Urban Evangelism and the Unchained Gospel in Rome

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Good morning.

My name is Catherine St. Clair, and I'm reading the scripture lesson for today.

This is a reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Acts chapter 28, verses 16 to 31.

Acts 28:16–31

When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier to guard him.

Three days later, he called together the local Jewish leaders.

When they had assembled, Paul said to them,

Although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

They examined me and wanted to release me because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death.

The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar.

I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people.

For this reason, I have asked to see you and talk with you.

It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.

They replied,

We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you.

But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.

They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying.

He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God and from the law of Moses and from the prophets.

He tried to persuade them about Jesus.

Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement.

The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors.

When he said, through Isaiah the prophet,

Go to this people and say,

You will be ever hearing, but never understanding.

You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.

For this people's heart has become calloused.

They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn.

And I would heal them.

Therefore, I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen.

For two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.

He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

Thank you for that scripture reading.

Good morning, Christ Church.

My name is Andrew.

I'm one of the pastors here.

We're so glad to be worshiping with you.

Like Jonathan said, we'd love to chat with you afterwards if you're new over coffee.

We also have a deacon, Gabriel.

He's that guy in the bright orange lanyard.

He's here to pray for you if you'd love that as well.

Jonathan and I would like to pray for you as well,

if that's something that you feel like you could use this morning.

So, welcome again to Christ Church.

Will you join me in prayer as we come to hear what God has to say to us this morning?

Our Father, the enemy would have us to disregard your word.

The enemy would have me fail in preaching your truths this morning.

The enemy would have all the people here listening, distracted from what you have to say.

But you're greater than he who is in the world.

And we give you praise for that.

So, would you bless the preaching of your word?

Would it be less of me and more of you?

And would we be amazed at the power of your holy word,

inspired by your wonderful spirit,

who longs to do amazing things in and through us,

fallible us.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Well, Christ Church, today is the last sermon in our series in the book of Acts.

And actually, we've been in Acts since April,

so it's been quite a while.

Chelsea has been saying to me,

Andrew, your sermons are starting to sound the same.

You know, maybe we had a little bit too much of Acts.

No, it's okay.

It's just my lack of being a good preacher.

But here we are at the end of Acts.

We're going to head into Deuteronomy next,

but we're going to close it out right now.

And today, we're skipping ahead quite a bit.

We're going from last week,

where Jonathan preached from Acts 20 about Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders.

And we're skipping ahead to his imprisonment in Rome, right?

In the last 16 verses of this book.

But in wrapping up, what I want to do is,

I want us to notice, you know,

how far we've come in this 28-chapter book known as the Acts of the Apostles,

or really what it is, is the Acts of the Holy Spirit in and through the Apostles.

All right?

So I want to take us back a little bit,

just give us a brief overview to kind of get us all the way here

to the last 16 verses of the book of Acts.

So it all began right in chapter 1 with the resurrected Jesus,

who spent 40 days of his new resurrected life doing what?

Preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God.

That's what he did right after he was resurrected for those 40 days.

He taught about the kingdom of God.

And then you have to remember what his disciples asked him

as he preached about the kingdom of God.

They asked him,

Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

And what did he say?

He didn't directly answer the question.

He says, you guys are so preoccupied with the timing of the kingdom,

but what you really need to know is that you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And while you are so preoccupied with whether or not the kingdom

is going to be restored to Israel, to your nation,

guess what?

I have a bigger plan.

And you will be my witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria,

even to the ends of the earth.

And then boom, Jesus says, peace out.

He ascends into heaven to the right hand of his Father in heaven.

As disciples are left to figure out, okay, now what?

What's next?

He didn't even answer our question about whether or not the kingdom

was going to be restored to Israel.

So they just wait and they just pray and they stay in community.

And as Jesus said, the spirit does come upon them at Pentecost.

The spirit comes upon them and they preach the name of Jesus

and they do many signs and wonders in his name.

And the poor are lifted up.

And those who are overlooked are looked upon with compassion.

And many people begin to join this Jesus movement in Jerusalem.

But then what happens?

The Jewish establishment, they kill Stephen, right?

The first martyr in the church.

And then they send out one of their top Pharisees, Saul,

to go and persecute the church.

But what happens?

The church only scatters and spreads the news about Jesus even further.

To Samaritans and Ethiopians.

And Saul himself, this great persecutor of the church,

he is converted.

And what you have is a multi-ethnic church that is formed

and born in Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman Empire.

And so it's not the Jerusalem church,

but this Gentile populated church now in Antioch

that becomes the main headquarters,

the main benefactor for the early church's benevolence ministries

and its outreach and evangelism mission ministries.

And this church in Antioch, they send Paul even further north,

even further east into the Mediterranean world.

And the good news about Jesus is preached

in all kinds of influential international cities

like Athens and Corinth.

And yes, it's often met with resistance.

It's often met with dangerous threats.

Sometimes even whole cities are uproaring against Paul.

Sometimes there's violence and Paul is stoned

by Jewish and Gentile communities.

And yet, Christian churches continue to pop up

all over the Mediterranean world

as more than a few people are persuaded about Jesus.

Now that brings us to last week.

Last week, Paul said his farewell to the Ephesian elders,

marking the end of his third missionary journey.

And between then and now, between Acts chapter 20

Acts 20 · chapter mention

and today, Acts chapter 28,

Acts 28 · chapter mention

there's quite a bit that's happened.

After his Ephesian farewell, Paul, led by the Spirit,

he says, I feel like I need to go to Jerusalem.

So he goes to Jerusalem, and of course,

what does he do in Jerusalem?

He worships his God in the temple.

But what he also did when he worshiped his God in the temple

was he brought his Gentile companions with him,

his brothers in Christ who had been converted by his ministry.

He brings them into the temple to worship this God

that they all worship in the name of Jesus.

But you can imagine now how that looked, right,

to the ethnocentric Jewish establishment.

And so in Jerusalem, he is confronted by an angry Jewish mob.

They're jealous.

These religious leaders who only had eyes

for the restoration of their nation and their ethnic culture

and not the whole of Israel,

not the whole of the people of God,

they didn't have eyes to see the beauty

of this truly Jewish Jesus movement,

how this truly Jewish Jesus movement

was accomplishing an amazing thing,

extending the hope of Israel to the nations.

And so they're offended, and offended by Paul's gospel

and offended by Paul's actions, they seek to kill him.

And they stir up the whole city against him,

and it looks like he's about to get killed,

but what happens?

According to God's plan, he's saved.

He's protected by who?

Actually, he's protected from his people

by the Romans who occupied Israel, by the Romans.

And then he's taken up further north

to a town called Caesarea,

and he stays there for two years,

not able to do much other than try to talk

to his captors, his prison guards,

and even the governor there about Jesus.

That's what he's up to.

And eventually, the Jewish establishment,

they come up to Caesarea,

and they're starting to bring more charges against Paul

because they want to see this guy killed.

They really want to kill this guy

who they believe is anti-Israel.

So they come up to Caesarea,

and they bring charges against him

that he is against their law.

He's offended their law.

He's offended their temple.

He's even offended Caesar.

They're bringing all these charges

in the hopes that he will get executed.

And Paul says, all right, bet.

I appeal to Caesar.

Here, let's take it to the highest court in the world

and see whose case is stronger.

Let's take my message about Jesus

to the center stage of the empire

before the highest earthly authorities in the land,

and let's see.

So he's transported now from Caesarea to Rome on a ship,

but he almost doesn't make it.

He almost doesn't make it.

He goes through a shipwreck,

and then the prison guards are like,

oh, shoot, all the prisoners are just gonna get away,

and we're gonna get in big trouble,

so why don't we kill all the prisoners?

And then, because of Paul's reputation,

they decide not to after all,

and all the prisoners, everyone is saved.

And then he goes onto this island in Malta,

and he's bit by a poisonous snake.

And then, here we are in Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

He made it to Rome, guys.

He made it to Rome.

He made it.

And through all of this, it's like,

will he make it to Rome?

Will God's witnesses truly make it

to the ends of the earth?

Well, here he is, by the hand of God,

in the heart of the Roman Empire at the end of Acts.

Now, a question I want us to consider is,

well, how might you end this story?

What kind of ending might you expect from this story?

Paul, this central missionary

in the second half of the book of Acts,

he's overcome all kinds of adversity,

and now he's in the heart of the Roman Empire.

How might you have ended this story?

Well, for me, maybe it's just because

my oldest, Cammy, is super into Cinderella

and Disney princesses right now,

but if it were up to me, with my last 16 verses,

I'd probably feel the need to vindicate this hero, right?

And write a nice, happy ending with liberty,

and victory, and finality,

to tell his triumph in Rome,

and how the whole empire turned to Jesus,

or at least of how Paul, you know,

at least avoided execution,

and launched a successful church planting movement in Rome.

But is that how this book ends?

Is that how this book ends?

Is that what we heard a moment ago,

read by Catherine St. Clair?

No.

How does Acts end?

It ends with the great apostle Paul in chains,

under house arrest.

And really, it kind of underwhelmingly ends

with him really just doing the same old thing

that he does in all those other chapters.

Chelsea was right.

He does do the same thing over and over again, right?

He goes and he preaches to the Jewish people

every single time he enters the city,

and then he preaches the same old message,

verse 23, about the kingdom of God

from the law and the prophets,

trying to persuade people about Jesus.

And then, as it says in verse 24,

like in many other places,

the results are mixed, right?

They're just mixed.

And then, as was his pattern,

he turns his attention to the Gentiles.

That's what he does in verse 28.

And then it ends, it just says,

he stayed under house arrest for two years,

and he just kept doing the same thing.

Verse 31, he proclaimed the kingdom of God

and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ

with all boldness and without hindrance.

And that's how this account ends.

Not extraordinary, but super ordinary.

Super ordinary.

And I don't know about you,

but doesn't this strike you

as kind of a bummer of an ending

to this series in the book of Acts?

Like, why does this book of Acts,

recorded by the great apostles,

inspired by the Holy Spirit,

why does it end in such an unspectacular

and even unsatisfying way?

Why is there no surprising last minute,

once and for all, final Christian triumph?

What we read that happens here in Rome,

it isn't much different, really.

Maybe it's even less impressive

than what we've seen happen

in other chapters in Acts, right?

In other cities in the Roman world.

Here, we're not even told

if there's a happy ending or a sad one.

The author of Acts isn't interested

in giving any such details to us.

So what kind of story is this?

And what's the point?

I mean, why would anyone be attracted

to the kingdom that is preached

by this missionary Apostle Paul here

who is imprisoned and unable

to even convince his own people about Jesus?

And how could anyone expect

to be inspired by a story

with such unspectacular

and even an unsatisfying ending, right?

Well, for the rest of this sermon,

what I wanna do is I wanna make the case

that in this ending of Acts,

this ending of Acts is actually

the perfect ending for expressing Christ's kingdom

and inspiring Christ's church,

the perfect way to end the book of Acts,

particularly in what it teaches us

about the kingdom of God

and also in what it calls us to do

as Christ's church.

So first, how does the unspectacular ending

we see here in the book of Acts,

how does it actually beautifully express

the nature of the kingdom of God,

of Christ's kingdom?

I mean, isn't the kingdom of God,

the sphere of God's reign,

supposed to be marked with joy

and happiness and triumph?

And yet Acts, which began with,

it began quite well, right,

with the risen Jesus preaching

about the kingdom of God,

it ends with the preaching

about the kingdom of God too,

but by this prisoner who's chained

and can't even go out.

But what kind of a king

would let his great messenger

become a prisoner?

And what kind of a kingdom

could he seriously be preaching in chains?

Where was Paul's happy ending?

You know, this week we had youth group twice,

once with the older kids

and once with the younger kids,

and when we were with the older kids,

we went over Psalm 1 this past week,

this past Wednesday.

Blessed is the man that does not walk

in the counsel of the ungodly.

You know, he's like a tree

planted by streams of water,

yielding fruit in its season,

whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers,

and so on, right?

And I challenged our youth.

I said, picture, consider

what it really means

to have a truly blessed life.

That's what I want our kids

to really pursue,

a truly blessed life.

And we ended up getting

onto the topic of happiness.

And we talked about how God

truly does want us to be blessed.

God truly does want us to be happy.

But then one of the youth said,

but isn't that impossible?

Isn't it impossible for us

to always be happy in this world?

And another one chimed in.

He said, yeah, it is impossible.

It is.

But then he thought about it

and he qualified and said,

actually, it is impossible

until heaven.

Until heaven, right?

And see, this is what the ending of Acts

confirms to us

about the kingdom of God.

Yes, the kingdom is inaugurated

by the risen and ascended Christ

who sits on the throne

at the right hand of his Father.

And because of this,

we do have an abiding hope,

a joy that can never be snuffed out.

And yet, this inaugurated kingdom

is yet to be consummated.

We still pray every week,

your kingdom, please come,

with grief and with lament.

Not without hope,

but always keeping it real with God,

keeping it real with ourselves,

keeping it real with each other.

The kingdom is already

and the kingdom is not yet.

And that's why Paul could write

while chained to a Roman prison guard

for two years,

in his prison epistles,

Colossians 4, he says,

remember my chains.

And in Philippians 4,

he says, rejoice in the Lord always.

And again, I say, rejoice,

for I have learned to be content

whatever the circumstances.

It's already and not yet.

And I know for some of us

who've been here for a while,

it might seem like we talk about this a lot,

the alreadyness and the not yetness

of Christ's kingdom,

but we return to it again and again

because it's so important.

See, the unspectacular ending of Acts

and Paul's less than ideal circumstances

in these last 16 verses

are actually quite common

to the experience of living

in this already not yet kingdom of God.

Living in this kind of kingdom,

this already not yet kingdom,

there are definitely wins for sure.

The kingdom is here.

The spirit is already at work.

Verse 16 says,

the Roman guard showed Paul kindness

and let him live in his own house

with a guard.

Verse 24 says,

some people did believe in his message.

Verse 31 says,

the gospel goes out with boldness

and without hindrance.

But again,

this isn't some ultimate final triumph in Rome.

The kingdom of God is clearly present.

God's reign is definitely on display

in Paul's preaching

and in the people who receive his message

and yet,

the final victory of God,

the final victory of God's people

in history

has yet to come.

Paul is still in Roman chains

in a Roman kingdom.

Already and not yet.

And the more we Christians

internalize this dual reality

of the kingdom of God,

the better equipped we will be

to navigate our complicated,

complicated lives.

See, to come to grips,

particularly with the not yetness

of the kingdom,

is to recognize that God doesn't need us

to win for him to win.

Amen?

God doesn't need us to win

for him to win.

God doesn't need us

to have spectacular lives

for him to accomplish

his spectacular purposes.

No disappointments in

and with our lives

need ever crush

or demoralize us.

Our life circumstances

don't need to smoothly flow

into nice, happy endings

for us to be sure

that God's kingdom will come

and that God's kingdom

will endure.

And although the not yetness

of his kingdom

can seem frustrating,

as I'm sure it was for Paul,

it is also a beautiful thing.

It's also beautiful

because implicit

in the not yetness

of the kingdom

is the promise of fulfillment.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Not yet doesn't mean never.

It doesn't mean maybe.

It simply means not now,

but it's definitely coming.

And that's why the book of Acts

ends not with Apostle Paul's

heroic triumph,

an ultimate happy ending,

but with a preacher

under Roman house arrest,

preaching faithfully

and seeing a mixed response.

See, the point of this ending

is not,

hey, what happened to Paul,

the hero?

How did it all turn out?

Well, surely it turned out

well for him, right?

No.

We're not told

the end of Paul's story

in the book of Acts

because the book of Acts

isn't a story

about the Apostle Paul.

It's the story

of the Holy Spirit's

movement and extension

of Christ's witness

to the ends of the earth.

And in this book,

what is so much more important

than knowing

what happened to Paul

is what it says

in verse 31,

that the kingdom of God,

the lordship of Jesus Christ,

continued to be proclaimed

with all boldness

and unhindered.

In and through unfavorable,

limited circumstances,

the kingdom of God

endures and advances

in the heart

of the Roman Empire.

And so rather than

discourage us

or leave us unsatisfied

with such a weak ending

to this story,

this should actually inspire us

to keep going

as actors

in this unfolding story.

You know,

not only does this

underwhelming ending

in Acts

point us to the often

unsatisfying experience

of Christian living

in the kingdom of God,

but it also points us

beyond itself.

Because again,

the point is not

that this story

is about Paul,

it's a story

about the work

of the Holy Spirit,

a work that is largely

unfinished.

See,

in this conclusion of Acts,

the author,

he's intentionally writing

an underwhelming ending.

He's intentionally doing this

with no details whatsoever

of what happens next

for Paul,

just ending with

the gospel was proclaimed

with all boldness

and without hindrance.

Why?

Because the author

was not intending

to write a definitive

the end

at the end of the Acts

of the Apostles.

The author was intending

to write

to be continued.

That's why it ends this way.

It's meant to make us feel,

oh,

to be continued.

And then the question is though,

to be continued

by who,

you ask?

By who?

Well,

by the rest of us,

the church,

or more accurately,

the Holy Spirit

working in and through us

his church.

See,

while the Acts account

concluded with Paul

in verses 31,

the actions of God's Spirit

continues with the church

even today

all throughout

the rest of this age

until the return of Christ

and the consummation

of his kingdom.

The story wasn't over.

The story isn't over.

It was and it is

to be continued.

Again,

see,

Christianity is not

simply a set of doctrines

or beliefs

to give your assent to

nor is it

a list of rules

to obey and follow.

It's a wonderful story.

It's a wonderful story.

It's a grand narrative

of what God is up to

in this world,

what God has been up to

since the creation

of the world,

since the beginning

of time.

And while God's people

have always had a role

as actors

in this divine drama,

the book of Acts,

this account

of what the earliest

followers of Jesus did

after he ascended

into heaven,

the book of Acts

marks a unique time

in the unfolding

of the drama

of God's story.

Think of it,

think of this history

as a Shakespearean

play with five acts.

You have act one,

creation and fall.

God creates the world,

yet the problem of sin

enters upon the scene.

Then act two,

Israel.

God graciously chooses

a people

and promises to establish

the kingdom that they

forfeited at the fall.

Then act three,

Christ,

the king of that kingdom,

he enters into history

and he inaugurates

the kingdom

and promises to consummate

it upon his return.

And then there are

two more acts.

The final act

is act five, right?

New creation,

that final rest

that we all long for,

the consummation

of the world,

the kingdom

that Jesus

and the prophets

and the apostles

all foretold.

This imperishable

new heavens

and new earth

where every tear

is wiped away

and justice

and shalom

reign forever and ever.

But see,

what the book of Acts

marks and kicks off,

this book,

this ending,

it kicks off

act four.

If act one

was creation and fall,

if act two

is Israel,

if act three

is Christ,

and if the last act

is new creation,

act four

is the church age.

That is the act

that we inhabit.

And what's so unique

about act four,

this church age,

is that unlike

the first four acts,

the people of God

in act four

are all uniquely filled

with the power

and the presence

of the Holy Spirit.

And we're called

to improvise

rather than just

parrot what has already

been said

in the sacred Hebrew

scriptures.

We,

as a people

from every tribe,

nation,

and tongue

are now called

in a sense

to go beyond

the sacred page

on history's way

to the fifth

and final act.

Of course,

this doesn't mean

we just do

whatever we want.

It's an age

that's guided

by the Spirit

and we're to remain

in character

and we're to act

consistently

with the first three acts

and the final act.

But even with these parameters,

act four,

this age of the church

that we presently

inhabit as Christians

between the two comings

of Jesus,

it's an age

of improvisation,

of discerning

the Spirit's way

in new

and diverse contexts,

of asking questions

of the here and now.

What does it look like

to worship Yahweh

as a woman?

A woman in the

patriarchal ancient world

or a woman today

in post-Christian world?

What does it look like

to worship Yahweh

as a slave

or a prisoner

or a migrant

or an oppressed minority?

What does it look like

to worship as someone

from Africa

or Europe

or Asia?

Just some of the

many questions

that the church

in this act four,

in this church age,

has been called

to work out

or perhaps closer to home.

What does it look like

to worship Yahweh

in this post-Christian

secular moment

as a software engineer

at Google

in the Bay Area

or as a teacher

in the Berkeley

or Oakland

public school districts

or as a PhD student

here at Cal

and not just on

an individualistic level

but also on a corporate level?

What does it mean

for Christ Church East Bay

to worship Yahweh

in the midst

of our city's

homelessness crisis?

How is the global church

to respond

to the rise

of the Taliban

in Afghanistan

or the disasters

in Haiti

or the border crisis

that we're facing?

The underwhelming ending

in the book of Acts,

see,

it's a call.

It's a call from God

to consider

how we are to act out

and how we are to improvise

our roles

in Act 4

as the church.

How will we be witnesses

of Christ

to the ends

of the earth?

Remember at the outset

of this book,

Acts chapter 1 verse 8,

Acts 1:8

Jesus said to the church,

you will be

my witnesses.

You will be

my witnesses.

He didn't say

you should be.

He didn't say

you can be.

He didn't say

do you want to be?

He said

you will be.

This is what we are.

This is what we are,

Christ's church.

Whether we play

and improvise the role

well or not,

we are witnesses

of Christ.

So the question for us

is how are we witnessing?

How are we witnessing

to Christ?

Are we giving off

an aroma

or a stench

among the various

audiences

that God

has placed us

in front of?

I want us to notice

how Paul,

he notices,

he recognizes

that he is a witness

no matter his circumstances

and he doesn't

sit on his hands,

he doesn't wait

for better life circumstances

to start serving God again.

In his two year

stint in Caesarea

when his only audience

was the governor Felix,

he said,

all right, cool.

I'm just gonna share

the gospel

with this one guy.

This must be my calling

in this season.

He doesn't try to

open up,

force open doors

that God closed.

He simply goes

through the ones

that God opens.

Same thing here in Rome,

he doesn't say,

well, my hands

are literally tied,

these chains

and this house rest

are preventing

the gospel

from going forth.

No, he says,

if I can't get out

of Rome,

let the people

come to me.

He invites the Jewish

leaders in

to hear what he has

to say,

verse 17.

Just three days

after he arrived

in Rome.

He hardly even

takes a breather

after that crazy

shipwreck

and the snake bite

and all that.

In verse 30,

it says he welcomed

many visitors,

actually.

And since he couldn't

go out,

he just had people

come to him

and he continued

to preach boldly,

even while chained

to a Roman guard

under house arrest.

And history tells us

that during this

two year stint,

what he did

was he wrote

the beautiful,

the magnificent

prison epistles.

Ephesians,

Philippians,

Colossians,

Philemon.

See, nothing,

nothing,

no circumstance

could keep Paul

from bearing witness

to Christ.

To him,

the gospel

was too important.

It was too important

to be halted

by his chains

and his circumstances.

And God's power

was,

God's power

to make much

out of our limitations

was too great

for Paul to believe

that his hands

were ultimately tied.

After all,

Paul worshipped

a king

who by being crucified

on a Roman cross

could remove

the curse

of the world.

What circumstance

was going to stop him

from preaching

that king?

So for Paul,

every circumstance

was not a hindrance

but an opportunity.

An opportunity

to play his part

in God's drama

as a faithful witness

of this crucified

and risen king.

And that is how

the gospel

was able to thrive

even under house rest

in the heart

of the Roman Empire.

For while its messengers

could be chained

and beaten

and murdered,

the gospel

cannot be chained.

The spirit

cannot be chained.

And the kingdom

that we proclaim,

it will never

stop advancing

no matter how bad

I am of a preacher,

no matter how unfaithful

we are as witnesses.

So why not join

this kingdom movement

by the spirit of God?

Christ Church,

are we waiting

for better?

Are we waiting

maybe even

for perfect circumstances

before we give

our lives fully

to bearing witness

to Christ?

Are we waiting

to just check off

a few more boxes

on our list

of things to do?

Finish my degree,

get that promotion,

find a spouse,

start a family,

buy a home,

conquer my anxiety,

wait for the delta

or lambda variants

to get figured out?

Or might it be

that God

is calling us

to bear witness

in and through

our very imperfect

circumstances?

What might that look like?

What might that look like?

Not looking for things

to settle down,

but saying,

my life

and world

and circumstances

are far from what

I'd like them to be,

and yet God,

the kingdom

is yours.

Jesus,

the kingdom

is yours

and I'm still

going to act out

my role

as your witness.

For, you know,

to wait upon

better circumstances

is actually

to be held captive

to an alternative

kingdom.

That's exactly

what the enemy

wants.

If Paul had stopped

bearing witness

and just waited

for a better opportunity,

I'm just gonna chill

and watch Netflix

for the next two years

because I can't go out.

Even if he had never

explicitly bowed down

to a Roman god

or a Roman emperor,

it wouldn't really be

that he stopped

bearing witness.

He would actually

just have been

bearing witness

to the weakness

of the kingdom

of Christ

and the supremacy

of the kingdom

of his captors,

the kingdom

that had imprisoned him.

See, that's what's

at stake.

We are Christ's witnesses.

That is the message

of the book of Acts.

We are Christ's witnesses,

Christ's church.

So the question is,

will we bow down

and submit to the kingdoms

of this world

or will we,

like Paul,

will we,

like Christ,

insist,

even chained

under house arrest,

even hanging crucified

upon the crosses

of the powers

of this world,

will we insist upon

and bear witness

with our whole lives

to the greater

imperishable kingdom

of the crucified

and risen Christ?

Will you pray with me?

Lord, have mercy upon us

for our inaction,

our disobedient action,

for the poor witness

that we have been

to the world

concerning your kingdom,

concerning your king.

God, we need you.

We need your spirit

to empower us

to repent.

We need your spirit

to empower us

to be that bright

and shining city

on a hill

that we've so often

failed to be.

And we have no

grand illusions

that we can do this

on our own.

So that's why

we come to you.

Because we want

to be your witnesses.

We want to be

faithful witnesses,

bearing witness

to the most beautiful message,

the greatest story

ever told,

the story of redemption,

the story of King Jesus.

who is Lord.

Lord,

would you stir up

our hearts

with a passion

for your kingdom,

a zeal

for the honor

of the Lord Jesus.

Lord, would we encounter you

in that way?

And would we be glad?

And would we be like

that tree

that is planted

by streams of water,

that yields its fruit

in season

and whose leaf

does not wither.

And whatever we do,

may it prosper,

may it flourish

as we remain

and abide

in Christ,

our King.

As we seek first

in the ay

in the country

in the universe

for the honor

and the

all

fathers

and we

know

what so foram

to

to the

almost

space

and i

would

see you