Passion

Pastor Phillips’ Sermon
Sunday, June 12, 2011

Passion. Passion is what we’re talking about today, the passion of the early Christians. And I think most of us have some sort of a passion, something we’re passionate about. In fact, if you were to stop by Pastor Burcham’s office, you’d look around and see all kinds of beautifully restored antique radios. Pastor Burcham has a passion for antique radios. And if you were to happen to make a comment about one of the radios or ask a question, you have taken the bait and you’re likely to hear about 20 minutes of information, some of which you wanted to know. He loves to restore antique radios. He’s very knowledgeable about them and he loves to share that information with anyone who’s interested in hearing it.

Recently, I read about some more passionate people. I read about the whole thing going on at Ohio State University with their coach and their players and all this stuff. One of the writers was talking about how passionate their coaches have been. In fact, the Buckeye icon, Woody Hayes, was extremely passionate as their football coach. In fact, in one game in 1978, the opposing team intercepted the pass and came running down the sideline and as they passed in front of him, he stepped out and popped the guy. You might remember that one. That is passion. Another time, a former Buckeye who was coaching the Indiana Hoosiers, you might know this guy, he was so upset with their officiating that he took a chair and he threw it across the court. That is passion.

Not the passion we’re after, mind you. We don’t advocate violence or throwing anything really, but that passion is amazing when it drives somebody to do things that are outlandish, when it just takes over them and just compels them to do things. That passion is amazing and that’s what the disciples had. Passion. Where did they get it? Where did that passion come from that made them leave their homes and follow after Jesus and go to foreign lands and all of that?

The story about that passion begins in Acts 1:4 and following, “On one occasion, while He was eating with them,” this is Jesus, “He gave them this command, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about, for John baptized with water but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.’” You see the power in Jesus’ words as He’s predicting the Holy Spirit being poured out on the disciples and what it will accomplish in them and empower them and equip them to do?

Of course, we know that was fulfilled at Pentecost and when people from all over the world had gathered on Pentecost and they’d come from all their countries and many of them did not speak the language of Jerusalem, probably Aramaic at the time, they spoke all the different dialects from wherever they were and they’d come back as Jews to observe the feast of Pentecost.

Then there was a sound like the rushing of a violent wind, so loud that everybody heard it and they all came to one place. It happened to be the place where Peter and all the other disciples were gathered for prayer. And as the people came together, the Holy Spirit appeared like tongues of fire on all of the disciples and they began to speak in languages they had never studied and the miracle of Pentecost was that each person gathered. It didn’t matter where they were from, all over the world. Each person heard the wonders of God declared in their own language. That’s the miracle of Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit. God poured it out on His church, poured it out on the disciples. He gave them that gift that the Father promised. They received power and, with it, passion. They received a passion that gave them courage to overcome their fears and their doubts and that’s what we read about today, the passage from Acts 4 when the believers were praying and asking God to help them.

This is what leads up to that story. Peter and John were on the way to the temple. They were going there to pray and as they approached, there was a person who had been crippled from birth and he was over 40 years old. He was sitting there as was his custom, asking for money. That’s a pretty good strategy when you think about it. Most people going to pray would probably be sort of compassionate people, right, like all of us, we come to church. They’re sitting there waiting for people to pass by and he saw Peter and John going by and he said, “Please help me. Give me money.” And Peter and John looked at him and said, “We don’t have money but we do have something that you need. What we do have, we will give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And the person who has been born a cripple, it was over 40 years, instantly was healed like that.

And all the people were looking at Peter and John, “How did you do that?” “What, what did you do? How’d you?” “This guy’s been a cripple his whole life. What did you do? How did you do that?” And people began to gather around. The crowds got bigger and bigger and as they gathered, Peter could tell, they thought he was God and they were about to worship him. And Peter said, “Why do you look at us like it’s by our own power or strength that this man is healed? It’s not. It’s in the name of Jesus that he now stands before you healed. It’s in the name of Jesus, Jesus who you put on trial, who you condemned, who you got the Romans to nail to the cross. Jesus, who you crucified but who is now risen from the dead. He’s the one who healed this man who stands before you.”

And as they gathered there, the crowd was bigger and bigger and bigger and people were really being touched. The Holy Spirit was speaking to all of them to trust in Jesus. And the people who run the temple, the Sadducees, were not pleased, this disturbance in their temple, so they arrested Peter and John and took them off and put them on trial before the Sanhedrin, before the very people who had put Jesus to death, the very people who falsely accused Him, the very people who had abused Him and tortured Him and had Him nailed to the cross, the same people now were putting Peter and John on trial.

But as they thought about the circumstances, they said, “They’ve done an outstanding miracle. We can’t deny it.” Which makes you wonder why didn’t they believe it. They saw it. “Everybody in Jerusalem has seen it and we can’t deny it. If we punish them, the people will rebel against us, so what should we do?” They decided to warn them strictly not to teach anymore in this name Jesus or whatever it is. “Don’t say it anymore. Don’t tell anymore people about Him.” And that’s when they were released. But before they were released, Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes? To listen to you or to Him? You be the judges.” That was the Holy Spirit speaking through them.

It’s always better for us to listen to God than any other voice we hear, any other authority, any other opinion. God is always more important. He’s the source of our truth, of all truth.

So they gathered together for prayer. On their release, they run to their people and they tell them all the threats that the chief priests and elders had said and their first response is to pray. So they begin their prayer and I just love this when I translated in the Greek. They start out in English and it says, “Sovereign Lord.” In Greek, it says, “Lord, Master or Owner.” I think that’s pretty significant. They’re talking to the owner of all of creation, the owner of the universe, the owner of them. They’re talking to the owner and they’re talking to Him about somebody He owns. That kind of puts it all in perspective.

They said, “Master, Lord, Owner, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the spirits through the mouth of your servant, our father, David,” and this is what David said, “Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain, the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against His anointed?” That’s what David experienced, but then they translated into their context. “Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hands to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Commentators say when God shook the place, that was His loud “Amen” to their prayer. “I’ll do it.” All he asked was, “Use us, God. Speak through us. Make us bold so we aren’t afraid of their threats. Help us to be bold and proclaim this wonderful message no matter what.” That’s where the passion comes from, from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost and now it’s poured out again on the believers as they pray. That’s where the passion comes from.

These disciples took what God gave them and shared it with the whole world. In fact, a little bit later on, Peter and John are back on trial again. What was their offense? Oh, same thing as last time. They’d been in prison and then miraculously released and they’re teaching in the temple courts again. And again, they’re hauled before the authorities and this is what they say in Acts 5:28, “‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said, ‘yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teachings and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.’” The threats didn’t matter, did they? The strict orders not to teach didn’t matter. The Holy Spirit was in them. The passion that God has for the lost was in them and they weren’t afraid of anything. And so they were speaking the Word of God boldly everywhere they could. As their enemy, their opponent said, “You have filled Jerusalem with your teachings.”

They spread the gospel throughout their world. Nations were changed. Peoples were changed. history was changed because of the passion they had for the gospel. So whatever happened to all those disciples? We know what happened to Judas. He was replaced by Mattathias but there were eleven more. What happened to them? Well, I studied that and I got the answers.

Andrew preached the message in modern day Georgia and Bulgaria. Bartholomew preached in India and gave them a copy of the Hebrew scriptures of the gospel of Matthew. James, son of Alphaeus, was killed preaching the gospel in Jerusalem. James, son of Zebedee, was beheaded preaching the gospel in Judea. John, his brother, also son of Zebedee, died of an old age after preaching the gospel his whole life. And finally toward the end of his life, he wrote the gospel of John, the letters of John and the book of Revelation. Matthew, the former tax collector, also known as Levi, wrote the gospel of Matthew in Hebrew and then died in what is now Iran. Peter, also known as Simon, preached the gospel throughout Asia Minor and helped found the church in Rome. The gospel of Mark is actually supposed to be the teaching of Peter recorded by Mark. Peter was crucified in Rome for his faith but when they were about to crucify him, he said, “I am not worthy to die in the same way that my Lord died. Crucify me upside down.” So they did. Philip preached the gospel in what is now eastern Turkey. He was crucified like Peter with his head down. Simon the Zealot, also known as Jude, became the second bishop of Jerusalem and lived to 120 years. Thaddaeus preached the gospel in what is now Iraq and died there. Thomas took the message all the way to India and was martyred there.

Eleven men filled with the Holy Spirit, given the passion for the gospel that Jesus Himself had that compelled Him to offer Himself as a sacrifice on the cross and so they did the same. They offered themselves. They didn’t worry about any threats or fears or what they might need along the way or who they might face as an enemy or what courts might try them or what punishment they might receive. They didn’t care because what they did care about was more important, the salvation of men’s souls through the gospel of Jesus.

Many of these disciples died cruel deaths for preaching the gospel and they could have avoided it because when they were arrested, they were interrogated and they were asked, “Do you believe in Jesus?” And if they said, “Yes,” they interrogated them further. “Do you believe in Jesus? We’re going to kill you if you say you do.” “Yes.” “Do you believe in Jesus?” And they did not stop confessing their faith in Jesus and they were killed for it. All they had to do was say, “No, no. That’s some other guy. I just kind of happened to be hanging around with those guys who believe in Jesus but I don’t.” That’s all they had to do to save their lives, but they were unwilling to do that because they knew it was true. Nobody’s willing to die for a lie but if it’s true and you believe it with all your heart, you learn to die for it.

Amazing thing, Jesus died on a cross to save the whole world, but the gospel was spread through His disciples, through people like you and me and He filled them with the Holy Spirit and gave that awesome passion that drove them to take the gospel everywhere and anywhere. They were willing to die for the truth.

Their passion for the gospel changed their world and after generation after generation, thousands of generations, the message of salvation is passed down to us. If we had that same passion, we can change the world around us. And that’s what this is all about today, passion, not just for something that happened a long time ago, passion for today, passion for the people around us.

Do you know the demographic study that we had done for our strategic plan showed there are 200,000 people in Polk County who don’t know Jesus? 200,000 in our own county, in our own neighborhoods, in our own schools, in our own places of work, in our own places of play. 200,000. Fifty percent of the people don’t know Jesus. I think we need that passion. I think we need the passion that the disciples had. And where did it come from? The Holy Spirit.

How do we get that? Well, of course, every believer has the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit in us, I’ve heard it described this way, Resident versus President. It’s in us, yes, but is it ruling us and guiding us and dominating us and compelling us and filling us up with the passion of God for the lost?

This is what it says in Luke 11, “So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers if your son asks for a fish will give him a snake instead or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” All we have to do is ask.

“I believe, Lord, but I want to have the passion of those early disciples. I want to be fearless. I want to speak boldly just like they did. I want to be used by you to bless this generation and future generations as I share what I already know to be true, that Jesus died for me and for everyone. He died on the cross to pay for our sins and, by trusting in Him, we are delivered over from death to life.”

200,000 people are destined for destruction. Your friends and neighbors, people you work with and spend time with, 50% of our county do not have any connection to any church of any kind. They don’t know Jesus. Their destiny is destruction, suffering and torment.

This is a picture that I like to use to illustrate that. Imagine you’re living at the time of the flood and you happen to be part of Noah’s family, so you’re on the ark. The rains have come, the waters are starting to rise and the ark lifts off the ground and outside you can hear some noises of people and you know they’re trying to survive and you know what God is saying. He’s going to destroy all living creatures and that’s what the ark is there for, to save those who trust and believe.

Waters continue to rise and the rains continue to come. It’s risen to the point where there’s only one mountaintop left up above the water and the ark kind of drifts near by that mountaintop and you look and you see just a mass of humanity, clinging to the top of this mountain, people clamoring over each other and trying to get one more gasp of air. The ark floats near enough that you can hear their voices as they cry out. You can see their faces and their expressions of horror and terror. What are you going to do? They’re about to die.

What are you passionate about? When I was a young boy, my dad told me about one time when he was the Sunday School superintendent of a growing congregation. This was back in the baby boomer days when everybody had a lot of kids and there were families everywhere and they wanted to grow their Sunday School, so they came up with a phrase, “Everyone bring one.” They had a Sunday School of over 500 kids in their growing congregation. Everyone bring one. There’s room, isn’t there, if we all did that? Plenty of room in our cars and in our church, plenty of space. And there’s definitely room in heaven for all of them.

What are you passionate about? I pray that it’s the lost, that you have a heart that Jesus has for them, that you want to reach out with what you know to be true and deliver them from their destiny of destruction. In Jesus’ name, Amen.