Acts: A Royal Showdown | Associate Pastor: Matt Armstrong

Morning, everybody.

My name is Matt.

I'm one of the associate pastors here at Redeemer, and it's my pleasure and honor to get to bring the word this morning.

One of the podcasts, I like to listen to lots of different types of podcasts.

One of them recently did something fun.

They they live in the two hosts of the show live in different cities, actually different countries, and they decided to try to put a Lego set together from two different places.

So they bought the same Lego set.

One guy had the instructions, one guy had the pieces.

And so you got to listen to one guy try to explain to the other guy how to put this thing together.

Now, if you've put together Lego sets anytime recently, you can imagine.

And this was, you know, this was a modern, complicated uh Star Wars Lego set.

So it was hilarious to listen to and deeply frustrating for the guy with the pieces, and actually pretty frustrating for the guy with the instructions.

And I couldn't help as I listened to this entertaining podcast, that uh it felt a lot like the Christian life.

Right?

Like there's someone who feels very far away, who has the instructions, who knows what's happening, but I'm just here with these broken pieces, trying to put my life together.

And sometimes it's hilarious.

Most of the time it's frustrating.

Uh, can I get an amen?

All right.

Well, today we're looking at two whole chapters in the book of Acts.

Uh I take this responsibility myself.

Russ assigned me this section.

He said, you can preach three verses if you want, or you can preach the whole two chapters.

And I couldn't help myself, so we're going through the whole two chapters.

Uh, but but there's a reason.

There's a reason.

Um there's a benefit to looking at large chunks of scripture, right?

There's the forest and there are the trees, and both are instructive to us in understanding God, understanding ourselves, understanding the word.

So today we are going to pass at a high level over these two chapters to see what King Jesus is up to.

And uh, as kind of a teaser, the name of this sermon is a royal showdown.

So listen for the story of royalty.

Last week we looked at Acts chapter 10, the story of the conversion of Cornelius.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Why that was significant was Cornelius was a Gentile, he was a Greek, he was not Jewish, he was not a son of Abraham, but an angel of the Lord came specifically intentionally to Cornelius in a vision and instructed him to call the apostle Peter to come and preach the gospel to him.

At the same time, Jesus was appearing to the apostle Peter in a vision and preparing him for this call that was about to come to preach the gospel to this Gentile.

And so he goes, Cornelius receives the gospel.

More importantly, he receives the Holy Spirit, him and his household.

Uh and it was pretty amazing.

Peter was, to say the least, confused and astounded.

Now, in chapter 11, where we are today, Peter returns to Jerusalem and he reports this unusual event to the powers that be, the other apostles, the other elders of the church, the headquarters of this new church in Jerusalem.

Now, when the church hears this report, they are also surprised and a little troubled that Peter is fraternizing with the enemy.

It's important for me to remind you that the Jews and the Gentiles at this time, not only were they kind of separate because of religious reasons, ceremonial laws of the Jews, but the Jews actually looked down on and they considered Gentiles to be kind of repugnant.

And it added salt in the wound that Gentiles had ruled over God's people for hundreds of years at this point.

And so again, they were troubled to hear this.

And so Peter tells the whole story again, and just some biblical whatever information.

You know, paper was expensive 2,000 years ago.

So the fact that this story is told in Acts chapter 10 and then basically repeated in chapter 11 means that this was a significant and important story.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

And the reason Peter tells the story again is to show that this wasn't his idea.

This was King Jesus' idea.

And then Luke writes this.

And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

They were shocked into silence, and then they erupted in praise that God's grace would extend beyond the bounds of Israel.

Now, this is a watershed moment in the history of the church.

The water has already been shed, but here, back in Jerusalem, God's people, including the apostles, are beginning to understand that things are different than they had previously understood.

Up to this point, the Jews believed that God's intentions and blessings and covenants were for them.

They were God's chosen people.

And yet now they begin to burst forth into the world of the Gentiles.

And so they're beginning to see Jesus' plans were far beyond anything that they had previously thought or imagined.

It takes me back to the end of Jesus' ministry, right before he's about to ascend.

The disciples, the apostles themselves, they say, Now, now, Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

You see, even then, after Jesus' death and resurrection, their expectations were set by hundreds and hundreds of years of Jewish history, the kingdom of David, the kingdom of Israel, the nation of Israel.

That brings us to point number one.

God's love is promiscuous and open, inviting all who would to come and to receive repentance that leads to life.

This was true then, as shocking as it was to these Jewish Christians, and it's true today.

Anyone here in this room within the boundaries of the preaching of the gospel, God's invitation goes out.

It doesn't matter.

As we've already sung, it doesn't matter what you've done, who you are, God invites you into loving, intimate relationship with Him even this morning.

Now I choose that word promiscuous intentionally.

It's a little provocative.

I don't mean it in the sense of unfaithful, quite the opposite, but I do mean it in its expanded meaning of indiscriminate, non-exclusive, or to use Peter's own words, making no distinction.

But I also choose that word because of the way the Jews experienced it.

They did experience it viscerally as unfaithfulness.

God, who had spoken of himself as a loving and devoted husband throughout the Old Testament prophets, is now extending that love beyond the bounds of Israel.

Think for a moment, who would it shock you to hear this morning that they had received repentance unto life?

Shock you, because that's exactly what's happening at this point in the story.

While the story continues, Luke reminds us in the very next verses about the great persecution that erupted after the death of Stephen four or five chapters earlier in the book of Acts, that many of these new Jewish Christians were dispersed.

They spread throughout the Roman Empire.

And as Deborah read earlier, Luke tells us that they traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

But there were some of them.

Oh, it's so fascinating.

What is it about these certain men, these certain people from Cyprus and Cyrene?

When they came to Antioch, they couldn't help themselves.

Maybe it was just in conversation, maybe it was over a lunch break.

Who knows what the circumstances were?

But the good news about King Jesus, the coming and promised Messiah, began to spill out again.

It's a parallel to the story of the Gentile from chapter 10.

The story gets out, it's almost like a virus that breaks the bounds and it begins to spread all over the world.

Now this is happening in two different locations.

And again, it brings us to a similar point, number two.

King Jesus is at work here.

Spreading the boundaries of his kingdom, overtaking the kingdom of darkness.

What's important is for us to see here what I'm emphasizing, which is that this was not the apostles' plan.

This was not their understanding, this was not their intention.

They were intentionally speaking the gospel, preaching the gospel to other Jews, because that was their understanding.

They weren't necessarily trying to withhold it from the Gentiles, they were seeking to be faithful to what they felt God had taught them.

And yet here, Jesus is doing his work, expanding the bounds of his kingdom.

And this is our understanding of the whole message of the book of Acts.

This is what Jesus is doing.

And actually, maybe we've misnamed this.

This book has no actual divine title.

We call it the Acts of the Apostles, because that's kind of the content of it.

But a better name might be all that King Jesus continued to do after his resurrection.

Because much of what happens in the book of Acts is surprising and shocking and troubling to the apostles and the church itself.

Jesus is at work, seated at the right hand of God in heaven, extending his kingdom.

And the same, again, is true today.

That no matter what we experience, no matter how confusing we find the events of the earth, God is, King Jesus is extending his kingdom.

And it's it's fascinating to hear, even as the church contracts and shrinks here in North America and in the Northern Hemisphere, it is it is growing and expanding in the southern hemispheres.

Well, this brings us to chapter 12, and it begins on a sombre note.

Luke says, About this time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

This was during the days of unleavened bread.

Now the fact that King Herod, this is the grandson of the King Herod who was king in Jerusalem when Jesus was born.

So this is a couple generations later.

The fact that King Herod had James killed with the sword, as opposed to Stephen being stoned by his fellow Jews, this means that Herod saw this growing Jewish sect, these Christians, the followers of the way, he saw them as a growing political threat.

Not that they were seeking to dominate, but they were creating such cultural and political waves that it was expedient for Herod to set an example.

And how better to show your power than by taking one of the leaders and executing them.

And then to add insult to injury, he sees what the responses from the Jews in general.

They're pleased with this.

They're excited that James was executed at the whim of King Herod.

And so then he decides oh, I'm gonna arrest Peter too.

Peter was most likely the head disciple, head apostle in Jerusalem, and so uh Herod felt that this would be another way to please his constituency.

In essence, Herod planned on executing Peter because it was politically expedient.

It would please his higher-ups in Rome, showing them that he was tough on the riffraff and he didn't mess around.

It would also please the local leaders and local constituencies that were kind of troubled by this new sect.

But Peter catches a break.

There are no executions on holiday weekends.

Whew, hallelujah.

It's the feast of unleavened bread.

This is uh this is the celebration, the week-long celebration after Pentecost.

Um and the last night Peter's in prison, this is the night before he would have been publicly executed.

An angel of the Lord comes and appears to him.

And we're told this: Behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell, and he struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly.

And the chains fell from his hands.

So Peter escapes miraculously with the help of an angel of the Lord, and he goes through the city to a house where there's a prayer vigil, is probably maybe the main headquarters or gathering place of this early church, and they've been up all night praying for him, and something kind of hilarious happens.

It's it's a weird juxtaposition with the death of James.

He goes to the door and he knocks, it's locked, and a young servant girl goes to the door and she hears his voice.

She knows him, she's familiar with Peter.

She recognizes his voice, calling to let him in, and in her joy and excitement, she just runs back to the group to announce that he's there, leaving Peter at the door.

This this man wanted with a death sentence over his head.

He's just standing there knocking, and she says, Peter's here, and nobody believes her.

They're like, You're out of your mind, kid.

Or maybe it's his ghost.

Right?

They think he's already dead.

Well, finally, back and they go back and forth, leaving Peter, sadly standing outside.

Eventually, they they go and check, and ah, indeed, Peter is here.

He comes and relates the story to them, and then and then we're told he goes to an undisclosed location.

He probably leaves Jerusalem for a time until things die down.

Finally, at the end of chapter 12, Luke tells us the story of Herod's death.

This kind of comes out of nowhere.

This this isn't really uh like the other things Luke tells us, but it is a significant event.

Um, another political drama is unfolding.

There are neighboring uh little cities, you know, which are kind of like city-states, and they've they've gotten in uh Herod's crosshairs, they've made him unhappy, and so they they come uh to seek his favor.

He he gives a great speech in front of them, and and like a bunch of sycophantic, you know, fans, they all they just praise him over the top and they shout, oh, these are the words of a god and not a man.

And Herod just soaks it up, you know?

He's just like, Yes, I am amazing.

And we and we're told uh that because he received that worship from men and did not give glory to God, that an angel of the Lord, this angel of the Lord, shows up like four or five times in these two chapters.

He says, uh, struck him down, and he was eaten by worms, and he breathes his last.

Probably not in that order.

There's so much here in these two chapters.

Um, but what I want us to see here on this high level uh in these two chapters is a royal showdown.

What Luke is relating to us is the showdown between King Jesus and King Herod.

In the midst of this showdown, there are wins and seeming losses to the kingdom of God, but Luke's message could not be more clear that good and evil are not two equal yet opposite forces that are battling each other for balance or dominance in the universe.

No.

Rather, King Jesus' kingdom is coming unhindered, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

You see, right after Luke tells us about Herod's death, he writes this, but the word of God increased and multiplied.

There's a story going on, brothers and sisters, and he wants us to see and connect this line throughout.

Now, to be sure, there are a number of unanswered questions in these two chapters.

Like, why was the church so confused by Jesus' intent to spread the gospel outside the bounds of Israel?

And why was there so much disagreement and discord?

In fact, that issue is the is the presenting issue throughout the New Testament.

And if you look at the book of Galatians, the book of Romans, the book of Ephesians, it's really all motivated by this one problem.

How does God's love and grace and redemption flow outside of the nation of Israel to the Gentiles themselves?

But other important questions like why did God allow James to die?

But Peter was miraculously saved.

We're not told.

Why were the frivolous and shallow whims of the political leaders allowed to affect God's people so deeply?

Why does the kingdom of God seem to come and fits and starts if King Jesus is truly seated at the Father's right hand, ruling over heaven and earth?

Beloved, I put forth to you that all these questions we continue to ask.

Anyone who truly walks with the Lord will ask these questions.

But at the very same time, God does tell us that his good purpose continues to move forward according to his will.

The word of God increased and multiplied.

And again, that is true to this day.

More and more people were hearing the good news and being granted the repentance that leads to life.

And again, this is the story of the gospel, this unfolding message of the scriptures from beginning to end, that in the midst of all the sin and sorrow and suffering of this world, the Lord is at work redeeming, renewing, restoring, forgiving, and loving.

His promiscuous love is what brought us into the family of God.

He continues to expand the boundaries of his kingdoms throughout the world in ways that surprise, delight, and confuse us.

And he invites us to rest, not in our own acts, but in his faithfulness and his power and his continued presence here on earth.

Perhaps a better illustration than the Lego one is the one about one of a general perched on top of a high hill overlooking an expansive battlefield.

There he sees everything while his soldiers only see what is before them.

He sends orders and they don't always make sense, but as they rest and trust that the general sees, the general knows, the general is trustworthy, then they can step forward with confidence and faith.

Beloved, that is the world in which we live in.

That is the world of Acts 11 and 12.

There is much in your life and in mine that doesn't make sense.

But King Jesus has shown himself faithful.

So as his orders come, we follow him faithfully, knowing that the end is secure.

And even if we can't see exactly what that looks like, he can.

And he will bring it to fruition.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, Lord Jesus, King of kings, and Lord of Lords, we love you.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for your promises.

And thank you for the tangible ways in our own lives that you have shown us that these are true words.

Some of us this morning need a fresh vision, a fresh experience of your power and your presence in our lives.

Some of us need endurance to continue to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And some of us are just uh reawakening to this truth, and we rejoice.

Thank you for all that you have done, all that you continue to do, and we look forward to that day when we will enter fully into your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.