The Baby Church – Her Message
Acts 3:11-19 May 4, 2003
CCI: The Focus of the Early Church was clear, the message was Jesus – Holy and righteous, executed, and raised up. The call to the people was also clearly focused, REPENT.
Intro: Two weeks ago, we celebrated the resurrection. But that is just the beginning of the story. After Jesus rose from death, he appeared to his disciples many times over a period of 40 days. During this time they became convinced that Jesus, the one they had followed and loved was alive. However, they were still afraid. They did not want to shout it out. Whenever we read of encounters with the risen Lord, the disciples are usually hiding or running.
That all changed when the Holy Spirit fell upon the church. A courage and a power came upon them that literally transformed a group of frightened disciples into a church that in one generation was said to have turned the world upside down. Their life was characterized by compassion and generosity. We see that in the description that comes from Acts 4. But what was their message? What is the heart of the Gospel that transformed first the disciples and then the world?
I think we have the core of that message in the second sermon recorded for us in Acts. The story begins with Peter and John going to the temple to pray. As they went, they were approached by a man who was lame, asking them for alms. Peter and John were not rich, in fact they indicated that they had no money, but they did have Jesus and so they offered him healing. The man rose to his feet and embraced the apostles, I am sure he was not quiet about it! Soon a crowd gathered. We will pick up the reading of the Scriptures here:
While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. [12] When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? [13] The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. [14] You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. [15] You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. [16] By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
[17] "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. [18] But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. [19] Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
So here is the message of the baby Church:
∙ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Holy and Righteous servant Jesus.
You did all you could to get in the way of what God was doing.
But God raised him from the dead!
∙ It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing.
The power of God is continuing to flow through faith.
∙ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Let’s look at that message a bit closer.
I. Jesus has been glorified.
The story of the incarnation is the story of humiliation and obedience. Paul described it this way in Phil 2:6-8 “Jesus had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.”
First, God Became a human being. The creator becoming his own creation. We can not even fathom the implications of that. Imaging the farmer becoming a stalk of corn, or an assembly line worker becoming a bolt. The story of the incarnation begins with God becoming a person, a baby person! And second, he stayed a person, he did not blow people away with his hidden glory, instead he lay down his life in the worst way known to the Romans.
And then, quietly, with only a few to testify to the fact, he was raised from death. In this way God glorified him. Not many saw him, but this was God’s plan.
The Apostles declared that the people present that day, were those responsible for Jesus execution. Were they all in the crowd on that Friday? Certainly not, so how were they responsible? It is because sinful humanity, there’s and ours condemned Jesus. We did not want to accept his message, we did not want to follow his way, we did not want to surrender to his will, and so, with Israel, we, too, condemned Jesus to die.
BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM DEATH! God glorified Jesus!
II. And now it is through faith in His name, that healing has come.
The crowd had gathered because a lame man they all had seen and they all knew had been restored to health. The apostles declared that is was through faith in the name of Jesus that this healing had come. The word heal, carries with it the implication of salvation from top to bottom. This man was saved body and soul. He was restored to a life he had not known for decades.
In this healing, we learn that the power of God that was displayed through Jesus, in the healing, and in the resurrection, has not stopped.
There is a lot of talk today about healing, there are services of healing and there are people who claim to be healers. But in the midst of all this noise of healing, we must remember that God heals not just bodies, people and relationships and hearts. And his healing is always for his glory. The greatest act of healing is salvation, when God takes a person who is dead in their sin and makes them alive with Christ. Oh Yes, all healing comes from God. It is evidence that the power of God is continuing to flow through faith.
The message of the gospel is: 1. God has glorified Jesus by raising him from death; 2. The power of God continues to be displayed through faith; and
III. God calls us to repent that our sins be forgiven and we experience the refreshing of the Lord.
Repentance is not a common word today. But it should be. Peter told the people that repentance was the key for cleansing of sin and times of refreshing that God longs to pour out on his people. Doesn’t that word refreshing sound wonderful? Isn’t that what each of us are seeking?
The result of revival is refreshing, the word itself means restoring lifel. Whenever God has moved in revival, it has begun with repentance. The Greek word, translated “repent” is μετανοια. It literally means “after mind”, or changing your mind. It operates on the basis of hindsight, which we say is 20/20. As we look at our lives, and God reveals poor decisions and disobedience, hatred, and lies, and hypocrisy, God gives us the opportunity to turn from these and go the opposite way. Repentance is always after the fact, it is the willingness and longing to have made the right decision in the first place. It is more than regret, it is determining to go a different way.
In Korea in the early l940s, God [brought] many Christian leaders and thousands of members of Korean churches to a state of revival. The unassuming woman God used in this case was Miss Aletta Jacobsz. Miss Jacobsz was not satisfied with the general confession, "I am a sinner." She would hand you a pencil and paper and ask you to write down your specific sins. Her dealings with a prominent Presbyterian missionary leader were typical. Her gentle probing went like this:
Miss J: Have you considered Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God?"
Mr. X: Yes, I preach on it frequently.
Miss J: Are you willing to face this truth squarely and see if you are actually seeking God's will first in all things?
Mr. X: (after reflecting) Well, I suppose I am not seeking God first in everything. Yes, I will have to admit I am not always putting Christ first in my life.
Miss J: Now, Mr. X, since you say you have preached this truth frequently, and you now recognize you are not fulfilling it in your life, what would you consider anyone, who, while urging others to do something, is not doing it himself?
Mr. X: A hypocrite.
Miss J: Then how do you characterize yourself?
Mr. X: A hypocrite.
Miss J: Will you please write it down?
"I am a hypocrite," he wrote. Soon he had a long list of black sins that broke his heart. But how grateful he was, after repenting, to have deep peace and a sense of forgiveness.
And that is what God promises when we repent. You see, the call to repent is not some sidebar to the gospel, it is at the heart of the gospel. Jesus began his ministry by calling people to repent.
However, when we are called to repent, many times our response is more like Luther Casteel’s. On April 13, 2001, walked into JB's Pub in Elgin, Illinois, with four guns and opened fire. He killed two people and wounded 16 others. At his trial, Casteel was unrepentant. According to the Chicago Tribune, when asked by his attorney if he felt any remorse, Casteel said, "Any feelings I have in that regard, I'll keep between myself and the Lord." He also said, "As ironic as this sounds, I'm a passionate, giving person. I like to think I'm a pretty good person. I'm not one to hurt anyone that doesn't provoke me."
Lee Eclov said, “While reading this, I thought to myself, Sure, we're all pretty good people as long as no one provokes us! Sin is somehow someone else's fault, or an uncharacteristic break with our "normal" character. But the Bible teaches us that no one is a "pretty good person." We are all sinners, and until we repent, we are hopeless.”
And that is the truth. If we would desire the refreshing of the Spirit of God, we must first, repent. That is not a once in a lifetime experience, but it is a daily experience, no it is moment by moment. As we attune our hearts to the promptings of the Spirit of God, we will learn to repent.
Understand that to repent is not to make up for what you did wrong, it does not mean you try to work off your sin, rather it is to turn from the sin, and walk away. And it is to accept the forgiveness that God so freely offers.
In a few moments we will be celebrating the Lord’s table, the symbol Jesus’ sacrifice for us. All who know Christ as their savior are invited to share in these symbols. As you partake, I urge to do so first in a spirit of repentance. You are not a pretty good person, however, by God’s grace you are a saint of God. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your life and reveal to you any sin that might get in the way of your experiencing the refreshing of the Lord. Then partake and let the symbols of his body and blood remind you that you are one, and that your life is in Christ.
May you today, Repent, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
