The Power of a Weak Word | Disruptive Presence 7

In which John and David discuss Peter's sermon in Acts 2. The narrative from a timid voice distancing himself from Jesus to the transformation we witness here is a story in itself. Listen in as we consider what this sermon is telling us about sermons and Jesus.

Episode 60 of the Two Texts Podcast | Disruptive Presence 7

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Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021

Transcript

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[00:00:00] David: Well, John, the last time we were together, the apostles were facing the accusation that this was not the work of the holy spirit. This was in fact that they had had too much wine 

[00:01:01] John: Mm. 
 

[00:01:02] David: So we've, we've had this incredible story in acts chapter two, where we are right now of. Of the holy spirit doing something quite remarkable visually and auditory amongst these these young disciples of Jesus. 

[00:01:15] But of course they have an audience and, and the audience is trying to make sense of this and their best attempt to understand it is what, they they've drank too much. They've drank too much wine. Right. And which, which is possibly the. Most unusual intro to a sermon ever 

[00:01:34] John: for sure. For sure. Yeah, absolutely. I lo I do love, I do love the little, there's like two sides, half the half the crowd listening seem to ask the question, what does this mean? And then some of the people try to provide their own answer. And I love the sort of, that this is that response of Peter, this sort of the question sort of sets him up, although he doesn't ignore the criticism either. 

[00:01:57] So it's a pretty cool setup to a sermon. 

[00:01:59] David: AB absolutely. Absolutely. And of course the, the setup to what we, I suppose, could call and perhaps should call the first sermon of the church.  

[00:02:08] John: Date end date. 

[00:02:09] David: the first sermon that, that, that is spoken as a defense of Jesus and, and perhaps then shaping all sermons. I've been thinking a lot about this recently, how sermons. 

[00:02:22] Well, ultimately what makes a good sermon or a bad sermon, right. And I've realized that so much of what we often categorize as good sermons and bad sermon. Are not actually the things of good sermons and bad sermons, right? So I've been reading, Bonhoeffer's work a little bit recently and Dietrich, Bonhoeffer, famous martyr of the church killed by, by the Nazis towards the end of the second world war. 

[00:02:47] And I was reading a piece I'm preaching from him recently and, and he just said the only I'm paraphrasing here, but the. Thing that really matters in a sermon is whether it points the congregation to Jesus and and that is the thing we should judge a sermon based upon. And, and I find that quite inspiring actually, when, so often we talk about this, person's a great communicator, or this person has phenomenal insights and here's Bon Hoffer saying if it did it point you to Jesus, because that's what a sermon should do. 

[00:03:16] And I think. Peter does exactly that in this first sermon of the church and shapes it. So, so you're gonna read this text from us in acts chapter two, verse 14. 

[00:03:26] John: I will. It's  

[00:03:27] it's pretty amazing. Yeah. 

[00:03:29] David: and so, so I would say, to our, to our friends who are listening and make yourself comfortable and enjoy, enjoy the first sermon of the church with an Irish accent. 

[00:03:44] John: indeed. And it says this, that Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd fellow Jews, and all of you who live in Jerusalem. Let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning. So, this is what was spoken by the prophet jewel. 

[00:04:09] In the last days, God says I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women. I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy. I will show wanders in the heavens above and signs in the earth below blood and fire and bellows of smoke. 

[00:04:32] The sun will be turned to darkness in the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the Neme of the Lord will be. Fellow Israelites, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God, to you by miracles and wonders and saints, which God did among you through him. 

[00:04:54] As you yourselves know, this man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and for knowledge and you with the help of wicked men or lawless men put to death put him to death by kneeling him to the. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep, hold on him. 

[00:05:16] David said about him. I saw the Lord always before me because he's at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest in hope because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead nor let your holy one C decay. You have me known to me the paths of life. 

[00:05:39] You will fill me with joy in your presence. Fellow Israelites. I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tumor is here to this day, but he was a prophet and he knew that God had promised him on oath, that he would place one of his descendants on his throne seeing what was to come. 

[00:05:59] He spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see the K God raised GE this Jesus to life. And we are all witnesses. Exalted to the right hand of God. He has received from the father, the promised holy spirit and has poured out what you now see. 

[00:06:21] And here for David did not ascend to heaven. And yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a food stool for your. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you, you crucified both Lord and Messiah. 

[00:06:47] Well done. Peter  

[00:06:50] David: exactly. I always wanna point out the last time we saw Peter in public 

[00:06:57] John: indeed. 

[00:06:59] David: he was, he was saying, I, I don't know. Jesus. And. And then we find not just I do know Jesus, but he sermon on who he is and what's going on and what God is doing through him. 

[00:07:14] John: Absolutely. Yeah. 

[00:07:15] David: spirit was working well. And Peter had been listening when Jesus was talking. 

[00:07:20] John: Indeed indeed. And it is a remarkable turnaround, isn't it? I, I love that opening sort of, statement in verse 14, Peter stood up. There's something very powerful about that. Very sort of decisive, very bold. He stood up, he raised his voice, he addressed the crowd. So you're really. You're really given something here. 

[00:07:40] That's very strong, decisive, powerful. Which of course, if you've followed the trajectory of the gospels is in complete op opposite to, to Peter's, last public type of statements. I, I, I actually. Reflected on it, just in, in thinking about today and, and us recording. And, and I looked at the words in mark, mark 14, it says that Peter began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, I don't know this man you're talking about. 

[00:08:11] I mean, that's, that's his last sort of public words on Jesus, I don't know this man. And then here he. Standing up. And I think that's a little better as we've been reflecting David on the power of the holy spirit. You. receive power. And I think in Peter, standing up in Peter raising his voice in Peter, addressing a crowd, I think you've got two gorgeous dynamics flowing together. 

[00:08:36] I think you've got the culmination of the word of God. That's been cooking in him. All that word. That's been downloaded by Jesus in those 40 days between resurrection and Ascension, all that, all that stuff. That's now crystallized in, in the resurrected Jesus and Peter, probably seeing the, to knock through very different eyes. 

[00:08:57] And then of course the power of the spirit that we've just been talking about. This group of believers. Are empowered. They are clothed with power from on high. And that power seems to be immediately evident in Peter's behavior, how he stands up, takes the initiative and and speaks to quite a large crowd. 

[00:09:20] If, if our, if we go right to the end of sort of chapter two, we know that about 3000 people respond to this. Which suggests that the crowd was maybe many thousands bigger than that. So, so Peter is being fairly bold. And of course what strikes me that is an unlearned man, a man who hasn't, as it were been to official theological training, his sermon is pretty outstanding in terms of how he connects the dots and presents Jesus. 

[00:09:53] So it's an incredible moment. 

[00:09:55] David: I'm probably just projecting my own thought processes outside of even two texts. Just what I'm thinking about as a pastor a lot at the moment is this is this obsession with the messenger. And I'm thinking about. 

[00:10:08] How I hear people introduced how I, you read bios on the back of books. We, we put so much, emphasis on, on our education, on our ability on our rhetorical skill humor. All these sorts of things are so important. The there's this there's this moment in in Willie Jenning's commentary that just really echoes what you were saying, John, where he says he talks about this, the particular he's looking at this moment and he says, here, we have an image where the person standing before those gathered. 

[00:10:42] Does not carry gravitas and, and Peter essentially can never match his message and never will. He, he said, and this is the eternal balance, or, sorry, this is the eternal imbalance that will mark that will mark preaching a message far more powerful than its messenger. And and, and, and I think, and, and what, what I think we need to look into in a text like this as Jesus followers, is that. 

[00:11:11] The sermon is phenomenal, right? But the, but there's lesson, even in the context in how it's being presented and how it's coming together, that we must always learn. Let us not quickly dismiss ourself for not being good enough, skilled enough, clever enough. I'm not as funny as this person I can't share about Jesus or I'm not as clever as this person I can't share about Jesus. 

[00:11:33] And this is where, I mean, it comes back to Bon Hoffer, this German pastor in a Nazi prison saying no. Do your words, point people to Jesus and, and remind us of Jesus and call us to be like Jesus. And, and I think there's something profoundly powerful in, in remembering in remembering that 

[00:11:51] John: Absolutely. Absolutely. And in some of our previous reflections, when we've talked about the kingdom of God, the parables of Jesus and the confidence that Jesus had in the word in, we, we just assumed that Jesus was a brilliant, dynamic, exciting, powerful, humorous communicator, but actually when you really. 

[00:12:12] The text, it's hard. It's hard to know exactly what his style was or how he was heard as let's use language as a communicator. 

[00:12:23] David: mm. 
 

[00:12:23] John: And, and I think we naturally fall into the sort of emphasis on how well we communicate when really. When really the emphasis of the new Testament seems to be on what we communicate on, on having confidence in the word. 

[00:12:38] Now, some of our listeners will be preachers and teachers. So of course we, we wanna try and be the best we can be with our craft. We want to try and learn good techniques that help us to engage and connect with congregations, audiences and different groups of all shapes and sizes. 

[00:12:54] Of course, we, we must engage with that. But of course, it's the word of God itself that changes people. And, and Peter stands up with a confidence in a very Jesus centric sermon that has scripture at the very heart of his defense of Jesus. And it seems to be that rather than Peter's Dyna. That the crowd responds to, if, and I know on some of our future podcasts, we're, we're probably gonna lean into the response of the crowd. 

[00:13:28] We won't get to that, but in this conversation, but, but it says that when they heard these things, they, they were cut to the heart. It, it wasn't Peter's brilliance that they heard it was. The words of God that they heard and that that's what did their work. And I think it's the confidence, as Hebrew says, Hebrews says the trust in the word that has the power to, as a, a double edged sword to, to cut and divide and produce something that is beyond us. 

[00:13:56] So he, I EV every preacher teacher listened to us will have had those incredible moments where we have felt as we've got off the pulpit that we absolutely blew that. And yet, and yet God does something. And then other times when we get down and think, wow, that was amazing. I, I that's the best I've ever preached. 

[00:14:15] And somebody like as often happens to me ask you about your sausage dogs rather than about the sermon. So, so you, you, you get these things sort of, we, we have to, we have to keep our eye on them and our heart on them to ensure that actually it is about the word and it is about him. And it really isn't so much about us and. 

[00:14:34] David: and that's an important, I think personal discipline, not just as a, as somebody who preaches and teaches, but actually as somebody who listens to preaching and teaching is. I mean, I'd be encouraging people, even write this at the top of your notepad until it becomes a mantra, how is this sermon pointing me towards Jesus? 

[00:14:50] Like of course, of course we would all prefer a Mercedes to a Toyota. Right. We want a funny sermon. We want a well crafted sermon and we want a, a, a nicely poly, of course we want that. And there's. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting a sermon, to be compelling, in all those sort of ways. 

[00:15:09] But when it comes down to it, a Toyota with gas in the tank is better than a Mercedes without one, once you're actually trying to get somewhere. So, so hold firm to that core principle of what am I actually here for? What am I listening to? And. And, and I think that again, just Bonhoeffer calls it the power of a weak word. 

[00:15:30] Right. That, that actually, because it's the word that's focused on and you even see that Paul, doesn't it. I mean, I'm tempted to think sometimes Paul might be underplay himself, but Paul makes the point in first Corinthians doesn't he, I'm not very impressive. I don't have good words. But what I do have is the truth of Jesus. 

[00:15:46] And, and so I, I think that's, I mean, I just find that super encouraging. And one thing I noticed, John, just, contrast in the two stories as you did as well, that I think that there's maybe two levels to this. The denial of Peter, right? In, if you look at again, just follow, Luke's trajectory in Luke 22, I think it's interesting. 

[00:16:06] I I'm, I'm just noting something. I don't think Luke's making anything particularly of this first statement, but it's interesting to note that he denies Jesus, but he's on his own, says Peter follows Peter follows at a distance and then he ends up running his own and he, and he, and he's like, nah, I, I don't, I don't know him. 

[00:16:23] Right. But in verse 14 of acts, chapter two, it says Peter standing with the 11. So there's, there's a little potentially, if you were being creative, there's a, a beautiful little thought of how community might change our confidence sometimes as well. Although I do think it's the holy spirit. That's the primary driver here. 

[00:16:42] But then I also think it's interesting just in the, kind of the imagery here. That Peter. And I always want to say this about this part of acts, that, that Peter is a Jewish man, right? So this is not antisemitism that we're seeing or notice in the text fellow Israelite. So there is a critique going on here, but it's an internal critique. 

[00:17:06] This is not racism happening. This is not, this is an internal. A very common thing within Jewish argument actually is to internally critique ourselves, and, and, and look at that, but it is interesting that it's Peter and Levi. So it's 12, people standing almost coming to the text and 12 being such a significant number for Israel to say, let's now read it in light of Jesus. 

[00:17:32] And, and I, I, I just, I have wondered whether Whether Luke's just pointing us to just a very subtle piece of, of imagery around the 12 and the 12 tribes of Israel and this call to be, to be what God's called us as Israel to be. I, I think I'm pushing that probably too far, but I just think it's interesting. 

[00:17:50] John: No. I, I, I love that. I love that. And at the very, I think at the very least it's worthy of note, sometimes we say you wouldn't necessarily build your house on this, but, but neither should you take it off the table? I think it's definitely there. And again, although we have. We've reflected many times on Luke's trajectory towards the Gentile world. 

[00:18:11] What Luke is very, very good at and very careful with is not ignoring the Jewish world that ultimately the root of what we call Alaia today is finds itself in a, in a Jewish route that you know, and, and actually. The Lord didn't want that ignored. Paul doesn't want that ignored. Jesus. Didn't come to have two separate communities. 

[00:18:34] He came to build one man, one person out of this new salvation. And, and so it is fitting. It is right that on cha on, on Pentecost that the first audience to hear this magnificent first presentation, this first glorious spirit filled apologetic of Jesus is a Jewish audience. And, and that is, there is something if, if we think about the first fruits, this first harvest that isn't it fitting that this first harvest. 

[00:19:05] Of this new ECLA is a Jewish harvest. And, and rightly so, these are the people that have walked with the Lord and the people that have as Paul is given, carried the Oracles of God and given us the law. So, so there's something beautiful about that. And I think the imagery of standing, and of course there's a little, to, to form a Jewish synagogue. 

[00:19:27] Of course you needed 12 men to do that. There's, there's lots of little nuances within. , you've almost got this little quorum of, of, of community standing before a wider community in the context of Chau and saying, God wants you to be the first harvest. And, and remembering the idea is that behind Chau was, was not just this idea of the giving of the law, which we reflected on, but this idea of harvest this, this culmination of seven weeks of seven, bringing us to a, to a, a context of. 

[00:20:01] The harvest and, and here is the first harvest. Then the first harvest is a Jewish harvest and rightly so, and, and even Paul, when, when Paul and Barnabas begin their missionary journeys together, they tend to go first were possible to Jewish communities in order to allow them access. First, first bite at this glorious new way in Christ. 

[00:20:23] David: mm-hmm 

[00:20:24] John: And if that community accepts that they stay and work and if they don't, they, they move on and they incorporate wider, wider groups. So to me, it's, it's beautifully prophetic it's, it's beautifully appropriate. I, I think it's absolutely appropriate that the first audience to hear. This spec, is it Mrs. 

[00:20:43] Jewish? And it's done in a context of 12 people standing and presenting it to sudden beautifully, beautifully, beautifully, prophetic, and appropriate about that. 

[00:20:53] David: and that sort of shapes. How we should come to understand what Peter's doing in his sermon then as well. Isn't it. Now in our next episode, you and me will spend a little bit of time actually looking. The way Peter brings in some of the biblical texts, but as I sort of look at the sermon itself, to me, it seems like Peter's saying to them, okay, here's the story, but I want to show you how Jesus. 

[00:21:24] Is absolutely perfectly part of this story. Almost it's not, which I often think some of the, all the, all the best sermons do is they don't actually bring you brand new information. Right. This, this is my take anyway, job, the. Best sermons go, Hey, you always knew this. You just weren't looking at it properly. 

[00:21:44] I, I think that, and you get those moments that divine aha, where people go. Aha, of course. And, and I always, and I feel it's something even profound in that with a sermon that a sermon and, and this would be a very, a very Jewish way of thinking about things that, that it's, I'm not looking for. 

[00:22:00] Information, I'm looking for deeper understandings of the old information. I'm looking for deeper knowledge of what God has always been doing. And I think that's what Peter does in this sermon. He says, okay, let me just talk you through our story, as you say, and this is why I think it's so significant, he is speaking to a group of Jewish people as a Jewish man. 

[00:22:20] Let me tell you how I'm now understanding through the holy spirit, our story. I mean, do you think that's a fair assessment of, of a connect? What he's doing in the. 

[00:22:29] John: Completely. No, no, absolutely. And completely. And and I think even the way he structures the sermon, it's, it's so simple. It's so easy. He, he sort of explains what this is and makes sure that they understand this is not drunkenness and wildness and inappropriateness and any launches straight into now that may connect Jesus of Nazareth to the text that may help you. 

[00:22:55] Go back to the text that you know, and help you to see the Messiah you've been waiting for. He has come, he is here. He's been accredited by. And all of that has happened right before your very eyes. And then it's on the basis of that explanation. And if you're like exposition that he makes his appeal, he, he says, okay, now what are you gonna do about this? 

[00:23:16] How are you going to respond? So he, he is positioning Jesus to a Jewish audience. As, not just the savior of the world at this stage, but as the Messiah that they have always been waiting for, and he does that beautifully and magnificently by lying by line sort of unpacking those ideas. So, so I, I, I think we have, this sermon isn't necessarily a cookie cutter template for every. But it certainly does seem to help a bit of a programmatic con context for other sermons within the text and, and the book of acts. I think there's, there's around about 10 serious sermons, like stuff we would, we would identify as a sermon. Peter does three of them. I think you've got the Steven sermon, of course, which is a magnificent apologetic, but it's so magnificent. 

[00:24:07] It ultimately gets him killed. Which will, will undoubtedly get to at some point. And then of course, the rest of the sermons in the text the sort of remaining sex are, are Paul. Paul does a lot of that public preaching teaching and we are given a bit more insight. Into how he presents Jesus and and explains Jesus. 

[00:24:26] But, but all of them are doing exactly the same thing. They're explaining what is actually hidden in plain sight. This is right in front of you. Let me connect the dots for you. And all of them are doing that. 

[00:24:38] David: And that's what I meant earlier. It's a really good unpacking of what I meant earlier when I said that there. There's a principle going on in this sermon. I think all sermons should have, but not that I didn't mean that the format or the structure, but, but I feel like all of the sermons enact in different ways are I wanna be cautious of this language cuz it can get. 

[00:25:00] Misused, but the preacher essentially brings the, the piece of the puzzle that the preacher is suggesting to the listener. This is the piece that's gonna help you understand what this picture actually is. So whether it's Peter here saying, oh, but we've been talking about Joel too for a long time. And this is now that whether it's Steven saying. 

[00:25:23] Didn't you. We always knew that God didn't live in a temple built of, of human hands. He was always wanted to live with us and whether you've got Paul in Athens going well, here is the unknown God, there's always this sense of the preacher's role is to say, If you understand Jesus, this will make sense of everything else as well. 

[00:25:43] And, and I think that's a beautiful way to think about the world. Actually, that's actually a beautiful way to structure anyone's own systems of belief to say that I need to understand and no Jesus, because Jesus will become the key by which I know everything else. And, and I, I, I think that's, I think that's, what's going on in here, John. 

[00:26:06] John: Yeah. And, and the low, in, in our 21st century world, we are often speaking to different contexts. I don't think we should miss that powerful idea. So our sermons may sound a wee bit different than 21st century Calgary or in 21st century United Kingdom that, that from Peter sermon, but that idea that it is a Jesus centricity properly presented and explained that has it is the primary key to make sense of everything else. 

[00:26:38] Now, of course, I know that's a very strong Christian worldview, a strong. Biblical worldview, new Testament, worldview things, but of course that's who we are, you and I are followers of Jesus with a very strong biblical worldview of the world. And, and in my journey, life has come to make more sense. 

[00:26:57] Not because I've got clever at life per se, but because I keep coming back to this centrality of the person of Jesus in life. And so to a Jewish audience that has a dynamic direct messianic context that an acceptance of Jesus' Messiah suddenly is a game changer in high, every single piece of scripture, they understand changes. 

[00:27:26] But, but even for a gentle audience, the way we start to view our world can be dynamically shaped and changed because we introduce an understanding of the person of Jesus. Into the center of that. And I think this is one of the things I'm, I'm primarily concerned about. I, I I'm concerned that, that if we're not careful in pursuing, can I say this carefully? 

[00:27:50] And I know we, we don't wanna stray into this, but, but in pursuing a, sort of a, how to live a good life conversation, that if we're not careful, we end up giving tips on how they love a good life. Without really engaging the core idea, which is fundamentally to live a great life. There needs to be some sense of understanding of the person of Jesus. 

[00:28:13] And for me, that's a. That's at the very core of everything that I do and at the very bedrock of, of my world. And, and, and in our preaching, we mustn't forget that we must slip in to be experts in positive psychology. But we, we have to keep coming back to dynamic Jesus centric, biblical theology, and I think that's going to be. 

[00:28:34] The thing that cuts to the heart. That's the thing that opens the eyes. And that's the thing that challenges dynamically the core of a person. 

[00:28:42] David: and, and that is perhaps, even as we just land this episode we're doing, I think we're doing good pastoral work here, John, at the moment for, for our two text community. But I, I, I wanna say if you are not a preacher, don't think, oh, that's interesting what John and David are saying now for preachers, right? 

[00:29:00] This is important for you, the listener as well. That is this. When I'm coming away from a sermon, what am I taking away from it? What am I seeing in it? What am I looking for in it? And I hear. Just too many sermons that are just wonderful to listen to. But when I leave, I realize, oh, I've just gotten some good life advice or some life coaching or some the latest self-help idea, some pop psychology. 

[00:29:28] What I need from a sermon is to be shown how Jesus. Is radically transforming my life if I'll let him be at the center of it. Right. And, and, and that might simply be just speaking to Jesus identity. It might be speaking to what Jesus did. It, it might be speaking to, what Jesus said all these sorts of things, but that's gotta be the key issue otherwise. 

[00:29:49] We're basically falling out of what Peter's setting up for us as a challenge as, as a sermon here that, that it's about shaping us and calling us towards that. To me, that is what it is to be Christian is to say that at the center of my worldview is a confession that Jesus, as the resurrected Messiah, who was crucified to save us has changed. 

[00:30:12] Not just what happens to me when I die, but how I see. And behave in the world. And what I'd say, if you read acts chapter two, that is all on display in acts chapter two here, the holy spirit encounters, these disciples, Peter explains this worldview, gotta put Jesus at the center of it, but notice at the end of acts, chapter two, we we'll get there at some point in a few episodes, time, radical life difference in the way that these groups of Christians behave as a result of Jesus coming into the center of their life. 

[00:30:45] They don't just go away and all feel warm and cuddly, but there's actual practical differences in their lives now. 

[00:30:51] John: Yeah, superb. And, and I think as, as, as Peter sort of brings his sermon to a conclusion, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus. Whom you crucified both Lord and Messiah, and that's ultimately, that's the core claim. And that is the core call. And I suppose for me, that is, that is the core. 

[00:31:14] Cause you know, it's it's, he is Lord and Messiah. 

[00:31:19] David: so let's pause that there, then John, and come back in the, our next episode to look a little more deeply at the text, the texts that Peter uses to make that point 

[00:31:29] John: Yeah. Fantastic.