Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Loving God, we come before you today. We thank you that you are a good, good father, that you have blessed us and looked after us in so many ways. And sometimes it's only in hindsight that we realize the way that you have journeyed with us and allowed your Holy Spirit to work in our lives. And so today, as we come to consider your word, I pray that your Holy Spirit will be alive in our heart, hearts and our minds. Awaken us to the things that you want us to hear.
[00:00:38] Let every other word be washed away. But Lord, I pray today that your Holy Spirit will move powerfully in whatever way the Spirit's work is required. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:00:57] So my mother was Helen French, and some of you may have known her.
[00:01:04] And I had the privilege of sharing a story at Newstead Christian School about motherhood.
[00:01:10] And in that story, I tried not to emphasize too much about your mother dying, because that can be hard for children to hear.
[00:01:18] But what came in that is that God provided other mother figures to look after me after I had experienced my mother passing away at about 26. And Robin Atkinson was one of those mothers to me. And I don't know whether Robyn knows, but my name means lady of flowers.
[00:01:43] And every month for probably 10 or 12 months, Robyn would send me a bouquet of flowers.
[00:01:51] And it was just, I don't know, did you know my name meant lady of flowers?
[00:01:56] Okay. Until this day.
[00:01:59] And so that extremely generous act ministered to me as a young mum with a babe in tow.
[00:02:07] And, yeah, I think tying into that sense that God's love and God's presence is with us and for us as mothers and. Or mother figures just to look out for those that may not have a person in their life that can. Can provide that motherly care.
[00:02:28] And when my mother was about 52, she had been a woman of listening. She had mastered a listening presence. So that was her ministry before it became a thing.
[00:02:42] But when she was about 52, she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit and invited to start preaching and teaching.
[00:02:52] Now, she was from a brethren background, and that was quite a challenge.
[00:02:59] And I guess when we look at today's verses, we're looking at all protected and considering how persecution can come.
[00:03:10] And I think for me, I keep wondering, Lord, how can persecution come to me in my context?
[00:03:16] Like, my life is so easy in so many ways. I. I really want to make sure that my faith is strong enough to be able to navigate persecution. But it was only this morning that I realized that my mother experienced persecution to a certain degree when she stepped into an area that wasn't necessarily the space that was culturally normal for her. And she had people walk out of the church service, even though she had been invited to speak. And in some ways, I would see that as persecution. And I know within this community you have faithful people that are following the leading of the Holy Spirit into areas and ways that might not be quite what you expect, but they need your prayers and your protection, whether that's chaplaincy in some difficult schools, whether that's working, teaching the foundation course in Indonesia, whether it's a teacher in the school.
[00:04:24] So today we will ponder how we can journey with those who are persecuted.
[00:04:33] But my suggestion to you is that we have to be open in our own lives and be aware for those within our own communities that may experience persecution for. For different reasons.
[00:04:46] So today's sermon falls within the Acts two series called the Big Big Story. I think we're on about weeks five or six, is that right?
[00:04:57] And in Tasmania, we are so organized, we are getting ready to celebrate in 2033, the celebration, the 2000th anniversary of Jesus, resurrection of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the beginning of the church and the Great Commission where we, as we go in life, we are commanded to make disciples.
[00:05:22] So last week, I think you had Jenna come here, and I think she spoke on all care.
[00:05:28] And for her reflection on that, she took the angle of our identity in Christ as being the foundation of being able to care for others.
[00:05:40] And within this Big Big Story, we are encouraging ourselves and everyone else to realize that every nation and every person through history is invited into a realization of kingdom power and kingdom impact.
[00:06:02] And this is not just me as an individual, but it's us as a community as well.
[00:06:08] So today we'll be looking at everyone protected and what it means to stand unchained with the persecuted. So we'll be looking through Acts 2, 36, 41.
[00:06:24] Now, we've had the privilege of already hearing the verses.
[00:06:29] The passage starts with therefore.
[00:06:34] And I was taught always to ask if therefore. Therefore, why?
[00:06:38] So basically, Peter is saying here that it draws on all that has happened in chapter one and chapter two of Acts.
[00:06:49] And so we hear that Jesus resurrection is confirmed through many convincing proofs over 40 days, showing that he is truly alive and continuing to teach about the kingdom of God.
[00:07:04] He promised about the coming Holy Spirit and commissioned his disciples to go into the world as witnesses.
[00:07:13] Then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on all the believers there present, empowering them and fulfilling the prophecy.
[00:07:25] And so Peter explains That that has connection back to Joel as well as prophetic words from King David.
[00:07:34] So having demonstrated that Jesus was raised exalted to the right hand of God the Father and is the source of the Spirit at work, Peter logically concludes, therefore, God has made this same Jesus whom they crucified, crucified both Lord and Messiah. So let's walk through Acts 36:41 and just see what it reveals to us.
[00:08:05] So in this 36 to 37, Peter's declaration, God has made this Jesus, both Lord and Messiah.
[00:08:15] Now, those words are very familiar to us, but actually to the listeners present, that was really confronting.
[00:08:25] And it kind of was saying the people listening were complicit.
[00:08:30] And it was actually saying that he was saying that those present were complicit in Jesus death. So if he's Lord and Messiah and you folk are the ones that killed him, they were cut to the heart.
[00:08:46] And this process kind of highlights. They became aware of injustice and the truth of the Gospel.
[00:08:57] And this mirrors the first step of standing with the persecuted.
[00:09:02] You must firstly see clearly and then be moved internally.
[00:09:10] So this movement doesn't start with action.
[00:09:13] It's actually conviction and a recognition that something is wrong and needs a response.
[00:09:22] In verse 38 and 39, we hear how radically inclusive Peter's invitation is. So basically repent and be baptized. Not just some of you, but every one of you.
[00:09:39] Now, this is radical when you think our society is quite broad and inclusive, but in a Jewish culture and Jewish listening, like the men and the women, the rich and the poor, oh, my goodness.
[00:09:55] And also it says that the promise is for you and your children and all who are far off.
[00:10:03] And so that is the marginalized and distant. And so I think we are in the distant because we're distant in terms of history and we're on the edge of the world as well. So isn't that amazing that these words are actually a blessing to us today?
[00:10:19] And the type of protection that we are exploring today is not the traditional human type of protection.
[00:10:28] It's actually the power of spiritual covering, the power of forgiveness and the gift of the spirit.
[00:10:39] Last week I had the opportunity to meet a gentleman who was 92. And he was saying this, that until he was 75, he had carried unforgiveness like a heavy weight on his shoulders.
[00:10:55] So he had come out of a concentration camp.
[00:10:58] He had experienced such hardship and such loss that in terms of human eyes, it would have been justified to be angry and unforgiving. But when he encountered Christ, he said to me, suddenly, My brain started working like I actually could think and my body, I could stand up straight. And I think sometimes we don't realise how powerful. Encountering Christ and the forgiveness and the transformation that can happen for us that have had the privilege of knowing Jesus for a long time, we sometimes forget.
[00:11:40] So in verse 40, we hear how there's a call to step out of a corrupt system.
[00:11:47] So it says, save yourselves from a corrupt generation.
[00:11:51] And this is not about personal morality.
[00:11:54] It's a call to disassociate from unjust patterns and systems.
[00:12:00] So standing with the persecuted often requires leaving the dominant culture, which we soak in and we kind of, kind of at times, unaware of.
[00:12:13] So the dominant culture and align with God's Kingdom ways.
[00:12:19] So in our modern context and within our local context, what does that look like? Sometimes it's the gift of an outsider that helps us realize how enculturated we are. So I have a beautiful Muslim gentleman who, well, he said, at Christmas, why do all the Christians lock their doors and hide inside with their families?
[00:12:42] Like, isn't this worth celebrating beyond your church service? Like, in our culture, we open the doors, the Christian open the doors, and you can go from house to house. And I think, oh, Lord, help me if that's, you know, that's a radical difference, isn't it?
[00:12:57] And I think sometimes in our general culture, we need to identify how our capitalist, individualist society can influence us.
[00:13:11] So we actually can sometimes think that wealth, what we own and what we possess is our worth, and we equate those two.
[00:13:23] And the Kingdom way, are we willing to practice generosity rather than accumulation?
[00:13:32] And again, sometimes we value people for their productivity rather than who they are as people.
[00:13:42] So, yeah, so it's just worth thinking about.
[00:13:47] Sometimes you may have encountered someone with a different worldview and that has challenged your understanding of how we live our lives.
[00:13:57] So in this situation, and sometimes those cultural things are almost like dark powers, and they can sort of happen within systems as well, within different organizations.
[00:14:12] So are you willing to stand up? Are you willing to say, actually, I don't think that's the way that person should be treated, or I don't think that's the way these children should be treated. So it actually, again, different context that we live and work in, but it requires bravery often to stand up and to articulate a different way, a Kingdom way.
[00:14:37] So in verse 41, they were all baptized and about 3,000 were added.
[00:14:44] Now, this was an immediate response.
[00:14:48] I love baptisms. Imagine if we could put out the invitation that people choose to follow Jesus and get baptized all in one thing. But that's what happened here. And they were visibly identified as a community.
[00:15:03] Now that was actually kind of strange. We take it as normal, but they're actually aligning themselves to a Jesus that everyone else thinks is dead.
[00:15:18] And they obviously have encountered a new understanding. But that wasn't necessarily the cultural norm in that situation.
[00:15:27] But what this meant is that they were joined into a new community.
[00:15:32] They were able to realize that this new way, this Jesus way, was worth leaving everything behind.
[00:15:44] And this community formed through the Holy Spirit was their new family.
[00:15:52] So what we're exploring here is protection, being redefined.
[00:15:57] It's not about avoiding suffering, but belonging.
[00:16:02] So Acts 2 doesn't promise safety. It offers forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[00:16:11] When you read through the Old Testament, how many times were people able to have a direct encounter with the Holy Spirit?
[00:16:20] Sometimes it was hundreds of years between.
[00:16:23] And yet we have the Holy Spirit available to us today.
[00:16:28] Isn't that amazing?
[00:16:30] And repenting and accepting Jesus way, there is a new community.
[00:16:39] And again, if you've been in church for a long time, possibly you don't remember how amazing it is to be part of a church community.
[00:16:47] Imagine a community that is displaying fruit of the Holy Spirit.
[00:16:53] Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, humility and self control.
[00:16:59] That is radical and that is beautiful.
[00:17:04] And when we think of this, there is a deeper sense of protection beyond our physical and or our social protection.
[00:17:13] We identify or our identity is in Christ, not about what we wear, what we do during the week.
[00:17:22] We are in community. We can actually share life together.
[00:17:29] And as I said, sometimes when we don't have mothers or we don't have fathers or even family nearby, that's where we can actually be family.
[00:17:40] And when my children decided to move out of home and go beyond Launceston and Tasmania, I said, wherever you go, make sure you connect with a church community. They can be your family.
[00:17:54] And I think for me that was an encouragement regardless of whether they had continued in their faith.
[00:18:05] So I just wanted them to know wherever they go, whatever happens in life, that wherever there's a church community, they can be your family.
[00:18:15] But this makes me think and God's presence. And I think for me we have different challenges in life. Some of them are unexpected, some. So when I discovered at some point that I had breast cancer, it was actually God's deep presence and the beautiful people around me. But that suddenly when I thought I was fish and healthy and could take on the world, suddenly I was on the couch for like a year.
[00:18:45] And all of the things that I took as my identity were stripped away.
[00:18:53] And I had the opportunity to do some deep reflection and ponder, where is God's presence in this?
[00:19:01] And it was amazing to experience God's love and God's presence through that journey before. I was hoping to share a video with you and the video was from Open Doors. I don't know whether you've heard of Open Doors about the Persecuted church and on Mother's Day, I want us.
[00:19:24] So it was a little bit tricky to show you, but I just want to summarize really quickly.
[00:19:29] In the wider global community, there are so many mothers and women who are followers of Jesus, but they are persecuted. They don't necessarily have the freedom to hold onto their faith. Even to read the Bible could mean that they're beaten or killed.
[00:19:54] And so it's so important as a body of Christ that we remember those people as well. So there was a story of a lady in Yemen and she had to memorize the Bible because she couldn't take it with her when she went to visit anyone else in another home.
[00:20:16] Because if she was found with a Bible or even something on the phone that was faith based, her life was at risk.
[00:20:24] And so when I hear those kind of stories, I think I could become so complacent, you know, am I practising memorizing the Bible so that I can carry that with me?
[00:20:36] But likewise the women in Sudan. There are so many places where they are suffering and are persecuted. And at the end of our time together, I would love us to pray for them because also they have the opportunity to share faith with their children and other women within their network in particular.
[00:20:58] And it's a risky business.
[00:21:02] So Acts 2 launches a movement where we are all confronted.
[00:21:10] So the Spirit convicts people with the truth of Jesus and also the truth about themselves, which we love to hide from ourselves.
[00:21:21] And God's kingdom begins with honest repentance and a recognition of our need. I love that song that we sang before. It was just so beautiful.
[00:21:35] But all are welcomed. Isn't that amazing? That is so exciting that the promise of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit is open to everyone without barriers or exclusions.
[00:21:51] So in Christ, all are invited to belong and all are changed, transformed, both within their personal life, but within the community as well. It's great to rub off each other sometimes. Those people that annoy you actually are God's gift to you to learn, to grow.
[00:22:15] And so with repentance and baptism and having a spirit led Life we can experience transformation now acts to 41 to 47. We haven't read today and I'd hope that you might have read a previous week is where the believers gathered and they shared everything in common.
[00:22:39] So there was a beautiful transformation of the wider community.
[00:22:44] So it was. They were willing to sell what they have and give it to share with those that didn't have.
[00:22:50] And they were enthusiastic to gather together. So I'm so excited that you've got Something happened was on the 31st of May where you're having a family evening for those that can't come. I hope you're praying because Peter was just saying how there was once a drop in center and when people forgot to pray, things went wrong.
[00:23:12] So how are we praying to make sure that we can enthusiastically gather together?
[00:23:21] But I also need to declare and make us aware that all may face the cost of discipleship.
[00:23:31] So there's a sense where in our different contexts and potentially within our wider community, following Jesus can be costly.
[00:23:44] And when we think of people like Corrie10 boom in her context. Do you remember? Yeah, I'm sure she was a lady who her family decided to hide Jews in their wall when there was persecution. And she ended up in a concentration camp and she had a tattered Bible. And at midnight she and her sister and a few others would read the Bible.
[00:24:09] And that sustained her but also transformed her as well. So when she came across a guard many years later, she had been speaking in a big context and a guard from the concentration camp had come to know Jesus and he asked for forgiveness. I think she was speaking on forgiveness.
[00:24:36] And so he came forward confidently, hoping that she might extend forgiveness to him.
[00:24:43] And somehow not in her own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, she was able to do that.
[00:24:52] There's a practical invitation.
[00:24:55] Are we willing to stand up and respond to the gospel afresh today?
[00:25:03] Are we willing to understand more fully what it looks like to let Jesus be the king of our life, hand over our little kingdom, which we're desperately trying to keep together?
[00:25:17] Are we willing to hand that over and experience a transformed life?
[00:25:24] Are we willing to stand down and let go of the old allegiances that we have?
[00:25:34] Sometimes we're obsessed about a certain thing for the sake of the kingdom. Are we willing to let that go down for unity, for love, whatever that is?
[00:25:50] Are we willing to stand with and belong to the people of God?
[00:25:56] And more than that, can I invite you to invite others?
[00:26:04] Because what you have here is beautiful.
[00:26:07] And sometimes being brave to step in to Lean in to invite others into this beautiful community is just what they need.
[00:26:20] And so, yep, stand with each other. But also I encourage you to invite others and then stand alongside.
[00:26:31] I don't know what your connections are to the persecuted church or persecuted Christians, but I'm sure you have connection either through open doors in the Baptist church, we have stand with Myanmar.
[00:26:46] And so I'm sure you have an awareness of what's happen, happening for Christians in Myanmar.
[00:26:52] And I would encourage you to be brave to listen to those stories.
[00:26:59] Sometimes they're hard stories, sometimes we would just rather return to Instagram scrolling to avoid those hard stories or Facebook scrolling, but actually be willing to see these people as our brothers and sisters in Christ and to pray for them. And as I said before, prayer is so powerful to change the world and change lives.
[00:27:25] And for those that are inclined to stand for, are you willing to use your breath, your hand, are you willing to type, Are you willing to advocate for those who are persecuted?
[00:27:44] And that sometimes feels like a hard job, but it can be a text message to people who are struggling in different places around the world.
[00:27:58] It might be connecting in with worldview and hearing of the Christians that are being persecuted around the world. So there's local and international ways that we can advocate and act.
[00:28:14] So there's an invitation today, knowing that we can be transformed through knowing Jesus as we continue to repent and be transformed every day, that the Holy Spirit can prompt us, can lead us, and at times it can lead us to step into spaces that we personally feel a certain level of persecution.
[00:28:42] Be brave, trust the Holy Spirit and just be aware that if there are people within our networks that are experiencing persecution, whether that's through being isolated or criticised or sidelined, and in the global context, if that means those that are risking their life in India, who are choosing to follow Jesus, how can we stand with them?
[00:29:15] And are we brave to do that? Because when one member suffers, we all suffer.
[00:29:22] And when we speak together, the world will listen through the love of Jesus.
[00:29:30] So can I just conclude now with prayer as I hand back to Claire?
[00:29:36] Loving God, I thank you that you came close to us through sending Jesus to walk in our shoes, to walk here on earth with us.
[00:29:53] And I thank you that that way is so radically different to every culture and every community and every individual through history and through Jesus, that we can have life and life in the fullness, even if that looks like a difficult path when we think of the martyrs that have gone before us, those who faithfully stepped up when the Holy Spirit has invited them to step up.
[00:30:27] We praise you for Jesus and for the martyrs and for those that are currently experiencing persecution around the world.
[00:30:38] We think of the women in Yemen and the women in Iran who are whispering and and gossiping the gospel.
[00:30:48] I pray that they can know your love in real and transformative ways.
[00:30:56] And likewise in our context.
[00:31:00] I pray that we can walk with one another, pray with one another, and to be unified as a community that is like a beacon on the hill where the fruit of the Spirit is evident and that we can know your love in a deep and transformative way.
[00:31:22] We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
