The Acts of the Apostles 73

Subtitle: The Power of God through Paul

Acts 19:11-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 28, 2024.

The spread of the Gospel was accompanied by healings, exorcisms and works of power.  Today, we will look at some more examples of some of the things that God was doing in Ephesus through the Apostle Paul.

The ministry of the apostles was a clash of the Kingdom of Christ with the kingdom of antichrist, the spirit of this world.  Yet, this cosmic battle is worked out in the lives of individuals.

Let’s look at our passage.

Unusual miracles occurred (11-12)

The idea of an unusual miracle is probably itself unusual.  The Greek literally says “no common works of power [miracles].”  So what does that mean?

It can be seen in relation to other believers, even other Christian ministers.  The things that God was doing through Paul were more astonishing than was normally happening among Christians.  There may be some truth to this.  However, we have already seen in Acts 5:15 that unusual miracles (healings) were happening through the Apostle Peter.  Of course, Jesus also had unusual works of power: a woman is healed by touching the hem of his garment, he walks on water, resurrections, and calming the storm in Galilee.  So maybe something different is meant here.

In the context of the passage, there is a contrast between what God was doing through Paul and the ineffective work of the itinerant Jewish exorcists (note that this could describe Paul, with the difference being Jesus in his life).  These Jewish exorcists had some level of success in what they did, but it was nothing compared to how God worked through Paul.  Like Moses being resisted by Jannes and Jambres in Egypt, they were trying to “compete” with Paul, but weren’t even close.

I think that Luke intends a mixture of both these concepts.  Definitely, he has shown that the power of God through the Church (especially the apostles) eclipsed many who were practicing sorcery in the areas they went (see Simon of Samaria in Acts 8:9 and Bar-Jesus of Cyprus in Acts 13:7).  The Jews here are not presented as practicing sorcery, by the way.  Yet, the apostles clearly displayed greater works of power than the average Christian of their day.

The Bible doesn’t teach us, “If Peter can do a miracle, then you can too.”  Rather, it emphasizes that God has giftings that He distributes in His wisdom.  Yes, theoretically, there is no limitation in what God can do through a believer in Christ because He can choose to do anything.  However, God has a specific calling for each of our lives with a distribution of His Spirit to assist in it. 

We should not let ourselves worry about the level of power God is displaying in our lives.  Instead, we should focus on being faithful to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  As we do that, we may even see God work through us in an increasingly powerful way.

Just like the tests that kids take in high school to determine their aptitude for certain professions, we can try to reduce the spiritual gifts of God to such a test.  I think that we should be very careful with such spiritual gifting tests.  No test can tell you what God is planning to do through you down the road.  Life has a way of taking you on a journey.  God’s gifts grow in our lives.  It is a relationship in which we are following Jesus and learning from him.  He may even bring forth new gifts in our lives at later times.

God does tend to use certain people in certain ways.  Yet, there are also scopes of the same giftings.  A person may have a gift of teaching within a local assembly, and another person may have a teaching ministry that has a world-wide scope. 

I don’t think we should think of these as lesser and greater scopes.  Our egos can’t handle such language, and it falls short of the truth.  It may be better to think of it as a wider or narrower scope (sphere of influence).  For those who lust for “greater” things, it is easy to miss the point that the greatest things we do is in those micro-spheres.  Our relationships with a spouse, children, family, local church family, co-workers, etc., are the biggest impacts that we can affect.  Don’t despise the day of small things for the Kingdom of God is built upon such things.  Small things are not small when God is doing it through us.  All ministries of wider scope can be traced back to relationships in the narrower scope.  The question is not how great I am, but how great God is.

This is where we should recognize that spiritual work for the Lord is impossible to be reduced to numbers, or metrics.  In the end, only God can show us in eternity all that was accomplished through us.

Let’s get back to our passage.  Luke gives us an example of an unusual miracle.  Articles of clothing from Paul were used to heal people and drive out demons from others.

The “handkerchief” is a word that covers everything from something you use to blow your nose to a sweat band you would tie around your head.  The “apron” is no doubt connected to Paul’s tent-making trade.  It would protect your clothes from the grime and wear-and-tear of such labor.

Though it is not said, it is most likely that the demand for Paul’s ministry was so great that someone (Paul?} came up with the idea to send these things to be placed upon the person in Paul’s absence.  I would assume that some believers would then pray for the person.  These clothes served as a representative object.  The Bible does not present this as a necessary thing any more than it presents the spit-mud that Jesus used to heal a blind man as necessary.  In some ways, they are an aid to faith.  However, God can also have symbolic reasons why He uses strange things.  Jesus and the mud harkens our minds back to God forming man from the earth and giving it life.  Jesus was the creator of man’s eyes in the beginning, and the way he healed that particular man was symbolic of this.

Some people today have turned this into a gimmick to solicit offerings from desperate people.  No one was making money and soliciting donations in Acts 19.  The healing of the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8 didn’t require any aid of faith.  We should not make a laundry list of powerful actions or objects that we need to heal people and cast out demons.  Rather, God is showing his gracious accommodation of our weakness of faith.  He is also demonstrating His ingenuity in teaching us about His power.

Let me finish this part by emphasizing that God did these powerful works “by the hand of Paul.”  There are two emphases here.  First, God is both the source and the doer of these powerful works.  God used Paul, but the gifts were only resident within him so much as the Holy Spirit was resident within him.  The power was not inherent in Paul’s person, but it is inherent in the nature of God.  We can look up to Paul as a man yielded to the leading and work of God in his life.  But, we should never elevate a person beyond that honorable place, a good example.

The second emphasis is that the powerful works were done “by the hand” of Paul.  The preposition has the sense of “through.”  Paul is a means, a channel, a vehicle for the power of God.  His calling, along with his faith in Christ and his faithfulness to the mission, brought opportunity to others to believe and be delivered by Jesus. 

Believers should watch their lives so that they are not a clogged up channel, or a broken down vehicle.  God has all the power in the universe, but He wants to work through you and me.  We need to be in such a relationship with Jesus that His will and purpose is moving forward in my life.  None of us are perfect, but we can keep focused on Christ and submitted to him.  All of us have some level of clogging in our lives.  However, the important thing is to be responding in faith to the things the Spirit of God is speaking to us about.

Some tried to copy his exorcisms (13-16)

Verse 13 tells us that some people were trying to copy Paul’s exorcisms.  I can imagine that word of his success was heard by others who trafficked in such things.  Their natural curiosity would lead them to find out how Paul was having so much success casting our evil spirit.  They are thinking in terms of tradition, formulas, words, and techniques.  However, casting out spirits for Paul (and for us) is not a matter of technique.

Luke gives us a particular instance in which some itinerant, Jewish exorcists tried to copy how Paul cast out demons.  They had developed a whole tradition of prayers and actions one could do to drive out spirits.  These were not 100% effective, but they had some level of success.  Jesus alludes to this when he is called Beelzebub by the Pharisees in Matthew 12.  He responds, “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?”  Regardless of their level of success, The power of Christ through Paul (and other Apostles) was in clear contrast to their success and the way they went about performing them.

We must be careful in the Church today that faith in Christ and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is the emphasis rather than a technique or a formula.  We have developed our own set of traditions around exorcisms.  We have our own formulaic prayers and rituals that can subtly replace the presence of the Holy Spirit in someone sent by Christ.  These are power-encounters between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness that operate through our faith.  We have general authority over evil spirits, and yet, Jesus warns that some kinds of evil spirits cannot come out without prayer and fasting.

These seven Jewish exorcists are sons of a chief priest named Sceva.  The mimicking Paul by saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”  This already sounds a bit wimpy.  We cast you out by this guy someone else talks about?  Jesus had been declared a heretic and executed by the chief priests.  I’m sure these guys did not send a letter back to Papa Sceva asking if this was okay.  We could chalk it up to an experiment to see if it would work.  Regardless, this demonstrates the sad reality that no lineage of spiritual men can guarantee that we are anything more than a parody of our ancestors.  It is not enough to have a form of godliness.  We also need the power of God that comes from a relationship of faith in Jesus.

The men are going to fail badly.  This is not something to rejoice over, but to weep over.  These men persisted in not believing in Jesus, and yet, their pragmatism causes them to experiment with the name of Jesus.  There is much pragmatic experimenting going on in the Church today, precisely because we are not walking in faith with Christ.  We look for easier answers than changing ourselves.

When they attempt to exorcise the demon, it answers them.  Now, let’s understand right up front that all demons are liars.  You cannot trust anything they say, even when there is a thread of truth in it.  We find that with this demon.  The response is this.  “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

Notice that the demon puts the emphasis on reputation.  Who are you?  Your reputation must be pretty small because it has not preceded you.  Essentially, I’ve never heard of you, and you have no authority here.  However, the key is not about the demon hearing about your ministry.  It is not your reputation, but your relationship with Jesus.  These men are not in relationship with Jesus.  In fact, we can say that they are as much an adversary to Jesus as the demon is.  They have no authority because they don’t know the one who does have authority, Jesus.

Paul, on the other hand, was walking in obedience to Christ and was directly empowered and authorized by him.  In fact, Paul is in this place because he repented when he was confronted with the Word of God, the Lord Jesus himself.  The truth of his rebellion against Yahweh caused him to fall on his face in humility and beg forgiveness.

Human technique can obtain a certain level of effects.  However, true spiritual power comes from spending time with Jesus and being led by Him.

Of course, they don’t know what to say to the demon’s response.  This leads to the possessed man overpowering all seven of them and beating them badly.  The stories of the supernatural power of demon-possessed people are legion (pun intended).  It is partially because humans do not like pain and will only push themselves so far.  When the demon is in control of a person, they do not care about the pain they feel.  Yet, they are supernatural beings and appear to be able to animate a body at a level of power above what seems natural.  Regardless of how that works, these men run out of the building with their clothes torn off and bleeding.

Evil spirits cannot stand before the follower of Jesus Christ who has a living connection with Him.  I wonder if any of these seven sons of Sceva became a Christian after this.  In God, even a beating from a demon-possessed man can be the mercy of God confronting us with the truth and calling us back to Him.  God often uses the worst of things to reach our hearts and change our minds.  Can you imagine that testimony?  “The best day of my life was the beating I received from a demon possessed man because it showed me that I needed Jesus!”

These things had an effect on Ephesus (17-20)

We are told that this failed exorcism became widely known and fear came upon the people.  Such things are unsettling to people.  It is out of the ordinary and begs the question of just what is going on.  They realized that there was something powerful behind Paul and these Christians.

Because of this fear, the Lord Jesus was magnified.  That doesn’t mean that they all were saved.  However, there was a greater appreciation for what Christ was doing through His people.  There was a higher estimation of these Christians and the Jesus they were talking about.  Sometimes, we can be so busy compromising that we don’t understand how much we are diminishing Jesus in the eyes of the world.  May Christ be magnified through our faith.

Verse 18 tells us that many who believed, confessing and telling their (sinful) deeds.  Of course, this describes repentance.  To confess is to speak the same thing as another.  They were agreeing with God’s word and the statements of His Apostles.  They needed to agree that they were living lives of sin, and then turn towards following him.  This is the transformed life.

God wants to bless and save all of us, but that can only be done by coming into agreement with Him about sin.  I’m a sinner, and I am lost.  If it wasn’t for Jesus, I would be stuck in my sins and hopeless.  Now, I have put my faith in his work and his commands.   The transformed life is one that is lived saying yes to the Word and Spirit of God.  Revival is never about an exciting service, but always about a living a different life, following Jesus.

An example of their repentance and trusting Jesus is given.  The Bible speaks of works that are worthy of repentance.  What does it mean for people who practice magic to repent?  Verse 19 tells us that “many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.”  It was very expensive to buy occult knowledge.  These people could have chosen to sell them to others.  Throwing them away seems such a waste to our flesh.  The key is that they are seeing that their magic is worthless and Jesus is priceless.  There really is a day to burn books.  However, this is self-censorship and not a government enforced practice.  We can love to tell others what they should be doing to prove that they are good people.  However, we need to let the Holy Spirit teach us the drastic actions we should do that would make for true repentance.  They burned all of those books that valued up to 50,000 pieces of silver.  The term is not specific enough to know which coin is in view, but it is generally taken for a silver coin that was the equivalent of a day’s wage for a laborer.

Books are resistant to burning because the pages are compressed and it is hard for oxygen to get to it.  You have to keep tending the fire, turning things over, so that the fire can consume it all and turn it into ash.  It is not enough to start down a path of repentance.  We must stick with the works of repentance until the former things are ashes.

Finally, we are told that the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.  This word prevailed was used earlier of the demon-possessed man prevailing over the sons of Sceva.  The devil has his day when people do not stand with God and His Anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ.  But, when we stand in Christ and do the works of faith that are led by the Holy Spirit, then the Word of the Lord will grow mightily and prevail in our homes, communities and Republic.

Power of God audio

Sermon on the Mount XI

Subtitle:  Correcting the Righteousness of the Hypocrites II

Matthew 6:5-9.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 18, 2024.

We continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus exposes, or corrects, the supposed righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, which he calls “hypocrites” in this section.

Last week we looked at the issue of charitable giving.  We now deal with the area of prayer.

Let’s look at our passage.

The way of Righteousness in prayer:

This section is expanded compared to the section on deeds of mercy (charitable deeds) and the coming section on fasting.  In fact, it has three sections: this first one that explains the teaching of Jesus regarding prayer (5-8), a model prayer (9-13), and then a last section that gives a further explanation (14-15). 

An explanation (v. 5-8)

This section does exactly the same thing with prayer that Jesus did with the section on charitable deeds.  It contrasts how the hypocrites pray with how Jesus wants his followers to pray.  It essentially boils down to wanting to be seen and heard by people versus wanting to be heard by God.

We should take this as a challenge to us from the master not only to pray, but to pray rightly.  Today, the Spirit of God helps us to sense that original challenge that Jesus gave to the people when he taught.  Do I pray?  And, how do I pray?

Just as the hypocrites did charitable deeds only to be seen by others, so they pray in order to be seen by others.  In fact, Jesus adds the descriptive word “love.”  They love to pray in the synagogue or on the street corner because people will see them.  They love the glory that people give to them for their apparent righteousness.  Yet, they neither love God, nor love others.  In truth, they pretty much love themselves.  They for sure do not love praying in secret.

If you are the kind of person that marvels at certain people when they pray- maybe their flowery language stirs your heart, then you should be careful.  Seek to become a praying person yourself, rather than marveling at the praying abilities of others.  In fact, when are We the People going to stop being so easily stirred up by the presentations of others, both for the good or for the bad?  We should stop being so easily amazed because we are atrocious at knowing whether the image that is presented is only skin deep, or whether it goes all the way to the bone.  When we are not in tune with the Holy Spirit through prayer, we do things like help out in stoning Stephen in Acts 7.

Jesus tells us that such praying receives the reward it wants, the glory of people.  God may be offended by such praying, but He lets them have what they want, the adoration of the people (at least as much as the people will give).

God is not offended like we are as humans.  Rather, He removes the restraints would have spared you great damage.  Humans were never designed to have the adoration of crowds, the worship of them as people do for Musicians, Actors, Athletes, etc.  If you look at the lives of people who reach the top of glamor and glory, their lives collapse under the weight of such false worship.

Of course, not everyone who prays in public is fake.  In fact, we could not even have a public worship service without praying, singing, preaching in public.  However, the point is not to put more value on such public acts than they are truly worth.  If public prayer does not have a foundation of secret prayer, then it is worthless, whether people know so, or not.

Thus, Jesus tells his followers not to love to pray like that.  Instead, we are to find a secret place to pray in.  The word for “room” in verse six is a word that was used for a storage closet.  They were typically small rooms in the middle of a structure that would not have windows.  His point is not so much the exact place, but that it is a place where no one will see you.  It could actually be translated “hidden place.” 

I know, I know.  Mom’s are saying right now that there is no such thing as a hidden place!  Of course, how much glory would you expect to receive from your child seeing you pray, or knowing that you are praying?  Jesus is not creating a law of prayer.  He is doing heart surgery here, and we should not become bogged down in snarky retorts. Jesus is pointing us to the intention of our prayer.  A person who only prays in public has a heart problem.  They are not in relationship with God, but seeking satisfaction somewhere else.

Jesus emphasizes that your (singular) Father in heaven is also in the secret, or hidden, place.  This phrase would have reminded them of the same phrase in the Old Testament, like Psalm 91.  David learned that,  even though God was in heaven, He was also in those hidden places when no one was looking.  David spent tons of time praying out in the field with the sheep.  God met him there. 

Even though God is everywhere, He recognizes that prayer done when no one is watching truly has the intention of relating with Him.  This private audience with the King of the Universe happens to also be a private audience with your heavenly Father.  Have you ever thought about the reality that our minds are the original secret place?  You can be in public, but meet with God in the secret place of your mind, and those in the place would never know.

Let me just point out that God as a Father is mentioned 17 times in the Sermon on the Mount.  One time it is “our Father” (The Lord’ Prayer, Matthew 6:9).  Also, Jesus refers to God as “My Father” one time in Matthew 7:21.  The other 15 times Jesus says that He is “your Father.”  Five of these are a singular “your/you.”  The other ten are plural.  Yes, God is individually your heavenly Father, but the emphasis is on us as a group.

Again, Jesus promises that secret prayer will have its reward in the open.  He doesn’t guarantee what that will look like.  In fact, the resurrection and being with Jesus is put forth as our ultimate reward.  We must be careful of thinking that if we pray alone enough, then God will have to give us some really cool things publicly.  Pray because you want to know God, not because you want stuff from Him.  He is your reward!

Jesus gives another warning in the practice of prayer in verse 7, but this time, he looks to the religious practices of the Gentiles, instead of the hypocrites within Israel.  The word translated “vain repetition” is hard to translate without more context.  It is clear though that it has to do with praying many words.  The point has to do with lack of true heart-content.  It is more about rituals, incantations, or techniques that are supposed to help gain the attention of the “gods.”

In Gentile spirituality, the so-called gods did not care for humans, so they had to learn techniques and formulas for drawing their help.  They would even hedge their bets by worshiping many different gods.  Surely one of them would come through for them.  We should not repeat phrases like a mantra over and over.  We should not speak a certain power syllable over and over.  There really is no end to the empty techniques that false religion will conjure for its acolytes.

The One True God in heaven, your heavenly Father, is not impressed by such empty tricks.  We cannot treat God like some sort of cosmic machine that we can put in the right amount of quarters, or pull the lever just right, in order to get what we want.  Instead, we are to speak to our Father simply, and clearly.

Can you imagine speaking to your earthly dad in such ways?   He would probably call the men in white coats to come and take you away, if you did.  God wants us to approach Him as a child to a Father.  He wants to have real relationship with us as that signals.

Jesus even tells us that our heavenly Father already knows what we need before we ask.  God is omniscient.  He knows what you need way better than even you do.  He is intimately aware of your needs.  He is paying attention to your life, regardless of what it seems like to you.  You think you are cursed because of your experience of life, but Jesus tells you that you are blessed (Matthew 5:3-12).  You don’t have to employ tricks and techniques to draw His attention.  You just have to really pray to Him in the hidden place.  Don’t pray rote prayers over and over again in particular sequences while making certain signs.  This is not what Jesus wanted our prayers to become.

A Model Prayer (v. 9-10)

Let’s look at the first part of this prayer.  It starts out with the words, “In this manner, therefore, pray.”  The emphasis is that this creates a template or model that we can use in our own praying times.  Yes, we can pray it, but it is not a mantra or incantation that “always works.”  If we will pay attention to the components of this prayer, then we will be instructed in how to pray, and in what to pray about.

I will lay the prayer out to demonstrate the structure of the prayer.

“Our Father in heaven,

          Hallowed be Your name.

          Your Kingdom come.

          Your will be done.

                  On earth as it is in heaven.”

The first line is the address.  Who am I addressing when I pray?  It is interesting that Jesus has made the point that God is “your (singular) Father.”  Yet, in this model prayer, he uses the plural concept of “Our Father.”  Think of it.  You are approaching God alone in a hidden place, and yet you address Him as a part of a group. 

There is an obvious lack of the concept of “I” and “me” in this prayer. I am reminded of the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18:12-14.  His prayer keeps repeating “I,” and when he does mention others, it is in contempt and derision.  Yes, the tax collector also uses the first person pronoun of “me.”  However, the prayer of repentance and humility is always heard.  This is not about never using first person pronouns.  Rather, it is recognizing that Jesus is signaling something important to us by their absence.  Perhaps my prayers are far to self oriented?  Do you think?

The key is not so much never using the pronouns, “I,” “me” or “mine.”  It is about being fully aware that your heavenly Father is also your brother’s heavenly Father.  We should approach God alone, but not as ones who are alone.  Even people who are not God’s child are desired to be so by Him.  He is bringing us into a larger community, His family.  And, He wants us to care for one another, even in our secret prayers.

This address is followed by three requests that focus on God and His purpose, rather than on me and my purposes.

Israel had fourteen centuries of wavering between focus on God’s purposes and focus on their own purposes.  At some point, we must become a broken person that realizes “our purposes” generally get in the way of God’s.  Also, His purposes are more beneficial to us and others than the purposes that we come up for ourselves.

We generally even pray for God’s purposes selfishly.  You can pray for God to bring in the Kingdom, but why do you do so?  Do you want the Kingdom because then you will be bossing people around?  Are you focused more on how good your experience will be instead of the glory of God blessing all the earth?

Israel, in general, had come to a place where they couldn’t wait for God to put the Romans in their place under the boot of Israel.  Yet, Jesus showed the remnant the heart of God wanted to take the light of the Gospel to that Gentile world and invite them into the Kingdom in a good way.

Let’s look at the form of the three request first.  The form of the first one, “hallowed be Your name,” is true of them all.  The verb is first followed by the subject.  The other two would look something like this: “Come be Your Kingdom.  Done be Your will!”  These are also imperatives (commands).  However, they are in the third person singular.  This has the effect of begging the question of just who is to do these things.  Perhaps, it is both God and us.

The first request speaks of God’s name.  This is His reputation, and the way people view Him.  The prayer is that God’s name, person, and reputation be seen and treated as holy.  In fact, the most holy thing in the universe.  Holy means that something is set apart for God’s purposes.  This may seem redundant (how can God not be holy, i.e., about His own purposes).  Yet, the emphasis is on how others see Him.  God is perfect in His character and attributes.  He is not like sinful humans, nor like the sinful spiritual beings.  However, we don’t always see and treat God as such.  People have no problem slandering God, and attributing things to Him that are not true.  It is a prayer for God to be respected by all.  So, this should start with me.

The second request is that the Kingdom of heaven would be brought in, or that it would come.  This is clearly a reference to the Kingdom of Messiah.  We are praying for its full realization on earth, instead of just being in heaven.  This does involve living out the Kingdom today in our lives.  We are to be an expression now, of a coming Kingdom later when Christ returns.

Is my life an ever-clearer expression of the values of Jesus?  May God help us to give ourselves to being an expression of the coming King and His perfect Kingdom that is coming.

The third request is that God’s will would be done.  Sometimes God’s will seems to be at odds with His Kingdom.  When Jesus went to the cross, it seemed to be the opposite of bringing in the Kingdom.  Submission to God’s will as the All-Wise One is important.  We can be a person who expects God to do particular things in our life, and when He doesn’t, we can be disillusioned.  “God, you said I would be blessed, but now there is a cross in front of me!”  We don’t always understand why God does what He does.

When we pray for God’s purpose, we are praying for the greatest good to come about.  In fact, there are layers to the will of God.  God put a curse upon the earth.  Is it His will that it last forever?  No!  What I do with it is important.  Wrestling with God like Jacob did is rewarded with intimacy.  Yes, the wicked man will be judged and go to the Lake of Fire, but God wants us to resist that by telling him the Gospel, the love of God.  God wants us to plead with the man that He resist God’s will properly, that is, through repentance and seeking mercy.

All of this connects to the greatest commandment.  When you love God with all of your being, you will pray for His purposes to come first.  All of this is a desire to have the goodness of God expressed on the earth, and not just in my secret times of prayer with Him. 

For the sake of time, we will pause here and pick up on the second half of the Lord’s Prayer next week.

Correcting Righteousness II

Barriers to Jews Believing in Jesus

This sermon was preached on September 25, 2022 by Missionary Robert Specter of Rock of Israel Ministries.

There will not be an article on this sermon, but the audio is now available.

Barriers audio

O, Say Can You See?

This week we have much to celebrate and great reason to be thankful.  First, we recognize the many men and women who have served this country by volunteering to defend it and the debt that is owed to them by society.  Further we recognize that those who serve as police officers and fire-fighters also serve us in ways that should cause us to give thanks.

Among Christians there is a concern for America because, more and more, we find ourselves surrounded by a culture that wants nothings to do with the righteousness of God.  This concern generally leads to a call for the Church in America to repent and pray from the Scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

I do want to affirm this message.  The churches and Christians of this land do need to repent of following our own thinking, turn back to God, and pray for our nation.  However, when you look closer at this passage, you find that the challenge goes deeper than just Christians getting their act together.  Let’s look at 2 Chronicles 7:12-22.

Repentance Is For The Nation As A Whole

The context of this passage is the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon.  The whole nation had turned out to celebrate and had now gone home.  God appears to Solomon with a promise and a warning for Israel and its leaders.

In verse 13 God warns of future punishments or disciplines that will come upon the nation.  There is no “if” in the verse.  Just as Moses did in Deuteronomy, God lets Solomon know that discipline “will” come upon Israel in the form of extreme weather, crop damage, and pestilence.  Pestilence is a general term that means destruction and death.  Generally it referred to a plague of some sorts, but could be used generally to refer to raiders or foreign armies.  It is easy to day to be afraid to recognize that these things could be God’s discipline.  But throughout the Bible we are taught to see God’s discipline in all calamities that come upon us.

Now in verse 14 the phrase “My people” is not a reference to a select group of people within Israel, but rather to the nation as a whole.  I am not saying every person in Israel was a true believer.  But God himself had made the nation of Israel, and had given them his name (Israel means prince with God).  He is not calling for the repentance of true believers or any select group of Israel.  He is calling for a wholesale national repentance.  I am not saying that means 100%, but it is more than just a part of Israel.  In fact wouldn’t you agree that the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, all repented and turned towards God in prayer?  However this did not save their nation.

Here it is.  Even if Christians repented and turned towards God in prayer, this and this alone will not save America.  It is a foundational step, but this passage is not saying that all God wants is for Christians to live for him.  God is incrementally holding America more and more accountable for casting Him off in all we do.  This will not change until there is a greater awakening than just Christians.  The nation as a whole needs to repent and pray.

In verse 19 God tells Solomon that if he turns away it will have an impact on the nation.  Leadership is critical and does have an impact on a nation.  In fact, God raises up the leadership that our actions as a people deserve.  So the Leadership of America needs to repent and pray in a public way.  We used to have leaders who would do such a thing.  One of the most famous is the declaration of Abraham Lincoln that stated the pride and arrogance of America and how we needed to repent and pray for God’s help.  You see, the ultimate problem is stated in verse 22 of 2 Chronicles 7; we have forsaken the God of heaven and his Son Jesus.  This is the same God who has raised us up.  This is the same God who has blessed us greatly as a nation.

We are in the middle of great calamity economically, politically, socially, and with many natural disasters and weather extremes all over the place.  God is trying to get our attention.  Can you hear?  Can you see?

Our History of Awakening

Though historians don’t always agree, most state that there have been at least 3 great awakenings or revivals in America.  The first was roughly from 1730 to 1750.  This move was mainly within churches and had an emphasis on a personal relationship over the top of ritual and tradition.  Personal salvation was the focus.  Names like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield are associated with this awakening.  Many point to the importance of this event (240 years after people started coming from Europe) in preparing for the societal ideals that would arise during the Revolutionary War.

The 2^nd Great Awakening was from 1800 to 1830.  This had an emphasis that anyone could be saved, even the worst of sinners.  This began an explosion of people coming into the Church and the number of denominations.  Alongside this was the social change groups that surfaced from within churches: temperance groups, abolition of slavery groups, and women’s rights.  Names that are connected with this are Alexander and Thomas Campbell and Charles Finney.

The 3^rd Great Awakening was from 1857 to 1910.  There was an emphasis on the life of the believer after salvation.  Within this period was the rise of the Holiness groups and the Pentecostal groups.  Dwight Moody was associated with this period along with others. 

Although some would argue others, none seem to have impacted society as a whole like these three did.  It is clear that we need revival in America.  But it cannot be a revival of Christians having a good time in church.  It must be a revival that breaks out into the non believing population and impacts society.

So what should Christians do?  First we must make sure we have repented of any wicked ways (as the Bible defines it) and pray for God’s mercy.  Second we must focus less on saving institutions and society and more on saving individuals.  Sure, perform your social duty with passion, but society only changes as people’s hearts are changed.  Thirdly, we must live a life that trusts God’s Word instead of giving lip service to it.  This world needs people who are truly willing to die to themselves in order to love it.  But better than that, the people around you who don’t know Jesus need Christians who are truly willing to pick up their cross and follow Jesus.  Will you be the one?