Intro
In recent years…people exploring their ancestry… the massive exploration has come in part due to easier access to archived info… and DNA testing…but also because of the significant disconnection people feel with their families…and their roots. Fewer have those who pass along the stories… and people feel more adrift.
(Roots TV series…not the outward styles… it was the values.)
Today we are continuing in our series entitled ‘ROOTS: rediscovering our foundations. Engaging the Biblical Book of Acts.
If you are newer to the Scriptures, the Book of Acts is a unique book in the Bible. It lies after the four Gospel accounts… and before the letters written to various churches. It provides an accounting of the dramatic spread of the followers of Christ. eyewitness account of the birth and growth of the early church and the spread of the gospel immediately after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Biblical Book known as “Acts” is written by Luke as something of a follow up to his Gospel account of the life and teachings of Christ. Here in Acts he draws together his collecting of firsthand accounts following the resurrection of Christ in which the church began.
Here we discover the roots of the church… the family story and foundations.
We want to hear afresh the real calling that is upon our lives… as individuals and as a community.
Last week… after he rose from the dead… he spent 40 days… focusing them on the KOG… and concluded…‘you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” That calling changed everything.
What we must grasp is that what Christ began was not centered in a meeting but a mission.
Some will dismiss the value of meeting… which completely forsakes the way of Jesus… as he set forth a mission that was rooted in his gathering together 12 lives and committing himself to them… and such a committed camaraderie was essential to how they grew in their maturity and lived out the mission.
What’s vital to grasp is that the meeting was in support of a mission. This is why I like the term
‘missional community.’
Today… the day of Pentecost declares to us…
Acts 2:1-8, 12-18
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: ""Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? …12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ""What does this mean?"" 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, ""They have had too much wine."" 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ""Fellow
Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15"
"These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ""'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
Critical point at which the church is birthed… with the coming of the Spirit of God. [1] This is central to who we are.
We are empowered by the Holy Spirit… which was the entire focus of our recent summer series.
But there is also a profound work of uniting people that is taking place here.
Background – God used this festival of harvest when Jews scattered from many nations came to Jerusalem to reveal that when the Spirit is poured out… the age of harvest begins… praises come forth that are not in the language of the those praising…but can be understood by the breadth of foreigners. [2]
It’s a sign of God reuniting humanity in Himself.
As many have noted, it is the reversal of what took place long ago in God’s hand upon humanity… as recorded in Genesis 11.
Genesis 11:2-4
“As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,
and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.””
With one common language there was nothing to stop the vanity of human pride. They had just come into the development of brick making… and it seemed to stir their pride of what they could achieve. United in their own pride… there was no limits to the vanity at hand. Can we not hear something of that ride today with every advancing technology… of losing the basic humility of our finite nature…and declaring that there is nothing we can’t control and achieve.? The problem is not in the technology…but in the pride that seeks to unite in reaching the heavens by our own means.
God sends His Spirit to break up the process by confusing their ability to understand each other… dividing their languages. It became referred to as the Tower of Babel… because the word ‘Babel’ means confusion. This is where the term babbling comes from… and this area would later became known as Babylon — a city associated with evil throughout Scripture. [3]
But God said…one day he would pour out His Spirit on ALL people
So the church is birthed on that Day of Pentecost as the reversal of Babel. At the Tower of Babel – the people gathered to make a name for themselves. At Pentecost – a group gathered to serve the glory of God.
At the Tower of Babel - God uses language to break up the human centered agenda.
At Pentecost – God uses language to unite people in “declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.” (Acts 2:11)
“Babel was the imposition of human will; Pentecost was the acceptance of God’s divine will."
"Pentecost is Babel reversed and undone.” - Rodney Buchanan
The church came to understand that they were now a part of God’s plan, as expressed in In Ephesians 1:9-10, which explains that
“God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” Ephesians 1:9-10 (NLT)
This is quite a statement. They realized the scope of what God was doing….and who they were.
It’s who we are. We are to embrace and embody that God’s Kingdom is that which reunited us with God but also unites us in God.
We are to be a reconciling community.
This is one of the core stated values of the Vineyard movement. [4]. One of the five core priorities we embrace is that of
Being a Reconciling Community
Jesus is reconciling humans to God, to each other, and to the entire creation, breaking down divisions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female. Therefore, we are committed to becoming healing communities engaged in the work of reconciliation wherever sin and evil hold sway. We seek to be diverse communities of hope that realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin. This requires us to move beyond our personal preferences to engage those who are perceived to be unlike us and to actively break down barriers of race, culture, gender, social class and ethnicity.
So the first and most central point for us to hear…is that
1. We are called to join in the reuniting of human community through Christ… who unites us in God.
> It’s vital to understand that the grand calling at hand is not simply about being united… but united in relationship to God…. centered in God.
Helping people come together for the common good is always a good thing… but when it comes to defining what unites… will always divide if it doesn’t transcend all other identities.
Humanity seems to be bound in a profound need to come together for the sake of it’s own good… it’s own survival.
We catch glimpses…of the potential…
• A magnificent structure… from pyramids to achievements like landing on the moon
• A football game where both teams are seen gathered together in prayer after the game
• Strangers suddenly work together to rescue a person or animal in danger Such moments seem overtaken by the disdain and divide that rules.
Our true unity must be that which transcends all differences… and unite us in what is truly the common good… which is God.
When we are centered in God we are then able to enjoy our diversity without being defined and
divided by it."
"This is what God had declared through the prophet Joel… which Peter now says is at hand… and calls all to join.
The Spirit is reuniting different ethnic, cultural, and social backgrounds
(v. 17) God says, "In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people..."
It had been presumed that God was only at work through certain groups… and certain classes of people… the kings and prophets… but He is choosing and using all equally.
The Spirit has set in motion what God had first created. We all come from God. We are all created in His image. Though culturally diverse… our lineage is the same. We have the same parents. We are by
God’s decree and biological fact ONE HUMAN RACE.
The Spirit is reuniting the divide between genders
(v. 17) "...Your sons and daughters will prophesy."
Women were deemed second class. So these words spoke into the conflict of their day just as they do today.
The Spirit is reuniting us across the ages and stages of life
(v. 17) ...Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Both will share in what God is unfolding.
This is precisely the new reality of life in Jesus. He has united all life in his own life and sacrifice. As the apostle Paul says in…
Galatians 3:26-28 (TNIV)
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
These words reflect a deep transformation. They were written by the Apostle Paul… who had formerly been a rising star amongst the religious leaders of His day. As one of those leaders, Paul would have given thanks daily that he was not born a woman, slave, or Gentile.
What he now declares nothing less that a complete reorientation… a completely new understanding of what God was doing.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
This is a RADICAL statement. It doesn’t mean that these aspects of life have no meaning… or that we
can’t embrace and enjoy our unique ethnicity or gender or even social position.
It means that they must no longer be our primary source of identity that defines us and divides us.
• It declares that our racial identity can no longer be more important than our common humanity united in God.
• It declares that we are no longer to so identify with the uniqueness of our gender that live in opposition to others with whom we are actually more ultimately bound as equals with.
• It declares that our socio-economic status is no longer that which we can allow to separate us
from others.
Jesus had accomplished that which could allow all lives to be restored in relationship to God. In his sacrifice on the cross, he had provided what no one groups religion or self righteousness could offer. The playing field had always been level. No one could claim to live as they should. Now he made it possible
for all to be restored to God."
It was that group on the Day of Pentecost who was the first to represent those who had no other claim of their own merits. Jesus was restoring God’s kingdom… where the central identity is that of being united in God. [5]
We are a preview community of the future culmination of heaven.
Notably this becomes a central part of what we see throughout Acts and the initial formation of the church as the new human community of God… reunited in God.
….and what we learn is that…
2. The reuniting of human community in God is not simple, but neither is it optional.
Our unity is what Jesus prayed for most… not because it’s easy…but because it is essential.
The entire Book of Acts describes a process that was anything but easy… it was a process that had
everyone in tension.
Those first lives were faced with having their whole way of identifying themselves change. They had identified their place in the world by their unique attributes… especially culture (including look and language) as well as how that related to distinctions in social status… class distinctions.
At the time of Christ, Jews were considered God’s people; Gentiles were considered to be separated from God. [6]
So not surprisingly, the entire Book of Acts is an unfolding of the very deep and difficult process that the early church went through. [7]
It’s a process that was never finished. What began in the Book of Acts is continuing through our lives right here and now.
Here we are… with all our differences… trying deeply to define us and divide us. We are faced with our racial differences… our political differences… our social-economic difference… our gender differences.
Neither lines drawn up long ago on maps… nor legislation drawn up in courts of law, are proving an answer to the deep pain and prejudice felt in the hearts of men and women throughout our world.
God has called us to embrace and embody …
• A vision to replace apprehension with appreciation.
• A vision that is not simply imposed but inspired.
• A vision that is not simply political but personal.
• A vision that is not simply based in rhetorical ideals… but redemptive reality.
Indeed this world is longing for the KINGDOM OF GOD …where every tongue, tribe, and nation would be as one before God.
John 17:20-22 (NLT)
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one… so that the world will believe you sent me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me
and that you love them as much as you love me.”
Jesus prayed forth the very will of God; that all who would believe would be one. [7]
• Not that we would all be the same…but that we would be one.
• For he said we should be one as he and the Father were one.
• A oneness in which we like them are united yet unique; equal yet distinct.
It wasn’t simple then and it isn’t easy now.
And what we find is that the early church realized it requires a deep reorientation of how we see people.
3. Reuniting as human community requires changing how we see people.
As Paul preached to the Athenian philosophers,
From one man God made every nation of the human race, that they should inhabit the whole earth. - Acts 17:26.
Diversity is God’s design. This becomes striking as the church is given a vision of what is to come.
The Apostle John, is given a vision… which we can read in the Biblical Book of Revelation.
I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language,
standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. - Revelation 7:9
He was given a vision… he looked…and what he saw was meant for all of us to see.
God sees a world of cultural diversity not being reduced to some type of uniformity…but being united in their honor of the Lamb…that is…of Christ…who is being welcomed as the King of all.
God sees every equally. The discomfort we have… is in us… it’s fears and superiority that we have developed.
Let’s conclude with three major changes in how we see.
3. Reuniting as human community requires…
• Realizing that everyone is significant.
The life of Jesus on earth… saw people differently.
They would be walking with Jesus… and Jesus would become engaged with someone in need….someone that the disciples had simply walked by because they had learned not to see them… not to see any significance in them.
And on several occasion, they even seemed frustrated that Jesus was stopping. And essentially, they were saying… they weren’t important… significant.
And Jesus told them what he saw.
The early church learned to see as God sees. In essence, the church, as our spiritual family, embraced a call to overcome our favoritism… to not relate merely by what someone can do for you…but by what you can do for them. [8]
Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. - 1 Corinthians 12:22-23 (NKJV)
Just as the human body has no insignificant parts, the body of Christ has no small or unimportant members. We all have a sphere of influence—however large or small, however visible or invisible—and we all have a vital role to play in God's plan for redeeming and restoring the world. We may be as well- hidden as a bone in the inner ear, an internal organ, or a foot inside a shoe, but every person is absolutely essential to the eternal purpose of God.
Everyone of us is unique, a one-of-a-kind, special, limited edition!!
Reuniting as human community requires…
• Discovering the gift of diversity.
Just contemplate trying to do everyday tasks with a team of clones of yourself. It's not a pleasant thought. And that's not just because clones of you would be, well, weird, but also because there'd be no one to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, experience or abilities. Essentially, very few things would get done and those that did would be more to difficult.
God created us as a diverse people and He wants us to unite. That's why he gave us different skills and strengths so that we would recognize our need for one another and appreciate our individuality.
Paul comments on how God works in different ways in different people:
1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 12-14
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
… Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. … the body is not made up of one part but of many.""
Diversity is not the end in itself… wherein we celebrate differences in themselves… that just creates a thousand competing fragments. Diversity become a gift when united around life in God. [9]
It’s that which is focused on the common ground… of life in God.
Apart from God we can tend to see diversity as competition… but God sees it as a source of something complimentary.
Our differences are not intended to create distance…but dependence.
Reuniting as human community requires…
• Giving up the desire to dominate
Mark 10:42-45
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He gave his life as a ransom…
He washed his disciples feet and said … go and do likewise.
And in essence he said…You are to be a community that represents God’s family… who exist in mutual service of one another."
Closing / Communion:
This gathering is a great start. This room is full of diversity.
Together we are going to share in communion. The word ‘communion’ has been given to the sharing of these elements because they reflect the very source of common life.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (ESV)
The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
I want to lead in this celebration of common life by asking someone to join me who may be a bit different from me. I’d like to ask if there is a woman here today… who is 40 or under (or 60 and older)… from a non-European background. (Whatever person first joined me on stage… I just noted these differences…and how thy reflect very different experiences in life… and then asked if they would serve these elements of communion with me. We served each other. Then from those elements the whole congregation was served by various servers.)
Challenge us to build bridges… community of reconciliation.
Resources: Bob Briggs, Rodney Buchanan
Notes:
1, There in the midst arises the question: “What does this mean?” It means that the manifest presence and power of God is being poured out just as God had planned… reflected in prophecy and signs and wonders… all bringing forth the harvest… the gathering of lives in relationship to God. And that group of lives did indeed go into the world empowered… moving with the wind of God’s Spirit. The Roman Empire… in all it’s power and pride and pagan idolatry… could not stop the world from seeing the life of God in this new community. They were filled with a boldness and power that could not be put out. They also embodied a love for one another that defied the divisions of their time. Something was set forth as they were launched on that Day of Pentecost. On that day, God began reuniting the human community in relationship to Himself.
2. The Feast of Pentecost originated in the Pentateuch as an offering of firstfruits, decreed for Israel on Mount Sinai. The day called “Pentecost” is named after the Greek word pentekostos, which means “fiftieth.” On the day after the Sabbath after Passover, the ancient Israelites selected a sheaf of the first grain that had been harvested in the spring. This grain became an offering, and the priest waved it “before the Lord” (Leviticus 23:11-12). Pentecost was observed in ancient Israel on the 50th day after this (verse 15). Since the counting of Pentecost was tied to this event and it came at the end of the spring grain harvest, Pentecost was sometimes called the Feast of the Harvest and Day of First Fruits (Exodus 23:16; Numbers 28:26).
Judaism came to regard Pentecost as the anniversary of the giving of the old covenant and law at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20–24). It is not surprising, then, that Pentecost would have a symbolic meaning for the church. It was the day when God once again manifested himself in a unique way, signaling a new relationship between God and his people. As William Neil summarizes it:
Pentecost had also come to signify for Jews the commemoration of the giving of the Law at Sinai fifty
days after the Exodus Passover. For Luke this, too, would be seen as having a Christian fulfilment in the giving of the Spirit fifty days after the Christian Exodus Passover, the Crucifixion and Resurrection. [E.
William Neil, The Acts of the Apostles,The New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), page 72).]
3. Drawn from great contrasting by Rodney Buchanan
4. From Vineyard USA website “Core Values” found here
5. God is our beginning…our common Father… Jesus is our brother… our common savior… the Spirit is the redeeming force at work… our common agent of life and breath. This is the reclaimed humanity… being restored in relationship to God. It is open to all. We are to invite all and welcome all. Exclusion is not made by any but those who choose to it… exclusion is ultimately only made by choosing not to accept life with and under God.
6. Bob Briggs notes ‘Though Gentiles could convert to Judaism, they could never enjoy the full package of benefits as one who was Jewish by birth--and, really, strict Jews had no use for Gentiles at all. Some even went as far as saying that help should not be given to a Gentile woman in childbirth, because it would only bring another Gentile into the world.’
7. While it is common to read through the Book of Acts as the unfolding of the Spirit’s ministry through the church, it is more clearly the Spirit moving the church out into the breadth of the world. The breaking through of divisions is central.
• Acts 6 we see how the one cultural group widows were being neglected in the distribution of food by the dominant group… and it was a problem that required new steps in leadership.
“At that time, as the number of disciples grew, Greek-speaking Jews complained about the Hebrew- speaking Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that the widows among them were neglected every day when food and other assistance was distributed.” - Acts 6:1-15 (GW)
• Although the disciples were commanded to go unto all nations, it took them a long time to go until the stoning of Stephen and persecution (Acts 7). They stayed in Jerusalem. This shows the struggle when we are faced with cultures and ethnicities that are different than ours or what we are comfortable with.
• When Samaritans respond and the Spirit comes upon them… they are forced to consider that God may be including those they deemed unclean and excluded.
• Then the Spirit comes upon Gentiles… and the ultimate questions arise. God has to bring Peter a dream to show him that they are to be part of God’s household. And finally in Acts 15 one of the earliest Council finally recognizes that Gentiles should be welcomes apart from becoming culturally like Jews in their traditions.
8. Jesus sought unity because it reflected God. It would allow the world to see God. Inherent in our new life in Christ is the fulfillment of the vision of eternity given in Revelation, when every tongue, tribe, and nation will be united before God. Every “nation,” every ethnos…every ethnic group. God is glorified when every ethnic group are again as one, because only together are we the fullness of the human race which God created to be in relationship with and to be glorified through. Only in the fullness of our diversity will God be fully glorified.
That is why Jesus said he would not return and bring the consummation of human history, as we know it, until the Good News of eternal life in Him reached every nation, every distinct culture, and people.
9. James makes clear that favoritism is not simply disrespectful of people; it is sin against God. “If … you show favoritism, you commit sin” (Jas. 2:9). It is sin because it is contrary to the character and command
of God."
10. Good piece at: A Christian View of Diversity by Geneva College - here
