CCA’s Vision: Worship — Sermon by the Very Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

Let us pray.

Oh father, we invite the presence of

your holy spirit to speak through me and

to speak to all of us, applying your

word to our hearts and to our lives with

power and conviction for your purposes

and for your glory. Amen.

>> Please be seated.

So, as I I said, we are continuing our

sermon series on the four pillars of our

vision as a church. And today's pillar

is mission. Even though that may be out

of order, but today being sanctity of

life, I wanted the emphasis on mission

to coincide with the emphasis on

sanctity of life, which is in itself a

mission.

Christ Church Anglican seeks to be a

gospel centered congregation in the

Anglican tradition where worship is

central, catechizus is p pervasive, life

together is nurtured and mission

extended from Thomas Square to the city

of Savannah,

the dasis and to the world wherever God

may call us. We are a congregation

committed to mission

and we are engaged in a myriad of

different missional activities both

locally and abroad. And so today I'm not

going to emphasize doing more. I think

that as a church, as individuals, we are

doing missional work. What I want to

emphasize are elements of our mission so

that our mission will be fruitful and

impactful according to God's purposes

for the mission of our church and us as

individuals. And the elements I want to

emphasize as being part of our mission

are the Holy Spirit, his presence and

his power and the grace of God. Grace

for ourselves and grace for others. And

then the word of God expressed in the

gospel of Jesus Christ. Those three

elements. And I don't want to make

anyone feel pressure to do anything and

want to relieve anyone of guilt or

condemnation about feeling like you

haven't done enough or should do more.

What I want to encourage is invitation

and reception of the Holy Spirit, his

power, his might, the grace of God, and

to receive and to become a vessel for

God's gospel, the good news of Jesus

Christ. And I want to start with the Old

Testament prophecy of Zechariah.

Zechariah was a prophet who ministered

to the people of Israel after the exile

in Babylon and their return to

Jerusalem.

Say in 586 BC uh 100 years plus after

the northern kingdom of Israel had been

attacked by Assyria and those Israelites

living there had been scattered

throughout the Assyrian Empire. In 586,

the southern kingdom of Judah was

attacked by Babylon and many of the

residents there were taken as captive

and exiles into Babylon. And 70 years

later, according to the prophecy given

to Jeremiah, God raised up a king Cyrus

of the Mes and Persia who enabled the

exiles to return to Jerusalem. And they

were given the charge by God to rebuild

the temple that had been destroyed by

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And

by destroyed, he had torn it down. He

had burned it. It had become a mound of

rubbish and destruction.

And so, Zechariah ministered to those

exiles who had returned to Jerusalem and

who faced this enormous and seemingly

impossible task of building a second

temple.

Zechariah is

receiving a vision from an angel who

awakens him at night. And the book of

Zechariah is a series of these visions.

And in chapter 4, he is awakened. He

sees an angel who shows him a vision of

the lamp and of the two olive trees. And

he asks him, "Zechariah, what do you

see?"

And when Zechariah asks, "What are

these?"

The angel answers him with with the

meaning and impact of that vision. And

he says in verse five

or verse six, the angel said to him, the

meaning of this vision is this is the

word of the Lord to Zarabel or Zerabel.

Not a biblical name that I've ever known

anyone to be named,

but a significant figure who had become

the governor of Jerusalem and of the

people who had returned from exile. So

he was the governor who was charged with

rebuilding this temple.

And so the word of the Lord to Zerabel

Zerbabel

is not by might nor by power but by my

spirit says the Lord of hosts.

This project is not going to be done

because he can gather an army of workers

who are strong and have the wherewithal

to try to pile up this mound of

destruction into a temple. It's not

going to be accomplished by his wisdom

or by the resources of the emperor

Cyrus.

It's not going to happen by magic. It's

going to happen by the spirit of the

Lord. And this is the spirit of the Lord

of hosts who is the Lord of heaven's

armies. He is the sovereign Lord over

all creation. He is the one who created

all and who sustains all. And he has

given them this charge. And while the

the people in e who had returned from

exile don't have all the resources that

Solomon had when he built the first

temple who had a whole nation and peace

with all the kingdoms around who

supplied him with everything.

This would happen only by the spirit of

the Lord.

And then the vision goes on and the

angel says after this, "Who are you, oh

great mountain be before Zerabel? You

shall become a plain and he shall bring

forth the top stone amid shouts of grace

grace to it." There was a mountain of

destruction that had been left by

Nebuchadnezzar when he destroyed that

first temple. It is a literal mountain.

It's also a figurative mountain of the

impossible task that the governor had

been charged with by God.

And the angel of the Lord says that this

mountain shall become a plane. It shall

be leveled. The rubbish shall be

removed. The task shall be accomplished.

And it shall be finalized by Zerabel

bringing the cornerstone, the top stone,

and finishing this project and declaring

grace, grace over it. The mission of God

given to Zarabel and to Joshua the high

priest. This enormous task

would be accomplished by the spirit of

God and by his grace. And what was true

of this enorm enormous task of building

the second temple is true of the mission

that God has called us to as a church or

to you as individuals.

It is done by the Holy Spirit of God and

by his grace. It takes away the pressure

of us. It takes away us having to will

things to happen. It takes away the

guilt that we can subject ourselves to.

It takes away us having to project or

compel others to do a work. The mission

of God depends on his Holy Spirit and it

is empowered by his Holy Spirit and it

is by grace

and it becomes the mission becomes a

witness of God's grace for us.

The passage that we read from the book

of Acts demonstrates how this is

fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

In in the the book of Acts, it begins

with Jesus after his death and

resurrection spending 40 days with his

disciples. It says that he taught them

about the kingdom of God during that

time and then he ascended into heaven.

And then after 10 days, we see in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, the disciples are together

praying and God pours out his Holy

Spirit on them on the day of Pentecost

and Peter preaches that day. And it says

that 5,000 became believers. And it

would seem like of those 5,000, they

were all Jewish people who became

believers in Jesus. And then the church

grew through the ministry of those Jews

to other Jews.

And it seems like that that's what God

was going to do. And in Acts chapter 10,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

we find Peter praying on the roof of

someone's house. And God shows him a

vision three times of animals and things

that he could eat, but he never has

because they were considered unclean.

And God says, "Kill and eat, Peter." And

he says, "No, Lord. I've never eaten

anything unclean." And God rebukes him

and says, "Don't call unclean what I've

called clean." And simultaneously, God

had been sending an angel to a Roman

centurion named Cornelius, who seemed

like a good man, seeking God. And God

said, "Call for Peter," who's staying at

Simon the Tanner's house. I think that's

it, by or Simon's house by the sea. And

he sends his men to go get Peter. And

Peter is instructed by God to go with

him. And so we find our text with Peter

showing up at this Roman centurion's

house. And as he's welcomed into this

house, he greets them with not the

warmest greeting.

He shares with them basically, you know,

us Jews, we don't really like you

Gentiles and we don't associate with you

and it's against our law for me to even

be here because I've considered you

unclean.

And so you can imagine, oh,

but then Peter says, but God taught me

not to call anything unclean that he has

called clean. So here I am.

And you know, we've heard the cliche,

showing up is half the battle. Well, in

this case, I think that's really true.

Peter, showing up was half the battle.

It was the challenge for him because he

had to cross a barrier that had been

constructed over many centuries between

the Jews and the Gentiles. And God took

him right across it and said, "You go to

this man's house." And in verse 34 it

just says, "So Peter opened his mouth."

Here I am. And he starts talking and he

says, "Truly I understand that God shows

no partiality. But in every nation,

anyone who fears him and does what is

right is acceptable to him. As for the

word that he sent to Israel, preaching

good news of peace through Jesus Christ,

he is Lord of all."

And I think this is an significant

statement when it comes to our mission.

As for the word,

preaching good news of peace through

Jesus Christ, our mission must be a

vessel for the good news of peace

through Jesus Christ. And then the text

has in parentheses, he is Lord of all.

It's like a reminder. He's not just my

Lord. He's not just the Lord of the

Jews. He's not just the Lord of the

people that I like and have already

accepted him. He is the Lord of all. And

the good news of peace is for all who

will hear. And he goes on, Peter does in

Acts 10:37, "You yourselves know what

Acts 10:37

happened throughout all Judea, beginning

from Galilee after the baptism that John

proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of

Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with

power. He went about doing good and

healing all who were oppressed by the

devil, for God was with him." This is

the ministry of Jesus that Peter is

describing. God anointed him with the

Holy Spirit and with power. And even

that phrase as I as I read it, it

redundant.

If you're anointed with the Holy Spirit,

if you have the Holy Spirit, you have

the power of God. But Peter wants to

elaborate to demonstrate that Jesus had

not only the spirit, but he was

demonstrating the power of God. and he

went about doing good and healing those

oppressed by the devil. And this is our

mission. It it is to receive the Holy

Spirit, the presence and power of God

and to go about doing good,

to go about healing those oppressed by

the devil. And now Jesus, when we look

at the gospels, he delivered people who

were possessed by the devil.

And some of us may do that at times. But

the work of healing those oppressed by

the devil is speaking the good news of

God's grace and love to those who are

oppressed by the fallenness of this

world and by the work of the devil that

has lied to them, that has tricked them,

that has led them into sin and deception

and has made them oppressed. It's

healing those who are in despair and

depression, who have no hope, who have

never learned that God loves them, and

so they feel unloved. All of this is

oppression by the devil

who led this world into sin. And the

work of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, by

the grace of God is to bring healing

through that gospel message and through

that anointing.

And then Peter says, 'We are witnesses

of all that he did in the country of the

Jews in Jerusalem. They put him to death

by hanging him on a tree, but God raised

him on the third day and made him to

appear, not to all people, but to us who

had been chosen by God as witnesses, who

ate and drank with him after he rose

from the dead. And he commanded us to

preach to the people and to testify that

he is the one appointed by God to judge

the living and the dead. To him all the

prophets bear witness that everyone who

believes in him receives forgiveness of

sins through his name. And that's the

grace of the gospel. And you notice

Peter says God or Jesus rose from the

dead and he didn't appear to everyone

but he appeared to us and he commanded

us to go forth and preach. Today not

everyone knows Jesus. Not everyone has

received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Not everyone has had someone lead them

to Jesus by sharing the gospel. Jesus

hasn't appeared in visions and dreams to

everyone to show that he is Lord. But he

has saved us. He has made himself known

to us.

And we have to be the witness to those

who don't yet know him by sharing with

them that Jesus is Lord. and all who

believe in him receive forgiveness of

sins and to warn that he is the one

appointed to judge the living and the

dead. And there will come a time when we

all stand before him.

So receive him into your life, him who

loves you and receive the Holy Spirit.

And so Peter essentially shows up. He

opens his mouth and he just shares with

this household of Romans and a Roman

centurion what he knows what he knows

about Jesus. And it's really simple.

Jesus is Lord. Jesus died for our sins

and rose again. And all who believe in

him receive forgiveness of sins and are

saved.

And while he shares that message, verse

44 says that while Peter was still

saying these things, the Holy Spirit

fell on all who heard,

all who heard the word. And this is so

significant for our mission. That the

word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ

is the power of God for salvation for

all who believe. And the power comes

from the Holy Spirit who attends that

word and confirms it to people just like

we see here as Peter preached the word

and as they are hearing it and it sounds

like they are hearing it and having

faith in it, the Holy Spirit falls on

them. Which is why we need the Holy

Spirit. We need to be vessels and

messengers of the word of God. And we

need to receive grace and give grace

because this is what changes lives. And

we can do that while helping people,

while sharing with people, while

supporting people and doing practical

things for their need. But the mission

of the church is not apart from the Holy

Spirit and the grace of God and the

gospel of Jesus Christ.

when the earlier in the book of Acts in

chapter 4 some of the disciples had been

arrested Peter and John for preaching

even for healing a person they'd been

arrested they had been told don't talk

about this anymore don't say anything

else about Jesus and when they gather

together and share with the other

disciples what has been happening they

all gathered and prayed together and

this is what they pray in in the midst

of that persecution and in the midst of

what God was doing. This is in Acts 4

29. They're praying and they pray, "Now,

Lord, look upon their threats and grant

to your servants to continue to speak

your word with all boldness, while you

stretch out your hand to heal, and signs

and wonders are performed through the

name of your holy servant, Jesus."

And then when they had prayed, the place

in which they were gathered together was

shaken, and they were all filled with

the Holy Spirit and continued to speak

the word of God with boldness.

This was the priority for the mission of

the church that God would help them to

share the word to help them share the

good news of Jesus and to make Jesus

known to people and that while they're

going out and doing that that God would

stretch out his hand to continue that

work of God by healing signs, wonders,

essentially by making himself known in

people's lives through the Holy Spirit.

And then they went out and did that by

God's grace. And that is what God is

calling us to do as a church through

many different ways of expression. Some

hands-on helping, caregiving, some your

vocation is your mission. And it's

important for you to recognize that your

vocation, your job. Some of you are

students and it's the same.

That is not apart from your mission as a

Christian. And so in your job, in your

studies, in your caregiving, in the work

that you do for family, invite the Holy

Spirit.

Receive the grace of God and make the

word and the gospel of Jesus part of

that. Our lives are all one in Christ

and we don't have separate comm

compartments of our lives. So God, you

may have you working in a capacity that

takes all of your energy right now.

That's your mission. Don't do it apart

from the Holy Spirit and the grace of

God or the word of God.

And finally, the gospel message.

Jesus says to his followers, "Do not

think that I've come to bring peace to

the earth." This is in Matthew 10:34. He

Matthew 10:34

says, "I've not come to bring peace, but

a sword. For I've come to set a man

against his father, and a daughter

against her mother, and a

daughter-in-law against her

mother-in-law. And a person's enemies

will be those of his own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than

me is not worthy of me. And whoever

loves son or daughter more than me is

not worthy of me. And whoever does not

take his cross and follow me is not

worthy of me. Whoever finds his life

will lose it, and whoever loses his life

for my sake will find it. This is the

cost of disciplehip. This is the the

discipline required in disciplehip.

Jesus says, "I've not come to bring

peace, but a sword." And when Jesus is

pictured in the book of Revelation with

a sword, that sword is the word that

comes forth from his mouth. It It's the

sword that the author of Hebrews calls a

double-edged sword. It's the sword that

the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6

describes as the word of God.

The word of God is a double-edged sword

because it cuts us and it disciplines us

and requires us to deny ourselves, but

it also is sharp to those who hear. And

so, some will hear the word of God and

they'll receive it. Some will hear and

they'll ponder. Some will hear and they

will reject the word of God and they

will reject us as the messengers. And

that's the separation that Jesus is

talking about. It's a separation because

of the word and the testimony of Jesus.

And it's a separation because of the

life that Jesus's followers are called

to live in contrast and in witness to

and against the way of this world.

But there there's an emphasis in Jesus's

teaching that while we are witnesses to

him, it it is a witness. It is a

ministry that centers on reception and

embrace of others. It is not a ministry

that pushes people away with the word of

God. It is a ministry that calls people

with the word of God. It is a ministry

that extends the arms of Christ who as

our prayer in in the book of common

prayer says who extended his arms and

stretched them out on the hardwood of

the cross so that everyone might come

within the reach of his saving embrace.

Some people won't receive that

invitation and push us away. But our

ministry by the Holy Spirit, by the

grace of God, and for the word of God is

to be one of reception. Listen to what

Jesus goes on to say in the gospel.

Whoever receives me and whoever re

whoever receives you receives me and

whoever receives me receives him who

sent me. The one who receives a prophet

because he is a prophet will receive a

prophet's reward. And the one who

receives a righteous person because he

is a righteous person will receive a

righteous person's reward. And whoever

gives one of these little ones even a

cup of cold water because he is a

disciple, truly I say to you, he will by

no means lose his reward.

The ministry that Jesus calls us to, the

mission is one of receiving each and

every person to whom we are called to

minister as if he or she was Christ him

or hers himself. And that's the sanctity

of life. It is recognizing and

acknowledging that each person from

conception to the end of life is the

image of God and the likeness of God and

one for whom Jesus dies and one if they

have not receive salvation

Jesus is wooing Jesus is drawing to

receive that salvation. In Luke's

gospel, Jesus says something similar

about this ministry of receiving others.

Whether they are other Christians or

whether they are unbelievers, whether

they are like us or very different from

us. And this is one of those times where

his disciples are arguing about who's

greatest. A and God, help us from

falling into this trap in the church

where we argue with one another about

who's greatest, about who's got the

right preference, about who's got the

right way of doing everything, about

whose position is most important. Jesus

responds to that. This is in Luke 9:46.

Luke 9:46

And then in 48 he responds,

"But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of

their hearts, took a child and put him

by his side and said to them, "Whoever

receives this child in my name receives

me, and whoever receives me receives him

who sent me. For he who is least among

you is the one who is great."

We are to be vessels of God's love and

to express that love and warmth to those

around us.

We are to cross over the the bridges and

the divides that God calls us to cross

over for the sake of ministry and for

the sake of sharing his love and his

good news of grace. And that's our

mission. And we do that in multiple ways

as God inspires and leads us

individually and as a church.

And there's a wonderful promise that as

we do these, as we receive others in his

name,

we will by no means lose our reward.

Because a as we are acting as his

witnesses and vessels, we too are

drawing closer and closer to him. And

the same promise that he made to

Abraham, Abraham, I am your very great

reward. He is our reward. And the more

we identify him, the more that we know

him.

And so as we engage in mission,

let's emphasize

the three elements. The Holy Spirit and

his power, the grace of God for

ourselves and for others. And the word

of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, it

is the power of God for salvation. And

let us be those who receive others in

his name because we recognize that he

died for each and every person. And so

we are eager to receive them. And let's

be a church on mission

by those things by the power of God. So

let me pray for us.

And Father, we acknowledge that the work

that we do for your kingdom is not by

our might, not by our power, but by your

Holy Spirit. And that it is by your

grace and for your grace to abound.

So Lord, we pray that you would fill

each of us with your Holy Spirit, that

you would inspire and lead us as

individuals, as families, and as a

church to the work and mission

particularly that you have called us to.

And God through it may be your may we be

your witnesses and messengers sharing

the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ

and being eager to receive others in

your name to be drawn to you to be

blessed by you and to know your love.

Amen.