"43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles."
All of us grew up in a certain context, a certain perception of life we’ve been brought up in, a certain way of viewing the world. For most of us, that reality is a suburban, middle class family. This carries weight in our perception of God too, how many of you went to Sunday school most of your childhood life?
So most of you know what I mean when I say Sunday school answers. A happens then God does B; we do C, God responds with D. We’re brought up to think that God is very predictable, very explainable. And if you were a good Christian kid you’d spend most of your life gathering learning more of those A to B answers, until you think you understand everything about everything.
For the most part, God made sense, life made sense.
I know, we’ve never heard anyone say that outright, but I’ll admit, I was one of those know it all kids. Funny how all that changes when we begin to really dedicate our life not just to correct theology and zealous spiritual disciplines, but to the expansion of God’s kingdom on earth, to head out beyond our middle class circles to the depths of this world, things aren’t so neat and tidy then.
I remember Paul came back from his first day at volunteering, he looked at me and was like, this household I was working with had this kid who smears his feces on the wall. I was like, “OK.....”, I mean what the heck else do you say?
When we step out of our suburban comforts and and really engage in what James says is “pure and flawless religion”, you quickly realize that you have to throw out that little box of cleverly worded answers that we put God in because the bubble where those ideas came from has been so small. You’re confronted with the fact that, contrary to what you think you “know”, we don’t know very much about how God operates His universe.
Don’t believe me? Have a read through Job, where God essentially says, I’m God, you’re not.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I see so often people who pursue and trust in their theology and understanding so much that they revoke this verse, while cowering in their little church lives never bothering to venture out and see that the spiritual warfare going on today is so much greater, so much more real than their well-referenced theology.
I think about that family Paul worked with, I think about our neighbours whose hate filled, profane arguments stretches to wee hours of the morning, often with police sirens, I remember my mom’s bout with psychotic depression, and I am forced to face the question: do I think theology is going to solve that? Do I think that correct biblical cross referencing is going to heal that? Do I think that whatever effort this bag of flesh and bones can muster up will actually change that?
Do I really think that God’s redeeming hand comes from this set of zealously correct ideas, or this real, alive person we have to meet? None of us would deny God’s presence or power, but would we rather study it or live by it? Do we realize that God’s kingdom is so so much more than our knowledge and our efforts?
The more we step out of the basket the more we realize that if we want His kingdom come, His will be done, we need more than knowledge and zeal, we actually need Him, His presence, His power. That’s exactly what Jesus told his disciples before He left.
Acts 1:4-5 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
What happens right after is the Pentecost, the releasing of the Holy Spirit into the NT, the precursor to this Acts church. Jesus says, don’t go yet, you don’t have what you need right now. You’re not to go out on your own power, but it is my Spirit that causes such radical change. Just as I empowered the seventy two when I sent them out while I was here, I am empowering you now with the Holy Spirit as I return to the Father. I will not leave you as orphans.
Apostle Paul stands by this in His ministry, most evident in Corinth where we learned in the last sermon series on 2 Corinthians that super-apostles were coming in and persuaded many believers with their heady teaching.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
If I ever get a chance I want to walk with you guys through 1 Corinthians, it’s a very misunderstood and misinterpreted book. It’s often used to tell people that God does not display power or manifest in reality anymore, yet that’s the very thing that the Apostle Paul repeatedly says God’s kingdom is about.
1 Corinthians 4:19-20 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
The gospel isn’t a doctrine to be learnt, it’s a person to be revealed. Transformation isn’t simply a change of what’s right and what’s wrong, it’s a change of what’s real and what’s not. It’s not simply a change of theology or morality, it’s a change of reality.
Am I making that distinction clear enough? Jesus said we are to be his witness, that means we had to have seen Him work, not spend ourselves studying His mechanisms and trying to do it on our own.
If we wish to live for Christ, we must be open, dare I say we should be eager, for God's manifest presence to change our lives, and the lives around us. It will not happen for long any other way.
God has equipped us with more than just a head full of ideas and a heart full of good wishes. He has given us His Spirit, the Spirit of the God of the universe resides in you to bring forward His agenda, that all knees bow and all tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We must welcome the Spirit and release His sovereignty if we want His kingdom come, His will be done.
Last week I talked about how a lot of people left our church because we were too charismatic, too into the miraculous giftings. In hindsight, what we did poorly wasn’t that those things were bad and should be avoided, but that we didn’t use them to edify or to build up. They ended up being a spirituality measurement, a way for us to stand out from the rest.
People were hurt. We were hurt because that was what was taught to us and we kicked ourselves afterwards because we blindly followed persuasive teachers. It’s really from that episode that we began this road of discovery at our church. God gave us these past three years, years where we’ve had no teacher, to really hone in on His voice, to let Him teach us what it meant to live in His kingdom, and how we can help each other with it.
Even through all that though, I know walls have been built up in many of our hearts against the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. I was definitely one of those people, who said I am not touching this stuff anymore, I don’t need it.
I went to retreat, I felt that the Spirit was really stirring (me and my sister have this sixth sense for that sort of thing) and people were pumped about what God was going to do at Westside. But I was sitting there just grumbling to God. Haven’t I seen this before? Haven’t I seen that the excitement in these people won’t last and won’t go anywhere? Why should I get back into it now? Didn’t we all see what happened last time?
I could feel God looking at me, his gaze softening, His reply though loud and clear. “Ken, you’re letting your worry of other people’s fakeness keep you from receiving the real thing. Even if this really wasn’t real for them, it can be real to you. What I’m asking you to step into isn’t their reality, I want you to step into mine. Will you come in?”
Well of course I said yes!
I want to encourage you all to begin to allow God to take those walls down. You were meant to be more that just a human being with some ideas about God that you’re working hard to live out. Jesus says that as you walk with me and minister my love you will go everywhere and be witnesses of what I’m doing.
Let’s stop being just servants with our head to the grind stone, and start beings sons and daughters that are getting to know the amazing wonder that is God’s business of redemption and glory.
Let’s not settle on just theology or morality, but begin stepping into the reality of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment