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Sermon of the Week
Look up the passage

17/4/04

Herod vs The Gospel
by Michael Prabaharan Acts 12

World War

Many modern writers would see these words of Jesus (in John 15) as the sort of paranoia that fuels fundamentalist violence of the worst kind. Us, them and they are against us.

Jesus of course never advocates violence – in fact as we looked at a few weeks ago his active pacifism (turn the other cheek) is far more troubling.

   However he does constantly point out the distinction between those who acknowledge him and the world and those who don't.

   The word "world" is used in a number of ways in the Bible (The physical planet, the human population as a whole and its societies, and the world as its values, ideologies and movements).

   The world is a medium in which God's values clash with those of other powers.

   As Paul extrapolates "our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places". Eph 6:12

   The bible clearly points out this cosmic power struggle, this spiritual warfare takes place on the battlefield of human history, society's values - between those that acknowledge and serve God and those that don't.

   The first church acknowledges this in Acts 4:23-31

   In Acts 12 again we see the Imperial ruler Herod at war with the servants of God fueled on by his pleasure of public approval. Unfortunately for Herod this adoration of public worship puts him at the receiving end of God's attention.

   Yet at the same time for whatever unexplained reason God also allows the conflict to play itself out in the world (and from our perspective for thousands of years).

   He allowed it to be played out in the life of Jesus

   In the life of the fist leaders like Stephen, James and Peter

   In the lives of the first Christians

   And till this day in many places around the world

   Somehow as Christians continue in their allegiance to God the conflict of the forces that are anti God in the Universe expresses itself in their lives. Leaders in particular are expected to pay a higher price.

   There are 2 things I'd like us to reflect on from this.

   Praying for Boldness to Witness

   Now for us in Australia – we may not face the persecution like that described in Acts 12 but the words of Jesus still hold true

   If you belonged to the world the world would love you as its own

   Because you do not belong to the world therefore the world hates you.

   If they persecuted me they will persecute you.

   How does this play itself out in our society? If we don't feel the pain of being weird, strange, out of step, or too narrow minded are we having an affair with the world?

   By the world – we are not talking so much the imperial powers but the

   Values, goals and lifestyle that are accepted and promoted as the norm.

   Worldly Love

   1 Jn 2:15-17 says "Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world the – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye s, the pride in riches – comes not from the father but from the world. And the world and its desires are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. Here flesh is understood as habits instincts and tendencies of the mind.

   Insatiable appetite of our wants and pleasure

   Insatiable appetite of the eyes

   Pride of our achievements

   Because we have made rationality our God to such an extent that spirituality is accepted as irrational, all of our 'worldly' choices will always seem rational.

   So we need to gauge our lifestyle in terms of our allegiance to Christ.

   Before I go any further I need to highlight something that John White says in his book "The Fight". Our own morale is vital to victory; discouragement is deadly

   So our focus has to remain on the love of God for us and the victory of Christ on our behalf and not necessarily on how much we've been able to achieve in our life for God

   "The war is bigger than our personal humiliation" – J. White – So while we may be ashamed at our failure there is no place for giving up

   To Bear Witness

   The primary aspect of the conflict in both John 15 and Acts 12 is in being a witness to Jesus. As a church we need to be bearing witness to God in our society.

   As a community of believers I think we are constantly in danger of recreating a sub world for ourselves in the church



Our social needs



Our entertainment



Our children's values

   and this is reflected in our buildings, our budget, our programs and activities.

   Talk vs Walk

   We may talk the language of witness but we need to be watching how many unchurched people are actually witnessing our witness



Our house groups can be outward focused either in the way the group is run or by what the group focus on.
Our Sunday school and youth ministry can be outward focused in mission and good works.
The Religious Education and Schools Outreach work that some of us do is good
Theos Crew is good.
Prayer ministry is good.
The relationships we build with our neighbours and maintain with our own families is good

   We must keep up interaction with our non Christian friends and be open about our faith.

   But there will always be a clash of fundamental values, between God and the world.

   So we should bear our witness in the power of the spirit than in the pleasures of the flesh.

   By that I mean I think if we try to sell our witness on the basis of what society is looking for (wealth, achievement, happiness, pleasure) we may fail. I think we need to take a

   Praying for the Persecuted

   The second aspect I'd like us to reflect on is that persecution of a violent sort still happens in many parts of the world. It may even return here (although our violence is reserved for the court system).

   John White describes the West as being in the "Late in the afternoon of the day of tolerance". You may or may not have kept abreast of Catch the Fire Ministries being taken to VCAT on the basis of the new Victorian religious vilification law and being found guilty of inciting violence against Islam. Mark Durie who lived for many years in Aceh was actively involved in their defense and has raised many questions of how such a law is interpreted and implemented. He has many concerns about just the legal validity of this and has been requesting churches to be more active in raising our voice against it.

   After last week's sermon Jack was talking to me about "The Heavenly Man" – the story of Brother Yun. So I had a quick read and it recounts both the story of persecution against Christians and the amazing growth in the Chinese house church. There's even a chapter in there called "The God of Peter is your God" and there is one particular experience that bears uncanny resemblance to the story in Acts 12.

   Famous Last Words

   All this in the context that Mao's wife Jiang Qing told foreign visitors "Christianity in China has been confined to the history section of the museum. It is dead and buried.

   Reminds me of the famous Anti Christian French Philosopher Voltaire who predicted that Christianity would be eradicated in Europe by the end of his century. By the end of his century however his house in Geneva was the Head Office of the Swiss Bible Society.

   In Sri Lanka there have been many moves to make Conversion Illegal. Ironically it is called the Freedom of Religion Act and if anyone converts or is converting they face hefty fines and jail sentences.

   I know that most of you like me probably squirm with guilt at the thought of our middle class comfortable lifestyles where our most heated debates in Church may be about heating and cooling.

   We all feel we should be doing more – when we can get around to it.

   So maybe today is an opportunity to do just that.

   The Concern Tray

   The first thing we should do is renew a concerted effort to pray intercessorily. The best way to pray from my experience is to worry or be concerned. We naturally pray for anything we are concerned about. Unfortunately I find my concern tray is full with budgets, savings, housework, shopping, family, work deadlines and my own share of ministry. I need to replace some of those concerns with concern for the wider body of Christ. The other thing is find someone somewhere to pray with. It really needs as little as 15 mins. Any more and we end up talking about other things and not praying to God. So maybe someone at work. Someone who works close by to you. Someone who lives close by. Someone you do an activity together with. In your small group. If you need information about other countries Operation World is a great resource.

   Eph 6:18 /Dan 10:12-13

   Not another Africa Story

   I think we also need to be wary of over exposure. I think one of the ways our society is hampered is that we are saturated with news and we can't maintain our level of concern. In the wake of the Tsunami people who have been long term involved in the scale-wise larger catastrophes in Africa were flabbergasted that money they couldn't raise was done in a matter of days. I think it was Fiona who said that when her brother was trying to raise the Congolese crisis on Western Media he was told that there was no room for yet another African tragedy.

   Our society expects us to move from charity to charity and from one fund raising shave to another pluck. We need to fight this tendency. Pick an area of concern and put our heart and soul into it and turn a polite no to some other things. In that way our contribution I think will be more concerted.

   I'll conclude with a comment by John Stott.

   The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free and the word of God triumphing.

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	Sermon of the Week	Look up the passage
	17/4/04
	Herod vs The Gospel by Michael Prabaharan	Acts 12

	World War
	Many modern writers would see these words of Jesus (in John 15) as the sort of paranoia that fuels fundamentalist violence of the worst kind. Us, them and they are against us.
	Jesus of course never advocates violence – in fact as we looked at a few weeks ago his active pacifism (turn the other cheek) is far more troubling.
	However he does constantly point out the distinction between those who acknowledge him and the world and those who don't.
	The word "world" is used in a number of ways in the Bible (The physical planet, the human population as a whole and its societies, and the world as its values, ideologies and movements).
	The world is a medium in which God's values clash with those of other powers.
	As Paul extrapolates "our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places". Eph 6:12
	The bible clearly points out this cosmic power struggle, this spiritual warfare takes place on the battlefield of human history, society's values - between those that acknowledge and serve God and those that don't.
	The first church acknowledges this in Acts 4:23-31
	In Acts 12 again we see the Imperial ruler Herod at war with the servants of God fueled on by his pleasure of public approval. Unfortunately for Herod this adoration of public worship puts him at the receiving end of God's attention.
	Yet at the same time for whatever unexplained reason God also allows the conflict to play itself out in the world (and from our perspective for thousands of years).
	He allowed it to be played out in the life of Jesus
	In the life of the fist leaders like Stephen, James and Peter
	In the lives of the first Christians
	And till this day in many places around the world
	Somehow as Christians continue in their allegiance to God the conflict of the forces that are anti God in the Universe expresses itself in their lives. Leaders in particular are expected to pay a higher price.
	There are 2 things I'd like us to reflect on from this.
	Praying for Boldness to Witness
	Now for us in Australia – we may not face the persecution like that described in Acts 12 but the words of Jesus still hold true
	If you belonged to the world the world would love you as its own
	Because you do not belong to the world therefore the world hates you.
	If they persecuted me they will persecute you.
	How does this play itself out in our society? If we don't feel the pain of being weird, strange, out of step, or too narrow minded are we having an affair with the world?
	By the world – we are not talking so much the imperial powers but the
	Values, goals and lifestyle that are accepted and promoted as the norm.
	Worldly Love
	1 Jn 2:15-17 says "Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world the – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye s, the pride in riches – comes not from the father but from the world. And the world and its desires are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. Here flesh is understood as habits instincts and tendencies of the mind.
	Insatiable appetite of our wants and pleasure
	Insatiable appetite of the eyes
	Pride of our achievements
	Because we have made rationality our God to such an extent that spirituality is accepted as irrational, all of our 'worldly' choices will always seem rational.
	So we need to gauge our lifestyle in terms of our allegiance to Christ.
	Before I go any further I need to highlight something that John White says in his book "The Fight". Our own morale is vital to victory; discouragement is deadly
	So our focus has to remain on the love of God for us and the victory of Christ on our behalf and not necessarily on how much we've been able to achieve in our life for God
	"The war is bigger than our personal humiliation" – J. White – So while we may be ashamed at our failure there is no place for giving up
	To Bear Witness
	The primary aspect of the conflict in both John 15 and Acts 12 is in being a witness to Jesus. As a church we need to be bearing witness to God in our society.
	As a community of believers I think we are constantly in danger of recreating a sub world for ourselves in the church
	Our social needs
	Our entertainment
	Our children's values
	and this is reflected in our buildings, our budget, our programs and activities.
	Talk vs Walk
	We may talk the language of witness but we need to be watching how many unchurched people are actually witnessing our witness
	Our house groups can be outward focused either in the way the group is run or by what the group focus on. Our Sunday school and youth ministry can be outward focused in mission and good works. The Religious Education and Schools Outreach work that some of us do is good Theos Crew is good. Prayer ministry is good. The relationships we build with our neighbours and maintain with our own families is good
	We must keep up interaction with our non Christian friends and be open about our faith.
	But there will always be a clash of fundamental values, between God and the world.
	So we should bear our witness in the power of the spirit than in the pleasures of the flesh.
	By that I mean I think if we try to sell our witness on the basis of what society is looking for (wealth, achievement, happiness, pleasure) we may fail. I think we need to take a
	Praying for the Persecuted
	The second aspect I'd like us to reflect on is that persecution of a violent sort still happens in many parts of the world. It may even return here (although our violence is reserved for the court system).
	John White describes the West as being in the "Late in the afternoon of the day of tolerance". You may or may not have kept abreast of Catch the Fire Ministries being taken to VCAT on the basis of the new Victorian religious vilification law and being found guilty of inciting violence against Islam. Mark Durie who lived for many years in Aceh was actively involved in their defense and has raised many questions of how such a law is interpreted and implemented. He has many concerns about just the legal validity of this and has been requesting churches to be more active in raising our voice against it.
	After last week's sermon Jack was talking to me about "The Heavenly Man" – the story of Brother Yun. So I had a quick read and it recounts both the story of persecution against Christians and the amazing growth in the Chinese house church. There's even a chapter in there called "The God of Peter is your God" and there is one particular experience that bears uncanny resemblance to the story in Acts 12.
	Famous Last Words
	All this in the context that Mao's wife Jiang Qing told foreign visitors "Christianity in China has been confined to the history section of the museum. It is dead and buried.
	Reminds me of the famous Anti Christian French Philosopher Voltaire who predicted that Christianity would be eradicated in Europe by the end of his century. By the end of his century however his house in Geneva was the Head Office of the Swiss Bible Society.
	In Sri Lanka there have been many moves to make Conversion Illegal. Ironically it is called the Freedom of Religion Act and if anyone converts or is converting they face hefty fines and jail sentences.
	I know that most of you like me probably squirm with guilt at the thought of our middle class comfortable lifestyles where our most heated debates in Church may be about heating and cooling.
	We all feel we should be doing more – when we can get around to it.
	So maybe today is an opportunity to do just that.
	The Concern Tray
	The first thing we should do is renew a concerted effort to pray intercessorily. The best way to pray from my experience is to worry or be concerned. We naturally pray for anything we are concerned about. Unfortunately I find my concern tray is full with budgets, savings, housework, shopping, family, work deadlines and my own share of ministry. I need to replace some of those concerns with concern for the wider body of Christ. The other thing is find someone somewhere to pray with. It really needs as little as 15 mins. Any more and we end up talking about other things and not praying to God. So maybe someone at work. Someone who works close by to you. Someone who lives close by. Someone you do an activity together with. In your small group. If you need information about other countries Operation World is a great resource.
	Eph 6:18 /Dan 10:12-13
	Not another Africa Story
	I think we also need to be wary of over exposure. I think one of the ways our society is hampered is that we are saturated with news and we can't maintain our level of concern. In the wake of the Tsunami people who have been long term involved in the scale-wise larger catastrophes in Africa were flabbergasted that money they couldn't raise was done in a matter of days. I think it was Fiona who said that when her brother was trying to raise the Congolese crisis on Western Media he was told that there was no room for yet another African tragedy.
	Our society expects us to move from charity to charity and from one fund raising shave to another pluck. We need to fight this tendency. Pick an area of concern and put our heart and soul into it and turn a polite no to some other things. In that way our contribution I think will be more concerted.
	I'll conclude with a comment by John Stott.
	The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free and the word of God triumphing.