Care Sacrificially – Part 1

0:08 What I want us to do is next week we're going to look at Acts 2, 42-47 as well as Acts 4, verse 32-37 and see the picture of community. But I want us to see what's sandwiched in the middle. It's a story of Peter and John and a guy who's crippled from birth in Acts 3, verse 1. And we'll start reading there. And I want us to see the significance of this story played out even in our community of faith here at the church at Brook Hills. Verse 1 says, One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. And then Peter said, look at us. So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold, I don't have, but what I have I give you.

1:04 In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. So taking him by the right hand, he helped him up. And instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them in the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. And when all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. This picture is an illustration of Acts 2, 42-47 and Acts 4, 32-37. That it's sandwiched in between those two accounts. And so what I want us to see is three characteristics of our early church this morning that made them different. This whole idea of different to make a difference. What made the early church and their fellowship, their community different? If you've got your notes, let me encourage you to pull those out from your celebration guide. First thing I want you to see that made them different was that they were concerned about the hurts of those around them.

2:01 They were deeply concerned about the hurts of those around them. You get this picture. Acts chapter 3 gives us the setting. A guy who's crippled from birth has never walked. We see that he was about 40 years old later in the passage. So for 40 years, the guy has never walked on his feet. Many people in that day would associate that with sin in his life or sin in his family's life. This guy did something or somebody did something to deserve this or earn this or merit this. And so this guy is in a predicament where he can't walk. He's cast out of society and the culture around him. And somebody is kind enough to bring him every day just to sit there at the temple courts where people who felt obligated by their religious duties to throw a couple of coins at him and then walk on in to praise God in the temple. And so he sits there outside the center of religion day in and day out. Peter and John walk up. And it says, not only did Peter and John see this guy, undoubtedly they'd seen him before, but it's deeper than that.

2:57 It says they looked intently at this guy in verse 4. Peter and John looked intently at him. It's the same word that Luke tells us, describes how the disciples, when in Acts chapter 1, verse 10 and 11, Jesus ascended into heaven, it says they looked intently, they fixed their eyes on him. Same thing in Acts chapter 7, verse 54 through 60, when Stephen is about to be stoned, it says he looked up to heaven, he saw Jesus, the glory of God, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So it's a fixed gaze. It's not just a glance. What I want you to see is a progression here. When we begin to get a hold of the reality of the needs around us, number one, we begin to see the hurts around us. This is the progression. Very simple in this passage. We see the hurt. then second we begin to feel the hurt it's not just glancing at it oh yeah that's there it's it's beginning to feel the weight of that that's exactly what luke is getting at in verse four when it says peter and john looked at him intently it's not just a pass a look as they passed by so they saw the hurt they felt the hurt and number three we touched the hurt that's exactly what peter does a pretty bold statement to say you know i don't have any money but i do have this get up and walk.

4:08 That's a pretty bold move to say to a guy who hasn't walked in 40 years and then he reaches down, he touches him and he helps him up. That's the progression here. I want you to think about how that relates 2,000 years later to us in our culture. To see the hurt, to feel the hurt and to touch the hurt. We are a people because of our information age and the availability of technology to us who it is very easy to turn on Fox News to browse the internet and be constantly surrounded by the needs of a lost and dying world, whether it's here in Birmingham or around the world. And it's very easy to become so numb to all of the information that we get to the point where we don't begin to feel the hurts of the people around us. I remember that was the way it was for me in India. I was there about a year and a half ago. And to be in a place where there's more people that are living below the poverty line than there are people in the United States altogether.

5:07 The poverty just rampant. Kids on the side of the roads. Poverty everywhere. People starving. And it gets to the point where you almost become numb to it because you just see it everywhere. What happens when a people begin to not only see the hurt, but to feel the weight of that hurt? Same thing, Matthew 9, verse 35-38. When Jesus saw the crowds, He had what on them? He had compassion on them. He didn't just see the need. He felt the gravity of their need. and then to reach down and touch that need. In an age and a day where we can put our iPod in our ears, we can go throughout the busyness of our life day in and day out doing all the things that we find ourselves engrossed in doing and watch Fox News and look on the Internet and see all the needs around us, but never lift a finger to meaningfully engage the needs of those around us. And not just, don't miss the temptation, not just in the world as a whole, but in the church. undoubtedly in this room a variety of physical struggles represented this morning some of you are going through some physical pain emotional struggles different families in this room who are walking through some things whether it's in a marriage or with children that things aren't just working out the way they were supposed to maybe maybe on the verge of divorce maybe feeling the effects of a divorce maybe there's financial struggles uncertainty about the future there Maybe there's spiritual struggles undoubtedly in this room.

6:30 There's some who are walking intimately with Christ and there's others who are as cold as could be toward Christ or may not know anything about Christ. Around this room, a variety of spiritual, emotional, physical, financial struggles, whatever they may be. And isn't it possible, particularly in our church culture, to come in here Sunday in and Sunday out and never meaningfully engage the needs of those who are sitting right next to us in a worship service? how often do we call ourselves the church but create this inauthentic sense of community where we gather together we pretend like everything's going on right when there are real hurts represented around here and real needs that we have the opportunity to reach out to that's what set them apart they were concerned about the needs of those around them now i want you to see something very interesting with the bookends on this story look at acts chapter 2 verse 41. This is what we read.

7:27 Read earlier over the last few weeks. I want you to see what happened right before this passage. It says those who accepted Peter's message were baptized and about how many were added to their number that day? 3,000. It was a good day in the church. They were breaking all the church growth records just like that. They had 120 people in Acts chapter 1. By the end of Acts chapter 2 over 3,000. That's a good day. If we had that same percentage of growth. We would have about 100,000 people worshiping next Sunday. I think we would need a third service before October 1st. What an amazing growth. Now I want you to look at Acts chapter 4. Look at verse 4 there. After this story, it says, many who heard the message believed when Peter and John preached after this story, and the number of men grew to about 5,000. Another good day in the church. So you've got the church just growing at breathtaking speeds. 3,000 one day, the Lord adding to their number daily, those who are being saved. By Acts chapter 4, we're up to over 5,000.

8:29 Things are just taking off. But what I want you to see, Luke does this intentionally under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Don't miss it. There's a truth that the first century church knew that we need to grab hold of today. And here it is. It's in your notes. Those who are most effective in reaching the many are those who are most passionate about reaching the one. let that soak in those who are most effective in reaching the many are those who are most passionate about reaching the one peter and john had every reason to think that they had it all together peter preached 3 000 people got saved it's real easy at that point to begin to get prideful or whatever it may be engrossed with how you do all these things that you walk by this guy in the temple you don't even pay attention to him but that's not what the new testament church was characterized by they walked by the sky they looked at him they saw the hurt felt the hurt and they reached out and touched the hurt. And that's why people were being added to their number daily, those who were being saved.

9:26 This was the mark of the New Testament church, not just in Scripture, but even as we do research in the history of the first and second century. Infanticide was the most popular form of birth control. Infanticide basically means not having an abortion, but you have your baby and then you put it in the trash. It was Christians. They were known to go behind in those trash heaps. And pick up babies. There's a letter that was recorded from that time period. Listen, just to give you a picture of the mindset. One letter to another person said, I beg and entreat you, take care of the little ones as soon as we receive our pay. I will send it up to you. Listen to what they say. If by chance you bear a child, if it is a boy, let it be. If it is a girl, expose it. And expose means get rid of it. the mark of the New Testament church.

10:21 They became known for reaching out to the people that everybody else was leaving behind. Same thing in Rome. When there was a plague in Rome, it was the Christians who were known to stay behind. While everybody else scattered to avoid getting the plague, the Christians were known to stay behind and care for the people that nobody else would take the time to care for. That was the mark of the New Testament church. A brief survey of church history, though, things began to change. About the middle of the third century, about 250, a guy named Cyprian of Carthage begins to talk about how we need to separate clergy or ministers from lay people, just your average Christians. So it begins to be a hierarchy. There's ministers and then there's Christians. What happens is the next century, 313, Constantine legalizes Christianity and he begins to build buildings where the clergy can work.

11:10 And you see it progress into monasticism where not only do we have buildings for the clergy and the ministers to work, now you have places for the ministers to live separate from the people. And that progresses through the dark ages. Then you come even into the 19th, 21st century. You see the effects of the Industrial Revolution. And the church is not just a place where ministers work or live, but it's a place where you run a business as a minister. And if you want goods and services from the church, then you come to the building, but you don't expect them to come to you. And somewhere along the way, this mark of the New Testament church began to fade away. And what I want us to see over the next two weeks is we desperately need to recapture the sense of community that the early church showed to each other. In an individualistic American culture, what does it mean for us to be deeply concerned about the hurts of those around us? To be passionate about reaching the one.

12:06 I want you to see the second characteristic that set the early church apart from those around them. Number one, they were concerned, deeply concerned about the hurts of those around them. Second, they were confident in the name of the one who saved them. They were confident in the name of the one who saved them. I want you to see this unfold in Acts chapter 3. When we read this story, we need to ask ourselves the question, who's the main character? Who's the hero in this story? Some people might say, well, it was the beggar. Some people think he had a lot of faith. Some people don't see any evidence of faith in here really from him. But maybe the beggar was as he receives this incredible occurrence in his life and he stands up and begins to walk and prays and jump. Maybe he was the hero. Other people say, well, Peter's the main character in this story. If you have to identify the hero, it would be Peter. It's a pretty bold move to walk up to a guy who hasn't walked in 40 years and to lift your hand down to him, put your hand down to him and say, get up and walk.

13:04 Some people might say, John, I don't know, best actor in a supporting role. I don't know exactly what John was doing here, but he was there supporting. Maybe he was the main character, the hero. Well, I don't think it was the beggar, and I don't think it was Peter, and I don't think it was John. I think the main character, the hero in the story is the name of Jesus Christ. And I want you to see that. Verse 6, Peter says, silver or gold i don't have what i have to give you in the name of jesus christ of nazareth walk and what we need to see is in the rest of this chapter into chapter four luke is intentional to show us the role of the name of christ at the center of this whole story let me encourage you in these two chapters to circle every time you see the word name come down to chapter three verse 16 you're going to see it twice the name of christ mentioned verse 16 of chapter three says By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.

14:00 It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you all can see. So two more times there in chapter 3. Now look over in chapter 4. Look in verse 7. Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin, who are not happy about what's gone on. Listen to what verse 7 says. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them. By what power or what name did you do this? So they begin to speak to them. Verse 10, Know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Then two verses later, he says, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. You've seen a pattern here? Look down at verse 17. To stop this from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men, they say, to stop speaking, to speak no longer to anyone in this name.

14:56 Then in verse 18, they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Even the people who were against them realized we can't stop them, but if we can just get them to stop saying the name, that will affect everything. Come to the end of this chapter, chapter 4, verse 30. All the believers are gathered together praying as they begin to experience persecution. The Bible says, stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus over and over and over again the emphasis is on the name of Christ now what did what did the name of Christ represent well as we study throughout the gospels and especially the book of Acts as it's used 33 times mentioned of the name of Christ basically it's talking about three different facets of the character of Christ number one in order to speak in his name we got to know his person his name represents his person his identity who he is in fact that's exactly what fuels peter's sermon in acts chapter 3 when he stands up to preach after this guy has been healed a crowd gathers around and he begins to preach in verse 13 all the way to verse 16 he begins to identify who christ is says christ is the one who is talked about way back in the Old Testament. He is the holy and the righteous one, Peter says. He says, you killed, you crucified the author of life. It's an amazing statement. You've killed the author of life. So he begins to define who Christ is. It's a sermon that's remarkably similar to the sermon we saw in Acts chapter 2. He is exalting Christ, the person of Christ. And we see that over and over again throughout his sermon in Acts chapter 3. I want you to look at chapter 4 verse 12 just to see a picture of that. See if this looks familiar. He says, men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by... I'm sorry, did I say chapter 3 or 4?

16:49 Okay, I meant chapter 3. That's what I thought. I'm just kind of trying to see if you were paying attention and yeah, okay. Chapter 3 verse 12. Peter speaks and he says, men of Israel, Why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead and we are witnesses of this. And then in verse 19, he continues in this sermon and he says, repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. It's the exact same thing Peter had said in Acts 2. So he's exalting the person of Christ. But second, I want you to see that it's trusting his power.

17:44 When Peter says in the name of Christ, he's looking to the power of Christ to bring healing to this man. And this is where it gets really good in Luke's use of the name of Christ throughout the book of Acts. If you walk through this book and you see different instances where the name of Christ is mentioned. You see in Acts chapter 2, verse 38, the name is preached and 3,000 people are saved. Acts 3 and 4, the name is used and a couple thousand more are added to their number. Acts chapter 8, Philip is preaching and the name of Christ is preached and many more people come to know Christ. Acts chapter 9 says that Saul, who became Paul, came in touch and face to face with the name of Christ. We see it progress even more. In Acts chapter 15, the Bible talks about how people were literally giving their lives for the name of Christ. In Acts chapter 16, there's someone who has a spirit in them that Paul casts out. And he said, in the name of Jesus Christ, come out.

18:41 Then I want you to look over at Acts chapter 19. I want you to see the power of the name of Christ. And a very interesting story. Look in Acts chapter 19, look at verse 13. the Bible says, I want you to listen to this. Get a picture here. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke, and here it is, the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them. This has got to be one of the most humiliating moments in the New Testament. Jesus I know, And I know about Paul, but who in the world are you? And then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. It's a bad day.

19:37 So it's not just this name that if you call out the name that something happens. Evil spirits know. It's the name of Christ and the power of Christ that is living in Peter that was not in these guys. But listen to what happens in verse 17. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to 50,000 drachmas and this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. Here's what I want us to see. Throughout the book of Acts, there was a name that when it was proclaimed and when it was trusted, thousands of people were saved The gospel was advanced. People gave their lives for it. Evil spirits began coming out of people. People who practiced sorcery began to turn completely from their profession and burn that which they used.

20:32 Lives were changed. People here, lives changed. The kingdom advanced all because of the name of Christ. And what I want us to see is that 2,000 years later, the name is still good today. the name is good in this room we come together to exalt the same name that was doing all of this in the book of Acts power of the name of Christ still good today so we know his person we trust his power and then we show his presence when we talk about the name and this is where that story in Acts chapter 19 the presence of Christ was not in these guys who were going out and casting out spirits and so the evil spirit was like who in the world are you but he wasn't peter don't forget peter way back in john chapter 5 had seen jesus go up to a guy who's sitting by a pool called bethesda who's lame can't walk and he had seen jesus go up to this guy and say get up and walk take your mat and walk and this guy did and peter undoubtedly his jaw dropped to the ground as he saw Jesus bring healing to this guy in John chapter 5, but don't miss it. The beauty of it is what happens in John chapter 14 when Jesus tells Peter, one day you and the other disciples, you're going to do even greater things than I have done because I am going to the Father. Here's the beauty of what's happening here in the book of Acts. How could Jesus be the hero of the story when he's in heaven? That's the whole point. Because he is at the right hand of the Father and he has poured out his spirit on his people, he is now working through all of them and showing his power and his person and His presence through every single one of them.

22:10 And that's what He wants to do in us today. What an amazing truth. That Christ is at the right hand of God the Father and has poured out His Spirit into every single one of us in this room who has placed our faith in Christ so that His person and His power and His presence would be made known. Think about it. Amidst the needs represented in this room as well as in this city, how is Jesus going to comfort people in this room? And how is He going to strengthen people in this community? And how is He going to show His grace? And how is He going to show His mercy? And how is He going to show His character and His power in their lives? How is He going to do it? Through us.

22:55 We are the hands and feet of Christ who know Him and know His power and show that in the way we surround each other amidst our needs. What I'd like to do is for us to get a picture not only of the hurt in Rochelle's life, but to see the power of the name of Christ at the center of her life, expressed especially in the relationships she had with those around her. He takes away, but he never stops giving. He never stops giving so that coming on the other side of a walk through cancer, you can say something like, my cop runneth over. Because you've seen his giving. And you've seen it in his people. I want to show you one last characteristic of these.

23:51 The early church in Acts chapter 3. They were deeply concerned about the hurts of those around them and deeply confident in the name of the one who saved them. And I want you to see that it all led to one picture, one result. They were committed to the glory of the God who worked through them. I want you to see how that unfolds. Obviously, in the story in Acts chapter 3, this guy is healed. We're tempted to think, well, that was the best thing that happened. But don't miss it. Certainly, this guy had a physical need and needed to be healed so that he could walk. But where was he sitting? he was sitting right at the the entrance to the the temple the temple gate the place in jewish thought where you encounter the glory of god this the place where you can encounter the presence of god where you could worship god and day in and day out someone would bring him to the place where he sat right on the edge of experiencing his glory his presence and his worship and so as soon as the guy is healed what does he do he stands up kind of gets his feet underneath him a little bit and then he starts to jump up and down and praise god where does he run into he runs into the temple because he is now not only physically healed but spiritually able to do what he sat on the verge of doing for so long able to give god the glory for what had happened so chapter 3 verse 11 look at what happens basically the crowd comes together when they hear about this In Acts 3, verse 11, it's a great picture.

25:25 It says, While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. Now here's what I want us to see. Three effects of when we care sacrificially like Peter and John have done in Acts 3, verse 1-10. See what happens. First of all, verse 11, the crowd was attracted together. All these people come running to see what has happened. They come running to these people called Christians to say, what's the deal? What's going on here? because they had seen the care of Christ in Peter and John and what had happened, this wonder, it drew a crowd there. I want you to think of the implications there for our culture today. How many people that are hardened toward the Gospel, how many people that in our lives, here even in Birmingham but other places in the United States as well as around the world, who want nothing to do with the Gospel, that their hearts would be softened if they only saw an expression of the grace and love and mercy of Christ in a sacrificial care that goes completely counter-cultural in reaching out to them.

26:33 It's amazing what happens when sacrificial care begins to be expressed. Even in French Quarter in homeless ministry that I've had the opportunity to be a part of over the last six years when we were living in New Orleans. I'm convinced that that area in the French Quarter is one of the most evangelized places in our country. Anybody in that area who wants to go on a mission trip says, well, New Orleans needs the gospel. And once they get to New Orleans, they're like, well, we need to take the gospel to the French Quarter. And so literally the homeless men and women, fortune tellers, tarot card readers in the Jackson Square French Quarter of New Orleans, every day literally receive at least one or two tracks put in their face. Somebody with a smile saying, God loves you, giving them a track and walking away. and while I think proclamation of the gospel is extremely important, I want you to see that it's very difficult to draw people to the gospel if they don't see the gospel played out in our lives, and we found out real quick it was going to take six or eight months before those guys would even begin to listen to us, and we shared the gospel throughout the time, but it took day after day after day of sitting down and just being with them and finding out their stories and bringing them food and reaching out to the hurts and the needs in their lives before they began to come to faith in Christ and began to get baptized and they began to lead out in ministry.

27:52 That happened when the Word became flesh. So the crowd is attracted, but second, the Word is illustrated. It's illustrated in our lives. We begin to show it. I want you to see how this took place here in Acts chapter 4. I want you to look at what happens. The people have gathered together. They're really mad at Peter and John. and they're telling him to stop speaking the name of Jesus. Look at how they respond though in verse 13. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these guys had been with Jesus. Now listen to verse 14. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

28:36 How do you stop this from happening when this guy, 40 years, has been on a mat sitting by the gate and now he's walking because the word had been illustrated in their lives through Peter and John now in this beggar's life there was nothing they could say people can come up with all kinds of arguments against Christianity well how do you know God exists why would Jesus be the only way what about people who never hear about Jesus and I believe scripture gives all kinds of wonderful answers to those however when we begin to show the love of Christ with the way we live and express the care of Christ with the way we sacrifice for each other, it goes much farther than any good answer to how you know God exists or why Jesus is the only way. The word becomes illustrated in our lives. That's exactly what's happening here. So we see the word illustrated. We see next, I want you to look in chapter four, verse 21.

29:33 The word's being illustrated, and I want you to see how the Lord is exalted in verse 21. after further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. So I want you to see the effects. The crowd's attracted. The word's illustrated. And the end is, the purpose is, the Lord is exalted. The people couldn't stop him because all of them were praising God. Isn't that ironic? Isn't that a weird picture? The religious leaders are mad because everybody's praising God because this guy's been healed.

30:13 Before we get on to them though, let's remember that there's a great temptation even for us today to get so congrossed in our monotonous routine of religion that we fail to give attention to the needs and the hurts of the people right next to us. That if we were to reach out to them, we would see not only the Word illustrated in us, but the Lord exalted in their lives in the middle of their difficulties and their struggles. Peter and John had connected it full circle. The religious leaders had not. And when Peter and John connected the dots, illustrated the Word with the way they lived and reached out with their care, God was exalted. This guy jumping up and down and singing out praises in the temple. The people all walking around praising God for what He's done. And the Lord adding to their number daily those who are being saved isn't this a picture