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Hi, my name is Elise. I live in North Oakland and I'm part of the Little Faith Group with a few of the women here.
Today's reading is from the Book of Acts, chapter 13, verses 13 to 48.
From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.
From Perga, they went on to Pisidian, Antioch.
On the Sabbath, they entered the synagogue and 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 for the people, please speak.
Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said,
Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me.
The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors.
He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt.
With mighty power, he led them out of that country.
For about 40 years, he endured their conduct in the wilderness.
And he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.
All this took about 450 years.
After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel, the prophet.
Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled 40 years.
After removing Saul, he made David their king.
God testified concerning him,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.
He will do everything I want him to do.
From this man's descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.
Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.
As John was completing his work, he said,
Who do you suppose I am?
I am not the one you are looking for,
but there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
Fellow children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles,
it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.
The people of Jerusalem and the rulers did not recognize Jesus,
yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.
Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence,
they asked Pilate to have him executed.
When they had carried out all that was written about him,
they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
They are now his witnesses to our people.
We tell you the good news,
what God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us,
their children, by raising up Jesus.
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus,
the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin.
As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue,
the people invited them to speak further on these things.
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.
On the next Sabbath,
almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and honored the word of the Lord,
and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Good morning, Christ Church.
It is good to see your smiling faces.
It's been way too long.
I like your eyes, but I really like your smiles as well.
So it's really good to see you all this morning.
And wasn't last Sunday amazing?
And I'm not just talking about Andrew's ordination service.
I'm talking about the nacho bar after the ordination service.
Wasn't that amazing?
There was an army of people with crockpots,
melted cheese and meat,
and it was just a beautiful thing.
And it's created quite a buzz, I think, at Christ Church.
People are asking about starting a new nacho ministry,
making First Sunday's Nacho Sunday,
and sort of rebuilding Christ Church one nacho at a time.
So I'm sorry to say there are no nachos today,
but we will have a coffee hour in the side yard.
We hope you'll come.
We hope you'll meet maybe one person you don't know today.
But we are continuing today in the Acts of the Apostles,
this great book in the New Testament
that could also be called the Acts of Jesus
by the Holy Spirit in and through his church.
And we've been tracing the movement of the gospel
from Jerusalem and Israel to Antioch and Syria.
And we've seen as the gospel's been moving,
it's gone out to the Samaritans,
and then it went to this Ethiopian eunuch,
and he was converted,
and he took the gospel to the ends of the earth,
to the continent of Africa.
We saw the conversion of Cornelius and his household
and how he took the gospel into the Greco-Roman world.
And now here we are in Acts chapter 13,
and it's the Apostle Paul's first missionary journey.
And we're told in verse 13 that from Paphos,
Paul and his companions, they sailed.
And they sailed to Perga and Pamphylia,
and then from Perga, they went to Pisidian Antioch.
Now, this is about 45 AD,
15 years after the resurrection of Jesus.
And Paul has gone sailing overseas from Syria
to the island of Cyprus,
and now he's in central Turkey.
If you can imagine the map in your mind.
And he's in central Turkey,
which is basically his home territory,
about 200 miles west of Tarsus,
where he grew up.
And it's a place right where these two regions,
called Asia and Galatia, come together.
And we're told in verse 14
that on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue
and sat down.
This is the practice of Jesus,
we're told in the Gospel of Luke,
that on the Sabbath,
Jesus went to the synagogue as was his custom.
Week by week by week,
the people of God have always gathered together
to worship God.
And that was their predictable pattern.
So one of the elders of the synagogue
presumably met with Paul ahead of time,
asked him to come and be a guest preacher.
And so we read in verse 15,
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
for the people, please speak.
Two major divisions in Israel's Bible,
those were read,
and then came this word of exhortation,
which is what preaching and teaching is.
It's the opening up and the expounding
of this inspired text,
faithfully and sensitively,
so that the voice of God can be heard,
and so that the people of God
can obey his voice.
And that's what Paul does.
He steps up to the microphone,
and we're told in verse 16
that standing up,
he motioned,
he apparently used his hands a lot too,
he motioned with his hands
and said,
people of Israel and you Gentiles
who worship God,
listen to me.
And what comes is this amazing,
marvelous summary
of the Apostle Paul's incredible message
here in this little sermon,
and what he says to those people
I want to say to you today,
and that is that God's king rules us
with forgiving grace.
That's Paul's message,
that God's king rules us
with forgiving grace.
And I want to talk a little bit
about how God's king rules,
because that's where Paul starts out.
In verse 17,
the God of the people of Israel
chose our ancestors,
and right away we hear
that the Apostle's teaching
is biblical teaching,
because he goes to Genesis chapter 12,
God's covenant with Abraham,
because Paul thinks like a Jew,
he writes like a Jew,
he argues like a Jew,
and he knows Israel's scriptures
extremely well,
backwards and forwards,
he's masterfully skilled
at unfolding the story of the Bible
from Moses to the prophets.
He quotes all kind of books of scriptures
from Genesis to Habakkuk in this sermon,
and he works his way
from the covenant with Abraham
to the covenant with Moses
to the covenant with David,
working through the history
these people knew,
the hopes that they cherished,
but Paul gives them a golden key
that unlocks its meaning.
And he starts out again,
verse 17,
the God of the people of Israel
chose our ancestors.
That's Genesis 15,
chapter 12,
verse to chapter 50,
where God elects Israel
from among the nations.
And then he says that
God made the people prosper
during their stay in Egypt
with mighty power.
He led them out of that country.
That's Exodus 1 to 15,
where God delivers Israel from slavery.
And then he says in verse 18,
for about 40 years,
he endured their conduct
in the wilderness.
That's Exodus,
Leviticus,
Numbers,
and Deuteronomy,
where God cares for his people
despite the fact
that they're a pain in the you-know-what.
And then in verse 19,
it says he overthrew
seven nations in Canaan,
giving their land to his people
as their inheritance.
That's the book of Joshua,
where God provides Israel
with a home in the promised land.
And then in verses 20 to 22,
Paul expounds the book of Judges
and Ruth and Samuel.
And he basically says,
look, the Bible is this immense,
sprawling, capacious,
millennia-long story.
You can easily get lost,
but if there's one key word
that sums up the whole theme,
it's this.
It's kingdom.
The kingdom.
And we're told in verse 21
that the people ask God for a king.
And then in verse 22,
that God made David their king.
God's people are meant to be ruled
by God's king.
And we're told in verse 22
that that king is to be a man
after God's own heart.
A person who will do everything
that God wants him to do.
This king is to rule Israel
and through Israel
to rule the nations
with justice and truth.
And that's the problem
with the entire Bible, right?
Because David,
King David and David's sons
failed miserably,
failed fantastically,
failed tragically
to be the kings
that they were supposed to be.
And everything ends up
in exile
with the people of God
longing for the true king
to come.
And this is where
Paul gives these people
the golden key
that unlocks the problem
of the entire Bible.
In verse 20,
he says,
from this man's descendants,
God brought to Israel
the Savior Jesus
as he promised.
Jesus is the Savior King.
He's the Messianic King
that God had promised
would rule universally
and reign eternally.
And Paul goes on
in verses 26 to 29
to say that the message
of salvation
is that through
Jesus' death on the cross,
he established
once and for all
the kingdom of God
on the earth.
And Paul's argument
is this.
Remember how
God liberated us
from slavery?
Remember how he conquered
in the promised land?
Remember how he provided
a leader in King David?
Well, God is still
liberating us,
but he's liberating us
from sin.
He's still conquering,
but now he's conquered
over death.
He's still providing
a leader,
but believe it or not,
that leader
is a crucified king.
And then Paul comes
to the climax
of his sermon
in verse 30,
and he says,
but God raised him
from the dead,
and for many days
he was seen
by those who had
traveled with him
from Galilee
to Jerusalem.
They are now
his witnesses
to our people.
We tell you
the good news,
what God promised
our ancestors,
he has fulfilled
for us
their children
by raising up
Jesus.
Paul says,
we live in a sad
and broken world.
We live in a messy,
muddled world,
but God
has launched
his new creation
in the midst
of this world.
God has launched
the new world order,
and that new world order
is ruled by one
who was dead
and buried,
and yet he did not
see corruption
or decay.
God's new creation
is ruled
by this king
who's throbbing
with life
and energy.
He is full of power,
he's full of wisdom,
he's full of truth
and justice,
and he's the one
that we've all
been waiting for
who can put
the world right,
who can bring heaven
down to the earth,
and he says,
my friends,
brothers and sisters,
I invite you,
do not miss out
on what God
is doing
here and now
through his king,
Jesus.
And what I want
to say to us today
is that the truth
of this risen king
I think is far
more comforting
than many of us
perhaps realize.
Maybe you've seen
the movie
The Darkest Hour,
it came out
in 2017,
it's an account
of Winston Churchill,
arguably one
of the most
important public
figures of the
20th century.
And Churchill
is facing
extreme challenges
in his new role
in early days
as the prime minister
of Great Britain.
He's not only
trying to manage
the terrifying
and expanding
presence of
Adolf Hitler
in Europe,
but he's also
facing mounting
pressure from
his political rivals
to enter into
peace talks
with the Nazis.
And so basically
the future of
Western civilization
is hanging in the
balance and his
own relationship
with the king
is tepid at best.
His foreign secretary
says,
you only have to
meet with the king
once a week
and Churchill says,
well that's like
saying you only have
to have your tooth
pulled once a week.
And later on
we find in this
pivotal scene
late in the film,
Churchill is sitting
on his bed
in the dark
staring into space,
he's clearly
at a very low ebb,
just troubled
and with the full
weight of the world
on his shoulders
he's completely
unclear how
he's to proceed.
He looks disheveled,
his suit's rumpled,
he's a complete mess.
Maybe you relate
to that.
Then he has
this surprise visitor
come into his home.
King George VI
enters the room,
he's the most proper
man in all of Europe,
the height of manners
and decorum
wearing this
impeccable suit
and the king comes
and he says,
Mr. Churchill,
I hope you can
forgive the late hour
but your wife thought
tonight might be
a good time,
should we sit?
It appears the prospect
of a peace deal
with Hitler
has increased dramatically
and Churchill says,
well later today
I will address the house,
I should like to know
your mind
because nations
which go down fighting
rise again
but those
which surrender
tamely
are finished.
the king says,
well what about
the mood
of the parliament?
Churchill says,
it's fear
and panic.
The king says,
well are you not afraid?
Are you afraid at all?
And Churchill says,
I am most terribly
afraid.
Our defeat
in France
is the most crushing
in the history
of the empire.
Support among
my party
for a campaign
of resistance
has collapsed.
and at this point
the king moves
to sit next
to his prime minister
and the king says
to him,
you have
my support.
And Churchill
can't believe
he's there
as he says,
your majesty.
And the king says,
you have
my support.
We shall work
together,
you shall have
my support
at any
hour.
And Churchill
says,
well I fear
I may be defeated.
On certain matters
I have few people
with whom I can speak
frankly.
And the king says,
well perhaps now
we have each other.
And they remain
sitting there
side by side
friends
for the rest
of their lives.
Today you might
be navigating
the labyrinth
of adolescence.
You might be
navigating
the difficult
dysfunctions
of your family
as we have
these wonderful
family gatherings
this summer.
You might be
navigating
your messy
workplace
or the
complexities
of being
part of
an imperfect
church
or the
complications
of your
neighborhood
and your
city.
But my
friends,
when you
know
that the
king
is seeking
you
and that
the king
is with
you
and he's
for you,
that your
king is
on your
team
and he's
by your
side,
that you
have the
support
and the
friendship
of your
king
at any
hour.
You can
face
anything.
You can
face
your
darkest
hour.
In Christ
church,
we don't
just have
any old
king.
We have
God's
promised
anointed
king,
the king
of the
ages,
who went
through
death
and then
came out
the other
side,
the king
of the
ages
who filled
his tomb
with life,
the king
who walked
out of his
grave and
launched the
new creation
of God
and says
to everyone
and everything,
come alive
with me.
Christ
church,
the kingdom
of God
is here
and the
king is
risen and
he's with
you and
he's for
you and
I wonder
if that
gives you
any comfort
in the
midst of
what is
going on
in our
lives.
And I
want to
say also
that the
truth of
this risen
king is
not only far
more comforting
than we
realize,
but the
truth of
this risen
king is
more dangerous
than I
think most
of us
realize.
One pastor
is sort
of commenting
on this
and he
said,
you know,
everywhere
the apostle
Paul went
a riot
broke out
but everywhere
I show up
they just
serve tea.
And the
reason,
you know,
Paul's
scandalous
message about
God's king
who's risen
started riots
is because
he went to
these places
where Caesar
was believed
to be lord
and Paul
said,
no,
you know,
Jesus,
the king,
the risen
king,
he's the
lord of
all.
And therefore,
we need to
recover this
dangerous
message that
Jesus,
the king of
this world,
calls all
people to
believing
allegiance in
him,
calls all
of us to
live under
his kingship
in obedience
to him,
calls all
of us to
share this
amazing message
of his
kingship to
the whole
creation.
This is the
point of
Paul's
sermon,
that God's
king rules.
And God's
king not
only rules,
but he rules
us.
And he rules
us with
forgiving grace.
God's king
rules us with
forgiving grace.
Paul comes to
the climax of
his sermon,
and like all
good preaching,
he issues an
invitation and a
challenge.
He says in
verse 39,
therefore,
in light of
this risen and
living king,
therefore,
my brothers and
sisters,
I want you to
know that
through Jesus,
the forgiveness
of sins is
proclaimed to
you.
And through
him,
everyone who
believes is
set free from
every sin,
a justification
you were not
able to obtain
under the law
of Moses.
Whatever those
words mean,
they mean that
our king,
Jesus,
he's not a
coercive or
oppressive or
dehumanizing king.
In fact,
it says in
verse 43 that
when the
congregation was
dismissed,
many of the
Jews and
devout converts
to Judaism
followed Paul
and Barnabas
who talked
with them and
they urged them
to continue in
the grace of
God.
Our king is a
gracious king.
Our king is a
merciful king and
he rules us with
grace.
to make us
into a forgiven
and a free
people.
You've got to
remember that
Paul is preaching
this sermon in
Galatia and in a
few short months
he's going to
write this letter
to the Galatians
where he'll
explain these
simple yet
profound and
deep words like
sin,
forgiveness,
grace,
faith and
belief,
justification and
freedom.
I don't have time
to do all that
today but I do
want to give you
a story with
some pictures in
your mind.
Without God's
grace and the
grace of God's
king, we are
like the
ever given.
Did you follow
the story of the
ship, the
ever given?
This was back in
March, about six
days in March.
This giant
container ship
got stuck in the
Suez Canal in
Egypt.
The ship is a
quarter mile long.
It's the size of the
Empire State
building about
four football
fields.
This Leviathan
weighs over
200,000 tons.
So if a ship
this large gets
stuck, it's like
really, really
stuck.
And this became
one of the most
consequential shipping
accidents in
maritime history.
The Suez Canal
is a 150-year-old
trench that goes
through Egypt and
it's this critical
shortcut between
east and west.
It's one of the
world's most important
waterways that
connects Europe
and Asia and
through there
about 15% of
the global
container shipping
capacity moves.
And part of the
problem that day
was that the
weather, there
was this wind
storm, this
sand storm that
turned the ship
sideways and
caused it to
start moving to
the left and to
the right down
this waterway.
And then human
error got involved
and the crew
tried to regain
control of the
ship by putting
on speed, which
of course only
made matters worse.
And so the
ship, this giant
ship just slammed
into the bank and
ran aground.
The bow and the
rudder were stuck
in the sand and
the mud and the
rock.
And when the
Apostle Paul talks
about this word
sin, he's talking
about the human
condition of being
stuck, of being
run aground.
He's talking about
how we're fixed and
we're lodged as
people, whether we
like it or not, in
our own self-centeredness
and self-interest.
And our sin,
therefore, creates a
chain reaction that
ripples and compounds
basically in every
direction.
The ever-given
clogged one of the
most crucial arteries
of trade in the
whole world.
It blocked shipping
traffic in both
directions.
There were 400 ships
that had to wait in
line outside the
canal.
This colossal traffic
jam significantly
disrupted the global
supply chain and
created basically a
full-blown crisis.
This stalled ship,
this one stalled ship
was holding up $10
billion worth of
cargo a day.
Things like cars,
oil, livestock,
laptops, jet fuel,
scrap metal, grains,
sweaters, sneakers,
electronics, appliances,
toys, medical equipment,
toilet paper.
Any brand you can
imagine, it was on one
of these ships.
And so if you're having
trouble finding what you
need at IKEA, it's
probably, this is the
reason.
Three months later, in
fact, the crew and the
ship of the ever-given,
with all of its 18,000
containers, $750 million
worth of goods is still
stuck in Egypt.
And isn't that a picture
of our lives?
We get wedged in sin.
And because we're wedged
in ourselves, turned in
on ourselves, everything
else in our relationships
gets clogged and stalled
and jammed and blocked.
And all of our loves
become disordered.
All of our loves become
jacked up, right?
We don't love God with all
of our heart.
We don't love one another
as we love ourselves.
And so the great question
of the human dilemma is
how do we get dislodged?
How do we come to be
salvaged?
How did it happen for the
ever-given?
Well, they brought in eight
of the world's most
respected experts, and
they deployed diggers and
front-end loaders and
specialized dredgers and
tugboats, and they were
working on this thing for
six days and six nights,
and none of their efforts
were enough to fix the
problem.
Anybody feel like that?
I got $10 billion problems
a day, and nothing I do
is making it any better.
In fact, it might even be
making it worse.
Well, by God's grace, on
the seventh day, the tides
turned.
This ship that was stuck
just north of the Red Sea,
where Israel got unstuck from
her bondage and went into
freedom, after six days, the
ever-given had a little mini
exodus of her own.
Because of this fortuitous
full moon, when it was
closest to the earth, and
because the sun and the
moon and the earth were
aligned in such a way, it
conjured up this unusually
high spring tide where the
waters began to rise.
And as a result, the ship got
unstuck from its bondage, and
it began to float, and it was
free to move again.
And when that happened, there
were horns, and there were
sirens, and there were
cheers, and all the world
that was watching this drama
rejoiced.
Because these puny machines
and human effort were not
enough to get this mammoth
boat out of the mud and the
muck.
The ever-given needed heavenly
bodies to move, heavenly
bodies to align.
The ever-given needed a cosmic
event that could salvage her
and set her free.
And this, my friends, is what
the Apostle Paul means when he
talks about the forgiveness
of sins.
Listen to it again.
He says, therefore, my
brothers and sisters, I want
you to know that through
Jesus, the forgiveness of
sins is proclaimed to you, and
through him, everyone who
believes is set free from
every sin.
Paul says that that heavenly
body, that heavenly person who
came close to us, who aligned
himself with us to salvage the
human race, is God's King
Jesus, whose very name means
that he will save people from
their sins.
And this is what he talked
about all the time.
The Son of Man has authority on
earth to forgive sins.
I've come to call sinners to
repentance.
I've come to seek and to save
those who are lost and stuck in
their sin.
And Paul says the cosmic event
that dislodged us and that
salvaged our lives stuck in sin
is the King's cross.
Because forgiveness is a moral
impossibility for God without the
King's cross.
How can the moral ruler of the
universe forgive sinners without
compromising his absolute
justice?
And yet how can he judge sinners
without frustrating his love?
It's because of the cross of God's
King that the tides turn for us.
The death of God's promised
anointed King caused the waters of
God's grace to rise up and to set
us free.
Paul says in verse 28, though they
found no proper ground for a death
sentence, they asked Pilate to have
Jesus executed.
Jesus didn't die for his own sins
because he had none.
They could find no evidence against
him.
And so if Jesus didn't die for his
own sins, and if the resurrection
proves that God vindicated him as
the righteous one, then who did he
die for?
He died for you.
He died for me.
When he was hanging on his cross,
the dark clouds of sin encircled
around him and closed in on him, and
he cried out, my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?
And as he bore our sins on the cross,
you know what he was praying?
Father, forgive them.
Father, forgive.
And then he spoke that most powerful
word spoken in the history of the world
when he said to tell us die.
It is finished.
The work of dislodging and salvaging,
the work of forgiving and freeing has
been and will remain forever
accomplished.
The king's cross shows us that God's
righteous, implacable intolerance of our
self-centeredness, and yet at the same
time, it shows us the burning,
inextinguishable compassion that he
has for sinners like me.
At the king's cross, God judged our sin,
and yet there he bore his own justice
himself.
In the king's cross, he condemned sin in
the flesh of Jesus, and there he suffered
the condemnation for sin.
You see, it's here at the king's cross that
infinite justice is exacted for the penalty
of sin, and yet infinite grace accepted it
as sufficient for every one of us.
And so, my friends, it is finished.
The work of sin-bearing has been completed,
and therefore nothing needs stand in the way,
and nothing needs stand in God's record
against any one of us anymore.
You can be justified.
You can be declared in the right with God,
forgiven, a full and free member of God's
people, reconciled in the fellowship and the
favor, the very grace of God.
Hear it one more time.
Verse 39.
Through him, everyone who believes is set free from
every sin.
Have you heard Jesus whisper in your ear,
my son, my daughter, your sins are forgiving you.
Go in peace.
In Christchurch, if you've heard that, do you still
believe it?
I want to urge you, like Paul and Barnabas urged the
people there in Pisidian Antioch, I want to urge you
today to continue in the grace of God.
For God's king rules us with his forgiving grace.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.