Discerning God's Will (Aug 30, 09)

ACTS M2 Sermon Notes August 30, 2009

Title: Discerning God’s Will in Times of Waiting



Text: Acts 1:12-26

Big Idea: We discern God’s will through prayer, the scriptures, common sense and the Holy Spirit.

I was living in southern California working to plant a new church and also part-time for one of the Orange County newspapers and my work visa expired. I returned to Canada. I was living in White Rock and ended-up living with a childhood friend of mine. Though we lived in this beautiful condo on Marine Drive not far from the pier overlooking the ocean, I was restless. There was a part of me that was anxious… eager to discover the next step I was supposed to take.

Have you ever been in a waiting time?— waiting to for a job to open up, waiting to be admitted to school, or waiting to begin a relationship, waiting to begin a family, waiting to retire? Waiting can feel like a frustrating “in between” experience.

We’ve just begun a new series in the Book of Acts. We are looking at how the early church expanded through the work of the Holy Spirit. As we see how this happened, we will find nourishment for our own spiritual journey, but also for our journey as a church as we grow into Kitsilano on September 13 and into places like Cambodia as well.

Today we are going to look at the early church in a waiting time.

In Acts Chapter 1 we saw how Jesus (in his last words) said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before the eyes of his followers and a cloud hid him from their sight. In Acts 1 vs. 9 we see that Jesus has ascended…. but the promised Holy Spirit has not yet come upon his followers. Then we read in Acts 1:12 how the disciples returned to Jerusalem. What do they do during this waiting time in Jerusalem?

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 1:12.

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk [a] from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, "Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry."

18 (With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 "For," said Peter, "it is written in the Book of Psalms:
" 'May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,' [b]
and,
" 'May another take his place of leadership.' [c]

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."

23 So they proposed the names of two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." 26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

How does the early church act in its waiting times?

They weren’t passive. They respond to Jesus’ call to wait for the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. But they don’t simply wait idly twiddling their thumbs and restlessly channel surfing. They unite in prayer in the upper room. In vs. 14 we read: 14They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women (presumably the women included the 3 named in the Gospel of Luke: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna) and Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus with his brothers.

In verse 15 we read there were about 120 joined in prayer community. The 120 included 11 of the original disciples. (They had lost one—Judas). In Jewish law a minimum of 120 was required to establish a community with its own council; so the group of those following Christ, though small in number at this point, was large enough, by the standards of Jewish tradition, to form a new community.)

These 120 people, we are told (in vs. 14), joined together constantly in prayer. They were following Jesus’ call in Luke 18 to pray and not give up. Jesus himself modeled this through his own consistent praying. Before the major events in his own life, Jesus prayed. He stayed up all night praying before choosing his disciples. He also spent the night praying before accomplishing his greatest work—his sacrifice for our sins on the cross. If it was important for Jesus as the unique son of God to pray and receive direction, how much more important is it for us.

We read in verse 24 that as the early church was discerning whom to choose as a replacement for the disciple Judas, they prayed specifically for direction.

As we spend time in the presence of God praying and we are drawn close to his heart, we find ourselves in a posture where we can be led by him…

As I have shared a number of times, when I was in that waiting time in White Rock, between southern California and Vancouver, I spent a five days fasting and praying for direction. And in that time of fasting and prayer, on day 3 God seemed to say, “Tenth Avenue Alliance Church…” and on day 5 “Senior pastor.” Now God does not guide me that dramatically most of the time. In fact, it is only a handful of times where I have sensed God speaking to me almost audibly. But like spending regular time in conversation with a friend, as we engage in prayer with God, we are positioned to know what is on God’s heart… to know what is most important to him. We are therefore in a better position to discern what God’s will is.


So, while we wait we can pray for direction.

In verse 15 we see how Peter, emerges as the leader of the early disciples:

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, "Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry."

18 (With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 "For," said Peter, "it is written in the Book of Psalms:
" 'May his place be deserted… (Psalm 69:25)

" 'May another take his place of leadership. (Psalm 109:8).

Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities for 30 pieces of silver. Afterwards Judas felt remorse over it and he took his own life. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, he went away and hung himself and then apparently, when some someone cut the rope, his body had decomposed and burst open.

Peter speaks about the need to replace Judas as one of Jesus’ disciples so that there would be twelve disciples. Some commentators have observed how in Israel there were twelve tribes which represented the people of God; and so it was important for there to be twelve apostles, who would represent the new family of God, composed of people of every tongue, tribe and nation, that God was bringing together through his son Jesus Christ.

Peter turns to Scripture. He quotes Psalm 69 (“May his place be deserted”) and Psalm 109 (" 'May another take his place of leadership.'), explaining that Judas’s betrayal had been prophesied in Scripture, and that they were to replace him.

(Though Luke clearly names Judas’s sin of betrayal and subsequent suicide as wrong, he also makes it clear that even in sin and family dysfunction, as we saw so clearly in the series on the life and family of Joseph, God can weave these things for his purposes.)

God’s Scriptures can provide an important guide for us.

I know that for some followers of Christ reading the scriptures can feel like a bit of an obligation. And when you get to certain parts of the Bible, like the Book of Leviticus, the book of Numbers, the description of the temple or the genealogies (Adam begat Seth, Seth begat Enosh, Enosh begat Kenan….) --those part can feel about as inspiring as a wide yawn. But if we are regularly in the Scriptures provide us with the gift of guidance.

My own mentor, an older Presbyterian minister named Leighton Ford, tragically lost his son Sandy when he was just 21 years old. Sandy was a bright student at the University of North Carolina. He was an athlete and deeply devoted to Christ. He was actively involved with Inter-Varsity ministry on his school campus. He was hoping one day to become a minister of the Gospel. When he was only 21 years old, he died of a rare heart disease. It was a time of great grief for faith and his family, as you can imagine.

At the time, Leighton was the vice-president of the Billy Graham Association. He was speaking in large football stadiums around the world, and was Graham’s heir-apparent One day Leighton was reading in the Book of Isaiah 43:19 how God was about to do a new work: See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert.and streams in the wasteland. He sensed that this “new thing” applied to him and that he would be called to a new ministry. Not long after, he was reading in Isaiah 49:2 where God said, “I will make you into a polished arrow, concealed in my quiver.” And then in verse 6: God says:


"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."

These verses, combined with the loss of Sandy, led Leighton to begin something new, what is called “The Arrow Leadership Program,” which helps develop young, emerging Christian leaders in North America, around the world and other mentoring communities. I have been a part of these programs both as a student and as a leader. But it was a scripture that spoke to Leighton and guided him in a very significant way, time of grief.

My wife Sakiko, before we were married, had no vision of living outside of Japan because she loved her family, her job, her church, her country. But God spoke to her through John 15 where Jesus says, every branch in me that bears I prune and Sakiko didn’t know exactly how this would apply to her specifically, but she sensed that God wanted to prune something very significant in her life, that there would be some cataclysmic change. Then I came into her life and asked her if she would be open in leaving Japan (just before I was planning to propose to her)…. She said, “No…” to the possibility of her living outside Japan and then, as she reflected on John 15, she sensed that God was going to prune and guide her into a new chapter in her life… leave Japan, and that text prepared to do what she never imagined--marry and then move to Canada. Scripture guided her.

When I first came to Tenth I was guided in a time of prayer, but I was also encouraged through Scriptures. I heard just some stories about Tenth that made me wonder about our future viability. People talked about Tenth as a church with its glory years behind it…a church that had shrunk from over 1000 to under 200 at its lowest points. As a new pastor here, the secretary came into my office one day and said, “If everything sinks now, everyone will blame you because you were the last person at the helm.”

A long time member of our church named Elaine Salmond (who still attends,), shared with me a verse that she felt God had given her for Tenth—Isaiah 62… let me quote part of it (paraphrasing).

Because I love Tenth,
I will not keep still.
Because my heart yearns for Tenth,
I cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her
until her righteousness shines like the dawn,
and her salvation blazes like a burning torch

And Tenth will be given a new name
by the Lord’s own mouth.

Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight”[c]
and “The Bride of God,”[d]
for the Lord delights in you
and will claim you as his bride.

O Tenth I have posted watchmen on your walls;
they will pray day and night, continually.
Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.

Tenth will be called “The Holy People”
and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.”
And Tenth will be known as “The Desirable Place”
and “The Place No Longer Forsaken.”

Those verses encouraged me. A few years later at the end of an elders’ retreat, we were in Elaine and Lorne Salmond’s home. I said, “Elaine, I want you to tell the board about the verse you felt God gave to you for Tenth years ago.” So she paraphrased Isaiah 62. And she said, “Years ago I felt like Tenth was like a woman who had lost her beauty, but now that beauty has been restored.” Isaiah 62 was a prophetic call for us as a community to pray and seek God, but also a promise that we would be a redeemed people, that we would be sought after…no longer called “deserted,” but “desired.”

The gift of regularly being in the word, I personally use the One Year Bible (with daily reading selections) is that we can receive guidance from God.

So we see in the text how in the in-between time for the early church they prayed. They turned to the Word for guidance. And they exercised common sense. The early church, based on scripture and Judas’s defection, felt that it was necessary to appoint another apostle so that there would be twelve apostles, perhaps so that like the children of Israel who had 12 tribes this new family of God being created by Christ would also have 12 apostles. And so, according to verse 23, they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.

Then they prayed for guidance. But, we see here the early church used their common sense. They felt that since all the apostles had actually been eye witnesses of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, it made sense in to their minds and hearts that the next apostle to be someone who had also actually witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. They prayed, used Scriptures, but also exercised their God-given judgment here.

When we are in waiting times we can pray, meditate on Scripture, use common sense.

We can ask, “What kind of gifts do I have that could serve others? What kind of needs are there in the community? Where do I experience joy in serving? How might I be stretched through serving?

Why have we chosen Kitsilano as a place to launch to? We are getting set to launch our new site in Kitsilano in response to Jesus’ call to make disciples of all people. But it makes sense from a common sense perspective, as well. The Canadian census shows that Kits is a community that shares the distinction of being one of the “least religious” communities in Canada. Yet, we have a number of people who attend here and live in Kitsilano. Kitsilano is also filled with people of all ages and is especially popular among the young. We are a multi-generational church but many newcomers express surprise at how many young people there are here (which is rare for churches, in general). So, there are a number of factors that make Kitsilano seem like the right place for us to launch… The leadership feels that to quote Acts 15:28 it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us to launch in Kits. It seems good to you, come! Come and attend and come and serve. There are opportunities to serve in the areas of ushering, hospitality, kids ministry, set up… and many other areas. There is never the perfect time to serve….


Sometimes in our church life and in our personal life there are times when we will be concretely guided by God; and other times when it just makes sense in our minds and our hearts and as a result of spending time with God, we feel a sense of peace, and this way seems good to us and to the Holy Spirit.

When I was nearing a waiting time between seminary, and what to do next, I recall talking to a mentor about what I ought to do. There was no concrete guidance from God at that point. I had two opportunities before me—one was to take an administrative role in an international leadership organization, and another was to go out to southern California with a friend to start a church there.

I remember my mentor saying, “If you don’t have a clear and compelling sense of call what to do, and you need to make a decision, just make the decision. Think what you want to be at the end of your life and make a decision that will take you one small step in that direction, and trust that God will make it right.”

Some times we need to move based on what seems to good us, and from what we can discern, to the Holy Spirit as well. Pastor Earl Palmer has said, God cannot steer a parked car… sometimes we have to step out and trust that God will guide us….

Finally, we see here, when the early church discerns whether to choose, Joseph called Barabbas (v. 23) (also known as Justus), and Matthias. They prayed and asked the Lord to show which of the two the Lord had chosen. Then they cast lots (the lots may have been pebbles with names of Joseph and Matthias on them which put in vase and shaken and then the one whose name fell out first was chosen.) The lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the disciples. Lots were used in decision-making in a variety of circumstances in the Old Testament (Leviticus 16:8-10; Numbers 26:25-56, etc.). In Proverbs 16:33 we read “A lot was cast and the decision was from the Lord.”

It is interesting to know, however, this is the last time that the use of lots in making a decision was used in the scriptures. The disappearance of casting lots in the scriptures is likely related to the coming of the Holy Spirit who is now, according to Jesus and Paul in Romans 8, the great guide for believers. Now we do not need to rely on the casting of lots for direction, but the Spirit.

Throughout the Book of Acts, we see how the Spirit led the early church in sending people like Paul and Barnabas. In Acts 13 we see how during the time of worship that Paul and Barnabas were set apart for the missionary work to which God had called them. In Acts 15 we see that the Holy Spirit guided the early church on gaining clarity on certain theological and ethical issues, like whether eating food that was sacrificed to idols and abstaining from sexual immorality. In the Book of Acts 16 the Spirit guides Paul to go to Macedonia, instead of Asia.

In our community life here at Tenth and in our individual Lives, and waiting times and at all times, we will also be guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. I recently spoke with Kevin Knight, a member here at Tenth, about his sense of how God has guided him.

Kevin is a plumber by trade and he first came here almost 2 years ago. He was not a believer in Christ at the time. He had a sense that there was a huge void in his life. He sat in the back of the church here one Sunday and when he was at the service, he felt deeply impressed that God wanted him to go to Cambodia. He sat in the back of the church and wept. A vision that he had two years before came to him: a prior vision of digging a ditch in arid soil…. which he now sense was Cambodia.

After a significant time of prayer, reflecting Son biblical teaching, he ended up going to Phnom Penh last December as part of a Tenth missions trip. Kevin is now preparing to go to Cambodia long-term with “Servants with the Asia’s Poor.” (I may interview Kevin.)

Kevin story illustrates how God can guide us directly by his Spirit, but and also that God’s plan for us may not be easy….

Richard Stearn’s story also illustrates this. Rich Stearns is one of the presidents of World Vision, the Christian development organization. Richard Stearns grew up in a poor and broken family. His father had been an alcoholic, his parents divorced.. Though his family had no money to send him to college, by working very hard in high school, Richard ended up attending Cornell University, an Ivy League college, on scholarships and student loans. He later graduated from Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. At the end of his time at Cornell, Rich committed his life to Christ, but his goal had been, and still was, to become a corporate CEO and become financially prosperous. When he was 33 years old, he became president and CEO of Parker Brothers, and then the CEO of Lenox, the fine tableware company. His salary and bonuses were in the 7-figure range.

He was happily married, had 5 kids and lived in a 10-bedroom house on 5 acres outside Philadelphia. He had a brand new company car, a Jaguar, and then through a series of extraordinary events, none of which Rich initiated, Rich was asked to serve as the president of World Vision. He was confronted with a very hard choice—to quit his job, one that he had worked 20 years to attain, take a 75% pay cut, sell his house, move his family across the continent to Seattle where he didn’t know anyone, and accept the job he didn’t want. He felt there was a strong likelihood that he would fail and become unemployed a year later.

As he was wrestling through the decision, the words of Jesus’ from the gospels came to him. “Rich, you lack one thing—sell everything you have and give it to the poor, then come follow me. Are you willing, Rich? Will you do this for me?” The next verse in the passage of scripture was devastating to Rich: “The rich man when confronted with the same question could not do what Jesus asked. He went away very sad because he had great wealth.”

In June 1998 Richard and his family moved to Seattle, and Rich has been serving as the president of World Vision ever since. He has been working on behalf of the poor, advocating for their physical, social, and spiritual well-being.

Most of us will not be called to do something quite so dramatic with our lives. But are we open to doing what God calls us to do? God will speak to us individually as a community through: as we pray, search scripture, through our common sense, and through a sense of the Spirit’s leading.

Most of us won’t be called into full-time ministry as missionaries like Kevin is being called, or into full-time Christian work like Rich Stearns, but we are called to do something--to consider our gifts and the needs in the world, and serve, as I said earlier. There are many opportunities to serve Kits in the areas of ushering, hospitality, kids ministry, set up… and many other areas and, as people go, many opportunities to serve here, too.

When we respond affirmatively to the call of God in our life, as was true of Matthias, no doubt as Kevin and Rich, we will find ourselves stretched or challenged, but also deeply fulfilled and discover and live out God’s call for us.

Several months after Rich had taken his position at World Vision, he was in his six-year-old minivan with his son high school-aged son Andy running some errands. They pulled up at a traffic light beside a shiny brand new Jaguar XK-8, just like his company car he had. Andy looked at his dad and sighed wistfully, “Dad, have you ever thought about getting back in the game for one last kill?” Rich replied, “Andy, for the first time in my life I feel like I am in the game…in God’s game.”

Not everyone will be called, as I said, to work in full-time Christian work, as Rich and Kevin have been called. But when we are open to the discerning God’s will through prayer, the Word, common sense, and the Spirit’s leading and then responding affirmatively we will find that we are in the greatest game of all—we are participating in the eternal work of God.

Prayer for the benediction:

A Spirit-shaped Witness (Aug 23, 09)

Download the original attachment

Acts M1 Message Notes August 23, 2009

Title: A Spirit-shaped Witness

Text: Acts 1:1-11


Big Idea: The remarkable growth of the early church was empowered by the holistic, Spirit-filled witness of Christ’s followers.


In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, the popular Canadian author, asks how hockey players, computer geniuses like Bill Gates, and rock groups like the Beatles become outliers (i.e., people who achieve success so they are now outside of the range of normal of human experience and statistically “off the charts”).

Gladwell challenges the popular assumption that great hockey players, people like Bill Gates, and rock groups like the Beatles become immensely successful because they are self-made. Gladwell writes about how outliers had unusual opportunities, because they were born in the right place and the right time and were therefore able to take advantage of some unusual opportunity. He points out that NHL hockey players tend to be born in January, February, or March because the earliest birthday for a child to eligible to play in a league in Canada is January 1. If you’re born earlier in the year, then you’re older and likely slightly more physically mature than kids born later in the year, and so you are more likely to be streamed into elite programs and will get to practice more, play more, and get better.

Bill Gates, is successful because he's very bright, but also because he had access to a powerful mainframe computer in high school at a time in the 1960s when few other people did and was able to practice programming for 10,000 hours before he went to college.

The Beatles became very successful because they had great musical gifts, but also because they had Hamburg, a series if gigs in Germany in the 1960s that enabled them to play to all week long and up to 8 hours a day…. They too were able to rack up 10,000 hours of playing time which enabled them to perfect their music.

When you think about the life of Jesus Christ, he was the ultimate outlier (i.e., someone outside of the range norm of human experience—statistically off the charts). He was born into an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. Never went to college. Never held an office. But, as one poet has said, All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that were ever built and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of Man on Earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

When we think about Jesus, we have the ultimate outlier (someone who was “off the charts” like no one else)—the most influential person who has ever lived. But Jesus is in a category all of his own. He was after all, Christians believe, the unique, Son of God.

But his twelve disciples became outliers too. The source of their success isn’t quite as obvious.

We read in Acts 4:13, the disciples were ordinary people, uneducated. A number of them were fisherman. As you read the gospels, you will see that disciples had many of the same human frailties that we have: they were prone to disbelief, anxiety, and bailing out when things got hard. Jesus’ disciples Peter, James, and John assured Jesus that they would be willing to suffer for him.

But, when Jesus was arrested, they and all the other disciples of Jesus bailed on him. They went into hiding cowering behind locked doors, afraid for their lives. Yet, it was these very people who had fled for their lives who become fearless leaders of the Christian movement—a movement that would revolutionize the Roman Empire in which they lived and then much of the world. Christianity now composes some 1/3 of the human race, some 2 billion followers out of a world of 6.7 billion people.

How do we explain the success of the early church when it was led by such frail, ordinary people? The Book of Acts provides us with the answer to that question.

Starting today and for the next couple of months we’re going to be exploring the Book of Acts, and we’ll be seeing how the early church grew in the face of great challenges in the first century. The wisdom that we glean from the Book of Acts will be important, not only as we seek to grow in our own spiritual journey, but also as a church as we expand into Kitsilano on Sunday September 13.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 1, beginning at verse 1.

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In Acts 1:1 we read:

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, and also the author of gospel that bears his name: “Luke,” was likely a gentile by birth. He was a physician, and quite possibly a slave. Physicians in the first century in Greco-Roman world could be slaves.

We know from the gospel of Luke that the recipient of the Book of Acts is a man named Theophilus. His name means “one who loves God.” In the Gospel of Luke he’s described as “most excellent Theophilus”. So Theophilus is apparently a person of high standing in the Roman Empire, possibly a Roman official, who knows and loves God. The Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke were intended for the development of Theophilus’ relationship with God and the faith of all people who would come in contact with these books which describe the origins and the early growth of the Christian Church.

How did the early church achieve its outlier (off the charts) status? How did it grow so quickly? How did it spread like wildfire with no political power, no connections, no money?

We read in verse 3:

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

One of the reasons, according to verse 3, is because after Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead, he showed himself to his disciples and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to the disciples over a period of 40 days.

In the culture of Jesus’ day, like in ours, people simply would not have believed that someone had risen from the dead. (In fact, people in Jesus’ day would have been more resistant to that idea that someone would rise from the dead than people are today). Some of Hebrew people of Jesus day were expecting a general resurrection at the end of time, but no one anticipated that a person would be resurrected during the normal course of history.

So people in Jesus’ day would have needed convincing proofs that he had risen from the dead and was alive. Jesus gave them convincing proofs by appearing to them over a 40 day period.

Those first disciples were convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead. The reason we know that is because they were completely transformed after they saw Jesus risen from the dead. They went from being fearful cowards who fled for their lives when Jesus was arrested on Thursday night, the eve of Good Friday, to being fearless proclaimers of the message that Jesus had risen from the dead the following Monday. From Thursday to Monday they went from being zeroes to heroes. All of those early disciples of Jesus, with the exception for John, died for their belief that Jesus rose from the dead. The only plausible explanation for this radical transformation in their lives was that they believed that Jesus actually rose from the dead. When you are not afraid to die, you become very powerful--think about a social activist or a revolutionary who is unafraid to die—he or she is a powerful force.

But the fact that these disciples who had been cowards lost their fear of death because they believed that Jesus had risen from the dead was not the primary reason for the explosive growth of the early church.

Notice verse 4: “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.” The gift that Jesus referred to here was the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What empowered the movement of the early church, with extraordinary vitality enabling it to achieve outlier (“off the charts”) growth status is the fact that God through his Holy Spirit was working through these people who were following Christ.

In verse 8, Jesus says these last words to his followers… 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In Luke 24:45-49 Jesus similarly said: "This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

The key to the explosive growth of the early church was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit clothed those early disciples with the power from on high, the power of God. As a result, the early followers of Christ became bold witnesses to Christ’s death on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins and his rising again from the dead, first in Jerusalem; and then the movement spread to Judea and Samaria, and then to places like Asia Minor, Greece, Rome and Spain; and later through their spiritual offspring the gospel would go to the ends of the earth.

The kingdom of God is spread through the Spirit-empowered witness of its followers. The word “witness” then, as now, simply means that a person experienced some event and then talked about it. When a person is filled with the Spirit of God that person bears witness to the reality of God through what they say and by who they are; and other people begin to experience the reality of God and the movement of God spreads in the world.

A couple of years ago CBC radio broadcast a story on how difficult it is for the typical Canadian person who has some kind of faith to actually talk about his or her faith in their workplace. When we are filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we will become increasingly free to talk about the reality of Christ. As we grow closer to Jesus Christ and grow deeper in our love for him, the more natural it will be for us to speak about him.

My wife Sakiko sometimes says that when she meets someone (referring to women primarily outside of this community, so don’t be self-conscious), she can get a sense after a few conversations as to how close they are to their husbands, or to their partners (if they are married or in a relationship), if after a few conversations that woman (she says she’s not sure if this true of men) never mentions their significant other, she just wonders how close they are. But if the person is really in love with their husband or their partner, then that person comes up pretty regularly and naturally into the conversation.

And so it is with us. When we are filled with the Spirit of Christ and growing in our love for Jesus, it will be increasingly natural for us to talk about Jesus (not out of a sense of obligation, but out of a sense of overflow).

There is a person who is important to me here in Vancouver. I have known her for about 7 years. She is not a church-going person. We have been in each others’ homes regularly. It would be rare for a week or two to go by without having some kind of interaction with this person. This person recently lost a very significant loved one in her life and came by to talk about it. Not long after, I dropped in just to see her to see how she was doing. She knows I am a Christian pastor and though there was some hesitancy on my part… I talked about my belief in God, in Christ rising from the dead, and the hope we can have because of his rising



I asked her if I could pray for her. I sat in her living room and prayed with her (and the tears streaming down her cheeks). It was very meaningful moment to her. I don’t know that she had ever been prayed for before. She didn’t fall on her knees and say, “I now want to become a follower of Christ.” She was able to experience in some small way the reality of Christ by my simply naming him and praying for her. That is what we are called to be and do. We are called to be witnesses to the reality of Christ.

Perhaps one way to begin to serve as witness is to ask the Holy Spirit to so fill us that we would be willing to talk about Jesus naturally, as we would any other important person or pursuit in our lives.

I was at dinner with about 10-12 people honoring a prominent political leader in the city. He was receiving The Order of Canada award. During the dinner he asked each one of people seated around the table guests to share for a few minutes something we were passionate about. There was a part of me that wanted to talk about a safer topic like my love of sailing or running through endowments lands with the Golden Retriever, but I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to share part of my spiritual journey. I said,” I’m pastor of Tenth Church here in the city. People often ask why I choose enter the somewhat unusual vocation of a Christian minister.” Then I said, “As teenager, I had troubled years. I was involved in taking and dealing drugs, shoplifting, and joyriding. My dad was concerned about me. So, he took me to a prison, and later he said, ‘I just wanted you to see your future home… ‘ and he figured to try something even more radical--he took me to a Christian youth conference. At that Christian conference I discovered I could have a new beginning and my life was radically changed me for the better. So one of things I am passionate about is seeing lives changed by the power of God.”

A starting point in serving as a witness is to pray that we would be filled with the Spirit and free to talk about Christ like we would any other person or pursuit in our lives.

As are filled with Spirit we will witness through our words to reality of Christ , but as Bryant Myers points out we will also point to reality of God through our lives, our deeds, and through signs and as this happens the work of God spreads.

One of key reasons the early church spread like wildfire in the first century was because they were filled with the Holy Spirit and as result reflected the integrity, wisdom, and love of God in their lives. In Acts 4 we read how astonished people were at the courage and wisdom that the disciples Peter and John had even though they were ordinary, uneducated people, and they noted they had been with Jesus.

I said before, my grandfather was very, very hostile to Christianity. He was a corporate CEO. Arrogant. Powerful. He had been hostile toward Christians in general. One time I had a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis sent to him in Japanese. He had his secretary reduce it to a one page summary. But there was a person in his company that he described with a glow in his eye as a “true Christian.” This person was an individual of extraordinary integrity, capable, trustworthy. I don’t know if he ever explicitly tried to persuade my grandfather to become a Christian, but he was open about his faith. My grandfather deeply respected him and part of the reason my grandfather committed his life to Christ late in life—i.e. in his 80s--was because of someone who gave witness to the reality of Christ through his life.

Another reason the early church spread like wildfire in the first century was because they were filled with God’s Spirit and witnessed to the reality of God through their deeds. In Acts 4 we read how the early followers of Christ shared their possessions with one another so that there was not a single person in need among them. People in the Roman Empire often were stingy with their money, but promiscuous with their bodies. But observers remarked of those first Christians, they share bread with others, not their marriage beds.

Pastor Ourng serves a church of 83 members in Cambodia (where we intend to invest for 10-15 years as a church). He said, “Several years ago, World Vision came to the community and set up a TB clinic to care those suffering with that disease. They helped us improve our schools, and taught us better agricultural methods to increase our crop yields. Since the genocide in Cambodia, I did not trust strangers. I was suspicious of the World Vision people. Why would these strangers help us? I wondered. One day I confronted the World Vision leader and demanded to know, ‘Why are you here?’ The leader said, ‘We are followers of Jesus Christ, and we are commanded to love our neighbours as ourselves.’” The Cambodian asked, “Who is Jesus?”

They gave him a Bible and then introduced him later to a Cambodian Christian. Ourng became a follower of Jesus and then pastor…

A story a little close to home:

Rose Smith, is an active member of this church, she has given me permission to share this story. Rose lives here in Vancouver (She is married to Bruce who serves as the chair of our Board of Elders).

Rose met her friend Patti 28 years ago last Tuesday (August 18) when Rose’s daughter Heather and Patti’s son Mark were born at BC Women’s’ on the same day. Six years later Patti, her husband Chris and their family moved 3 houses away from Rose and Bruce. They’ve ended up being close friends for over 20 years.

Four years ago Patti was diagnosed with cancer in her appendix. Her cancer spread into her abdomen and into spine. For four or five months, Rose organized friends to spend the day with Patti. This gave her husband Chris a much-needed break.

One day when Rose was with Patti in Palliative Care when she between medications, and in excruciating pain. Rose was in hospital holding her (Dec 06). The pain was coming and going like as if Patti were in heavy labour…

And just before Patti died, Rose was stroking her head and then her arm, prayed for Patti and said, “It’s OK. It’s O.K, time to go… you’re going to a better place...” (Patti, though she had not been attending any church at the time, had placed her faith in Christ, but her husband Chris was not a believer in God.) Chris told me this week, “I knew then that they were in touch with a reality of which I knew nothing, and thought, “What am I missing?” That was two years ago. On July 1 2007, Patti died.

As a result of seeing love that Rose had for Patti, by seeing how Patti was able to let go because of her faith in the reality of God, made Chris think that there was some kind of reality that he had not experienced. Rose and Bruce invited Chris to Tenth and he has been attending Tenth and has been coming for the last two years, and a few months ago took his first communion here. (As a result of Chris a good friend of his has started coming, a friend of his friend coming, and someone who is not regular churchgoer has joined the small group they are part of.)

Like the early church, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can witness to Christ through word, life, deed, and also through sign. In the book of Acts we see how the early believers experience certain “signs”: the ability to speak in tongues they hadn’t studied before, healings, supernatural deliverances from danger—that could only be plausibly explained by God.

When we are joined to Christ and filled with His Spirit, we will bear witness to the reality of God through some kind of sign in our life.

I was born in a country where most people are Buddhist or Shinto. People ask me if other members of my family are Christian. The Christian stream of our family began with my great uncle. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis when it was considered a terminal illness. There was no medication. He was given 6 months to live. Someone gave him a Bible. He read it. He came to the part in the Gospels where Jesus healed people. He prayed for healing and was miraculously healed. As a result of his healing, my mother came to faith in Christ. And as a result of that, I came to know Christ.

Our may not be as dramatic a change as that, but is there some kind of sign in your life that would point to the reality of God that those who know you might see God at spiritual at work in you?

In my own story my own sign was not nearly as dramatic as in my great uncle’s experience, but it was enough to spark the curiosity of my grandmother.

My grandmother remembered me as a little brat (which I was). I was always asking, “How can I become rich when I grow up?” When I went to work in Japan for the Sony Group, I also started volunteering in a little church in northeast Tokyo. My grandmother was really intrigued. When she heard I was going to speak at church one Sunday my grandmother was intrigued. On a rainy Sunday morning, she decided she would come to church for the first time in over 20 years to hear me speak. I gave a little message about the power of the cross to change us. At the end of the message I invited the people who wanted to give their lives to Christ to come forward. My grandmother to my great surprise came forward. She was in tears, and I said, “Are you OK?” She said, “Am I OK? Today is the happiest day of my life. I thought I had been a Christian all my whole life, but today for the first time I really understood why Jesus Christ died for me.”

This is how the kingdom of God spreads in the world--as followers are filled with the Spirit of Jesus and they witness to the gospel—through word, life, deed and sign.

Dorothy Day said, “Live a life that is so mysterious that the only adequate explanation for it can be a living and loving God.”

The way that we become people who preach the gospel through our lives and our words, and live a life so mysterious that they only explanation for it a living, loving God is that we are filled with the Spirit of Christ.

As we are we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, we will become witnesses to the reality of Christ… in fact we will becomes Christ’s “voice” and Christ’s “touch” and (in Paul’s words) “the body of Christ” in our relationships, as a community in places like Kitsilano (as we launch our new site there on September 13), and as we are led to Cambodia, and around the world.

But, being an outlier in the most important work of all, the eternal work for Christ, isn’t primarily being born in the right place and the right time or having the most persuasive argument, but the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ—being clothed with power from on high. When that happens, we will naturally—or supernaturally--become witnesses to the reality of Christ and become his “voice” and “touch” in our world. We will find ourselves partners with God in creating the eternal kingdom of God.

Prayer:

Would you like to be filled with the Spirit? You can pray that now.

As you pray that perhaps you’ll also say, “God I am available in the coming week to serve as witness for Christ through what I say, who I am, what I do, or some kind of sign in me.”