3.3.23 4.30.2023 Mandate Acts 4
Acts: Beginning of the Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Start:
Entice: In Acts chapter three, Peter and John heal a cripple which gathers an audience allowing them to preach the gospel of Jesus. We can contrast the enthusiastic response from the crowed with the hostile
response of the leaders in Jerusalem who responded with violent repression.
Leaders like these betray their fears, their concerns, and their weaknesses when compared to how simple and yet powerful the mandate for the Church was:
1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,
2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
The heart of the message; then and now, theirs and ours is the authority of Jesus authenticated by His resurrection.
We have nothing to fear, death has been defeated!
We have nothing to fear, death has been defeated!
Engage: The mandate remains unchanged for us though the our world interacts with our faith oddly. Some of what Jesus said is applauded. Some is discarded. Parts of the Bible are seen as still relevant other parts antiquated. Some react only with hostility and others approach faith gauging its utility for whatever they want. Much of this confusion is natural and understandable. The world is fallen. The culture is compromised.
Expand: It is our Mandate to make sense of the story of Jesus amid the mess that is the contemporary world. It is not easy. It generates opposition. We will not always be appreciated by the world. It won’t even be grateful when we care for the sick, the poor, the disenfranchised, and the abandoned. Yet we will both proclaim Jesus and reflect His loving compassion to the world.
Excite: We need also to acknowledge that there are a lot of valid reasons the Church is opposed.
When abusive pastors demean members of the flock or exploit them it is right to call out that abuse and exploitation.
When money is misused and the Body wracked with greed, we should lead the opposition.
When famous “pastors” say one thing and do another the world is right to harp on their hypocrisy.
Those who do wrong in these kinds of circumstances and who are then held accountable are not being persecuted. They are getting justice. Sin needs to be noticed before it is forgiven.
If you are going to be wronged by the world
you need to make sure that you are
doing right by Jesus,
doing right by Jesus,
doing right by His Gospel,
doing right by His Gospel,
and
doing right by His Church.
doing right by His Church.
Explore:
When we are opposed by our culture it should be for following our mandate.
When we are opposed by our culture it should be for following our mandate.
Expand: The first time the Church was rejected and marginalized it clarified what is essential about our mandate.
Body of Sermon: The first essential is
1 The Passion of Jesus.
1 The Passion of Jesus.
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,
9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,
10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.
Another essential is the
2 The Purpose of Jesus.
2 The Purpose of Jesus.
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
2.1 Rejected by men...
2.2 Selected and utilized by God.
Next, consider the
3 The Promise of Jesus
3 The Promise of Jesus
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
3.1 Exclusive and inclusive at the same time.
Everybody! Anybody!
No other name.
3.2 Clear, unambiguous, and waiting on our acceptance.
Finally, for all of us it is essential to know
4 The Presence of Jesus.
4 The Presence of Jesus.
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
4.1 Not the smartest, fastest, biggest, strongest.
4.2 The world was changed, the course of history altered by those who had been in the presence of God and who continued to experience His presence through the Holy Spirit.
4.3 Such are we in our time, our space, and our place.
Shut Down:
I want to wind down by considering
Outcomes,
Outcomes,
Consequences,
Consequences,
and
Results
Results
The gospel was not thwarted because the Jerusalem Church would not be threatened. They were not defiant, oppositional, or even impolite they simply stated their allegiance to the mandate.
19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,
20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
This has been the best, most effective response of the Church since the beginning. Our mandate is not to fight about the faith but to proclaim it. It is easy to talk about results without being specific. As I close, I want to briefly discuss these three terms for success or failure.
Outcomes describe facts. They need not be measured by or compared with any preconceived notion of fact. They just are.
Consequences answer causal questions and assign responsibility. In today’s text the consequences for the Apostles run like this... “If we speak, 1) you will persecute us. 2) God will be pleased by our faith. 3) People will be redeemed.”
Results are generally measurements of outcomes and consequences gauged against some kind of plan or design. Without a plan or a mandate, outcomes are just uninterpreted facts and consequences seem arbitrary.
Results imply purpose, plan, forethought, and direction.
The Jerusalem Church bore fruit. They had results because they were following the mandate to proclaim the risen Christ. To live your life or give your life for this cause is the greatest mandate a person can experience.