Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Acts is a book stylized, similar to Joshua and Judges.
[00:00:08] Okay? The Gospels set up what Jesus has done, much like the Torah brings down the law.
[00:00:16] This is what you should do. Acts, Joshua and Judges. This is how the people then did it.
[00:00:24] It's the action report, it's the feedback that people are having.
[00:00:30] Acts describes what it is like for the people of God to follow God effectively, to reach people.
[00:00:41] And as part of this big, big story series, you've heard other people talk about what that's meant in caring, in bringing testimonies, all that sort of thing, in speaking to people in ways they need to be spoken to.
[00:00:59] However, for this sermon, I'm talking about what it means to unmute.
[00:01:11] Sometimes when we think about Scripture, when we think about the Bible, we can outsource and hold out our message as far as we can. This is getting heavy and in doing that, we give our message to great organizations like the ones behind me.
[00:01:37] My read and interpretation of much of Baptist history, this is getting really heavy now is through the 80s and 90s and I'm too weak to keep going.
[00:01:49] The local churches main role with mission was holding the message of God out.
[00:01:59] Now I know Summerhill is a little odd in this regard because you guys had the drop in center here through that period where lots of people were coming in, where you were going out and interacting.
[00:02:11] But in lots of other churches and lots of other ways, people were holding the message of God as far out from themselves with these organizations as possible.
[00:02:23] And the problem with that is the average person did not learn how to share their faith effectively.
[00:02:34] They did not learn how to preach.
[00:02:37] Well, not preach, but reveal Christ to those who are closest to them.
[00:02:44] And when you do that for too long, you get muted, there's no support and you grow silent.
[00:02:55] Acts 2 shows me a framework of how Peter had to take up that weight and go from right out here with this is Jesus Job, I don't do the preaching to right in here. This is my message. God is with me.
[00:03:15] 37, 39 as Lurleen read, When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
[00:03:30] Peter replied, repent. Be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
[00:03:41] And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[00:03:45] The promise is for you and your children, all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.
[00:03:57] Peter does not start his journey in Acts chapter 2.
[00:04:04] God does not expect us to start our journey in Acts chapter 2.
[00:04:10] Peter starts his journey in Luke 5, being Jesus friend and disciple and being called, Come cold, come follow him.
[00:04:23] If you haven't been walking with Jesus for a while, that's the call.
[00:04:28] Come and follow him.
[00:04:31] Learn about Him. Learn from the people who know him well.
[00:04:37] If you have been following him for a while.
[00:04:41] The solution to our mission being outsourced and held far away is to bring this mission close to your heart.
[00:04:50] To pick that weight back up and rather than holding out here where it's hard, hold it close where it's easy.
[00:05:00] If we're choosing to follow Jesus, our mission is to come alongside and pick up Christ's commission.
[00:05:08] It's for each and every one of us to hear the Holy Spirit and to say that Christ's kingdom is mine.
[00:05:16] I have been built up in it, I am redeemed by it.
[00:05:23] This gives us a way forward to take life giving risks and let God speak through our lives and our testimony, to bring it close and then to just share it with those who are close to us as well.
[00:05:43] When I was far younger, I was quite a cheeky little kid.
[00:05:50] I had the beautiful blond hair, blue eyes. I could get into any sort of trouble I wanted.
[00:05:56] And I did.
[00:05:59] And when I got older, I managed to get into that sort of trouble even more.
[00:06:08] I was put in positions where I harmed people and I did wrong by them.
[00:06:14] And the work of God in that moment was not to go, no, no, that's their fault. It was to pull it in and say, no, no, I've got a burden to bear to carry.
[00:06:24] I've hurt people, I've got to make it right.
[00:06:27] My cheekiness got me into this situation.
[00:06:31] And in those moments of repenting, as Peter calls it, things changed. Christ redeems what once harmed people.
[00:06:45] Instead of getting into trouble now, I try to use my cheekiness as much as possible, break down barriers to actually meet people, to connect with young people, older people.
[00:07:00] And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
[00:07:05] But it didn't happen because I am fantastic. Although of course, I am fantastic.
[00:07:14] Thanks. Thanks, Michael. Nice.
[00:07:19] It happened because God redeemed something about me that was good to start with.
[00:07:25] It happened because something of who God is is reflected in the fact that I enjoy a good joke and a bad joke occasionally too.
[00:07:38] And in those moments, God is able to speak through me to people, to bring them close.
[00:07:46] So I'm not holding my mission out here, but it's close to my heart.
[00:07:52] And then people learn that.
[00:07:58] The problem with that, of course, is, yes, I may have retaken the Great commission and will have it close to myself.
[00:08:06] But you can still trip and stumble if you don't know the voice and the word of God.
[00:08:15] When speaking to God, a God who is out here, we don't have the support to hold up the weight for long.
[00:08:24] Eventually our spirit gets outsourced alongside it and we don't learn to listen to who God is putting in front of us, what God is saying to us.
[00:08:35] His spirit is in us.
[00:08:39] He speaks to us.
[00:08:43] So what does the voice of God sound like to you when he speaks through your mother, your sister, your brothers, those younger than you, those older than you?
[00:08:59] What does that sound and feel like in that moment where the spirit of God in you is being called out by the spirit of God in someone else?
[00:09:16] How does it sound when Peter speaks to the crowd as is behind me?
[00:09:23] With many other words, he warned them, he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day.
[00:09:46] Peter warned the crowd that was gathered for one of the Jewish festivals solemnly with strong witness.
[00:09:59] This is a forceful and direct message that they needed Jesus because he would save them from the corrupt direction that they were going.
[00:10:12] And this comes to pass in 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
[00:10:18] There is a sense of urgency to our testimony.
[00:10:22] So when we speak of how God has acted in our lives in the past, we also need to transition to where God is acting in our lives right now and be able to share that fact.
[00:10:39] What are the consequences of our faith in this life and in the next?
[00:10:48] What is God doing in our hearts?
[00:10:52] Where are the fruit of the Spirit, our actions?
[00:10:58] As Matt led us through communion, where are we forgiving and not holding onto people?
[00:11:11] God comes to me with strong correction like this from the people I'm closest to.
[00:11:19] Often it's from Hannah telling me, are you sure you should be doing that?
[00:11:25] Haven't you met your hours at work this week?
[00:11:31] Sometimes it's from my friends who say, my non Christian friends saying to me, hey, we actually want to hear about your faith.
[00:11:42] I believe you guys had Jenna recently, who is my coach, and she often makes me cry with her corrections and her critiques.
[00:11:57] These people carry a warm, loving challenge to me, which is get good. God's with you.
[00:12:06] And sometimes we need that right?
[00:12:10] Jesus wants you to hear his voice and his challenge.
[00:12:15] And Jesus challenge will speak to our best selves, not our worst. He will call us into something great whose voice brings God's challenge to you.
[00:12:35] Peter pleads the Greek here indicates that he's encouraging people in a very intimate way to draw close to God.
[00:12:47] Peter invites people into an intimate, heartfelt relationship with Jesus.
[00:12:53] Peter is close to the people. He knows why they're at Jerusalem, so he calls them even more. Follow this heart. Come close to God.
[00:13:10] When to you does God sound close?
[00:13:17] When does he sound distant?
[00:13:21] God is safe enough, big enough and loving enough to bring people close to himself without judgment, with love. Overwhelming, but still with that warm critique.
[00:13:36] They have to get good.
[00:13:38] But whilst we were sinners, he loved us first.
[00:13:46] Pleading and encouraging.
[00:13:50] Sometimes I need a challenge and I respond really well to it.
[00:13:55] Other times I don't. And it gets my back up and I want to have a fight about it.
[00:14:02] Sometimes it's in tears that I remember what God has done for me and I am overwhelmed by his love.
[00:14:21] A minor thing happened yesterday.
[00:14:24] I apologise.
[00:14:27] And it's in those moments of intimacy that I feel the call to reach out to God, to be close to God and let myself be overwhelmed.
[00:14:42] After the assembly yesterday, I'd spent the day focused on doing tech stuff, which is its own joy.
[00:14:53] And after it, we were packing stuff up at Riverlands. And so I sat down on the stage and I looked to the side where there is a table we have for the kids.
[00:15:06] And I was overwhelmed that we only have one table off to the side, we don't have a table in the middle where we can see and love these kids well.
[00:15:20] And I was convicted in this moment of intimacy, do we love the children around us half as much as God loves them?
[00:15:37] And I don't know the answer to that, but in that moment of intimacy, I can hear God calling to my spirit.
[00:15:47] And I would suggest it's different to you. Maybe it's in 60,000 references in your new Bible.
[00:15:53] I don't know.
[00:15:55] Whatever it is, God is calling to change us in intimacy and in challenge.
[00:16:05] And you can probably tell I am far more drawn to intimacy than I am to the challenge.
[00:16:13] And yet God calls to both.
[00:16:18] And that came to pass when I received the challenge. Am I sharing God with my friends enough?
[00:16:28] How do I get them to hear this?
[00:16:32] And so I offered to play a game.
[00:16:39] One of my hobbies is running tabletop games. Sit down with mates and we play the game.
[00:16:49] I get to decide the story that they are playing through and through playing this game, they got to practice and learn what it means to forgive someone and how hard that is.
[00:17:10] They got to learn this central tenet of Christian faith, that it's not up to us, it's up to God.
[00:17:19] They got to practice it and play it out. Over a year and a half, we were playing this one game.
[00:17:28] Through that medium that I'm good at, I got to share my faith.
[00:17:37] What sort of medium do you have that allows you to share your faith with your friends who are not yet Christian or may never be Christian?
[00:17:50] Do you have friends that aren't Christians?
[00:17:55] If you don't, I recommend getting some. They're great fun.
[00:17:59] And because of that one game, I offered to pray for my friends who were part of instilled in me a courage to say to those who weren't, hey, you're having a hard time. May I pray for you?
[00:18:16] When I was a kid, I was bullied for that.
[00:18:19] Now these guys go, look, anything's better than nothing.
[00:18:24] Something, please.
[00:18:27] I've asked spiritual questions and had my own spirituality challenged healthily behind these people.
[00:18:38] And this has led me to one conclusion, that when we speak of God, well, not if it's fluffy or too harsh, if it's naff or just brutal. If we speak of God, well. Well, people love it.
[00:18:57] What is the message we have of God's?
[00:19:00] God loves you. He wants to be with you. He will remove every barrier to do that.
[00:19:07] Come and follow him.
[00:19:10] That's it.
[00:19:11] It's the message of the gospel.
[00:19:14] Yes, there's other stuff. There's sin and stuff. I get that central message. God loves you, he wants to be with you.
[00:19:21] He will do anything to make sure that he is.
[00:19:29] To hear Jesus as the voice of loving, challenge and blessed intimacy is great.
[00:19:38] But some days it is 7am the bed is very, very warm.
[00:19:44] I do not want to get out of bed.
[00:19:47] The cat is scratching at something and I just don't wanna.
[00:19:55] Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, whatever way you want to phrase that.
[00:20:00] Have you ever heard or many parents, I'm sure have been around when kids love to emphasise their autonomy and say, no, I don't want to.
[00:20:14] And it's often from a place of discomfort, sometimes stubbornness.
[00:20:18] I get to help out at a playgroup that operates out of Riverlands, and I get to hear this a lot.
[00:20:27] Normally it's either when the kids are coming in, they say, no, I don't want to go in the room where this tall bearded man is. Fair enough.
[00:20:35] Or it's after the two hours where they're going, no, the toys are here. I don't want to leave.
[00:20:45] And for us as adults, our toys may be different, but it's still the same issue. I don't wanna.
[00:20:59] However, for the apostles that apparently didn't factor in. I'm sure it was there, but what we read in verse 42 and 43 is they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
[00:21:22] Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles over the years. Being up here in the north, I've run a young adults group out of our house doing Bible reading, talking to the youth of Riverlands and Naomi when she rocks up, we'd get together, we'd have food, and often at around 2:30 to 3:00 clock, I was filled with the great desire of oh God, not tonight, please let them cancel.
[00:22:00] I just don't want to.
[00:22:02] I'm tired, I'd like to watch a movie and it's okay to feel that way. It's perfectly normal and human.
[00:22:13] But the thing that started pulling me out of it was this question, where has God been in your week?
[00:22:29] When I asked myself that question, it made me go, oh yeah, I've actually got something to say to these guys. I better make potatoes, I better get to cooking.
[00:22:40] And they'd come in and when I'd remember, this would be the question I would ask.
[00:22:46] Where has God been in your week?
[00:22:50] It cut through almost all of their nah, I don't wannas. Normally they just went, I don't know. Where has God been in my week?
[00:23:00] Where has something good happened?
[00:23:05] Where have you been better than you were last week?
[00:23:09] Where have you been more loving in these moments?
[00:23:17] The gospel is not held out here far away, but it's pulled into their lives, it's pulled close to their hearts.
[00:23:28] They actually have to think and work through the answers.
[00:23:34] The Gospels contain the teachings of the apostles, which are the teachings of Jesus.
[00:23:42] Within that there is the call for us to testify, to share and unmute our message.
[00:23:52] Where have we been devoted to the things of scripture?
[00:23:58] Whether it be generosity, sharing, whatever? Where have we shown that devotion?
[00:24:05] Where has God lifted our eyes up and we've seen him in action in our lives?
[00:24:13] And if you don't know God well enough to answer that or are just learning about him, where did this good and loving thing happen in your week?
[00:24:22] Maybe you expected it, maybe you didn't.
[00:24:26] And then who can I share that good news with?
[00:24:32] Who can I lift up with how God has shown up for me this week?
[00:24:38] Who are these moments of small intimacy and challenge around you?
[00:24:45] Acts 2 does not give us a full paradigm for how to share the gospel, but it gives us a framework to See how important sharing our voices about this kingdom of life actually is about reflecting the shard of heaven in our hearts back to people, so they can hear it in their language.
[00:25:09] The kingdom of God is for us to share clearly and lovingly with challenge and invitation.
[00:25:20] But there are three problems that exist in unmuting ourselves.
[00:25:28] We aren't taught how to share our stories well.
[00:25:33] Our voice is outsourced.
[00:25:35] The solution is to take up Christ's call and actually just give it a shot.
[00:25:42] You might be surprised.
[00:25:47] This doesn't mean standing up on a soapbox and yelling at people, but simple, honest, revealing the Holy Spirit to yourself and others.
[00:26:01] We may not have been taught to hear God well.
[00:26:05] The solution?
[00:26:07] Learn from those near you.
[00:26:10] Read the Bible, practice, pray.
[00:26:14] And then accept the challenge and the invitation to share something good in your life.
[00:26:24] And we may just not want to share it.
[00:26:28] Cool.
[00:26:30] Don't lose yourself in guilt and shame and fear of, oh, I'm a terrible Christian. That's not helpful.
[00:26:38] Cool. Just ask why.
[00:26:42] Just be loving and curious. Why don't you want to do this?
[00:26:50] Then ask, where has God been in your week?
[00:26:54] And who can I share that with?
[00:26:59] Unmuting is not attention seeking. It is sharing the kingdom of life.
[00:27:05] And God wants more people in that kingdom.
[00:27:09] Always has.
[00:27:11] Where can you bring people close to that kingdom in your ways?
[00:27:18] I have mine.
[00:27:20] Sometimes they work.
[00:27:23] You'll have yours. And I pray that they will be better than mine. For those that you meet, those that you love, and those that you talk to, I'm going to wrap up with a prayer from St Patrick's Breastplate. It's a Celtic prayer because I love the Celtic Christian expression.
[00:27:44] So let's pray.
[00:27:47] Christ with us.
[00:27:52] Christ before us, Christ behind us, Christ in us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us.
[00:28:02] Christ on our right, Christ on our left.
[00:28:05] Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise.
[00:28:14] Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of these people. O God.
[00:28:23] Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of Summerhill. O God, Christ in every eye that sees us, Christ in every ear that hears us.
[00:28:42] In his name.
[00:28:44] Amen.
