A New Beginning
The Story - 28
May 1, 2011
It’s amazing what could happen in a short period of time, isn’t it? Two weeks ago, Jesus came into Jerusalem with screams of joy and celebration. Within the week, the people who cheered for Him, turned on Him and He was crucified. Then came that terrible Saturday, the day of no hope, a day of total despair, which was replaced with unimaginable joy when the disciples learned Jesus was alive. The feelings and emotions of that week were crazy. Most of us have been there. We’ve had amazing highs, great celebrations; followed by profound sadness and despair.
That’s how it was for the disciples. They weren’t real sure what to do next, Jesus told them, but just like us, they didn’t always listen well. As we look at the final four weeks of the Story, we’re going to race through the inception of the church and see what we can learn from Jesus.
We have now become the church, we are the body of Christ and wherever we go, whatever we do, we represent Jesus and His mission. Jesus now speaks through people like you and I to go into the world and make disciples; to lead others to experience the great hope we have in Jesus. A great summary statement of the early church and their mission, and one which I believe is still the mission for the church, can be found in Acts 1:8. As we look at chapter 28 of The Story, listen to these words from Jesus ~ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
After His resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days in His resurrected body on the earth with the disciples. And at the end of these 40 days, Jesus made them ambassadors or missionaries. This is the final command from Christ. He doesn’t send the disciples into the hills to pray or the desert to retreat, but they are sent right into the heart of the city to be His witnesses.
This is so important because at this very moment in time, Jerusalem was filled with people. It was the Jewish holiday of Pentecost. It was a harvest celebration and the city would have been overflowing with visitors. Most historians believe Jerusalem had about 100,000 people, but during Pentecost, they believe the city grew 10 fold. That means there were upwards of 1 million people in town.
Farmers would celebrate the harvest. It was part of the purpose of Pentecost, to celebrate the abundance of the harvest, and it was also to celebrate the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. It was a very important celebration. People came from all over to celebrate. People with all types of dialects, cultures, and skin colors.
And somewhere in the city are 120 disciples who were told by Jesus ~ 4 Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4-5)
They were simply told in a few days, they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit — 120 followers of Christ, stayed together in the city waiting, not sure what was going to happen or how it was going to happen, just wait for the Spirit. So, for 10 days they hung out together, eating, talking, worshiping, singing and praying to God. Then something astounding happened on the day of Pentecost, when the city was overflowing with people.
We read in Acts 2 ~ 1 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 their own language being spoken.
7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
The prayer service becomes a revival. Uncultured Galileans become cross cultural missionaries. They speak languages they’ve never studied. It sounds like the United Nations. Suddenly these uneducated hicks are speaking in languages they could never understand, but now, God has blessed them with this ability to speak in other languages. Andrew for example can now tell about his journey with Christ in Egyptian, and James in Libyan, and Thomas proclaims the resurrection to the Cappadocians.
Foreigners are hearing the word of God in their own language. People are coming from all over the city and they hear the disciples speaking; people hearing about Christ for the first time.
They’re wondering what does this all mean? And Peter’s answer to that question comes in the form of the first sermon of the church era ~
22 “People of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2)
The people had heard of Jesus. Just 50 days earlier, he had been in the headlines with His execution. They knew about Jesus, but Peter asked them, ‘do you know Jesus?’ 5 different times Peter says “YOU”, you killed Him, this was not a sermon which was meant to make people feel good and win over some new friends. This was an in your face sermon. He spoke about the death and burial of Christ. He told the people, you nailed Him to the cross, you killed Him.
In essence, God came — walked, spoke, healed and taught on these very streets, but you ignored Him and even worse, you killed Him. But all is not lost, you are not lost, because He has poured out what you see and hear. In other words, this miracle we witnessed is evidence that Jesus is alive and still engaged today. He’s still working among us; stretching us; challenging us and giving us the ability to talk about His wonders in other languages. God has done this.
The cynics who were there, and the crowd was in the 1000's, said, ‘these guys are drunk, they’re a bunch of hicks from Galilee, this isn’t possible.’ But Peter tells them, it’s only 9 am, nobody’s been drinking. Others in the crowd then changed the question. The first question was, ‘what does this mean?’ The 2nd question is – ‘what shall we do?’ Notice how the gospel of Jesus goes from head to heart.
It went from a curiosity, what does this mean to a conviction, what shall we do? Some are beginning to realize their crime, God was here, and we missed Him. And maybe they admit they were part of the mob who yelled ‘crucify Him.’ You mean I missed this, I helped kill Him. What shall I do?
What if Peter had said, “sorry, it’s too late. God is a one shot God, and you missed your chance and you’re out.” If that was his response, we wouldn’t be here today. But Peter had great news for the people. He told them God is not a one shot God, He gives you a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th chance, and if that’s not enough, as long as you’re willing, He’ll give you another chance after that. Listen to Peter’s words –
38 Peter replied, “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.
39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2:38-41)
In one day, the church grew from 120 to 3,000. What a day, what a great first day of the church. A 2400% increase. A mega church was exploding in Jerusalem. It’s also a cause for concern, because how do you nurture 3,000 new Christ followers? Especially these 3,000, because they have come from all over the world. But they’re all baptized into the same Christ. You’ve got slave standing next to master; young and old; male and female; they come with different backgrounds. Well, Luke answers the question with one of the great pictures of the NT church. Listen to this, THIS IS THE CHURCH. . . it’s in Acts 2:42-47 . . .
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellow-ship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Do you catch the radical community of the NT church. The unbridled generosity. There are no personal pronouns. It’s a they . . . they devoted themselves, everyone was filled, all the believers, they sold, they continued to meet, they broke bread . . . This is a collection of individuals, who became a family. They’re distinctive, unique, devoted to community. WHY? Because Christ calls us together.
Max Lucado tells the story about an Episcopalian Bishop, Jim Fultz. Lucado said they were speaking together at a Good Friday service and Fultz was wearing a large, gold, thick cross. Lucado admits to being a little judgmental about what Fultz was wearing. Then he heard Fultz tell the story of the cross.
You see, for many years Fultz was the pastor at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and when he was moving to become the bishop, the tradition in the Episcopal church is that the congregation makes the bishop a cross, they didn’t buy him one, they made him a cross. There were 242 different contributions of gold which were received. Gold from family and friends.
There was a man who was supposed to get married, but his bride left him at the altar. Bishop Fultz encouraged the man during that time and out of gratitude took that ring he was going to give his bride and gave it to the bishop; and it became part of the cross.
There were some married couples who were divorced and then reconciled and were married again. Pastor Fultz was instrumental in helping them to reconcile, and those couples took their first sets of wedding bands and they became part of the cross.
There was the young mother who contributed a set of gold beads to the cross. When her son was 7, he was killed in a car accident, Bishop Fultz was a source of comfort to her. She gave them to him to be put on the cross.
242 different stories and gifts from the church. They were all melted down and reformed into the shape of the cross. You see, that’s a picture of the church. When our stories intermingle; when our tears flow together; when laughter fills the room; and when our stories come together, the church is created . . . in the name of Jesus.
When the healthy hand touches the sick hand in the hospital, the cross is seen in our community. When the lonely receives assurance from the secure. When young and old meet and find Christ is their common ground; and their stories aren’t all that different. When those who would never come together . . . do so, because of the cross of Christ, community is formed. This is what happened in Acts 2. Let’s be part of that kind of church.
You and I don’t want to be part of a church that’s playing church. But we can get excited about a church which is built on prayer. In Acts 2, they came together and prayed for 10 days. And a revival exploded out of that prayer service. It’s been said, ‘the church prayed for 10 days, Peter preached for 3 minutes, and the harvest was 3,000 souls. But today, we tend to get those numbers backwards. We pray for 3 minutes, preach for 10 days, and we may see 3 souls.
Let’s be a people of prayer. Can I call on you to pray for your Jerusalem? To pray for that part of the world where you live. To pray for your neighborhood, and your community. Maybe God has placed you in your home for very strategic purposes.
Then let’s be like Peter was, focused on the true gospel. The life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. There’s so much Peter could have preached on that day — the sick, the homeless, the hungry, but he didn’t. He focused on Jesus.
There are certain opinions of church life which are written in pencil. There are certain ideas which are written in ink. But there is only one teaching which is written in blood. . . the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
We have a number of different opinions on a number of different things. And those opinions are written in pencil, because they very well may change from day to day, and opinions are just that ... opinions, not fact. And that is why we have erasers, so we can change our minds and admit our mistakes.
And then there are those convictions we write in ink, we really believe them, but they aren’t as important as the fact that Christ died on the cross for our sins. He paid the price for you and I, and He rose from the dead. That’s the message we must never, never, move away from.
And then add to that great news, the fellowship of the church. That coming together, the unbridled generosity. Meeting together, looking at one another’s faces, not like this in a sanctuary where you’re looking at the back of someone’s head, listening to one person speak, and wondering when they’re going to finish so you can get a donut.
When you’re in someone’s house, or when you’re serving together, something happens which doesn’t happen in a sanctuary.
Radical hospitality! It’s a secret ingredient of a healthy and vibrant church. When we open our lives to one another. When we help one another feel welcomed, cared for, comforted, accepted, hopeful, and loved.
Don’t you want to be part of a church like this? We need all hands on deck, no sitting back and watching. Everyone has a role to play. We need everyone, not just a few, everyone. We need creativity, ingenuity, wisdom, and so, so much more. It’s time to roll up your sleeves, get off of the sidelines and get in the game. Because we need you and the work is worth it.
I’ve been told that when you’re in the military and an officer gives a command, that command stays in effect until the officer comes and changes it. Jesus, our general, left us with one command. It’s Acts 1:8, and it was His departing command to you and I.
Will you read it aloud with me. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
What is your Jerusalem? Begin in Jerusalem, that’s your neighborhood. Pray for your Jerusalem, learn about the needs around you, then take action, and take a friend with you . . . and be the church; and the Lord will bring you His power as you serve others . . . in His name.
