Simply Follow Jesus

Acts 9:32-43 Simply Follow Jesus Introduction: This morning we come back to the Apostle Peter in Luke's following the story of the early church, and we'll follow him for a few chapters and then the rest of the book of Acts follows Paul the Apostle. This passage records two healing accounts, and the act as a kind of reintroduction to Peter before the huge event of the Gentiles receiving the Gospel and the Spirit. Interesting facts -Luke tends to record his miracle stories and interactions in pairs, specifically a male and female pair. Another interesting note is that Luke gives way more information and detail to the healing of Tabitha than he does Aeneas. Both were most likely Christians and yet Luke highlights the great influence and service of Tabitha to the community. He specifically calls Tabitha a disciple, and mentions how she was always doing good and helping the poor. This clearly shows, along with various other passages, that far from being oppressive or bias toward women the NT celebrates the life of women and sees them as co-laborers in the gospel and equals in the inheriting of the glory and promises of God. As Paul puts it, "for there is neither Jew nor Greek, male, nor female, slave nor free, but you are all Sons of God." Does this mean that the Bible rejects gender or doesn't see gender differences? No, but it does mean that God sees both male and female together making up mankind who together bear his image and are equals in honor and worth... It is only as both male and female that we can put on display this image of God. But as we've been going through Acts we've been trying to pull out the major themes and message of the narrative. As we've been doing this I have noticed an underlying theme that I would like to point out because I believe that it addresses a question that we often ask ourselves or need to ask ourselves on a regular basis. That is - What does God want for my life? What I mean is that often times after we have received salvation in Jesus and his presence by the Holy Spirit, joined the church, and begin to grow in our understanding of the scripture we often come to a plateau and wonder if this is all there is? What now? What does God want for my life, often times we want the specifics, I'm not here to answer that but I hope that by understanding in general what God wants for our lives we will be able through the scripture, the work of the Holy Spirit and strong christian community be able to answer the specifics of what God desires. Of course asking the question what does God want for my life assumes that we have already settled in our hearts who God is and what he has done... we have found him to be desirable because of the love, grace, and acceptance that are found in Jesus. What does God want for my Life? 1. Who's Story? 1. As I've pointed out in the past studies, there have been so many correlations between the life of Jesus and the lives of his followers. Two very clear examples of this are Stephen and Philip. 2. We probably all remember the story of Stephen the Church's first Martyr. Stephen is falsely accused of speaking against the Temple and the Law. He is brought before the Jewish supreme court, tried and stoned to death. As Luke records the story of Stephen's trial we see many connections to Jesus' own trial. 1. A trial before the high priest and Sanhedrin (Mark 14:53) 2. False witnesses (Mark 14:56-57 and Matt 26:60-61) 3. Testimony concerning the destruction of the temple (Mark 14:58; Matt 26:61) 4. Temple "made with Hands" (Mark 14:58) 5. Son of Man saying (Mark 14:62) 6. Charge of blasphemy (Mark 14:61) 7. High Priest question (Mark 14:61) 8. Committal of Spirit (Luke 23:46) 9. Cry out with a loud voice (Mark 14:34) 10. Intercession for Enemies (Luke 23:34) 3. Philip's road to Gaza encounter also emulates a story of Jesus - the road to Emmaus encounter. 1. An encounter with a stranger on the road. (Luke 24:15) 2. A conversation about Jesus' centrality to the Old Testament story and all of scripture. (Luke 24:26-27) 3. A sacrament administered (Luke 24:30) 4. The sudden disappearance of the messenger (Luke 24:31) 4. In our passage this morning - The healing's done by Peter sound like they're taken straight out of both Mark and Matthew's gospels.. 1. In Mark 2 a lame man has been brought to Jesus, but rather than healing him first Jesus forgives him of his sins, than as a sign that he actually has this authority he also heals the man's paralysis. He says, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-he said to the paralytic- 11 "I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home." 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" 2. Then we have the famous story of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead recorded in Mark 5 and Matthew 9. It says, While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha cumi," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat." - Mark 5:35-43 3. What's going on here? Who's story is Luke telling? Jesus' or Peter; Jesus' or Stephen; Jesus' or Philip's? Is Luke simply copying these stories or rather is he trying to show us something deeply significant? 4. I believe Luke's point is to show us that Jesus' followers are so closely linked to their master that his story has become their story. 2. Jesus' Story and Our's 1. It might sound or seem weird to us. But isn't this the amazing message of the scripture? God himself has taken up humanity's story, suffered their terrible fate, and delivered them from eternal banishment from God's kingdom. Since Jesus has taken up our story and he now invites us to take up his story; those who follow him, find themselves slowly but surely speaking, thinking, and acting the way their Lord did and not only that but at the end they will find that they will be glorified with the same glory with which the Son is glorified. Scripture is clear that each of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ will share in that glory. God intends our sanctification; our glorification. He intends to make us image bearers of his Son. 1. If this is the goal of our lives - a work that God has begun in us and will be faithful to complete, then the message is simple - follow Jesus, he is the goal and the way to it. 2. Theologian Eberhard Jüngel states that Jesus is the Parable of God. "This Christological statement is to be regarded as the fundamental proposition of a hermeneutic of the speak-ability of God." 3. What is a Parable? A parable is an extended or narrated metaphor; a story meant to create a comparison between a known thing and an unknown thing, the purpose being to illuminate the unknown thing so as to bring something new, unforeseen and surprising to the hearer. The Story of Jesus is a parable of God because Jesus is a man and can be seen whereas God is Spirit and cannot be seen. Jesus' life is the parable of God par excellence. 4. This is what I want my life to be, a living organism through which God speaks and works. Not a hero, but a regular guy working away at imitating Christ in my everyday life. If I blow it sometimes that makes me like the Bible heroes. I'm not Jesus. I am a Parable of Jesus.. 5. Just to say this sounds egotistical. But sometimes when on simple visits in a cafe, it is as if I am not even there. God is there. Sometimes God comes to people when I preach, or pray, or even when I ask how they are doing when I bump into them in the grocery store. Being a Parable of Jesus we understand when Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me" (Matthew 10:40) Or as Paul says, "We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us..." We observe that when we encounter people along the way, they don't experience us so much as they experience God. How do we account for this? We are parable of Jesus. 6. "How else does Christ communicate himself through us to others? Seeing ourselves as parables of Jesus displaces the hazy, hyper spiritual gnostic spirituality that imagines God mystically seeping through us to others, ignoring our actual historical lives and bodies. The mystical seeping theory doesn't require ethics. In this view, who I am, what I am from day to day doesn't really matter. But if Jesus is communicated through us because of the likeness we share with him in our everyday life, if the essence of delivering Christ is living like him in our whole life, matching our life's narrative with his life's narrative, then our everyday life counts. Every Christian's life is meant to be a parable of Jesus." - Dave Hansen - The Art of Pastoring 7. ***this is all God is calling us to do whether it's Peter, Stephen, Philip, Tabitha or any one else, the call is to simply follow Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less. Obviously this incapsulates both the simplicity and complexity of all God has for us.. 8. Sometimes we are confused or miserable in our present journey as Christians because we have begun again to center our lives around ourselves, to live for ourselves. Maybe we are serving God in many practical ways but like Lewis puts it - maybe we're like an honest man paying our taxes but secretly hoping their will be some left over for ourselves. I think that this happens because we have forgotten why we are here - remember Paul the Apostle says, "One has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." -2 Corinthians 1. If we are living any other way as Christians we are going to be miserable and confused, unfulfilled and disillusioned. But as we live out this calling as we simply follow Jesus we find Joy, peace, and hope for our lives.. 9. For some at this moment this is a reminder, a wake up call as to why you are here now, alive and breathing. Follow Jesus, he is not just your savior and Lord - He is the way, the truth, the life! Allow the father to tell the amazing story of his Son through your life. 10. For others it is a reminder that no matter how broken we are or disqualified we might feel (or actually be); God intends our sanctification; our glorification. He intends to make us image bearers of his Son. "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." So keep following Jesus, hold on to Jesus. The Father will complete the good work he began in you. 11. I believe that the word from the Lord is that we would be a church, a community, individuals that are seeking to simply follow Jesus - whatever the occasion calls for; that this simple calling would give shape and life to everything we do. 12.