Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

If you were at the Children’s day service, you’ll know just how bad I am at art.

I’m hopeless.

Kate is much better than me, and Bethany seems to have taken from her.

From a very early age, Bethany was drawing - in fact from 18 months she was able to draw Mickey Mouse.

Naomi partly takes after me - bless her - but because of her developmental delay due to her condition, she isn’t able to translate the picture in front of her (or the image in her head) onto paper.

Now, she tries, but she her drawings aren’t the greatest in the world.

She won’t win any prizes for her art.

In fact, there was an art competition at school and she was convinced that she was going to win, and Kate and I had to sit her down and talk to her about the fact that she may NOT win that competition.

And she didn’t win the competition, and she was devastated.

And we sat her down again and told her, AGAIN, that our love for her didn’t depend on how good she was at art.

We love her regardless of how good she is at art or how good she is at anything - same thing happens every year at sports day.

And we affirm her for who she is.

Regardless of how good she is at art or how BAD she is at art, we love her just the same.

Our love for her isn’t defined by how bad she is at art.

Pause

But at the same time, whenever she draws a picture and brings it to me.

I don’t say to her, ‘that’s awful, Naomi.

That’s a load of rubbish.

You’ve got the colours all wrong and the eyes are in the wrong place.

How dare you bring that kind of trash to me?

Now go to your room!

Of course I don’t say that - I don’t even THINK that.

Sure, her drawing may not be perfect, but she drew it and I tell her, ‘that’s lovely, Naomi,’ because it IS lovely in its own right.

She doesn’t NEED to be told that she’s bad at art.

And I don’t want to tell her that.

So she kinda lives in her own wee bubble that she’s not that bad at art…until the competition time comes around and she’s devastated AGAIN because she thinks she’s good enough to win.

Now, I think every parent does the same thing.

We encourage our children - we want to make them think they can achieve anything.

We don’t tell them that they actually aren’t that great.... ‘You can’t draw as well as Picasso, so don’t even bother trying to draw...

You aren’t as fast as Ussain Bolt, so don’t even bother trying to run… You aren’t as good as Namar or George Best, so don’t even bother trying to play football.’

We just don’t do that…and children don’t want to hear that either.

Telling them would cause great offence.

Pause

Now we’ll come back to that in a second.

Keep that thought in the back of your head while we focus on today’s passage.

We’re continuing in our study on Acts, and while the books isn’t named this way, this is the end of Act 1 scene 1.

Jesus has left his disciples.

He told them...

And off he goes - and this first scene is the witness of the power of the Holy Spirit.

It started at Pentecost when the Spirit came and empowered the apostles to perform signs and wonders, to heal people, to drive out demons, to preach with boldness that the Messiah - the one that Israel was waiting for is in fact Jesus, and that the Jews put him to death, but God raised him up again and they are witness of this act and if people repent of their sin and trust in Jesus that they will receive salvation and eternal life.

And we’ve looked at the healing that Peter did that caused him and John to be arrested.

We saw how the church has snowballed and expanded and, like Jesus promised, no kingdom of this world or the underworld is able to stop it from spreading - the gates of Hell is not prevailing against it.

And then last week, after Ananias and Sapphira die, more and more believe in Jesus and are added to their number.

And after that, people are bringing the sick so that even Peter’s shadow can fall on the sick and be healed.

And demons are being driven out and the church is continuing to grow and expand.

And today we see that, as a result of this expansion and the signs and wonders, the apostles are once again arrested and brought before the Jewish leaders to give account for what is happening.

And the reason why they are arrested is because the Jews are jealous...

They are jealous because more and more people are believing in Jesus and following ‘the WAY’.

They are turning AWAY from Judaism and following this Jesus movement - these people who will soon be called ‘Christians’ - Messiah people.

And with more and more people coming to faith in Jesus, the Jews are feeling threatened - they are losing their numbers, and they want to stop this…they are jealous.

Pause

Now, since we are in Christendom here in Northern Ireland, it’s hard to see it from another perspective.

But put yourself in the shoes of the High Priest and the members of the Sanhedrin - who are Sadducees.

Let’s say you’re a Sadducee.

You are the majority in the senate.

You’re an associate of the High Priest.

And you have the voting power.

You are also a collaborator with Rome.

Some people, like the Pharisees, don’t like Rome and wouldn’t want anything to do with them.

You’re not a fan of them either, but might as well work WITH them, than against them.

And, importantly, you don’t believe in the afterlife.

This whole ‘resurrection from the dead’ mumbo jumbo that the Pharisees believe is a load of nonsense.

There’s no such thing as heaven and hell - when you die you die.

And you’re still waiting the coming of the Messiah to come and eventually overthrow Rome and bring Israel to its former glory.

So that’s you, and you’re part of this senate - this ruling body within the church.

And you hear these people, these Messiah-people - going around claiming that the Messiah HAS come in the form of Jesus, who they call ‘Jesus the Messiah’ because that’s what Jesus Christ means.

Christ is the Greek word for Messiah.

And these Messiah-people - these Christ-people…these Christians are preaching that Jesus is the Messiah and he HAS come, but we killed him because we didn’t realise that he is the Messiah…but God raised him from the dead - which is ludicrous because there is no such thing as life after death.

And you’re being told that what you believe is WRONG - that you’re a sinner and that obeying the law isn’t going to save you from your sins.

You’re being told that going to the temple isn’t going to save you from your sins.

You’re being told that there IS life after death and there’s death after death in the form of hell.

You’re essentially being told that your religion is WRONG and that you’re going to hell as a result after you die, because you’re not believing in the right thing - because you’re trusting in your religion to save you and not trusting inJesus Christ.

But you’re being told that if you admit that you’re a sinner and confess your sins and repent of them and believe in Jesus Christ, he will grant you forgiveness of your sins and a new way of life - an eternal life.

And this goes against everything that you believe.

But here’s the problem - these people aren’t just saying these things - they are doing the impossible.

They are able to heal the sick and drive out demons.

I mean, who DOES that unless they have some sort of power behind them?

Now, these guys are claiming it’s the power of God himself in the form of the Holy Spirit, but that can’t be right because there is only ONE God.

But your big concern is that your followers are being led away from what you believe and are starting to follow these Messiah-people - these Christ people - these Christians.

And more and more people are leaving YOUR ‘temple’ to join this Church of believers of Jesus Christ, because for SOME people, this is a breath of fresh air.

‘you mean I DON’T have to struggle with all this law keeping to get right with God? you mean I just have to accept Jesus and trust in HIM?’

But this also means less money in the temple, this means less power for you…this has GOT to stop.

Pause

Now, as a Sadducee, you can how this could make you jealous.

‘We don’t want people leaving OUR religion and following this Jesus-movement.

But we can’t compete with the miracles that are happening - so let’s arrest these guys and threaten them.’

What makes matters worse is that they miraculously escape from prison and go right back to the temple to preach this good news that Jesus saves sinners who repent and trust in him.

They preach what the angel of the Lord tells them to preach...

They preach about this NEW LIFE that can be found in Jesus.

A life that is not about the rules and following the law… a life that’s not about religion, but is based on grace and love and mercy and forgiveness.

It’s a life that is for the broken, for the poor in spirit, it is for those who mourn over their sin, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and it’s for those who are persecuted for Jesus’ name.

Pause

And now that the apostles have miraculously escaped prison, the senate need to be really careful about how they handle this situation.

So they arrest them, but not with force, because the crowd would stone them if they did.

But they bring them to answer for their ‘crimes’ against their religion.

Pause

Now, the Pharisees, who are a separate faction in the Senate - they are the minority group, but they believe in the afterlife.

They aren’t a fan of these Messiah-people either, but Gamaliel - a respected, not just respected but honoured leader of the Pharisees - respected by everyone - stands up and says, let them be.