Hi everyone, my name is Adrian Wong,
and I'm one of the members of the staff team at this church.
It's great that I can bring the word of God to you today.
And I'm also a regular user of Facebook,
and I've seen some memes that try to capture this time in a lighthearted way.
The best one that I have seen is the four stages of quarantine.
You might have that on screen with you.
I love this one because it captures this moment perfectly.
From the stresses of homeschooling or work,
and the potential wage gain of being housebound.
And I just really hope that for myself,
that I won't come out as a more haggardly fatter version of myself
at the end of this time.
And we live in a time of drastic change.
In this section of the Bible,
we can also see and meet a group of Jesus' followers
who also went through a drastic change.
Well, it's easy to bunk up and have a siege mentality during this time.
Just look at all the ludicrous examples of hoarding.
But today, I hope to challenge you to live differently,
both for right now and also to aim for what we can be at the end of this time.
I'll pray to God now so that we can do this.
Dear God, as you change the disciples through Jesus,
through your word,
pray that you can do a similar work in us.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So please keep the Bible open up at Luke 24,
so that we can read through this.
What we have here is a before and after picture.
In verses 36 to 43,
we have the before picture.
The disciples were in a state of shock,
even when Jesus appeared in bodily form.
Let's look at verse 37.
They were described as startled and frightened.
They thought that they saw a ghost.
We can see that Jesus tried to show in different ways that he is real.
In verse 40, he said,
When he had said this,
he showed them his hands and feet.
And while they still did not believe it
because of joy and amazement,
he asked them,
Do you have anything to eat?
The disciples here still couldn't believe what they saw.
So now that we have the before picture,
let's look at the after.
The after picture is in verses 50 to 53.
I'll read from verse 52.
Then they worshipped him
and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
And they stayed continually at the temple,
praising God.
We must ask ourselves this question.
How did they change from fear and confusion
to worship and proclamation?
To do this, we need to understand what caused the change.
The first thing that caused the change
is the disciples realized
what Jesus means from the Old Testament
because Jesus showed them what he means.
In verse 46, he told them,
This is what is written.
The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.
Jesus' death isn't just a cruel execution
or an accidental death.
But as the Messiah, God's chosen servant,
he willingly suffered so we can be forgiven.
Jesus is also God's chosen king,
rising on the third day
to show that he can defeat the ultimate enemy, death.
Secondly, the disciples understood
Jesus' work and its significance.
In verse 47, it says,
Repentance for the forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name.
So here, preaching isn't about just what happened to Jesus,
but what his actions has achieved.
So, what does repentance and forgiveness
in his name mean?
So let's look at the idea of repentance.
Dictionary.com defines repentance in this way.
Firstly, deep sorrow or contrition for a past sin,
wrongdoing or the like.
The second way is regret for any past action.
Is this the kind of repentance that Jesus has in mind?
We often function with this dictionary definition,
but that wouldn't be what is described here.
You see, if we function with that definition,
it has nothing to do with Jesus.
Repentance is not only about giving up your moral vices,
but it's actually turning,
turning away from those things to Jesus as the king.
In the same way, forgiveness in Jesus' name
is not mainly about forgiving other people
or seeking forgiveness from others
or trying to forgive yourself to clear your conscience.
When we turn to Jesus,
we realize that we need forgiveness
and the only way we can do that
is through the death of Jesus
so that our wrongdoing can be paid for by Jesus.
So look at the task that Jesus gave to the disciples.
We can see that in verse 47.
And repentance for the forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem.
The idea we see here
also appears in Luke, in Acts,
which is a sequel to Luke.
In chapter 1, verse 8, it says,
The disciples carried out the instructions from Jesus
from Luke 24, verse 47,
in the book of Acts.
There are two paths to Jesus' instruction,
which is to preach repentance and forgiveness,
and who to preach it to,
to all nations.
We can see the disciples
proclaiming this message
in the book of Acts.
Let me read you some examples
from the book of Acts.
In Acts, chapter 2, verse 38, it says,
Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins.
Acts 10, verse 43, says,
All the prophets testify about him
that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
Acts 14, verse 15, says,
We bring you good news,
telling you to turn from these worthless things
to the living God.
Acts 17, 30,
In the past, God overlooked such ignorance,
but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
In Acts 26,
I preach that they should repent and turn to God
and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.
And in the sermons that I've quoted from,
they also fulfilled the prayer
to preach to all nations,
with Peter preaching in Jerusalem in Acts 2,
and at the end,
near the end,
Paul reaching Rome at the end of Acts.
So, let's look at the third thing.
How are we to proclaim Jesus now?
It's fairly obvious that none of us
are old enough to see Jesus
or have been taught by the disciples.
And we are not eyewitnesses like the disciples are.
And although we won't proclaim Jesus in the same way,
the brief to us is similar.
We are to proclaim Jesus to all nations.
So, let me give you two practical ways
for each part of the brief.
Firstly, how do we reach the nations?
The first way that we can do that
is to deepen our existing relationships.
So, I'll give you an example from one of my friends.
He, like me,
we like playing board games,
and we meet once every two or three months to do so.
As a parent with young kids,
I don't get to do this often,
so that's all we can do,
once every two or three months.
He's also a Christian,
and he really wanted to deepen his relationship
with his high school friends
that he hasn't met that much.
So, he organized to play board games
and chat.
He found that this way of playing,
people were much more willing to meet.
He has organized three of these meetings
in the last month already.
And he had time to delve into more
one-to-one relationships after the games.
The example of what he did
is something that we can emulate.
I'll just break it down into steps
so we can sort of think about
how we do that in our own context.
The first thing is,
we need to encourage
our existing physical communities
to keep in touch in virtual communities.
The second thing
is once you form these communities,
be an active participant
and initiate conversations.
And when you're in these conversations,
be genuine and caring.
And work out how they are feeling
and use it as a bridge
to invite people
to our online church
or community groups.
This season of fear and uncertainty
means that people are more willing
to open up.
Somebody at church shared with me
that he felt during the last month
he has much deeper conversations.
He thinks that it would take years
to achieve the same level of death
under the normal circumstances.
The second way that we can reach nations,
besides building deeper relationships,
is to make new ones.
So for a lot of us,
social distancing is quite tough already.
But imagine doing this by yourself,
as a student,
or a worker on a working visa
from overseas.
And they can't return home overseas
because of travel restrictions.
And they have no way
of connecting with their family and friends.
We have a great opportunity
to connect with many people like this.
especially in the area of Chesford.
In this local council area,
just more than half,
50.6% of people,
were born overseas.
The nations have come to Chesford.
And the nations need to know Jesus,
especially in this time.
So I'll show you some ways
that people at this church
have tried to take hold of this opportunity
to connect with people during this time.
So some people,
during their exercise walks,
have been dropping notes to their neighbours,
either the neighbours
or the same people in the apartment complex,
offering help,
like picking up groceries,
offering their number for a friendly chat,
to establish goodwill.
And as a result,
quite a few of them
have gotten to know their neighbours
a bit better.
And others have tried to do this
in quite creative ways.
For example,
they got the kids to play on the driveway
instead of in the backyard,
just to get more chances
to bump into the neighbours.
I encourage you to think of creative ways
that you can do this
in your own context.
For those that are watching the service online,
and are meeting as a group,
why don't you meet after the service
and brainstorm ideas
of how you can make more connections
and make deeper connections as well.
So let's look at the second part of the brief,
which is how to proclaim Jesus.
So it's unlikely that many of us
will stand in front of 3,000 people
like Peter or more
and proclaim Jesus.
But let me suggest two ways
that we can do this in our context.
The first thing that we have already seen,
that we have mentioned,
is to invite people
to our online communities,
both the large ones
like the live streaming
that you are a part of right now,
or the small ones
in our community groups.
So I'll show you why that's important.
In the past,
the typical path
for people to become a Christian
is for them to figure out
what the Bible means
before joining a local church.
Nowadays,
quite a few of us
want to see and experience
what things are like
for believing.
Putting it another way,
in the past,
a lot of people
want to believe
before they belong.
Now it's more likely
the other way around.
People want to belong
before they believe.
Now this statement
doesn't only apply
to those that grew up
in the postmodern West,
but it also applies
for cultures
that never heard
of the good news of Jesus.
When these people
see and hear
and experience
the good news of Jesus
in action,
they would want to work out
what Jesus means
for them in real life.
I'll give you
an example of this.
A few years ago,
I was talking to
a grandpa
from mainland China
here on a one-year visa
because he was here
to look after his grandkids.
We went to the same church
and as we were
standing outside,
he noticed
how the kids
were playing.
He said to me,
I can see that
you guys are different.
The kids are taking
care of each other
and the parents
were willing
to help the kids
and not just
their own kids
but other kids
if they needed help.
That was attractive
to this grandpa
so he decided
to hang around
this church community
for a while.
Can you see that
in this example
when a community
even as young as kids
express their repentance
turning away
from living for themselves
for caring for each other
it gives us
a living example
of repentance
and the opportunity
to speak about
the message of Jesus.
Even though we can't
meet in person
right now,
we can invite people
to online communities
and there are some
unexpected advantages
for us to do this.
Well,
when people can
live stream church
at home,
they don't have to worry
about fitting in.
They can do it
from the comfort
of their own home
and it's not that far
to,
it's right here at home
so it's not far
for you to go to church.
And the best thing is
people are opting
into church.
They can opt in
as their own accord
and watch this
and work out
what Jesus means for them.
The thing is
the way that we
express community
right now,
whether we are warm
and inviting,
impacts the way
we meet together
when we do
come back together.
So my first challenge
for you is
are you willing
to invite people
to community?
An easy way
for you to do that
is just to post
the live stream links
every week
for church
on Sunday
and work out
how to do
a personal invite
for your community groups.
The second way
that we can proclaim Jesus
is to use our stories.
When people see
the experiences
of our repentance
and forgiveness,
not just the facts
of what Jesus did
and not just
how you were converted,
but how you experience
it every day
is a concrete example
for people to see.
So I'll give you
a second challenge
of how to do that.
I'll film myself
sharing a story
of how I turned
to Jesus
and how it's
impacted my life.
And I would like
to invite you
to take up
the same challenge.
Record a video
of yourself,
tell others
how the good news
of Jesus
has impacted you
and posted
on social media.
Remember,
we can share
both our successes
and failures.
When we are genuine,
others can see
that the impact
of Jesus has on us.
It's actually,
especially in our failures,
that people can see
how repentance
and forgiveness
is about in action.
So as we come
to a close,
I would like to think
of us to think
of church
in the form
of a meme.
So what would
we be like
at the end
of social distancing?
Imagine a church
that takes
the task
of reaching
the nation seriously.
Imagine a church
where every regular
member
has built
five deeper
or new relationships
with those
in our community.
Imagine a church
that takes
proclamation seriously,
that invites people
to our church
and community groups,
and is ready
to share
the good news
of Jesus
in their stories
of how Jesus
has impacted them.
Wouldn't that be
a change worth
aiming for?
So what I would
like to do now
is for us
to have 15 seconds
to jot down
what you want
to change
and James
will lead us
in prayer
after this time.
with the law
to bring us
into that
and
in their
infirmed