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The Light That Opens Blind Eyes (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #46) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

Imagine you find yourself lost at sea in a small boat nearly dead. And by some chance you find a map and your coordinates, and you have reason to believe you might be able to make it to an island. But your dehydration causes you to badly misread the map and you think you’re supposed to be sailing north, and there you go spending the last of your energy heading north, but after a while the clouds suddenly part, the sun comes out, and it becomes blazingly obvious you are very much sailing south.

Now imagine you collapse in despair and happen to glance at the map, only to realize that you were supposed to be going south the entire time. This is what some have called a eucatastrophe – a sudden, favorable resolution to a dire situation. Paul’s conversion was a eucatastrophe, as has been every conversion to Christ ever since, and it will be the great theme of history to the end of the world.

The Text: “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself…” (Acts 26:1-32).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This is now the third time Acts records the conversion of Saul/Paul to Christ. He explains to Agrippa that he grew up as a strict Pharisee, the Jewish sect known for their hope in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 26:1-8). He held his convictions so fiercely that he persecuted the Christians who followed Jesus of Nazareth, even approving of their deaths, until he was confronted by Jesus in a blinding light on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:9-15). Jesus commissioned Paul to become a witness of His resurrection, to open the eyes of the Gentiles from darkness to light, to turn them to God in repentance (Acts 26:16-20). Paul says it was that ministry to the Gentiles that caused the Jews to try to kill him, even though that ministry is nothing other than a fulfillment of the Old Testament (Acts 26:21-23). While all of this was a bit much for Festus, King Agrippa was almost persuaded to become a Christian, and both rulers agreed that Paul might have been freed if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar (Acts 26:24-32).

A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN

A central part of Paul’s testimony is that he is preaching none other than the message of the Old Testament: the hope of the promise made to the fathers and the twelve tribes, the suffering of Christ, and His resurrection as the first fruits of the great resurrection (Acts 26:5-8, 22-23). To return to our illustration at the beginning of the message, what Paul came to realize suddenly is that he had been very wrong about the map, but the map was never wrong. In this case, the Old Testament was the map, but because of Paul’s sinful blindness, he misread the map and saw Jesus and the Christians as enemies. But when Jesus appeared to him, obviously alive from the dead, Paul realized that the very thing he had always hoped for (the resurrection) had actually happened in Jesus of Nazareth. And while Paul was going the wrong way, it turned out to be exactly the way the Scriptures said blind men would go, until the Messiah gave him light (e.g. Is. 42-43).

ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES

In 1 Cor. 15, Paul reviews the gospel which saves, and it is particularly remarkable for his emphasis on the Scriptures: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). It’s not just that it really happened; it’s that it really happened according to the Scriptures. And Paul is making the same point here: he is on trial because of the hope of the promise made to the fathers, “saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (Acts 26:6-7, 22).

APPLICATIONS 

When is the last time you changed your mind about something because of what you read in the Bible or heard in a sermon? It is easy to read your Bible and listen to sermons primarily to find what you already agree with. There is nothing quite so hard as trying to convince someone that they are wrong when they really believe they are right. Paul was so sure he was right he persecuted Christians. Everyone believes they are right; this is how human beings function. But humility knows it is all entirely dependent on God. Apart from God, our eyes are blind; apart from Christ, we are slaves of Satan and sin (Acts 26:18). In this world, there are only blind slaves and formerly blind slaves.

The central message of the Cross is God is right, and man is not. And God has always been right, and God has been pleased to make known His infallible truth through fallible men: through prophets and preachers and Scriptures. Paul calls this the “foolishness of preaching” (1 Cor. 1:21) “so that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:29) “that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).

So this is the message that opens blind eyes, softens hard hearts, delivers from the power of Satan, and grants forgiveness and holiness to sinners: Jesus of Nazareth was tortured on a Roman Cross until He died, and when He suffered, He was suffering for our sins, just like the Old Testament said He would. He was buried, and they rolled a stone over the mouth of His grave and set a guard, but on the third day, the stone was rolled away, and Jesus came back to life in that same body that had been killed, just as the Old Testament prophets had said that He would.

And I ask you the question Paul asked Agrippa: Do you believe the prophets? Notice that question: Do you believe the Old Testament? Of course we now have the New Testament also, confirming this gospel, but the question is probing something deeper: do you believe that God has always been right? Do you believe that since Adam’s sin, mankind is blind and wrong? Do you believe that we are the problem and Christ is the only solution? Believe and you are saved. Believe and you are a Christian.

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May Your Money Perish With You (Acts of the Apostles #19) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

After the apostles had laid hands on the seven men who were to help administer aid to the widows, two of those men come to the forefront as powerful preachers and miracle workers. We have considered the story of Stephen, who face his martyrdom with remarkable courage and grace. The story of Stephen ended with an introduction to Saul of Tarsus and his early persecuting career, but Luke’s main focus moves on to a second man among the seven, a man named Philip.

Now remember the “table of contents” from Acts 1. Jesus had said they would travel as His witnesses to Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit was poured out in Jerusalem (Acts 2:2-3), and all the early activity happened there. In the persecution that broke out after Stephen’s death, the believers scattered into Judaea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). And then follows Philip into Samaria (Acts 8:5).

THE TEXT

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city . . .” (Acts 8:5–25).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Samaria was both a city and a region, and Philip went there to preach Christ (v. 5). It says that the people there gave heed to Philip “with one accord,” hearing and seeing his miracles (v. 6). He cast out unclean spirits and they came out with a loud voice (v. 7). He healed the lame and the palsied (v. 7). As a consequence, the city was overjoyed (v. 8). Now there was a sorcerer in the city named Simon, bewitching the people, and passing himself off as a great one (v. 9). They used to call him the great power of God (v. 10), and because of his sorcery, they had followed him for a long time (v. 11). But then they believed Philip concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, and both men and women were baptized (v. 12). Simon also believed, and after he was baptized, he followed Philip around, marveling at his power (v. 13). The apostles at Jerusalem heard about this, and sent Peter and John (v. 14). When they arrived, they prayed and laid hands on the Samaritans so that they would receive the Holy Spirit (vv. 15, 17). These converts had been baptized in the name of Jesus, but they had not received the Spirit (v. 16). When Simon saw this, he offered them money so that he might be able to bestow the Holy Spirit (vv. 18-19). But Peter said to him, “may your silver be destroyed along with you—imagine thinking the grace of God could be bought!” (v. 20). He said, “you have no part in this because your heart is not right” (v. 21). He calls him to repent in the hope that he might be forgiven (v. 22), which was needed because Simon was “in the gall of bitterness and the chains of iniquity” (v. 23). Simon answer meekly, at least on the surface (v. 24). And so Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages as they went (v. 25).

APOSTOLIC SOLIDARITY 

What is the central point of this story? Why do the Samaritans not receive the Holy Spirit until Peter and John come to lay hands on them? This was not because there was some special power laid up in the apostles, such that without it you couldn’t even be saved. Peek ahead to Acts 15—the single greatest controversy in the early church was whether or not you could even become a Christian without becoming a Jew first. And so here were these despised half-breed Samaritans. God withheld the blessing of the Spirit from them until two of the foremost apostles showed up and demonstrated their solidarity with them. It would be hard to exclude the Samaritans from the fellowship of Christ now—and there would be those who would want to exclude them.

Ethnic animosities are completely natural to the natural man. It is hard to get a carnal man in the grip of this sin even to see that he might be displeasing God. The Jews had “no dealings” with the Samaritans (John 4:9), and the Samaritans were happy to reciprocate (Luke 9:53). And one of the themes of the book of Acts is that of establishing table fellowship between groups that previously would have had nothing to do with each other (Acts 10:28). You are watching an apostolic battering ram take down centuries of bitterness and enmity. But there is only one way to do it, and His name is Jesus Christ. It cannot be done with an secular humanist nonsense. The Lord’s Table has to be at the center of it.

SIMONY 

The sin of simony, which means purchasing a church office with money, derives its name from this attempt by Simon. Simon’s response to Peter’s brusque rebuke is not a belligerent one, but according to some early church fathers, like Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Simon did come to a bad end as a false teacher. Some early fathers say that he was the founder of Gnosticism, although this is not certain.

Simon does provide us with our earliest example of a perennial pastoral problem in the church. The text says that he also believed (v. 13) along with the other Samaritans, and he was baptized as well (v. 13). So he was a Christian in this sense. But then, after he tried to buy the gift of imparting the Spirit, Peter curses him. Some translations render Peter’s rebuke in really strong language—“may you and your money go to Hell.” Peter says that Simon’s heart is still all twisted (v. 23). He was a Christian in one sense and not in another. Remember what Paul said at the end of Romans 2 about the man who was a Jew inwardly and the man who was merely an outward Jew (Rom. 2:28-29).

CHRIST IN TRUTH

But if you try to determine that you are a real Christian by looking to your own perfections, you will be disappointed. You don’t have any. And if you try to determine that you are the real thing by refusing to look at any of your imperfections, you will also be grievously disappointed when you hear “depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.” Where do you go? Where do you look? Philip came and he preached Christ to them (v. 5). Philip was preaching the name of Jesus Christ (v. 12). Their baptism had attached the name of Jesus Christ to them (v. 16). Your baptism points to the Lord Jesus Christ, and does not point to you and your righteousness. No, it points to Christ, and unlike Simon your faith and life need to point away from yourself and in the same direction—to Christ.

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Which Covenant? (CC Troy)

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ISAIAH 28:9-19

9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

13 But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

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Happy Sabbath (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

A common phrase heard in our churches, especially on the Lord’s Day or leading up to it, is “Happy Sabbath.” But what does this mean? What exactly is the Sabbath and what makes it so happy? And are there ways in which, under glad obedience to Christ, we can order our lives to make the most of this great gift from God to His people?

THE TEXT

10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”

15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him (Lk. 13:10–17 NKJV).

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:8–11 NKJV, see also Deut. 5:12–15).

WORSHIP

The Lord’s Day is first kept holy by the reverent and joyful worship of God. While Sunday mornings are set apart for this public worship, that worship is meant to flow out into the rest of the day in our homes. Likewise, as this Sabbath is now observed on the first day of the week, the following six days of labor is meant to be performed for the glory of God and out of the rest and refreshment we have in Christ.

“Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:3).

REST

The Lord’s Day was given for genuine rest—for the family, the servants, and even the animals. This means that we cease from our normal vocations and routines, not treating Sunday afternoons like any other day. Rather than viewing this as a restrictive burden, this call to lay your usual labor and routines aside is meant to be liberating for God’s people, making the Sabbath a true delight.

“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isa. 58:13–14 NASB95).

CONCLUSION

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mk. 2:27). The Lord’s Day is not primarily about rules and regulations, do’s and don’ts, but embracing what God has done and is doing for us. The woman with the spirit of infirmity is a daughter of Abraham, a picture of the church. Just as she was “loosed” from her burden and pain on the Sabbath, so are we “loosed” from our burdens and sins in Christ, who is our Sabbath rest (Heb. 4).

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Quicksilver Evangelism (Acts of the Apostles #18) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

The early church father Tertullian once famously said that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  This aphorism has been proven to be true in countless ways down throughout the history of the church. And the great Augustine made the same point:

“The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.’”

THE TEXT

“When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (Acts 7:54–8:4).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

As the members of the Sanhedrin listened to Stephen’s conclusion, they were completely convicted, and gnashed their teeth at him (v. 54). But he, full of the Spirit, looked up into heaven and saw two things—the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (v. 55). And so he declared it, saying that he saw heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (v. 56). That was too much for them, so they shouted, stopped their ears against the “blasphemy,” and they all rushed at him together (v. 57). They cast him out of the city, and stoned him there (v. 58). The witnesses against him were casting the stones, and so they laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul (v. 58). This is our first introduction to Saul of Tarsus. As he was being stoned, Stephen called out to God, asking Him to receive His spirit (v. 59). Stephen then knelt, either because of the stoning, or in order to pray, and he prayed (in a loud voice), asking the Lord not to lay this sin to their account (v. 60). Saying this, he fell asleep (v. 60). Now Saul was in full agreement with all of this (8:1). The murder of Stephen was a spark that set off a great persecution against the Jerusalem church, scattering everyone (but the apostles). They were scattered into Judaea and Samaria (v. 1). Devout men buried Stephen, and mourned greatly (v. 2). And for Saul’s part, he made havoc of the church (v. 3). He raided their homes, and hauled believers off to prison (v. 3). But the believers who scattered took the Word with them, preaching as they went (v. 4).

CUT TO THE HEART

These men were infuriated by the things Stephen said (Acts 7:54), and when he said that he saw heaven opened . . . they rushed at him. When God cuts our hearts open, there are two different ways it might go. But there is a way for this to happen that leads to murderous thoughts. A few chapters earlier, this same body were resolving to murder the apostles . .. until Gamaliel warned them off. “When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.” (Acts 5:33).

But in the second chapter of Acts, when they were pierced or cut to the heart, the response of the people was one of repentance. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

One notable thing about this incident is that they went straight to the execution. Even though they had no legal authority to execute anyone (John 18:31), in this case they didn’t go through the Romans at all. They apparently got away with it because Stephen was not “a famous name” like Jesus or the apostles were.

THE PATTERN OF PRAYER

The normal pattern of prayer for Christians is to pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We address the Father at the beginning of the prayer, and we conclude the prayer by saying something like “in Jesus’s name, amen.” We are stirred up to this task by the Spirit of God, who dwells within us. But while this is the normal pattern of prayer, we have to remember that all three persons of the Trinity are fully God, and are worthy of our adoration. It is not unlawful to address the Son or the Spirit directly . . . just unusual. Notice that in this place Stephen sees Jesus directly, and he prays to the one he sees. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He also asks the Lord (Jesus) not to hold this sin against those who hated him so murderously. At least in the case of Saul, this prayer was gloriously granted. In this prayer, Stephen was privileged to be appointing his successor from among his enemies.

THE LEGACY OF STEPHEN 

We are not Darwinians, meaning that we do not consider survival to be the greatest good. What matters is faith and the faithfulness that faith produces. This was very much the case here. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Stephen’s life was short . . . but it was exceedingly fruitful. We can see this in two places.

We have already discussed the impact that Stephen had on Saul. Saul was from Cilicia, which was one of the regions represented in the synagogue of the freedmen—the men who lost in their attempts to debate with Stephen. Those men suborned the witnesses against him, who did the actual killing, with Saul right there approving. This was the man who was to write the majority of the New Testament.

The second place we see this is in Luke making a point to tell us that the scattered followers of Christ went everywhere preaching. It was as though the unbelieving leadership in Jerusalem saw a puddle of quicksilver on their table, and sought to solve their problem by slapping it. Quicksilver evangelism.

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