READY TO GO
Acts 2:14-36
S: Witness
Th: Discipleship Month—Freed to Minister
Pr: WE MUST BE READY TO PROCLAIM JESUS.
?: How? How is it done?
KW: Stages
TS: We will find in Acts 2:14-36, four stages of Peter’s explanation that demonstrate a readiness to proclaim Jesus.
The ____ stage of explanation is the…
I. CLARIFICATION (14-21)
II. CASE (22-24)
III. CITATION (25-35)
IV. CONCLUSION (36)
RMBC 09 September 01 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Communication (Camilla and Mark)
Camilla and Mark were at a party chat-ting with some friends when the subject of marriage counseling came up. "Oh, we’ll never need that. Mark and I have a great relationship," Camilla explained. "He was a communications major in college and I majored in theater arts. He communicates real well and I act like I’m listening."
Looks like they were made for each other…right?
Well…
Have you ever noticed that there is an art to communication?
ILL Notebook: Communication—newspaper headlines
Note some of these true newspaper headlines:
Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
Farmer Bill Dies in House
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
President Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead
It is our desire this morning to communicate clearly about communication, because the church needs to communicate clearly.
Sometimes, the church disappointingly closes itself off from the world and becomes sequestered behind its own doors.
We do that to avoid the accusation of not being politically correct, so we just keep to ourselves.
Or we go the opposite direction…
We water down the gospel in an attempt to be seen as culturally relevant.
But I propose to you that we should do neither of those things.
Instead, we need to communicate it…as it is.
TRANSITION:
We have come to the second week of our discipleship month.
Our theme is “Freed to Minister,” for…
1. We have been freed to minister.
We were in bondage to sin when we came to Christ.
But now that the Holy Spirit has come into our lives, we have the freedom and power to do what we could not do before.
In the message last week, we studied the first thirteen verses of Acts 2, the account of the disciples in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost.
We saw the Holy Spirit had come on them, indicated by the sound of a great wind, the tongues of fire and the gift of tongues.
We saw how the gift of tongues was especially significant as a sign of the beginning of Christ’s reign and the reversal of Babel, as hundreds of devout and God-fearing Jews gathered in Jerusalem from throughout the world for the Feast of Pentecost.
Luke tells us how God had enabled the hundred and twenty disciples and followers of Christ who were waiting in the Upper Room, to speak in tongues and declare in known languages the wonders of God.
We saw how this created a great commotion, and the Jews were astonished to hear Galileans speaking to them in their own native languages.
The people there were “amazed and perplexed,” some even accusing the disciples of being drunk, saying, “They have had too much wine.”
Amazing, even unexplainable things were happening because of the Holy Spirit.
And the same can be true of us, for…
2. We can minister because of the filling of the Spirit.
Last week, we made a distinction between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Spirit.
Let me review…
2.1 Baptism of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13)
Paul writes…
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus today, you have been baptized by the Spirit.
You were brought into the church, the body of Christ, by the Spirit.
You cannot make the baptism happen.
It is something only God can do.
But when it comes to the…
2.2 Filling of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18b)
…there is a command.
As Paul again says…
…be filled with the Spirit.
We are to be continuously filled with the Spirit.
It is an issue of control.
Are we going to let the Spirit control us or are we going to assume the mastery of ourselves?
It is a moment by moment choice we make.
Sometimes we do this right, and other times we do not.
But the unusual thing that happens, and we see evident in today’s text, is that when we are filled with the Spirit (under His control), He enables us to speak.
He gives us the ability.
But at the same time, we need to be ready.
3. WE MUST BE READY TO PROCLAIM JESUS.
When we come to today’s text, you really have to notice the difference of Peter.
When he gets up to speak, it is a different Peter.
He speaks with unction, with fire, with emphasis never heard in his tone before.
And all of a sudden, this zealous and unrefined disciple becomes an eloquent expositor.
In a moment, he is transformed and ready to go.
So…
4. We will find in Acts 2:14-36, four stages of Peter’s message that demonstrate his readiness to proclaim Jesus.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first stage of the message is the CLARIFICATION (14-21).
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. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘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. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
Peter shows us here that…
1. We are to use our situations to guide people to Jesus.
We need to recognize that there will always be those that ridicule faith.
They will be skeptical or make fun to avoid the reality that is placed before them.
In the text here, there is a question of sobriety.
But Peter’s rebuttal is clear and accepted.
If they were drunk, it would have been way outside the cultural norm
Even the drunkards of the day were not inebriated that early in the day.
But Peter uses the situation to make His point.
He doesn’t give up.
Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to speak the truth.
ILL Notebook: Bible—Hurricane
In the movie, The Hurricane, based on real events, Denzel Washington plays boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a man whose dreams of winning the title were destroyed when he was arrested and convicted for the 1966 murders of three people. Carter, serving three natural life terms, channels his frustration and despair by writing an autobiography from his cell.
Seven years after the book is published, an alienated black youth named Lezara is being taught to read by three white mentors who have taken him into their Toronto home. One of his three friends takes him to a used book sale, where he picks up Carter’s book. Lezara asks, "How do you know which book to pick?"
His friend wisely answers, "Sometimes we don’t pick the books we read. They pick us."
Lezara finds purpose and inspiration in Carter’s story and begins writing to Hurricane. A mentoring relationship develops, and eventually Lezarus’s mentors take up Carter’s cause and vow to fight for his release from prison. Carter, at first skeptical of Lezara’s white friends, is eventually won over by their compassionate dedication. He later tells Lezara, "Hate put me in prison. Love is gonna bust me out."
His 20-year fight for justice ends in triumphant freedom, and he celebrates the victory with his "little brother," the young man inspired by his book. Toward the end of the movie, while waiting for the judge’s ruling, Hurricane asks young Lezara, "What was the first book you ever bought?"
"Yours," he answers.
"Do you think that was an accident?" Hurricane asks.
"No."
At that moment, young Lezara was no doubt thinking back to the words of his mentor: "Some books pick us."
I want to declare to you that the Bible is such a book.
You cannot read it without getting the sense that it picked you, that the Author had you in mind as He wrote.
So…
2. Never be afraid of using God’s Word.
This is Peter’s method.
He uses God’s Word from the prophet Joel.
He prepares us for the prophecy with the phrase “this is what…” (NIV).
Literally, it means “this is that.”
The phrase, “This is that” implies fulfillment.
In other words, the miracles that they have just observed, the mighty rushing wind, the tongues of fire, and the speech in other languages is the fulfillment of the prophet Joel.
The Spirit had been outpoured, just as Joel had said.
The last days had arrived.
The evidence was all about them.
Only seven weeks prior, there had been tremendous darkness, an earthquake had shaken Jerusalem and the temple veil was torn.
As a result, the opportunity to be saved had arrived.
The good news extended to everyone, with no discrimination in regard to race, gender or age.
The last days that Peter spoke about continue today.
3. We live in the last days
They have continued for 2000 years.
We continue to wait for the final consummation when Jesus will return just as He left.
II. The second stage of the message is the CASE (22-24).
“Men 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. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 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.”
Peter shows that we…
1. Begin with established presuppositions.
In other words, start with what we have in common.
For Peter, Jesus of Nazareth is the starting place.
Jesus was commonly referred to be from Nazareth.
Peter also affirms His humanity as a starting point in His case.
He also knows that Jesus’ activity was well known and witnessed.
He was known for His miracles, wonders and signs.
So Peter argues that these proved that God was with Him.
These abilities gave Jesus an accreditation.
Then Peter appeals to the events surrounding Christ’s death which were also common knowledge.
For even though Jesus did all these marvelous works, He was still rejected.
Though the evidence was conclusive and undeniable, He was still killed.
ILL Notebook: Readiness—watching for volcanoes
In reference to the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippine Islands, the February 24, 1997 issue of Time Magazine reports, "The first warning a volcanologist got of increased seismic activity within Mount Pinatubo was not from a high-tech instrument, but from a local nun who walked into the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and, begging the scientists’ pardon, reported that the mountain, clearly visible from her village, had just blown up."
This illustration demonstrates how we can think we are looking carefully for something and still miss it.
The same thing happened to many of the Jewish leaders at the time of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
They were looking for the Messiah, but when He came, they missed Him and killed Him instead.
But Peter wants us to know that this didn’t happen in a vacuum.
God was involved the whole time.
So we should…
2. Point to God at work.
The Jews had cooperated with wicked men, the Romans who put Jesus to death.
All the promises that they had longed to see come to pass were being fulfilled.
But since their fulfillment threatened the status quo and the power structure, they moved Him out of the picture (or so they thought).
All along, though, God was involved.
Jesus was delivered to death because God planned and ordained it.
Imagine that you are listening to this message for a moment and realize that Peter is accusing you of killing Jesus.
How do you think you would react?
Many people that were there probably had nothing directly to do with the death of Jesus.
But it is likely that there were some that were a part of the mob that shouted “Crucify Him!”
Now…let us return today and ask you…
Did you kill Jesus?
The first reaction you might have is a feeling of denial and resentment that something so far away could even begin to be laid at your feet.
But Peter helps us here, for we need to…
3. Demonstrate our opposition to God.
Peter says it as it is.
He calls sin sin.
For the essence of the crime against Jesus was the rejection of God in Jesus’ life.
It is the rejection of God’s love.
So when we reject the person of Jesus, we are opposed to God, and, as a result, responsible for His death.
As we come to the end of Peter’s case, we note that Jesus is more than a mere man.
There is something much bigger going on.
Which leads us to…
III. The third stage of the message is the CITATION (25-35).
“David said about him:
‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 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. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’”
Let me reiterate a point that was made earlier…
1. Never underestimate the power of Scripture.
Peter returns to Scripture for the evidence about who Jesus is.
They all had to pay attention for he quotes Psalm 16:8-11 which speaks of resurrection.
Since David was not resurrected, He could not be speaking of himself.
Thus, he was prophesying about the Messiah, that the Messiah will rise from the dead.
Using this example, Peter’s conclusion was that Jesus is the Messiah.
Peter then goes to Psalm 110 and noted that since Jesus had accomplished what had been prophesied, He returned to God exalted.
So…
2. God has endorsed Jesus the Messiah by His resurrection and exaltation.
Peter demonstrates a tremendous boldness for He knows God raised Jesus from the dead.
How?
He was a witness to the fact.
In fact, all 120 of them were.
They may have condemned Jesus in a civil court but God as the ultimate judge accepted His sacrifice for His people and then exalted Him all the way to the highest place in the universe.
They humiliated Him; God exalted Him.
They rejected Jesus; God accepted Him.
They defamed Him; God affirmed Him.
They claimed to love God, worship God and follow God, yet they were diametrically opposed to God.
ILL TESTIMONY
Ellen Kost now comes to share how God lovingly drew her towards Him and to a full understanding of Jesus.
IV. The fourth stage of the message is the CONCLUSION (36).
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
1. We must know Jesus as both Christ and Lord.
Be certain of this is Peter’s admonition.
There is no compromise on these truths.
Jesus is the sent one of God.
He is the Messiah.
And He is Lord.
He is nothing less.
So…
2. We must act on the same truth.
What they heard that day required action.
This bold proclamation of truth was effective.
And it still is today.
For we all must either accept Jesus as Lord and Christ, or reject Him.
There is no middle ground.
APPLICATION:
So, Christian…
1. Are you ready (I Peter 3:15-16)?
Peter would later write…
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
The opportunity to be ready as Peter was on Pentecost and as he encouraged us to be is something we must do.
This is not optional.
And it is not to wait for some other day.
This is why I want as many of you as possible to attend this seminar next Sunday and Monday evening.
It is entitled “Proclaiming Christ in Our Post-Christian Age” and most of us should be there!
The object of the seminar is to show us how we penetrate our culture with the light of the gospel.
After all, we want our lives to demonstrate God’s light, right?
If that is so, we must be ready.
Let’s not just talk a good game.
Let’s not just act as if we are sincere.
Let’s truly be ready.
So…let’s get ready!
This is not beyond us.
God is present with us by the indwelling of the Spirit.
We can proclaim the truth.
We must.
For…
2. The proclamation of Jesus is at the very heart of our faith.
Let’s be ready.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Be ready…because we have been freed to minister, this means that there is nothing holding us back from proclaiming the good news…except ourselves.
Be ready…because the message we have been given is so compelling, it must be told; news such as this should not remain hidden, but instead broadcast at every opportunity.
Be ready…because God wants us to be ready; for when we are filled with the Spirit, under His control, we have a boldness that enables us to declare the hope that is within us.
Now to him who is able to establish you by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
BIBLE STUDY:
1. How had things changed in seven weeks?
2. Why did Peter quote the Old Testament so much?
3. What are the important facts that Peter is determined to make? Why such an emphasis on resurrection? Why is Jesus so important?
4. How does Joel first describe the outpouring of the Spirit? Why is this the first description?
5. What spiritual gift are we to eagerly seek (cf. I Corinthians 14:1)? Why? Can we all have it? Why is it such a superior gift?
6. What keeps you from proclaiming Jesus? What keeps you from being ready?
