Sunday Sermon
sunday morning 14th May 2009
Acts 13v1-12
Last week we saw the great story of Peters escape from prison.
How the church prayed for his release and how the word of God spread and multiplied.
Also we saw the judgment of God fall on the kingdoms of this world in the death of Herod.
Chapter 12 marks the end of Luke’s main account of Peter and his work.
Now he moves to look at Paul and his work.
Worship, leads to guidance, leads to action and leads to salvation:
1) worship v1-3
Verse 1 takes us back to a description of the church in Antioch.
It was a church full of prophets and teachers, men of great ability.
It was a church that worshipped the Lord. “they were worshipping/ministering the Lord”
This worship refers to an actual public act of worship. As part of this worship they were fasting. And during that worship service the Spirit speaks!
Then there is the first response to Gods voice: more prayer and fasting, followed by commissioning v3.
App: Worship.
Has to be focused on the Lord. Has to be expectant, anything can happen.
Need to do all that we can to enhance our services:
e.g. fasting helps focus the mind on Christ.
But don’t rely on our impute to ensure the blessing, rather rely on God.
Our main concern in the public act of worship is to seek the Lord and His glory.
Then we need to be ready to respond, to act, to obey.
If there is not that outcome at the end then we will stifle the ministry of the Spirit in our lives. Worship is not an end in itself, worship is to lead to obedience.
2) obedience
Following the service and the instruction of the Lord, there is obedience!
Paul and Barnabas are set apart for their Gentile mission work which they hop to.
They get to Cyprus and preach over the whole island.
Pauls mission tactic was to preach in the Jewish synagogues and then to the Gentiles.
In so doing they meet a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet! A dodgy characters! V6.
Seems to be some sort of magician, who had sway with the main official of the island.
The official wanted to hear Paul, the sorcerer unsuccessfully tried to stop the meeting!
Saul, now called Paul, denounces him in the name of the Lord, and he stumbles off, blinded by the word of Pauls v9-11. (Paul spoke prophetically by the Spirit).
App:
Pauls missionary journeys take him all over the known world at that time, but the main point about those journeys is that he is obeying the Lord.
Their going is a continuation of worship.
Their going then also enjoys the continuing guidance of the Lord over it.
We are called to worship and then obey, which is further worship, and as we so do, we expect Gods continuing leading.
It is a supernatural life that we are called to in Christ.
We can’t expect to then simply worship the Lord on Sunday, and then seek to go on in our own strength the rest of the week.
Sunday Worship is seeking the glory of God, seeking the face of Christ Jesus.
Obedience is putting into practice that worship.
You cannot have one without the other.
If there is no obedience then there is no worship, if there is no worship then our obedience is just cold legalism!
3) results: salvation.
The result of a life of obedience and worship is salvation.
The leader of Cyprus, the Proconsul Sergius Paulus, sees all that happens and believes.
But his seeing is not what leads to his belief, rather “he was amazed about the teaching of the Lord” v12. What he saw confirmed what Paul was saying.
App:
Our calling is to worship and obey.
The results are then in Gods hands.
But we have no reason to believe that they will be any less dramatic than here.
Yet regardless, we must worship and obey.
God will do what he so desires with lives that are committed to worship and obedience.
And isn’t that a great relief.
Often we are worried about the results, and when people ask how are things going in Kingussie, the question is really seeking to know the results!
But the results are out of our hands.
Worship and obedience is in our hands: the question is, how is the worship, how is the obedience?
sunday evening 14th June 2009
Col 2v6-8
Last week we saw the need to work hard at our discipleship with the aim of getting to know Christ, and we also saw the danger involved in seeking this knowledge was that we deceive ourselves and do not put it into practice!
So the question this week is, if we know Christ and do not want to be deceived what are we to do?
1) Recognise who Christ is and what you have in Him.
V6 they have received Christ Jesus as/the Lord – meaning what?
They have accepted Him. Who do people say that I am, they answer Christ Jesus the Lord.
They have gotten to the heart of the matter! Jesus is Lord.
And they have received Him, that is accepted Him (1cor15v1).
They have taken him on board as their new worldview. That is their whole understanding, outlook is now founded and lived on this new fact, Christ Jesus is Lord!
All that is left for them to do now is continue to live by Him, by the new knowledge that they have come to accept.
“live / walk” – whole lifestyle, not ‘head knowledge’ as we understand it.
App.
a. The starting point of the Christian is accepting Jesus.
In accepting Him we are entering into the world as it really is.
That is, this world is the world where Christ Jesus is Lord – that’s reality.
Everything that denies this is but lies and deceit.
The fundamental question for us to address is: who do you think Christ is?
That very question that Jesus asked the disciples. “who do you say that I am” Mat 16v15.
Being a Christian is not about accepting a set of laws or a way of living, it is about accepting a Person, accepting Him though changes everything! As we will see.............
b. Walk: a new way of living is not asked for it is assumed!
If Christ is Lord, Paul says, continue to walk in him, live in him.
Following Jesus changes everything!
Accepting Jesus is not purely an intellectual matter, it involves the whole person, body mind and soul!
2) Work that out in practice
V7 but how are they to continue in Christ? V7 answers that for us
“rooted and built up in him”
‘Rooted’, verb, a command.
To cause to take root – like in planting, add water, compost, light etc
‘Built up in him’. We are to build on Christ, He is the foundation, the one to rely on, live for, trust, Him. Literally, adding to the foundation, growing on top of.
Not apart from Him, not another building, but all from Him.
‘Strengthened/established/confirmed in the faith’, that is gaining maturity through perseverance. Not giving up. Proof that we are trusting, we keep trusting. Prove it!
‘Abounding in thankfulness’ – to be rich in thankfulness.
To have more than enough is to abound, just to be full of thankfulness.
V7 is all full of positive things we do.
App:
The call to continue in Christ involves wholehearted desire and commitment.
This verse is full of commands that we are to get on with.
a. first we are called to go deep into Christ, rooted, so that we can grow up, built!
Here we see the process of Christian formation. We are to dig deep into Christ, study, prayer, praise, fellowship – all aiming to get Christ.
As we do that, dig down, we will be built up and out at the same time.
b. strengthened/established/confirmed.
We are not to give in. In our age of changing from one thing to the next, one of the hardest lessons to learn about following Christ is that it takes time and patience!
The life of faith is all about relying of Jesus, through thick and thin.
It is a marathon and the race is not over until it is over.
c. thankfulness.
The call here is to realise what we have in Jesus, and from that be thankful. Paul tells us to abound in thankfulness, overflow with it. We can only do that as we recognise Jesus, the Lord who gives us life and life to the full!
Not called to abound in complaints!
The level of complaining and the level of thankfulness is a good spiritual gauge.
3) Be wary of the dangers
V8 moves on to the negatives.
Called to “see to it”, to look out, so that we are not taken “captive”, stolen away.
“captive” only used here in NT.
How could they be stolen away?
By “philosophy” – that is human wisdom. Such wisdom is “empty,” no depth, no meeting with what is reality and is thus “deceitful”- does not deliver on promises.
That philosophy is based on purely human “traditions”, simply the way natural man does things, without God, - “the basic principles of this world”, uncontrolled desire / survival of fittest etc.
Anything that is contrary to Christ “rather than on Christ”
Life according to the world, rather than life according to Christ.
We can judge such philosophy by looking at what it depends upon.
Does it depend on Christ, or does it more depend on this world?
Our Philosophy has to come from God, has to be divine, has to be revelation.
We depend on God, we seek him for wisdom and understanding.
Yet need to be careful not to write everything off that is not explicitly Christian.
All truth is Gods truth, whoever is presenting it. We are told to watch, not to be gullible!
App.
The world is constantly preaching its message to us.
Through the mass media there is 24/7 preaching of the worlds wisdom.
Some of it is good, most of it is rubbish.
Pauls advice is watch out! Keep alert. Don’t let the TV you watch simply wash over you!
Before we know it we can imbibe the materialism of the world, fall prey to advertisers who tells us that the only way to be happy is to have their latest gadget!
The worlds answers to what is good and how can i be happy etc are vastly different for the bibles.
Watch out! A simple instruction, but basic to the life of faith.
