This Saturday at BibleCentral - Ephesians!

Join us this Saturday, 1pm at the Central Library for BibleCentral as we look at the amazing, glorious, wonderful, awesome book of Ephesians.

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Unnatural people (Galatians 6)

Today is our last study from the book of Galatians. Essentially, Galatians teaches us what the gospel is not. The gospel is not about religion, it's about God's grace. The gospel is not what we need to do, it's what God has done. The gospel is not about us, it's about Jesus.

Even in today's study from Galatians Chapter 6, where Paul talks about us  as the church, he brings the focus back to Jesus. And there are three ways we do this as a church: (1) We carry each other's burdens, (2) We sow to the Spirit, and (3) We boast in the cross of Jesus Christ.

1. Carry each other’s burdens

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:1-2

At some point in time, you and I are going to mess up. That’s what Paul means when he says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin.” All of us still have a sinful nature inside of us. Until Christ comes again and gives us new bodies and new natures, in this lifetime we will struggle with our sinful nature and there are going to be times when that nature is going to trip us up.

That’s what being “caught” in a sin means. It doesn’t mean that we go around catching people, “Aha! I caught you sinning!” It means that our sinful nature lays traps out for us and if we’re not careful we will get caught in one of these traps.

When that happens to someone here in the church, Paul says that those who are spiritual - those who are mature Christians - should react in a way that is loving and gentle. Your job is not to go around catching people and punishing their sin. The bible says that your number one priority is restoring that brother and sister to Christ and doing this with “a spirit of gentleness” (ESV).

But there's a warning. “Watch yourself,” Paul says, “or you also may be tempted.” Be careful that you don’t end up in the same trap because you also have got a sinful nature. Because the guy you’re talking to might try to justify that sin; he might try and rationalise that sin and you might go, “Yeah, you’ve a good point.” Next thing you know, the both of you are caught in the same trap and someone else has to come to counsel the two of you! Does that happen? Yes it does!

Don’t go alone; Don’t counsel someone of the opposite gender; Have the bible open in front of you and ask, “What does God have to say about all this?” These are a few basic points to keep in mind when we are dealing with sin as sinful people. with the wisdom of God, with the love of God, with the word of God.

But why do we do this? The reason is verse 2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” As Christians, we turn to our brother and sister and say to them, “Hey, that looks really heavy. Why don’t you let me give you a hand?” Some things are just too heavy for one person to carry all by themselves.

Some of us come to church as consumers. We think of ourselves as paying customers. We have a list of needs and if this church meets my needs, if this bible study meets my needs, then I’ll stay. Some of us act like consumers in our relationships: If this person makes me feel good, if he buys me stuff, if she keeps looking hot then I’ll stay in this relationship. We do this with our jobs: As along as this job fits in with my career goals I’ll stick around, but as soon as another opportunity comes along with better pay, I’m gone.

The opposite of being a consumer is being in a covenant. A covenant means, “I promise to meet your needs not matter the circumstances.” A covenant is what parents do for their children. Parents can’t turn around and say, “This kid is so troublesome, so smelly, so rebellious - I’m giving up!” No, they continue to love their children, even if they poop all over the place, even if they mess up, because parents are in a covenant with their kids, "I will always be your Dad. I will always be your Mum." A marriage, too,  is a covenant: for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.

And being in a church is about covenant. Coming not just when you feel like it. Coming not just to have your needs met. But coming because this is your family. Coming to help with their needs and burdens.

Now when Paul says, “in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ,” we have to understand that Paul is speaking to a group of people who thought that being a Christian was all about obeying laws in order to please God. These are religious people; these are rule-keepers, who think that if they follow all the rules and get the best exam results, God will say to them, “You’re a good Christian.”

Paul says to them it’s not about regulations, it is about transformation: Living a life that has been changed by Jesus Christ. You were a sinner but Jesus has put his Spirit in you.

That’s why, earlier on, he spoke to those who were “spiritual,” and what Paul didn't say was, “You guys are so gifted.” No, true spirituality is about restoring your brother or sister who has been caught in a sin. Those who are spiritual display the spirit of gentleness when dealing with sin (which is the fruit of the Spirit, as we saw last week), especially the sin of their brother and sister in Christ. The spiritual person is a loving person.

On the other hand, the religious person is concerned with one thing: himself. The only time he turns to looks at his neighbour is compare himself to his neighbour and say to himself, "I'm glad I'm not this loser." Paul calls that self-deception.

If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

Galatians 6:3-5

The issue here is our identity: Who do you think you are? For many of us today, our identity is a projection of what we want others to think of us, whether it's on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - we project an image that we have crafted, moulded and photoshopped so that people will “like” us, “follow” us and “friend” us online.

And Paul is asking us: Do you even know who you are? Are you constantly comparing yourself to your neighbour, thinking, “He’s got more friends than me.” What is your life really like? Test your actions, Paul says. What are doing with your time, with your money and with your relationships that God has given you and are you using these gifts to glorify yourself or God?

The way that Paul puts it is to say, “Each one should carry his own load.” Some of you might say to me, "Hang on, didn't Paul tell us back in verse 2, to carry each other's burdens? So which one is it: Am I supposed to carry my own load or to carry my brother's as well?"

Verse 5 is about personal responsibility. The two words for “burden” and “load” are two different words, one is heavy (think of a moving truck) and the other light (think of your backpack). When you’re moving house and you’ve got boxes, furniture and books and you call up the guys to come with their cars and help out, that’s a burden.

But if it’s just your backpack that you left behind at Rock Fellowship, you should just get on your bike and get it yourself, not call up the whole English Congregation and the elders and the council so they can have a prayer meeting about it.

Some things are burdens and some things are loads and we need to be able to tell the difference between the two. Here in verse 5, Paul is talking about carrying our own loads as a way of saying that each one of us needs to be aware of our personal responsibility before God - for our actions and thoughts and motives.

The reason we have both verses here in the bible - “Carry each other’s burdens,” and “Carry your own load,” - is because it’s possible to use our problems as an excuse to shift our responsibilities, it's possible to use our problems to take advantage of brothers and sisters here in church. "I have a problem," we say, "Now it's your job to solve my problem because the bible says you must carry my burden." No, it's a load that you need to bear yourself. You need to be accountable for your actions before God. When we do that, we act like consumers and not covenant-keepers. We burden others; we don’t carry the burden of others.

That’s a helpful thing to keep in mind the next time you are in trouble. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t call me or the brothers for help. I’m just saying, is it a burden or a load? Are you just seeking attention?

Some things we can’t deal by ourselves - the burden of a tragedy, a sin, an illness, a loss - these are burdens we ought to share within the family of God because we can’t deal with them with our own strength. But our own lives, our own actions and our own motives - those are things that we are responsible for in God’s eyes. My question to you is: Can you tell the difference?

2. Sow to the Spirit

Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

Galatians 6:6

Last Wednesday, I asked the guys what this verse meant. The answer I got was, “We must pay our pastors.” That’s a good answer!

But it’s more than that. “Sharing all good things” is more than just sharing our money. It includes encouragement. It's actually talking about our lives. The Greek word koinonia meaning fellowship or partnership, and it’s describing how the fellowship of God's people is built on God's word.

When the instructor speaks from God's word, this is a blessing to the hearer; and Paul then says to the person who has been blessed through God's word, "Share your life with him." That is, fellowship with him. At the heart of every fellowship group here in the Chinese Church - Joshua, Rock, Paul, Esther - is the instruction of the word of God. It's what makes these fellowship meetings possible. It's what makes our fellowship sweet and a blessing to those who come and share their lives with one another.

Now, is this verse talking about paying our pastors? Yes and No. Yes, in that the worker deserves his wages. But No, in that the money we give to pastors isn’t first and foremost a salary. We don’t pay pastors to do a job. We free them up from the worry of earning an income to pay the bills in order that they can concentrate full-time of serving God.

The legalist reads this verse and says, “We pay the pastor this much money so we expect him to do this much work. That's his job.” Or the pastor can read this verse like a legalist and say, “I deserve to be paid a salary, I’ve given up so much for these people and this church owes me for my sacrifice.”

But the Christian who understands grace reads this verse reminding him to be generous. As a church, I hope that we will support our workers generously - with money, with prayer, with encouragement and not least, with love. The pastor who understands the same verse graciously will, at times, not make use of his rights by denying payment (as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 9) so that the gospel can be received freely without hindrance.

When you look again at Galatians 6:6, you soon realise that the instructor can be anyone - from the pastor to the Sunday School teacher to the parent at home. It's anyone who teaches God’s word faithfully and clearly with whom we ought to share all good things with. It is sad when a church is willing to pay their pastor a salary but are not willing to share their lives with him. It is sad when a pastor doesn’t know his church and only ever serves them from the confines of his study preparing the weekly sermon. Sharing all good things means building a relationship with our leaders, showing our appreciation to our leaders, because your pastor might just be the loneliest person in your church. He might need your encouragement as much as you need his!

Paul describes this fellowship as an investment. It is one of the best investments you can ever make in your life - loving one another in Christ. And Paul says next, it's an investment with a guaranteed return!

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Galatians 6:7-8

To sow means to plant a seed. To reap means to gather in the fruit - after the seed has grown into a tree and the tree bears fruit - then you reap that fruit.

Meaning, it doesn't happen overnight. Like any investment, it takes time. You can’t put an apple seed in the ground today and expect to be baking apple crumble tomorrow. An investment takes time. Still, the principle is this: the kind of seed you plant produces the kind of fruit you’ll end up with. “A man reaps what he sows.” That’s the basic principle. If you plant apples, you get apples, you don't get bananas. The kind of seed you plant results in the kind of fruit you reap.

Paul says there are two different seeds which produce two results. One is the sinful nature, the other is the Spirit. One brings death, the other brings life.

The guy who sows to please his sinful nature will reap the fruit of destruction. The better word for it is decay (or as the ESV has it, “corruption”) that is, it's talking about a destruction that happens slowly over time.

What is he describing? Last week we read that the acts of the sinful nature were sexual immorality, idolatry, anger, drunkenness; so Paul could be saying that if we keep sleeping with our boyfriend or girlfriend, if we keep worshipping our money, if we keep taking our frustrations out on our friends and family, if we keep drinking and staying out late, it’s just a matter of time before the consequences catch up with us. We will be stuck in our sin. We will face God’s judgement.

But that’s reading this verse in terms of the individual, whereas the whole of Galatians Chapter 6 is about the community. Notice how he keeps using the phrase, “each other,” and “one another.” He is talking about our sowing and our reaping as a community, not as an individual. As a church and not just as a Christian.

Meaning, the real question is: What are you investing in here in the church? Here in Rock Fellowship?

If all you do in church is gossip, if you hang out with same group of friends every single week, if you harbour feelings of resentment and envy against your brothers and sisters - that’s sowing to the sinful nature. That is, you are being selfish, but moreoever, you are sowing seeds of your sinful nature. It means that when the harvest comes, it won't just affect you, it will affect the people around you. The destruction/decay that you eventually reap is a church that is fragmented by your own selfish actions.

But “the one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Again if this verse is talking about the community, then eternal life is not describing your own salvation (for you are saved through faith in Jesus alone) but rather it's talking the gospel bearing fruit in the life of the church. Your words of encouragement, your witness, your love and patience are seeds that God uses to grow his church, even to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ.

Isn't this worthwhile? To be pouring your time, your money, your energies, your passions into the church - because God promises you, you will get a guaranteed return on your investment.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up hope.

Galatians 6:9

I know that many of us here know what Paul is talking about. We're weary. I know the Sunday School teachers are so worn out from serving in a ministry that 100% output with 0% input. I know some people describe coming to the Chinese Church as “tiring.” I know that every single one of your have said to Jesus at some time in your lives, “Lord, I don’t know if I can carry on. This is too much for me to bear.”

Let's be honest. Some of us are just impatient. We want instant gratification. If we don't get immediate results it means that it doesn't work. We tried reading the bible for ten minutes and say, “Nothing happened.” We prayed for a couple of weeks but complain, "God didn't fix my situation." We came to church a couple of times a year - CNY and Mid-Autumn Festival - and say, "I have any friends."

But some of us have been patient, loving, sacrificial and though we feel guilty admitting it, we feel like calling it quits. If that’s you, Paul says, “Don't be weary in doing good.” What he does is encourage us, "Nothing you have done has been wasted, not a single thing."

Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say that things will get easier. He does not say, "Take a break," though there's nothing wrong with that. But ultimately, Paul says the one thing that we really need to hear as weary saints. He says, "Nothing you have done will go to waste." “At the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up hope.” Why does he say that? It's because the real solution to our weariness is hope. Hope produces Christians who persevere. Hope strengthens our assurance in a God who is no one's debtor.

Paul says elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” Our hope is in the God who gives life; the God who gives us the growth. At the proper time, God will cause our investments to grow to such a point that it will be a harvest. You won’t be munching on seeds, you will be feasting on fruit!

Every lesson to the kids in Sunday School counts. Every invitation to an event where your friends can hear about Jesus. Every prayer for a mum or dad who doesn’t yet know God. Each and every seed counts. Keep planting. Keep planting. The harvest is not yet but it will come; it’s not in your hands, it is according to God’s timing.

It may be that God will see fit to bring about the harvest only when Jesus comes back. It may be that some seed bear fruit sooner. Either way, Paul says to you, “Don’t give up hope,” and “Keep doing good.”

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 6:10

The word for opportunity (kairos) is the same word used in verse 9 for the “proper time.” Our time in this life is given us by God as an opportunity. It’s not saying, “Wait for the perfect time -that perfect opportunity - to help your brothers and sisters in trouble.” No, your whole life is the opportunity that God gives you. It’s this lifetime we have now in which we are to good works to all people. Who are you supposed to help? Paul says, "Do good to all people." It's whoever is next to you. Whoever you meet today. That’s the person God has put in your life to serve. Your neighbour. The kid who sits next to you in class. Your boss. Your colleague. Do good to all people. 

But Paul also says that we have a particular responsibility to our brothers and sisters. “Especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Tithing is not commanded of Christians; loving your brother and sister in Christ, is. When we take the collection each week, we make it very clear to the visitors and non-Christians, this is not for you, it is a family matter. Even so, as Christians, you are not compelled to give your money. There is no command about how much or how often.

Yet here we have a command in Galatians 6:10 reminding us of our responsibility to love our brothers and sisters as our family in Christ. We should not be embarrassed about putting our church family as a priority. Yes, the same verse reminds us the importance of doing good to all people, to support worthwhile causes, to be active in helping the poor and bringing relief to the suffering. But it is shameful when we neglect our responsibility to our own church community. For those who are giving faithfully and serving regularly, I commend you to continue doing so as an expression of love and commitment, particularly to your family here in the Chinese Church, and to do so not legalistically, but generously, willingly and joyfully.

For some of us, the more fundamental question is: Do you have such a family? Do you have a community - a family of believers - to whom you are accountable to and among whom you serve and provide for?

You might legitimately say to me, “The Chinese Church is not my church family. I’m just passing through.” My question to you would still be the same. Do you have a family of your own?

Otherwise, nothing I have said today will make any sense to you, friend. Every verse in Chapter 6 is about your personal relationship with your Christian brother and sister. Every verse is about your investment in a church family you call your own. Do you have a family in Christ whom you are accountable to, whom you love, whom you serve; who love and serve you?

If you do - whether it’s here in the Chinese Church, StAG, Eden, Christ Church, CPC, St Matthew's wherever it may be -  the bible says to you, Invest in it. Keep sowing to the Spirit. Keep carrying one another’s burdens. Keep doing good.

And in the proper time, God will bring about a harvest because this church is God’s family. It is the body of his Son, Jesus Christ, and he wants it to grow and bring glory to him.

3. Boast in the cross

See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

Galatians 6:11

If Paul were speaking on a Sunday at church, at this point, he would have pulled the microphone out of the stand and stepped out from behind the podium, to say to the congregation, “Listen. What I’m going to say next is really important.”

That’s what he does here as tells his secretary to stop typing and Paul takes over the keyboard and hits the Caps-Lock key and goes, “SEE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE TO YOU WITH MY OWN HAND!” What's he doing? He's trying to get our attention!

Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

Galatians 6:12

In case we forget, this was a church with a big problem. Religious teachers had come into the church. Yes, that is a big problem: To have people teaching Christians how to be religious!

It’s a problem because most people can’t tell the difference between religion and Jesus. It's a problem because Christians are sometimes tempted to choose religion instead of Jesus. And here in verse 12, Paul tells us the reason why: Religion makes us look good.

“Those who want to make a good impression outwardly.” That’s Paul’s description of religious teachers, as people who want impress their followers. Literally, it reads, “Those who want to put on a good face in the flesh” In Chinese, we would say, they wanted us to Pei Min, or to give them face. They want our respect and admiration.

So, a religious teacher might begin talking about Jesus in his sermon, but he ends up talking about himself. There’s a trick to doing this, Paul tells us. It’s by taking up a religious subject and then focusing on it exclusively so as to avoid bringing up the cross. “The only reason they do this,” Paul says, “is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.”

The issue back then was circumcision. The religious teachers said, “If you are circumcised, then you are really a Christian who follows the law.” But Paul exposes their motives in verse 13.

Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.

Galatians 6:13

Here is the irony: The religious teachers were telling their followers to do something they didn’t do themselves. “Not even those who are circumcised obey the law.” Yet if they can get you to obey the law, then it gives them a reason to boast. See how many people responded to my sermon and committed themselves to being circumcised!

Like I said, the issue then was circumcision but what would be the issue today? What issue would a religious teacher use to make himself popular, so as to avoid talking about the cross? What would he teach others to do but would himself avoid doing?

The truth is, it can be just about anything in the bible that is good and godly but twisted to make us look good and to avoid talking about the cross of Jesus Christ. It can be making disciples, it can be baptism, it can be church attendance, it can bible-reading. When we tell people to evangelise their friends (but we ourselves don’t talk about Jesus with our neighbours). When we make people feel guilty about not praying enough, not giving money enough, not loving one another enough (but we are stingy, greedy, spiteful and rarely open our bibles and pray at home). When we do this to avoid talking about Jesus, that’s us taking a good and godly teaching in the bible and turning grace into law.

That includes anything and everything I’ve said today about carrying one another’s burdens, doing good to all people, sowing to the Spirit - if I’m saying this just to make myself look good; to avoid doing these things myself; to change the subject from the cross of Jesus Christ - then what I am preaching is not the gospel, it is law; if so, I am a religious teacher and I should be kicked out of the church and never be allowed to teach from this book ever again!

In verse 15, Paul says, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything.” That’s important because Paul didn’t have a problem with circumcision but he had a big problem when circumcision was used as a way to earn our way to salvation. He has a big problem when circumcision was used to replace Christ.

The religious teachers were boasting in the flesh but Paul would boast only in the cross.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians 6:14

It’s not our church, it’s the cross. It’s not how many people become Christians, it’s the cross. It’s not what programme is coming up for Chinese New Year, it’s the cross. One thing only should we ever boast in: the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How does that work out practically, though? Does that mean we can’t have a programme for Chinese New Year? Does that mean we shouldn’t praise God when people become Christians?

The way this works out practically is to ground all our boasting in the cross. The word “boasting” is actually the same word used back in verse 4, “Let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbour.” It’s your identity. It’s the basis of what’s making you so happy and thankful. That’s your boast.

And Paul is saying that the basis of who we are and what we do has to be the cross. So, when talking about our church, it’s not just the friends and the food and the fellowship, but when you get right down to it, it’s the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that has paid for the lives of these brothers and sisters and makes it possible even just to get along; in his body he broke down the dividing walls of hostility. Jesus, he himself, is our peace. We are his body, the church. We exist to glorify him, that is our purpose as the church.

When talking about Chinese New Year, it’s Jesus who blesses us with ultimate peace and hope and the promise of eternal life by taking our punishment on the cross and exchanging our sin with his righteousness alone. It’s the grace of God, not our good works. We were dead in our sins and tresspasses, but God was merciful and loving. He raised us in Christ, he seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. He predestined us for adoption as sons in Christ Jesus.

That’s boasting in the cross. For many of us as Chinese, it means this: Not being ashamed. Not being afraid of opening our mouths and saying, “Jesus died for my sin. I am a sinner and Jesus is my Saviour.” I know we are afraid of rejection. Remember the false teachers in verse 12, “The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.” These false teachers feared man more than they feared God. They were cowards; many of us are cowards when it comes to opening our mouths and talking about Jesus.

Unlike the false teachers, Paul’s boasting was rooted in boldness. He knew that Jesus was God crucified on the cross. He knew his sin was fully paid for. And he knew that in Jesus, he was part of God’s new creation.

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

Galatians 6:15- 16

By the way, that last bit in verse 16, where Paul speaks about the “Israel of God,” he’s talking about you and me. That’s our identity in Jesus - Israel. Every time you open up the Old Testament and read about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the sons of Israel; every time you read about the Exodus and the nation of Israel, King David and the kingdom of Israel; every time you read about people of Israel, Paul is saying, that’s us. We are his people, not because of race, not because of culture, not because of anything we did but because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we are now his holy people. The church - the Galatian church full of non-Jews, even the Chinese Church today - is the Israel of God.

Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Galatians 6:17-18

Paul, unlike the false teachers did not avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. He boasted in the cross and Paul had the scars to prove it. These scars were like medals. They proved that he was the real thing.

The word for “bear” that he uses here - “I bear on my body,” Paul says in verse 17 - is the same word he used in the beginning of the chapter when he calls us to “bear one another’s burdens” and to “bear our own load.” It means to carry something heavy or to endure something that is difficult.

And what he is saying is: these marks prove that we are the real thing. Some of you have these burdens and marks. Some of you have suffered for the sake of Jesus. Don’t be ashamed of them. Be assured because of them, that you have been found faithful by God not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him.

The result of such marks of suffering is not bitterness but grace. Paul ends his letter with a blessing, not a curse. “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be your spirit, brothers. Amen.” Christians who boast in the cross, who suffer as a result of that boasting, who respond with grace and the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ - they are the real thing.

And far from avoiding such a path I encourage you to embrace it. To so live your life for Jesus that you would risk it all to gain him. Because we are called bear one another’s burdens. Because our sure investment is in the Spirit of God. And because our one and only boast is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Church: The body of Christ

Beginning February 2013

The Spirit-filled church (Acts 2)

An unmistakable theme running through the book of Acts has to be the movement of the Holy Spirit.

If you go through the book, Luke the writer gives tremendous emphasis on the Holy Spirit as a key agent in the narrative; as a key character in the storyline. With the exception of a few places throughout the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit features prominently and is mentioned explicitly in each and every chapter - through the display of miracles, the speaking of tongues, in the direct speech of the apostles - but the way the book of Acts begins is with Jesus Christ telling his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit.

The very beginning of the book reminds us that Acts is part-two in the two-part series, both written by the same author, Luke, who refers back to his previous book - the gospel of Luke - in verse 1 as, “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” That’s a very curious way of summing up the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: All that Jesus began to do and teach.

As if to say, “Theophilus, what you read in my previous book - That’s just the beginning.” The book of Acts is a continuation of everything Jesus began to do and teach. In fact, you could say that the book of Acts is about what Jesus continues to do today.

And the way that Acts begins in Chapter 1 is with Jesus “giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:2), commanding them with the words of verse 4, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised... For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

The passage we are going to look at today is the fulfilment of that promise. It is described in several different ways - the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), the filling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) - but the one question we need to ask ourselves as we go through the book of Acts is: What is descriptive and what is prescriptive in the book of Acts? It is important to differentiate between the descriptive - what Luke is telling us happened then - and the prescriptive - what Luke is telling us ought to happen today as part of our daily Christian experience.

Now you might agree or disagree with what I put into the descriptive and prescriptive categories, but I wanted to begin by saying that there is a difference between the two, and more importantly, that the way we decide which is descriptive and which is prescriptive is by looking at what the bible says. Over and against our own experiences and traditions, what I want us to do is come to the bible and see how Luke describes and prescribes the events the book of Acts.

With that in mind, we will approach Acts Chapter 2 under three headings:

1. The Spirit-filled Witness (verses 1 to 15)

2. The Spirit-filled Message (verses 16 to 36)

3. The Spirit-filled Community (verses 37 to 47)

1. The Spirit-filled Witness

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Acts 2:1-4

We begin with the when and the where. Verse 1 tells us “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.”

Pentecost is a harvest celebration in the Jewish Calendar, which is when the grain harvest is brought in. We find it in Old Testament passages like Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 16 referred to as the Feast of Weeks. The reason why it is called Pentecost (a Greek word meaning “fifty”) is because this festival is held fifty days from Passover. The symbolism of this is all the more pronounced when you consider that verse 1 could just as accurately be translated, “In the fulfilment of the day of Pentecost.”

Meaning, there is fulfilment that comes from Pentecost - from this festival symbolic of the gathering in of the harvest from the fields - that points us back to Passover; back to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Something that happened fifty days earlier at the cross now bears spiritual fruit and brings in a spiritual harvest.

That’s the significance of the when but notice as well the significance of the where. The believers “were all together in one place,” and that place was Jerusalem where Jesus told them to remain back in Chapter 1, verse 5. As many as one hundred and twenty believers gathered in this one place, unsure about what was going to happen exactly yet obedient to Jesus’ command and promise. Chapter 1, verse 8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem; and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of all the earth.” Something about Jerusalem made it ground zero for Jesus’ mission plan. The gospel was to go out into all the world - that was the plan - but first, something had to happen in Jerusalem. We’ll come back to this point later but for now, just realise that it’s no accident that this is all happening in this particular place at this particular time in history.

From the when and the where, verse 2 tells us what happened next. “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven.” What they heard sounded like a hurricane but wasn’t. Similarly, what they saw seemed like fire but wasn’t fire. Verse 3, “They saw what seemed like tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” The experience was overwhelming yet at the same time deeply personal. The Spirit of God, symbolised by wind and fire, filled the entire room where they were but also came to rest on each individual believer.

“All of them,” verse 4 reads, “were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” We will get to the tongues phenomenon in a moment, but don’t miss the impact of this statement. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, not just the apostles. Each and every one of the one hundred and twenty believers who had gathered in that place that day received what Jesus had promised them with no exception.

Having said that, when we get to verse 5, we see that this phenomenon was not for the believers’ benefit alone.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native language?

Acts 2:5-8

What follows is a pretty lengthy description about where this crowd were from - Parthians, Medes and Elamites (to the east of Jerusalem, modern day Iran); residents of Mesopotamia (the western region, now Iraq), Judea (the region surrounding Jerusalem itself), Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia (to the north-west, where Paul eventually brings the gospel later in Acts) and Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene (to the south).

On the one hand, these were God-fearing Jews (verse 5) living in Jerusalem (verse 14). On the other, the people in these crowd had come from far-flung countries, what verse 5 describes as “every nation under heaven.” These were Diasporic Jews who had been spread across the different regions due to events in history (such as the exile, recorded in Old Testament books of the bible such as Daniel). The Greek word diaspora is where we get the word dispersed, meaning, “spread out”. These Jews whose ancestors had originally lived in the Promised Land had been spread out across the nations, but now had moved back to Jerusalem, perhaps to attend the Festival of Weeks or more likely, had moved back for good and called the city their home.

Similarly, many of us from Singapore and Malaysia are diaspora Chinese: our parents or grandparents migrated from China, from villages like Guangzhou or Fujian and settled in South East Asia, which is why a couple of generations later you end up with “bananas” like me (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) who can’t even speak a word of proper Chinese, except for phrases picked up from Chow Sing Chi movies (like Tah Kip and Pek Yau).

These diaspora Jews hear the believers speaking in tongues, they gather around the 120 believers, but notice what they ask in verse 7, “How is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?” Literally, the word is dialect - “How is it that each of us hears them in his own dialect where we were born?” They are amazed that these Galileans are able to communicate so fluently in the language they grew up with - their mother tongues. Furthermore, what they hear is described for us in verse 11, “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues (or dialects)!”

Now we need to understand their amazement at two levels. Firstly, remember that the crowd did not witness the wind and the fire in the giving of the Spirit, rather they are drawn by what they heard. Tongues, in this instance, simply means languages - real understandable languages and dialects spoken by these Jews who had come from all over the Roman Empire. They were amazed because these fifteen or so different languages were now being spoken by these “Galileans” (which was a polite way of calling them “Ah-bengs”).

On another level, what these tongue-speaking Galileans were declaring was the wonders of God. This is a side point but a notable one: There is something amazingly attractive about God’s word being communicated in a way that is understandable and familiar to us that it simply draws us into that word. These diaspora Jews did not grow up in Jerusalem and therefore did not speak Hebrew or Aramaic (much like British-born Chinese who struggle to order bubble tea in Cantonese at HK Fusion, “One pau pau cha please, extra pau pau!”). There must have been something pretty amazing and refreshing about hearing God’s word in such a way that you understood every word, that you didn’t need someone else to explain to you. To hear something as wonderful and as important as the greatness of God and to just get it - That is an awesome experience.

The fact that Luke describes the crowd as “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven,” ought to cast our minds back to Genesis 11 to the account of Babel. There, God strikes the people of Babel with a judgement that confuses their language and scatters them “over the face of the whole world” (Genesis 11:9). What is happening here in Acts 2 is a reversal of that judgement - God’s people were being gathered and God’s word was being fully understood. Here, it is important to see that the way in which God reversed the effects of Babel was not so much by taking away the languages but by using the languages. Notice how the phrase, “each one,” is repeatedly used to describe the reaction of the crowd - verse 6: “each one heard,” verse 8, “each of us hears.” The result was a personal encounter with the word of God - “the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

When we get to verse 12, it is no longer each one, but every single one. “And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” (ESV) Some were skeptical. “Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’” (Acts 2:13) All of them were affected by the event, and by “all,” it’s actually talking about the crowd. That is, the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not simply for the benefit of the apostles and Christians gathering in Jerusalem that day. God was using them as his witnesses to the crowd. The Spirit was empowering them to carry out his mission to the nations.

Otherwise, there would have been no need for the tongues. And otherwise, there would have been no need for Peter to explain the tongues.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!”

Acts 2:14-15

Peter understands that it isn’t enough to do apologetics. Some in the crowd are going, “These guys are out of their minds. It’s just the alcohol talking.” And immediately, Peter says, “Come on, get serious! The pubs aren’t even open yet.” Essentially, what he is saying is, “That’s a silly idea, and you know it.”

Now if Peter’s motivation was solely to protect his friends, he would have stopped right there. Apologetics is a defence of Christianity. It’s answering questions - often times, objections - to Christianity using reason, logic and factual data. Peter does apologetics by appealing to the crowd’s common sense, “Look at your watches, the pubs aren’t even open yet.” And if his motivation was purely to give an answer that would silence his critics and protect his friends, the story would have ended at verse 15.

But you see, Peter’s motivation for getting up and speaking to the crowd is not apologetics but evangelism. Apologetics is useful - it is even essential in an age of skepticism - but the agenda in apologetics is always set by the few. “Some... made fun of them.” Peter wanted to address the real question that was on every single one of their minds, “What does this mean?” and the way he did that was through evangelism. It was with the gospel.

Evangelism presents God’s agenda and not ours. The Spirit-filled Witness always accompanies the Spirit-filled message: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. The Spirit-filled Message

Peter begins by explaining the tongues-speaking as an indication of the end times. The pouring out the Spirit of God is an indication that the final day of God’s judgement has arrived.

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Acts 2:16-21

It’s not the most attractive way to begin a sermon. Peter didn’t tell a joke or open with an illustration from last night’s episode of Downton Abbey. He said to the crowd, “You want to know what this means? It’s judgement. It means that we are now living in the end times.”

Quoting the prophet Joel, he describes how God promises to pour out his Spirit on all people, enabling them to prophesy, see visions and dream dreams. In a word, the Spirit reveals God’s will to his people. The prophets in the Old Testament were a select few to receive this gift of the Spirit. Their job was to speak on behalf of God, revealing his will to the kings and leaders.

In contrast to that, Joel says in the last days, the Spirit would no longer be limited to a select few but poured out on all: men and women, young and old. And the purpose of this pouring out of the Spirit is direct revelation. That’s prophecy. Prophecy means knowing and speaking God’s word without the need for a middleman. God reveals it directly to you. God speaks it directly through you.

Here we see it in speaking of various tongues by the believers at Pentecost. They were declaring the wonders of God directly to nations, without the need for interpreters.

Yet notice as well, that we see the fulfilment this in Peter himself. He stands up and says quite confidently, “This is what God’s word has to say to you.” What is he doing? Peter is prophesying. By that, it doesn’t mean that unintelligible gibberish start coming out of his mouth. Quite the opposite. He reveals God’s will by clearly explaining God’s word. “This is what it means. This is what God says.” That’s prophetic speech.

So the first half of Joel’s prophecy has to do with the Spirit, but the second half talks about judgement. Verse 19: “Blood and fire and billows of smoke,” and verse 20, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood.” As scary as these descriptions may be, what was shocking was not the reality of judgement but its immediacy. These were God-fearing Jews. They knew that God was holy. They knew the bible spoke of a day of God’s judgement. What they did not know was that God’s judgement was not far off; it had already begun.

And Peter’s point is this: Judgement began with the cross. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s way of putting the world on notice, “This is the last call.”

Friends, are you the kind of person who puts things off? Judgement, God, Jesus, Salvation - it’s just another thing you’ll deal with... tomorrow. Peter is saying to us: Judgement has come, Salvation is now, because Jesus Christ is Lord.

Look at verse 22:

Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Acts:2:22-23

Keeping in mind that Peter is speaking to residents of Jerusalem and his fellow Jews, he describes Jesus to them as someone, “you know.” In the last chapter of Luke, Cleopas says to Jesus, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know these things?” Jesus asks him, “What things?” And Cleopas goes on to describe how Jesus was well-known as a prophet, he did miracles, he spoke from God with an authority that no one ever did, he was someone everyone knew as sent from God. But the tragic thing, according to Cleopas, was that Jesus got killed. He was treated like a criminal, hung on a cross and left to die. The point is: such news was so sensational, no one in Jerusalem could not have known about it.

Peter says to the crowd, “You guys know this.” But more than that, “You guys are responsible for this,” verse 23, “You with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” He doesn’t say, “Those guys - the Romans, the chief priests, the guys at the top... No, you... You did this.”

Yet at the same time, verse 23 begins with God handing Jesus over to them, according to his “set purpose and foreknowledge”. Now what’s going on? Peter is explaining what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah. The cross was not God’s plan gone wrong. The cross was God’s plan all along.

Especially for these Jews who were God-fearing, who knew God’s promises to Abraham and to David about a kingdom that would one day be established in God’s name and ruled under God’s king, they would have been thinking: How on earth can Jesus be this king? The Messiah is supposed to defeat his enemies, not be killed by them. The Messiah is supposed to be empowered by God, protected by God - not humiliated and stripped naked like he was and killed on the cross, suffering a death so horrible it probably meant that he was cursed by God.

And one thing that Peter had to get straight with his fellow Jews was that Jesus had to die. The way in which we know that Jesus truly was the Christ was precisely through his death and humiliation on the cross.

Notice that what Peter does here in explaining who Jesus is and what he did on the cross - is not to absolve them of their guilt, “You, with the help of wicked men put him to death,” - but to show from scripture how God used even their sin to bring about his salvation.

Look at verse 24:

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:

“I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will live in hope,

because you will not abandon me to the grave,

nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence.”

Acts 2:24-28

A moment ago, we were considering Jesus’ death, and here Peter tries to explain God raising Jesus from death as significant of much more than just having a second chance at life. No, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is actually a kind of vindication. It’s a kind of proof.

When God raised Jesus from the dead, Peter says in verse 23, he freed him from the agony of death. Death is pictured as a kind of prison. It’s pain - the agony of death. The bible describes death as not simply the end of life - You live, and live, and live, then one day.... finally, you die. No, death in the bible is a separation. And verse 23 tells us it was impossible for death to keep a hold on Jesus. This prison couldn’t contain him.

If you understand death that way - as a separation, a breakdown, a prison - then what the resurrection does is help us understand what life really is. It is a restoration. Here, Peter uses the words of King David from Psalm 16 to talk about the resurrection in terms of joy, hope, gladness. Verse 26, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope.” Verse 28, “You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with the joy of your presence.” David defines life as knowing God; being in the presence of God; rejoicing in the promises of God.

What did God do when he raised Jesus from the dead? He restored him to his true status and position as Christ - as God’s King ruling over God’s kingdom.

Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on the throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.

Acts 2:29-31

From the testimony of Scripture in Psalm 16, Peter moves on their own testimony as witnesses of the cross in verse 32, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses to the fact.” I think he is referring to the empty tomb and their personal encounter with Jesus over the last forty days (Acts 1:3).

But then Peter does something very interesting. He turns to the crowds own witness of events. Verse 33, “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” He ties it back to Pentecost. Now this is very important. What is Peter doing? He is explaining the tongues and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, yes. But more importantly, he is preaching the gospel by pointing his hearers back to Jesus.

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“The Lord said to my Lord:

‘Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Acts 2:34-36

Why does Peter keep saying, “This Jesus.” Did you notice that? Verse 23, “This man.” Verse 32, “God has raised this Jesus.” Verse 36, ‘God has made this Jesus...” Why not just say, “Jesus”?

Because Peter is saying, “This is the guy you need to take notice of.” Not me. Not your own guilt. Not even in a sense the Holy Spirit. The focus of the gospel is this Jesus whom God has made both Lord and Christ.

He is saying to the crowd who heard the tongues, who asked the question, “What does this mean?”, and responds to them by saying, “It means that Jesus really is God’s chosen King. It means that he is chosen to judge the world - that’s what Lord means, hence the Day of the Lord. But it also means, he is God’s means for salvation - everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I put it to you that what we have here in Peter’s sermon is Spirit-filled preaching. It’s prophecy. Preaching that is prophetic, that is anointed by the Holy Spirit of God, is preaching the points us clearly to Jesus Christ as Lord. Isn’t that what Peter is doing? He keeps bringing us back to Jesus.

It’s not the tongues, as miraculous as it was, and as essential as it was in this moment of history. It was the explanation of the gospel, as revealed in scripture, pointing to Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross, proclaiming him as Lord and Christ. Inasmuch as your pastor preaches the gospel on Sunday mornings, inasmuch as your bible study leader preaches Christ in your weekly groups, inasmuch as you yourselves point to Jesus in your evangelism, this is the work of the Holy Spirit, poured out on men and women, enabling them to prophesy - enabling them to reveal Jesus as who he truly is: Christ, Lord, Saviour, Judge, King!

And when men and women respond to such authentic, prophetic, Spirit-filled preaching - when they respond to the good news of Jesus Christ - what happens next is they are gathered in by God into a Spirit-filled community.

3. The Spirit-filled Community

When the crowd heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Acts 2:37-41

So far, what we have seen is the descriptive. Acts has given us a description of what happened, what was said, what was done. When we come to verse 39, we find a statement that is unmistakably prescriptive. “The promise if for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.” What is the prescription? To turn and trust in Jesus Christ.

That’s what Peter means by repentance. “Repent and be baptised.” It means turning. Repentance isn’t feeling sorry for your sins, it’s not an emotional response. It means turning away from your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation, “for the forgiveness of your sins.” As a sign of that repentance, Christians therefore get baptised - a word that simply means dunked (into water). They go into the water to symbolise their death to sin and rebellion against God, and they are raised out of the water to symbolise their new life in Jesus Christ.

So what we have here is Peter’s prescription - what it means to respond to the gospel, what it means to trust in Jesus, what it means to be saved as a Christian. It means turning to him as Lord.

Yet at the same time, notice that there are several implications to this prescription. The first one that is hard to miss is the fact that Peter says, “You will receive the Holy Spirit.” It’s a given. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t say that you will speak in tongues. He doesn’t say that you will relive the events of Pentecost, there is none of that here. All it says is that the three thousand new Christians were baptised as a sign of their repentance. In fact, the only way in which you can respond to the gospel is through the work and witness of the Holy Spirit. You see, this means that the Holy Spirit was not just poured out on the 120 believers, it was poured out on all the 3000 new converts as well. If you are a Christian, it’s because God has given you of his Spirit, enabling you to respond to him in repentance and faith.

However, this then raises the question: Why then was there a need for Pentecost? Why just the 120 believers in the upper room (or wherever it was) who received the gift of tongues?

As you go through the book of Acts, what we find is a trajectory - a movement - of the Holy Spirit, in each case, evidenced and punctuated by the speaking of tongues. There are four in total. The first occurrence is here in Acts 2 in Jerusalem. The second is Acts 8 where the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit at the laying on of hands. The third is Acts 10, where Peter is preaching to a group of God-fearing Gentiles. And the last is Acts 19, in Ephesus when Paul lays hands on a group of believers who had only known of John’s baptism. These four instances of the Holy Spirit enabling the believers to speak in tongues are significant because they are the fulfilment of Jesus’ own words at the beginning of the book of Acts, when he tells his disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In each case, the giving of the Holy Spirit evidenced by the supernatural ability to speak in tongues is a confirmation of God’s plan in bringing in outsiders into the kingdom of God. And significantly, it begins here in Acts 2 with Jerusalem. Jesus tells his friends to remain in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4). They are to be his witnesses beginning with Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). In other words, Jerusalem is ground zero. Why? Because of the cross. The way in which the outsiders are brought into the kingdom of God is through the message of the cross. It’s not by becoming Jewish - if anything, the gospel goes out to the surrounding cultures. It’s not by learning Hebrew and memorising the Torah in Hebrew - the phenomenon of the speaking in various tongues and dialects is enough evidence against that. It is only by repentance and faith in the message of the cross: that Jesus Christ is Lord. What we see here is that the Holy Spirit always moves in tandem with the gospel. It is the Holy Spirit which enables the gospel to be truly heard and the Holy Spirit which enables us to respond to the gospel.

That’s the first implication: the Holy Spirit comes as promise to all who respond to the gospel. But the second unmissable implication is the church. Verse 41, “Those who were baptised... were added to their number that day.”

Being a Spirit-filled Christian means being part of a Spirit-filled community. It means being a part of the church.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that unless you are in a gospel-proclaiming church, you’re not a real Christian. Neither am I saying that unless you are baptised, you are not a genuine Christian. You become a Christian by turning to and trusting in Jesus Christ alone. Yet here we find both baptism and church membership tightly linked to that act of conversion. The three thousand believers were all baptised, they were all counted amongst the believers.

The Spirit-filled gospel gives birth to a spirit-filled community. The church is a gathering of God’s people around God’s word. Therefore, if you are a Christian but you are not baptised or you are not a regular member in a church, the question to ask is not, “Where can I find this loving, generous, Spirit-filled community to be a part of?” The real question to ask is: Is the gospel being preached? If so, the next question for you is: Are you being obedient to the call of the gospel?

Especially amongst students who come to faith in Jesus Christ here in Cambridge, there is a tendency to put of baptism and to put off committing yourselves to a local church. One common excuse is, “I want to wait till I’m back in Singapore. Then I’ll find the real church I’m going to invest my life in. That’s the church I’m going to be baptised in and invite all my family and non-Christian friends to attend.”

Friends, that is a foolish excuse. (I know, because it was the excuse I used as a student!) The church are you “attending” now on the weekends, inasmuch as it is faithfully proclaiming the gospel, that is your church. The only question is: Are you being faithful to the gospel yourself in being a part of that community and investing your life now in that church?

If Jesus Christ is your Lord, if he died on the cross for your sins, if he has filled you with his Holy Spirit, then listen to his word of instruction and obey his will. Be baptised. Love your church. Commit your life to following him now.

To recap Acts Chapter 2, we have seen three things. Firstly, we see a Spirit-filled Witness - the Holy Spirit enabling the 120 believers to witness to the crowd through the speaking of tongues. Secondly, we see a Spirit-filled Message - the gospel being proclaimed by Peter, prophesying through the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, we see a Spirit-filled Community: One that is devoted to the teaching of the apostles and to one another in love and fellowship.

But really, what I hope we see in these pages is Jesus. The 120 believers were waiting for the Holy Spirit, yes, but they were waiting in obedience to Jesus’ words. You might even say, they were waiting for Jesus himself to give them his Spirit. Secondly, Peter preaches powerfully through the empowering and emboldenment of the Spirit, but though he begins with the explanation of the tongues, he ends with the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Finally, we see the church, a community that has responded to Jesus in repentance and faith, and live out their lives in obedience to Jesus as members of his body and witnesses of his gospel.

Obedience to Jesus. Boldness for Jesus. Love for one another in Jesus. That’s how you see the evidence of the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Am I called? (Matthew 22:1-14)

Questioning Jesus

Over the next five weeks, we are looking at a series of debates between Jesus and the religious experts of his day. Now I realise that a debate may not be all that exciting an event compared to say, the Euro 2012 finals happening tonight. We want action. We want to root for our favourite team. In comparison, a boring, intellectual discussion on doctrine and religious issues hardly makes for a fun night out with the guys at the pub.

Yet whenever I get a phone call or email saying to me, “Calvin, could we talk about something important, please?” I have yet to meet up with such a person only to end up talking about football. It is always something urgent. It is always personal.

These debates between Jesus and the religious teachers are not there to entertain us, though the topics of these debates certainly are intriguing: Why should I support a government I didn’t vote for? Isn’t the whole idea of resurrection from the dead nonsensical? Can you seriously believe that God had a Son and his name is Jesus? These are the topics that Jesus deals with, which we will be looking at closely in the coming weeks. They are all there in Chapter 22 of Matthew’s gospel. They are interesting topics. They are intriguing issues. But more than that, they have eternal significance. The bible presents us with two ways to live. Just two. And what these debates are designed to do is reveal which team you’re rooting for. Which side you are really on.

The empty banquet

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

Matthew 22:1-3

Jesus tells a story about heaven and he says, “Think of a big wedding dinner with all the decorations laid out, all the food prepared, all the hundreds of waiters, chefs and cooking staff on the ready, but with not a single guest in sight.” The hall is empty not because everyone got the wrong date in their calendars, verse 3 says, but because “they refused to come”.

What would you do? What the main character of this story does is he sends out even more reminders. Look at verse 4.

RSVP

Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”

Matthew 22:4

He sends out a copy of the menu - Roast duck! Lobster noodles! Abalone mushrooms! He says, “Tell them, all the food is ready. Just come!” But look at their reaction in verse 5, and notice there, two layers of responses to the king’s invitation.

But they paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

Matthew 22:5-6

The first group just tears up the invite and goes back to watching the football. “We’ve got better things to do; more important things to do, than to spend Saturday night at a party - no matter how nice the food might be.” That’s the first response. And if we’re honest, we’ve all done this. We get loads of invites on Facebook which we just ignore. We conveniently chuck that wedding invitation card in the trash. “Can’t you see I’m a busy?”

The second group is more extreme. Verse 6: “They seized his servants, mistreated them,” - meaning, they physically abused and even tortured them - “and killed them.”

There are two levels of responses to the same invitation - one ignores it, the other violently rejects it - two very different responses; and that’s important to see because of what happens next. The king sends in his armies to punish both groups. He destroys their entire city. Look at verse 7.

Two responses, one rejection

The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Matthew 22:7

What’s going on? Understandably, a lot of people read this, they immediately get that Jesus is talking about God, and they object that the king is acting unfairly towards his subjects. “It’s just a dinner!” they might say. “I mean, if he was just punishing the guys who beat up the servants and killed them, that would make sense. But burning down the entire city? That’s going too far.” So the objection goes.

What is so valuable about this parable that it helps us understand what the bible means by sin. Jesus is teaching us that sinning against God means rebelling against the King. It’s not just breaking a rule. It’s not just being bad and sticking pieces of gum under the table in class. To sin is to say to God, “We don’t want you to be king over our lives.”

And this parable is designed to show us how all of us rebel against God in one of two ways - through idolatry or rejection. All of us rebel against God either through idolatry or rejection. What do I mean?

The first group of people, we read in verse 5, “went off” and by that, we think it means they paid no attention to the invitation. But Matthew adds the words, “one to his field, another to his business.” This last description is very emphatic in the Greek, as it literally reads, “to his own (idion) field or farm.” Meaning, they owned their own land. They owned their own business. That’s the emphasis. They were landowners and business owners. You see, the basis of comparison wasn’t the food - how lavish it was for the king to slaughter his cows and oxen or how amazing the evening entertainment was going to be. No, the comparison was that of wealth and power. “I have my own land. I have my own business. Who is the king to tell me what to do? I am my own king.” That’s idolatry. Idolatry is turning away from God to something else other than God and turning that thing into God.

Or, to put it another way: Idolatry is the worship of something less that God. When we use excuses like “I’m busy with work or study or even family issues to talk about God right now” - and I know how acceptable those excuses sound, even here in the Chinese Church sometimes - what we are really saying is, “Instead of worshipping God, I would rather worship my work. I would rather worship my studies. I would rather worship my family.” They are excuses we use to turn away from worshipping the true and living God. That’s the first way we rebel against God, through idolatry.

The second way is outright rejection. But I want you to see, that it is a rejection not simply of God himself - through violence, anger, murder. No, it is the rejection of his word. Notice again, who the people lash out against. It’s the messengers. It is the servants who bring the message of the king, again and again to these same people, calling the hearers to respond to the king’s invitation. The villagers didn’t grab their pitchforks and storm the castle in order to attack the king's army. Rather what they did was more cowardly, and at the same time, more sinister. They took their aggression out on the servants of the king. Literally, the word is douloi, which is the word for slaves: These weren’t soldiers. They were simple postmen carrying the same message. And by the villagers act of violence, they were sending a message back to the king which read, “We reject your word of invitation. We reject your command of authority.”

Together, these two responses constitute one act of rebellion against the authority of the king, which is why Jesus tells this parable. He is saying to the religious teachers and Pharisees, “Do you know who you are dealing with?” God is a king who graciously invites us into his presence. He calls us to celebrate the wedding of his son. He calls us to respond to his word of grace. When we reject his word it is because we are rebelling against his authority. When we reject the invitation to his son’s wedding, it is because we despise how much the king loves his son and we reject how much the king wants us to glorify him through his son.

City of God

The consequence of this rebellion is the complete destruction of the people and their city. Again, it is vital that we notice that judgement falls on two separate levels - the people and their city. The king sends in his army to punish the wrongdoers, those who killed his messengers (together with those who stood and let this happen). But he also burns down their city.

These series of encounters between Jesus and the religious leaders takes place at a specific time and place. Chapter 21 is a turning point in the whole gospel as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem as the long-awaited king riding on a donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah that this was the Messiah, the chosen king by God to bring order and salvation to the people of Israel. Jerusalem was the capital, not unlike London, it was the place where everything of significance happens - the Olympics, the Queen’s Jubilee, the opening scenes of Apprentice. But more than that, Jerusalem was God’s city. This was the city of the great King David. This was the city of God’s temple where his presence dwelt, which bore his holy name.

And all the religious leaders and Pharisees would have instantly understood what Jesus meant when he spoke of the king destroying “their city”. He was talking about Jerusalem. It wasn’t their city, it was God’s. But by their idolatry - by their continual rejection of God’s word - Jerusalem, which historically was a focus of so much of God’s attention; which scripturally, was the focus of God’s revelation; which liturgically, was the centre of God’s worship and presence, this city was now the object of God’s shame and judgement. It had become their city not God’s.

If you look a few verses back to Chapter 21, and verse 45, we read, “When the chief priests and Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.” This parable was directed at people who were confident of their standing in God’s kingdom because of their position on earth. They were church leaders. These were the bible experts. And just in case we are quick to then assume that they weren’t consistent in their living or that they were too liberal in their thinking, we need to understand that the Pharisees were among the most zealous individuals known in history to apply God’s laws in everyday living. They memorised the five books of Moses (word for word, and that includes Leviticus!). Many served in the Temple court for generations. They observed all the cleanliness laws. They gave their tithes and offerings each week. They regarded God as holy, righteous and awesome. In many ways, the Pharisees were the evangelicals of their day. They were mainstream, respected, authoritative, biblical.

They were religious.

Answering the call

Yet through this parable, Jesus exposed how religion can actually lead us away from God. It can even lead us to rebel against God. We see this in the way the city-dwellers were repeatedly described as invited.

Verse 3: The king “sent his servants to those who had been invited”.

Verse 4: “Tell those who have been invited.”

Verse 8: “Those I invited did not deserve to come.”

The Greek word keklemenoi comes from the root word kaleo, which simply means “called”. These were the called ones. In fact, whenever we see the word “tell” in this parable, it is the exact same word for “call”. Meaning, the king send his servants again and again to call those who have been called. The parable is summed up at the end in verse 14, as “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

We misunderstand the word call today whenever we say, “I think God is calling me to be a pastor.” Or, “I feel God’s call for me to go to China.” And whenever we use the word “call” exclusively and primarily to mean some kind of mystical experience which spiritually authenticates God’s direction for our lives, we display that we are dangerously close to being in the same camp as the Pharisees and religious leaders Jesus addresses in this parable. They took God’s call for granted. They assumed by their status and religiosity and knowledge that therefore God was going to accept them based on their status, religiosity and knowledge.

And what they missed was God’s call as his gracious invitation to glorify him through his Son. For us today as the church - which means “called out” in Greek (ekklesia = ek [out] + kaleo [called]) - how much more does this parable remind us the importance of responding to God’s primary call to belong to Jesus Christ (Romans 1:6), and not to turn away because of idolatry or because of the rejection of his word. In other words, you might have been coming here to the Chinese Church for years. Week after week, you hear about Jesus. But have you ever RSVP’d his call to belong to his Son? Don’t mistake your attendance or even your long service record as your basis of acceptance before God. That was the danger of the Pharisees and religious leaders. Just because you are a musician. Just because you are a church leader. In fact, all the more because you are a leader, the bible is asking you, “Have you answered God’s call to be in Jesus Christ?”

Jesus is speaking to leaders, old-timers, Sunday School teachers. But then he turns to the rest of us to say, “How about you?” As we shall see (from verse 8 onwards), there is yet another invitation. The king sends out more servants, but now the call goes out to everyone, not just to the privileged few. It is a call from God to rejoice in Jesus Christ his Son. And what I want to put to you today is that this call isn’t just a call to be in heaven. Answering this call involves God’s plan for the church here on earth.

The good, the bad and the gospel

Then he said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Matthew 22:8-10

“Go to the street corners,” says the king, “and call anyone you find.” The street corners (NIV) is not talking about the sidewalks (or street corners where you find a Starbucks, and the such) but actually describes “busy road”, that is, the roads the lead out of the city, where they turn into highways. The image then, is of these servants, going out as far as they can to the very edge of the kingdom to invite everyone and anyone they meet. Hence, by the end of the exercise, the entire wedding party is filled with every kind of person, verse 10 says, “both good and bad”.

This isn’t talking about heaven. I mean, it is talking about heaven, but it's not just heaven; it is describing God’s open, free and gracious invitation to enter his kingdom through Jesus Christ (the wedding banquet is for his Son, after all) and yet the action of the servants in “calling” is now coupled with “gathering” (sunagogon) all they could find. And that is a description of the church. The church is a gathering of God’s people in response to God’s word. God sends his word of invitation out and those who respond to his good news - his gospel - are gathered into his presence. Earlier, I mentioned that ekklesia was the New Testament word for the church, which literally meant those who were “called out”. In the Old Testament, however, the Hebrew Qahal refers to a “gathering”. And the two terms come together here in Jesus’ parable to describe, on one hand, God’s initiative in calling his church through the gospel (1 Peter 2:9, “God... who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”), and on the other, our response as the church of gathering around his word and around his Son (Acts 7:38, “The church/gathering in the desert... living words passed down to us”).

The question is: How do you know you have been called and have answered that call? The picture that Jesus gives us in this parable is the gathering of the called. It’s the church, which isn’t a building, but people. The church, which isn’t a gathering of good people, but both bad and good (The word “bad” actually occurs first - bad and good - as if to give it extra emphasis), meaning, it’s not because we have done anything to deserve God’s call. The church, which isn’t a gathering to do good things, but a gathering in response to the good news, did you notice that? What did they do there? It doesn’t tell us. What it does tell us, three times, is that God’s word goes out, and it is his word which brings his people in. What this teaches us is: God’s word gives birth to the church, not the other way around. The purpose of the church is not so much to preach God’s word, as much as the church is the product of the preaching of God’s word. This is important for church planting - you don’t plant a church by getting a bunch of people in order to preach to them. You preach God’s word and it calls people to repentance and trust in Jesus Christ. It means at times people will ignore, that’s what we see in the parable. It means there will be seasons of persecution, we also see that in the parable. But God keeps sending out his word, such that when people do respond to his word, he gathers them around Jesus and they are his church. They are the called ones.

This is counter-intuitive for many of us. We want to set up committees. We want to plan for budgets and search for the right building. And of course, in doing so we wouldn’t dream of leaving out bible study and preaching; we wouldn’t do that. And yet, Jesus teaches us through this parable that God’s word is primarily responsible for gathering his people as the church - not our programs, not our planning. Preaching isn’t simply the feeding of the flock. It’s not something you do as part of your Sunday program (“We have singing, then the offering, then the preaching”). This is something much more fundamental. God’s word produces God’s church, that’s what Jesus is saying. Meaning, when God’s word is absent from our gatherings or when the gospel takes a backseat in our meetings, you really have to start wondering if those who are gathered here in God’s name are truly God’s people.

I understand that we need to find the right people. I know that many of us pray for God to send us the right guy. But hasn’t God given us his word? The ones who carry them are douloi - slaves. Their job is simply to repeat that word and to deliver the message. It is not the messenger, but the message that gathers the guests into the banquet. The messenger is often ignored, he might be rejected, he might even be killed. God sends more servants, carrying that same message, “Come in. Rejoice in Jesus, his Son. Trust in his offer of forgiveness, grace and glory. Everything has been prepared.”

The result is a full house. “The wedding hall was filled with guests” (verse 10). Full of Chinese? No. Full of Cambridge students? No. Full of the bad and the good. Full of those from near and far. Full of people who weren’t part of the initial guest list. Full of people you would never expect to be at such a fancy affair. That is the church. The question is: Is it ours? If we keep on preaching the gospel, it will be. “Go to the street corners and call anyone and everyone.” That’s a very risky thing to do. It is a scary thing to do. And yet it is precisely what God calls us to do. Why? So that we can have a great big church and lots of people will hear about the English congregation which meets in the middle of nowhere? No, because God has done all the preparations to bring all glory to his Son. The king says again and again, “I have prepared my dinner. I have slaughtered my cattle. The banquet is ready.” He has done everything. He has paid for everything. He has done all this for the sake of his Son, and the message is sent out to all who will respond to join him in rejoicing over his Son.

We speak the gospel to the end-roads, to anyone we can find, to the good and bad, to bring glory to Jesus Christ. That’s the last lesson we see in the parable, and it might be the hardest one yet. It would be great if the story ended here: the guests having a good time, the king satisfied that his event is a success, everyone living happily ever after. Instead, we read about one guy who gets thrown out. Instead, we read about final judgement.

Wedding clothes

But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. “Friend,” he said, “how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” The man was speechless.

Then the king told his attendants, “Tie him hand and food, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 22:11-13

What are we to make of this? The king notices a guy who doesn’t have his tux on and decides to throw him out of the party. How can that be fair? Weren’t the servant given instructions to invite anyone and everyone to the party - irrespective of whether they were bad or good? Perhaps this was a poor homeless man, it would have been unfair to expect him to turn up in a dinner jacket and black tie, wouldn’t it?

Yet, that’s not even the half of it. The king orders the attendants to tie the poor guy up and throw him outside, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. This phrase occurs several times in Matthew’s gospel, always as an allusion to Hell and eternal punishment. It is a picture of extreme sorrow (weeping) together with extreme anger and resentment (gnashing of teeth, see Matthew 13:42 [The parable of the weeds], 13:50 [The parable of the net], 24:51 [The parable of the wicked servant], 25:30 [The parable of the talents]).

First of all, notice that the king comes specifically to meet with his guests (verse 11). They aren’t just a faceless crowd there to fill the empty seats. This king is actually interested in who they are and wants to see each guest face to face. But as he does so he comes across one individual who isn’t dressed in the proper attire: he doesn’t have “wedding clothes” - which isn’t a reference to expensive clothes, but rather, clean clothes. Notice how when asked, this man didn’t have a proper excuse - verse 12 says, “He was speechless”. He didn’t say, “I couldn’t afford it. I didn’t have it. I didn’t know.” But rather, by his speechlessness, it implies that he didn’t bother, he wasn’t bothered, and he didn’t care, not even to put on a clean t-shirt. He turned up presuming on graciousness of the king. He thought he could hide in the crowd.

On the surface, it seems superficial. It implies that God is looking for decorum, that the king was looking for an external quality - wedding clothes - that made his guests suitable and acceptable. Yet, the bible repeatedly uses the change of clothing as a picture of what happens when God covers us with the external, outer righteousness of Jesus Christ. Ezekiel describes how God clothes his bride with fine linen and costly garments (Ezekiel 16:10). Paul calls on believers to put off the old sinful nature and to put on the new, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22, 24). Elsewhere, he tells us to clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14). In each and every one of these references, God clothes the Christian believer with an external beauty and righteousness, something we did not earn or deserve, rather it is because of everything Jesus did for us on the cross, that makes us acceptable before the King of the universe, and God our heavenly Father. In fact, when God looks at the believer clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, it means he looks upon this former rebel and sinner, as he does his own Son. In Jesus, we are truly and wholly loved by the Father.

Friend of sinners

One last thing. I find it is interesting how the King addresses the man as, “Friend.” At first glance, it may appear that the king is simply playing the gracious host. He doesn’t say, “Hey you!” He calls this man, who has presumed upon the king’s invitation, his friend. And though the man was inappropriately dressed, the king still gives him the opportunity to respond to the charge.

The particular word used here in the king’s address of “Friend” (hetaire), occurs only three times in the New Testament, and all three are found here in Matthew’s gospel. In the first two instances, here and back in Chapter 20 (as part of the parable of the workers), spoken by a ruler addressing his servants with gentleness, in a moment of tension addressing an audience that is antagonistic towards the speaker. So, in the parable of the vineyard in Matthew 20, the workers confront their boss. The grumble against him and gang up against him. The landowner says to one of them, "Friend."

Interestingly, in the third and last instance in Matthew's gospel, we find this address of "Friend," used by Jesus Christ himself. It occurs a few pages on in Chapter 26. There in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is betrayed by his disciple, Judas Iscariot. He is betrayed by his friend.

Judas arrived with a mob, armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and elders. Perhaps thinking he could catch Jesus off-guard, Judas devised a plan.

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him. Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.”

Matthew 26:48-50

Jesus addresses his betrayer as, “Friend.” You see, Jesus knows precisely what this friend of his has in store for him. Yet unlike the parable of the wedding banquet, it isn’t the “friend” who is bound and thrown out in the darkness. Instead, Jesus would be the one who was arrested, it would be his hands and feet that was bound, it was Jesus would was interrogated and put on trial. Jesus would be stripped of his clothes, stripped of all his dignity and hung on the cross. And it would be Jesus, near the end of his life, who would be alone in dark, as he cried out on the cross to his Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46)

On the cross, Jesus bore our punishment for sin and rebellion. He was thrown into the darkness. He bore our nakedness and shame. And it is this act of sacrifice and friendship shown by Jesus Christ on the cross, from which we receive our righteousness, from which we are clothed in holiness, through which we are loved as sons and daughters of God.

Many are called

Jesus ends his parable with these words:

For many are invited (or called), but few are chosen.

Matthew 22:14

It is an unexpected conclusion. I would have expected him to have said, “For many are called, but few answer the call.” Isn’t that the consistent picture we get from the parable? The king sends out invite after invite, but not everyone responds? Not everyone takes it seriously?

Or, some of us would have expected Jesus to say, “For many are called, but few are live up to the call”, thinking of the guy without the wedding clothes, as a parable of those who presume on God’s call and don’t take it seriously.

But no, Jesus says, “Few are chosen.” Meaning, salvation is God’s prerogative from start to finish. Salvation is God’s grace in calling as well as in choosing. The word “chosen” is the same word elsewhere translated as “elected”. it is saying that God is the one who calls us into his presence and God is the one who enables us by his Spirit to answer that call. It is a totally unexpected conclusion to the parable!

What does this mean for us as Christians today?

1. God has prepared everything for our salvation

Salvation is entirely at God’s initiative and expense. The king repeatedly says, “The wedding banquet is ready. I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and cattle have been slaughtered.” And for us as Christians, God even clothes us with his righteousness in Jesus Christ, to make us acceptable in his presence. God has prepared all, done all, sacrificed all to ensure our entrance into his kingdom and our continued faithfulness to him as our King.

2. God’s call is the good news of his Son

“The Kingdom of Heaven,” Jesus tells us, “is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” It isn’t simply about the food, in fact, it isn’t at all about the blessings or the food. It is all about the king’s son. God plan of salvation is for all creation to recognise the glory of his one and only Son. He sends out messenger after messenger with the same good news, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

3. Rejection of Jesus is at the heart of our sinful rebellion against God

Jesus spoke this parable against the Pharisees and religious leaders, not simply to expose their double-standards, but to reveal how their rejection of him was indicative of their rejection of God. Through idolatry, the leaders had chosen to make God’s salvation about themselves; trusting in their privilege, their heritage, their traditions and their own status. Through pride and rebellion, they would initiate the murder of Jesus by condemning him to death on the cross, because they rejected Jesus as God’s chosen Messiah.

4. God's call is sovereign and gracious

It doesn’t mean that we aren’t responsible for our actions. But it does mean that salvation is by grace from start to finish. For you to have heard the gospel, and for it to have made sense in your hearts and minds that, “Jesus Christ really did die for me on the cross,” - that is God’s gracious call to you and me. And for you to respond, “God, please forgive and change me through the cross,” - that, too is God’s grace working in you. It means, we should never take the gospel for granted, but always seek to hear and be changed by the message of forgiveness and reconciliation offered to us by God in his Son.

As Christians today, we sometimes obsess over the question, “Have I been called?” thinking that it is our calling that sets us apart as special or unique in God’s purposes for our lives. Jesus brings our attention back to the God who calls and the God who enables us to answer that call, first and foremost, as a call to respond to his salvation in Jesus Christ. He sends out his word - the gospel - calling everyone and anyone to turn to him in repentance and to rejoice in his Son. He sends out his servants to speak the gospel clearly and faithfully, calling his people to give their lives in obedience and love to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. This is the God who calls us out of darkness into his wonderful light, who calls his enemies his friends, who calls sinful rebels his sons and daughters making them holy and clothing them with righteousness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his Son, on the cross.

Hear the call of the kingdom
Lift your eyes to the King

Let His song rise within you
As a fragrant offering
Of how God rich in mercy
Came in Christ to redeem
All who trust in His unfailing grace

King of Heaven we will answer the call
We will follow bringing hope to the world
Filled with passion, filled with power to proclaim
Salvation in Jesus' name

“Hear the call of the kingdom”, Keith Getty and Stuart Townend