acts: turn the world upside down – unstoppable… ·...

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

Transcript September 19/20, 2015

Acts: Turn the World Upside Down – Unstoppable Jake Barker | Acts 5:17-6:7

What’s up Traders Point? I hope you are having a great weekend so far. It is so good to be with you especially if you are new or maybe this is your very first time. Just want to give you a special welcome. We are so honored that you would spend your time with us here today. Hey, before we dive in to the Book of Acts, I want to celebrate something that’s happened around here. Last weekend our Student Ministry kicked off the fall semester and it was incredible. There were 960 students from 7th to 12th grade—all over the city. The smell of Ax Body Spray has slowly dissipated over the week. It’s all good. It’s all good. Man, we had fun! There was food, there were fireworks, alright? This ain’t your grandpa’s Student Ministry. But the cooler part, even more than fireworks, is that there was a clear gospel presentation and 70 students decided to follow Jesus with their lives and that is worth celebrating, man. Now one of my favorite parts of Student Ministry is how many of our students are leaders. They are owning the ministry. They are contributing in a significant way because here at Traders Point we don’t believe that teen-‐agers… We don’t believe that students are the church of tomorrow. We know that they are the church of today. They are inviting their friends. They are growing deeper in their faith and they are using their gifts in service. We love students here. If you are a 7th through 12th grader, or you know a 7th through 12th grader, or see someone who kind of looks young—today invite them. Sunday nights, 6:30 to 8:30. We love students here at Catalyst so make sure that you show up and see what God is up to here at Traders Point. Last thing, will you help me in appreciating the Student Ministry staff and all of the dozens of volunteers, adult volunteers, who make this thing go every single week. They are awesome. They are awesome. Now, we think that that is worth celebrating because we are enthusiastic about introducing people to Jesus for the very first time. And we love when people grow in their faith. And then, when people get to the point where they are using their gifts in service, man, we think that’s what this is all about. In fact, that is what this whole church is about. That’s what this series is about. If you are new to the Bible or if you are new to church then you should know that the Book of Acts is about the birth of God’s church. So following the life and, death, and the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus, He launched His church through a bunch of really ordinary nobodies—people who were not trained in organizational alignment, people who were not trained in preaching, for that matter. And He entrusted His mission to some really ordinary people who, through His Spirit, launched a movement that has proved to be unstoppable. Now, over the last five weeks Aaron has walked us through the first four chapters and he made the point—which is really interesting—that the beauty of it, even the irony of it, is that the was launched in the shadow of the Roman Empire. Now, Rome seemed too big to fail and the church was too young to

Acts: Turn the World Upside Down – Unstoppable September 19/20, 2015

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved. 2

tell. But today, you and I gather as part of the local expression of God’s global church and Rome is reserved for the ancient history textbooks. So, we’re asking questions like, “How did that happen? And what is the real purpose of the church? And in light of those things, how then should we now live.” If you have a Bible or a Bible app, I’d love for you to join me in Acts, chapter 5. Acts, chapter 5 is where we are going to be hanging out. You can get a head start and head that way. Now, I don’t know about you but many of us have had some sort of previous church experience. We’ve done it somewhere else. Maybe you grew up here, I don’t know. Previous church experience… Even if this is your very first time in a church building, you’ve probably been told what to expect. And I have a feeling that, if we went online and read the Yelp reviews of the global church, I’m not sure how many stars we would see. Sometimes our previous church experience doesn’t really line up with the church in the Book of Acts. We hear stories all of the time. We hear of people’s previous church experience. Some people come and they tell us stories, “Like, man. I was involved but it was just boring. The sermons didn’t make any sense. I didn’t know the songs. I just checked out. I was bored.” But the church in Acts was far from boring. Those ordinary fishermen who Jesus gave the mission to, they became incredible preachers. And all of a sudden, through the Spirit of God—they used to only speak one language, but they were given the gift to be bi-‐lingual to speak the same sermon to a bunch a people from multiple ethnic groups. They all heard the good news of Jesus. That is not boring, alright? Sometimes we’ll hear stories of people who had an experience and it was just powerless, nothing was happening. People were there but they were just going through the motions and, honestly, they were just checked out. A few years ago I was preaching to some of our middle school students. The best thing and the worst thing about a middle school student is that you know exactly where you stand at all times. There is no pretense with middle school students. So, this one girl in the front—she had a zip-‐up hoodie on and right at the beginning of the sermon she took it off and put it on backwards. I was like, “Well, that is weird—whatever.” Then, a couple of minutes later she takes the hood and just puts it over her face. She was basically saying, “Hey, dude. I don’t know what you’re doing but I’m not with you. I don’t care what you have to say, I am not coming along.” And the only difference between middle school students and adults is that you guys just know not to put the hood up. That’s pretty much what I know. There are a lot of us who have had seasons where we were just going through the motions and kind of checking it off the list. We weren’t engaged. The church in the Book of Acts was far from powerless. In fact they would preach one sermon and thousands of people would come to faith in the very same moment. And there was a man who was crippled from birth and they were able to heal him and give him the ability to walk. That is not powerless. That is powerful. Sometimes we’ll hear stories of people who were a part of a church experience and some will say, “Man, they were kind of mean. Like, honestly, they were always yelling, they were always angry about



something, and they were really known by what they were against rather than for what they were for and so I just excused myself. I didn’t want to be a part of that.” But that cannot be further from the church in the Book of Acts. In fact, they remained incredibly compassionate in the face of severe adversity. The early church was known for how they reached out to the poor and the marginalized. So, you and I have a decision on our hands. Despite some of our poor, previous church experiences can we be a part of something like that? Can we give God a chance? Can we take a moment and put that on the shelf and consider, “What did God really intend for His church? How does He want to be represented in our community and in our world?” So, in Acts, chapter 5 we’re going to see another episode in the life of the early church. I just have to let you know that, as I was studying chapters 5 and 6 this week, God really did a number on me. He worked me over pretty good. There were some fears and insecurities in me that I was really hoping to avoid for a really long time and He called me out in them. So, if you are in Christ and you call yourself a Christ follower, buckle up. I don’t know that any of us can get out of this unscathed. We’re all going to get pretty well challenged. I hope that you’re ready for that. Now, before we dive in, I just want to go ahead and preemptively give you the big ideas of what we are covering so that they can serve as a filter through which you hear and see Acts 5 and 6. Three big parts, it goes something like this: Thick skin, soft hearts, can’t lose. Repeat after me: Thick skin, thick skin; soft hearts, soft hearts; can’t lose, can’t lose. That’s something that we say around here a lot as a church staff. It’s something that Aaron has led us in. We want to have thick skin so when someone has a critique of us, when someone has an opinion that is less than flattering, we don’t want that to devastate us or even alter our self-‐identity. But at the same time we don’t want to allow that thick skin to develop a calloused heart. We want to have soft hearts defined by love, and grace, and compassion. And can’t lose is actually not something we say around here but I really love the show Friday Night Lights. Anybody else with me? Anybody else love Friday Night Lights? Alright, three of you. The rest of you, if the Colts don’t play you know what you should be doing. You should watch that show. So: Thick skin; soft hearts; can’t lose. Repeat after me one more time: Thick skin, thick skin; soft hearts, soft hearts; can’t lose, can’t lose. Aw, that sounds so good. Alright, here we go. Let’s begin with thick skin. Acts, chapter 5, verses 17 and 18. Let’s dive in. It says, “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.” Right before these two verses we find out that the apostles had gone on a healing frenzy. There were people who would bring their sick and their ill and they would lay them at the apostles’ feet and, through the Spirit of God, the apostles were able to heal them. So you can imagine that, once that started happening, the crowds continued to grow. The apostles’ popularity continued to grow and



people from all of the surrounding communities came together to see what these men of God were up to. Now, as with all miracles in the Bible, the miracle wasn’t the point. The miracle was simply the launching pad to point to Jesus. So the apostles would do this. They would heal people, they would preach the good news of Jesus and then people would come to faith. It was an incredible, incredible time. So the apostles were enthusiastic about this and the people who were being healed were enthusiastic but there was one group of people that was less than enthusiastic—and that was the local, religious leaders. See in this time in history, in the city of Jerusalem, the local Jewish leaders served as the civic government. So, under the Roman national rule, in the city of Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders were kind of the local municipality. They set the rules, they kept the peace, they defined the way the culture was going to go. Before the apostles showed up they were the big men on campus, they were influential, they were powerful. But now, after Jesus showed up, now that the apostles are doing their thing, they are watching as the apostles’ popularity increases and their popularity decreases. So they grow angry about that and they just round them all up and throw them in prison. Now this had happened before. In chapter 4 Peter and John had been arrested for the very same thing. But this time they arrest all of the apostles—one fell swoop, grab them all and throw them in prison. And our author, Luke, just calls them out. He says that the reason that they did this—the reason they were so angry was because they were jealous. Notice that this was not a philosophical disagreement, this was not some kind of theological debate they were having, this was strictly personal. The more influential the apostles were the less influential they were. They got jealous and so they arrested them. This leads us to the first truth that we have to confront here in Acts, chapter 5. It goes something like this: If our identity is in anything other than Jesus we will resist God’s plan. If our identity is in anything other than Jesus we will resist God’s plan. See, these were men of God who were not jealous for God’s glory, they weren’t jealous for God’s kingdom, they were jealous for their glory and for their kingdom. And because of their identity issues, because their identity was wrapped up in their power more than in their place with God they arrested the apostles and literally got in the way of what God was trying to do there in the city of Jerusalem. If our identity is in anything other than Jesus, we will do the same. So imagine this, maybe you’re identity is in your wealth. So you will turn down any future opportunity that may require a pay-‐cut, even if it means that your immediately contributing to the Kingdom of God, even if it means that you’re using your gifts for Jesus’ service—if it requires you to make less money you are out because your identity isn’t in Jesus so you’ll resist what He is up to. Or maybe your identity is in your kids—particularly in their success in academics or extra-‐curricular activities. So you will discourage them from taking any radical steps of faith, or doing something you wouldn’t have done because it doesn’t fit your very precisely prescribed plan that you wrote for them before the day that they were born.



Over the last week our student staff was telling us that the most difficult part of following up with those 70 salvation decisions—it wasn’t the students. It was the parents. They tried to call and set up a time to discuss baptism, to discuss salvation and the parents couldn’t make time for it. So, can I just suggest that maybe that’s not a scheduling issue? Maybe that’s an identity issue and they may be getting in the way of what God is trying to do in their kids’ lives. Maybe your identity is in the affirmation of others and the applause of man is your fuel. So, when people are around you will serve, and you will lead, and you will give but as soon as the crowd disappears you won’t push a broom or pick up the trash. You may be getting in the way of what God is trying to do on the inside. You see, our problem with God’s plan is that it rarely sounds like this—maybe it has for you, it has yet to sound like this for me. God’s plan rarely sounds like, “You know what? You’re good. You did it. You finished the Christian life. You can mail it in for the rest of your days. You did it. Well done.” Usually it sounds like, “Hey, this is the next thing that we’re going to change.” Or, “Hey, this is the next thing that I’m going to prune from your life.” Or, “This is the next challenge I’m going to give you.” And if my identity is in anything other than Jesus I will resist His plan. So, the local religious leaders grew jealous, they arrested the disciples, threw them in prison and look at what happens next in verses 19 through 21. It says, “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.’ And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.” Now, imagine this from the sandals of the disciples. You are falsely accused of a crime, you are wrongfully imprisoned and all of a sudden an angel of the Lord comes and frees you and then asks you to go back to the temple and do the thing that is probably going to get you arrested again. In my opinion, if I were one of them, I would have thought, “Hey, God is freeing me from this very difficult circumstance so that I can go find some security, so that I can go find safety, so that I can go find an environment that would be more conducive to my teaching. That’s what God is obviously trying to do. But the Spirit of God leads the disciples in a very different way. He says, “Look, I’m going to free you from this one, really hard thing and actually ask you to go do an even harder thing.” For me and maybe for you, in our lives, which have been built around so much pain avoidance and risk management, we have to confront the idea that the life of discipleship may not be defined by comfort. In our lives when we are looking for the path of least resistance, when we’re looking for it to be as simple, and as comfortable, and as conducive as possible… That’s not the way that the Spirit of God led the apostles. He freed them from one hard thing only to go and do another hard thing. So, we have to consider, “Is it possible that I got into this thinking that God was going to make my life real simple and easy and that’s not actually the plan. What am I going to do now?” So the apostles are free from prison and they go back into the temple and they start preaching again. And the next morning, as you can imagine, the priests and the prison officials are surprised not to find them in jail because usually when you arrest someone they stay arrested—that’s kind of a thing. And all of a sudden they are back in the temple and they are preaching. They did a Harry Houdini out and now they’re there preaching again.



The high priest is not a big fan of this. He says, “Come over here we need to talk again.” And look what he says in verses 27 through 32. It says, “And the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted Him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’” So the high priest comes and he says, “Okay, man. Look, I thought I told you to stop doing that thing. And then you did that thing again. And then I arrested you. And you did it again. I don’t understand what you don’t understand.” Peter and the apostles respond and they say, “Man, I know what you are telling us, but God told us to do the exact opposite and we’re going to go with Him.” In fact, they respond with seven powerful words, “We must obey God rather than men.” If you have a highlighter, I would highlight that line. If you have a pen, I would circle it. If you have a tattoo artist next to you, I would get it tattooed on your face. We must obey God rather than men. Let me just ask you this question. I’m just going to leave it with you. Is your life actually defined by that statement? If that actually guided the decisions that you make—I must obey God rather than men—what would be different? We have to ask the question, “Where in the world did they get this thick skin? How did they get such courage and boldness to stand up in front of these men who easily could have killed them, right there, and speak so clearly and defiantly as to their orders, “We must obey God rather than men.” Where do they get their thick skin? Look back at verse 31. In verse 31 Peter and the apostles use a very interesting description of Jesus. If you’ve been around the Bible or church very much then you’ve probably heard of Jesus described as our Lord and Savior. Lord being that He is the authority figure in our lives and we submit to His leadership. He defines what is in-‐bounds and what is out-‐of-‐bounds and He gets to call the shots in our life. He is our Lord. And then, He is also our Savior. He’s the one who freed us from sin and gave us hope for a new day. Lord and Savior. But here in verse 31, Peter and the apostles use a different word. They call them “our Leader” and Savior. Now, sometimes when we are translating from the original language to English, there’s not a perfect match for all of the words. So, that word “Leader” is actually what they would have used in the Greek culture to describe their heroes. In fact, that’s the exact word that they used to describe Hercules in Greek mythology. And so Peter and the apostles are saying, “Look you think Hercules is amazing. You think he’s your hero, well let me tell you about Jesus. He’s a better Hero. He defeated sin. He defeated death. Jesus is the best Hero. He is our Leader and Savior.” When you and I think about the super-‐heroes that are in our culture, the ones in comic books and all of the Marvel movies, I have to ask—how do they get their victory? How do they get their power? Well, it was always given to them, right?



Peter Parker was bitten by a spider and now he can shoot webs from his wrists. That’s the natural outcome of a spider bite. That’s what he did. Or billionaire Tony Stark built a suit and now he flies through the air defeating the enemy as Iron Man. Or then there is Bruce Banner who was hit by gamma radiation. Now every time he gets angry he has to buy new clothes—the least convenient super power of all time. He turns into the Incredible Hulk. The way that they defeat the enemy is by using the power that was given to them. Peter and the apostles are saying, “You know what? Jesus is the best Hero because He had power already within Himself and He won the victory over sin and death, not by using His power, but by laying it down. He could have called down the angels. He could have flexed His muscles. He could have done anything He wanted to do, but because He loved us so much He laid down His power to save us all. See, the gospel says that Jesus gave up His perfect standing with the Father and the Holy Spirit to come live amongst us in this very fallen world. And He lived the only perfect life that’s ever been lived. But then He died on the cross to pay the debt that we owe God and, in turn, He gave us the reward that only He could earn. That’s the gospel. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ. And when you and I let that sit, when you and I take a moment to really consider the magnitude of what Jesus has done for us, this all starts making a little bit of sense. In light of the gospel, no calling is too big. In light of the gospel, no calling is too big. When you and I consider everything that Jesus gave up for us, when you consider the extent to which Jesus served, and loved, and that He died for us—there’s nothing that He can ask us that is too much. In fact God cannot ask us for more than what He has already given to us. So behavior like going from prison back to the temple to preach again actually doesn’t seem like it’s that risky anymore because when we realize what God gave up—He gave up everything so that we could have everything and, in light of that, no calling is too big. Missionary Jim Elliot, who was actually killed by the very people group he was trying to reach, wrote it like this. He said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Look man, all of this risk that we think we’re putting out there for Jesus, all of this stuff that we think that we’re giving up—we weren’t going to keep that anyway. So let’s sell it all. Let’s go for it all because of the gospel. In light of what Jesus did nothing is too big. Nothing is too much for God to ask of us. Now, before you get ahead of me. Before you start arguing with me, I’m not promoting crazy. I’m not promoting recklessness. But I am saying that every life decision should be passed through the filter of a season of prayer and getting godly counsel from people who love you. In light of the gospel, nothing that God can ask of us is too much—is too big. Hang on to that. It’s going to come in handy later. Believe it or not, the Jewish leaders are not any more receptive to the good news of Jesus than they were the first time and they grow so angry that they want to murder the apostles right then and there. They grow so angry that they are going to kill them. So, one of the priests, Gamaliel, stands up and says, “Hey, guys. Let’s think this through. We’ve been here before. There have been other uprisings that were made up, that were false, that were fictitious and they flamed out. So you don’t have to worry about that. If these guys are just making it up it will end. But, if this is from God it will be unstoppable and you may even find yourself opposing God. You do not want to do that.



So he calms down his crew and they decide that they’re not going to kill them right then and there. They eventually release the apostles. Look at verse 39 through 42. It says, “So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” Does this seem to anyone else like the apostles are playing a different game than the rest of us? The only thing you would ever celebrate is a good day and they celebrate a beating like it’s a victory. For you and me that really doesn’t make a ton of sense. This was no slap on the hand. Historically speaking, what they would do is they would take this leather strap and they would beat them twice on the back of the leg and then once on the chest up to 39 times. This was a severe beating. Yet, they are going out and high-‐fiving because they were counted worth of suffering for the name of Jesus. It seems like they are playing a different game. It seems like they’re keeping score in a very different way. They have thick skin because they know, in light of the gospel, nothing is too big. See there are some of us here in this room… In a room this big we know that there are a lot of people here who don’t yet believe—they are not all in. They would not describe themselves as a Christian. And you hear stories like this one of the apostles who were willing to be imprisoned for what they believe, and then they get beaten, and they celebrate and none of that really makes a lot of sense. Can I just suggest to you that there’s something deep down inside of you that wants to believe in something like that? There’s an innate desire to love something so much, and believe in something so much, and be so convicted that you would do anything… You’ve tried to find it. You’ve tried to find it in your career, you’ve tried to find it in a person, you’ve tried to find it in a sports team, you’ve tried to find it all over the place and nothing has been worth that. And that thing that is stirring inside of you is what God has wired inside of you. It’s His image saying, “Yes, this is worth living for. This is worth dying for. This is worth giving it all up.” So, can I just suggest to you that these apostles, the ones who lived with Jesus would not act this way if it was all a fairy tale? Much like Gamaliel said, if it was all made up no one goes to that extreme. But they knew who they had been with. They had lived with Jesus and they knew that it was all worth it. Repeat after me: Thick skin, thick skin. Say this: Soft hearts, soft hearts. Soft hearts can be found at the beginning of chapter 6. Chapter 6, verses 1 through 6 is what we’re going to read. It says, “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of



faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.” Here’s what’s happening. The early church is facing the very real, natural struggle of being a multi-‐cultural gathering. There were people from different ethnic groups making up the early church. There were two significant groups in the particular challenge. One was the Hebrews. They were from a Jewish background and they spoke Aramaic. Then there was the people group of the Hellenists, they were from a Greek background and they spoke Greek. That’s pretty obvious. So, you have this language barrier and it’s presenting an organizational challenge. See the widows from the Jewish background were being fed well, but those from the Greek background were not being fed. This easily could have been a divisive moment but the apostles don’t let it get there. I love the way one commentator put it. He said, “Satan, as he was trying to defeat the early church, the first attempt was outward force. He tried to employ the local leaders to beat them and intimidate them to where they would shut up about Jesus but that didn’t work. So now that the outward force didn’t work, he tried to use inward distraction. He tried to present an organizational challenge that would get the apostles off their game and keep them from preaching.” But as you’ll see, the apostles didn’t take the bait. They said, “Look, we are best suited to preach and pray and to be out there reaching people with the good news of Jesus. We don’t need to be the ones serving tables. We don’t need to be organizing the food pantry. So we’re going to develop a team to take care of this compassion ministry.” See, the apostles knew that they were best served doing what they were best at and allowing other people to use their gifts in a different way. This passage right here ultimately defeats the idea that ministry is reserved for the professionals, like there’s this special group of people who get paid to do this kind of thing so that your job is to get your friends and family into the hands of the pros and then your job is done. Aaron kind of mentioned that last week—that our idea of evangelism is, “Just get them in here and we’ll tell them about Jesus.” Or that the idea of discipleship is, “Come ask the pastor what really needs to be done.” And in reality, ministry is done by all of us. So the apostles said, “We’re going to go preach and pray, you’re going to organize a team and we are all in this together.” Like we said before, in light of the gospel no calling is too big. Jesus gave up everything so that we could have anything. Now when some of you heard that statement that no calling is too big, you immediately disqualified yourself because you don’t considered yourself called. That’s not a thing for you. You wouldn’t really describe yourself that way. But I have to break it to you that we have actually invented this category of people that does not exist. See many of us have thought that maybe there are non-‐Christians who don’t yet believe, and then there are Christians who are called, and then in the middle is everybody who is just normal, right? “I’m a normal person. I’m not a non-‐Christian. I’m not called. I’m just kind of here. I’m a Christian. I believe. But I’m not called.” That’s not really a thing. I have to break it to you that there is no such thing as an un-‐called Christian. In fact, everyone is called. Biblically speaking, every single person… If you have responded to the gift of grace, and if you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus you are called. I love how one pastor put it. He said, “You are either a



mission field or a missionary but there is nothing in between.” The very moment you were saved, the very moment you accepted grace, you are now on mission. If you need Biblical evidence of that read this. Ephesians 4, “And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Or check out 1 Peter. It says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” So all of us who are in Christ, we are called, we are on mission—there is no such thing as an un-‐called Christian. That is made up. That is not a thing. Now, some of us have disqualified ourselves because we haven’t heard that voice. You’ve heard this thing that calling is like a moment—there’s this mystical, magical moment when an angel comes down, and there’s smoke, and there’s strobe lights and like all of a sudden he comes and gives you a really precise description, “Here’s what you’re supposed to do with your life.” That is calling. I love the way pastor J. D. Greer says, “You don’t need a voice, you have a verse.” You don’t need a voice, you have a verse. If you are looking for your calling, if you’re looking for your moment, here is your moment. Matthew chapter 28 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” That is your calling. If you are waiting for an angel, I am your angel baby. Sorry about your luck. That is your calling. That is your calling. Every single one of us—we are all in. So, now the question is no longer if I am called, it’s where and how. Where and how am I called to work for the mission of Jesus? If you’re in, if you’re all in and you’re saying, “Hey, I love Jesus. He is my Lord and Savior. He is my Leader,” then you are called into the mission. Now that we’re all on the same page about that, let me just ask you—maybe you haven’t… Again, maybe your defense against this is, “I thought preachers were called. I thought people were called to Africa. I thought those were the two things.” Here’s the deal. If all of us are called to preaching, then no one’s listening and that’s a real big mess. Not everybody can preach. Not everybody can go to Africa. But we can all live on mission. Here are the two big questions I want to ask you to ask yourself. Number one: What are the skills God gave you? What are the skills that God gave you? See, we have to first recognize that the reason that you are good at anything is because God made you that way. God gave you those skills. I know you would love to claim them on the basis of your hard work, and your ingenuity, and your education but honestly God gave those skills. God made you good at that for a reason. I would actually go so far as to say that the primary purpose of your skills is to advance the mission of God, not just make a dollar. So, what are you good at? If you don’t know, ask your family and friends. If they don’t know, get new friends, alright? You just have to figure out what you are good at.



Then ask the second question: How can I use those strategically to advance the mission. How can I use those gifts to the advance of God? This is calling. It’s really not rocket science. It’s self awareness on mission. That’s all calling is. It’s knowing what I’m good at and then using that to advance the mission. So, let me tell you a couple of stories. I think that sometimes we over mystify and over emphasize this calling thing—am I going to preach or am I going to go to Africa. Let me tell you a couple of normal stories. Let me tell you about my friend Wendy. Wendy Wilkin is on staff here. She serves as our Special Needs Director. About 10 years ago she started in special needs education at a local school in Lafayette. And seven years ago she and her husband Dave started attending Traders Point and dove in to a small group. And three years ago she applied for this brand new position that we created called Special Needs Director. Now, on a weekly basis, she serves kids and students with special needs and their families. Because of that ministry, we’ve had families come here—husbands and wives able to worship together for the first time in years because there were trained volunteers who could take care of their kids. And she’s gone into schools and helped parents develop individualized education plans. Because of her background she knew what to tell them. She knew what they needed to ask. Last year she headed up our very first Special Needs Prom. We had over 150 kids with special needs, we had 500 volunteers. And it was such a good party that we’re going to run it back and we’re going to have it here again. Our second annual Special Needs Prom is November 6th. But there was no moment. There was no angel. There was no smoke. There was no strobe light. It was basically Wendy saying, “Look, I’ve been equipped to be really good at hanging with special needs families, the kids—the students, so I’m going to use that special training for the glory of God. You may have just assumed that you went to college to develop a skill set so that you could get a job. May I suggest that the reason that you went to college and developed a skill set so that you could get a job is not just to make a dollar, but so that you could leverage that skill set for the mission of God? So, what’s your skill set and how can you use it for Jesus? Let me tell you about James. James Payne—he is the most extroverted dude I’ve ever met in my entire life. As an introvert, he makes me tired. I can’t hang with that dude. He is on the go all of the time. But he is an individual hospitality crew. That guy has invited more people to this church than anyone that I have ever met. On a weekly basis he’s telling me about the one, the three, the 30 people he invited that week. And there are a lot of you who are here because he invited you. Maybe it’s just your personality. Maybe God wired in a very particular way because He wanted you to use that wiring for His mission. Again, it’s not an angel, it’s not smoke, it’s not strobe lights, it’s the way God made you. How can you use you to advance the mission? Maybe you’re like Cole and Brooke who lead a Life Group around here and they met a couple who had moved to Indy from Salt Lake City so that they would have a higher chance at a liver transplant. And they fell in love with this couple and they served them. They arranged for them to be able to borrow a car from another family here in the church and they organized their small group to make meals for this family. They didn’t preach a sermon. They didn’t go to Africa. There was no angel. There was no smoke.



There were no strobe lights. But they used their gift of hospitality to love on a family without any guarantee of return. Again—what are you good at and how can you use it to strategically advance the mission? We can demystify this idea of calling. If you are a Christian, if you are all in, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are called. How are you going to move? The last thing that we have to defeat is this idea, this made up notion that some callings or some jobs in the kingdom are actually better than others like there is this hierarchy, some kind of org chart that puts some gifts on top and others at the bottom. Like Peter being able to preach was cooler than Philip being to serve tables. But I’d like for you join me in verse 7 as we wrap up because I really think that this defeats that idea. Verse 7 says, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” See, right after the apostles delegated responsibility and arranged a team to lead the compassion ministry in the early church, the church continued to grow. The church did not just grow through the preaching of Peter, it grew through the passion of Philip. See, those priests who are mentioned right there—there were so many priests in Jerusalem that there were many at the bottom of the food chain, literally. They were living in poverty. They didn’t have food to eat. So the early church reached out to them and because of their compassion, and grace, and love they had the opportunity to tell them about the good news of Jesus. It’s not just preaching. It’s not just Africa. It’s using your skill set, using what you are good at to advance the mission. There are some of us here who have had a previous church experience and it was hurtful, it was harmful, and you’ve still got some healing to do. We just want you to know that you have complete license to take as long as you need. We want you to sit back. We want Jesus to work on you. We’d love to pray for you. You have all the time in the world. Make sure you heal. But there are some of us here who have been around here for years, decades even. Maybe you used to be in the game and you took a season off and just never got back in. Maybe you’ve just never been in—ever. You’ve always been on the sidelines watching other people play the game. Can I suggest to you that it’s time to get in the game? If you’ve been waiting for an angel, if you’ve been waiting for that voice—you have the verse, go and make disciples. So, what are you good at? How can you use it to advance the mission of God? Let me pray for you. Father, I pray that You give us the courage to take a step, whether it’s self-‐awareness, whether it’s identifying our skills, whether it’s taking that leap into leadership or just stepping out for the first time by saying, “Look, I’m kind of good at this stuff and I think He can use it.” Give us the courage to have thick skin, to stand up strong in the face of adversity. Keep our hearts soft so that we can always respond to the needs of others. Allow us to be defined by obeying You rather than men. It’s in Your great Name I pray. Amen.

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