Gospel Transformation (Willy Siemens)

OK, well good morning again and I'm very glad to be here this

morning. And as was already said, I, my

name is Willie Simons. I am one of the lay pastors at

the Stratfordville EMC. So we had a little bit of a

drive this morning, but it was sunny and it was nice.

I don't know how it's been over here this last week, but over in

Stratfordville it's been grey and cold and rainy pretty much

all week. So it's nice.

It's refreshing to see some sun and so very good.

So yeah, I am, I'm very honored to to be here.

I'm humbled. I always am humbled when I get

asked to speak. Jake had asked me a few weeks

ago if I could preach here today.

And so I had nothing up at the home church.

And so I was glad, glad to do that.

I have preached here before, but in checking back in my records,

I, I think the last time I preached here was way back in

2020. That's the that's when I could

find it in. So it was about five years ago

and a lot has changed in five years.

Of course, COVID went through that and, and so, and then when

I come here, I see some familiar faces, a lot of new faces that I

don't know. And so if I forgot your name,

please forgive me. I'm, I have a hard enough time

remembering the faces, the names in our home church.

And so I really struggle with that.

So I apologize if I if I forgot your name.

I always appreciate it when we have guest speakers at our

church when they come and they introduce themselves a little

bit just for for context sake. So I figured I would do that

this morning. I have a little bit of a picture

here if you can see it. There's a relatively recent

picture from our daughter's wedding back in October.

So I am married to my lovely wife Tina there.

She came with today and we have 3 kids.

And there they are on the screen there.

If you don't know who I am, I'm the short 1 and then there's my

son beside me and then the other son on the other end and then my

daughter. So it's been, it's been good.

As you can see, my daughter's husband is quite tall.

And when he came and approached me and asked me if he could date

my daughter, I said I thought he was a little too tall.

And so I was like, I was like, I just about said, no, you know,

I, and so I, I'm just kidding, of course, but US short guys can

be pretty insecure. Anyways, we're, we're glad to

have them in the family. It's, it's really a blessing.

And so definitely we are, we are blessed beyond what we deserve.

So we're very thankful for that. So I know, like I said, that a

lot has changed since the last time that I've been here.

And I know that you guys are, are going through a difficult

time right now. And so I, I hope that I just

just want to let you know that we've been praying for you and,

and want to encourage you. And so to be, to be patient and

to trust in the Lord. That is a good thing.

Well, we as a church in Straffordville, we've been

preaching through the lectionary, which is basically,

it's like a church preaching schedule and it's used by many

churches around the world. And it's basically organized

around the different biblical themes according to the calendar

year. And so we've been preaching on

passages that are selected in the lectionary schedule.

So during Easter, which we are just recently coming out of, we

rightfully focus on the resurrection.

And this is of course a good thing.

But I do believe that we do not, that we often fail to think

about the implications of the resurrection.

I think I truly, truly believe that.

Like, what does it actually mean that Jesus rose from the dead,

that he died and rose again? And so that's what I want to

focus on this morning. And I'm going to start with a

question, very simple question. Do you believe in the

resurrection of Christ? I would suspect that most of you

do. You're here in church, and

that's good. So here's another question.

Do you live like it? Do you live like it?

And now you might be a little bit uncomfortable because you're

probably thinking, well, you're thinking of your failures in

some way. You're not quite living up to

this wonderful truth. And I can relate to that.

But some of you might be thinking, well, what?

What would it even look like to live like Jesus rose from the

dead? And that's a very good question

to ask because I do believe that we all sense that if it is true,

if it really is true, then believing it should make a huge

impact on our lives and the way that we live.

You see, there are many things that if they weren't true,

wouldn't make that much difference in our lives.

Even some pivotal historical events, let's say like the the

moon landing. If it turns out that it wasn't

true and some of you maybe believe that it wasn't true and

that's fine. It's just an illustration, but

you know, like it would probably affect your, your view of the

media and the government, but it wouldn't be earth shattering for

you. But the resurrection on the

other hand, if it didn't happen, if the resurrection did not

happen, then the apostle Paul says we as Christians should be

the most pitied group of all people because we're living an

illusion. But if it did happen, then

again, I think we would all agree that the consequences

would be almost immeasurable if someone that claimed the claims

that Jesus claimed, like being one with a father, for example,

if he died and rose again, well, that has enormous implications.

And so in our passage this morning that I'd like to look

at, which is you can turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 5, verses

Acts 5:27–32

27 through 32. That's going to be our main

passage today. I'll have most of the passages

that are referenced are going to be on the PowerPoint, not all of

them. If you'd like, you can follow

along your Bibles. So that's our main passage this

morning. And in this passage we can see a

glimpse of the implications of the resurrection of Christ and

the implications of the gospel, the death and resurrection of

Christ. And so I say a glimpse because

obviously the impact of the gospel is so vast, we can hardly

scratch the surface of it here in in one message.

But I would like to at least start scratching this morning.

So again, if you turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 5, verses

Acts 5:27–32

27 through 32, we'll be looking at three things that this

passage describes as being transformed by the truth of the

death and resurrection of Christ, the truth of the gospel.

And so these are gospel transformations.

And those 3 transformations that we see in this passage are

firstly, fear to faith, secondly, old to new, and

thirdly, Jerusalem to the world. So firstly, from fear to faith.

And we'll read the first part of the passage verses chapter 5.

Acts chapter 5, verses 27 through 29 says this.

Acts 5:27–29

The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the

Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.

We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, he said.

Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are

determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.

Peter and the other apostles replied.

We must obey God rather than human beings.

So the first gospel transformation that we see here

is from fear to faith, or I could say even specifically a a

bold faith. A bold faith.

So what's happening here? Well, the church is brand new

after the ascension of Christ back to heaven and asking the

apostles to wait in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy

Spirit. The apostles then start to

proclaim the gospel in Jerusalem and it's accompanied by signs

and wonders and a lot of people start to believe their message.

The message of the gospel spreads and what happens is, is

the religious leaders get jealous.

The religious leaders were jealous, but they were not

jealous for the glory of God or for they weren't concerned for

God's Kingdom. Probably what was the case is

they were jealous because their power and influence was starting

to be threatened by the apostles as people started to believe

their message. And So what the religious

leaders do is they have the apostles put in prison.

But during the night, this is in in the earlier part of the

chapter, chapter 5, during the night, an Angel of the Lord

frees them from the prison and orders them to go proclaim the

gospel in the temple. And they did that.

And after realizing that the apostles had been freed from the

prison, they discovered that they were teaching in the

temple. So they went to get them.

The authorities went to get them, and they brought them to

the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin is basically

like the Jewish High Court. And so there they are reminded

in no uncertain terms to not teach in this name is what it

says. They couldn't even get

themselves in this case to say the name of Jesus, just this

name. And so the authorities reminded

them what they had previously told the apostles don't preach

Jesus. We see this just one chapter

back in chapter 4, verses 18 and 20.

I'll read it. It says this.

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak

or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John replied, which is right in God's eyes to

listen to you or to him. You be the judges.

As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen

and heard. And so the apostles answer here

is virtually the same as it was there in in chapter 5.

We must obey God rather than human beings.

Now we have to say here that the Bible actually commands God's

people to obey the authorities, to obey the authority structures

that are are put in place into their lives.

So children are to obey their parents, citizens to their

governments are commanded in the Bible to honor, respect and obey

those in authority over them. This is a good thing.

Scripture calls us to that. And so the apostles are not

purposely trying to rebel against the authorities here.

That's very important to highlight.

The issue at hand is a description of a scenario where

what the authority wants and what God wants are in conflict.

They don't match up. And in those cases, we are

called as believers to honor God above whatever authority figure

is asking us to compromise our obedience to him.

And so here you can really see the boldness of the apostles,

right? So this is the Jewish High

Court. The apostles lives were at risk

and yet they boldly proclaim we're going to listen to God.

He told us to preach Jesus and that's what we're going to do.

And besides that, we can't even help it.

We can't help but proclaim what we've seen.

And so the apostles were more concerned with what God thought

than what man thought. This is no small thing.

How many things do we do or not do because we are afraid of what

other people think? It's humbling to admit, probably

a lot more than we'd like to admit.

Has it ever LED you to compromising your faith, your

fear of man? We need to consider here the

transformation of the apostles. The transformation of the

apostles. The boldness that they display

here isn't the picture you get when you read of their behaviour

just a short while previous. In the Gospels we see the the

apostles often wavering in their faith, being rebuked by Christ

for their doubting, and so you have many examples.

Peter, of course, because of his fear of man, denied Christ three

times. And after Jesus rose from the

dead, although the disciples didn't know it yet, we read in

John 2019, it says on the evening of the first day of the

week when the disciples were together with the doors locked

for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them

and said peace be with you. So here they feared the Jewish

leaders. And so the contrast that you see

here is unmistakable, isn't it? Fear was prominent in the

disciples, but now we see them willing to die for Christ and

not just saying it like Peter did, but wasn't actually going

through with it. They were living examples of

having the attitude that the Apostle Paul speaks of in

Philippians chapter 3, or to I forget, in Philippians.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Anyways, to live as Christ and to die is gain.

And so we must ask ourselves the question, what happened?

How did this transformation of the apostles come about?

Well, the answer to this is surely twofold.

Firstly, it's the reality of the resurrection and then secondly

the power of the Holy Spirit. The reality of the resurrection

is obvious here, right? Because they, they have, they

had come to realize that they hadn't followed this Jewish

rabbi in vain. They weren't duped by him.

All that he said would happen, happened, and all that the the

thing that they struggled with comprehending the most, that

Christ would die and rise again, has happened.

And they were eyewitnesses to it all.

Having seen the risen Christ in person, it must have felt like

for the apostles that it was really too good to be true, but

it really wasn't it. It was true.

So firstly the reality of the resurrection changes everything

for the apostles and secondly the power of the Holy Spirit.

Before Jesus ascension he had promised the apostles the gift

of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter one, verse 8 says,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and

Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And as soon as the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles, they

start boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus.

So it's worth noting here that the boldness came only after the

Spirit came. This teaches us that it is not

facts alone that transform us. Facts are crucial.

The truth is crucial. The historical fact of the

resurrection of Christ is the bedrock of Christianity.

If Christ has not risen, then it's all bunk.

But as important as these facts are, we need the presence of the

Holy Spirit to imprint these truths in our hearts and to

reveal to us what the implications of the resurrection

are. And the amazing thing is, is

that the Holy Spirit is given to all who believe the gospel.

The apostles say as much a few verses later in verse 32 says we

are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom

God has given to those who obey him.

And so the obedience here, that the obedience here is referring

to receiving the message that the apostles were on trial for

the Holy Spirit is not only for the apostles but for all who

believe their message. Ephesians chapter one verse 13

says this says, and you also were included in Christ when you

heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when

you believed, you were marked in him with the seal, the promised

Holy Spirit. So if you're a believer here

today, you have the Holy Spirit. So the gospel transforms the

apostles from fear to faith and can transform us as well.

We can, by embracing the reality of the resurrection and the

power of the Holy Spirit, walk away from fear and into a bold

faith. But we need to be cautious here.

We really do, because some people might be unnecessarily

discouraged. Perhaps you think of your own

life and you feel that this bold faith doesn't describe you.

I often struggle with this exact thought.

We need to remember a couple things.

First of all, we have all we need.

We too have been given the Spirit of God to dwell within

us. And a bold faith is not limited

to some kind of special super believers #2 there are no

special super believers. Even the Apostle Peter, for

example, wasn't always so bold and courageous even after this

display here. There was an event sometime

after this where we can see an example of this.

The apostle Paul actually ends up rebuking Peter publicly.

He describes it in Galatians 2 verse 12 which I will read.

Galatians 2:12

It says for before certain men came from James, he used to eat

with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began

to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles

because he was afraid of those who belong to the circumcision

group. This is an amazing thing.

So the church is growing and the apostle Peter is, we can use to

say an example. He's maybe eating with everyone,

Jews and Gentile believers. But then there's this group that

comes around, this circumcision group, these religious leaders,

and Peter's afraid he doesn't want to be on the wrong side of

these guys. So he withdraws.

He pulls away, avoids the Gentile believers.

It's amazing. Why did he do that?

Look at what it says for fear of the Jewish leaders.

He says he was in in fear of the circumcision group.

Isn't that fascinating? This bold Peter that we find

here is now scared again of the religious leaders.

I actually find this encouraging because no Christian is perfect.

No Christian is always living in accordance with the power that

they've been given by the Spirit.

The transformation is real. The transformation we see in the

apostles is a real transformation, and it is real

for us as well. What the apostles, you, what it

used to be a feature for the apostles.

Fear and doubt later becomes only a bug, but failures are

still present on occasion. I think I really just want to

stress this point because we need to hold these true truths

in tension that the gospel transforms, but we are not yet

living in the reality of the fullness that will take place in

the new creation when we get new bodies and are perfected.

Until then, we are not yet perfected.

And so we sometimes struggle, we sometimes sin, we fail.

Actually, just by way of example, last night, so during

the night, I hadn't thought this through very well.

So this might come out really weird, but so we live out, we

live out in the country and they're across from us.

There's a Bush, there's, there's woods there.

And it's not our property, but there was a Bush party.

So some young people had decided they would have a Bush party.

And so there were vehicles going down the road back and forth.

It's very annoying because they were supposed to go on the field

and the party was way back in the woods somewhere.

And so we heard the vehicles going back and forth.

And often they would end up turning around on our driveway

because they couldn't find out where the driveway actually was.

And on top of that, there was this other vehicle that just

parked right by our driveway. And we live on a back Rd.

So like this guy was like half on the road and I was like, this

is just not safe. And now there's other other

vehicles coming. They were going to the party but

didn't know where it was. And so I walk out there, this is

like this is like 11 last night. And I walk out there and I'm

like, I go up to one of the truck and I'm like I said, hey,

this vehicle over here. Do you know whose it is?

Because he's. You should move it because

somebody's going to hit it. It's not safe here.

No, I don't know. We're just trying to go to this

party, but we don't know where it is.

Well, the driveway's right over there.

And then, then I walk over and here's a, a Tesla cyber truck.

So I go up to the truck and there's, there's a, a dad there.

He's probably 50 years old. He's like, he goes to me.

He's like, oh, are you in charge of this party?

And I'm like, no, I just live right here.

I'm just trying to get these people away from the road here.

He's like, oh, OK, so he's got his son there.

He was dropping his son off at this party, the Bush party,

which just blew my mind. I'm like, what?

Father dropped off his son at a Bush party at 11 at night?

I'm like, so if that's what I'm thinking, right.

And then he's like, he's like, yeah, is it?

Is this a good idea? And I'm like, well, you need to

make good decisions. And and that's all I said.

I'm like, come on. I could have said, hey, you

should repent and come to Christ.

I mean, this is terrible. That probably wouldn't have been

good either, but I could have done better than that.

And so after I left, I'm like, whatever, he dropped his kid off

and I was so disappointed in myself.

But anyways, I wasn't living a bold faith there.

And often times there's the cases, right?

We have opportunities to share of Christ and we miss it and we

fail, maybe because we're afraid.

And so we need to hold those two truths in tension.

The gospel transforms us, but we're not yet perfected.

So the gospel transformation that we see there firstly is

from fear to faith and to bold faith.

That brings us to the second gospel transformation, which is

from old to new. So let's continue reading in the

passage verses 30 and 31. So the God of our ancestors

raised Jesus from the dead whom you killed by hanging him on a

cross. God exalted him to his own right

hand as Prince and savior that he might bring Israel to

repentance and forgive their sins.

So here in this part of the apostles response we we see a

short really A2 sentence summary of the gospel.

You see a reference to sin. He says you killed Christ and we

see a reference to Christ's death in his resurrection.

It says he raised Jesus, God exalted him, and we see a

reference to our response. It says repentance, and we see

the result of the gospel, which is forgiveness.

But what I want to highlight here is something that can

easily be overlooked is that phrase the God of our ancestors.

A number of times I've heard people ask over the years how

ask questions about how God seems different in the New

Testament than he does in the old.

He used to do this or be that way, and now He's not.

I believe this is a misunderstanding of how the

Bible portrays God in both the Old and New Testaments.

The God of the Old Covenant is the same as the God of the New.

He never changes. Some people, some more

progressive church leaders and theologians, want to detach the

gospel from the Old Testament because often times they're

embarrassed by it. But we need to remember that God

never changes, although he never changes.

The gospel that the apostles were preaching certainly was

something new that God was doing in redemptive history.

So there is a newness, there is a transition from the old to the

new, but it was not new in the sense that it was a surprise or

not planned. The gospel transformation is

from the old covenant to the new, but not something that is

completely other than the old. The apostles believed the

apostles message ushered in the movement from the old covenant

to the new covenant, but it was not new in the sense of

something detached from the old. This is very important because

the apostles did not see their message as something detached

from the story of Israel in the Old Testament.

They viewed, excuse me, they viewed their message as one that

brings the story of of Israel and the Old covenant to

fulfillment. And again, although the gospel

ushers in a new covenant, it does not present to us a

different God. Maybe it's a little bit like

when a Caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

The Caterpillar was never designed to remain a

Caterpillar, but a butterfly. In a similar way, the old

covenant was never instituted to remain forever.

It was always moving to what it was pointing towards the whole

time, Jesus and the ushering in of the new.

When the council heard the apostles connect their message

of Christ to the God of their ancestors, what was their

reaction? Verse 33 says they were furious

and wanted to put them to death. So there we are again with the

religious leaders. Anger, jealousy.

Pastor and author Casey Clark says this.

He says the council's reaction was fury.

Our reaction should be to recognize the the good news seen

in Jesus and to recognize this good news was not a Plan B God

did not abruptly change directions starting with the New

Testament. God's coming to us in Jesus has

always been the plan, and we can even see it in Genesis.

So the Gospel transforms the old to the new by shining a light on

what was there all along. The God of ancient Israel is the

God that raised Jesus from the dead.

And so the gospel transformation that we see there is from the

old to the new. Thirdly, another gospel

transformation we see in this passage is from Jerusalem to the

world, verse 28. We'll read that again.

The beginning part of it. It says We gave you strict

orders not to teach in this name, He said.

Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.

So here again you can see the religious leaders indicate how

the apostles message of Christ had already filled Jerusalem.

Only a short while, probably about a few months after the

coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church.

Many people believe their message.

In fact, in Acts chapter 2, we find that after Peter's sermon

Acts 2 · chapter mention

at Pentecost about 3000, received his message and were

baptized, the gospel was being preached, people believed and

the church was growing exponentially.

And then at the end of chapter 2 in Acts we we see that the Lord

added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

And this cycle continues throughout the book of Acts.

And then in chapter 17 of Acts verse chapter 17, verses 6 and

seven, which is about 19 years after the events here in chapter

5, the gospel has reached the Greek city of Thessalonica.

And once again the gospel is preached.

Once again people believe and once again the Jewish leaders

are jealous and they go after the apostles and the town

leaders as well. Acts 17, verses 6 and seven says

Acts 17:6

when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of

the brothers before the city authorities shouting.

These men who have turned the world upside down have come here

also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting

against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another

king, Jesus. So we're at a place now where

the spread of the gospel has so transformed everywhere it went

that it is described here, by its enemies no less, as having

turned the world upside down. The gospel transforms people and

then transforms society through those people wherever it goes.

I really do believe this is another thing we tend to take

for granted. There are values that are held

by most in society today as being a given, but in reality

are anything but. Author Glenn excuse me, Glenn

Scrivener has written a wonderful book on the on the

topic called The Air We Breathe. It covers this topic quite well.

We went through it in adult Sunday school a couple of years

ago at our church. In the book he shares of how

many of the values that we hold dear today were not the values

that were held in the world where Christianity began.

As one example, consider the common Roman practice of the

exposure of infants. So this was an ancient form of

abortion. Really.

If children were not healthy, or in many cases even if they were

just a girl, then the parents would basically throw them out

and leave them to die. Well, the Christians took note

of this and they responded. And author Glenn Scrivener

writes in his book He Says This about the Christian's reaction

to this. He says a similar story can be

told about the ending about ending the exposure of infants.

Once again, the early Christians made no their implacable

opposition to the practice, and at the same time they

demonstrated sacrificial love in addressing it.

Right from the beginning, the early church took up collections

for the poor and sick, not just for their own but those of the

surrounding culture. It was this combination of word

and deed which later saw legislation catching up.

But culturally, what made the enduring difference was not the

changes in law, but the changes in hearts.

A new kind of heroism had gripped the world.

It was evident in monks like Telemachus or nuns like Makrina,

whose life of radical generosity included touring the rubbish

dumps to rescue exposed infants and adopt them into her

community. He goes on to say in the book

that the best societies protect their weakest members rather

than eliminate them. And I think that's obvious to

us. This attitude towards the weak

and vulnerable has its roots in Christian theology that says all

people are made in the image of God and have value.

People are more than what they can bring to the table.

And that's just one example among many of how the Gospel

transforms societies. The author of the book makes the

bold claim that values like equality, compassion, science,

freedom and progress all have their roots in the spread of

Christianity to the nations. He says of everyone at least

living in the West that they are like a goldfish swimming in the

water of Christianity, whether you know it or not.

Now, sadly, many people in our day are trying to detach these

values from the teachings of Christianity, and therefore they

are at great risk of being forsaken.

And that's another reason why we as believers should keep being

faithful to spread the gospel and the love that springs from

it. This is the power of the gospel

to truly transform lives individually and then through

that societies around them. To preach this gospel to the

whole world is the calling of the church.

And so the resurrection really changes everything.

The resurrection really changes everything.

If we believe it, we will be truly transformed.

We should never underestimate the power of the gospel to

change lives. I read recently of the testimony

of a woman who described how the gospel transformed her

relationship with her dad. The relationship was one of

tension and pride, resulting in anger and avoidance.

After becoming a Christian in her late teens and beginning to

read the Bible, she said God's words began to chip away at my

guarded and calloused heart. During one particular season of

conflict and tension between the two, she felt a burden to

apologize to her dad, and by this one act, just this one

apology, the relationship was transformed.

She apologized, and to her amazement, her dad apologized

back. She was 20 years old at the time

and her dad was 50. And that was the first time ever

in his life that he said, I'm sorry, She said.

I'll never forget the day Dad and I decided to put her claws

to rest, to stop walking over each other with pride and anger

and instead walk side by side with love and empathy.

You know what that is? That's the power of the gospel

to transform. The gospel, having having taken

hold of this young lady, ended up transforming the whole

family. And this gospel is available to

us all. Do you believe that?

Do you believe the gospel has the power to transform you, to

transform your family, your church, your community?

It does. Jesus really did die and he

really did rise again. And the Bible says he did it for

us, He did it for you. So if you're here today and you

have not received this gospel, this good news, then I would ask

what's stopping you? Why not turn to Jesus today,

place your trust in Him, and be transformed by the power of the

gospel? For those of us that have

received this gospel, my encouragement is to let us walk

in step with the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Let's cast off our fear and live in the faith and the power that

he gives. Let's pray.

Father in Heaven, once again, we come before you and just want to

thank you. Father, we thank you for your

word, which is a treasure, which transforms our hard hearts.

And so, Lord, so many areas in our lives that don't align with

the power and the freedom that you have given us.

And so Lord, we, we just confess that before you and we trust

that in Christ we are completely forgiven.

We thank you so much for that. And our prayer is that you would

go with us from here. I pray that you would bless this

church to your honor and glory, and that your Kingdom would come

and your will would be done. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.