WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.759 So, we're in a series asking the question, who are we called to be as a church in Washington, D.C.? 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:12.980 What is God calling us to do in this city? 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:18.839 What does it mean to be a church in this day and age, in a city like D.C.? 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:22.080 And so, to do this, we're looking at the book of Acts. 00:00:22.419 --> 00:00:30.119 The idea is that as we look at the story of the birth of the church, we gain a sense of what it means to be the church. 00:00:31.159 --> 00:00:38.459 And at one point in the book of Acts, it's a little bit later, Christians are referred to as the people who are turning the world upside down. 00:00:39.659 --> 00:00:42.299 These are the people who are turning the world upside down. 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:49.439 So, what we want to ask this morning is, what does it mean to be a community of people who turn the world upside down? 00:00:50.239 --> 00:00:50.920 What does that mean? 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:59.640 All right, if you think about the neighborhood that you live in, most of you live in D.C. or some of you, Northern Virginia, or some of you, Southern Maryland. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:12.219 So, think about your neighborhood, Petworth or Columbia Heights or Brooklyn or Langdon where we live or Chevrolet or Clarendon or Tacoma Park or any of the other neighborhoods that you represent. 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:18.240 What would it mean to be the kind of person, the kind of community that turns that neighborhood upside down? 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:20.420 Think about where you work. 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:22.719 Think about your close circle of friends. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:24.320 Think about your extended family. 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:29.379 What would it mean to be the kind of community that turns the world upside down in that context? 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:35.560 Another way of thinking about it is, what does it mean for us to be a revolutionary church in D.C.? 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:37.040 Because that's really what it's talking about. 00:01:38.320 --> 00:01:38.719 Revolution. 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:39.680 Right? 00:01:39.780 --> 00:01:41.060 Turning things upside down. 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:46.760 And to answer this question, we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 3, 4, and 5. 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:55.260 And what this passage shows us is that the Christian movement, the Christian movement as a whole started a revolution. 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:58.120 And that revolution continues through today. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.219 And this passage shows us three aspects of that revolution. 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:06.359 It shows us that the Jesus movement brings about social revolution. 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:08.900 It brings about political revolution. 00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:13.000 And it brings about spiritual revolution, most importantly. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.840 So let's pray, and then we'll dive into God's Word. 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:21.080 Lord, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You that it has power. 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:22.060 It has innate power. 00:02:22.740 --> 00:02:27.240 That we're not here just to listen to the reflections and the wisdom of human beings, 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.900 but rather we're here because we believe that Your Word has power, 00:02:31.780 --> 00:02:35.639 and that because of Your Holy Spirit, Your Word is living and active. 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:38.300 That it does Your work in us. 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:41.699 That it can bring us face to face with the living Word, Jesus Christ. 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:46.000 And that's why we're here, and that's what we're hoping for. 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:50.599 And we pray that in Your love and power and grace, You would make that possible, Lord. 00:02:50.699 --> 00:02:51.919 In Your Son's name, amen. 00:02:53.619 --> 00:02:59.459 So first of all, the Jesus movement brings about social revolution. 00:03:00.739 --> 00:03:05.159 In chapter 3, there are two of Jesus' disciples, Peter and John. 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:10.359 They're going into the temple, and as they go into the temple, they have to pass through a gate. 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:13.860 And when they pass through that gate, there's a man sitting there. 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:18.920 This is very common for people who are poor or disabled to sit near the gate 00:03:18.920 --> 00:03:20.500 because there were a lot of people coming and going. 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:24.640 And there's a man sitting there, and he can't walk, and he cries out for alms. 00:03:24.700 --> 00:03:26.640 He says, you know, you have a little money you can spare. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:33.359 And Peter and John turn to him, and instead of giving him money, they heal him. 00:03:34.619 --> 00:03:39.339 And this man leaps up and starts jumping around praising God. 00:03:39.559 --> 00:03:41.699 And this man, everybody knew this guy. 00:03:41.779 --> 00:03:42.639 He was there every day. 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:46.779 So the fact that all of a sudden he's leaping around praising God immediately draws a crowd. 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:50.140 And also, you know, it's funny as you get older. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:52.879 I'm in my 40s now, and you catch things that you didn't catch before. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.879 It also says at one point, you know, everybody was marveling because this man was over 40. 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:03.240 You know, it's like it was an extra miracle, you know, to heal a guy in his 40s. 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:07.900 And so everybody's praising God because this man who was in his 40s was able to be healed. 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:14.980 And so Peter recognizes the moment, and he begins to preach the gospel, right? 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.199 He seizes the opportunity. 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:22.500 And in Acts chapter 4 verse 1, it says the Sadducees come along with the priests and the 00:04:22.500 --> 00:04:25.680 captain of the temple guard, and they arrest Peter and John. 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:31.100 And the question then is raised, why would they arrest them, right? 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.220 Is it illegal to talk about the things that they're talking about? 00:04:34.300 --> 00:04:34.980 What's the issue? 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:41.680 It says in chapter 4 verse 2 that they were greatly annoyed that Peter and John were preaching 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:45.379 the resurrection because the Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection. 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:46.680 They didn't believe in afterlife. 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:49.080 So that's part of it. 00:04:49.819 --> 00:04:54.020 But if you read the context, that's definitely not all of what's going on here. 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:59.720 In order to understand why the Sadducees are so angry, you have to know something about 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:01.860 who the Sadducees were in society. 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:04.740 The Sadducees were essentially the cultural elites. 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:07.620 Sadducees of the day in Jewish society. 00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:10.100 They were the aristocracy. 00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:14.700 They tended to be, unlike the Pharisees, that was more of a populist movement. 00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:17.600 The Sadducees were the elites. 00:05:18.200 --> 00:05:19.460 They were very well educated. 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:21.759 They tended to be very wealthy, very powerful. 00:05:22.180 --> 00:05:24.640 They were very close to the Roman officials. 00:05:24.900 --> 00:05:26.640 They were in league with the Romans. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:31.759 And because of that, they had an enormous amount of clout. 00:05:33.039 --> 00:05:40.819 By contrast, in verse 13, the disciples are described as uneducated common men. 00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:45.560 So what we need to see here is that this is all about social status. 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:48.039 That's the issue here. 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:51.240 The Sadducees are very high status people. 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:56.540 Peter and John and many of the early Christians, low status people. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:00.140 So it's a class issue. 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:07.320 But what we need to see is that this Jesus movement had begun to turn everything upside down. 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:12.180 For the Sadducees, the very center of their power and influence was the temple. 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:15.519 The Pharisees were in the synagogues. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.480 The Sadducees controlled the temple. 00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:19.759 And that was the center. 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:22.300 There's a whole reason they had the power that they had. 00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:26.180 But look at what's happening in chapters 3, 4, and 5. 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:29.240 There's a man being healed by the power of God. 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:32.240 That's the kind of thing that's supposed to happen in the temple. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:39.139 Jesus' followers, there's several summaries of Jesus' followers selling their possessions 00:06:39.139 --> 00:06:42.000 and giving the proceeds to the poor. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:44.720 And you say, well, why does Luke keep summarizing this? 00:06:44.960 --> 00:06:47.660 Well, it's kind of twisting the knife a little bit. 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:48.439 It's making a point. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.319 That's the kind of thing, according to Deuteronomy chapters 14 and 15, 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:54.639 that is supposed to be overseen by the temple. 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:56.280 Right? 00:06:56.460 --> 00:07:00.800 Selling your possessions, giving to the poor, that's supposed to be a temple activity. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.340 But Luke keeps telling us this is happening in the streets. 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:05.000 It's happening in people's homes. 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:06.560 Right? 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:10.259 In Acts chapter 4, when they're being examined by the temple authorities, 00:07:10.960 --> 00:07:12.540 they quote Psalm 118. 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:17.660 They say, the stone that the builders rejected, 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:21.560 the stone that you rejected, Jesus, has become the cornerstone. 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:24.120 That's not just waxing eloquent there. 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:31.759 Psalm 118 is full of hints that one day God is going to establish a new temple. 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:40.079 Even this bizarre story, some of you know the bizarre story in chapter 5 of Ananias and Sapphira. 00:07:40.579 --> 00:07:44.280 Everybody's selling their possessions and giving the money to the community, 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:47.980 and Ananias and Sapphira lie about their possessions, 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:51.879 and they lie to God, and they drop dead immediately on the ground. 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:55.180 And you say, well, why in the world would Luke include that story? 00:07:55.300 --> 00:07:57.759 There's all these amazing stories of healings and generosity, 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:01.159 and then two people just drop dead, and you're like, why would Luke include that? 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:07.319 Well, if you look back at Leviticus chapter 10 in the Old Testament, 00:08:07.659 --> 00:08:12.120 there's this bizarre story of two priests who disrespect God, 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:16.120 and they die as a result, and this happens in the temple. 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:19.860 And the point of the two stories is the same. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:25.699 When you are in a place where God's presence actually dwells, 00:08:26.340 --> 00:08:30.160 that is no small matter, and it can't be taken lightly. 00:08:31.019 --> 00:08:36.720 And Luke's decision to include that story is meant to point us back to Leviticus 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.879 to make the same point that he's making again and again and again. 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:43.019 God is building a new temple. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:45.720 That's what this entire section is about. 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.620 God is building a new temple, which means what? 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:57.580 The old temple, the center of power for the Sadducees, obsolete. 00:08:59.300 --> 00:09:00.259 It's obsolete. 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:02.920 This theme runs all the... 00:09:02.920 --> 00:09:06.440 This is the reason that Stephen is stoned a little bit later, 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.899 because he's saying, don't you get it? 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.759 That old temple, that brick-and-mortar temple is obsolete. 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:15.539 Anyway, it's built out of the team who's built. 00:09:15.539 --> 00:09:16.659 It's built out of people. 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:19.600 It's built out of human beings. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:26.639 beings. It's built out of common, uneducated people like Peter and John, and it's built out 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:32.860 of educated people. It's built out of slaves, and it's built out of masters. It's built out of men, 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.899 and it's built out of women. It's built out of outcasts and insiders. It's built out of wealthy, 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:42.840 and it's built out of poor. And what we see is this new temple, this new world order, 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:50.759 is turning the entire social hierarchy on its head, right? This is revolutionary. 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:58.200 Just as Jesus predicted, those who had exalted themselves are being humbled. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:05.080 Those who had been humbled are now being exalted. God is turning everything upside down. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:11.519 So here's the first point we want to take from this as we ask Church of the Advent, Washington, 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:16.939 D.C. What does it mean to be a revolutionary church in a place like D.C.? Here's the first point. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:25.159 It means being a community that is a community of grace, not a meritocracy. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:34.039 Because we live in a meritocracy, right? And for some of us, there are things out there in your 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:39.919 life that make you a somebody, right? You have things in your life that make you a somebody. You 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:48.839 have really impressive credentials. You have a high-powered job. You have a massive generous salary. 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:57.079 You have an impressive array of degrees. It's not hard to meet people like this in D.C. and in our 00:10:57.079 --> 00:11:02.279 church. There are a lot of very impressive people in our church. And what this tells us is, in the new 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:10.600 temple, in God's new world order, those things might matter out there, but they don't matter in here. 00:11:11.379 --> 00:11:19.839 They don't matter at all in here. Likewise, whatever there is in your life that makes you a nobody 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:31.920 out there, right? Your failures, your shortcomings, your detours, your plans that fell through, the job that 00:11:31.920 --> 00:11:37.399 you didn't get, the credential that you never got, right? The school that you never got admitted to. 00:11:39.160 --> 00:11:43.740 Those things might matter out there in the world, but they don't matter in here. 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:52.879 They cease to matter in God's new world order. Out there, life is a meritocracy, right? People are grinding 00:11:52.879 --> 00:12:02.539 their kids into powder, driving them to the highest, most elite standards of success from like age one on, 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:08.200 right? Making sure they get into the best schools, get the best grades, have the best array of 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:13.560 extracurriculars, right? And people are trying to rig the game in order to make sure their kids succeed in the 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:19.939 meritocracy, right? People work 80 hours a week, grinding themselves into powder for the meritocracy. 00:12:20.899 --> 00:12:27.899 None of that matters in the church. In the church, the only merit that matters is the righteousness 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:36.239 that comes through Jesus Christ to every single person in equal proportion. When churches forget this, 00:12:36.319 --> 00:12:40.819 you know, when churches start to give in to the meritocracy game that's happening all around us, 00:12:40.820 --> 00:12:46.700 when churches start to become like the culture in this way, you begin to see status creeping into the 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:52.580 community. The people who give the most money have the most influence in the direction of the church. 00:12:53.780 --> 00:12:58.879 You look at the elder board and you realize that it's made up of people with the most impressive 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:04.520 credentials and the most impressive careers, right? The CEOs, the partners. 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:16.220 You see in the church community clear in groups and out groups, clear cliques, right? Newcomers have a very hard time 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:21.480 being integrated because everybody kind of has their tight-knit friend group and there are groups that just don't 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:30.519 talk to each other. That's what you see. But in a revolutionary church, we are very clear on the fact that when it 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:34.819 comes to your status, there's only one thing that matters and that's your relationship with Jesus. 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:43.079 So in a revolutionary church, you might have a CEO of a major corporation being discipled by someone 00:13:43.079 --> 00:13:50.519 who's making minimum wage at McDonald's. You might have a person who has, you know, two PhDs 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:54.379 learning how to read and study scripture from someone with a GED. 00:13:54.379 --> 00:14:01.080 That's what a revolutionary church looks like. And that's the kind of thing that turns this world 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:06.360 upside down. So the first thing we see in the Jesus movement is we see that it is a social revolution 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:14.240 of which we are a continuing part. The second thing we see in this passage is that it's also a political 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:23.039 revolution. In Acts chapter 4, the temple authorities come and they command Peter and John to stop teaching 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:28.719 in the name of Jesus. They say, we can't deny the miracles, but we can force them to shut up. 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:36.039 And Peter and John gives this amazing answer, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:41.379 to you rather than to God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:48.319 And they continue to preach the gospel anyway. So in Acts chapter 5, the Sadducees arrest them again. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:55.440 And they throw them in prison. And the high priest says, we strictly charged you not to preach and 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:00.500 teach in this name, and yet you keep doing it. You filled Jerusalem with all of your teaching. 00:15:01.800 --> 00:15:08.900 And in verse 9, Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. 00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:17.659 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:27.819 at his right hand as leader and savior. That's verses 29 and 30 and 31. You killed Jesus by hanging 00:15:27.819 --> 00:15:34.519 him on a tree, but God has exalted him as leader and savior. And that word leader is very important. 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:43.019 The Greek word for leader there is archegos. Archegos, which means the chief leader, right? The king of 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:48.840 kings, the highest authority, right? God has raised Jesus as the chief leader. He's the guy in charge. 00:15:50.779 --> 00:16:00.379 Now that has massive political implications. In the Roman world, in Roman society, you could pretty much 00:16:00.379 --> 00:16:05.500 believe whatever you wanted. It was very pluralistic. You could have whatever religion, whatever deities 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:13.299 you wanted to worship. You were free to do that as long as your ultimate allegiance was given to the 00:16:13.299 --> 00:16:21.899 emperor. And the way they talked about the emperor, the emperor was God on earth, God in the flesh. And 00:16:21.899 --> 00:16:29.659 the emperor was the Lord and the Savior of Rome. So as long as you knew who your true Lord and Savior was, 00:16:29.659 --> 00:16:37.339 as long as you accepted the emperor into your heart as your Lord and Savior, you could be a Christian. 00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:43.699 It just had to take second place in your allegiance. And the Christians, the early Christians said, 00:16:43.779 --> 00:16:52.299 absolutely not. We have a Lord and Savior, and his name is Jesus, and he's above you. Because God 00:16:52.299 --> 00:16:58.019 raised him, even though you put him to death, God raised him and made him the true king of this world, 00:16:58.019 --> 00:17:03.460 the Archegos. And so they said, you know, we have our true king. You can beat us, you can threaten us, 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:10.460 you can throw us in prison, you can kill us. It doesn't matter. We obey him, not you. And that is 00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:17.839 incredibly significant. The second point about being a revolutionary church is this. A revolutionary 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:27.259 church is one whose allegiance is clear. There's no doubt our allegiance is to Christ, not politics. 00:17:28.019 --> 00:17:35.559 It's to Christ alone. What happens when churches forget this? Well, you go into a worship service, 00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:40.480 and you hear the same talking points in Sunday at worship that you would at the DNC, 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:48.440 or at the RNC, depending on what zip code the church is in, right? You only see people from one 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:54.880 side of the political aisle in the pews. And it is commonly understood that people on the other side 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:00.339 of the political aisle are the enemy. They're the bad people. They're the people that we need to keep 00:18:00.339 --> 00:18:08.079 out, right? And this is even, this kind of political allegiance is even more true and more visible 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:13.659 outside the church. You know, right now we're in a period of religious decline, which means 00:18:13.659 --> 00:18:20.199 more and more people, as you know, are disconnecting themselves from organized religion and reporting 00:18:20.199 --> 00:18:24.480 that they are unaffiliated. They're not a part of any organized religion. And in Christianity, 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:29.240 we see this in particular. There's a major decline in people who are affiliating themselves with 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:35.339 Christianity. Not surprisingly, and this is measurable, you can see this in the statistics, 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:48.200 as religion declines, politics intensifies. As religion declines, ideologies become more and more 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:54.099 extreme. Now, what does that tell us? It tells us that you can get rid of religion, 00:18:54.099 --> 00:19:03.299 but you cannot get rid of religious longing. Abraham Kuyper served as the prime minister of 00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:08.919 the Netherlands in the first part of the 20th century. And at that time, that area was becoming 00:19:08.919 --> 00:19:16.459 more and more secularized. And Kuyper argued that all strongly held ideologies, and if you look at our 00:19:16.459 --> 00:19:22.079 political landscape right now, it's filled with ideologies. All strongly held ideologies were 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:28.460 effectively faith-based. And what he said was that no human being can survive long without some 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:36.720 ultimate loyalty. So here's what we're seeing. Religious longings don't go away. You disaffiliate 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:43.279 from, you say, I'm no longer a part of any organized religion. Those longings don't go away. They tend to 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:50.259 migrate. Right? They migrate to something else. And so if you disaffiliate from religion, those longings 00:19:50.259 --> 00:19:58.379 will migrate to other secular commitments, such as nationalism or Marxism or liberalism. This is 00:19:58.379 --> 00:20:03.140 what Kuyper saw in his day. This is what we're seeing in our day. The intensification of politics 00:20:03.140 --> 00:20:10.220 as a result of the disaffiliation from religion. And so in the revolutionary church, we give our 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:18.720 allegiance to Jesus Christ, not to politics. Which means the revolutionary church is always willing to 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:25.779 speak truth, even if it's hard, unpopular truth, to both the right and the left. And this is what you 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:32.100 see throughout history. Faithful Christians challenging totalitarian regimes on the right 00:20:32.100 --> 00:20:39.860 and on the left. In the revolutionary church, you see people from all across the political spectrum 00:20:39.860 --> 00:20:46.380 gathering together and worshiping together in the same church. Because they have a higher allegiance 00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:53.560 that unites them even if politics divides them. In the revolutionary church, people know how to be 00:20:53.560 --> 00:21:03.620 politically engaged without becoming politically enthralled. In a revolutionary church, increasingly, 00:21:05.380 --> 00:21:11.580 especially in a city like Washington, D.C., it means proclaiming the whole Word of God 00:21:11.579 --> 00:21:17.539 even when it's not politically correct. It means conforming ourselves to the Word, 00:21:18.639 --> 00:21:22.299 not to whatever current codes of political correctness hold sway. 00:21:23.439 --> 00:21:27.559 This is the kind of church that turns the world upside down. This is the kind of church 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:32.259 that brings upheaval. A holy, glorious upheaval. 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:38.839 So this is where we are so far. We have social revolution. We have political revolution. 00:21:39.900 --> 00:21:47.900 By far the most important that we see in the early church and in our current church is the onset of 00:21:47.900 --> 00:21:54.539 spiritual revolution. Social is important. Political is important. But the Jesus movement is, 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:56.220 at its core, a spiritual revolution. 00:21:56.220 --> 00:22:04.000 The name of Jesus, if you read through these chapters, the name of Jesus is mentioned again 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.740 and again and again and again. It's the drumbeat of these passages. In chapter 3, the name of Jesus 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:18.240 has the power to transform a disabled man in his 40s sitting at the gate of the temple into a worshiper 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:23.880 who enters into the temple. Right now, just think about that. There's a guy who can't go into the temple. 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:28.300 He's disabled. He's disabled. But he's made whole through the name of Jesus. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:32.520 And when the people come out and they say to Peter and John, how did you do this? They say, 00:22:32.560 --> 00:22:40.140 it wasn't us. It was the power of the name that did this. Right? And then the temple authorities 00:22:40.140 --> 00:22:45.880 repeatedly charge the apostles not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. That's what they're afraid of 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:50.720 because they realize that when you mention the name of Jesus, crazy things start to happen. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:58.940 When you mention the name of Jesus, new doors open, new possibilities become possible, even plausible, 00:22:59.740 --> 00:23:05.940 even likely, that didn't exist before. In chapter 4, verse 30, the believers pray for healing 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:11.740 and they pray that signs and wonders would be performed through the name of Jesus. In their mind, 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:15.600 the center of the movement was the power of the name of Jesus Christ. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:20.819 And you say, well, what's the point of all this? Why does the name matter so much? 00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:29.659 In the ancient world, your name, your name was your entire identity. It represented your character, 00:23:30.219 --> 00:23:37.279 your worth, your authority. It was, all of you was bound up in your name. And in the ancient world, 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:41.939 just like in the modern world, what did it mean to grant somebody the power of attorney? 00:23:41.940 --> 00:23:48.220 If you know that concept, if you grant someone power of attorney, what that means is you were authorizing 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:53.580 that person to act as your agent or your representative and to act with your authority. 00:23:54.779 --> 00:23:58.880 Right? If I were to give you power of attorney, it means you can act on my behalf, so you're effectively 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:03.559 me in that situation, and you can act with all of my authority, whatever that might be. 00:24:04.620 --> 00:24:09.960 This is a very important concept. And what we see in the book of Acts is that in the early church, 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:18.600 common, uneducated people like Peter and John are acting as Jesus' agents in the world. 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:25.799 They are speaking and preaching and teaching and healing with Jesus' power and authority, 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:31.799 the exact same kinds of miracles that Jesus performed. Now we see them performing. 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:37.599 And what this means is, as they are preaching the gospel, healing the sick, caring for the poor, 00:24:38.180 --> 00:24:48.899 Jesus has given these people power of attorney. Speak my name, speak my name, and speak with my 00:24:48.899 --> 00:24:57.019 authority, and my ministry will be done through you. Right? And then moreover, in chapter 4, 00:24:57.019 --> 00:25:02.539 verse 12, when it says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:09.119 given among men by which we must be saved. You know, in the kind of modern West, we're all 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:14.039 uncomfortable about that, and it's so exclusive and so intolerant. But we need to understand what this 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:20.839 is saying here. All other religions say something else. Right? This is one of the things that separates 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:26.379 Christianity and other religions. This verse right here. All other religions, philosophies, worldview, 00:25:26.679 --> 00:25:34.259 whether they be religious or secular, basically say the same thing. It all depends on your name. 00:25:35.159 --> 00:25:41.199 It all depends on your name. This doesn't so much have lots of other religions in mind. I mean, 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:47.419 that's certainly there. But equally as much as the sense that we need to decide whose name do we put 00:25:47.420 --> 00:25:54.120 our hope and trust in. Jesus' name or my name. You know, all other religions basically say, 00:25:54.320 --> 00:26:01.840 if your name is great enough, if you are morally excellent enough, if you are devoted enough, 00:26:02.320 --> 00:26:09.580 if you are disciplined enough, if your name is worthy enough, then you can attain enlightenment or 00:26:09.580 --> 00:26:17.200 go to paradise or hope to be reincarnated into a better form of existence. And it's even more true 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:22.500 if you're a non-religious person. Right? If you don't believe that there is any transcendent world, 00:26:23.500 --> 00:26:29.500 if you're non-religious, then it's completely up to you to define your entire identity, 00:26:30.380 --> 00:26:36.620 to develop your own sense of meaning in life, and then to convince yourself of your own worth. 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:44.319 And that's a heavy load to bear. That's why the self-help movement is a multi-billion dollar industry. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:49.419 Right? But all of these approaches are based on the worth and the power of your name. 00:26:49.740 --> 00:26:53.939 You need to work all of your life, make your name as great as possible, accumulate as much 00:26:53.939 --> 00:26:59.740 worth for yourself as possible, and then maybe you will make the cut. But you won't know until you die. 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:05.619 Right? Work all your life, and then maybe when you die, you'll make the cut. If not, well, 00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:12.480 it'll be too late. And if you live like this, like it's all up to you, like it all hinges on the 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.920 greatness of your name, you're going to live your entire life feeling insecure. 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:22.519 You're never going to be really sure if you've done enough. You're going to look at other people 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:25.960 who seem ahead of you in the race, and you're going to be threatened by their success. 00:27:27.579 --> 00:27:28.839 Am I worthy enough? 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:39.059 The gospel, the name of Jesus, is the only alternative to that. Because the gospel alone 00:27:39.059 --> 00:27:45.500 says that the only name worthy of salvation is Jesus' name. The only name that has enough 00:27:45.500 --> 00:27:53.259 merit is Jesus' name. Because you see Jesus in the gospels living a perfect life, a worthy life, 00:27:53.559 --> 00:27:57.039 the life that we should have lived. You know, if you look at Jesus as a role model, 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:03.559 he'll make you feel horrible about yourself. Because he's unimaginably perfect. And that's the 00:28:03.559 --> 00:28:11.480 point. And salvation in Jesus' name means having a relationship with God that is based on what 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:18.940 Jesus has done, not on anything that we've done. Right? It's on Jesus' worth, it's on Jesus' success, 00:28:19.159 --> 00:28:25.619 it's on Jesus' righteousness. And what that does is because Jesus lived that life, and it's done, 00:28:25.619 --> 00:28:31.759 and it's complete, and you receive it, it's once and for all. Like, you can't mess that up. It 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:38.179 happened, it's in history, it's a perfect life, and now that credit has been given to you. And your sin 00:28:38.179 --> 00:28:45.739 has been given to him. And what that means is that you have total assurance. It doesn't rest in my name, 00:28:45.740 --> 00:28:52.359 it rests in Jesus' name. And you know, that assurance sets you free. If you're assured of that, 00:28:53.620 --> 00:28:57.839 then you can be honest about your failures. You can be honest about your shortcomings. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:04.559 Right? And this is what we see in a revolutionary church. A revolutionary church is a church 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:12.940 that is a community of grace, that trusts in the power of Jesus' name, not in our own names. 00:29:12.940 --> 00:29:18.559 So in a revolutionary church, people are honest about their failures. They're honest about their 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:22.980 shortcomings. When we confront one another, people don't immediately become defensive. 00:29:23.900 --> 00:29:27.920 Because I know that chances are there's some truth in what this person is saying. 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:32.720 We can admit when we're wrong, we can admit that there are ways we need to grow. 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:36.539 Because our worth isn't based in our name, it's based in Jesus' name. 00:29:36.539 --> 00:29:43.740 And what we need to recognize is these disciples, these disciples are not first and foremost 00:29:43.740 --> 00:29:49.139 revolutionaries. A lot of people read Acts and they say, they started a revolution, 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:53.500 we need to start a revolution. That's the wrong way to read the book of Acts. 00:29:54.519 --> 00:30:01.159 What we see here, and the disciples are very clear on this, they're not doing any of this in the power 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:08.460 of their own name. Jesus is the revolutionary. Jesus is the one turning things upside down. 00:30:09.120 --> 00:30:15.580 And by following Jesus in the power of His name, His people have a revolutionary impact on society. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:18.120 That's a big difference. 00:30:19.860 --> 00:30:24.920 Now just to bring all this back as we close, our question at the beginning was this, 00:30:25.060 --> 00:30:28.500 what does it mean to be a revolutionary church that turns the world upside down? 00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:31.220 Well, it means bringing social revolution. 00:30:31.900 --> 00:30:36.859 Your status might matter out there, but all that matters in here is your relationship with Jesus. 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:40.420 It means bringing a political revolution. 00:30:41.259 --> 00:30:44.180 Our allegiance is to Jesus, not politics. 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:50.220 So we will speak truth to power on the right and the left, and we will continue to do that. 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:53.839 It also means bringing spiritual revolution. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:59.359 Being people who aren't trying to glorify and build up our own names in the world, 00:30:59.879 --> 00:31:02.980 but people who trust in the power of Jesus' name. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:06.459 In other words, and hopefully it's become clear by now, 00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:09.980 a revolutionary church is a church full of people 00:31:09.980 --> 00:31:13.000 who are living right-side-up lives 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:15.299 in an upside-down world. 00:31:16.339 --> 00:31:17.039 Let's pray. 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:22.399 Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your spirit, 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.359 and we thank you for the name of Jesus. 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:30.379 And we thank you for the power that is objective and real that is in our midst. 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:37.460 Lord, we thank you for being a God who turns an upside-down world right-side up. 00:31:38.059 --> 00:31:44.899 We thank you that the hope of the resurrection is a hope not only shared in Jesus or his followers, 00:31:44.900 --> 00:31:48.220 but that one day you're going to resurrect and restore this world. 00:31:48.860 --> 00:31:50.720 Lord, you're going to turn it right-side up. 00:31:51.340 --> 00:31:58.160 And I pray that you would give us the faith and the power and the courage and the boldness 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:03.780 to live right-side-up lives, even when things remain upside-down, 00:32:03.800 --> 00:32:05.300 because we know it will cost us, Lord. 00:32:06.080 --> 00:32:10.180 But that cost is nothing compared to the cost that you endured. 00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:13.040 And so give us courage, Lord, as we look at the cross. 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:15.220 We pray all this in your Son's name. 00:32:15.420 --> 00:32:15.659 Amen.