Otherworldly Courage
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
We’re back in our series on the church today, what the church is, how it works, how it moves, how it loves. We’re calling it Great Grace, because it is clear from the very beginning of the church’s existence that what has sustained it and enabled it and empowered it is not human initiative or aspiration or skill, but the grace of God. I don’t know about you, but whenever I’ve encountered grace of any kind, I’m usually struck by how powerless I am, how ineffectual I am, but also how thankful I am, how I am seen or heard or known. And it can be anything; a cool breeze during an unbearably hot day, the generosity of a stranger, an unexpected hug from my kids. All of it fosters a similar sense of otherness wherein I am comforted or helped or loved, and I know I did nothing to deserve that.
The book of Acts says that the church is characterized by grace. But not just grace—GREAT grace. An abundance of this sense of power, help, comfort, love—and it fills and overflows everything about them. That’s something I want us to keep in mind as we explore the nature of the church today.
PRAY
Last week we looked at the immediate aftermath of the church after its birth at Pentecost. And it’s tempting to look at that and think how great everything must have been, how perfect and straightforward the community was in those days. But it wasn’t. There were threats and challenges, inside the church and outside the church. As we look at some of these issues, I want you to notice not how perfectly the church handled everything, but how much they counted on God to lead them through it, how their dependence on the gospel sustained them, how God actively and presently worked to move the mission of the church forward, despite the challenges they faced, and even because of the challenges they faced.
Our passage this morning comes from Acts 4:23-31. Peter and John, the main leaders of the church, are out talking to people about Jesus, and they come across this man who is a paraplegic. He can’t work, he can’t travel, he has nothing to contribute, no way to provide for himself or others. He’s just about worthless in the eyes of the world. So he begs for money and food to survive. Peter and John pass by him, and the man reaches out for help. Peter tells him he has no money or food to offer him; all he has is the healing power of God. In an instant, the man’s life is changed as he rises from the ground on his own two feet.
Peter, of course, takes this opportunity to preach the message of Jesus to everyone around them who saw this. He urges them to repent and turn to Jesus. Last time in Acts we saw Peter do this, three thousand people were saved. This time, five thousand are saved. But it comes with a price. Peter and John are arrested by the religious leaders of Israel. They question them. They threaten them. They order them never to speak or teach the name of Jesus ever again. To the priests and scribes, these are untrained, dangerous men who are distorting the neat and tidy order of the Law of Israel. They are upending the religious structures they have crafted so carefully over thousands of years, structures they have relied on to encounter the presence of God safely and properly. They are a danger to society, to Judaism itself. They must not preach this gospel.
I love Peter and John’s response:
Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
After a few more threats and orders, they release them, because they also can’t argue against how people are giving glory and honor, not to Peter and John, but to God.
But it’s clear that following Jesus is now a dangerous practice. Speaking the truth about Jesus is going to come with problems and pushback. Knowing Jesus means there is an inward compulsion, a glorious burden to speak out about him, but at great personal risk. What does this mean for the church? When there is reason to fence the gospel in, when resistance comes, what do you do?
ETERNAL EYES
ETERNAL EYES
After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.
First, acknowledge the bigger picture.
Peter and John come back to the church and they explain how the Jewish leaders—their own leaders, for these are all Jewish people, mind you—want them to deny Jesus, stop following him, and stop telling everyone about him. It’s tough stuff. It’s a hard situation, being rejected by the people whom you would hope would be on your side, who should clearly understand as well anyone the hope of a Messiah for the nation of Israel. It’s heartbreaking, devastating. So what do they do? Hang their heads? Cry in their pillows? Shake their fists in anger? Protest arrogantly?
Nope. They pray. They raise a single voice to God. And it begins by recognizing that God is the master over every square inch of the universe. He made it all, and he directs it all.
It’s important to start here, when opposition to the gospel comes. Or when you feel fenced in with your spiritual life. Or when you feel like it’s not safe to follow Jesus in your school, or your workplace, or you home. It’s it important to start by opening your eyes wider. Look up. Look beyond the suffering. Look beyond the pushback. Look beyond the valley, beyond the mountains. Get above the tree line, and see the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is that God is the master over all things.
The Greek word for “master” here is despotes, where we get our word “Despot.” In English that’s a pretty negative word, meaning someone who takes freedom and enslaves people. In Greek, it’s not a negative word. What the church is saying here is that it seems like others have a power over you, and they are using that power to suppress you, to cage you, to keep you from living out this really exciting, life-changing adventure that the Spirit is leading you on. But really, the power they claim is a farce. The only truly free being in this world is God, because all real effectual power comes from him. The power that one human gives to another is limited by human capacity. You can only do so much. But the power that God exercises through his people cannot be stopped. His plan cannot be stopped. If God wants the gospel to reign over the world, it will. If God wants beauty and justice to spread and flourish over this earth, they will.
Now, I can tell you firsthand that following Jesus is hard. People don’t always hear how good the good news is. It confuses people. Talking about the need to change, to confess sin and pride, to surrender everything and be honest and vulnerable about weakness and hurts and addictions, asking people to give up comfort, status, or friends, the earthly trappings of this life, in exchange for an eternity with Jesus? It’s a big ask, and it’s a narrow road. And it doesn’t matter whether you are an elder in the church, a missionary overseas, or a brand new believer just taking your first steps; it’s not always going to be sunshine and unicorns.
The tendency when hardship comes is to avert your eyes from the goal in self-protection. Have you ever noticed that? When I feel anxiety or pain or fear, my head goes down, my eyes close or squint, and I feel like I can’t see two feet in front of me. It’s like someone knocked the glasses right off my face, and I don’t know where the blows are coming from or how to avoid them. It’s like adversity dims the eternal view, and I’m just holding on for dear life. Adversity can make you lose sight of God’s control, but it can also make you lose sight of your community. You feel like you must be the only one struggling, the only one who doesn’t get it, the only one who feels isolated or beat up.
That’s where our prayer begins. That in the midst of opposition or struggle, the community comes together and begins with one voice declaring that God owns this moment, that we exist by him and through him and for him, and that his plans never fail.
EXILE IDENTITY
EXILE IDENTITY
You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant: Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah. “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place.
Second, recognize your home is not your home.
The church quotes Psalm 2 here, where David sees all these enemy nations surrounding God’s people on all sides, and yet he has no fear, because God is so much bigger, so much more powerful. And yet, in the moment, there is this great threat to the beauty and justice that Israel seeks for its young nation. Seeing all these nations coming at them reminds Israel that their mandate, their covenant with YHWH, makes them a strange people, a nation unlike every other nation. They have a nation, and yet their home in Canaan is not exactly their true home.
Fast forward a thousand years. The church is praying this same Psalm. And at first, we understand. Herod and Pontius Pilate, representatives of Rome and Edom, enemy nations, are united in their rejection of Jesus, the anointed king. We get it when the “secular” world doesn’t makes sense of Christianity. We reject a life defined by unlimited pleasures and constantly accumulating possessions and powers. When your kingdom is not of this world, every other kingdom of the world sees you as antithetical to their version of the good life. We expect opposition from the outside.
But what about the inside? The church’s prayer mentions Pilate, Herod, and Gentiles, but also—wait for it—the people of Israel. That’s a bit of a change from David’s Song. You expect pushback from the secularists and the pagans, sure, but other followers of YHWH? Remember, at this time, the church considered itself a part of the nation of Israel, part of the broader Jewish community. These were their literal brothers and sisters. If any place should have been safe to talk about Messiah and Israel’s history and it’s salvation, this was it. But Israel’s elders and shepherds needed the law, and the structures, and the power and influence they had gained. A Messiah who is killed? A Messiah who gives authority and the voice of the Spirit to common fishermen? Who makes lame walk and blind see and just forgives graciously? No thanks. I’ll keep my law and my structures and my power.
Following Jesus requires a surrender that upends your vision of the good life. Dying to yourself and taking up your cross in order to follow Jesus is quite often a difficult way to accept, even among the religious. Israel had become good at walling up the church to protect itself from any threat whether inside or outside the society. Don’t be surprised if the radical way of following Jesus fails to gain traction, even among fellow Christians. Don’t be surprised when highly influential Christian leaders soften or ignore the difficult way of Jesus in order to maintain power and influence. Jesus didn’t come for you to win popularity contests among men. He came to save the world, and to bring good news of great joy.
I would argue that a great many of the church splits and divisions that take place today happen because pride, power, and process have taken over the purpose of the gospel community. Pastors are blinded by their authority, and so they limit the ministry of the church for fear that other, less trained men and women, might succeed in sharing the gospel truth more effectively than they. Ministry leaders hide behind policy and procedure to keep people from mission, because they might be led somewhere that makes us uncomfortable. Sometimes, brothers and sisters will play it safe, and hedge in the work of the Spirit for the sake of the Law.
When that happens, it’s natural to feel like an exile. Like you don’t really fit in anywhere. Like every nation is against you. You become a sojourner, a stranger in a strange land.
The tendency of feeling exiled is to assimilate, to compromise. When you feel like an exile, the temptation is to surrender and fit in. Put your head down, stay busy, play the game. But here’s the thing: following Jesus means you will feel like an exile, because following Jesus runs counter to every impulse in the human project. The human project bends toward personal achievement, pouring yourself for the sake of yourself. Jesus bends toward humility, pouring yourself out for the sake of others. The human project bends toward protection—you distrust everyone, so you build walls around the things you love. Jesus bends toward service and vulnerability—you trust Jesus and those who following him, so you freely share the things you love. Following Jesus means feeling like an exile, and then being okay with that.
But in order to be okay, we need to hear this last part of the prayer.
FORWARD FOCUS
FORWARD FOCUS
And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.
Third, keep doing what you do.
Now we get to the good stuff. How does Israel respond to the threats of suppression and opposition? Do they pray for lighting bolts and fire to rain down on their enemies? Do they pray for diplomacy and a way to stay safe?
They just give their concern to God. Lord, consider their threats. They simply ask that God would deal with opposition the way he want to. They trust that his plan will work itself out.
Then, they pray for the courage to speak God’s words and to see him work wonders through the name of Jesus. The word here for boldness refers to confident, straightforward, plan speech. They ask that God’s words would be God’s words, that their testimony would be unfiltered and true. They pray that God would use them and work great things through them, so that more people would come to know him.
The church doesn’t ask for persecution. That’s foolish. The church doesn’t run from persecution. That’s compromise. The church expects it, but trusts God, and asks for the power to keep going, to keep doing what they were meant to do, to never give up on the gospel.
And here’s the crazy thing: God responds. The whole building shakes around them, and then they are filled with the spirit, and they speak the word of God boldly. They are set free to confidently and plainly deliver the message of truth. Persecution will come, and they are ready. Pushback and threats will arise, and they will stand firm. Pain and suffering will occur, and the church will eventually be scattered throughout the globe. It’s all part of God’s plan to take the truth of Jesus to the furthest reaches of the earth.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot futile things? So that through their futility, God might do great things.
Here’s what I get from this passage: I believe the church is healthiest when it commits to a regular rhythm of gathering and scattering. The church goes out, preaches the gospel of Jesus, heals and works and blesses the world, encounters persecution and danger. Then the church collects, testifies to the work of God, deals with hardship and challenges, and prays that God would strengthen them to keep going, to not give up, to get back out there and live out the calling of Jesus.
But I also believe that the church is healthiest, when it sees the bigger picture. All of this, all that we are doing here or out there, as a church, is all about giving glory to God by testifying and working in and through the name of Jesus.
So our reliance is not on policies, procedures, programs, properties, or people. It’s on the master, the Creator of all.
We recognize his authority. We call for him to work out his justice and oversight, and we call on him to enable the mission, to show clearly and effectively that he is behind everything that we do and everything that we are.
This is a prayer that God would unleash his church upon the world, and we must cherish it. We must pray that we would be so enamored by Christ and him crucified, that we would see ourselves as crucified with Christ, and that we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. We are but vessels, filled with the Spirit, in order to show the world that the extraordinary power we truly possess is from God, not from us.
We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak. For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you. Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
PRAY
COMMUNION PASSAGE
COMMUNION PASSAGE
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.