dead, we have been empowered with the Holy Spirit -- because Christ rose from the dead, we have been sent forth as His ambassadors to share the good news of salvation and power over sin and death to everyone we meet
-- we should be standing on the street corners shouting the good news to everyone -- our churches should be filled with jubilant worshipers -- our homes and our lives should be demonstrating the power of the risen Christ -- we should be seeing lives changed and hearts transformed and people growing more like Jesus everyday
-- that is what Easter Sunday was all about -- that is what Jesus' life and death and resurrection were all about -- but, oh, what a difference a week makes!
-- already, the Easter decorations have been taken down -- the eggs eaten -- the chocolate candies a fond memory -- the stores have moved on to the next holiday -- and the people who were here last week have moved on -- today is traditionally the Sunday with the lowest church attendance all year long -- it's like Easter never happened
II. The Resurrection Life
-- which begs the question -- if Jesus did rise from the dead, then why aren't we seeing Easter year-round? -- if Jesus did rise from the dead, then why aren't we seeing a difference in our homes and in our families and in our churches? -- if Jesus did rise from the dead, then why aren't we seeing a change?
-- certainly, Jesus' resurrection made a change in the early Christians -- it certainly had an impact on the disciples -- it was their experience with the risen Christ that led the disciples from being fearful followers of a dead rabbi into being sold-out believers who turned the world -- the religious -- the cultural -- and the political world -- upside down through their teaching
-- it was the resurrection of Christ that grew the church from a handful of followers on Good Friday into over 3000 saved souls on Pentecost -- it was the resurrection of Christ that gave Peter and John and James the boldness to stand up to the crowds and to the religious leaders and to proclaim forgiveness of sins through Jesus -- and it was the resurrection of Christ that gave feet to the Apostle Paul, leading him to carry the message of Christ to the far-flung reaches of the Roman empire
-- this same resurrection that we celebrated last Sunday should be empowering us and leading us onward to do great things for God, too -- as Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:4-6 -- "There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism -- one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
-- if we have the same body and Spirit as the early church -- if we have the same hope as the early church -- the same Lord -- the same faith -- the same baptism -- the same God and Father -- and have been touched by the same resurrection as the early church, then we should be living lives that are sold-out for Christ -- we should be making a difference in this world, just like them -- and we should be seeing the same fruit in our homes and our lives and our churches as they did
-- this call of Christ is not just for those people back then -- it's for all of us here and now -- in the places and among the people that we live and work with every day -- it's a mission of making sure the poor get good news -- of releasing captives and welcoming them back into our communities of faith -- it's a mission of healing and restoring the sick, the lame, and the blind -- of rebuilding the broken and making it better -- of witnessing to and joining the work of God's kingdom whenever and wherever it may be found -- and of declaring God's saving love and power that brings us eternal life through Christ -- both with our words and with our actions
-- that is what we should be experiencing -- that is how we should be living -- that is what Easter is all about
-- I read a story one time about a man who borrowed a book from a friend -- as he read through it, he found a bunch of places that his friend had underlined -- that had obviously spoken to him as he read -- and out in the margin next to each of those underlined passages were the letters "YBH"
-- when he returned the book to his friend, he asked him about those letters -- What does "YBH" stand for? -- his friend replied, "Yes, but how"
-- this Sunday, those three letters should be written on our hearts and our souls -- "Yes, we should be living life as the early church -- yes, we should be going forth and ministering in Christ's name -- yes, we should be living sold-out for Christ and should be seeing fruit in our homes and in our churches -- yes, we should be doing all that the early church did -- yes, but how?"
-- Easter was about the "Yes" -- Easter was about experiencing the risen Christ -- Easter was about recognizing and receiving the call of Jesus to go forth in His power to minister to others in His name
-- for the next several weeks, I want us to talk about the "How" -- how did a ragtag group of believers in the first century with no visible power -- no prestige -- no influence -- no religious or political standing -- how did they turn this world upside-down for Jesus? -- and how can we do the same? -- how can we see revival in our homes and in our lives and in our churches? -- how can we start living up to the call that Jesus has given us?
-- I think the best way to begin to answer those questions is to start at the beginning -- to see how the early church fulfilled the call of Christ so that we might share in their experiences, as well
III. Scripture Lesson (Acts 4:23-31)
-- so, let's look again at this passage from the Book of Acts -- and before we dig back into these scriptures looking for the "How," let me give you the context to let you know where we are at in the story
-- this passage occurs on the heels of the resurrection -- as you know, Jesus stayed with the disciples for 40 days following that first Easter -- teaching them and discipling them and preparing them to take over His ministry -- and 10 days after His ascension, we read of the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers and to infuse them with His sanctifying power
-- this passage occurs after Pentecost -- after the church has begun to grow -- Peter and John have been preaching and teaching throughout Jerusalem -- and after healing a crippled beggar at the Gate Beautiful leading into the Temple -- they were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin and warned to stop preaching in the name of Jesus -- this passage opens up immediately after they were released by the Sanhedrin and gives us one very clear picture of the "How" that we are looking for
-- so, if you would, look back with me at Acts 4, starting at verse 23
23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.
-- the early church has just received its first experience with persecution -- ever since the crucifixion and the resurrection and Pentecost, the disciples had been left alone -- no where do we read that they were persecuted or harassed at any turn
-- but now, as the power of God is being made manifest within the walls of the Temple -- as the ministry of Jesus continues to threaten the established order of things -- we see the start of persecution
-- the issue that really faced the early church was how to respond to this persecution -- this was the first real test of the early church
-- Luke tells us here that when Peter and John were released from jail, they went back to their own people -- in other words, Peter and John went to church -- this speaks to the purpose of the church -- we exist, not merely to gather together on Sunday to worship God -- we exist to encourage and strengthen one another in our trials and in our failings and in our triumphs
-- Peter and John had just been arrested by the same people that had killed Jesus less than two months before -- certainly, they should have been in fear for their lives -- remember what happened the first time their lives were threatened -- the disciples all fled the Garden of Gethsemane and left Jesus there -- Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus
-- but, this time, rather than shrinking away in fear, they went to their own people -- they went to the church -- to encourage and to be encouraged -- to strengthen and to be strengthened
-- the first thing to do, then, when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to turn to the church -- but, in order to do so, we have to first be the church
-- Luke tells us that after Peter and John reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them, that the church raised their voices together in prayer to God
-- the second thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to turn to God through corporate prayer
-- notice that it says that they lifted up their voices "together" -- they were in one accord -- they were in unity with each other -- and this is key
-- when we are faced with the issue of persecution -- when are faced with the issue of living out God's commands in our homes and in our churches -- then we must come together as one to pray for God's guidance
-- but, honestly, our churches are rarely like that, are they? -- the one complaint I hear more from unchurched and dechurched people is that the church is divided -- that factions in the church argue with one another -- and that is true -- church can be a very divisive place if people rely on their own wisdom and understanding -- if people put their own agendas and goals ahead of God's
-- the issue is not what I want or what you want or what any group in the church wants -- the issue is what God wants -- and the message here is that the church should come together -- in one accord -- to seek God's will and direction and purpose for everything that goes on in the name of Christ
-- if we could just learn this one lesson, then we would really start seeing God's power made manifest in our churches
-- let's look at their prayer -- look back at the second part of verse 24
24b "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "`Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. '
27. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
-- it should be noted here is that the Greek word that we see translated here as "Lord" or "Sovereign Lord" in this passage is not the usual one that we see translated as "Lord" throughout the New Testament
-- usually, we see the Greek word "kyrios" translated as Lord -- this is more a title -- it signifies majesty or deity -- it was used by the early church to affirm that Jesus was the Messiah -- that Jesus was God
-- but, the Greek word that we see here is used to denote one who rules over others -- it was applied to the highest magistrate or officer -- it denotes authority, power, absoluteness in ruling -- it stood for authority or absolute rule
-- what this tells us is that when the early church first experienced persecution, they appealed to God -- not on the basis of His deity -- but on the basis of His absolute rule -- of His sovereignty
-- in other words, the church humbled themselves before God -- they recognized His authority, not only over them, but over everyone and everything -- on other words, in this prayer they were recognizing that God was in total and complete control of the situation they were in as they faced persecution from the Romans and from the Jewish leaders
-- there's a song on the radio right now that says, "I am a friend of Christ" -- and that is true, but that is not the relationship that the church in this passage is considering -- they are bowing to the authority and sovereignty of God -- they are recognizing that He is in charge of everything -- He is in charge of the Romans -- He is in charge of the Sanhedrin -- He is in charge of the church, and so they come to Him in humbleness, seeking His face and His will for them as their absolute and divine ruler
-- the third thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to recognize and submit to God's authority
-- the fourth thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to stand on the promises of God
-- how many times do we stand and sing that song, "Standing on the Promises," but fail to do that which we have just proclaimed?
-- in this prayer, the church looked back to the prophecy that God had given King David in Psalm 2 -- God had told them that opposition would come -- that the nations would rage against Him -- that the people would speak against the Messiah -- that the kings and rulers would take their stand against Jesus"
-- God knew that this would happen -- He knew what they were going through -- and He said He would take care of it -- this Psalm that the church quoted in their prayer goes on to say, "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them -- He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath"
-- so, in other words, the church prayed the promise of God -- they asked Him to fulfill His words and His promise through them -- they were affirming their trust in God's ability to see them through the storm
-- there are so many promises in Scripture that we are failing to see come to pass in our lives and in our churches -- not because they are not true -- but because we doubt their truth and we fail to stand on those promises as the fulfilled word of God -- if we are going to be the church who lives in the resurrection power of Christ, then we are going to have to stop just mouthing the words with our lips and start standing on the promises in reality
-- verse 29
29. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
-- the last thing that we are to do when we're trying to answer that question, "Yes, but how?" is to actually do the Lord's work in the world and fulfill His call with our lives and with our churches
-- notice how the church closes its prayer here -- they don't just ask for protection from evil, but they ask that God would be glorified through the evil and the persecution -- they pray for boldness to press on and to speak His word to others -- they ask that He would work through them to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders -- they prayed that God would do great things for the kingdom through them
-- you sense in this closing of the prayer an echo of Christ's words in the Garden of Gethsemane -- "Not my will, but thine be done" -- the church came together here to pray, not for themselves, but for God -- to pray that God's word and message would go forth -- that others would hear it and that lives would be changed and hearts and minds transformed through the power of the resurrected Christ
-- the empty tomb does not bid us to gather together on Sundays and to preach to the choir -- the empty tomb and the risen Christ bid us to go and make disciples -- to do God's work -- to minister in His name, even in the midst of trials and troubles -- even in the midst of persecution -- so that, through us and the power of Christ, others might live
-- verse 31
31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
-- prayers like this shake the world -- when the church was finished praying, God answered their prayer by showing them His power -- He shook the room where they were meeting to let them know that He was going to shake the world through them
-- their prayer was answered -- they were filled with the Holy Spirit -- and they were empowered to go forth and proclaim the word of God boldly, even in the face of persecution
IV. Closing
-- so, what does this mean for us? -- it means that God did not quit working when the Bible was written and the binding put on the book -- it means that God still changes hearts and transforms lives -- it means that God still wants to use His church to further His kingdom in this world
-- God wants us to be His hands and feet -- He wants to use us to be dynamic agents of change in our world -- but we can only do that if we allow Him to work in us and through us and if we actually get up and go out and do what He has told us to do
-- we began this message looking for the "how" -- in this passage, we saw five ways that the early church lived out the call of God in their lives:
-- first, we have to be the church and turn to the church for encouragement, enlightenment, and empowerment
-- second, we have to turn to God through corporate prayer, praying in one accord
-- third, we have to recognize and submit to God's authority
-- fourth, we have to stand on the promises of God
-- and, fifth, we have to actually do the Lord's work in the world and fulfill His call with our lives and with our churches
-- our goal when we meet together should be to take the promise of Easter and make it "yes" in our lives and our world -- these steps are the starting point to make that happen
-- so, as I close in prayer, I want to ask that you would prayerfully consider where we are today in this church -- are we the dynamic, powerful church that we see portrayed in Scripture -- are we living the "yes" of Easter?
-- if not, then let's come together in one accord and ask God to give us wisdom and direction as we seek to fulfill His call in our lives
-- let us pray
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