Untitled Sermon

The Impact of Upside Down Living

LCA MS Chapel

Acts 3-4

Introduction

           Good morning LCA! Go ahead and grab your Bibles and turn them to Acts chapter 3 (repeat). If we haven’t met before, my name is Benett, and I work over at Thomas Road as the middle school resident. I’m really excited to be with you all this morning as we take a look at God’s word.

           I was talking to Andy the other week, and he was telling me that y’all’s theme this year is living upside down like Jesus. He told me that y’all have recently have gone through Romans 12 and how Paul points us to a kind of living that when we follow Christ, we are called to live as “upside down” separate from norms of our culture today. If you don’t remember from Romans 12, I think the first 2 verses give an incredible definition of upside down living:

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

           Because Y’all have already taken a look at what upside down living is, and the example that Jesus set, this morning we are going be taking a look at The Impact of an upside down life. Everybody say Impact. I want you to think about someone who has had an impact in your life. Maybe not like a Lebron James or Rory McIlroy type of celebrity impact, but an impact that had made a deep personal movement in your life. This could be the first person who has shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with you, this could be a friend, this could be a teacher, or this could even be your parent. Who has made a deep personal impact in your life?

           Think about a clear still lake of water. That glassy sheet of water that you look out on when you wake up on a warm summer morning. The orange hue of the sky reflects off the water in a perfect morning. When when you look out on that water and you just have to throw a rock out into that glassy water. You throw it out and as it hits the water a giant ripple goes our and makes an impact on the rest of the water. In the same way, what you say and do will have a ripple effect and will influence those around you. What you say and do will have an impact.

           But for you this morning, what kind of impact do you want to leave? Will you leave an impact that will push people away from Jesus, or will you leave an impact that points people to Him?

           This morning we are going to see that the impact of upside down living makes an impact like no other. Today, as we look at Acts 3-4, we are going to see that an upside down life makes an impact that points people to Jesus (repeat). So lets set the scene. What is the name of the massive event we all just celebrated this week? Easter! We just celebrated Easter — the resurrection of Jesus. And now, in Acts 3, we’re going to see how the resurrection of Jesus and the upside down life he lived changes everything.Not just for Peter and John, but for us too. Let’s check it out. (Read 3:1-8)

An Upside Down Life Starts with Jesus (Acts 3:1-8)

           What we see from these couple of verses, is that the impact of an upside down life starts with Jesus. Right around 3:00pm Peter and John were going to the temple. They were great examples of ordinary people who’re living upside down lives. They were living as Romas 12 tells us “living sacrifices”. They were not conforming to the world, but rather they were transformed by the renewing of their minds in Christ Jesus. They were living upside down lives. As they were entering into the temple they came across a paralyzed man at a gate called “beautiful”. Everyone say beautiful.

           As they were walking past this gate called beautiful, they came across a man who was asking them for money, or in other words asking for some money because he could not walk. And in an interesting response, Peter looked at this man and said “look at me”. Now this probably shook this man because this probably wasn’t a common response that he normally got. Saying that in a group context might be normal, like if I’m up here preaching and say look at me, not as weird. But if we were just in a conversation and I said look me, it would have a different effect (pull someone from the crowd and act it out).

           So he really got the attention of this man, and said something that would change his life forever:

Acts 3:6

“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”.

           Imagine that return on investment. This dude was paralyzed since his birth, and after asking for some pennies, he was told to get up and walk. And vs. 8 tells us that that not only did he get up, but he leaped up! Wouldn’t you? He leaped up and started praising God, probably not standing in the back of the room praising, but life front and center leaping up because of the miracle that was done in the name of Jesus.

           Now while the text does say that these men who were living upside down were able to raise this man, that is not the standard. But lets pull some principles of how you can respond to this text. First, they entered into the temple relying fully on Jesus. The only way that they were able to raise this man was on whose authority? Jesus. They relied fully on Jesus in every step that they took towards the temple.

           Not only that, but also they were asked for money, and gave back the ability to walk. What would it look like if you went above and beyond what you were asked? What if when you were asked to be praying for someone, you went above and beyond and actually prayed in that moment and followed up on how they are doing? What if when you are asked to do your chores, you live an upside down life and do your siblings chores along your own. What if when you were asked to do something, you went above and beyond what was first asked of you?

           An upside down life makes an impact that goes above and beyond what is expected. This is exactly what Peter and John were doing as they lived an upside down life. They went above and beyond what was expected, and because of that, other people saw. The ripple affect of their reliance on Jesus was seen by other people around them  Our second takeaway for this morning is that the an upside down life is seen by others.

An Upside Down Life is Seen by others (Acts 4:1-4:4)

           For the sake of time, were quickly going to summarize the rest of chapter 3. Peter and John were able to heal this man through the power of Jesus, and afterwards, this man who was paralyzed since birth started to go around and praising God in the Temple where everyone would have saw. People recognized that this was the man who normally would ask for money, but now he was leaping around skipping in the Spirit. But in this moment, Peter decided to stand up boldly for the gospel and make much not of the miracle itself, but the miracle maker: God. He recognized that the gift giver is far more important than the gifts themselves, and preached this to the people who were in the temple. He taught about a resurrected Jesus who was sacrificed for the sins of the people, and invited them to repent and turn to Christ.

           In the beginning of Acts 4, we see that the people around them were impacted by Peter and John living an upside down life. So pick up with me in Acts 4:1 as we that an upside down life is seen by others. (Read 4:1-4)

           From the upside down life that they were living, their impact left two responses. They were either greatly annoyed or believed. When was the last time that you were annoyed by something? It could be homework, it could be siblings, it could even be the person sitting next to you. But you know that when you are annoyed, you want nothing to do with that which is sitting right across from you. That annoyance could also mean that you just want nothing to do with that thing. For the people who were annoyed with Peter and John living an upside down life, they just wanted nothing to do. Put your hands over your ears. Like that was the response of the people, they didn’t want to hear them. Now put your hands over your eyes, they didn’t want to see them. Seeds were planted, but they were greatly annoyed.

           But for many of those who were impacted by Peter and John they believed. When they saw a paralyzed man leaping around and heard the truth of the gospel, believed that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead; not cause they saw it themselves, but they were impacted by those who also believed in the gospel. They heard that Jesus Christ rose from the dead for their sins and believed. So for those who are impacted by those living an upside down life, they either wanted nothing to do with them, or wanted everything to do with Jesus.

           So how does this affect us today? What I want you to see is that what you say and do matters. What you say and do leaves a ripple effect. For the people that were watching Peter and John, they saw that they did. Some of them responded harshly against this apostles, but some believed. What kind of impact are you making? Are you confirming to this world? Are you pulling people away from Jesus? Or are you being transformed by the renewal of your mind in Christ Jesus? Christ has called you this morning to live an upside down life. Are you going to live in a way that are pointing people to Christ?

           What you do is seen by others. What you say and do matters. When you put people down for the sake of being funny, I really want you to think about the kind of impact you are leaving. When you pick people up, encourage them, living in a way that is honoring to Christ, then the impact you leave will be incredible. Its not your job to save people, but it is your Job to live as Christ would have, by loving God and loving others.

           Peter and John demonstrate their love for Christ and others not only by going above and beyond, but also standing firm when they were pressured by those who were annoyed by them. So lets see how they will respond.

An Upside Down Life Stands Firm Against Pressure (Acts 4:5-22)

           So we have a lot of verses to read, but we can do it. (Maybe have them stand up & Read 5-22)

           Lets unpack what just went on here. Peter and John are standing before the very same rulers and authorities that Jesus was in front of. In verse 5, we hear about the general religious authorities that were questioning Peter and John, but in verse 6, we get some specifics.

           Annas we read about in John 18:12-13:

12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

           Caiphas, we read about in John:14

14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

           Both of these religious authorities were present at the trial of Jesus. Annas questioned Jesus and then sent him to Caiphas. Caiphas was the acting high priest when Jesus was on trial. He was the one who advised that if the religious rulers a the time were frustrated with Christians at the time, they should just kill Jesus.

           These are the people that John and Peter are standing in front of, and they were able to stand firm in the Spirit. An upside down life stands firm in the Spirit. The Rulers, elders and scribes had gathered against John and Peter in some sort of avengers level threat against the gospel. But these men weren’t intimidated.      

           Peter responded to their pressure and intimidation by simply pointing these religious elite back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He reiterated some very important details that these religious authorities missed out on. (Reread 10-12).

           Because the religious authorities wanted to stop the spread of the gospel, they charged Peter and John to no longer speak of Jesus anymore. The reaction of Peter and John is really where I want to camp out for the rest of our time this morning, right in verse 19-20. (Read 19-20). There response is basically you can charge over us whatever you want, but we wont stop speaking of the gospel of Jesus. You can ban us talking about Jesus, but because of the reality of the resurrection, we cannot help ourselves. They were so impacted by Jesus that they had to tell everyone else about his raise from the grave.

           So what about us today? We live in a space where we have freedom of speech and religion. There really is no persecution for us to gather here and worship the Lord. We can spend time, with our Bible’s open, talking about the resurrection of Jesus without any outside persecution. So while we don’t really live in a time where there is pressure of persecution, I do think we live in a culture that pushes a pressure of passivity. What I mean by that is it is more often than not easier to stand back on our heels rather than digging in our cleats into actually loving God and loving others.

           It can be really easy to push other people down for the sake of being funny. Often times it can be difficult to build people up; which should be the standard if you call yourself a Christian. Following Christ pushes back against this passivity and leans into the hard work of loving other people. Following Christ pushes back against this pressure to stand back and put yourself over others. Don't miss this. You may not be ordered to stop talking about Christ, but you will feel pressure to not live like Him. Reject that, stand firm in the calling that God has placed in your life. Christ has called you to live an upside down life, stand firm against any sort of pressure you might face that tells you to be silent about Christ.

Make Your Dash Count

           When we look at Peter and John, it is evident that they lived upside down lives. They lived out what Romans 12 clearly lays out for the life of a believer. Because of they way that they lived their lives, they made an impact, because others saw what they did and heard what they said. They made their dash count.

           How many of you have ever been to a cemetery? Have you ever noticed on the gravestone that there are two dates on a gravestone? Those indicate the day that that person was born, and the day that that person had died. Have you ever noticed what lies between those two dates? A Dash. What a dash indicates is all the time between those two dates. A dash indicates that a life was lived between those two dates. For Peter and John, they eventually died, and maybe a gravestone was placed in the cemetery that they were buried. A dash laid between the day that they were born, and the day that they died, and from their life, they made their dash count.

Conclusion

           When you die, how will other people think about your life? How will people think about your dash? What kind of impact do you want to leave? God has called you to live an upside down life. A life that makes an impact on other people that points them to the reality of the resurrection. That Christ died for your sins, and on the third day rose again. This is the life that was laid out by Peter and John. They pointed people to Jesus even when being pressured to live a life of passivity. This morning, as you go between you classes, maybe when you take that test that you really didn’t study for; make an impact. Make your dash count. Christ has called you to live an upside down life, you can do it. Reject passivity and lean into the calling that God has placed on your life.