God gathers great groups

Acts 2:1-21

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? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 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. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “ ‘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.

18 Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

21 And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Listening guide

How do you do at gathering groups? 

“were all together in one place” (verse 1) … “in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” (verse 5)

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”(verse 4) 

You need a _____________________ _______________.

A ___________ group has a supernatural spirit.   

 “each one heard their own language being spoken.” ……. “bewildered and amazed! 

God gathers a great group!

Discussion questions

Sermon

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost

Peace Lutheran Church

Nathaniel Timmermann

May 23, 2021

How do you do at gathering a group of people and getting them rallied to a cause, then getting it done?

I think the first time I was really responsible for a couple of other people was in high school. I was first chair of the baritones so I was responsible for leading our practices. Not a big job. Only 3 of us. Tough days. I was a sophomore. Other guy was a senior. He was not happy letting me direct us.

Teens for Life. That wasn’t too bad. We were all pretty motivated.

Another one that was a complete failure. I tried to get a group of pastors to work together and publish materials. One of the challenges in our group of churches, our denomination as we call the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, is that we just don’t publish many materials. What I mean is, we don’t produce many materials that you can buy and use. Some of you know this because I’ve commented how if we want to have a Bible study on a book of the Bible, we basically have 1 option. My solution for this a few years out of school was to try to get a few fellow pastors together to start publishing.

I wanted 4 of us to work together and on the basis of our credentials to try publish professional materials. They totally shot me down.

Even today, 131 Youth Crew – joint project for our churches to have meaningful discipleship for our high school students. Definitely hard. Lately another pastor has gotten excited and participated more but we can’t get any lay people to invest.

Getting people together, getting them to work together is hard, and getting them to stay together is hard. I know part of that is I’m not good at it. I'm constantly working on getting better. But the bigger part of it is its just hard.

What we’ve got today is an event where people come together. We call Pentecost. We got that name from the Jews who came from all over the world to participate in this event that happened 50 days after Passover. On this day, the apostle Peter preached a sermon and amazing things happened.

We’re told on that day 3,000 people believed. There were 120 people who were adherents of the Christian faith before that sermon, and afterwards there were 3,120. We’re not sure quite how soon, but as you read along, we’ll see in the book of Acts within just a couple of days another 2,000 joined.

There was explosive church growth, and it didn’t end there because we know Christian faith swept through the Roman Empire.

I’m not saying this text is a guidebook for getting people together. If you’re sitting there saying, I want to get my family that is just fighting and disconnected all the time, I want to get them together, I can’t give you a set of steps to fix it. Or if you’re saying, I’ve got my friends in high school and I want to get us together to fight illiteracy, this won’t give you all the steps. If you have some cause you want to advance -    you shouldn’t use this text as a guide for making a group to advance your cause. What this text does, you get the basic element for a great group.

Development

The first thing is to be a great group, you need more than just the normal tools and skills.

 Luke wrote “were all together in one place” (verse 1) It appears that they’re together. It looks like they’re together. They were all together in one place. They look like a group. It’s even more than that.

Let me show you three things about them. 1) their cause 2) their tactics and 3) their creed. Luke says these people “in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” (verse 5) What do we have here?

The people are in Jerusalem. If we look at it more closely, they’re in the temple. And they are God fearing people. These are not people who have gathered just for any mission or any cause.

This isn’t a bunch of video gamers. Not that that’s bad. This isn’t a group of people doing yoga in the park. Again good. Unless you’re me. I just break. They’re gathered for religion.

Religion is the highest cause that anybody has in their life. Why are there? What are they trying to do? You think, this must be the most solid group possible. They’ve got this really high cause.

They’ve also got good tactics. It says they are “God-fearing.” What that means, the technical term is they are proselytes. They’ve passed through the system to join in. The cause isn’t just a high cause, they’ve also got a great structure to bring people on board and then advance the cause. They’ve got tactics.

And last, it says they’ve got people from every nation under heaven. What does that mean? It means they are incredibly, radically inclusive. Secular creed. This is the most inclusive cause. They’ve got people from everywhere.

Look at this. This group has a good cause. Good tactics. Good creed. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a group that was more diverse, more unique and still together.

And yet. And yet. And here is the big but. God says, if you want to need a great group, you need something else. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”(verse 4)

·        Like a lot of you, I’ve been on sports team. Good group.

·        Like a lot of you, I watch NCIS and I love watching the dynamic of the team as they work together. I think that must be a great team to be on.

·        I’ve been part of exclusive musical groups

·        I’ve been part of volunteer teams that have a great cause.

And still for all of that, none of that compares to the moment when we come together as a group of people here at Peace and we’re singing “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” ….

Or we’ve just heard that great gospel that I’m forgiven and loved and accepted in Jesus Christ despite the fact that I’m terrible and a mess.  We’re looking at each other and the Spirit is in this group. Its almost silent in here and we look at each other and we just revel in the great news.

To be a really great group, you need something else. You need a supernatural spirit.

Look at this. You are absolutely missing out on an amazing thing in life if you don’t want to be with other people. If you are so private in life that you don’t let anyone in, you don’t have any idea of what life is all about.

But at the same time, even if you’re about religious activities with other people, you’re about worship together, you’re about prayer together, and you’re about Bible study together, but there is not spirit there, you don’t have a supernatural spirit, you still aren’t there.

You’ve got to have a supernatural spirit. Luke would say you have to have the Spirit.

A great group has a supernatural spirit.

Part 2

That supernatural spirit makes you into a truly great group. Luke said, “each one heard their own language being spoken.”

People from all over the world are hearing the gospel in their own language! What an amazing thing! And did you notice how the people were feeling? They were both bewildered and amazed! Did you catch that?

I’ve been in situations where I’ve been bewildered. I remember getting off the plane in Athens Greece at like 12 pm.

(any example of something that is both bewildering and amazing - maybe my One China Team meeting where we spoke a mixture of Chinese and English)

What Pentecost started is still happening. I used to read this story of Pentecost and think, wow, that’s a neat story. Too bad it doesn’t happen anymore. Then I realized, wait a second, this still happens today. Pentecost wasn’t the end. Pentecost was just the beginning.

Christianity is the most universal religion out there.

“The sociologist Rodney Stark has researched the historical data, and he surmised the following growth statistics: We know, and we’re pretty sure this is accurate, by ad 40 there were approximately 1,000 Christians in the Roman Empire (probably outside Jerusalem) By ad 100 that number has risen to about 7,500 Christians in the Roman Empire. By ad 150 there are about 40,000 Christians in the Roman Empire. By the time we get to ad 300 there were approximately 1.2 million Christians in the Roman Empire, representing roughly 2 percent of the entire population. By ad 350 there were as many as 34 million Christians in the Roman Empire—more than half of the entire population.”

That was just the beginning. Today Christianity is the most diverse group in the planet. It is the most even racially and culturally spread out. There are equal numbers of people who identify as Christians who live in Europe, North America, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Over 60 percent of Christians live in the Global South, and the center of gravity for Christianity in the coming decades will likely be increasingly non-Western.

God gathers a great group.

Action

Friends, I want you today to be part of this great group. Get this supernatural Spirit and be part of God’s great group.

It is absolutely true that God the Holy Spirit moves when and where he pleases. I’m fascinated to see the great growth of Christian churches that has taken place in the last 20 or so years. There are churches in certain places that have experienced just explosive growth.

·        (1857 New York City the Fulton Street Revival – about 10% of Manhattan was converted in 2 years)

·        Toronto Blessing – 1990s started maybe in Toronto

·        New York City -

·        There is a church in Vancouver Canada. Fairly irreligious city. They started the church in 2010. By 2016, they baptized more than 1,000 people. Now get this. When they started, the core group was 16. As they started, three of them lost a parent. You catch that. A group of 16. 3 of them lose a parent. And in 2016 they baptize a thousand people.

·        In Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela places like that, do you know how many people come to Jesus every day? 3,000!

·        Even a church in our own denomination just a few years ago almost doubled in one year.

The Holy Spirit goes when and where he pleases. He is poured out. People start talking. And they say, “Jesus save me. You’re my Savior and Lord.”

And you can be part of it too, when you say, Jesus is my Savior and Lord. If you’re not lying, if you honestly say what has been given you to say, then you are part of it too. You’re part of God’s great group.

You can have certain safety

John 17:11-19, Acts 7:54-60

11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Listening guide

What risks did you take? ________________________________________ 

“I protected them and kept them safe”. (verse 12) 

Quick, if you could take one great risk, what would it be? ______________________ 

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.” (verses 11-12) 

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (verses 17) 

You can have _______________  _____________. 

Go take a risk

Discussion questions

Sermon

During the pandemic, plenty of people have said things like, “that doesn’t make me feel comfortable.” “is that safe?” “What can we do to make this safer?” Or even just the plain statement, “I don’t feel safe.”  

Suddenly safety was on everybody’s mind.  

I know people aren’t saying, I feel like I might fall down and hurt myself. Or I feel like I might get a scratch, get a booboo, get an owie. No, we’re talking something much deeper. We’re saying, my very existence doesn’t feel protected anymore. I don’t know if I can handle being alive.  

I thought about this as I considered the request to be a pastor in Milwaukee. I didn’t just think, what would be a good opportunity for me, like career development. I didn’t just think, where does the kingdom need to get served. I thought, where does my family have safety and security? Where am I going to make a stable income so I can provide for their needs? Where are they going to be physically safe? Where is an emotionally and psychologically safe environment for them to develop?  

I know that thousands of people think about this all the time. We make decisions all the time about where we’ll live, about who we’ll invite over into our houses, and about what activities we do based on the physical and emotional safety we feel.  

Then I look at the story of the 1st Christians (and today is one of those lessons) and I realize they took all sorts of risks. For example, in Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested and put in jail. After they stood trial and were released, they were told to stop preaching. Acts 5, we find they are still meeting in the temple. They are told again to not preach and are flogged. But Stephen keeps preaching and he gets arrested. Then he is put to death. At that point, they leave the city of Jerusalem but they keep preaching wherever they go.  

Or do you remember the line that says all the believers held everything in common and someone would sell everything when someone had a need? I wonder how many of us would risk our finances for someone else.  

Put it this way: Do you remember all the risky things you did in high school and college and your younger years?  

• I remember driving way too fast. That was probably a bad choice.  

• I tried to pursue, date this gorgeous, popular girl in college. Yeah, that I didn’t have a shot at.  

• We drove to Lincoln NE and back in 24 for a friend’s father’s funeral.  

• I spent college spring breaks, when everyone else was in Florida, knocking on doors at churches around the country to share the gospel with people.  

• At 16 I took a job working in all kinds of cities in the Midwest, living in hotels, and doing steel work in college dorms  

• I moved my barely one year old daughter and wife to no man’s land China.  

What risks did you take? ________________________________________ 

Did we take those risks just because we were “young and we didn’t know better”? I think there was more to it than that.  

Promise/Discover 

We knew, even if we couldn’t talk about it, what Jesus said today, “I protected them and kept them safe”. (verse 12)  

Friends there is a safety out there that is so great, it will let you take the greatest risks you ever imagined.  

Quick, if you could take one great risk, what would it be? ______________________ If you were willing to take a great risk, what would do? Would you quit your job so you could pursue your dream career? Would you stand up to your coworkers? Would you move to a new country? Would you sacrifice for a friend or spouse? What risk do you want to take? ___________________________________  

There is a safety out there for you and I that is so great. That’s what we want to discover today. We want to see two things: the world is so much more fragile than we realize it is, we can be much more safe than we thought we could be 

Development  

The Bible shows that we live in a fragile, dangerous world.  

We already heard today Jesus said, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.” (verses 11-12) If he wants to protect us, it’s because we need protection.  

I think I really need to wrestle with this, because it is so easy to imagine I can keep myself safe. Something that’s made me think about it lately. I've been reading this book from Nassim Taleb about randomness and chance. He has this illustration. It goes something like this. Imagine you have $10,000 you want to invest. There are 10,000 traders standing ready to invest for you. You give each one $1. Do you know how many will have made money in 5 years? The odds are basically 50/50 for each trader each year. If they lose their money, they’re out of the game. That means that after 5 years there will only be 269 traders.  

If you want to check the math all out, you can read his book. His exercise doesn’t quite match real life because no one starts at zero and we all get more than one chance to succeed. Still, I was so surprised. If I have money to invest and so I pick a trader, the odds are incredibly small that I’ll pick right. (basically 1 out of 50 people will make money)  

Or take work. Do you know the median time a person works for one employer in America? Just over 4 years. That’s the median tenure with an employer. You think your job is stable? You have longevity? You think you’ll have a job in a decade? Try again.  

One of the examples that has really hit me lately is to think about what some scientists call the fine tuning of the universe. Cosmological constant (which controls the expansion speed of the universe) refers to the balance of the attractive force of gravity with a hypothesized repulsive force of space observable only at very large size scales. It must be very close to zero, that is, these two forces must be nearly perfectly balanced. To get the right balance, the cosmological constant must be fine-tuned to something like 1 part in 10to the 120th. If it were just slightly more positive, the universe would fly apart; slightly negative, and the universe would collapse.  

Some people are very convinced the fine tuning of the universe speaks to the existence of God. How else could there be such precision? But even if it doesn’t, the world is incredibly fragile. If the forgive of gravity was just a little bit stronger, everything would disappear.  

This is something God has said for a very long time.  

• Peter “For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,”  

• Jesus said, “you fool. This very night your life will demanded from you.” (Luke 12:20)  

• James “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (4:14)  

There is a reason Jesus says, “I protect them.” It’s because the world is so much more fragile than we think about.  

Now what do we do about this? How do we respond to this?  

Jesus said, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (verses 17) What does sanctified mean? Sanctified means “set apart”. It means set aside.  

What is Jesus doing? He is keeping us safe. He is setting us apart from whatever it is that hurts or damages us. That’s what he is doing. He is keeping us safe. That’s what happens when you set something aside. You put it in safe keeping.  

At first it sounds like...Let’s say you have some money you want to keep safe. Let’s say you’re trying to save for a new car. What do you do? You set aside the money.  

You put in the bank. If you’re old school, you put in your mattress. If you’re cool, you put it in Dogecoin. You set it aside.  

And that’s great, until you want to buy your spouse a birthday present. Then you need to buy your kid a new bike. Then you’re paying for school. And on and on. Pretty soon, that money you set aside, it’s not set aside at all.  

This is what so many of us do when we want to keep ourselves safe. We set ourselves aside. Now sometimes that might be a good thing to happen. It might be a good thing to do. If you and your kids are being abused, you should pull back. Cut off that dangerous relationship.  

The things is, this impulse, isolate, separate. It’s pervasive. We build houses that isolate ourselves from one another. Have you noticed how garages are put on the front of peoples houses? We destroy the common meeting grounds of society. (basically speaking of protectionism). Tell me, where do you go to meet new people? That’s not me saying this. Someone like Robert Putnam writing in Bowling Alone said this long ago.  

We’re trying to do what Jesus says. We want to set stuff aside for safe keeping. We want to keep ourselves safe.  

Jesus teaches that we really get set apart not when we get taken away from everything, but when something really great comes into us. The way to be safe in it, is to not try to run away from it. It’s to actually put something else into you to become part of a different world.  

What Jesus says to put into is the Word. You notice he doesn’t say, sanctify them by the truth. My family is truth. The Bible speaks really well of the family. I think it speaks of us more highly than anyone else in the world. But family won’t make you safe.  

He doesn’t say sanctify them by the truth, your house is truth. The Bible loves homes and your home is a great place. But your home won’t keep you safe. The best Christian homes are wrecked by the ravages of sin.  

Jesus says, I'm going to put something into you that will take you to a different world. My Word. Here is an illustration.  

My wife and I generally get along well. We like each other. We enjoy our time together. We do have our challenges. Sometimes the kids get us going. We debate work. We get to the point where like a lot of people we find ourselves in a very heated discussion. We go at each other.  

One way we’ve tried to solve that problem, you can probably guess, is we take a break. We separate ourselves. Then we try to set apart time for that conversation later.  

We’re in the middle of a conversation and we stop. We say, we’ll come back to this later.  

I’m really skeptical of that idea now. You can guess why. We almost never have that conversation. If we do, do you know when we end up having it? Usually the next day with another heated conversation.  

Do you know what does work? We’ve gotten much better by including a mentor, a counselor, a pastor, or a good friend in the conversation. We’ve literally said, hey, we want you to be a referee. Make us fight fair. Your words will change our conversation. Put your words into the middle of us.  

When we do that, we almost always fight fair. Just those words make us safe.  

Now imagine what would happen if you would put the words of the one who came from another world into your world? Can you imagine how great that could be?  

He set himself apart from sin and from death and from the devil himself. None of those things can touch him. He sits at the right hand of his Father. He does not belong to this world.  

Can you imagine what might happen if his words would come and set you apart? 

Do you know how unstoppable, how absolutely unbreakable you could be? We heard this great story today of a man named Stephen. He was arrested. He was falsely accused. He was eventually put to death. He was stoned by his own people. The last thing he said as he died was, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  

There is one thing that can make you and I absolutely bulletproof in this fragile world. And that is to realize that the one who was crushed to death by this fragile, crazy world sits at the right hand of God. The whole world collapsed on him. He was not safe from it.  That same man reigns in heaven for you.  

Bottom line: You can have certain safety.  

Action 

I’m going to do something a little dangerous today. It’s a good thing we have insurance and my pastoral counsel is covered by insurance.  

I was talking to my dad this week about our family history. My great great great grandpa moved to this country when he was 63. He had 6, maybe 7 year old son. I don’t know what brought them. I do know that in the end he came.  

And you’ve got me as a pastor, we’re in this together, because 140 years ago one senior man took a huge risk. I can say senior because in those days, if you made it past 40, you almost certainly weren’t going to hit 70. That man took a risk.  

What risk did you write down before? If you could take one risk what would it be?  

I want you to get out there this week and take a risk. Your safety is certain.  

Small Steps: What conversations is God giving you with people on the way to becoming Christians?

Acts 16:11-15

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Listening Guide

Discussion questions

Sermon

Intro  

What good could we do around here?  

That’s the question we closed with last week. That was last week’s small step. I enjoyed this week seeing how just asking that small  

• Myself and the family - volunteering 

• MG – friend lost  

• DW visit to neighbor who lost her husband. She was just having a hard time with it and needed a visit.  

This is what happens when God is straightening out our hearts. We do good. We just can’t help it.  

That’s not doing good is good enough. We don’t think that doing good is good enough. We can do all the good in the world and that will never make people say “Jesus is my Savior and Lord.” We can do all the good and that will never take someone out of the control and the influence of the supernatural forces that are trying to destroy their lives.  

Luther’s conversion a new way of seeing “the righteousness of God”. It was like “the gates of heaven sprang open for him”  

Another example that has stuck with me is Francis Collins. Francis Collins is famous now because he was the director of the human genome project. A long time agao, during his clinical training, he cared for a woman who was dieing. One day she had a real crisis, but pulled out of it by some kind of a miracle. Afterwards she talked about her belief in God and asked him, “What do you believe, Doctor?”  

Francis said, “I was stunned. I said I didn’t really know. Her question had made me realize that as an atheist, I had arrived at an answer to the most important issue that we humans ever deal with. Is there a God? And I had arrived there without ever really looking at the evidence.”  

So he started looking at all the evidence. He looked at physics and biology and mathematics, the fine tuning of the universe and so much more. He came away with the conclusion, he said, "God must be an amazing physicist and mathematician," Collins thought. "But does he or she actually care about me?"  

 As he continued to search for answers, Collins said he met a person who "not only claimed to know those answers and to know God, but to be God". "That was Jesus Christ," he said. 

Collins went through this amazing process that didn’t just let him be a person to do good, but fundamentally opened him up to a new way of looking at life. That the God of the universe actually cared about him.  

Adventure 

This is what God wants. He works to open people up.  

That’s what we get to see today with the apostle Paul in a city called Phillippi. God uses him to have this great conversation with a woman who is on her way to becoming a Christian. He does more than just get her to do good.  

Development 

We’re in the book of Acts, which is the story of the early Christian church written by a man named Luke. We’re in chapter 16, which is on page ____ if you have one of these blue/white Bibles.  

“On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer.... [Lydia] was a worshiper of God.” (verse 13-14)  

Lots of good religious people out there. People who pray. People who worship. They might know something vaguely about God. Maybe even some of us.  

Paul came to her and he opened his mouth. Undoubtedly, he preached the gospel. Don’t get too confused about that. We’ve got so much other evidence that he couldn’t have said anything but the gospel.  

“The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” (verse 14)  

The message of the event was unmistakable. This woman, Lydia, was a good woman and she was doing good things. God still wanted to open her heart.  

We hold up this idea of having “an open mind”. That’s a cultural value that people in the 20th century and the 21st century really wanted, they pursued.  

The thing of it is, in some respects, not every respect, but some, the ancient world was much more open-minded than parts of the modern world. The city of Philippi was home to at least three different people groups - people from Greece, people from Italy, and people from Turkey. They worshiped at least 10 different gods as far as we can tell.  

And yet, God still wants to open up her heart. What do you imagine this is like? [“The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” (verse 14)] 

CS Lewis compared it to what it feels like to see a beautiful sight. When you hear a piece of music or you see a beautiful sight, what do you do? You feel like you have to grab somebody else and praise it with them. You grab your friend, and you say, “Look at this. Isn’t this great?” Why are you praising it? Because it’s beautiful. The more you praise it, the more you enjoy it. Isn’t that right? The more you praise it, the more you enjoy it. 

You say, “Look at this. Isn’t this great? Look at the lines. Look at the colors. Look at this and that.” The more you praise it, the more you’re enjoying it, the more the other person is enjoying it. Right? Why are you praising it? Does it need it? It doesn’t. It’s beautiful. It’s an end in itself.  

This is the thing. Lydia had a God who was useful, but that day, she received a God who was beautiful. Before that, she was probably a good person. I imagine that she wasn’t murdering people. She wasn’t committing adultery. She was helping her neighbors. She was probably doing good.  

After salvation, what happened? After the gospel came in, what happened? Did she start lying? Did she start committing adultery? No! “Well, there’s no difference.” All the difference in the world! It’s not a burden. It’s not crushing. She is not doing it because God is useful. Now she is doing it because God is beautiful. She obeys to enjoy him. She obeys to delight him. She obeys to praise him. 

This is the thing. Closed and open is not about religious or irreligious.  

If you’re like me, you say, I don’t feel closed. I feel like I’m pretty open. I like new experiences. I like new ideas. I try new things. How can you say I’m closed? 

That’s the thing. We live in a world where the default is to be closed, so we don’t even see that its closed. We’re not looking for the beauty, the wonder, the majesty, the awe to be pouring into the world. We aren’t ever caught up in a moment of pure adoration and wonder. Let me give you just on small example.  

I was reading a political biography the other day. The president was talking with a politician trying to get him to agree to a bill. The president and the chair of the committee were talking with this guy and trying to negotiate changes that would get him to say yes to the bill. Finally the president asked, is there anything I could say that could change your mind? Or to put it another way, is there any evidence I could give you that would get you to change your mind? The guy said no. He said there was absolutely closed to that kind of a possibility.  

I’m not saying open and closed has to do with your politics. That’s not the point of the example. The point of the example us this.  

That you and I are closed by default. We are closed to that awe and wonder and pure praise when we aren’t going to get anything. Were aren’t going to work that way.  

We are wired to get something out of life. We want things to be useful. We are not at all interested in that kind of free expression of adoration and love that pours out simply because something is wonderful.  

The bible uses this picture opened and closed at a few key moments to describe us.  

• Is. 44:18 “They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand” 

• Mt 13:15 “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes”   

There is only one person in the world, who, in the middle of the worst experience, did not close himself up. He opened himself up.  

When Jesus is on the cross, he quotes Psalm 22 a number of times. One of the verses says,  

“My heart has turned to wax;   

 it has melted within me.” (Psalm 22:14)  

What does that mean? It means that Jesus, on the cross, didn’t keep himself closed. He didn’t keep his heart shut up. Jesus went through on the cross...the heart, the center of his self-determination and he poured it out. He took his thinking, his feeling, and his wanting. He poured it out.  

There was one thing in this entire world that was worth the heart of God. You and I hold our hearts back. We don’t want to be broken hearted so we keep them to ourselves. There was one thing worth God’s heart. It wasn’t a tragedy. It wasn’t a sorrow. There was nothing sad. There was just nothing else in this whole world that was worth the heart of God. That was you.  

He opened himself up for you. 

If you’ve ever had a friend who came to you, running and sobbing. They’d just experienced some huge tragedy in their life and they poured out their heart to you. What did you do? Did you just stand their stone cold impervious, you didn’t move, you didn’t smile, you didn’t cry, you didn’t do anything? No You wrapped your arms around them. You started to cry. Your heart opened up with them.  

It doesn’t matter how much sadness you’ve endured, or how great your life is. … He has opened up his heart for you.  

Open your heart to him.  

Action 

What we would love to see here at Peace is to do what Paul does here. To be people who bring people the gospel of Jesus. That’s our vision. That’s our heart.  

That’s a huge thing. That’s a big goal. Much bigger than saying, I’m going to change the world. If you could figure out housing that is affordable, close to a city for jobs and transportation, opens up the door for upward mobility, you could really change things. That’s hard. I would say that’s nowhere near as hard as bring the kind of person in the lives of your friends and neighbors that will let them see the beauty and the wonder and the majesty of the gospel. 

And every time I hear of a conversation one of you has with someone about the gospel I’m convinced that God is at work among us. He is opening your heart and through you opening the hearts of others. I’d love to see that with you.

What kind of conversations do you have with people who are on the way to becoming Christians?  

Small Steps: What good can we do around here?

Acts 8:9-25

9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

Listening guide

“Simon said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”” (verse 19) 

Do you want to ______ _________? 

“Simon offered them money.” (verse 18) “you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.” 

“You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God” (verse 21) 

You’ve got a great __________ to play your _________.  

What good can we do around here?  

Sermon

I’ve never been happy, I think I will always have some regrets, that we left China. When we left for China in 2010, we knew it was only a guaranteed 2 years. Everything after that was up for grabs. But when we left, we went to stay. We sold our cars. We got our will and trust and life insurance taken care of. We – alright I – committed to learning Chinese. We went to stay. But after 2 years, there was no funding and I just accepted it was time to move on. We moved back.

I spent the next couple of years explaining to Chinese friends and other people why we left. Why did we stop doing a good thing that we were good at? Who cares how hard it was? Finally I realized, why did we come back? It would have taken some jumps and some risks. We gave up doing something good because of respect and even more, the danger, challenges and hard things that would have come if we had stayed on our own.

I got to leave that one with God. Thing is, I think that’s how most of us behave most of the time. We give up good for others, maybe because of respect, but even more because we avoid danger, the challenges, and the hard things that would really let us do something good.

During the pandemic, a couple of people have told me that they felt uncomfortable walking into a gathering at church and they just walked out. They either felt like people were sitting too close together or too many people didn’t wear masks.

We’ve all got opinions and we’re all sick of this stuff.

For the most part, what people haven’t done is talked to the other people and tried to work something out. They haven’t talked to me and asked me to put on something else for them.

Someone might say, they shouldn’t have to. We should go out of our way to accommodate them. I hear that. I want to accommodate people as I can.

Very few of us want to be police officers and firefighters

We don’t get involved in conflicts at work

I can’t help but compare these choices we make to the distinct times in history when people chose to face danger, hardship, and struggles to do good for other people. Not just for themselves but for others.

For example,

“In the early fourth century, the historian Eusebius wrote about a plague that was rolling over the eastern half of the Empire. Healthy people would flee the cities for the safety of the countryside. But one group largely stayed behind—Christians. “All day long, [Christians] tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them.”

It doesn’t even have to be such a big thing. I think of one time someone did good for me. They spoke up and defended me at a public meeting or gathering. They didn’t risk their physical life, but they certainly risked their reputation and good relationships with other people.

What about you? Has anyone ever faced danger, hardship, and struggles to do good for you?

And this week, we’ve got a great example from a man named Philip. He went into the city of Samaria, It's a city that was primarily composed of individuals hostile to Philip and the other early Christians. He didn’t just preach. He also did miracles and good things for the people.

Adventure/Promise

Easter doesn’t just promise a new creation breaking into the world.

Easter doesn’t just promise a new story for our lives. A story that makes us ask, what is Jesus saying to me in his Word?

Easter also says something about the part you play in this new creation and new story. The promise is that you get a great part. (verse 21)

Let’s get that.

Development

We’re learning this with the story of man named Simon from Samaria today. He is often called Simon Magus or Simon the magician.

I think this is a neat event. Why? Because it is a story of a guy. He isn’t really religious at all, but he is very spiritual. His life is entirely turned upside down because of the Easter message.

 He’s a famous guy in Samaria. He can probably do supernatural tricks. So when he sees Philip, Peter, and John, not their preaching, but the things they can do by the gift of the Spirit, he is really excited.

“Simon said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”” (verse 19) Now, he is obviously clueless. But realize, Simon sees that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the greatest good we could give to someone else and he wants that.

Even as a guy who can do supernatural tricks, mini-miracles and signs, he recognizes that the gift of the Holy Spirit would do a lot more for people.

 I’m sure he is a little selfish. He wants to gain popularity and attention. Still, it’s hard not to see that he wants to be part of a good thing for other people.

Simon kind of calls me out. He gets this basic principle, this basic truth. You and I are far more than what we accumulate. The real measure of us is what we do for others. Simon wants to do good for other people more than I often do.

I was talking with another guy this week and we were talking about how easy it is to get upset with the people when no one shows up at events and how easy it is to be ecstatic or super happy when all kinds of people do show up for gatherings and events. And we were saying, I don’t think that is because I’m happy for them or upset for them. No, we’re upset because we, we don’t feel loved and successful and important if nobody shows up. And if we feel super happy its because we feel loved and successful and important. You see what I’m saying?

How bad is it that me, a guy who has the Holy Spirit, wants what I can get from you. Simon, a guy who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, wants it so he can do things for others.

I thought about it a couple of other times this week. I was talking with a young person about future jobs. This person said they wanted a different job because they wanted to help people. For other people. Do we realize how great that is? That someone doesn’t just want a job to become rich? That was the norm in America in the early 90s. Sit in a classroom and ask kids what they want to do when they grow up. Be a basketball star and make a lot of money. I just want to be rich. Maybe that’s changed. People didn’t say I want to do good for others.

(Do you want to do good?)

Here is what I’m saying. Simon from Samaria is not a particularly religious person. He is a spiritual person. But he wants something good for other people more than many religious people.

Do you want to do good for other people?

You can’t buy your way there. “Simon offered them money.” (verse 18) but Peter rebuked him saying, “you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.” Simon didn’t realize how much of a jerk he was. Peter said this was wicked and he was captive to sin.

You and I can’t buy the gift of God with money. Why?

Because someone else has already bought the gift of God for us. Not with money. There isn’t enough money in the world to pay for all the wickedness that you and I do. He could buy it with his holy and precious blood. Let me give you this illustration.

One time a young freshman student at college sat next to a 26-year-old single mother trying to get her degree. The two started to talk about the grace and mercy of Christ in the cross. He didn’t know it at the time, but she really needed. She wasn’t just a single mom but she was having an affair. The student and some other guys would go over and babysit her child and try to talk with her. A friend was in a band playing at a church in the area and they invited her to hear him. She agreed.

The minister got up and said we would talk about sexual activity. He had this red rose. That was his object lesson. He said you, pure, undefiled are this rose. He smelled it, he looked it at. He said it’s beautiful and smells wonderful. He threw it out in the crowd and told them to smell the rose. He then began one of these terrible, horrific handlings of what sexual activity is and isn’t. It was one of those were the pastor screams at the listeners saying, “Do you want get diseases?”

He was thinking there with this mom next to him. “What are you doing?” As the minister wrapped up, he asked, “Where’s my rose?” Some kid brought the rose back and it was broken, leaves shredded, and almost all the petals pulled off. His point was to hold up the rose and say, “Who would want this rose?”

The student, he was filled with anger. He couldn’t shout. But he said quietly, “Jesus wants the rose!”

The illustration makes us realize...we really are badly off. We might want to be beautiful. We might want to smell lovely. We might want to feel velvety smooth like the petals of a rose. We might want to bring a smile to people’s face, like a beautiful bouquet of roses on mother’s day. Speaking of which, mother’s day coming. Don’t forget.) But we don’t!

We’re ragged, we’re tattered. We’re broken. We’re ripped apart. We can blame it on others and say, they won’t let us help them. But it’s really because we are so much more of a mess than we’d like to admit.

Jesus wants the rose. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-shepherd-and-his-unregenerate-sheep, accessed 12/08/2018).

It is absolutely true that you cannot get the gift of the Holy Spirit apart without repenting. If you can’t say, Lord, for all my talk of doing good, I really don’t do. I’m sorry for this. … If you can’t say that, you won’t get the Holy Spirit. And it is even more true that there is absolutely nothing you can pay.

Jesus paid the price.

The great value of Jesus is that he gives his life “for us”. What does that little word “for” mean? Let me expand on this illustration of the rose a little bit.

If I was a gardener and I had a beautiful garden of roses, there are all kinds of ways I could work for those roses. I could simply devote my life to the care of the roses. I water them. I prune them. I fertilize them. Another way I could work for the roses, I could actually work to get the roses. I could sneak into the garden late one night and sneak one out. I’d be working for the rose. If a rose got smashed and trampled on, I could prune it or maybe even dig it out and cut it back. I could put it in a special pot and help it start over. If I wanted to go really far, if a storm was coming one night, I could go out there and put my body over the roses.

The one thing I would never do is take the place of the roses. If a storm swept through that garden and broke all those roses, I could never putting on little rose petals and standing in the middle of the garden.

In the greatest act of love known, Jesus doesn’t just prune and correct you and I. He doesn’t just give us a fresh start if we get trampled down. He doesn’t just cover us with his body and shelter us. He actually gets planted in the garden. In our place. He puts on the thorns. He gets ripped apart and shredded by the storm. He gets crushed. He dies. He comes back to life. And he grows to restart the garden. For us. In our place.

This is the way to get your right and do good. (“You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God” (verse 21)

That word “right” doesn’t mean “righteousness” or “rightness” or goodness” like it often does in the Bible. The word “right” here means “straight” or “direct”.

Jesus says the more you see that I was the guy who paid the price... the more you see that I’m guy who brings life. The more I will set your heart straight.

He wants a personal relationship with you. Every other founder of a major religion died and just left you his teaching. That’s all you can do. Follow the teaching and try to figure out how to straighten out your life.

Jesus has died and risen so you can follow him personally. If you pray, you’re not talking to some dead guy. Give him real prayers. Repent. Get beneath the surface. Let him straighten you out.

If you worship, you’re not worship a king from an old story. You are worshiping the living Lord of the universe. Pour out your heart before him. Hold nothing back!

When you love, you aren’t just following the rules. He is loving through you. Feel his power coursing through your veins. Let his heart make you alive.

That’s your great heart.

You’ve got a great heart to play your part

Action

So friends, if we’re getting great hearts, let’s get to some good around here. That’s the next small step we can take.

If we’ve asked, “What is God saying to me and what am I going to do about” and we’ve asked, “What is Jesus saying to me in his Word”, what you and I can be sure of is that we’re guided by more than just our little ideas and dreams.

We’ve been set straight by the risen Lord Jesus. I know a few weeks ago some of you were asking, hey, where did this ramp thing come from? Why are we installing these ramps? That happened because someone around here was asking that question, what good can we do around here? And others of you remember last year when we sent out cards to a lot of people and made the huge heart on the wall. Again, a couple of people said, “what good can we do around here?”

Unlike Simon, we aren’t buying a great heart. Our hearts been bought and paid for. We’ve got a great heart to play our part.

Rise up with courage and calm

Listening guide

The gospel equips him (Peter) for public political and religious conflict.   

(Picture of Peter and John with the lame man)  

“If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness show to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this,...it is by the name of Jesus Christ” (verses 9-10) 

Is this ________ for others? 

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (verse 12)   

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (verse 19-20) 

• “you be the _____________” 

• “We can’t help _______________” 

The gospel lets me __________ rulers and ___________myself. 

Write a letter.... 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer ““Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God — the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.” “He was, without exception, the finest and most lovable man I have ever met.” 

Discussion questions

Getting talking  

1. What is something you’re grateful for? 

2. Is there another religion that interests you?  

Digging into Acts 4 and religious pluralism  

Larry Hurtado, a scholar of early Christianity, writes, “Today, even in societies such as the USA with a history of religious pluralism, there are sometimes misguided concerns about religious differences. The anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish stance of the Ku Klux Klan is well known. In the 1960 presidential race there were some who claimed that John Kennedy’s Roman Catholic allegiance raised questions about his loyalty to the US Constitution. More recently, some demagogic voices have questioned whether Muslims can be true Americans. As well, of course, religious change or dissent can make for serious and painful personal tensions, and accusations of betrayal or disloyalty to family or people. For example, a member of a Jewish family who becomes Buddhist or Christian can experience accusations of disloyalty to the family and the Jewish people. Similarly, Greek families might well expect all members to be Greek Orthodox. 

“Nevertheless, in principle, in modern societies we tend to think of ethnicity (for example, being Italian, Argentinian, Nigerian, or Filipino) and religious affiliation (for example, being Christian, Muslim, or Hindu) as two quite distinguishable things. As a reflection of this, in a national census form we’ll typically be asked to indicate our ethnicity or racial derivation in one question and any religious affiliation in another. But we likely have little knowledge of when and where this idea first appeared. 

“Early Christianity, especially in the first three centuries, effectively created the distinction between ethnicity and religion.” 

Today, we’re going to start to see how that happened.  

1. Peter and John healed a man born lame. They had to stand trial with the Jewish leaders – Annas, Caiphas, John, Alexander. What do you think they might have thought as they faced the very men who sentenced Jesus?  

2. Peter makes the strong statement in verse 12, “12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved”. What convictions does Peter show with this statement?  

3. What is particularly troubling to the leaders about the apostles (v.7, 13-14), and what link is there between this distress and their rejection of the gospel message? 

4. In verses 19 and 20, Peter gives this memorable response. “19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” What is noteworthy about it? Could you imagine yourself saying something like it?  

5. The secularization thesis basically said that as countries become more advanced, they will become more secular. The 20th century and the 21st century have demonstrated this to be a false thesis, especially in more Pentecostal/charismatic areas. In verses 23-31, we hear the disciples’ expressive prayer. What are the marks of the prayer which brings down such power into the disciples? 

6. How do we see religious faith begin to transcend social and cultural norms?  

Sermon

Acts 4:1-31

Nathaniel Timmermann

Peace Lutheran Church

Easter 2

April 26, 2020

Sermon number 421

Rise up!

“I can do better.” “I could have done better.” I’ve pretty much mastered these phrases. I say them often.

--H family. I was trying to plan an event that included this family. I was not getting a response from them. Finally the day of the event I saw them. I got a different answer than I hoped. I did not remain calm. I had to say, I’m sorry I could have done better.

--Sometimes I have to say it because I don’t say enough. I remember a meeting. I listened to people’s comments, both good and bad. There was a fair bit of criticism as often happens. I felt like I stayed pretty calm. I was still disappointed in how the meeting went. I talked to some mentors and friends afterwards and said, this is what happened. I think I should have spoke up. Do you think that would have been better? I didn’t have the courage at the time. I can do better.

Today we see a guy who has the courage and remains calm in the middle of conflict. It’s Peter. It’s amazing. The religious figures who are judging him, they see his courage (verse 13). I’m blown away by this.

It’s 60 days or so after Jesus is judged and sentenced to death. Peter stands in front of the same people. He doesn’t deny Jesus or run away. He doesn’t blow up at them and yell at them. The gospel equips him for public political and religious conflict.

What happens? Can it do the same for us. That’s today.

Getting started...until

It all started in the temple. Peter and John were there. They were there to live out the powerful new story of Jesus. You can see the hope, the joy that lives in them. Peter looks at this lame man. He says, I can give you your desires. I can give you what you want. Evil doesn’t win. Suffering doesn’t win. In the name of Jesus, stand up. There is this powerful new story at work.  

The people are excited … until the Jewish leaders arrest Peter.

This is the first real political and religious conflict after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus had a lot of this in his life. His message was I’m lord over your political and religious systems. What is going to happen to the political and religious system with Jesus gone?

Peter is standing trial and he says, “If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness show to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this,...it is by the name of Jesus Christ” (verses 9-10) Peter doesn’t stand up and say, “your political system and your religious system were shown to be false by Jesus. You guys got to shut this thing down and head home.” He doesn’t say that. He doesn’t even say, almost everything you said about God and the world was proven wrong by Jesus so why should we listen to you?” He doesn’t say that either.

He might think that. He goes on to say, “Jesus is the stone you builders rejected”. First, he accepts, their standard for judgment. He says, “if we are called to account for an act of kindness.”

What he is saying is, the best basis for judgment in the public sphere is whether or not something does good to others. Let me see if I can explain this a little bit.

The Jewish nation was one of the first to go to great lengths to make sure people did good to others. Some people will make a comparison between say Hammurabi’s code and the 10 commandments and say, look they’re pretty much the same. They both teach an eye for an eye. But they really aren’t. The Jewish law code went out of its way to protect the foreigners, the widows, the orphans, and the poor. You just take something like the Year of Jubilee.

If you become a slave in the Jewish system and you lost your own land, it was built into the law code that you would become free and get your land back after so many years. Do you know any other legal system that doesn’t make you buy your way out of slavery? They just forgive the whole debt. I don’t.

That culture stretched all the way down to Jesus. Jesus is known for his morality, his excellent ethical teaching. The sermon on the Mt is this incredible example of ethical living.

So Christianity upholds this idea that in the public sphere, the best basis for judgment is is something good for others? Does it do good to other people? Peter upholds that. He says, “are we on trial for an act of kindness”.

When we say, “does it do public good?” someone will immediately say, “yeah, but whose idea of good? Is it what’s good for you? What’s good for me? Temporary good? Permanent good? How much do you have to work when I do good for you? That is, are free handouts good, or is an education for you good?

We have to pause that for a second. The simple fact that we even say that shows we live in a pluralistic society. People have different political convictions. People have different religious beliefs. Peter is saying, the basis of your public judgment of me.... What I can deal with, “is this an act of kindness.”

This is what a Christian has to work with in public. Maybe we get a chance to say why we’re doing something. We’re doing it in the name of Jesus. Good. The judgment is still, does this do good for others?

What he doesn’t do, he doesn’t argue truth claims.

Peter finishes saying, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (verse 12) 

Certainly when Peter says that, he is way out there. People will say to me, you can’t mean that only people in your church or your denomination or your kind of Christianity  are saved, do you? I say, no, people who believe in Jesus are saved from their sins. Really, only Jesus? What about the people who have never heard of him? Or even more, what about the people who have never even had a chance to hear about him?

They’ll say, “It’s okay to believe in Jesus, you just can’t believe he is any better than any of the other religious teachers or that he is the only way to God.”

And I’ve got to say, It’s okay to believe in Jesus, but I can’t believe in the Jesus who said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” I can’t believe in the one who said, “I’m going to prepare a place for you and I will come back to take you to be with me.” I can’t believe in the one who said, “the forgiveness of sins will be preached in my name to the world.”

That’s the only Jesus we have. That’s the only Jesus history knows. If your Jesus is not the one who died on the cross and rose again for the salvation of the world, then you don’t have Jesus.

See, Peter has realized he really isn’t that good. He denied Jesus. Jesus rose from the dead. You might have a lot of medals on the wall. You might have a lot of cards from people saying, “You’re a good person.” Did you rise from the dead? That’s the ultimate proof you are good. He said, “salvation is found in no one else”

At the same time, he has realized “salvation is find in Jesus.” He is loved, forgiven, accepted, and approved. God has forgiven his cowardice. Whether or not anyone else agrees with me, God has put me in his family through Jesus.

That’s why Peter isn’t arguing here. He is deeply convicted that he is both nothing and everything in Jesus.

Let me give you just a fast illustration. I bet some of you have watched Pete the Dragon. One of the opening scenes shows this little boy playing by a river. He has some cloth wrapped around himself, not dressed, just playing by the river. A bear comes out of the woods. And you’re like, “Oh no, the kid!” He doesn’t panic. He turns and growls at the bear. And you’re watching it saying, Oh my there is this crazy 10 year old growling at the bear. The bear turns and runs away. And you’re watching it and say, “What just happened?” The camera pans back and out of the woods steps this huge dragon. And you say, “Oh okay.”

It’s not that Peter is so strong or powerful. He knows he is nothing. He has the greatest dragon in the world on his side.

In the end he says, two things. “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (verse 19-20)

--We respect rulers. We will entrust ourselves to your judgment. “you the be the judges.”

--He can also say, We’re going to express ourselves. “We can’t help speaking.”

You see what the gospel has done to Peter? As long as you have to prove yourself, you can never say to your leaders, “It’s your choice. I’ll let you make the call.” As soon as you believe God loves you and forgives you and approves of you because of Jesus, you can let someone else decide your fate.

The gospel lets me respect rulers and express myself.

I wonder if that would look something like this.

--Write a letter to a public figure – mayor, state representative, federal representative,

--Thank you for your efforts and work to serve the people of Otsego/Plainwell, MI, or the United States during this time. I know it is hard.

--We’re going to do good. Visit the lonely and sick. Bring meds, groceries. Give kids activities and education. Give parents a break. And we’re going to say why we do it. Jesus is risen from the dead. He has adopted us as his sons and daughters.

--And we will accept your judgment. We’ll take the discipline, fines, jail time, whatever.

--Not asking for anything beyond what we normally do.

This is without a doubt the right thing to do. The disciples received amazing proof that they were going in the right direction.

--verse 4 5,000 people have come to faith

--verse 9, 22 they have given a lame man the ability to walk

--verse 13 Peter’s courage is obvious

--verse 24-31 the place where they are gathered is shaken

Here is the biggest one. Peter and John go home after they are released. They tell everyone what happened. They pray to speak God’s Word with great boldness. And God shook the place where they were gathered.

I don’t know if there are any really good modern examples of this, but Dietrich Bonhoeffer from about 80 years ago is pretty good.

During World War II, a Christian pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested and imprisoned. He was arrested because he staunchly rejected and refuted everything the German government was doing. He and many other refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the Nazis. He established a seminary for the churches that protested. He wrote a now famous book, the Cost of Discipleship in which he critiqued the religion of the day and the state church. He was involved in a couple of attempts on Hitler’s life. After his arrest, he was imprisoned for 2 years.

In 1943 right at the end of his life, he wrote an essay “After Ten Years: A Reckoning Made at New Year 1943,” in which he summarized his thinking about Christian duty and reiterated his views on the real source of good works: “Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God — the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.”

A British prisoner of war who was with Bonhoeffer in the last days before his execution wrote, “He was, without exception, the finest and most lovable man I have ever met.” Bonhoeffer went to his death with great composure, impressing even the concentration camp’s doctor.

That’s the kind of courage and calm the gospel gives. When I deal with politics and religions,  It’s a pleasure and a blessing to have a variety of political and religious views. It’s only the person who can say, “Salvation is found in no one else” who can also say, “I can let someone else decide.”

The gospel lets me respect rulers and express myself.