Untitled Sermon (11)

Heading

Worship to World

Peter and John move from the ideal Church of Acts 2:42 towards a confrontation with the misery or the reality of the world

The Church is called to move from worship to witness

Witnessing means, firstly, being a witness to what we have seen Christ do

Witnessing, secondly, means seeing the places Christ can still heal.

Peter and John witness the condition of the lame man and acknowledge his distress as a place Christ can bring peace

Peter and John witness the guilt of the crowd and see a place Christ can bring redemption and forgiveness

The repentance the crowd is called to is specific and not general

Christ cannot heal where Christ has not gone

Witnessing, Thirdly, means witnessing what Christ is still doing. Thus, Peter and John witness Christ continuing on his ministry of healing in the lame man

We encounter Christ not only in our houses of worship, but especially among the poor and powerless to whom Christ calls us to minister

Thus, to refuse to move from worship to witness is to refuse to meet with Christ

Finally, witnessing ultimately brings us to a confrontation with the powers of this world

Peter and John do not attempt to supplicate the Jewish leaders, but speak the truth plainly

Two critiques of the Western Church and her proximity to power:

Money- "You see, Thomas, the Church can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I none." "True, holy father, and neither can she now say 'Arise and walk.'" -Exchange between Pope Innocent II and St. Thomas Aquinas

“The Methodists grow more and more self-indulgent, because they grow rich. Although many of them are still deplorably poor... yet many others, in the space of twenty, thirty, or forty years, are twenty, thirty, yea, a hundred times richer than they were when they first entered the society. And it is an observation which admits of few exceptions, that nine in ten of these decreased in grace, in the same proportion as they increased in wealth....Do you gain all you can, and save all you can Then you must, in the nature of things, grow rich. Then if you have any desire to escape the damnation of hell, give all you can; otherwise I can have no more hope of your salvation, than of that of Judas Iscariot.” -John Wesley, On the Inefficacy of Christianity

Authorities and Leaders

Essenes- leave political structures entirely

Pharisees work from the inside with the structures

Sadduccees- Become the structures

Apostles- Stand in bold opposition to the structures