In Jesus Holy Name May 23, 2021
Text: Acts 2:42 Pentecost
“Revealing God’s Plan - Post Resurrection”
After the resurrection Jesus had been appearing to the disciples over a period of 40 days. Sometimes in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus, at the Sea of Galilee. The disciples thought this would be the new normal. In Acts 1 they asked Jesus: “will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?” They were hoping for the glory days of David and Solomon. That was not God’s plan.
In this post church culture in which we live, with the constant attempt to remove the cross from public view; the ten commandments from the courthouse walls and the student classroom; and public politicians forgetting to speak the phrase, “one nation “under God”; many a congregation is hoping for the glory days of the 1950’s when the church had influence. Those days are gone. It is not in God’s plan.
Jesus is still sending us into our culture to be light and salt. We are to tell His story. Jesus was quite clear when he spoke to the disciples in the post resurrection appearances. “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you…… you will be equipped to be my witnesses.”
When the disciples were hunkered down in the upper room after the crucifixion….they were “off the grid”… of their cultural information highway. They did not know if the death of Jesus on the cross was the end of Jerusalem or their own lives. A few members of Jesus’ disciples did venture out. The first group, the women who went to the tomb were rewarded with the first resurrection appearances.
What good news it was. They had seen the risen Lord. Jesus had risen from the tomb. He had walked with them and broken bread with them. But they were without the Holy Spirit. Yes… they “worshiped Jesus”. They felt “great joy”. They returned to Jerusalem and prayed in the temple “praising God.” There was more to come. So Jesus spent 40 days with the disciples and prepared them for the “new community” that the Holy Spirit was about to create in Jerusalem.
On Pentecost the Holy Spirit created the first “Christian Church.” The church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine after thought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary the “Church” is God’s new community.
The Jewish Feast of Weeks is one of three annual religious festivals when Jews from all over the world would gather in Jerusalem. It is a one-day celebration coming on the 50th day (the Greek pentekostas) after the presentation of the harvest’s first fruits. It fell seven weeks after Passover. Later, it would commemorate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
On this Day God had already prepared receptive hearts to hear God’s promise of forgiveness and resurrection. The disciples, like other Jewish men and women were celebrating the event.
Suddenly there was the “sound” of a wind storm, like a roaring train, but not a curtain was stirred. Tongues of fire come on each disciple and they began to tell the story of God’s plan for our salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That very day, 3000 Jews came to believe in Jesus. These Jewish converts went back home to tell the story of Jesus.
Reggie McNeal in his book Missional Renaissance writes: (p. 106) Followers of Jesus work in health care, nursing homes, doctor offices, hospitals. Followers of Jesus work in law enforcement, business, & education where Christian teachers are “connected to students” who come from both functional and dysfunctional homes. Let God use you, let them see your love and care. God has positioned you in these places. Loving your neighbor and being salt and light does not happen here in this building… It happens out there in your world.
Use your relationships. Have BBQ’s with your friends. Send our mid week devotionals to friends. I have been doing that with one of the people I trail ride with. She will never attend here…she watches, listens and grows in her faith. Help your unchurched, dechurched friends meet other Christians without inviting them to a church building. Let “Pentecost” happen.
(Colleen’s story)
In his book entitled “God’s Psychiatry” Charles Allen tells this story: “As WW II was drawing to a close, the allied armies gathered up many hungry orphans. They were placed into camps where they were well fed. Despite excellent care they slept poorly. They seemed nervous and afraid. Finally, a psychologist came up with the solution. Each child was given a piece of bread to hold after he was put to bed. This particular piece of bread was just to be held, not eaten. The piece of bread produced wonderful results. The children went to bed knowing instinctively they would have food to eat the next day. The guarantee gave the children a restful sleep.
Today, some of your unchurched, non believing friends and neighbors are insecure regarding their eternal address. That’s why there is an explosion of Americas seeking spiritual truth…..As Leonard Sweet calls them “day trippers asking for direction…..scouting the horizon for hope, wondering and hoping to find a way out of their maze of aimless living.” People want purpose.
“Many people spend their lives running from regrets and hiding their shame. Guilt driven people are controlled by memories. They allow their past to control their future. When Cain sinned, his guilt disconnected him from God’s presence and he became a “wanderer”, a lost searcher for personal peace.
We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” God specializes in giving people a fresh start. Paul wrote: “God took the list of the commandments that we have broken and nailed them to the cross of Christ and left them there…freeing us from Satan’s accusing power.”(Colossians 2:13-14)
The resurrection of Jesus from the grave sets us “free from the slavery to the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14) God knows that our number one human need is to “be accepted by a holy and righteous God, the eternal judge”. God is the one who planted eternity in the human heart. God created us to be “connected” to him. He created us to enjoy intimate friendship with our creator. That is the longing in the human heart.
Justification before God the Father was accomplished at the cross. The blood
of Jesus provided our escape from God’s wrath against our sin by faith. As Paul writes: “we have peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ.”
The author to the Hebrews writes: “just as (human beings) man is destined to die once… and after that face the judgment so Jesus Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of man. … “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever…. (Catch that phrase? “Perfect forever”) those who are being made perfect.” (Hebrews 9 & 10)
As a congregation we know that God is at work in the lives of our unchurched, non believing friends. We know that it is God’s responsibility through the Holy Spirit that brings hearts on a “spiritual quest”.
God’s word is not meant just to inform you regarding the “forgiveness of your sins and the promise of eternal life” by faith in Jesus. The Bible was written so that those who study God’s Word will be “transformed” in their character and behavior.
For the past 7 weeks I have posted mini devotionals on how Jesus was reeducating His disciples so that in the future they would “hear His voice”. The Holy Spirit would come. The Holy Spirit would be His voice in these “post resurrection” days, in which you and I now live.
God’s Word is unlike any other book. It is alive. When God speaks, your life will be transformed, when you make the bible your compass, the counsel for wise decisions, the benchmark for values and behavior. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy. “All Scripture is “written to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”… It is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, “so that” the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
God’s plan in post resurrection America” has not changed. Worship. Fellowship. Discipleship. (Personal spiritual growth) Ministry = Service and Missions –seeking and enfolding those who are on a spiritual quest but do not know the words “justification by faith”. Watch, listen, to those that God’s Spirit brings into your sphere of influence. We are sent to share the true bread of life.
