The Danger of Marketing Christianity

Text: Acts 8:14-25

Focus: Abuse of religion

Function: to keep people focused on Jesus Christ, and Jesus only.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

Birthdays. I guess it is on my mind a little bit since yesterday was my physical birthday. July 4, our nations birthday is also my spiritual birthday, 50 years ago. This year, this congregation will celebrate its 200^th birthday. And, in two weeks, the entire global church will be celebrating its one thousand, nine hundred and seventy-eighth birthday.

For almost 2,000 years, the cross of Christ has drawn people back into God's family. It is a long history of glory, power and many, many mistakes and failures. And yet, God has still called the Church to be the primary means of communicating His good news to a world that is torn with war, pain, sickness, death, fighting and corruption. We are God's hope to bring Jesus into this mess.

And do you know what marks the beginning of the church? It wasn't the cross, it wasn't the resurrection, it wasn't Christmas, it wasn't some arbitrary formula produced by some nut-job who made millions by calculating what he thinks is a significant number based on the flood in the time of Noah.

Nope, the birthday of the church is marked by the empowering of the Church, namely, the coming of the Holy Spirit.

We have been looking at the immediate result of it as we have been studying the affect in Acts chapter two. We know that the command from the Lord was to wait for God's Spirit to come.

We will look at that in depth next week. But Jesus' point is that there is an incredible partnership, incredible authority, incredible power, supernatural ability present in the life of the Christian when the Holy Spirit is given control.

And that leads us to the story in today's text.

When the Holy Spirit came into the lives of believers, there was some sort of visible power, manifestation, glory or something that everyone noticed.

God's Spirit changes the lives of those whom He dwells in.

The believers in Samaria have just placed their trust in Jesus. And so, Peter and John come for a visit to encourage them.

This is a big thing, because Samaritans and Jews had historically been bitter racial enemies. A whole other sermon about how the coming of Jesus into the lives of people breaks down the walls that used to divide us.

And when Peter and John get there, they lay hands on the new Christians and an incredible proof of their salvation comes out of the believers.

Something happened, most often in the book of Acts, the newly baptized by the Holy Spirit start speaking ecstatic utterances in angelic tongues.

And Simon, not Simon Peter, but a man named Simon is really impressed with what happens.

He is a brand new convert. And before he was a Christian, he was a sorcerer. Apparently, he has some sort of credible magic. It appears that he became a Christian because he sees greater supernatural power in Christianity than in his sorcery.

I don't think that is a good reason to become a Christian, but apparently God knows that when the Holy Spirit is inside of him, the Holy Spirit will correct his motives and make it about Jesus instead of personal power.

You see, the Holy Spirit doesn't come into the life of a believer to glorify the believer, but to bring Glory to Jesus. John 15:26, when the helper, the Holy Spirit comes, He will bear witness of me.

The Holy Spirit brings us to Jesus. This is important. When the Holy Spirit comes into a life, it isn't about us anymore. He comes into our lives so that we too, can point people to Jesus.

I had a preacher once who was having a problem forgiving someone, he was having a problem loving someone. And he said: “I haven't been baptized with the gift of love yet, so it isn't my fault.”

Listen, the gifts of the Spirit came out in the baptism of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit is given to everyone. He had God's love inside of him, he just didn't choose to obey it.

These fruits make for a really good personality. Loving, kind, patient, full of hope, gentle, forgiving and etc.

But I know people who do not claim to be Christians who have great personalities as well.

So what is the other difference. When the Holy Spirit comes, it isn't about us anymore, it is about Jesus.

When someone stands up on TV and proclaims just how much power from the Holy Spirit they have, and how we should send them money because apparently the power of the Holy Spirit takes money to operate, then that person is abusing the Spirit, and the faith and all the people who send them money because just like Simon, they saw the Holy Spirit as something that made them look good.

But when the Holy Spirit is at work, He is pointing people to Jesus. When we are being the Church, we too, will be pointing people to Jesus, not ourselves.

I remember one time, as soon as the worship set started flowing well and people were sensing this intimacy between them and God, they worship team stopped singing and took an offering.

A little while later, they started singing again, and the congregation began entering into worship and they stopped and took a second offering. During that particular worship service, they did this three times. The third time, they kept delaying and delaying in order to milk as much as they could out of the offering. The leader made everyone take out folding money and visible display it and instructed the rest to look around and if someone didn't have anything showing, then others were to give that person some. I had a few extra dollars, and I wanted to get back into the presence of God in worship, so I gave all my money, just to get back into worship.

When I got home, I realized just how well I had been manipulated for financial gain.

I remember that leader, he had a brand new Porsche sports car. He was 36 years old and about a year later, he fell over dead with an heart attack. I wondered if God felt the same way about those tactics as I did. I am not saying that is why he died. I mean, I could fall over dead tomorrow and I would hate for someone to say God was out to get me.

Here is the thing:

The Church is not a marketing strategy. It isn't an human institution that measures itself by its numbers and its offerings. If it is faithful, it will measure itself by how well it obeys Jesus Christ and points people to Him. And we aren't talking about the kind of Jesus that makes people comfortable, but the radical Jesus who is portrayed in the gospels..

We live in a materialistic society. It is easy to measure success with size and budget, but to do so places us on a physical plane, instead of a spiritual plane.

I am not begrudging large churches here. But when I think of how we measure ourselves, I ask questions like this: “do we love the poor? Do we love the outcast? Do we provide a safe place for people to grow into the likeness of Jesus? Do our people live sacrificial lives for Christ? Do I live a sacrificial life for Christ? Am I loving and forgiving? Or do I wear my feelings on my sleeves noticing every slight offense against me? Do I love and honor my wife? Do I respect people who are different than me? Do kind words come from my mouth? Do those who are hurting find comfort and nurture here?”

CONCL:

Why should I mention all this? You are all smart enough to know better. You see the crazy stuff going on. You know that this guy last week has made millions on the fear that he has generated. You see through it. So why is this important to preach about?

To answer that question, I would ask myself: “Why is this story included in New Testament?” It is more than just a warning about abusing religion for the sake of money. It has certainly happened over the ages of the Church.

But the point is much deeper than that. The apostles were reminding Simon about how the entire nature of their lives has just changed.

How much their lives have changed.

Profit, personal fortunes, selfish ambition, greed, thinking only of oneself, having power over another person, all of those things that define the status-quo of this world have none gone away for the life of a Christian. From now on, their lives belong to Christ Jesus and the rest of the church.

The Church is a Community

Text: Acts 2:42-47

Focus: The Community of Faith

Function: To help people see the interdependence we have on one another.

Form: GOK

Intro:

A few years ago, right after the last presidential election, someone asked me this question: “Pastor, does the Bible support socialism?” “Prove it to me if it does.”

That question isn't much different than the question, does the Bible support capitalism? Prove it to me if it does.

The Bible supports neither, or it supports both. Why use the Bible to beat up another person's perspective?

But I am not preaching socio/political views this morning. The Church is called to be a community and we are going to see just how far the early Church and the Holy Spirit took this concept.

But, this is one of the more controversial passages in the bible. Because, in this passage, we read that the initial reaction to the good news was that the believers, the very first church ever, took their faith so seriously, they understood so much what had just happened, that Jesus gave up everything to give His life for us, that the only proper response themselves was to give up everything as well.

To one man, Jesus said “you must be born again.” We preach that doctrine of salvation that when a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit fills them and makes everything new. We preach that if there is no fruit of transformation, then something is wrong.

You all remember the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Love, Joy, Peace, gentleness, Kindness, patience.... All of that is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

To another man, Jesus said: “Sell everything you have, give it to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven and then come and follow me.”

The “born again” statement is one we preach, it seems easier to follow, as long as God doesn't meddle too much, especially with forgiveness, or our most precious commodity, our time.

One author points out that it seems odd how we seem to ignore that other command.

Right now, I am not trying to step on your toes, but we need to think about the meaning of what this all says.

I am not going to get into the politics of it. But this first Church did became a commune. It was completely voluntary. Most, if not all of you, know the events in Acts 5, about how one couple wanted the privilege of joining the commune, but they just were not yet sure if they were ready to make the sacrifice. So, they sold their property, kept some of the money for themselves, gave the rest to the Church and lied that they had given the Church the entire amount.

They were struck dead. That is the only case of someone being struck dead in church. But Peter made it clear, they were not struck dead because they didn't give all their money, Peter tells them they didn't have to. They were struck dead because they lied to Church, and by lying to the Church, they lied to God. They were lying about their commitment to the community.

Their problem was either a lack of faith, or a lack of commitment.

They wanted the privileges of membership, but they weren't willing to be complete partners. When it cost them something, they backed out.

And, the fairness of that seems to come into question.

If it indeed was a commune, then obviously, some people gave more and lived with less, while some people gave less and lived with more.

So, this couple wanted the privilege of living at that level without that sacrifice.

Again, it isn't socialism, because the entire system was voluntary. Now, the OT law has mandatory giving to the poor, by law that is not a choice of charity, but full and legal binding effects for citizenship.

But again, it isn't socialism because there is a very strong component of hard work, luck and fair business practices incorporated into the whole legal system of economics in the OT law.

So, this message has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with community.

There were 12 apostles, you know that. James and John were 2 of those twelve. It appears that they were from a wealthier family. Their mother thought that they were special. What mother doesn't?

She went to Jesus and asked Him to make her two sons more important than the other 10. When the other ten found out about it, they were clearly angry.

Jesus quickly rebuked all 12 (the 10 who were upset and the two who were singled out.)

Jesus said to them, the world's system has power structures among people that gives more privileges to some and less to others. And those who are in power make sure that those who are not are aware of their lower status. But not among Christians, the greatest among you is your servant, not your master. (Mark 35-45).

This born again thing kicked in, all of them repented of their pride, humbled themselves and they choose community over themselves.

And here they are six months or so later and there are no grudges, no bitterness, no long memories, no chance to get even. The whole church was growing and prospering because people were willing to give up their own pride and ambition to live in community.

In 1971, there was a nationwide revival. It was called the “Love Revival.” I remember it, although I was just a kid in junior high.

This man came to share what was happening at Asbury Seminary just South of Lexington, Ky.

This man came for one night to give a report, but ended up staying for two weeks. It was amazing. Just like the two apostles on the way to Emmaus, we had this strong feeling like our hearts were on fire.

But it was called the love revival because the feeling, the work of the Holy Spirit was forgiveness and community breaking out at every church.

And it was just like Jesus said it would be when he spoke of the yeast spreading in a hidden way, cell to cell inside a loaf of bread as it rises.

It seems that all that it took for this revival to happen in a local church was for someone who had already experienced it to come and share. And the Holy Spirit was working so strongly, that people started giving up age old feuds, unforgiveness and petty bitterness.

But how did it all start? A pastor in Anderson, Indiana took offense with another pastor who was a professor at Asbury Seminary.

The Holy Spirit convicted one of those two men about unconditional forgiveness. He choose to obey and a miracle happened. The other fellow forgave as well. It seems as if the Holy Spirit was not going to be free to work unless people were willing to forgive just as freely as they had been forgiven.

Now back to our text and this concept that they were sharing everything, and the story of Acts 5 about this couple who lied to the Church and the way they were struck dead.

Throughout the history of the Church, there have been people who have lied in order to improve their own standing in the eyes of others. Why didn't God strike all the rest of them dead?

Scholars ask that question and there is an Old Testament reference. Right at the beginning of the Old Covenant, when the Israelites finally entered the promised land, they were given amazing victories in battle. They would go into battles and at the end, not a single soldier would be missing even though they were in hand to hand combat.

Until they came to this little village. It seems that just one person had decided to keep just a little bit of the spoil from Jericho. They sent a small group to this little village and were quickly defeated. Then they sent the entire army against a few and thousands died. They asked God why all of a sudden they were losing.

Right at the beginning of both covenants, both Testaments, God took His punishment to an extreme.

Theologians argue over why this is true. But I submit that it isn't a demonstration of God's wrath, it is a demonstration of God's mercy.

He is reminding us that we are far from perfect beings who are constantly being forgiven.

God's grace and forgiveness are without measure. They are conditioned on one thing, our own willingness to forgive.

Every time there is a conflict, it is based on personal pride, bitterness and unforgiveness.

Annanias and Sapphira, the couple who fell down dead because of their lack of commitment demonstrated their own ambition by hanging on to some of the money, which they had the right to do, but they lied about it.

So, what does it mean to live in community? We stick it out. We pay the price. We sacrifice our pride and forgive each other.

It is worth it. We prove who Jesus is by the way we get to love and by the way were are loved.

Here is the beauty of the Family of God. We are accepted and received just as we are.

And, I have to get personal here, for just a moment. Last Sunday was incredible to Kathy and I.

We have this committee that strives to do something every month that is out of the box. We were discussing one thing, and then another and we asked ourselves, what if we just let people be lead by the Holy Spirit and share what they believed the text means to them?

Well, we weren't sure it would work.

Then we had another idea about demonstrating the text we were going to use today, the text about calling deacons in order to let the pastor focus on the ministry, but it seemed as if that was just pushing things a little to far.

But last Sunday, you did it. You worked it out. You allowed the Holy Spirit to lead you.

And, you demonstrated physically to Kathy and I last week. As soon as the service was over, Kathy, like a light switch came on, stopped having pain. It was almost as if God was behind it.

And then, the visits, the phone calls, the support and the love just started pouring in.

Too often, a pastor feels like they are here, but last week, we were together. Thank you.

The Church, Called by God to be Different

Text: Acts 2:36-41

Focus: The work of the Holy Spirit in building the church.

Function: To help us understand that God is calling everyone to live His way.

Form: GOK

Intro:

I love mother, I loved my Grandmothers. My father's mom could play the piano, she knew all the hymns and oftentimes, we would sit in the living room with a good old hymn sing. She brought me close to the Holy Spirit. My mom's mom was a real saint, after her husband died, while she still had a child in High School, she went to college, became an RN, retired and then went on the mission field. She was a prayer warrior.

And my own mother never gave up on me. During my years of rebellion and drug abuse, she prayed earnestly for me. She posted scripture verses all over the house and begged me to come back to God.

Mothers call us to the things we need to value the most.

They call us.

I remember spending a week with my dad's mother and we were playing in the barnyard. She came outside and yelled to us: Soup's On! We thought that was an odd thing to say and kept on playing.

She came back 5 minutes later and repeated her phrase.

“How odd!” I thought. “That soup is taking forever to heat up!” And I was hungry.

Again, five minutes later she came out, and just as calm and kind as she could be asked us why we weren't coming in. I relayed to her that we thought she would tell us when the soup was finished and she explained to us that “Soup's On” means that the meal is ready.

Never got angry. And she was always calling to us. I did a chore for her once, to which she was going to pay one dollar. But she gave me my pay in dimes, and told me: “Now you can give 10 cents, your tithe, to God.”

What great things we learn.

Grandma was always calling us to things better.

And that is not unlike God.

Look again at this scripture: We start with the verse we ended with last week. “God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ.”

Remember, Peter has just preached a stern message to them, pointing a finger at them and exposing the fact that they killed Jesus. And now, He explains how it is God's plan.

Oftentimes, preaching that accuses, or lectures doesn't get very far.

But something different happens here.

Instead of getting upset, they respond with “What should we do?”

God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is calling them into His family.

Jesus said it clearly when He commissioned Peter to begin the Church. He told them that they Holy Spirit is the one who calls people to Jesus. Matthew 16:17-18

This is the work of God. The Work of the Holy Spirit. The Church, without the Holy Spirit drawing people into the family of God cannot exist.

GOD calls the Church. God calls the Church into His Kingdom, His family and those values start now.

All this month, we are looking at the formation of the early Church. Last week we saw how it is God's Kingdom, and it is wrong doctrine to believe that the Kingdom doesn't start until we get to heaven.

God calls the Church to be the Church here and now. And, we saw that the sermon had nothing to do with all the doctrine of what it means to be saved, but the sermon, this sermon being preached by Peter is about Jesus, Lord and Savior of all of humanity.

The good news is that God provides a way for us to join in His family, right now.

The soup is already on, the time is now.

And, again, it isn't just so that we can prove ourselves to be right. We are called now to be His disciples.

Next week we are going to look at the unique aspects of living, loving and caring for each other. We are going to explore how the early Christians understood community (point to banner).

The week after that, we are going to look at what it means to serve one another and the last week, we will look at the sin of trying to market Christianity.

But right now, we are exploring the nature of joining and the way that God wants everyone to join.

Peter has told them: “You are guilty!”

And instead of being angry at his preaching, they say: “What should we do.”

Peter tells them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus.

What do those terms mean? Baptized we understand. But what is he talking about in repentance. When someone is baptized here, the question of repentance comes up. “Do you turn away from sin and evil to follow God?”

I love the way verse 40 is paraphrased in “The Message.”

The author says: ⁴⁰He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!"

Repentance, to Peter and the early disciples, had a lot to do with changing our primary allegiance to the Kingdom of God. It was adopting “another way of living.”

Get out of this sick and stupid culture!

Remember, these were the common people. They weren't the ones who had Jesus murdered. They weren't the ones who were convicted by Jesus sacrificial love for the poor. They weren't the ones who wanted to stop Jesus preaching because Jesus told them to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies, to give to those who asked of them, to return insults with blessings.

(SHOW PICTURE)

I downloaded this picture from Rev. Greg Boyd, and Evangelical Christian pastor of a mega-church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has come under some criticism for reminding people what Jesus thinks about our enemies.

I am relieved that Osama Bin Laden is dead. But I am not happy about it. Violence begets violence. His death will make leaving Afghanistan easier. President Bush went on a mission to help us save face after the violence of 9/11. Both sides of the aisle can be glad that it is over.

And it is important to remember that God has given governments the burden, the sad task, of the right and the responsibility to do justice, even with violence, on behalf of victims. If governments do not punish evil doers, then governments are not being responsible to God and are not caring for their constituents.

But we remind ourselves to forgive our enemies, to bless those who want to destroy us, to keep on loving no matter how other people respond to us.

Kathy woke up Monday before I did and as I came down the stairs and saw the TV and the focus on the news about Osama's death, she said: “How can people rejoice at the death of someone else, even their enemy?”

Jerry Bowen, the pastor at West Milton COB this week told of how he felt like he was an outsider because he too felt criticized because he wasn't rejoicing about the death of someone. He said, people are calling me both unchristian and unpatriotic.

There is the true story of the Chicago preacher who was on a crusade to take a stand against sin. He rallied people into a frenzy to return the death penalty against a man who, in a fit of passion, murdered his wife and when he discovered them. The prosecutor thought that since it wasn't a premeditated murder it didn't warrant the death penalty. And the preacher was full of fame and glory until they made him be the man to pull the lever. The preacher, when he realized the human cost of his crusade, changed his attitude, repented of his anger and started teaching and preaching the love and mercy that Jesus taught.

So, here is Peter calling them, at length, to give up the world's value system and adopt Jesus and His way of responding with grace and mercy.

He is talking about the murder of Jesus and he calls it a corrupt generation.

Think about it.

We turn away from all sin, the sin that Jesus died to save us from when we become believers. But Peter is calling them to repent for taking part in the murder of Jesus.

Do we think about things Jesus' way? Or do we think about things our way?

Do we view things from God's perspective? Or from an human perspective?

Some people would say that to view things from a Christian perspective, is to call Sin as Sin and to take a stand against the sinfulness of immoral people just like the preacher who ran the crusade for the death penalty against that murderer.

Others say, instead of merely cursing the darkness, we, as Christians should shine a light, be a place where we can point the way to God.

Three thousand were saved that day. Peter speaks of repentance, but he doesn't speak about sin, or some of the classic definitions of sin.

What does he mean when he says: “Repent??”

Turn away from the corruption of the world's evil system and live the way Jesus taught us to live. Remember, although this crowd isn't the leaders who silenced Jesus because Jesus' teaching pointed out how they mistreated widows, orphans, the poor, foreigners, lepers and sinners, all in the name of God.

Although Jesus died to give His life for our salvation, they killed Him because they wanted to silence Him.

And this crowd isn't the people who committed that murder, but they were the same crowd who on Palm Sunday cried out Hosanna and then on Good Friday, cried out Crucify.

Peter has just pointed out, “You (the crowd) also killed Him.”

And now, Peter is calling them to repent from a corrupt culture that puts to death the one who cries out “love your neighbor! Love your enemy! Don't strive for more and more things, more riches, remember it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle...!”

That is what Peter, who has just spent 3 years listening to all of Jesus' teaching, is talking about when he calls the world's system a corrupt system.

So, what does repentance look like for us?

I don't preach shame. The temptation to rejoice at vengeance last week when Bin Laden died is one that many of us may have fallen victim to.

Don't be ashamed if you did. But remember, Jesus died on the cross for him. He died on the cross for our enemies.

This crowd had been manipulated and they did something terrible when they cried out “crucify.”

It is easy to get caught up in emotion, inside a crowd. It is part of human nature.

Now, I am going to change gears for just a quick moment and go a little deeper into God's word to make sure we understand what Peter is saying.

I remember following a car in Southern Kentucky when I was a traveling salesman. He had a bumper sticker that said: “Acts 2:38. Get it Right. Baptize in the name of Jesus only.”

There is this denomination that I believe sort of “nit picks scripture” and says that it is wrong to follow the baptismal formula from Matthew 28 “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” They say that anyone who is baptized by that formula is going to hell because this passage says “In the name of Jesus.” And this passage was written later. Of course, in order to believe that, one would have to believe that the bible is full of errors.

Now, this passage doesn't say “In the name of Jesus only.” And I don't believe the Bible contradicts itself, so why the difference?

Because this crowd has just rejected Jesus. So, it is important that they understand that all of this is based on Jesus. Look at Jesus. Accept Jesus. Admit that Jesus is the one. Turn away from the whole concept of why they killed Him. Take up your crosses and follow Him.

Brother's and sisters God has called us to the Church, His kingdom here and now, and the main focus of it, as Peter is preaching, is Jesus. We love, honor and worship Jesus. And the Holy Spirit does it. We don't love honor and worship revenge, a nation, or a political party. Jesus' disciples included rich, poor, outcasts and people who were right in the midst of the Jewish hierarchy. They got along even though some of them were bitter political enemies.

All of them were called by God to something greater than homes, retirement accounts, pleasure and etc.

When God calls us, He calls us to a different, a simpler way of living. He calls us to make His kingdom more important than the world's kingdoms and their systems of revenge, materialism. He calls us to live out Jesus peace. He calls us to be transformed by Jesus.

God is calling. The Soup is On. There is a chance for us to live lives that make a difference for God's kingdom here on earth, so that we can join the family of God that has already gone ahead to glory.

The Church is God's Kingdom on Earth!

Text: Acts 2:22-36

Focus: Discipleship

Function: To Help the Congregation realize we are already part of God's Kingdom

Form: GOK

Intro:

When should preaching be comforting and when should it be confrontational? Some would say it should always be confrontational, others, never confrontational.

I attended a funeral at a former parish last Saturday, and one of the members said to me, as I was talking with the pastor: “This is the guy who steps on our toes now, and he does a pretty good job.”

I am pretty sure that was a compliment. However, one colleague of mine said: “When they say `step on our toes' they mean, `step on someone else's toes!'” So, this is just in jest, I am not speaking about anyone here, but maybe, tongue in cheek, it should be confrontational when it is about the other person and comforting when it is about us.

I know I have heard sermons and thought to myself, boy o boy, why isn't so and so here to hear this?

And then, I realize that God doesn't want me thinking that way. He wants me to consider my own self when I am in His presence. AMEN?

And Brother Paul, in his epistles wrestled with just how stern he should be as pastor.

In 2 Corinthians, when he is defending himself against criticism that had stirred up trouble for him from people, and he had to explain all sorts of ways that they had made big issues out of small problems. In the course of that, he tells them that at times, they listen to preaching, which in his opinion is actually abusive and manipulative. He says: 2 Corinthians 11:¹⁹You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! ²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.

I wonder why at times people continue to listen to shame. Apparently with Paul, when he wrote letters to them, he was bold, but when he was with them, he was very tender. So, they accused him of being two-faced and wishy washy.

So, when should preaching get specific and confrontational? I guess the pastor needs to let it up to the Holy Spirit.

And in this passage, it gets as confrontational as it can. In verse 23, “this Jesus, whom you crucified...” And again, the last verse: Jesus, whom you crucified.

Twice he reminds them that they are guilty of murder, judicial murder.

But wait. Peter isn't preaching to the religious leaders who tried to silence Jesus by putting Him to death.

No. Jesus is speaking to the regular people, people like you and me.

And He tells them: “You crucified Christ!”

And this sermon, my friends, is how the Church began.

This is the first sermon, the first evangelistic crusade in the history of the Church.

And it starts with these words.

YOU Killed Him! (SHOUT IT)

They weren't the syrupy words of encouragement: “have faith and things will get better.” It wasn't the false words: “God loves you and he will prove it to you if you just give a little more to me...” It wasn't the words that I preach the most, to the body of Christ, not to unbelievers, to you all “God has called us to take up His cross, follow the mission of Jesus, live for the Kingdom of God that is already here....”

Now, this evangelistic message is: “You Crucified Him.”

And it isn't just about the whole doctrine of salvation from our sins.

(ASK) What is the Atonement?

Can we put that doctrine in words simple enough for our little children to understand?

The atonement is a sophisticated doctrine.

And Peter says nothing of it.

Peter says nothing of heaven and hell, the sinless perfection of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth which kept Him from the inherited sin of Adam and Eve, or Jesus being the perfect sacrifice and all the doctrine around that.

All he talks about is the fact of Jesus resurrection and how it was prophesied in the Bible.

In preparation for ministry, I took a whole semester class in the doctrine of the salvation, called “Soteriology.” I mean we looked at it from every angle.

And I was just as confused at the end of it as I was at the beginning. I mean, I could give all the definitions, all the symbols of it from the Old Testament, all the little cliches to help me remember, but the mystery of God, saving the world through the cross is just too much to comprehend with human words.

AMEN?

So, here is Peter, in this first ever sin-convicting sermon of the Church.

And they knew that although they were not the ones who forced Pilate into having Jesus crucified, that although they were not the ones who manipulated the crowd into crying out (loudly) CRUCIFY!, they knew in their own hearts that it was for them, for them as individuals, that Jesus gave up His life to redeem.

Although all the mystery of it was not explained, the Holy Spirit was at work, and they knew that before God, they needed a redeemer, Jesus Christ.

And it wasn't a feel good message full of hope. Peter is right there, in their faces, pointing his finger at them, not pulling any punches or saying it in a way that doesn't offend. He pointed the finger at them and said “You did it.”

I watched part of the Passion Of the Christ over Easter weekend and I remember Mel Gibson, in an interview about the movie saying: “the only part I am playing is my left arm and hand handling the hammer, nailing Jesus to the Cross. Because I, we, killed Him.

One commentator said this: “When Peter is telling them that they are guilty of the murder of Jesus, it doesn't sound like Peter is preaching `good news.'” He said: “in this context, we have to realize that Peter is preaching with such passion because he is preaching very `Important News.'”

It is good news, because we need a Savior, and Jesus became that savior for us.

But Peter's passion is based on the importance of this news.

We need Jesus and in that confession we are saved.

So, this is a sermon in two parts. The first is a confession, by all of us, and the second deals with how we can respond.

To punctuate the confession, please join in on the Chorus as we sing a song together. The song is written in the form of a Gregorian Chant and is actually one of the first hymns sung by the early Church. We are going to join with the early church as Mike and Sarah lead us in Lord Have Mercy.

Now the second part.

Important news.

In the first chapter of Acts. After Jesus has died, rose again and literally fulfilled all that He said He would fulfill. And even though things went backwards, ending in His death and resurrection, the disciples still ask Him if it was now that He was going to restore the political kingdom of Israel.

They still were thinking in human terms. They were still looking for Jesus to come as the great military/spiritual leader, kick the behinds of the Romans all the way back home, take over their kingdom and rule the earth in glorious luxury and power.

They did not understand the important news, that God's kingdom had already been in their midst since the beginning of the whole Jesus affair when John the Baptist started preaching: “repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

They weren't getting it. And it is hard to understand because it is an upside down kingdom.

The first shall be last, the greatest will be the servant of many, the master washes the feet of the slave instead of vice-versa.

It is a Kingdom where it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than the rich and successful in the world's eyes to get into this kingdom.

This kingdom says “if you are poor, you are blessed... If you mourn, you are blessed.”

This kingdom indeed has important news.

And, it is important for us to remember that.

We possess not only the words to eternal life, but hope for the poor. Those two messages go hand in hand throughout Jesus' teaching.

And remember, the Kingdom of God is already here.

The Disciples were still looking for a kingdom that is to come.

And so often we are too.

Don't beat yourselves up over it, if the disciples were having a hard time figuring it out, then why should be be surprised if we do to?

And the problem can be summed up like this: We look for heaven where our final reward is and then live for ourselves here on earth.

We forget the words of Jesus “Blessed are you if you are criticized, spoken evil of when you did the right thing.” Instead we whine and wonder how people can be mean and how their meanness has hurt us. And in doing that, we forget that the kingdom is already here.

God has left us on this planet because He has a job for us. And it isn't building our 401's. We have a story to tell to the nations.

Peter, Paul, James, Mark, Luke, Matthew all these guys are going to go on to be killed for their faith.

It didn't make any difference to them. They had already inherited the Kingdom of God and it couldn't be taken away from them.

So, as we look at the first Church in the book of Acts, let us take up their cause and accept our duty as Christians.

We aren't here to get a pass into heaven by making a confession and then to continue to live our lives for ourselves.

We have a story to tell to the nations. We have important words.

Join us in the closing Hymn: “We've a Story To Tell To the Nations.”