Sunday Sermon
sunday morning 7th June 2009
acts 12
Context:
Chapter 11 records for us the wonderful expansion of the Gospel in Antioch.
Where so many were now beginning to follow Jesus that the world had to come up with a new name for them, because they were now too big to be considered a Jewish sect.
So they are given the name Christian.
Following that in chapter 12 we have a picture of how the Kingdom grows continually regardless of the outward circumstances.
1) the power of the world: what we see physically: first of all the picture is bleak! V1-4
Chapter 11 was wonderful, growth, Gentile salvation, called Christian etc.
But now Luke confronts us with another picture of how hard things were!
King Herod is arresting and persecuting. He has James killed, the first of the apostles to die!
Seeing this pleases the Jews he has Peter imprisoned too!
How things have changed! This is about 8 years after the beginning of the church in Jerusalem where the church enjoyed the favour of all the people! Now they rejoice in its persecution!
If we were to leave the story here it would seem that all is going to be lost!
But this is not the end of the story, defeat and death are now never the end for the Christian.
App
Always need to remember that the outward circumstance is never the final word in the Christians life. We are called not to live by sight but by faith.
The facts are God reigns and Christ is Victorious, he has overcome and vanquished all evil.
The power of the world to persecute and kill is limited to the physical sphere only!
And even there only for a short time, in the end salvation comes to us physically as well as spiritually.
2) the power of God: the vision of faith: v5, 6-17.
a. the first thing we see here is that the church prayed constantly / earnestly v5.
Peter was in jail due to go to trial the next day, chances are he would be killed!
There is simply no hope for him, the human powers have overcome!
But not so: the church prays. They believe things can change, they have faith in God.
App
Faith always looks to God for help regardless of how things look from the merely human perspective.
Earnest prayer is what we are called to and what we must allow the situation we are in to drive us too. Bleak situations are a wonderful inspiration to prayer, when we know there is nothing we can do but seek God.
b. then deliverance comes v6-17.
In response to this vision of faith that leads to prayer Peter is released.
He does not know what is happening until he is outside the jail by himself.
Those who were praying don’t believe it! There is astonishment all round.
App
The power of God and his answer to our prayers is always astonishing and unbelievable even to those who are looking for God to act!
When God answers our prayers we are allowed to be astonished and our faith is be challenged to believe again.
Pray earnestly, look for God to work, and be humbled by our response to His work.
· But what if God does not answer our prayers?
James was killed! The church would surely have been praying for him too.
Still our trust needs to be in God, that he does all things well, that he works all things together for our good! And too we need to be humbled by our response, of anger or discouragement or whatever it may be.
Unanswered prayer requires more trust and patience than answered prayer.
And of course that is what God wants from us all along, our trust in him and his ways!
3) the final results come in v18-24
· For the worlds powers? V18-23
a. there is total confusion as to how Peter was not there.
Search is made and eventually to save face, Herod kills the soldiers who lost Peter!
Then he moves off.
b. justice is served up to Herod.
In the end Herod runs out of chances to turn to God.
He was never interested in pleasing God. He thought he was God. Judgement falls.
App.
Letting God be God is very hard for most people.
But in the battle between God and man there is only ever one winner.
Every knee will one day bow and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
Do so now freely, before the final judgement comes.
Bowing the knee is simply giving God the glory, it is saying, yes you are God!
· For the Kingdoms power? V24
There is only one direction! Growth, salvation and victory.
APP
Need to keep faith in the Sovereign God. Look to the end. Trust and obey in the meantime.
sunday evening 7th June 2009
Col 2v1-5
Last week we saw Pauls great aim for the church was to present Her perfect in the sight of God, that is fully mature. He went about his job by suffering for the church and bringing her the word of God: namely Christ Jesus.
This week we see a furtherance of that theme, Pauls working for the church: his aims in so working and a warning about being deceived.
The necessity of never giving up:
1) The Fight:
Paul has never met these people, yet he knows how well they are doing v1 & 5.
Wants them to know he is fighting hard for them.
Wants them to know, so that they will be encouraged. They are not on their own.
Yes, Paul has never met them but that does not stop him working hard for them!
What is he doing for them? He is fighting for them.
This must refer to the fact the he is full of prayer for them.
And as part of the body of Christ, his prayer for them is of great help to them.
Through this struggling for them, praying for them, he is able to meet with them, not physically but spiritually!
And what benefits it brings. Paul is able to establish their faith even firmer in Christ, and they in turn keep working that out v5.
App:
a. One of the great glories of being a Christian is the interconnectedness that it brings.
We can work hard for people we have never met, by praying for them.
Obviously this encourages us to pray for our missionaries and for areas of the church that need prayer.
Also we can work hard by writing to them! Emailing in our modern age.
b. we too need to strive and struggle. Pauls struggling for the Colossians was him working out his own salvation and the call God had placed on him. But as he worked out that had the overall effect of helping the rest of the body! Paul did not think that the Colossians were dependant on him as such, or they would fall, his view of the power of God was far greater than that weak idea!
Yet the in the body, each part needs to do its bit, or all suffer!
c. note to the necessity and goodness of order!
Paul delighted not just in their faith but their order. This speaks of maturity in the faith.
Not order in a cold traditional sense but in the sense that that the priorities were right!
First things were first. Christ was first, knowing Him was first.
2) The Goal: his aim v2-3
Pauls prayer and hard work for them was not without its goals. He wanted them:
To be encourage in heart – that is built up and strong. Not wimps, easily giving up!
Unite in love – together in their commitment towards Christ and one another.
· Note the balanced picture of the believer that is brought out with these ideas.
Strong in the faith, bold, unmoved etc, yet at the same time full of love!
The danger with strong conviction is that these convictions are held without love and grace!
With this foundation in place the real aim is that they would then know Christ together:
To bring full understanding about Christ: who is the treasure.
In him is all the wisdom and knowledge that there is. He is the treasure!
App
The great aim of the Christian life is to know God through Christ.
Nothing else matters apart from this.
This is what seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is all about.
It is seeking Christ, and in so doing everything else will fall into place.
Note: Paul does not pray for their financial well being, their health or job prospects.
He prays that they would know Christ!
Our desire has to be for Him. HE is the Treasure.
All our happiness and fulfilment will come as we get to know Him.
But this is no easy task! “in whom are hidden”v3. Not hidden so that we will never find them, but hidden so that we will need to work hard to get Him.
That hard work involves total commitment to him! Really wanting him above all else.
3) The Danger: so they are not deceived v4.
Pauls aim for them to know Christ will have the effect of making sure that they are not deceived.
‘Deceived’ usually refers to those who hear the word but do not practice it and so deceive themselves. That is how the false teachers can be found out, their philosophies are unliveable.
The danger for the Colossians was that some new philosophy would tempt the people to new things.
But in Christ is all the wisdom and knowledge, so they need not look any further.
App
How we need to keep focused on Christ.
In an age where there is great technical knowhow, massive scientific knowledge, maybe the temptation is to move on from Christ, thinking that we know him!
But he has all wisdom and knowledge!
Infinitely wise, infinitely knowledgeable; thus we need to keep on knowing Him.
All Christian heresy takes away from Christ in one way or another.
His divinity or his humanity is taken from. Or his power to save totally and completely is taken from, so that we need to add to our salvation!
So we need to keep focused on the full Person of Christ in all his glory and power.
Press on!
