New Beginnings

Intro

Today is a pretty special topic that we are covering, because well, it’s all about you. And you. And yes even you Bob. This week are are continuing the Story with the beginning of the church. So while all of Scripture is FOR us, this week it really is ABOUT us.

Because each part of the story, every single moment of unfaithfulness by Israel and faithfulness by God, every moment of judgement on a sinful people and every moment of deliverance by a graceful God, every writ of God’s law and every word from His prophets has led to a moment in a Jerusalem house where 12 men were gathered together, waiting for a new teacher and helper that was promised to them by Jesus.

And then scripture says there came from heaven a mighty rushing wind that filled the whole house! And a tongue of fire came down and split to rest upon each one of them, and the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. This was the last part that was needed to kick off our show.

Because they had already had creation which by it’s very existence and beauty declares the goodness and majesty of the one who created it, the law through which people could learn the character of God, they had Jesus who came to fulfill that law and died so that people could enter into communion with God. Jesus had risen from the dead, conquering the power of the grave so that those who had communion with God might live with Him forever, and now they had the Holy Spirit, which dwelled within each of them and empowered them with gifts so that they might live out and share the Gospel to the ends of the earth as messengers of the kingdom of God, of the upper story that had come down and merged with out lower story.

Because Jesus had brought the upper story down to the lower story with His birth. but when He ascends to heaven they don’t split back apart again. Instead, the upper story, the story of God’s kingdom, the story of humanity’s redemption now continues right in front of our eyes driven by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us.

And as we look as this account of the fledgling church I hope today that you will learn 3 things about that Gospel where we find our hope.

I hope you learn that the Gospel is universal.

I hope you learn that the Gospel is unstoppable.

And I hope you learn that the Gospel is unbothered.

Universal

But what do I mean when I say the Gospel is universal? I mean, simply, that it is good news for everyone, every where on earth, and carrying it to each and every one of those people is our core mission as the church!

The moment after the disciples receive the Holy Spirit, they burst out of the house they were staying in to find a crowd had already gathered. It turns out great winds and fires from heaven can draw quite a crowd! Peter then stood before the 12 facing the crowd of people and began to preach.

The very first Christian sermon in history was made without any notes or preparation at all to whoever happened to be standing outside the house when the disciples came out filled with the spirit. It’s kinda funny when you think about it!

And when Peter wraps up his sermon, he says

Acts 2:36–41 ESV

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

And just like that, probably within the same hour that the Holy Spirit had descended on the apostles so that they could begin the mission Christ left for them, the church began to grow.

From that time, all who came into the community of the kingdom of God lived together sharing a life in common. Scripture says in Acts 2:42 that they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. That they had all things in common and that they would sell their possessions to provide for the needs of the group.

There was no high priestly class, no king among them, no wealthy or poor among them, because the Gospel is for EVERYONE, and all who were baptized into Christ are considered equal heirs to His inheritance.

Beyond Jerusalem

But if the Gospel is truly universal, it has to spread beyond Jerusalem. A man named Philip went to the people of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Gospel of Christ and the kingdom of God. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that that Samaritans were receiving the word of God, they sent Peter and John also!

Now, Samaritans are one thing, but Gentiles are a whole other issue. Samaritans have lived in Israel for hundreds of years at this point, and they even had the Pentateuch and worshipped Yahweh, and although most Jews considered their worship to be illegitimate, they weren’t pagans by any means.

Gentiles, on the other hand, likely worshipped the Greco-Roman pantheon of gods, or worse, the Baals! To many of the Jewish Christians, the idea of Gentiles coming into the kingdom was as crazy as a sumo wrestler joining the cross country team, it just didn’t make any sense!

Cornelius

So while Peter is on his way to Joppa, he receives vision from God. Now, I think most of us are aware of the strict dietary standards followed by the Jews. Deuteronomy 14 lays out exactly what animals are unclean, and therefore should not be eaten by any Jew, and it’s not a short list.

So imagine Peter’s surprise when he receives a vision from the Lord of a big white sheet coming down from heaven, filled with every kind of animal and reptile and birds of the air, all the things he could never eat, all the bacon possibilities!

Acts 10:13–15 ESV

And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

And of course, because we all know how dense Peter can be, this vision is repeated two more times, and then Peter’s unkosher buffet is taken back into heaven.

What Peter doesn’t know is that there are 3 men approaching Simon’s house where he was staying who were sent by a Centurion named Cornelius. You see Cornelius was a God-fearing man who prayed to Yahweh, and had a good reputation among the Jews of Caesarea as a godly man! An angel had appeared to Cornelius and told him to send for a man named Peter, who would be staying with Simon the Tanner in a house by the sea in Joppa. So, Cornelius had sent a trusted soldier and 2 servants to Peter.

So Peter invites the men in to be his guest and the next day they set out for Cornelius’ house. Now when the two men compare stories about Cornelius’ visit from the angel and Peter’s vision of the sheet, they have this moment where they both kinda piece it together that each of them were brought by God to do something new here. Peter says

Acts 10:34–35 ESV

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

And so Peter preaches the Gospel to the Gentiles gathered in Cornelius’ house. And here we have our only account of the Holy Spirit descending on people before their baptism, besides for the apostle’s at Pentecost. And when Peter say this, it was abundantly clear that these Gentiles should be baptised, and fully enter the Kingdom of God.

Reporting Back

Now, remember that it was against Jewish law for a Jew to even be a guest in the home of a Gentile. So for Peter to preach there and perform these baptisms was a great scandal back in Jerusalem! But when he returned, he explained to them all that had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, that the Gospel is universal, and there is no nation that cannot receive repentance that leads to life.

The Gospel is universal. I think that’s important for us to remember as we enter election week in the United States. The gospel is for the people who are going to vote differently than you are this week. The gospel is for the candidate that you are voting against this week. The gospel is for people who don’t live in the United States or who do but can’t vote due to criminal history or immigration status.

I just want to remind everyone that whoever you disagree with this week and how much you disagree with what they say, Jesus loves them enough to die for them, and He loves them enough that He commissioned YOU to show them that.

Unstoppable

The 2nd point about the Gospel that we see spreading like wildfire in Acts this week is that it is UN-STOPPABLE.

Festivals

I mean even just from a scheduling perspective, the Gospel cannot be beat. Let’s look at the last year of Jesus’ life for example.

There are three feasts, or holidays in the 2nd Temple Jewish calendar that require a pilgrimage to Jerusalem:

Pesach “Pey-shack” or the Passover

Shavuot “Shav-oo-oat” or the Weeks

Sukkot “Sue-coat” or the Booths.

In the Gospel, we see each of these dates play a key role in Jesus’ ministry on earth. It’s during these festivals that Jerusalem was at it’s MOST crowded, so any notable event would have many more witnesses. Historians estimate the population of Jerusalem in Jesus’ day to be somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000, but during a pilgrimage feast there would be over 3 million!

During Sukkot, Jesus goes into the temple at the height of the feast and begins to teach, even as the Pharisees are plotting to kill him. This was one of the first times that we have recorded that the population at large suspects who Jesus is.

John 7:25–31 ESV

Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

During the next festival, Pesach, we see Jesus’ very public trial and execution, so there are millions of witnesses to His death.

Finally, during Shavuot, the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples and they went out to spread the Gospel for the first time!

There are exactly 3 weeks out of the year where the population of Jerusalem explodes, and for each of those, God prepared a milestone in the kingdom so that it would have it’s maximum effect.

Jail

The Gospel is also shown to be unstoppable in Acts because the enemies of God just can’t seem to keep the apostles in Jail!

Several apostles are arrested in Acts 5, and they’re put in jail overnight to appear before the council the next day. During the night, an angel comes to their cell and says:

Acts 5:20 ESV

“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

Basically, the angel says “get back to work! You’ve got a message to share!”

No when the high priest came together with the council the next morning, they sent officers to the jail to have the apostles brought before them. The officers returned shortly later and said “We can’t find them, the guard were there, the doors were locked, but there was no one inside!”

And it’s at this point that it gets almost comically embarrassing for the high priest because someone came into the hall where the Sanhedrin gathered and said

“hey! Aren’t those the guys you arrested for standing in the temple preaching about Jesus?!”

“…isn’t that them there… in the temple… preaching about Jesus?”

And the high priest called them in and questioned them but a man stands up a member of the Sanhedrin named Gamaliel, and he sent the apostles out of the room so he could address the rest of the council and said

Acts 5:35–39 ESV

And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice,

And so the disciples were beaten, and then released, and of course they did not stop preaching the name of Jesus Christ. Because this Gospel is unstoppable!

Saul

Even when things get worse for the people of God’s kingdom, the Gospel continues on. When Saul rises up in Jerusalem as a persecutor of Christians, dragging men and women off to jail for preaching that Jesus is Lord, and stoning Christians like Stephen to death, the Gospel can’t be stopped.

In fact, not only can it not be stopped, but Saul himself is struck blind on the road to Damascus and confronted by Jesus Himself who says “WHY are you persecuting me?!” After Saul encounters Christ, a man named Ananias gets told by the Lord in a vision to go and find Saul of Tarsus and restore his sight. Ananias, of course, does what most of us would do if we are told to go and restore sight to a person who about 12 hours ago was intent on murdering us and all of our friends, Ananias says “Lord I heard about this guy! Like maybe you didn’t, I dunno how much you pay attention these days I dunno if maybe you lost track of who’s on your team and who’s actively murdering your team members but that dude is decidedly on the naughty list!”

But the Gospel is for everyone, and it cannot be stopped, and God says to Ananias

Acts 9:15–16 ESV

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

And Ananias goes, and he brings the good news to Saul whose sight is restored and whose sins are then washed away in baptism, and one of Christianity’s most relentless enemies becomes one of our most prolific missionaries.

Herod Agrippa

But of course, there’s still the king to deal with. Herod Agrippa, the grandson of the Herod who Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fled from in Egypt, began to feel threatened by the growing church. Acts 12 says that he began to lay violent hands on some who belonged to the church, and killed James, the brother of John.

Herod was emboldened by his successful execution of James so he had Peter arrested too! But while Peter was sleeping, chained between two guards, and angel of the Lord appeared beside him, struck off his chains, and led him out of prison. Herod was struck down by an angel of the Lord shortly after.

Section Conclusion

Friends, the Gospel cannot be stopped. There is no force on this earth that can stop us from sharing the Gospel where and when God intends for it to be shared. Now, don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences. 11 out of the 12 disciples were eventually martyred for their mission, only John died peacefully.

But our hope is not in this world, it is not in this life. And this world cannot keep you from our home in heaven any more than it could keep Peter in a prison cell.

Unbothered

And while we’re on the subject of this world versus the kingdom of God, have you ever noticed how completely unbothered the early church is by the world around them?

In the Old Testament, especially in the time of the kings, we very rarely see regular individuals being sought after by prophets. We see Samuel coming to Saul, we see Nathan coming to David, Ahijah to Jeroboam. As an earthly kingdom, Israel’s fate was often tied to the morality of their leaders.

We saw it dozens of times in Kings, that this king did was was right in the eyes of the Lord and so the people prospered, but this king did not so the people suffered.

We see no such pattern in Acts. Instead, we see Philip come to the Ethiopian Eunuch, we see Peter come to Cornelius, and we see Ananias come to Saul. No longer does faith come to the people through the power structures of humankind, instead it is an individual relationship that takes place within an equal community of believers.

In all of the sermons and speeches that happen in Acts, none of them call for a better restoration of the temple, none call for Israelite independence from Rome, none call for a culture war where just if everyone in Israel acts like a Jewish Christian than everything will be fine!

A culture war is a terrible thing for Christians to be engaged in, because we just aren’t equipped to win it.

Call up volunteer for demonstration

Not that we aren’t trying to do the right thing. I believe fully that all of the members of this church want to love and serve the Lord, and to fulfill the great commission by Jesus to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Let’s say, for purposes of this demonstration, that our mission isn’t to spread the gospel, but is instead for NAME to eat this bowl of “soup” without lifting the bowl off the table.

Go ahead, eat it.

Oh, right right right, sorry, you probably need some kind of tool to do that.

Here you go *FORK*

What? What do you mean it’s not working?

So it looks like no matter how much NAME wants to finish their mission, to eat that soup, if they aren’t using the right tool, they’re not going to be very effective!

Thanks and dismiss volunteer

So what is the tool that we’re supposed to use in our mission? Is it winning the culture war so that everyone believes in the same values as us? So that all TV shows are Christian-appropriate and all teachers use our sets of values in the classroom?

Well, unfortunately, Jesus said

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

So if we try and spread the gospel by conforming the world to our values, there are two possible outcomes. The world does not conform to us, and we fail. OR the world does conform to us, but our values are no longer in alignment with Christ’s, so we fail. Matthew 7 says that not everyone will find that way that leads to life so if we manage to get everyone in the world to agree with us then by definition WE are no longer on the way that leads to life!

So no, I don’t think we should be eating soup with a fork. Instead, our mission is to the lost soul or souls right in front of us. To tell them that there is a God who is all-powerful and all-good and who LOVES them and offers an opportunity to follow Him.

As far as the institutions of this world, the governments of this world, the norms of this world, the Gospel is unbothered. The good news of Christ does not depend on this world that is passing away, it is focused on the world that is to come!

Again, we are looking ahead in our world, right now, to an election week. And I would urge all of you this week to be encouraged by the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is unbothered by whoever wins the election. If your preferred candidate wins, JESUS is still king. If your preferred candidate gets beat, JESUS is. still. King. And I hope you find that encouraging and remember to stay on mission this week, we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ and of God’s kingdom that has come to earth, not of any mere president or nation.

Summary

So to recap, the Gospel is universal, unstoppable, and unbothered. It is for everyone, it will overcome any challenge, and it depends on nothing in this world.

And just in case maybe you haven’t had someone tell you this yet, let me take the opportunity right now to share that Gospel that Jesus Christ, who is God alongside the Father, came to earth to be born a humble human, lived a perfect, sinless life, and then willingly let himself be executed so that His perfect life could be a sacrifice in place of yours. Because all of us are sinners, and all of us fall short. But in Jesus’ death he has freed us from our sins, and with his resurrection He has conquered death once and for all so that all who are in Him could live with Him forever.

If you need to respond publicly to that gospel message this morning, if like the crowd at Pentecost you need to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and for the gift of the Holy Spirit,

Or if you maybe have already been baptized but you need the prayers of this church as you try to get back on track, whatever your need is, won’t you make it known while together we stand, and sing.