SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hello, my name is Isaac Speer, and the Old Testament reading is found in Isaiah forty-nine, five through seven. And now the Lord says, He who formed me in the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and to gather Israel to himself. For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has been my strength. He says, It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. This is what the Lord says the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, to him who has despised and abhorred by the nation to the servant of rulers. Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see you and bow down. Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you, the word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Hello, my name is Bonnie. The New Testament reading is found in Acts 13, 32 through 39. We tell you the good news, what God promised our ancestors, He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have become your father. God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, I will give you the holy and sure blessing promised to David. So it is also stated elsewhere, you will not let your holy ones see decay. Now, when David had served served God purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore, my friends, I want you to know through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. A justification you are not able to obtain under the law of Moses, the word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I and the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. The gospel of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Just as we pray this morning, I just want to maybe invite you to open your hands. I just want to establish some connection with Jesus before we get into the text. I just want those words remain, abide with Jesus to kind of be ringing in our ears as we go about this text. Just even as you take a breath, even as you just kind of get comfortable in this room, would you just maybe say that word under your breath? Remain. Remain. Jesus, we sin this and we know your presence here. Your presence is life. Your presence is comfort. Your presence is healing. So as we unpack your word today, would you bring all those things to us right now as we remain in you, leading to such a fruitful life in you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. And hey students, good to see you. Today is Youth Sunday. Sorry, I got to start my timer. Today is Youth Sunday. Good morning. You probably saw students as you were walking in greeting you. You've seen students on the stage. We actually have our youth worship team that's going to lead our communion worship set today. So you're going to be able to receive from them as well. So again, if just take a moment, get to introduce yourself, thank them for the ways they actually invest not only in you today, but also in our kids and each other, that they are they are doing so much good in our church and in their schools and in our city as well. But today we are in the book of Acts. We're going to get right into it. We're in Acts chapter 13. And last week we talked about how Paul and Barnabas were set apart after worship, prayer, fasting, communal discernment. They were set apart and commissioned to go lead and bring the message of the gospel to the Gentiles. And so they leave. These are two really strong leaders in Antioch that are being sent away to plant other churches. So this is a huge loss for the central church, but it's a gain for everyone else, right? And so we pick up the story in verse 13, and here's what it says. It says, From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga and Pamphlia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. From Perga they went down to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath, they entered the synagogue and they sat down. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation, a word of encouragement for the people, please speak. So what we have is Paul and his companions, Barnabas and John Mark. They sail from Paphos, they are on the water, they land at Perga, and then they end up facing a brutal, about a hundred-mile hike up 3,600 feet of elevation through the Taurus Mountains to arrive at Poseidian Antioch. Right? So this is not like just this little easy walk. This is like they are climbing. They are going places. And Pisidian Antioch was a Roman military colony in the mountains. And I've always heard like John Mark had to leave because he just the church in Jerusalem needed him. I wonder if he landed and saw the hike in the mountains and was like, no, you know what? I really should be going. They really need me back in Jerusalem. Um, I would like, is there a cog railway that goes up that thing? Like, no. I actually got to hike Pikes Peak with a couple of friends. Grant was one of them and a couple other friends here um at Communion of Saints. And we hiked up it earlier this summer and we took the train down. Um, but when I got back, my oldest son Hudson, he was like, I really want to go up Pikes Peak this year. I was like, Yeah, that sounds great. He goes, but Dad, yeah, buddy, can we take the train? I was like, Yeah, we should take the train. That'd be awesome. Um, but Paul and uh Barnabas, they go to the synagogue. Uh, there's multiple readings from the law and the prophets, and they ask Paul to encourage them, hey, would you give us a word? Uh, this is ends up being Paul's first major public address that's recorded in the New Testament. This is like his first sermon, which kind of made me curious. Um, how would you start if you were Paul? Like with your story, uh being commissioned in the way he was commissioned. We he's seen the hand of God kind of all throughout uh up until this moment. So, how would how would you begin this kind of address? Because Paul could start with himself. He could start with his story, what happened to him. He could talk about being literally knocked off his high horse, being blinded. He could tell his story, hearing the voice of Jesus saying, Saul, why do you persecute me? He could talk about being led to Damascus and his height, his sight being healed by a man named Ananias. He could talk about what had just happened in Cyprus with other people being blinded. Um, and then the proconsul coming to know the Lord. Pretty cool. He could tell about his fury and passion for destroying the followers of the way, only to become its biggest advocate now. Like he could start with his own story, uh, which actually made me curious about the way other people have started in history, their first major public address. Right? We have Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. He says these four these words, fourscore and seven years ago, as he attempts to anchor a divided nation. Or Winston Churchill, as he comes on the scene as prime minister, he says, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. Epic. Epic. Or you have Martin Luther King Jr. at Holt Street Baptist Church as at the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott. He says, We are here this evening for serious business. We are American citizens, and we are determined to apply our citizenship to the fullness of its means. That'll start a movement. Or we have Nelson Mandela standing before South Africa as the first black president. He says, Today all of us do, by our presence here, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty as he chooses unity over revenge after 27 years in prison. Or we have the fresh prince showing up to Bel Air for the first time. He says, now this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down. Some of y'all know it. You can see the whole thing, right? Epic. That's how you show up to Bel Air, right? Or we have the epic first word of these two boys, Hudson and Banks. Da-da. Hannah's debated. She's like, I think it was Mama, but no. So we're gonna see how Paul starts. He actually does not start with himself, he starts with the God who chose Israel. Paul says, God is the one who chose up, chose uh chose us. This is not a story about me, this is not a story about you, this is a story about God and what he is doing in the world. That God is the foundation, the initiator of everything. And so we're gonna see in verses in his retelling of the Old Testament, verses 16 through 33, I'm going to just summarize it on the screen. And I have just picked out certain words that I think are really important for us to see this theme. And here's what uh we see in these verses. Uh again, I've just taken them out of the Bible. I don't know if you're supposed to do that, but it's what I did because I think it's it's gonna be helpful. Uh, here's what it says God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people prosper, he led them out, he endured their conduct in the wilderness, he is the one who overthrew seven nations in Canaan. He gave their land to his peoples. God gave them judges, he gave them Saul, he removed Saul, he made David their king, he is the one that testified concerning David, that king, that God has brought Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised, he is the one who raised Jesus from the dead. What God has promised, he has fulfilled. This is a story about God, friends. And Paul is saying, I know you've heard this over and over and over, but I'm gonna tell you again because this is a story about God, and this is everyone's favorite story to tell. The story of God saving Israel. Um, a few weeks ago, um, my kids' favorite story to tell kind of happened. Um, a few weeks ago, we got back from vacation, and there was a giant wasp nest in our backyard. And it kind of led from the backyard into the back garage door, and we got back, and like there is a huge wasp nest, and like probably 15 to 20 wasps just swirling around. Um, and after procrastinating for a week and avoiding them and hoping nothing bad happens, I finally got scared enough and I was like, you know what? Okay, I don't want to get stung. So I got the giant can of raid. You know those giant cans? They give you way more than you need, but I'm grateful. Um so I was like, hey, Hudson and Banks, I think I need to like get rid of the wasps. And Hudson, my seven-year-old, is like, no, dad, no. And Banks, my almost four-year-old, is like, do it, dad. It's time. And so I like go out to the backyard, they want to watch it. So they're like, they're on the other side of the backyard, and I've like got the can ready, and I'm like pointing it at this nest. And I'm like, boys, if I say run, just run. Like, because something has gone really poorly if I say run. And so I like I get it and I start spraying, I like baptize this nest in Raid. And right, like they're just it kind of paralyzes them. But what happens is I'm like, oh my gosh, it's working, like this is great. But what happens is like one escapes and like it like darts after me. Like it's mad. Like, what is happening? And so I'm like running all over the backyard trying to spray this wasp, and finally it falls, and like the boys are on the side, like drinking, yeah, dad, you did it. Like, and uh right now, their favorite story to tell is of a few weeks ago. They'll just say randomly, hey dad, remember when you got those wasps? I'm like, oh yeah, I remember. And then they'll be like, Remember when the one came after you because it was really mad? Yeah, oh yeah, I remember. But like, this is their favorite story to tell. And Paul is saying to this group of people, this is our story. This is the story of God. Remember when God did all that stuff that he would promise to do? And he promised to fulfill all of more of what he said he would do through an internal king. Hey, it's happening through Jesus. It has happened through Jesus. And he lists Old Testament scriptures to show how this has promise has been fulfilled through Jesus. We saw this in the in the New Testament reading. He says this in the second son, you are my son. Today I have become your father. Like this is the promise of a royal Davidic king who would one day rule the nations with truth and justice, and every kingdom of the world would bow down to this one king. That this is that king, is what Paul is saying. And that he would bring new availability to the rule and reign of God through himself, through his very presence. And then he says in verse 35, he says, it's also stated elsewhere, you will not let your holy one see decay. And when David has served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed, but the one whom God raised from the dead did not and will not see decay. That the reality of sin didn't just make us guilty, but it actually introduced some biological and cosmic decay and corruption and evil into the world. We all know this to be true, whether it's in our own lives, in the world, in our relationships, we all see this. And this king would bring the removal, the healing, and the reversal of death and decay. That Christ defeated death. But then he says, therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. That through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. That he became sin to set us free from the power of sin, so that we can be healed and free from everything that holds us back from the good and beautiful life that Jesus had for us, that we see that there's not only forgiveness of sin, but actually true freedom from sin as well. That we can live a life of freedom. He became sin so we could become righteous, clean, and whole. And sometimes we make salvation about one of these things when in reality it's all of these things. But sometimes when we kind of talk about what salvation is, what it's not, what's the more important thing to talk about? Sometimes we miss what salvation is, uh, or we we think about more about what salvation is rather than the God who is the one that does it. Like He is the one that makes all of this happen. He is the one that has gone first, He is the initiator of everything. That salvation always starts with God's initiative, but it also elicits a response from you and I. And so the rest of this text, we're gonna talk about how we participate with the reality of God's salvific and choosing us in this life. So, the main idea for us today as we walk away is that salvation has always been about God's initiation and our participation. That we have a role to play. So, what does it mean for us to participate in God's saving work in our lives and in our world? The first way we participate is through this, by aligning our lives with God's eternal purpose. The beauty of salvation is that God brings us into a new kind of life, that we are born again, that we are regenerated, as theologians say, and that into a kind of life and purpose that lives beyond what we can imagine. We're brought into the eternal kind of life now. In verse 36, he says, Now when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. As far as we know, David's still napping somewhere. He was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed, but the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. I just think about that phrase, David got served God's purpose in his own generation. Like what a beautiful vision of life that is. That participates with God's saving purposes in the world. Even as David gets old, even as his body decays, as his mind slips, he is aligning himself with an eternal purpose. And we get to do the same as well in our world. That's actually how we participate with salvation, with what God is doing. So every time we serve, love, or welcome another person, every time we bless somebody, every time we pray for someone, every time we do the work that God has gifted us and given us to do, every time we show up for our families, every time we choose generosity over self or over self and selfishness, we are aligning ourselves with God's eternal purpose. And actually, one of the best ways to align yourself with God's eternal purpose is actually to invest in the next generation. To actually invest in a group of people that will actually outlive you and outlast you. That God's eternal purpose is that people would come to know Him. And that we have a role to play in that. So this is my annual plug. If you want to get involved in kids' ministry, youth ministry, it is well worth the investment. It's well worth the investment. But there's other ways to do this as well. As you take your kids, your grandkids to breakfast, or when you write your kids a letter of encouragement, as you pray for our teenagers, as you pray for our schools as you drive by them, you are actually sowing uh seeds into the next generation that will be preserved and held into new creation. Uh one of the best ways I saw this happen was at Soul in the City this past year. We had 41 kids, students uh serving and investing in our city as they served, they played, they delighted in our city. Uh, one of the coolest things is that um we know that kid students have to eat, right? Um, but we actually had two meal groups from Communion of Saints, the Wilbur Meal Group and then the Halsted Meal Group, who actually served and prepped and provided dinner for all these students uh both nights of this of this camp that we did. Um, and it was a huge, huge blessing to us to see them show up and to serve and to make food. Like it was a huge blessing to us to show up and support our young people. Like there's so many ways you can invest in the next generation, right? Through how you give, through how you support, pray, encourage, volunteer, disciple, mentor, teach, feed, and show up for young people. And again, the beauty is because we do this in the name of the resurrected Christ, it is held into new creation. So we get to align our lives with an eternal purpose. Uh, but what we find is as we do this, we're actually sustained by a new power at work in our lives. As we are saved, as we are saved by grace, that actually grace is the foundational operation now in our lives. It's the new power at work in our lives. So the second way we participate is by cooperating with grace. It says in verse 42, as Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. To continue in the grace of God. One of the ways we participate with what God initiates is by continuing in his grace. And if I could just do a brief theology of grace, a brief theology of grace. Is this that I would just define grace simply as God's activity or God's action in our lives. Because a lot of times we can actually reduce grace, we can cheapen grace to forgiveness of sins or just divine pardon from past sins. Right? And these are true. Those things are true. But grace is so much more than this. It's now a home that we can make ourselves in. So when Paul says continue in the grace of God, he's not saying, hey, just keep on believing that your sins are forgiven. He's not saying, hey, keep thinking about how God approves of you now. He's saying there's actually a new power. He's saying pay attention to God's activity in your lives and respond and interact with it. Which gives a different answer to the question: who uses up more grace? Sinners or saints. Right? We think that sinners, the more people sin, the more grace they need. That the bad sinners need more and more grace. But actually, for saints, grace is everything. Grace is our next breath. Grace is everything in our lives. Grace is the power and strength to give us what we know we can't do. Dallas Willard says it like this. He says, The true saint burns grace like a 747 jet burns fuel on takeoff. Saints use up a lot of grace. And he uses this word to continue in grace, which is the word in Greek pros minnow. And it has the root word minnow, which is actually the same word Jesus uses 11 times in John 15. For that word remain, abide, reside, make your home in. He's saying, remain in this grace. Make your home in this grace. How we think about and respond to grace matters because there's a few traps that we can actually fall into if we're unclear about what grace is and how we respond to it. And to kind of illustrate it, again, I stand on the shoulders of others here. This is something I'm I have stolen from one of my seminary professors, but I paid for it through an education. So I feel like I get to use it as well. So this is the grace quadrant, as you can see here on the screen. And my students are in shock right now because I try to use as many triangles as I can use. So the fact that there's a quadrant on the screen right now, they're like, who is this guy? I'm always using a triangle to illustrate things. Uh, but I also learned a lot about quadrants, right? Uh the x-axis is the horizontal line and the y-axis is the vertical line, right? Please. Yes, that's right. Okay, good. Okay, just making sure. But you can see on the horizontal line, we have this kind of sliding scale of the amount of effort we put into our spiritual life. And on the vertical line, we have this sliding scale of um our attitude of earning versus recognizing that grace is a gift. Uh, Dallas Willard would also say that um grace is never opposed to effort, but opposed to earning, because effort is an action and earning is an attitude. And so we kind of see some of these traps here. Uh, the first one is the bottom left. We have this equation of no effort plus an attitude of earning, which will always lead to hiding futility and shame. It's the narrative that I believe I have to earn God's favor, but I know I'm never gonna live up to it, so I just give up and hide. I know I've messed up, I know I'm broken, but I believe nothing can be done about it, so I hide. This is Adam and Eve hiding in the garden. We also have the bottom right, which is the equation of lots of effort, plus an attitude of earning, which will lead to self-righteousness. It believes my God's love for me is dependent on my good behavior, on what I do. That the more I do, God will love me. So there is high amounts of activity, a lot of busyness, but very little peace. I would say when our in our life with Christ, very little joy either. And then what happens is as we live in this bottom right corner, as we see others who are not doing as much as us, we actually begin to judge other people, saying, Look what all I'm doing. Why aren't they doing anything? And then we have the top left, top left, which this one's kind of sneaky, I will say that. Which is the belief that God is the one who does everything. So understands like grace that it is it is from God, life is about grace, but it says, I actually don't need to do anything. Right? This is expecting the fruit of abiding while not doing our part to stay connected to the vine.

unknown 26:32

Right?

SPEAKER_00 26:32

This view understands again that we cannot do what only God can do. We cannot do what only God can do, but its flawed understanding of responding to grace misses the point that God will not do what we should do. That he actually invites participation with us. And then we have the top right here. Um, this is life on the vine. This is, it believes there must be intentional effort to align our lives with God and to abide in his grace. That all of life is grace and all of our life is just a responding to it. That God goes before us, he paves the way, but we actually get to walk in it. So when Paul refers to this word to make your home in grace, we all know that making your home somewhere takes effort, right? You don't just show up and then your home when you move into a new house, it takes a lot of time and effort. Like there's actually stuff that we have to do. And so, how do we make our home in grace? How do we continue in the grace of God? This is historically why the means of grace or the spiritual practices are so foundational to our lives. So as we pray, as we meditate on the scriptures, as we meditate on God's creation, as we are involved in public worship, as we meet together over meals and homes and meal groups, as we receive instructions, serve the poor, help those who can't help themselves, as we give, as we're hospitable, as we work towards justice, as we come to the Lord's table, these are ways we align our lives and our hearts to the reality of God's grace. These are ways that we respond. It's why we do a lot of this stuff either every day, every week, or every year. This is for us at Communion of Saints, these are not just like things that we're encouraging you to do to fill up an already busy schedule. Like these are actually ways that we follow Jesus together as a communion of saints as we respond to the reality and goodness of God's grace. That we actually need to meet together. We need to pray together, we need to eat together. Amen? These are ways we live in the top right quadrant, as we live life on the vine. So we continue in God's grace. But the final way we are participating is by trusting God as the one who judges our worth. Trusting God as the one who judges our worth. As Micah and the youth band can come up, we see this in verse 46. It says, Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. They're getting some pushback from the religious leaders about going to the Gentiles. And Paul says this, we came to speak the word of God to you first. Actually, we're coming to you first in the temple. This is actually what Jesus came to do as well, to come to the scattered sheep of Israel before he took it to the Gentiles. He says, But since you reject it and you do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. That God has been faithful in revealing his plan, his promise in the person of Jesus to Israel first, and many of them are actively rejecting it. They have limited God's scope of salvation. They like salvation for them, but not for everyone else. What they've done is they've limited God's heart and character when Jesus actually came to reveal how big God's heart is, and how there's many rooms where he's going to heaven. And so as I kept reading that reading this text this week, this phrase would not leave me alone. You ever read the Bible and like there's a phrase or a word, it just keeps bothering you? As you think about it in the car, you're like, why does it keep sticking with me? Like, what's happening here? This this phrase, you do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, was that for me? Uh it's like Paul is saying, it's not just a misunderstanding of who God is or his purpose is, but it's actually a misunderstanding of how you view yourself. It's how you see yourself. And I would just wonder for us in the room, if there's some of us in this room who actually don't see ourselves as worthy or deserving of God's goodness and grace. And this word that Paul uses considers actually the word judge, which means we're trying to take the place of God. We're trying to take the place of God. And some of us are here today. You've been searching the scriptures, you have been asking questions, you have kept on coming, but there's like still something that keeps you from taking the next step. There's something that keeps you from true freedom in Christ. There's something that keeps you from fully opening the door to the God who stands at the door and knocks, who has gone first. I just want to invite you today to just consider is there something deeper going on? Like, is it actually a question of worth or what's deserved? Because the beauty of grace, as well, is that it can't be earned. We don't deserve it. That's why it's grace. But God gives it freely and abundantly. Because I just want you to know that God made it very clear what He thinks about you about 2,000 years ago on a hill as He died on the cross, that as an instrument of death and torture now became a measuring device. That God looks at you, He says, You can come in. You can be a part of this, you can respond to the reality of grace. So as we close today, I'm gonna just throw this, I want to throw the quadrant back on the screen. I'm sorry I'm throwing you for a loop reduction team. I just want you to consider as we come to the table, maybe where do you find yourself today? If you kind of could could chart or map where you find yourself on this spiritual journey, where would you put yourself? Where would you place yourself? And I just want to invite you to consider, too, what is one next step towards life on the vine? What is one next step towards continuing in the grace of God, towards responding to the God who has gone first? And so I'm gonna pray for us, and then our youth team is actually going to uh lead us in worship as we come to the table. And so so grateful for them and all God is doing with our youth as well. So let's pray, God, thank you for your grace, for your goodness. You are the God who saves, you are the God who goes first. You are the God who gives freely and abundantly, you are the God of life, healing, and salvation. And so, God, today we respond to that. We come to you, all of us who are weary and burdened, because you promise to give us rest. You promise to give us the kind of life that will lead us to true freedom. And so, Jesus, for those people here today who are just in that bottom left corner, they find themselves hiding or full of shame or not considering themselves worthy. God, I pray you would speak a word to them right now. You would encourage them right now, remind them of who they are. Remind them of what you've done for them. God, thank you. Amen.