TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE-DOWN
Acts 17:1-6 (NKJV, NLT)
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Intro: In Charles Schultz’s cartoon, “Peanuts,” Lucy is seen saying that if she was in charge of the world, she’d change everything. Charlie says, “That wouldn’t be easy. Where would you start?” Lucy looks directly at him, and without hesitation, points her finger at him and says, “I’d start with you!”
. A pastor thought God gave Him an idea, and he presented it in the monthly elders meeting. After giving his most impassioned plea and really “selling” the idea to the elder board, the board voted and voted down the pastors proposed changes 12-1. The head elder looked at the pastor and said, “Well pastor, it’s 12 votes to 1. Looks like you’ve been out voted. Looks like time is up for the evening, so will you please close in prayer.”
The pastor, not wanting to give up yet on what he felt God was leading him to do then lead in prayer. As he prayed, he lifted his hands up to heaven and prayed, “Loooorrrdddd - I know my brothers here do not have the same vision you have given me. Please help them to see that this is not MY vision, but YOOOOUUUUURRRR vision!”
At that exact moment, a lightning bolt with a loud clap of thunder burst in through the window in the meeting room, striking the table, splitting it in two and knocking all the elders to the floor. As the dust cleared, the pastor looked at the head elder and said - so, what do you think about that?
The head elder, dusting himself off, sighed and said, “Well, I guess that’s 12 votes to 2, then...”
. Change, is a word we don't like to hear isn't it?
. As i prayed and meditated about this very special Easter sermon, God impressed upon me that Easter, and all that it means to us as Christians was and is about change.
. You see, Easter changed everything didn't it.
. It changed how we look at God, Heaven, Hell, Eternity.
. Without Easter, there would be no need for Christmas.
. Without Easter, we would still be sacrificing goats and bulls and turtle doves and in some cases children to and unknown God.
. What Easter did, was turn the world upside down.
. It changed everything.
. Our scripture this morning introduces us to this concept of Jesus, of Easter turning the world upside down.
our scripture this morning in found in Acts 17:1-6.
I will read this scripture from the NKJV on the Bible.
The Apostle Paul and his traveling companion Silas are traveling south through Macedonia and they find themselves in Thessalonica and here is where our scripture starts.
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews
.
2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
. They were mistaken about what had turned the world upside down. It wasn't the two men Paul and Silas who had turned the world upside down, It was the Good News of Jesus Christ that Had turned the world upside down.
. What I want to do this Easter morning is share with you how the Good News of Jesus Christ turns the world upside down.
. How does the message of Easter change the world.
. The first thing I want us to look at that Jesus changed the world through His:
.MESSAGE
. Until Jesus, until Easter, the world thought that the only way to appease God was to live a life of rules and regulations.
. In order to make God happy you have to do this and do that.
. Notice in our scripture that Paul went first into the synagogues to tell the people about Jesus. He went there to tell them that the Messiah that they had long waited for had come. Paul had a profound message for them.
. Jesus is different and the way that we relate to God is different now. Jesus has changed all of that.
. You see they had 613 rules and regulations that they were expected to live by if they wanted God to see them as righteous.
. These were the do's and don'ts of Judaism. Their faith.
. There were 365 don'ts and 248 do's.
. You know what I mean, do this and don't do that.
. The message of Jesus, the resurrection, Easter had changed all of that.
. No longer were they 'Yoked" to all those rules and regulations.
. A yoke is something that is used to control and animal. Usually an ox or bull or maybe a donkey.
. The rules and regulations were being used by the religious leaders to control the people.
. Jesus had a new message though.
. This Messiah that Paul was telling them about had changed everything.
. You see, Jesus had a new message for them. This was and is His message found recorded in Matthew 11:28-30.
. Jesus is teaching to the crowd and He tells them this:
28Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
. My yoke is easy Jesus says. No longer will you have these rules and regulations to bear.
. No one can do all of these and you are wearing yourselves out trying to keep them. Listen to my message.
. Folks, here is the message that changed the world. This is how Jesus removed the yoke of rules and regulations from them and us.
.Jesus was asked what was important then if His way to salvation was so easy.
. When asked what we should do then Jesus said this:
. 37Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
38This is the first and greatest commandment.39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
. Jesus was telling them that He was taking all 613 rules regulations and rolling them into two commandments.
. Love God and Love each other.
. That's the message that turned the world upside down folks.
. Forget about all these do's and don'ts that people are telling you that you must adhere to in order to know God.
. We still do this today. We want to rule ourselves into Heaven.
. Jesus' message was that we first and foremost love God. Place Him first in our lives, and then we must love each other.
. When we do that, we turn the world upside down.
Not only did Easter change the world through the Message of Jesus, it also changed the world through Jesus':
.Method
. You see, Easter changed the method of salvation.
. The Hebrew people sought forgiveness for their sin through sacrificing animals.
. Sin or the things we do wrong could be forgiven by God but only through the sacrificing of animals.
Through the spilling of blood to pay the penalty for sin.
. The things we do wrong or sin as we call, deserve punishment.
. In writing to the church in Rome, Paul writes this in Romans 6:23:
. 3For the wages of sin is death,...
. The things we do wrong should be paid for by death. By shedding blood.
. In writing to the Hebrew people about Jesus, the writer reminds them of this concept. He writes this in 9:22:
22In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
. From the beginning, way back in the Garden of Eden
. The penalty for sin has always been death and a separation from God.
. The original sin of Adam and Eve had the same consequences.
. Yall remember the story about their disobedience of God, their sin. They ate fruit from the tree that was forbidden.
. They then saw that they were naked and knew that they had done wrong. In order for God to forgive their sin, there was a shedding of blood. God killed two animals and gave them the skin from these animals to cover themselves. To cover their shame.
. It took the shedding of blood to cover their sin.
. It had been that way ever since. There had to be bloodshed in order for God to forgive sin.
. Along comes Jesus and He says yes, I understand that there must be a blood sacrifice to forgive your sin. I understand but I am going to change the way you do this.
. No longer will the blood of bulls and goats be the blood spilt for the forgiveness of sin.
. I am going to change all of that.
. I am going to change the method of giving a sacrifice for your sin.
. I have the new method.
. I am the new method.
. I am going to allow myself to be sacrificed for your sin.
. My blood will cover your sin and your shame.
. I Am The Sacrifice For Your Sin.
. I will voluntarily shed my blood to cover your sin.
. The sacrifice is made once and for all when I die on a cross for you.
Wow, what a concept, one sacrifice for the sin of all mankind.
. That's part of the story of Easter.
. That's how the Good News of Jesus Christ turned the world upside-down.
.It changed the world.
. Easter changes everything.
. Jesus died for your sin this folks. He says look, no more penalty for your sin, I take the penalty for you.
. Folks, Jesus turned the world upside-down, changed everything by his message and his method.
. Think about this though. What was His:
Motivation
. We are all motivated by different things aren't we?
. Late one night, a man had gone to a party and had too much to drink, so he decided it would be best to walk home. He found a shortcut through a poorly lit cemetery and, in the darkness, stumbled into an open grave. He tried to climb out but the walls were too slippery. Again and again he fell back into the grave. Finally, in exhaustion, he settled in a corner to wait for sunlight.
A few minutes later, another man in the same condition was cutting through the cemetery and fell victim to the same grave. He, too, tried desperately to climb and claw his way out, and he was equally unsuccessful.
As he was about to give up in hopeless resignation, he heard a voice from the darkness of his pit: "You may as well give up. You’ll never get out of here."
Somehow he managed to climb out of that pit.
. Jesus was motivated also.
. Jesus had one and only one motivation.
. In the book of John we see Jesus in a conversation with a religious leader named Nicodemus and they are discussing what has been going on and Jesus tells him why He has come.
. Look with me at one of the most memorized and well known passages of scripture in the Bible. John 3:16-17
. 16“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
17God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
. Pure love for mankind, that was the motivation behind what Jesus did.
. Love foe all mankind He said.
. Notice He said that everyone who believes will be saved.
. Not white just white skinned people, not just dark skinned people, not yellow skin or any other class or race.
. He said that He loved everyone and He wanted everyone to believe in Him.
. He then said that He is not here to judge or condemn you or to look down on you. He was here to love.
. To love you so much that he was willing to die for you.
. He did that. The story of Easter continues.
. Jesus died on that cross in order for your sin to be forgiven but Easter didn't stop there.
. Oh no, Jesus turned the world upside down with what He did three days later.
. You see, they took him down from that cross after He died and put him in a borrowed tomb and they rolled a stone over the entrance of that tomb and left Roman soldiers there to guard it.
. Three days later though, that stone was rolled away and Jesus came out of that tomb, telling us that if we would accept his death, his sacrifice for our sin, if we would believe that God had raised Him from the dead that we would be saved and we would spend eternity with him.
. You see, Easter says that there is no longer the penalty of death if we believe in Jesus Christ and accept what He did for us.
. Jesus conquered death and He promises that we also can conquer death, just as He has.
. You see, Jesus tuned the world upside-down that Easter morning by showing all who will listen and believe that death cannot and will not conquer us.
. Has Jesus turned your world upside-down this morning.
. Has Jesus changed you yet?
.Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT,NKJ
Illustrations; Sermon Central
