Good morning again. It's great to be here with you this morning. I want to start out
this morning telling you a story about a man. His name is Desmond Doss. Some of you may have
heard of him. There was a movie made about his life last year called Hacksaw Ridge. He
joined the U.S. Army in 1942, and due to his faith, he believed that it was wrong to carry
a gun, to threaten a life, or to take another person's life. And he made sure that the army
knew about this when he joined, and he figured, because he believed so strongly that it was
wrong to kill someone, that the army would make him a medic on the field. However, when
he joined the army, instead of making him a medic, they put him in an infantry rifle company.
And here you have a man who refuses to pick up and carry a gun in a rifle company.
And his team of soldiers that he was grouped with, understandably, saw him as a liability.
How can you be a part of a rifle troop when you don't carry a rifle? And so these men, because
they saw him as a liability, they did everything that they could to get him taken out of their
squad. They would threaten him, and they told him, if you go out to battle, I'll make sure
you don't come back. They would insult him. They tried to say that he was mentally unfit
for duty. They even tried to have him court-martialed for disobeying the direct order to pick up and
shoot a gun. And nothing that they did worked. He kept sticking around. And eventually, as time
went by, he actually started to turn the soldiers in his squadron to liking him. Because when they
would go on these long marches, they would get blisters on their feet. And he would come
and he would treat their blisters and they would get better. And when they were on these
long marches, it was hot and it was dry. And soldiers would pass out from dehydration.
And he would be the first one at their side every time, offering them water from his own
water bottle to help them recover and be able to get back up and keep going.
Finally, his squadron gets sent into battle. And when they're on the battlefield, he has
his focus on one thing and one thing only. And that is saving lives. On the field, it doesn't
matter how dangerous it is, how many bullets are flying. When someone calls for a medic,
he is there. The story that I read about him said that several times during the fighting,
he was so close to enemy lines that he could hear the Japanese soldiers whispering in their
trenches. And yet he went and he rescued as many people as he possibly could. Early in 1945,
his company was trying to take this area that they referred to as Hacksaw Ridge. It was a big,
very steep hill. And they fought and fought and finally made it to the top. And when they got to
the top, they faced a counterattack from the Japanese soldiers who just started mowing down the American
troops. The American soldiers were commanded to retreat. And only a third of them were actually able to
retreat because so many of them had been injured in this counterattack. And when the command to retreat
came, everyone that was able to retreated except for this man, Desmond Doss. He stayed in the thick of the
battle trying to rescue as many lives as he could. He put together a stretcher at the edge of the cliff and
tied some rope to it. And one by one, he picked up the other soldiers and he carried them over to the
stretcher. He would load them onto the stretcher, lower them over the edge to safety, pull the stretcher
back up, go get another man, and carry him over to rescue him as well. And he said, I'm going to keep
going until I pass out or get shot and die. As long as I am physically able to keep rescuing my fellow
soldiers, I am going to keep saving lives. And on that day, he rescued 75 men from death. Later that
year, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. And the president, who was Harry Truman at the time,
stood there and he shook his hand. He shook his hand and then throughout the award, he just held his hand.
And the president looked at Desmond Doss and he said, I'm proud of you. You really deserve this.
I consider this a greater honor than being president. Desmond Doss was a man who lived his life with a
single focus, a laser focus on saving lives on the battlefield. I don't know about you, but when I hear a
story like the story of Desmond Doss, it does a couple things inside of me. One, it fills me with
respect for someone who could live so selflessly and sacrificially. I'm impressed by people who live
with such singular focus. For him, it was saving lives. Didn't matter what stood in his way. Could
be threats, could be insults, could be bullets. He was determined as long as he was able to, he was going
to keep moving and keep saving lives. The only thing that was going to stop him was death or
incapacitation. The other thing that stories like this do is they make me want to do something great
with my life. And we've been going the past few couple months through the book of Acts.
And today we're continuing looking at the book of Acts. And we're going to see that God wants to shape us
into this type of person. God wants us to be a church filled with Desmond Doss type people who live
with a singular laser focus on him. And so what we're going to see today as we continue our study in Acts
is that our unstoppable God accomplishes his unstoppable work by transforming the hearts of normal people
like you and me to make us unstoppable forces for his kingdom. Before we start, let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have spoken to us and that you have in your
word given us the chance to know you. Such an amazing privilege and honor. And I pray that as we
look at your word today that you would speak to us, that the Holy Spirit would make it clear to us
what you want us to do in response. That you would help us to love you more, to love each other more,
and to respond in obedience to what you're calling us to do. In Jesus' name, amen.
So like I said, we've been going through the book of Acts lately. And we've started out saying
that God told his disciples that they would spread his word. They would start in Jerusalem,
which we said for us is kind of like Pak Fulam. And then they would move on to Judea, which is
the wider area, sort of like our Hong Kong island. And then to Samaria, which for us maybe would
include new territories, Kowloon. And then to the ends of the earth, which is the ends of the earth.
In the past several weeks, we've been seeing this pattern where the church experiences God's blessing
and then faces opposition. And then they experience God's blessing and then they face opposition.
And last week we looked at opposition from inside from this couple called Ananias and Sapphira. And
if you want to know more about them, Bernard's sermon is on our website and you can listen to it.
And today they again face blessing and then opposition. But like we said, through them,
our unstoppable God accomplishes his unstoppable work by transforming the hearts of normal people
like you and me and the apostles to make us unstoppable forces for his kingdom. So we're
going to look at three things today. First, the insecurity of the powerful. Second, the courage of
the weak. And then third, the source of unstoppable power. So first up, we have the insecurity of the
powerful. So after last week's sermon, Ananias and Sapphira cause a problem for the church that's
dealt with. And then we pick up today's passage and amazing things are happening with the church.
People are looking at these church leaders with respect and awe and people are becoming Christians.
People are getting healed. And we see this first step of progression of the gospel message going
outside Jerusalem and into Judea, the wider area. It says that people are bringing their friends,
their family members, whoever, whoever's sick, whoever's demon-possessed from these surrounding
towns into Jerusalem so that they can be healed by the apostles. Because this is crazy to me, but it says
that so much healing is happening that even if Peter walks past you and his shadow falls on you at this
time, you will be healed. Is that nuts to anyone else? It's crazy power at work from God. Things are going
great, but not everyone is happy about this. The high priest, the main religious leader in Jerusalem
of that day, steps up and arrests the apostles. All of them, alongside of his political party and
religious party, the Sadducees, they see the apostles as a threat and so they release them. Now who are the
Sadducees and why did they see the apostles as a threat? The Sadducees were a leading religious group
in this day. And in Israel at this time, religion and politics go hand in hand. So a leading religious
group is also the leading political group. They had opponents. There was one group called the Pharisees
that was probably their main opponent. And like opposing political parties in today's world, the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, they would go at each other and attack each other for their different
beliefs. But at the end of the day, both of them were fairly pro-establishment. They wanted things to
stay the way that they were because they were comfortable with the system the way that it was.
And for them, as they looked out on the political and religious landscape of Israel, this new group of
Christians was this new upstart group that they saw as a threat. And they felt the need to shut these
guys down. So the Christians are a threat because people who have been good Jews their entire lives
are all of a sudden now turning away from following the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
And the thing about the Sadducees is they had great worldly power. But the way that they respond
to the apostles in this story shows that in reality, despite their worldly power,
they were radically insecure people. How are they insecure? Well, look at verse 17 with me.
It says,
The high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees,
and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles, and they put them in the public prison.
The Sadducees, the great establishment political and religious leaders of their day,
are jealous. And who are they jealous of? A group of street preachers. That's basically what the
apostles are at this time. The establishment religious and political leaders of their day
are jealous of this group of street preachers because they see them as a threat. And why were
they jealous? Because the Sadducees weren't just leaders. They were people who found the core of
their identity in being the leaders. They had built the foundation of their identity around this idea
that I am a leader. We call that making an idol out of leadership. An idol is anything in our lives
that we put as ultimate other than God. And the Sadducees, these religious leaders, had made
being political and religious leaders into an idol. Which means that when this new group of Christians
comes along and seems to be threatening their position of power, they're not just threatening a
position of power, they're threatening the very core of the identity of these Sadducees.
It's not just that they're standing and this position is in threat, but that who I am as a person
is in danger because of that. And that's how idols work. When our idols are threatened,
we feel like not just the idol itself is threatened, but we ourselves are threatened. It works the same
way in our lives today. Whenever we take anything other than God and make it ultimate in our lives.
Here's an example of what this looks like in my life. I like to be right.
Justine can tell you that I like to be right. She's nodding her head now. Yes.
I feel like if I know things and I am right about things, then I can be in control of situations,
maybe in control of people. And so when I'm having a conversation and I say something and I think I'm
right and someone else tells me I'm wrong, that threatens my idol of being right and being in
control. And so when someone says I'm wrong about something, even if I am wrong, even if we can pull
out Google and Google says, Eric, you're wrong, when they say you're wrong, I don't hear you're wrong.
What I hear is you're a worthless human being because you're wrong. And that means that you
cannot have a normal, rational discussion in this situation because I am not focused on the facts
anymore. I'm focused on trying to establish my worth as a person. And in this moment, because I feel like
my worth as a person is threatened, I often lash out by trying to tear down the worth of the other
person. So what started as a simple comment, Eric, you're wrong, can result in personal attacks and
assaults on people from me because I feel like they have threatened me and so I need to threaten them
in response. That's how idols work. They cause us to respond with jealousy, fear, anger, anxiety,
anything except love. And that's exactly what we see happening in this story. The Sadducees see their
idol threatened. They feel like they themselves and the core of their identity is threatened and they
respond in jealousy. And not just jealousy, but also fear. So the Sadducees, they arrest the apostles,
they put the apostles in prison. In the middle of the night, an angel comes and frees the apostles
and says, go preach again in the temple. So they do that. And then in the morning, the Sadducees wake
up and realize, oh no, these guys have escaped from prison. Where are they? Someone tells them where they
are and they go and it says in verse 26 that they go and bring the apostles back again. They arrest them
again. But notice this, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. They were
not just jealous, they were also afraid. Why were they afraid? Because public opinion was turning against
them and they thought that they would be killed by the people for doing what they were doing.
Because they built their identity around idols that were not big enough or strong enough or powerful
enough to sustain the core of who they were. They acted in fear. Even though they thought that they
were doing the right thing, they did it timidly in fear. Which is going to give a stark contrast later
on when we look at the apostles and how they act in this situation, despite the fact that they had far
less worldly power to rely on. And like I said, the way that idols work is the same way today. When we
build our lives and our identities around idols, it leads to jealousy, it leads to fear, it leads to
anxiety, stress, anger, anything except love. So if we want to be Desmond Doss type people who live with
this singular focus on what God wants us to be focused on, step one is identifying and dealing with
the idols in our lives. And if you're sitting here and you're like, I recognize some of these tendencies
that you're describing in myself, but I don't necessarily know what my idols are that I struggle
with, I have some questions I want us to look at that will help us think through what our idols are.
So the first question, what is the first thing I want people to know about me when they meet me?
What's the big thing that if they know nothing else about me, this is the one thing that they need to know?
Second, what do I daydream about?
In those moments where there's nothing particular filling my mind, what is it that just naturally
comes in there and consumes my thoughts?
Third, what causes me the greatest amount of stress and anxiety?
What causes me to lose sleep at night?
Finally, what wish or desire, if I didn't get it, would make me consider walking away from my faith?
Because we look through these questions, if we identify common themes among them, that's probably a sign
that we have idols in our lives.
There's a famous preacher back in the 1500s, he said,
our hearts are idol factories.
They just find things and they idolize them.
We place our hope in them.
And the way that the Sadducees respond in this story
shows us that building our lives around these idols is not sustainable
because it leads to jealousy, it leads to fear, anxiety, anger.
And no matter how much worldly power we may have,
if our lives are built around idols, we will be wildly insecure people.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Let's look next at the courage of the weak.
So in contrast to the Sadducees are the apostles.
These guys are common, uneducated men.
Basically at this point, street preachers.
They're finding places out in public areas,
standing up and talking to people about Jesus.
They don't have huge church buildings like we might picture them having today.
They're literally just finding wherever
and using the opportunity to tell people about Jesus.
By worldly standards, they really have nothing going for them.
But God is doing these incredible and amazing, powerful things through them.
And from their actions, we can see amazing courage.
I mean, look at what they were doing in this story.
In Acts chapter 4, we saw that Peter and James got—no, Peter and John, sorry—got arrested.
And they were threatened by the religious leaders saying,
don't preach about Jesus anymore.
And yet, at the start of today's passage, what are they doing?
They're preaching about Jesus and healing people.
And loads of people are becoming Christians.
So they get arrested.
And they're put in prison.
And in the middle of the night, the angel comes and says, go preach.
And what do they do?
They go back to the exact same place where they were arrested the day before
and start doing the exact same thing that got them arrested in the first place.
And then, they get arrested again.
And when they come in, and they're standing before the religious leaders,
they don't plead and say, we're sorry, please let us go, we won't do it anymore.
Look at this response that Peter gives to the high priest,
the top religious leader of his day in Israel.
He says, in verse 30, he says, literally, you killed Jesus.
He stands in front of the top religious leaders of his day and accuses them of murder.
And not just of murder, but he says, you killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree,
and God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior.
He says, you murdered Jesus, and God is standing in direct opposition to you.
That's harsh, especially being spoken towards a religious leader.
Not only that, but then he says, in verse 32,
we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,
whom God has given to those who obey him.
Now, follow this logic.
The Holy Spirit is a witness to the truth about these things of Jesus.
God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him.
Therefore, if you obey God, you have the Holy Spirit,
and you believe these things about Jesus.
However, you religious leaders do not believe these things about Jesus,
which means you do not have the Holy Spirit,
which means you are disobedient to God.
Peter and the apostles stand before these men who have the power to have them killed
and accuse them of murder,
accuse them of going directly opposed to God in their actions
and disobedience to God as a general pattern of life.
And if you hear this response and you think,
oh, that's probably just how people talked back then.
It's not.
And how do I know that?
Because look at the response of the religious leaders in verse 33.
They heard this.
They were enraged and wanted to kill them.
They're no longer wanting a happy, peaceful, friendly conversation.
They want blood.
They are angry.
And the apostles are standing there incredibly courageous.
Despite their lack of worldly power and lack of worldly authority,
they have this power and this courage
that the religious leaders of their day could only ever dream of.
The Sadducees respond in jealousy and fear
when they feel that their position is in danger.
And yet the apostles respond with amazing courage
when even their lives are on the line.
And it's not that they don't recognize this.
They know that their lives are in danger.
They know that this is a dangerous situation.
But God fills them with this incredible courage.
And this contrast between the Sadducees and the religious leaders
versus the apostles
shows us that worldly power is not where security comes from.
Being the boss, being the CEO, does not make you a secure person.
Having the top position in politics does not mean that you are courageous.
It has to come from somewhere else.
It takes something else for us to live with the type of courage,
the type of single-minded focus that the apostles had,
that Desmond Doss had.
Where does that come from?
Well, let's look at the source of unstoppable power.
As the religious leaders have the apostles on trial,
they all want to kill the apostles,
and one of the religious leaders, a man named Gamaliel,
stands up and says something actually very wise and insightful.
He says,
Hey guys, let's think about this.
If this new Christian movement is from men,
if their power is from men,
it's not going to last.
We've seen plenty of different leaders throughout the years
rise up, start these movements,
and as soon as a leader gets killed,
the movement just falls apart.
If this is from men,
it's just going to be like all the other ones.
Once a couple of key people get killed off,
it's going to stop.
No big deal.
We don't need to do anything actively to oppose them
because it's going to die out on its own.
However,
if this movement is from God,
it doesn't matter what we do to oppose them,
it's not going to work.
And if we try to make it stop,
and it is from God,
then what we're doing is we're actually opposing God,
which is probably not a good idea.
So we should stand back,
we should let these guys go,
we shouldn't cause any trouble for them,
that's all.
And the other religious leaders listen to him,
they decide to just beat the apostles
instead of killing them,
and then they let them go.
But notice what happens with Gamaliel here.
He has really good insights.
He speaks truth to a certain degree,
and yet he still has the wrong response
to what God is doing.
Because as he speaks these words,
look where he's standing.
He's not standing saying,
hey guys,
God is working here,
let's join him in what he's doing
and be a part of it.
He's standing there
as one of the religious leaders,
still in opposition to what God is doing,
saying,
uh,
maybe we shouldn't fight against this,
I don't know.
If you think about the story of Desmond Doss,
Gamaliel's response is the equivalent
of sitting at home on your couch.
Yeah,
I guess it's better than joining the wrong side
in the war
and fighting against the good guys.
But at the end of the day,
it's an active choice
not to fight for what is right.
Gamaliel,
who's one of the top religious leaders in Israel,
looks at the situation
of this growing movement of Christianity,
he says,
I think God might be at work here,
and then he stops,
and he doesn't say,
but I want to be a part of it.
So what does Gamaliel teach us?
It teaches us that recognizing
that there is a God
and recognizing that that God is at work
is not enough.
It's not enough to give us
this unstoppable power
like the apostles and Desmond Doss have.
For our lives to be transformed
in such a way
that we can live
with this singular laser focus
and unstoppable power,
it takes something more.
What is that something more?
Well, let's look at
how the apostles respond here.
They get beaten,
which back in those days,
getting beaten
was not just like,
you're done.
They would hit you
with these specially designed whips,
and they limited by law
the number of times
that they could whip you
because if they whipped you
too many times,
you would die.
And even within the legal limits,
people would sometimes die
from the impact
that your body took
while being beaten.
So these apostles
are whipped
to within an inch
of their lives.
And look at their response
as they leave
in verse 41.
They left the presence
of the council,
rejoicing.
Rejoicing about what?
Rejoicing that they were
counted worthy
to suffer dishonor
for the name.
There's something weird
about these guys.
Something different
about them.
Rejoicing that they were
counted worthy
to suffer dishonor
for the name.
has anyone here ever
like been wildly mistreated
and then walked away
from it saying,
yay!
That's not a normal
human response.
Something has happened
to these guys
that has changed them.
There is a power
at work in their lives
that is not a normal
human response.
They are now part
of this upside down
inside out kingdom
that finds honor
in shame
and rejoices
in suffering.
And how is this response
possible?
It's only possible
if the gospel
grips the depths
of your heart
and is allowed
to shape
and mold
the person
that you are becoming.
See,
until we
look
at who God is
and understand
how big
and amazing
and powerful
he is
and understand
the fact
that we have
chosen to rebel
against him
and cut ourselves
off from any
access to him,
from any type
of relationship
with him,
we're not going
to understand
how big
of a deal
a relationship
with him
really is.
but once
we see that
and once
we see
what he has
done
to make
a relationship
with him
possible for us,
that cannot help
but change us.
When we look
and we see
the God
who spoke
the universe
into existence
by speaking
and we recognize
that he became
a human being
like you
and me
so he could
have a relationship
with us,
that changes
us.
When we recognize
that Jesus,
this God
man,
didn't just
come to the
earth as a human
and live as a king
but came
to suffer
and die
because that
was the price
that it cost
for us
to be restored
to a relationship
with God
and that he
was willing
to do that
because he
loved us,
that changes
us.
Hebrews chapter
12
says that
Jesus
endured
the shame
of the cross
for joy
because he
loves us
and he wanted
to honor his
father and he
knew that us
having a relationship
with God
would be
something that
would result
in joy.
So even as he
was going to the
cross,
he was suffering,
there was anguish,
it was his darkest
moment and yet
he was still
motivated by
joy.
and when we
recognize
that this
God
who became
a man
so that he
could suffer
for us
so that we
could be
restored to
a relationship
with him
that we
in no way
shape or
form deserve
was also
raised from
the dead
and that his
resurrection
assures us
that there is
nothing,
not even
death,
that can
separate us
from this
relationship
with him,
that
changes us.
and when
he sends
his Holy Spirit
to live in our
lives and
guide us
as a part
of our
day-to-day
life,
shaping us
and making
us more
like him,
that
changes us
into these
type of
singular-focused,
laser-focused,
inside-out,
upside-down
people who
God will
use as
unstoppable
forces in
the world
for him.
When we
understand
the power
and the
amazingness
of these
truths,
we can
become the
type of
people who
stand up
for God
even when
it costs
us.
We can
become the
type of
people who
rejoice even
when we're
mistreated.
We can
become the
type of
people who
consider it
a joy
to be
mistreated
for God.
And when
we believe
the gospel
on this
level,
God makes
us into
unstoppable
forces for
his kingdom
that our
unstoppable
God uses
to spread
his
unstoppable
kingdom
in the
world.
You know,
I think
looking back
at the
story of
Desmond
Doss,
it's easy
to listen
to that
story and
think,
oh,
that was
great for
him and
I'm really
glad that
there's not
a war going
on right
now that
I would
have to
do that
in.
Anyone
else feel
that way?
You know,
the Bible
says that
life is
a war.
There's a
pastor and
preacher named
Paul Tripp,
and he says
it this way.
He says,
there's a war
for our
hearts that
takes place
in every
situation,
every location,
and every
relationship of
daily life.
This war is
fought on the
turf of our
hearts and
is fought for
control of
our souls.
every decision,
every action,
and every word
in our lives
reflects this
war.
It is the
great conflict
of human
life.
This war
is the
reason for
all the
other wars
fought between
people.
You know,
here in
Hong Kong,
it can be so
easy to be
consumed by
comfort and
not want to
think about
the fact that
we are living
in a war
on our
day-to-day
life.
every moment
that we
choose to
spend focusing
on our
comfort or
our advancement
or our
idols is a
moment that
we're losing
ground in
this fight
on the side
of our
unstoppable
God.
And God
wants us to
approach this
battle in
life with a
singular focus
on him.
Just like
Desmond
Doss,
each of our
lives we live
surrounded by
people who
need,
to be
rescued.
Now that
doesn't mean
throwing them
over our
shoulders and
walking them
to the edge
of a cliff,
but it
means pointing
them to
the source
of life,
the God
who loves
them and
who wants
to save
and rescue
people.
And for us
to be effective
in the role
that God
has called
us to,
we need to
live our
lives with
a singular
focus.
That doesn't
come from
just recognizing
there's a God
or recognizing
that he's at
work,
but from
trusting in
him and
joining him
in the work
that he's
doing.
And as long
as our lives
are built
around things
other than
God,
we're going
to be
ineffective.
But when we
build our
lives around
God and
shape them
around the
gospel,
it will
become fuel
that changes
us into
these unstoppable
forces for
God's kingdom.
And at the
end of the
battle,
it's not going
to be
President
Truman or
Trump,
standing there
congratulating
us,
but it's
going to be
God looking
at us and
saying,
well done,
good and
faithful servant.
Let's pray.
Father,
we thank you
that you are
a good God.
We thank you
that you are
a God who
rescues,
that you are
a God who
empowers us
to be these
unstoppable
forces for
you.
As I think
about this
idea of being
unstoppable
forces for
God, I'm
reminded of a
verse in
Hebrews chapter
11 where it
talks about
Abel.
And it
says that
even though
he is dead,
he still
speaks.
Not even
death could
stop him
from showing
the world how
great and
amazing our
God is.
And God,
I pray that
you would
shape us into
those types of
people today.
People who
are unstoppable,
not even death,
can stop us
from showing
the world how
great you are
because you
are worth it.
I pray that
you would show
us what the
idols are that
we're relying on
in our lives
and that you
would help us
to fight against
those continuously
even when it's
hard.
That you would
give us joy in
knowing you and
trusting you.
And that you
would spread your
kingdom here on
earth.
through us.
God, we love
you.
We thank you
that you love
us.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Thank you.