Lettuce and Fire Trucks
And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were NOT all gathered together in one place. They had intended to be there but so many things interfered. Actually only 76 of the 120 could make it, and for some very good reasons too! Peter and his wife had bought a camping outfit so they could get away from the city on weekends, and they had gone to Lake Galilee.
John just couldn’t put off painting his backyard fence another day. Nathaniel needed to catch up on the books of his fig-brokerage business and Matthew was behind in his tax-collecting, having wandered around with Jesus for so long. Martha felt like she might be getting a headache and she needed to do some house-cleaning anyway.
James heard something that sounded like a rushing mighty wind, so he was afraid it might rain. So, you see, what with one thing and another, the crowd was just a bit sparse on that particular first day of the week. Of course, that really shouldn’t have hurt the church, because Philip, along with Thomas and Thaddeus and several others showed up and carried on valiantly. The multitude did recognize them as men who had been with Jesus and they did admire their devotion.
However, the multitude also noticed that there used to be a lot more besides these, but evidently, this Jesus wasn’t much of a Messiah since about half of his followers found other things more important than obeying his requests. Still, about 1700 people were baptized and, following the example of many of Jesus’ disciples, 941 of them continued more or less steadfastly in some of the apostles’ teaching and occasionally broke bread and prayed from time to time. A few even sold part of their possessions and gave them to the poor.
But a dispute arose about whether or not they ought to care for Grecian widows and Stephen, who had been a real leader for a while, got so disgusted that he applied for a professor of history position at the Univ. of Jerusalem. "The last I heard, O Theophilus, they’ve dwindled down to a total of 456, but this number is divided into 4 or 5 groups, none of which has anything to do with any of the others. I think Ananias is an elder in one group and his wife, Sapphira, teaches the pre-school class ..."
You may recognize this as a fictional account of the 2nd chapter of Acts. It’s how the story MIGHT have read if early Christians took their responsibility to assemble as seriously as some of us do!
Experts tell us that it is important for families to assemble for mealtime. It is good for the children and it is good for the parents. During this time of fellowship the events of the day can be shared, joys can be celebrated; concerns can be addressed, wisdom can be passed on, and strength can be shared both in the fellowship and the food.
Even the type of food is important in the overall scheme of these meetings. Dietary experts tell us that, if we eat right, our bodies gain from the nutritional value of the food that we ingest. So it’s important to eat healthy. No M & M’s and pop for breakfast. No candy bars in between meals. No pop tarts and chocolate milk for dinner. No Big Macs and super-sized fries, and a milkshake for supper and a bowl of ice cream smothered in chocolate syrup before you go to bed.
Empty calories. Not healthy. Not nutritional. Not gonna help us grow. How many of you have ever said or had your mom say to you, “Eat your greens”? An important part of any healthy meal is to have a salad. Start off your meal with a green salad made with some healthy lettuce.
And that’s what we’re going to do today. We have assembled for our family meal. We meet to be fed spiritually through our fellowship and worship of God together. And we’re going to have THREE helpings of healthy lettuce.
1. “Lettuce” approach with a true heart
2. “Lettuce” hold fast to the confession of our hope
3. “Lettuce” consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.
We read in verse 12 that “…Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.” And in verse 14, “…For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Then the author cites the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah in verse 17, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
All of the Old Testament sacrifices, not even the 142,000 sacrifices Solomon offered in one day (1 Kings 8:63), ever took away a single sin. These were only symbols of the one Great Sacrifice that was to come.
John the Baptist, an Old Testament believer, emphasized this fact when he points to Jesus and states in John 1:29, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John proclaimed that Jesus was to be the sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world – past, present, and future.
So, by this single sacrifice, this single offering, we have been sanctified and God will “remember our sins no more”. We have been set free from the bondage of sin.
We read on, in verse 19, “Therefore, my friends, since we have the confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus…”. The word “therefore” is one of those bridge words. BECAUSE Jesus offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins and BECAUSE by a single offering perfected for all time those who are sanctified, THEREFORE, we can have the confidence to enter the sanctuary.
THEREFORE, “let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
A father and son were out in the country, climbing some cliffs, The father heard a voice from above him yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" He turned around to see his son jumping off a rock straight at him. He had jumped and then yelled "Hey Dad!" The father caught his son. And they both fell to the ground.
For a moment after neither could hardly talk. The dad finally found his voice again and gasped, "Can you give me one good reason why you did that???" He responded with remarkable calmness: "Sure...because you’re my Dad."
His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father could be trusted. Let me ask you. Are you fully living because you trust your Father? Do you have full assurance take that leap of faith? How can you be sure?
Well for one, to have that first helping of lettuce, you have to come to the table. You must spend time with the Father so you can learn to trust Him and grow in the faith. It says “let us APPROACH”. You gotta show up!
THEREFORE, “let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful”. Let us hold fast. That means to hold onto tightly, don’t let go. Hold on like you’re hanging by a rope from a plane. We need to hold onto our hope for without hope, we have nothing.
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left the set in one tub in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The rats in the other tub were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!
Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should is effect be on our lives. Hope gives us reason to live.
We need hope and we can have it because God is faithful. God is always there for us.
THEREFORE, “let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, all the more as you see the Day approaching”. Now most people will jump on the word “provoke” in this passage. Provoke usually has a negative connotation, anger, exasperate, annoy. But it also has positive meanings, arouse, call forth, induce, stimulate to action.
We are to provoke one another in a good way. We are to call forth one another to love and good deeds. But to do that we are to not neglect meeting together. And we should encourage one another, but how are we to do that if we neglect to meet together?
( ) isn’t here today. I could encourage him by saying, “You did a wonderful job on that project the other day, ( )”. But if he’s not here how is that encouraging him? We need to meet. We can’t encourage others OR be encouraged ourselves if we fail to meet. And the neat thing is, when we meet, it’s not just us. Our banner says, “Where 2 or more are gathered in my name, there I am among them.”
Does anyone know why fire trucks are red? Well, fire trucks have 4 wheels and 8 firefighters, and 4 + 8 = 12. There are 12” in a foot. A foot is a ruler. Queen Elizabeth is a ruler. The Queen Elizabeth is one of the largest ships on the 7 seas. Seas have fish. Fish have fins. The Finns fought the Russians. The Russians are red. Fire trucks are always rushin’. Therefore, fire trucks are red.
If you think this is wild, you ought to hear some people trying to explain why they’re not attending church on Sunday mornings.
Jesus said to us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers…”
It is important for families to assemble at mealtime. Now, we can live for a fairly long time without food. But we will get weaker and weaker as time goes on.
If we don’t get a regular supply of healthy food, if we don’t get regular helpings of “let us”, if we don’t meet together to be fed the spiritual food of fellowship, then we will grow weaker and weaker. And eventually we will wither like the leaves on this branch.
So, because of what Jesus has done for us, with confidence “lettuce” approach God, “lettuce” hold fast to our hope, and “lettuce” provoke and not neglect to meet. “Lettuce” worship God with the confidence of the sanctified.
