Acts: Our Assurance and Change

I I I want us to pause before the sermon and just pray for the foresters for Doug and Megan and Charlotte and Jack and Hayes.

Let's pray together.

God, today is a sad and sacred day.

What a privilege for us to have brothers in our church.

Thank you for using able to walk with him.

To learn from him what it means to suffer well.

To be a light and darkness, to be loving.

What an easy child to love.

And we're grateful.

And yet our hearts are our hearts are broken.

Our hearts are broken for our loss.

And our hearts are broken for two parents and three kids who lost a sweet member of their family.

And so we pray that your Holy Spirit would comfort.

You are the comforter.

You are the peace that passes understanding.

In the midst of their sadness, grief, anger, doubt, confusion, lamenting, God, would you be the ground that they stand on?

God, we know you as Redeemer.

And we thank you that you are the restorer.

Pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

This morning we're going to continue our study through Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

This is the first church growing, making its way.

The message of Jesus is finding people, not where they should be.

Thank you.

We need that, but where we are, that's good news for us as well.

Paul's in Athens at this point.

Athens at this time was an intellectual center.

It's full of religious pluralism, but full of philosophy and thought.

And so Paul begins to look around and he sees idols all over the place, different worship idols.

And this greatly distresses him.

He's very concerned about this.

And so he begins to talk to people and he begins to teach.

Why do they have these idols?

What does this mean for them?

What and who are we truly as people?

So Acts 17, starting verse 22, so Paul, standing in the midst of the Arapochus, forgive me, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

So point number one is we make sense of Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And isn't it amazing, even before I read the point, isn't it amazing how Paul addresses them?

Like it's it's very kind of respectful.

Like he has a respectful tone.

He engages their culture, he doesn't just belittle them, he he finds them where they're at.

Point number one is this our searching reveals our deep need of our heavenly father.

So if you're on a search, you're on a search for a reason.

Our searching reveals our deep need of a heavenly father.

A couple weeks ago, I went to leave the house, just like you, you know the rhythm when you go to leave your house.

I'm like, wallet, keys, phone, right?

You know that?

I mean everybody does that, you know, kind of do this all day.

And then sunglasses.

And so I did boom, boom, three.

I had you know, three for three, and then I was like, oh no, where are my sunglasses?

Uh I was like, okay, in the closet on the shelf, went and shack, no, bathroom on the counter, no.

An inn table, nice stand.

You know, that'll set me off.

Just that.

I don't need much more to set me off in my day if I can't find my sunglasses.

I need my sunglasses.

Like I'm gonna be squinty and I'm squinty, I'm gonna get a headache.

Like the whole day is just the whole day is rubbish.

It's awful, right?

The world is ended, is basically what I'm saying.

Just all because this one little thing about my sunglasses, I become a very difficult and frantic person.

Uh so I called my wife.

I called, Chris, hey, have you seen my sunglasses?

No, I hadn't seen them.

Are you are you sure you hadn't seen them?

Have you seen it?

You know, like I'm pretty sure you probably moved it.

I'm pretty sure you moved it.

You're probably the one who moved.

Probably you.

And she's no, I didn't move.

And I'm like, well, the girls move them because they always move my stuff.

You know, then my girls always move my stuff, my stuff should stay where it's at.

You know, and about then, in that kind of frantic, I just kind of do like something, yeah.

I kind of scratch my head, right?

Yeah.

Right.

That's where they're at.

Like they're sitting right on top of my head.

After all that, you know.

We can spend our entire lives on a nagging, exhausting, frantic search like that right there.

Our hearts are searching to solve an aching in our hearts for something that's just waiting so close to you.

We want to be fulfilled, approved, loved, meaningful, forgiven, righteous.

And this is why the Athenians created these worship idols.

It's why our culture, why we create and love money and prestige and approval, somebody's approval, achievement, sex, power.

Maybe then, maybe then the aching will stop.

Here's what Paul says, verse 24.

Then God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

So a real proclamation is God as creator, one God as creator.

Verse 26.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

For in him we live and move and have our being.

As even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring.

See how Paul does it?

Isn't that clever how Paul does it?

He's like, you've been saying this.

Like you've been saying, there's a reason that even your own poets have been saying this.

Point number two, wonderfully we are creatures before a creator.

Wonderfully, that is our role.

Creaturehood.

So you are not a mistake, even though it can feel that way.

You are not a machine just here to produce, work in your job or for God.

You're not a machine.

It can feel like that as times.

You were made as God's creation.

To be loved by him and to love him.

And this creator, as the creator, is not bound by his creation.

God is not bound by us and what we say or what we make of him.

We are actually bound to him.

We are creatures of the creator.

That is a beginning point of our role, our position as people.

And until we settle there, in that sort of humble submission, we're simply searching and bouncing and exhausting ourselves amongst idols.

A few months ago, my youngest made this craft.

I think it was for my wife, not for me.

I'm not positive.

I'm pretty sure it was Valentine's Day.

And my youngest made this for Christy.

So cute little craft, right?

Maybe you've received something like this.

You know, at some point, some kid made something cute for you.

And that creation can be given away, right?

It can be given away, but that creation can never stop being my child's creation.

It can never stop being Greta's creation.

A creation can't unbecome a creation.

It's just what it is.

But man, we love to try, don't we?

We love to try not being dependent on God, not needing to trust God.

Well, that would be us not being creatures before Creator.

Acts 17, verse 29.

Acts 17:29

Being then God's offspring, there's our position.

Being then God's offspring, we're his children.

We ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Point number three is this our assurance is rooted in the righteousness of one man.

So our assurance for the relationship with God, our assurance of life after death, our assurance of being forgiven or righteous is not based on our work, but God's work for us, the one man.

And that ain't you, that ain't me.

Praise God.

It's Christ Jesus.

Now remember two weeks ago we talked about, remember the receipt at Costco?

Do you remember that?

Maybe you thought about it when you went to check out at Costco.

It happened to me again last week.

I just bought something at the pharmacy, one a big shopping trip, but I bought something at the pharmacy, and so you know, the staple, the receipt to the bag there, you gotta hold the bag up there when you get to the end.

And so I'd make the walk out, past the hot dogs, HVAC men, walk on down.

The line was backing up, which at first you're kind of frustrated, but then you get to judge everybody's stuff.

Right?

You know, some of the guy next to me had like a ton of Nutella.

It was awkward, it got awkward, it was awkward.

It's like, that's a lot.

I was ho was like, well, maybe he owns a like a crepe store or something, because otherwise, that's just a lot of Nutella.

So make our way up.

Remember two weeks ago we says, we have no anxiety.

And the people are there to make sure nobody steals, right?

Like that.

That's why they're there.

They're gonna check the receipt, draw the line.

Right?

So, but no anxiety in that line.

And no anxiety because it's been paid for, and we have a receipt.

We have a receipt, right?

And what we said is, and it's again here, this is what Paul is saying to these people, at the end of verse 31, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

We have assurance because we have a receipt in resurrection.

Our lives can be frantic, but our hearts are assured in Jesus.

And God made this objective for us in history.

So it's not kind of abstract and up in the air.

Now we can be very abstract up in the air, but Christ's work is not.

He fixed on a day that he's gonna judge the world by the righteousness of one man.

So that final word upon you is not your record, merit, resume, performance, but the word of grace imputed the work of Jesus on top of you through the Holy Spirit.

He cannot love you anymore or any less because he loves you like he loves Jesus.

Acts 17, verse 32.

Acts 17:32

Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, so Paul's proclaiming this and teaching this.

Now, when they heard it, some mocked.

But others said, Well, we will hear you again about this.

So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed.

Well, that's quite a whirlwind if you're the one like preaching or sharing, because you're sharing, and like some people mocked, some people listened, some people walked away and didn't believe, some people joined you and did believe.

Right?

This is the great fear of like telling somebody how Jesus changed your life, right?

Because you shared with somebody one time how Jesus changed your life, you're really pouring your heart out, and she just, you know, she responded how some new sweater or her new Lululemon pants they really changed her life.

You're like, that's not really what I was going for in this conversation, but that's where it was.

You feel very rejected.

So, what do we make of that?

How do we walk away from sharing, being evangelistic?

Some mock, some listen, some walk away, some accept.

Whew, that's a lot.

Point number four.

The Holy Spirit, not our own efforts, empowers us to repentance and faith.

Well, that's how.

It's not all on you.

In the good, it's not it's not all it's not actually on you at all.

We are vessels.

And so therefore, we share and talk and preach and teach and whatever role, and the Holy Spirit has to do work.

I love the Seinfeld episode with the junior mint.

You remember the junior mint?

Right, I'll set it up for you.

Elaine's ex-boyfriend Roy, he's he's he's having surgery.

And Jerry and Kramer, they work their way into going to watch the surgery with medical students, like up in the gallery of the medical students, of watching this surgery.

So we're gonna watch this clip and make sense of how theological this is.

Now we'll open the peritoneal cavity, exposing the body's internal organs.

Nurse retractor.

What are you eating?

Junior.

I can't see what I'm doing.

Where'd you get those?

You want no I don't want no good.

I don't want it.

Just take one.

No, stop crazy.

Okay, so here's what happens is they slow Roy back up, the junior minute, right inside.

Roy is not recovering well.

Um he's dying.

Jerry and Kramer have this ethical dilemma.

Should they tell that he's dying, and this, you know, George bought some art, and George wants his art to the guy to die, so his art will appreciate.

You know, it's a very compassionate show we have here.

So this is the dilemma going.

And then suddenly the guy, Roy, starts he starts feeling better.

He starts to recover.

And then the doctor says this.

This is the incredibly theological quote for us this morning.

The doctor says this, you know, I don't want to totally discount the emotional element in your recovery, but I think there were other factors at play here.

I have no medical evidence to back me up, but something happened during the operation that staved off that infection.

Something beyond science.

Something, perhaps, from above.

Now, I actually think about that sometimes, like when I'm sitting over there.

I mean, it's it's odd, right?

It's a little silly.

It kind of settles me down.

But it it's basically like something else has to happen.

Like something else here has to happen other than just this.

Like, there has to be what we would say, the Holy Spirit has to participate.

Something else has to happen.

This actually reminds me of Dr.

Simeon Zall's article, The Cure of Souls.

Zall's a theology professor at Cambridge.

And he asked the question, what actually changes a person?

So he summarizes kind of his view of like summarizing theories of change in churches and in our lives.

Theories of change.

What actually changes us?

So he has these different theories of change, and maybe you'll recognize some of them, maybe experience some of them.

Theory of change, number one, the sacramental participation approach.

So this says, this is all according to Zoll, I'm just kind of summarizing his article.

Uh he says this, though the through the sacraments, as to become more sanctified, take the sacraments to be more sanctified.

So take communion, be baptized, take communion, keep taking communion, because through communion you actually become more moral, more godly, more able to change.

So we're sinners in need of God's grace, and the sacrament doesn't just symbolize something, it actually changes you.

Okay, that's theory of change number one.

Maybe even around that.

Number two, theory of change number two, the Christian information approach.

So this says to change and thrive, we need increasing amounts of information about the Bible.

A lot of us would say, yeah, I actually kind of like that.

I like that segment.

The Bible contains instructions for life.

So get to know the instructions on godly living.

And here's where it gets a little, eh, we're kind of like, eh.

So people just need to know more.

Because if they know more, if they get better advice than the Bible, they will change because they only need to know so that they can try harder.

Just get the information and try harder.

Theory of change number three the Pentecostal and charismatic approach.

To change and to thrive, we need to be emotionally aroused.

We need to have experiences, religious experiences.

Maybe at retreats, maybe at camps, maybe in church, just over and over and over again.

Because the next experience is more important than the last, and the next experience is what's going to get you to the next experience as you're going to move from experience to experience.

Because through these experiences is how we know God and how we change.

So Zaul asks, what is your theory of change?

What's your theory of change?

What have been your experiences of how change is sort of like implemented in your life?

And then he just says, just pause and go like, is it working?

Does it work long term?

And then he presents his theory of change, number four, the Augustinian approach.

And he gets a little academic here, and so I'll summarize a bit.

He likes this approach.

I think it's a pretty good approach.

Fifth century, Augustine of Hippo, he's reflecting on his own conversion, and he's arguing with this new theology called plagianism.

So plagianism said, God created you with the powerful ability for moral willing that's inside of you.

And the Bible is a blueprint for life, so use your will to do God's will.

So their theory of change was read the Bible and then try really hard to do what it says.

You have it in you.

You have it.

But Augustine didn't think that actually lined up too much with the Bible, with the teaching of human nature and sin.

St.

Paul says the divine law isn't able to produce the righteousness it calls for.

We actually need something else.

And then Jesus in Sermon on the Mount, he keeps driving us not just to wise decision making, but actually to our hearts.

In other words, you don't have it in you.

We need something, right, from above.

We're actually a little bit more of a mess than we originally thought.

And we're actually pretty good at getting our life together in certain ways, but then in other ways it's still a mess.

Or we get overall pretty well at keeping our life together, and then we start discovering these motives that are all messed up.

And in this way, we're just always dependent on the Holy Spirit to meet us, not in our will and effort and strife, but in our nothingness as to change us.

Our poverty.

So we bring our nothingness, our poverty, Jesus calls it.

And we bring that surrender, falling into belovedness, into repentance.

We fall into it.

And now there the Holy Spirit begins to change us.

Zal explains it this way The human will is helped to achieve righteousness in this way.

Because we're not saying we shouldn't do something or be motivated toward righteousness.

He's just saying, how is the will, our will, motivated?

How do we desire it?

How can we get there?

Human beings receive the Holy Spirit so that there arises in their minds a delight in and a love for that highest and immutable good thing that is God.

Even now, while they walk by faith, not yet by sight, by this love given to them like the pledge of a gratuitous gift, they are set afire with the desire to cling to the Creator.

So the problem is not whether we do spiritual practices.

We should do spiritual practices.

Spiritual practices are good, religious experiences are good, reading the Bible, instructions for life, those are good things.

They're helpful.

But how does our heart desire to do those things?

And so once we're talking about desire, we're not talking about willing yourself enough.

We're talking about the need for a heart to come alive to God's love.

By giving up, if we think about Acts 17, lesser loves.

See, we need the one man.

We need a righteousness from outside of us, from above, given to us freely in the cross and in the resurrection.

So that we don't have to be performers.

We don't have to be machines.

We get to be creatures.

We get to be children.

We get to be the beloved of a relentlessly loving Heavenly Father.

Let's pray together.

God, I pray this morning as we think about these people in Acts 17, how similar we are of creating lesser loves.

And yet the only way that we have changed is by coming into a nothingness, a poverty, a need.

That we are in need of you.

And we actually only bring our messiness.

And we are so thankful that your love pursues us, not as we should be, but as we are.

And God, this morning, what we're crying out for is for your Holy Spirit to set our hearts afire.

To not just do the spiritual practices, not just take the sacrament, not just learn about the Bible, but to have a heart flamed in a fire for you.

So that our spiritual practices, our Bible studies and our sacraments would be an overflow of how loved we are, how forgiven, how righteous by the cross and by the resurrection.

May we root even deeper into the great assurance we have, not by our work, but by your work for us.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.