Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus’ Rules of Order

Luke 22:24-27; Acts 2:37-47

 

/A dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.

But you are not to be like that.

Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?

Is it not the one who is at the table?

But I am among you as one who serves/…

 

/When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” /

/Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

/

/With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

/

/They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved/.

The transformation is incredible!

In the Upper Room, on the eve of His death Jesus’ disciples are squabbling.

At Pentecost, mere weeks later, there is such power and harmony as the greatest revival in the history of the church breaks out!

We can understand what happened in the Upper Room.

The disciples were human … like us.

They had their little jealousies.

Some of them had sharp memories for wrongs and insults.

Some of them were aggressive and ambitious; they knew that if you don’t promote yourself in this world, no one else will.

They were jockeying for place and position in the kingdom just as would any decent Canadian.

“I deserve the place of honour,” said one.

“You don’t deserve anything,” said another.

“I remember how you behaved that time in Caesarea.”

Jesus had to intercede.

“The road to greatness lies through serving,” He said.

“If you want to be great, then begin as a servant.”

That event is so typical of mere mortals, despite our union with Christ.

It is much harder to understand what happened at the festival of Pentecost.

All those people gathered from many points of the globe…  A spirit of solidarity among the disciples…  No fussing or bickering…  Only a witness to Jesus and what God had done at the cross…  Then the Spirit of God fell upon them so mightily that the church ever since has celebrated what happened as part of its annual calendar of remembrance.

They moved from quarrelling to concert, from contention to unity.

What happened?

What would account for such a change?

Luke, who reported both incidents, makes the reason perfectly clear.

Between the Upper Room and the festival of Pentecost, between the quarrelling and the unity, they had two unforgettable experiences—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

They had stood by and watched the Master—the One they had followed for years, the One with whom they had walked and worked and eaten and slept, the One who had been their Lord and teacher, as He had been nailed mercilessly to a rough Roman cross and raised against the Judean sky.

They had seen Him suffering on the cross.

They had watched His life drain out drop by drop as His blood stained the sand and the rocks at the foot of the cross.

They had also been astounded by the news of the empty tomb, and by the risen presence of the man who had met them everywhere—now here, now there, and they had marvelled as He told them He would never leave them, that His Spirit would be with them forever.

That’s what had happened.

The crucifixion and the resurrection had altered their lives forever!

It happens in every age, doesn’t it?

A man is rough and unkind, cursing and drinking and bullying the weaker persons around him.

He meets the Saviour, comes up against the crucifixion and resurrection, and his life and demeanour are totally altered.

He is no longer at the centre of his universe—God is.

He is no longer abusive; he is thoughtful and kind—he changes.

The old devil in him gives way to a new angel that moves in.

The same thing happens to churches.

They become worn-out, self-centred, quarrelsome.

People argue over the most inappropriate things.

Then they remember the crucifixion and the resurrection.

“God forgive us,” they say, “we forgot what it was all about!”

And they change!

Christ begins to live in and through them again.

They stop asking what God can do for them and they instead ask what they can do for God.

They are overtaken by a spirit of love and gentleness, of peace and harmony and good will.

They begin to whisper again about change and renewal, about doing the will of God.

They remember Pentecost, and yearn for what happened then to happen all over again … in them.

What did happen at Pentecost?

The People United in A Spirit of Anticipation* **— *Here we read the most astonishing statement:* */When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place// /[*Acts 2:1*].

It is astonishing because it points to an uncommon commodity in modern church life—unity.

Others have made frequent note that the early believers united for ten days in prayer and Peter then preached for ten minutes resulting in the conversion of three thousand.

The contemporary church prays for ten minutes and preaches for ten days and has the audacity to speak of a great revival if three people are converted.

The revival in this instance is witnessed in the fact that one hundred twenty people united for ten days in prayer.

The harmony preceded the power.

When we meet, we should expect an air of anticipation to be evident in our meetings.

Such anticipation is the result of nothing less than the outworking of hearts which are united in expectation that God shall be present.

When we have united in prayer, when we have sought the same response of God, we will then find ourselves seized with divine expectation.

Jesus promised His disciples: /I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it// /[*John 14:13,14*].

Of all the requests we might imagine which would bring glory to the Father through the Son, would not the request that He should meet with us find a place at the head of the list?

Would not a request that we should see His power and glory displayed among us assume a priority on any list we might imagine?

Would not the request that His Name should be magnified be of greatest importance?

I suggest that were we to truly understand the glorious consequence of the presence of the Risen Christ with His people we would not permit any temporal and pressing responsibility of the moment to interfere with prayer and petition for that meeting.

Dear people, God is clearly pleased with a people living together in unity within the church … and harmony precedes the glorious revelation of His person.

A second aspect of the unity displayed within the apostolic church preceding Pentecost is that the believers endeavoured to know the mind of the Lord.

*Acts 1:14-20* reads: /They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers./

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus—he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

/(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.

Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)/

/“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, /

/‘`May his place be deserted;/

/let there be no one to dwell in it,’/

/and, /

/‘`May another take his place of leadership.’”/

What I would have you notice in this portion of Scripture is the utter reliance upon the Word of God as the means to discover the will of God which these disciples displayed.

Peter makes what must appear to be a common sense appeal for a response by the believers to Judas' suicide.

Discontented with a mere appeal to logic, however, he directs attention to the Word of God.

The great fisherman thunders/ /*It is written* as he appeals to the Word of God.

Have you ever noted the number of times these first believers appealed to the Word to discover the mind of God on a given matter?