Blueprint #9 - The God Who Goes Out

READ – Acts 6:8-7:60

The first section of the book of Acts (Chapters 1-12) can be divided into two parts: Part one (Chapters 1-5) is mainly about the gospel going deep into the growing church in Jerusalem. Part two (Chapters 6-12) is mainly about the gospel going out to new places and people. Chapter 7 – the sermon and martyrdom of Stephen – provides both the theology and the impetus that moved the church outward with the gospel. Stephen recounts the story of the Old Testament (the story of “our ancestors” ) to answer accusations that he was against Judaism’s most important institutions - the temple and the law.  He explains that he isn’t against either but is for the God of glory and the Righteous One that they reveal.

1. THE SEARCH FOR GOD

Stephen begins his sermon by reminding his audience what they were really talking about, or more accurately, who they were talking about. He is “the God of glory”. Those who search for and seek this God need to remember what He has said about his own glorious presence.

·         God cannot be confined – The bible’s story shows God meeting his people in Mesopotamia, Haran, the land of the Chaldeans, Egypt, the land of Midian and Mount Sinai. What do all these places have in common? None of them are the temple. The lesson? God cannot be contained. The story of the Old Testament is clear - God’s glory was never meant to be confined to one place and people. The ultimate purpose of the temple was that it was to be a starting point for God’s people to show and to take God’s glory to all the earth and to all peoples.

·         God cannot be predicted – God is not found where we think we will find Him or expect Him to be. He is definitely never found where we demand Him to be. Stephen appeals to his hearers, “Remember our story brothers! God was not with the powerful, the mighty and those who thought they had him figured out. God was with the wanderer (Abraham), with the sufferer (Joseph), with the rejected (Moses)”

·         God cannot be manufactured – Shockingly, Stephen’s sermon implies that the temple of God had become idolatrous. The God whose hand made everything (v50) “does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands” (v48). This phrase, “made with hands”, is the same phrase used throughout the bible for idolatry (see v41, 48). The God who manufactured all things, says to us, “You can’t manufacture my presence.” In the temple of Jesus’ day, we see how something God-made can turn into something man-made. Instead of searching for and seeking God in the temple, the Jewish leaders of the day were confining and predicting God - which meant they weren’t really seeking the God of glory but manufacturing a god of their own hands.

The story of the bible reveals that the great search in everyone’s story is to see the glory of God. Yet, in our search for God’s glory, we all end up choosing a god we can confine, predict and manufacture. Why?

2. THE FLIGHT FROM GOD

The bible’s story teaches that every person’s story is shaped by a paradox - though we all long to see the God of glory, when given glimpses of His glory, we all run from Him. We all flee. Stephen explains how his ancestors always fled from God in one of two directions (and sometimes both!):

·         The irreligious flight from God – Stephen was charged with being against the Torah – God’s law that reveals his loving will for humanity. In verses 38-43, he responds to this charge by asking his accusers what happened when the law was first given to Israel. When Moses received these “living oracles”, the people were unwilling to obey and pushed him aside, turning their hearts back to Egypt. They made up their own gods. They made gods to match their own values and their own rules. A god whose law matched their own desires and beliefs. Though “making an idol” sounds very religious to us, it’s the same thing as saying, “I don’t want a God who tells me what to do! I will make my own rules and values”. This is the heart of the irreligious flight from God.

·         The religious flight from God – Stephen’s sermon shows us another way we flee from God – not away from religion but right into it. The zeal for the temple, the fanatic obsession with the law of God, the ardor against law-breakers – Stephen says all it was a sham. Outward religion was hiding the lack of inward reality (“uncircumcised hearts”). The obsession with other people’s law breaking (sin) was just a way to deflect attention away from their own sin and inability to keep the law (7:51). Stephen is trying to say, “All our religious effort has done nothing to change us to be able to keep the law! All the religious fervour surrounding the temple isn’t about running to God, it’s actually enabling people to hide from and run away from God.” The more religious people use religion to run from God, the angrier they get when their façade is exposed.

3. THE GOD WHO GOES OUT

As Stephen reaches his conclusion he says, “For all the ways you think you are defending God and his word, you have missed the very heart of the story.  It makes all the difference - Is God a God that stays in and says “come to me” or is He a God who goes out and says “I am coming to you”? Which one is it? This sermon shows us how the story of the bible is the story of God’s search for and flight to us. He is a God who goes out. Abraham, Joseph, Moses – did not come looking for God – He came looking for them.

But what happens when a fleeing person meets the God of glory? It’s what happened to Moses. He “trembled and dared not to look” (v32). When confronted with God’s glory, we want to run! Even a glimpse of his glory reveals our sin, our brokenness, our guilt and our shame. How does the story resolve this tension?

Stephen (v52) says God has made a way for us to come back to Him by coming out to us as the Righteous One. Stephen is using a title for the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:11. There we learn a Righteous One will come so unrighteous people could be counted righteous and welcomed into God’s glorious presence. How? The Righteous One will bear our sins by  pouring out his soul in the death we deserve; by being numbered as a rebel (as one who flees), by standing for us in God’s glorious presence (interceding for us).

Stephen is saying the Righteous One has come.  In Jesus the search for God is over, the flight from God is over. Out of his glory, He came to bear our sin and to make us righteous so we could see the God of glory and enjoy Him forever.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions? Do you agree that every person’s story is – at its root – a search for God’s glory?  How have you seen this in your story?

2.      Why is it important to remind ourselves in our thinking or conversations (or debates) about God that we are talking about “the God of glory”?

3.       How do you tend to confine God? Control (or predict) God? Have you had moments in your life when you realized you had manufactured a god of your own making? How has God revealed to you that you have had a diminished view of Him?

4.      In what ways do you tend to flee from God? Is it more of a flight into irreligion or religion? What does this look in your story?  

5.      Which of the following signs of the religious flight from God do you most exhibit? How might the gospel help you change in this area? What would it look like for these things to change?

a.       More focused on others “breaking the law” than your own failure to keep it.

b.      A focus on external behavior and rule keeping rather than inward love for God and what he loves.

c.       Anger when others point out your inconsistencies

6.      Read Isaiah 53:11-12 (or the whole chapter).  How does Jesus, the Righteous One, resolve the tension between our search for God and our flight from God? Read the excerpt below on the implications of Isaiah 53:11-12 for us. How would believing this change our relationship to God? How would it help in our struggles to keep his law (ie, his loving will for us)?

When our faith is in Jesus, where He is, we are. Where He is is where we belong and where we are welcomed. He covers our sins, He bore our sins, He poured himself out for all our law breaking (sin) and feeling, and he makes us righteous like He is, we can not only come into God’s presence & glory but we are invited to his very right hand (the closest and most intimate place).

7.       If everyone is searching for God but can’t find Him, if everyone is fleeing from God and is afraid to find Him, how can we show and speak the gospel as good news?

Blueprint #8 - How a Church Learns to Go Out

READ – Acts 5:42-6:7

The first section of the book of Acts (Chapters 1-12) can be divided into two parts: Part one (Chapters 1-5) is mainly about the gospel going deep into the growing church in Jerusalem. In this first ever church there was a focus on learning, teaching and community life. They were all of “one heart and mind” and there wasn’t a needy person in the whole church. This is what it looks like when the gospel goes deep into a church. Part two (Chapters 6-12) is mainly about the gospel going out. The gospel begins to move out from this one church in Jerusalem into new places. This passage (Acts 5:42-6:1-7) is the transition story – it tells us how God kept the church from becoming ingrown. It shows us the kind of lessons a church needs to learn to keep from becoming ingrown and to go out with the gospel to the world.

1. THE PROBLEM

In addition to the external opposition facing the church from the Jewish religious leaders, the church now faced internal opposition. A “complaint arose” from the Greek speaking Jewish believers that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. This was a very sensitive matter since it involved a difference in both language and culture.

Here is where we are shown lesson #1 – Complaints and conflict can make a church stronger. It’s true that complaints and conflict can greatly weaken and distract a church, but this story shows us this isn’t how it has to be. God can use complaints to strengthen a church and prepare a church for greater impact beyond itself. That’s what happened here.

The 12 apostles recognized (by God’s grace) an opportunity for the whole church to become stronger. The church learned to work ALL together through conflict - everyone was involved (see 6:2). Trust was deepened. The issue wasn’t avoided or ignored by the church or its leadership. Instead, overlooked people felt valued. The way the church handled internal conflict actually convinced their external opposition (the priests) to believe (6:7)!

This compliant/conflict was God’s way of preparing and training the church to go out – to become more uncomfortable, to reach across greater cultural divides to people who cared nothing and knew nothing about Judaism or Jesus. How would  they love and serve people so different than them if they can’t love their own widows?

2. THE SOLUTION

To understand the urgency and sensitivity of finding a solution to this problem, we need to remember that Hellenistic Jewish widows in the first century were socially vulnerable and they were also a cultural and numeric minority in this young Aramaic speaking church community. This meant that they could be easily overlooked. But the apostles took this very seriously. The vulnerable and the overlooked in the world were NOT to be overlooked by the church or in the church. When it came down to prayer and the teaching of word and taking care of the needs of the vulnerable, especially the cultural and numeric minorities in the community, it was not an either-or. In fact, if they took the word of God and prayer seriously they had to take care for the vulnerable seriously (see Exodus 22:22-23, Dt 10:17, 18, 27:19 and Isa. 1:15). But they also realized they couldn’t do it all. They were called to prioritize the ministry of the word and prayer. Their solution was to share ministry with others.

Here is where God was teaching the church Lesson #2 – Ministry is not for the professional few.  A healthy church inside - with more leaders, with more ownership, more teams and more people serving as ministers - will have greater impact outside. In context of the greater narrative in Acts – it’s only when the ministry of the word and prayer are not neglected, AND more people are serving-leading in the church, does the gospel go out from Jerusalem. It’s only when ministry isn’t seen as the calling of the few that a church is ready to go out.

3. THE RESULT

What was the result of the sharing of ministry, of a focus on the word and prayer and compassion and care? 6:7 tells us – the gospel went out. Many of those who were most opposed to the gospel became Christians! ”A large group of priests became obedient to the faith”. Why?

The priests were supposed to be the servant community. Their main roles were to serve people through sacrifices, teaching, prayer and care of the poor. They were called to bring the people in to God and bring God out to the people. They looked at the church and thought, “How is it that they are doing our job way better than us?”

The church could’ve become ingrown (like most of the religious leaders of Judaism had), but instead the spirit of service and ministry grew instead of a spirit of selfishness. Somehow the church had a whole culture from its leaders down to everyone, “Here’s what we do – we wait on tables! We are all ministers!” How did the church get this spirit of service?

Here’s Lesson #3 – To look outside of ourselves to serve, we must (continually) look to Jesus the Servant. Acts 5:42 says “every day” the church rehearsed the gospel (the good news) of who Jesus is. It was continually looking to the good news of who Jesus is that changed selfish hearts into servant hearts. In Luke 22:27, Jesus said, “For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” In other words, Jesus said here’s how you are to think of God, “as one who waits on tables”. Jesus said this while he was reclining at the table with his disciples eating his last meal with them. It was his way of showing them what he was about to do - to serve them by his death in their place, so they could have a place at his table (Luke 22:29). Jesus, the One who deserves to recline, who deserves all our service, is the One who serves us.

This is what changes the heart of selfishness into a heart of service. It’s the astounding realization that God does not say to us, “Serve ME! Wait on me and I will bless you and only then will I let you sit at the table with me”. Instead, the gospel tells us, that although no one can earn or deserve a seat at his table, God becomes a servant to us in Jesus, so we can sit at the table with him.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      Why is it so hard to see complaints and conflict as opportunities to become stronger (as churches and as people)? What can we learn from how the apostles/church handled this complaint? How can dealing with complaints and conflict be God’s way of helping us learn to serve people who are not like us?

3.       When you are feeling overlooked (in a relationship, at work or at church) what might it look like to handle this in a way that serves the relationship, the company or the church as a whole?

4.      The word used for “wait on tables” and the “ministry” of the word share the same root (the word where we get the word “deacon”). Both are equally “ministry”. How do you understand your own part and contribution to ministry in the church? What kinds of things do you think stand in the way for more people to be active in service at Trinity?

5.      In the sermon it was mentioned that this passage challenges both consumerism and “celebrity-ism” in the church. How have you seen one or both of at work in the church or in your life? How does this passage address these things?

6.      How does the gospel (the good news that Jesus is the Messiah) address our all too often selfish hearts? How does knowing God waits on us change us and empower us to wait on others (even when they are selfish and complain)?

Blueprint #7 - Church at Its Best and Worst

READ – Acts 4:32-5:11

Many Christians read the book of Acts with all its incredible stories of God’s undeniable work and power in people’s lives and say, “We need to go back to days of the book of Acts! The church today is weak and ineffective, the early church was so powerful and impactful!” Then we read stories about people selling property and giving all the money to the church. We read about people lying and dropping dead on the spot. Then we think, “Ok… everything except that. That’s too much”. What can we learn from stories of such radical (reckless?) generosity and such seemingly unpredictable judgment?

This passage is a study in contrasts. It’s like two ends of the spectrum – at one end we see what God wants to build into churches and lives and, on the other, what he wants people and churches to avoid at all costs. They are glimpses of church at its best and the church at its worst.

1. THE CHURCH AT ITS BEST

In addition to the narrative that makes up most of the book of Acts, Luke (the author) regularly pauses to summarize so we don’t miss what is happening. The first of these narrative “pauses” is Acts 2:42-47. There Luke describes the first church in action. The next pause is here in Acts 4:32-37. When we read these summaries side by side we note 2 things they share in common – there is a focus on doctrine and there is a focus on the poor. The gospel is being preached and radical generosity is meeting needs. This is church at its best according to Acts.

Sometimes we talk about church as if we have to choose between a strong focus on doctrine and a strong focus on helping the needy. Acts tells us both are needed. The best churches are marked by gospel truth + gospel generosity. Notice that this wasn’t communism – nothing was forced; it wasn’t communal ownership. But also notice this wasn’t capitalism. Though everything was voluntary, it wasn’t about private ownership either. In this church, “no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own”. Everything was God’s. It was about God’s ownership of all. Since the church was God’s family, when needs arose, people joyfully used what God had given them to help.

2. THE CHURCH AT ITS WORST

Joseph (4:36-37) was a member of the Jewish priestly class who owned property. This meant he was wealthy man of social standing. Acts tells us Joseph was one of the people who sold land to help the needy in the church. He was a man of generosity and encouragement. So much so, he got a nickname from the apostles. They said, “There are too many Josephs out there – we are going to call you Barnabas! (which means Son of Encouragement). He’s an example of church at its best.

When we are introduced to Ananias and Sapphira the parallels are eerily similar (Acts 5:1-2). But something’s off. They wanted the recognition and honor of Barnabas without the heart of Barnabas. So they lied. They acted like they were doing the same thing he did but they kept back some of the money for themselves. One at a time they “dropped dead”.

Wow. Why did God judge them so immediately and – to our mind – so harshly? Peter is clear. They didn’t have to sell their property. When they decided to sell it, they didn’t have to give any of it to the church. So why were they judged? Their judgment was for lying – for hypocrisy (5:3,4). Hypocrisy is wearing a mask; pretending to be one thing while you are another.

Why does God see this as the worst thing that can happen in the church? Think about this - what happens when God allows hypocrisy to happen in the church unchecked and unaddressed? It means the death of the church. It means the church is a lie; a pretend church. God means to build a real church -  where real sinful, broken people don’t have to hide or pretend but can come take the masks off and come to Him. So, God chose this one incident at the church’s beginning to show us the one thing that will kill the church, the worst sin in the church—hypocrisy.

3. JESUS FOR PEOPLE AND CHURCHES AT THEIR WORST

This story teaches that the worst thing we can do is try to hide who we are and where we are at from God. But the truth is at one level or another, we all do this. We are all hypocrites. We all pretend and wear masks. Why? It’s because we are afraid to take the mask off. We are afraid to be seen at our worst.

Here’s where the gospel can cure us of hypocrisy. Jesus brings two things together that we never thought could go together = great grace and great fear. Acts 4:33 says “great grace was on all of them” and 5:11 says “great fear came on the whole church”. We might wonder how can these two things co-exist? But its when great fear and great grace come together in Jesus that we can be free of hypocrisy. How does this work?

1) We need to face the worst about us. This is a fearful thing. We need to be shown our sin, the mask needs to be taken off. The only way it comes off is if something is greater than our fear of being seen at worst; greater than our fear of what people think about us. This is the great fear of God - awe and reverence in light of His holiness.

2) We need to feel the full force of God’s grace for us. We need to be loved when our sin is revealed, even at its worst. When the mask comes off we need to be embraced, approved and accepted. This is the great grace of God in Christ.

At the cross, we see sin unmasked for what it is - deserving of the full judgment and wrath of God. At the cross, we see God’s great grace and love for sinners revealed for what it is - unstoppable, unfazed at our sin at the worst, willing to bear, to take it, to “become” it (Gal. 3:13, 2 Cor. 5:21) for us so we’d be set free from its shame and come out of hiding.

When am I really at my worst? Christianity’s answer is so surprising. It’s misunderstood by those who are not Christians and it should never get old for Christians. When am I really at my worst? Not when I’m a sinner sinning. I’m at my worst when I’m a sinner pretending and hiding. There’s nothing more transformative to the human heart than being seen at our worst and still being loved. That’s what God does for us in Jesus.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      One commentator says Acts 4:33 could be translated, “No one staked a claim on his possessions.” The gospel meant a new stake was put down on each person’s life and all they owned.   Which of your God-given resource(s) do you most stake a claim on in your life? Why do you think this is? What would it look like to put a new stake in it – “God’s”?

3.       What difference would it make if we believed we have greater security and greater status in Jesus than we could ever have in what we own?

4.      Why do you think people and churches feel we need to choose between a focus on teaching and a focus on helping the poor? Why are both important? What might it look like for our church to focus on both?

5.      Do you agree that hypocrisy is the worst sin in the church? Why or why not?

6.      How would you answer someone who said, “I don’t believe in Christianity and I’m not interested in church because the church is full of hypocrites.”? How would this passage help you respond?

7.       How does the gospel address our deep fear of taking our masks off and being seen at our worst? How has this happened (or how is it happening in your life)?

8.      When am I really at my worst? Not when I’m a sinner sinning. I’m at my worst when I’m a sinner pretending and hiding. What difference would it make if you believed this? What difference would it make in a church if the whole church lived like this?

Blueprint #6 - Prayer and Adversity

READ – Acts 4:23-31

Everything was going great. The momentum was building. The Holy Spirit filled the church, the preaching was bold and powerful, 3000 people came to faith in Jesus – and this was only the first day of the church’s existence! The next few months were filled with joy, radical acts of generosity, awe, heartfelt praise to God and deeper connection to others than they had ever experienced. One day a man who had been crippled from birth was suddenly healed and was leaping in the temple praising God. As everyone stared in shock, Peter told the crowds that this man’s healing was a sign of the spiritual healing that had come in Jesus (3:19-20) and the coming restoration of all things (3:21). This is when the religious leaders had enough. They thought they were done with Jesus once and for all. But instead of Jesus’ death squelching the movement, somehow it was only making it stronger. They seized Peter and John, held them overnight and told them never to talk about Jesus again. The young church was faced with its first experience of adversity. How did they respond? They prayed. Their prayer teaches us some very important lessons about prayer – especially praying in adversity.

1. THE GROUNDS FOR PRAYER

Grounds #1 – Our Adversity. Life with be full of adversity. Prayer is how God meets us in our adversity. Apart from prayer we won’t be able to make sense of or mature through the adversity we face. The church needed to go back to their prayer book (the Psalms, see 4:25, 26) to understand that faithfulness to Jesus (the King, the Messiah) didn’t guarantee an adversity-free (or adversity-lite) life. In fact, it was in adversity that Jesus accomplished his greatest work. The same is true for his people.

Grounds #2 – God’s Sovereignty. None of our adversity is outside of God’s sovereignty - his loving and good plan for us. Prayer is where we learn to see all our adversity in light of God’s sovereignty. The church began by praying God’s sovereignty into their situation (4:24). They prayed Psalm 2 to remember that the worst thing that happened in the history of the world (the cross) was a part of God’s plan. He had predestined it to take place. In the worst thing that happened (the greatest evil) in the world, God planned to bring about the best thing, the greatest good. The same is true for how he works in our adversity.

2. THE CONTENT OF PRAYER

Praying Scripture. Often, we don’t know what to pray. We just don’t seem to have the words. Other times our prayers seem like one long wish list of requests. Notice where this prayer begins. Before anyone asks for anything, they pray Scripture (Psalm 146, Psalm 2). Before they asked for anything – they LISTENED. Prayer is not a one-way conversation. Praying Scripture is how we listen to God and hear him speak into our adversity.

Praying for Boldness (not to be comfortable). The most striking aspect of this prayer is that the church did not pray for an end to adversity! Instead they asked for boldness. They prayed the gospel into their situation. They prayed for the boldness to believe that their adversity could not ultimately defeat them. They remembered that God wins through defeat; that Jesus was raised from the grave; that God turned the tables on evil. Since God uses adversity to make us more like Jesus, to bring glory to Himself and show the world who He is, they asked for boldness to keep speaking this message of unconquerable hope.

3. THE GOAL OF PRAYER

Much of our disappointment about prayer comes from having the wrong goal. We can be very religious in our prayers believing that if we are living rightly and asking rightly, God will give us what we want.  We can be very irreligious when it comes to prayer, thinking, “God didn’t answer me when I prayed for ______, so what difference does prayer really make?” Both these approaches to prayer look different, but both treat prayer as a means to an end. A Christian doesn’t pray to simply get more from God. A Christian prays to get more of God. This is the ultimate goal of prayer.

Notice the order of how God answered their prayer. They asked for boldness, but God didn’t answer by zapping them with boldness. He fills them with the Holy Spirit. Which is another way of saying, He gives them himself. In being full of God’s presence, they become bold.

A GUIDE FOR PRAYING IN COMMUNITY

Based on Acts 4:23-31

Notice that the church in their adversity did not retreat to their private prayer corners for individual times of prayer. They prayed together in community. Praying with others in adversity is critical. Left to ourselves, we often can’t pray in our adversity or we struggle to find a sense of God’s presence as we pray. Private prayer is essential – but it’s not enough to get us through times of adversity. We need to join our hearts and voices with others. This guide for prayer is focused on learning to pray in community through our (and others’) adversity.

1. What adversity are you currently facing? What’s most challenging in your life right now? Share with the group.

2.  “The perspective of God’s sovereignty… is perhaps the most important teaching that [we] need to have in times of crisis” (Ajith Fernando). Before asking God for anything, begin by praying passages of Scripture focused on God’s sovereignty like the church did in 4:26.

·         Psalm 146 is where they turned. You can begin praying this Psalm line by line as an outline.

o   Other suggestions: Isaiah 40:12-32 or use the first few phrases of the Lord’s Prayer as an outline.

o   Our challenges and trials can cause us to lose sight of God and his sovereignty. Our adversity becomes bigger than us, bigger than God, bigger than anything else in our lives. Pray that God would again become bigger to you than your adversity.

3. Pray the gospel into your adversity like the church did in 4:27-28.

·         Thank Jesus for how He chose adversity for your salvation.

·         Thank Jesus for how He knows what your adversity feels like. (see Hebrews 4:14-16)

·         Thank Jesus for how He faced the temptations of adversity for you (i.e. believing that God doesn’t love us or care for us, losing hope, wanting his will over God’s will).

·         Thank Jesus for how He defeated adversity through his suffering and bold love.

·         Thank Jesus for how He uses our adversity for our good and God’s glory (even when we can’t see how) – Read and pray slowly through Romans 8:18-39.

4. Ask God for His comfort, strength and boldness in adversity like the church did in 4:29-30. Ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit to drive out fear, anxiety and worry. Pray this for each other.

·         Use Ephesians 3:14-19 as guide for this kind of prayer.

Blueprint #5 - Power

READ – Acts 3:1-4:22  | POWER

One of the central claims of Christianity is that, in the early part of the first century, Jesus of Nazareth was killed by the religious and political powers of Jerusalem for claiming to be God in the flesh. Three days later He miraculously rose from death. While the implications of that are inexhaustible, one implication is clear: Jesus’ resurrection introduced a new kind of power in the world. That’s what is on display in Acts 3-4 – the power of the new creation in the healing of a disabled beggar. It’s clear that the audience of the miracle were particularly interested in the power at work in Peter and John. The crowds were amazed by the power (Acts 3:12) and the Sanhedrin or religious rulers were annoyed by it (Acts 4:7). What is this power and how does it connect with our life today? That’s the focus of Sunday’s message.

1. WHERE’S THE POWER FROM?

The concept of power may be too abstract for us. Nevertheless, it is a very present part of our experience. Consider this: power is the capacity to affect reality. Think of a typical workplace. Power is always at work in any organization or institution. Some have legitimate power because they’re in a higher position that necessitates control over people in lower positions. Some have the power of an expert – they are influencers because they hold the right academic degrees or have the right experience. Some people you know have connectional power. They attain influence and clout in the company by gaining favor with their higher ups.

In Acts 3-4 there’s two hints about where people look for power and Peter’s message about where power can ultimately be found.

·         Looking Out | Some people look out to find power in external structures, rituals, or strong leaders. For 1st century Jews and pagans, power often came from temple(s). At the center of Judaism was the temple in Jerusalem. This was the place where a powerful connection with God could be found through worship and the place where God had promised to be powerfully present. For the modern, secular West, our places and people of power are not necessarily religious temples, but we still look out to find power. Consider Silicon Valley and the allure of technology to shape and affect reality into a better world.

·         Looking In | Some people look inward for power. For a 1st century audience, power could come from people who were highly spiritual and religious. Thus, Peter deflects attention away from himself after the miraculous healing (Acts 3:12). For 21st century people, we too often look to the self. You can discover countless self-help strategies that invite you to ignore external validation and instead become confident and bold by living up to your own standards, following your own North Star, or focusing on your own self-worth.

·         Looking Up | Peter points us to another way. He invites us to look up. If you are unsure whether or not the power demonstrated through Peter and John is really necessary, then consider this: isn’t the world and our lives filled with brokenness? Aren’t all of us (in countless ways) reaching for some kind of capacity to affect reality, to move things towards a better place? You may have relationships that are disintegrating and you feel helpless. Your kids may be ignoring Jesus and chasing after false idols and you’re powerless. You may be stuck in a job where people are abusing their power, and you are incapable of changing the system. Peter fixes our attention on the reality that God has housed and centered his power on Jesus of Nazareth.

2. WHAT’S THE POWER FOR?

The miraculous healing of the lame beggar by Jesus through the words of Peter and John shows us not only the source of power, but the purpose of the power.

First, the healing is a prophetic pointer to the cosmic healing of all physical brokenness and disability. Peter’s claim in Acts 3:21 is that Jesus’ reign will eventually result in the restoration of all things spoken of through the prophets. The Old Testament spoke often of a time when all things would be put back to rights by a chosen and anointed Messiah, a Rescuer who would come not only to make the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk, but vanquish the powers that had caused the world to give way to entropy and death. Miracles in the Bible aren’t just a show of strength, but a sign about the alleviation of all suffering that’s coming through the Messiah. That means that God cares about the material world. He cares about your body. He cares about suffering and brokenness and is no happier with all of it than we are.

Second, the physical healing of the beggar also points to the spiritual healing of sinful brokenness. The man’s physical condition before the healing pointed toward our spiritual condition right now. He was disabled in his body; but the Bible’s claim is that we are all disabled in our hearts. We are constantly looking to sources of power we think will fix our problems and offer us a better world, but they actually won’t – just like some spare money from Peter wouldn’t have healed the man of his primary problem. God says that our deepest, primary problem is sin. Sin is a kind of spiritual disease. It disables us. It cripples everything we do and touch. It twists and distorts the ways in which we desire and utilize power – whether it’s money, control, significance. But it’s not something that only works on us, we also actively choose it. Peter says as much in his sermon to the religious elite in Acts 4 – sin is the rejection of Jesus, the cornerstone, the ultimate Power in the universe.

3. HOW DO WE ACCESS THE POWER?

So how do we access the power? Repentance and faith. That’s what Peter says in Acts 3:19 and Acts 3:16.  

Repentance is a kind of turning back from our own pursuit of power. It’s admitting we are not in control. It’s the confession that we are powerless. Ironically, repentance is a giving up of power that is in fact powerful. In repentance we place ourselves under the command and control of Jesus, the Christ, the Author of our lives and life itself. But in submitting to him, we are inviting the Source of all power to enter our lives and utilize us for his kingdom.

Faith is trusting in “the Name” of Jesus. That’s another way of saying the reality of Jesus. His Name stands for who he is. So faith in His Name means trusting and banking your entire reality on Jesus. If power is all about the capacity to do something to achieve a result, then faith is the opposite: it’s the recognition and rest in the results already accomplished by Jesus. It’s leaning your entire life into Jesus’ capacity and ability, not your own.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      Is power in and of itself wrong? Why or why not? Are there legitimate uses of power? Explain.

3.       Are there ways in which you look out or look in to find power? The sermon mentioned the tech world of Silicon Valley and the techniques of self-help. What are some other ways in which we look to sources of power besides God? How do you think looking out and looking in rather than looking up affects the way we seek and use power?

4.      The power on display in Acts 3-4 points towards both cosmic physical healing and personal spiritual healing. What are some ways you have experienced God’s powerful grace in healing you this week? What are areas of brokenness in our neighborhood, culture, and world that you are longing for God to heal? What does prayer for both kinds of healing look like?

5.      Jesus was the stone rejected that became the cornerstone. He was the crucified criminal who became the King of the world. How does that shape your view and pursuit of power? What does it look like to follow Jesus with the power he grants us?