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Sovereignty, Responsibility, and Boldness

Acts, Prayer, SermonsMarch 2, 2009
(This sermon on Acts 4:23-31was preached 11/9/08. The audio is available here.)

Imagine that you are engaged in a personal ministry. You are confident that you are following God, and it seems that you are having some success. Then, suddenly, there’s a huge obstacle in your path,

  • It might be a failure on your part,
  • It might be a rejection or betrayal by former colleagues,
  • It might be a financial barrier,
  • It might be opposition, or threats from others.

How do you respond?

In Acts 4, that’s the situation Peter and John and all the apostles find themselves in.

Jesus was killed just a few months ago. That itself had seemed to be the end of their hopes. But God raised Him from dead. Jesus opened their eyes to Scripture and to His own prophecies to see that the crucifixion had to happen, to see the role of Christ’s suffering in God’s plan. The apostles now know that Jesus is living, active, still at work.

He then sent the Holy Spirit on them with power at Pentecost, baptizing them and filling them for their special task. These apostles saw three thousand saved that day – and they themselves baptized every one. They’ve seen more come to faith day by day.

Then God worked through Peter and John to heal a man who was lame from birth. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached; once again, thousands more were saved.

It would be understandable if, at this point, the apostles thought, “Wow! Look at God work! What success! Everything is just going to get better and better!”

But things didn’t get better and better.

As we saw last week, the Jewish authorities arrest Peter and John. They threaten them, warning them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Peter speaks boldly in their presence, saying there is no other name by which men must be saved, saying that they cannot but speak about what they have seen and heard, saying they must obey God rather than men. But the Jewish authorities just threaten all the more. They release Peter and John, but make their point absolutely clear: “If you continue to speak in the name of Jesus, watch out. We’re here. You know what happened to Jesus. If you love your families, if you want to see your children grow up, you had better keep quiet.”

This is the first serious challenge to the young church.

Put yourself in their shoes: These are not supermen. They have families, worries, and cares. If they are put to death, there are no food stamps, there is no welfare, there is no social security for their children. They must be facing a strong temptation to be quiet. Satan undoubtedly tempted them in these terms: “Think about how many are already saved! Let’s just teach them. Let’s just live together and enjoy each other, be family to each other. We can stop this proselytizing. For it’s this speaking in public that will get us in trouble. Indeed, maybe this is a sign from God –we’ve been spreading the Gospel, and we’ve had our success. Now maybe we’re supposed to stop and focus on deepening our joy in Christ.”

Imagine what would have happened if apostles had done that. That would have been the end of the church. Or, possibly, the church would have been a tiny enclave, a minor sect within Judaism. In other words, that would have been disastrous.

So how do the apostles fight this temptation? How can we, facing our own obstacles, fight the temptation to quit, to change, to adapt in ways that destroy our ministry?

Peter and John fight in four ways that are applicable to us:

  • Acknowledge your weakness
  • Know the truth
  • Trust the truth
  • Ask for God’s enabling

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The Promise of Power

Acts, Blog, SermonsOctober 15, 2008
This sermon on Acts 1:6-26 was preached 9/14/2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.) Do you ever dream that you're in school, sitting down to take a test, and realize, "I never studied! I never even went to class!" Or perhaps you dream that you are about to begin an athletic event - and realize you never practiced. How do those dreams make you feel? Do you feel that way when you are called upon to be a witness to Jesus? Do you think, "I don't know enough! I need years of study to properly witness! I can't possibly make these people listen!" Last week we began our series in the book of Acts. We saw that this book is not really the Acts of the Apostles. Only two apostles are prominent, but it is not a synopsis of their lives either. Instead, Luke opens by saying that his first volume, his gospel "dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach." Acts then deals with what Jesus continued to do. Acts tells of the continuing work of Jesus.

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Continuing What Jesus Began to Do

Acts, SermonsOctober 15, 2008
(This sermon on Acts 1:1-5 was preached 9/7/2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.) Think of an important historical figure. What was his or her greatest accomplishment?
  • For Thomas Jefferson, perhaps authoring the Declaration of Independence.
  • For Abraham Lincoln, keeping our country together.
  • For Martin Luther, taking his stand on the Word of God, and returning much of the church to biblical authority.
Some of you may be thinking of scientists, missionaries, authors, or explorers. Different men, different women, different fields of endeavor - but for all their varied accomplishments, the question makes sense. Now: Consider Jesus: Can we ask the same question about Him? What was Jesus' greatest accomplishment? I hope when you hear that question you're somewhat uneasy. For if we were to judge Jesus' accomplishments on the same basis as the others we've mentioned - frankly, there's not much there. For a period of time shorter than one US presidential term, he traveled around with a dozen men, in a backwater province of the Roman Empire; He taught publicly, and made some pretty outrageous claims. He healed people, a few rather dramatically. Perhaps during His lifetime as many as 200 people believed He was the promised Messiah. But one of his closest associates turned Him in to authorities for a few thousand dollars. The Roman governor executed Him. That doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment compared to Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther, or Isaac Newton, does it? But there's a huge difference with Jesus: His death is not the end of the story. We celebrate what Jefferson, Lincoln, Luther, and others accomplished prior to their deaths. For Jesus: We celebrate what He accomplished in His death, in His resurrection, and what He continues to do after death. We begin today a series on the book of Acts. This is the second volume written by Luke, the traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. This volume was written about 30 years after the crucifixion. Each volume begins with a note to a man named Theophilus, who seems to be a prominent Roman official who has heard much about Jesus, but needs assurance of the truthfulness of the reports. So Luke says he writes: "that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught" (Luke 1:4). Luke opens the book of Acts with these words. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,  2 until the day when he was taken up This is a pretty strange statement. Imagine two-volume biographical study of Lincoln, written decades after his death, with the second volume beginning, "My first volume dealt with all that Lincoln began to do until his assassination." That makes no sense for Lincoln. Why does it make sense for Jesus? To speak this way implies that Jesus is still at work. John Wilkes Booth's bullet ended Lincoln's accomplishments. But the cross did not end Jesus' accomplishments. The cross was only the beginning.

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Maintain Your Form and Finish Well in the Race of Faith

Blog, Sermons, The Race of FaithAugust 27, 2008
(This sermon on 2 Timothy 4:6-8 was preached 8/24/2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.) Many expected the Beijing Olympic marathon to be slow, as runner after runner would succumb to the pollution on top of high heat and humidity. So when this morning the leaders took off at close to world record pace, a number of runners - including the top Americans, Dathan Ritzenheim and Ryan Hall - decided around three miles that that was suicidal, and backed off, hoping to run a slower, more even pace, and pick off stragglers. Such tactics had worked well in a number of past Olympic marathons. But not today. Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya had other plans. He had prepared for these conditions. When the day dawned quite clear for Beijing, he was confident he could run a fast pace all the way to the end. And he did. With a little over two miles to go he picked up the pace - and immediately dropped his last competitor. Running smoothly, relaxed and strong, he entered the stadium with a large lead. The crowd roared, cheering him on. He celebrated as he ran the last quarter mile on the track. Sammy Wanjiru finished well. Our question this morning: Will you also finish well? To get the gold medal, you have to finish the race. The marathon is 26 miles 385 yards. If you stop at 26 miles, 384 yards, you do not win - no matter how far ahead you are at that point.

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Work Hard Yet Relax During the Race of Faith

Blog, Sermons, The Race of FaithAugust 18, 2008
(This sermon was preached August 17, 2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.) No one in the history of mankind has run 100 meters as fast as Usain Bolt did yesterday. And yet - did you see the head-on shot of his race? He looked completely relaxed. This coming Saturday night, watch the men's marathon. Ryan Hall will run over 26 miles, averaging well under 5-minutes per mile. That's fast. Indeed, looking around, I don't think there's anyone here this morning who can run one mile that fast. Yet while making that long, sustained effort, his stride will be fluid and his face relaxed. Are these two anomalies? No: All good coaches teach their runners to relax. When trying to run as fast as we can, we have a natural tendency to grimace, to tighten the mouth, the neck, the shoulders. But all that is counterproductive. All that slows you down. In order to run fast, you must relax. Why is this? It is actually quite logical, for two reasons.

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