You don't just believe in Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection; you live out Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection.

“Immanuel Spirit” – Part 4

(Acts 2:22-24, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 16, 2011)

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—

23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth... (22)

There were many Jews and proselytes who were in Jerusalem for the festivals. They came from all over; north, south, east, and west, at least as far as Iran on the east, Rome on the west, and Egypt and other parts of North Africa to the south. They came for Passover in the year when the real Lamb was revealed in horrible humiliation on the cross. They stayed through Pentecost in the year when the Lord of the Harvest poured out the Holy Spirit from heaven.

They heard and saw some amazing things in those days if they were paying attention at all. Now they were listening to a Galilean fisherman named Peter explaining to them the true meaning of the words of the Old Testament prophet Joel. Joel, centuries before, had recorded this word from God: “All who call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” But for the very first time, this amazing announcement was being openly proclaimed to “men of Israel” from all over the world: This Lord that we have been waiting for... He has come. He is Jesus of Nazareth.

In the words of Isaiah 61, “Good news” was being preached to the “poor.” The brokenhearted” were receiving spiritual surgery by Word and Spirit; their deepest internal wounds were being bound up. The “year of the Lord's favor,” the year of Jubilee, was finally here in the arrival of resurrection power from heaven. A call was being issued to move forward everywhere to repair the ravages of sin and death, “the devastations of many generations.”

All of these great gifts are still coming forth from the ascended Jesus today. They are seen through the work of His church under the spiritual oversight of pastors and elders, but organized for generous acts of service according to the leadership of humble and spirit-filled deacons. Jesus touches the world through us, we who have ourselves been touched by Jesus of Nazareth.

People of Israel who had been paying attention over the last few months knew about Jesus of Nazareth. See Luke 24:18. He was known as a “prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” Peter insists that this man is the key to the transformation of everything. The nature of His miraculous signs led many to conclude that God was telling us that He was the One. Even those who were against Him recognized that, and they were concerned. They said in John 11:48, “If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him.”

This Jesus you crucified... (23)

Their solution was that Jesus should die, one man for the nation, so that the people would not perish. They thought the nation would perish at the hands of the Romans if things got out of their control, so they used the hands and mouths of both Gentiles and Jews to kill this man, thinking that this would be the way to be done with Him.

Instead, God was doing something beautiful through the lowliness of that cross. This Jesus, the Son of God, was atoning for the sins of His people, and establishing a pattern of life for all who would be called to follow Him. This is why the men who help organize us in acts of mercy and justice are called by the name “deacons,” or “servants.” They are servant-leaders among a company of servants. They follow the Chief Deacon of the church, the Lord who came to serve.

These men exhibit a spirit-endowed passion for the glory of the kingdom that Isaiah spoke of so many centuries before the coming of our Lord. Like the Lord that they serve, they love justice. They hate robbery and evil. They want to see ruined cities built up. They long to see “righteousness and praise sprout up before all the nations.” But this is not what sets them apart from others who are also able to tell good from evil and who desire to do good. What makes the deacons and the whole church different than the rest is that they believe in the power of the cross. That the Son of God, who came to give His life as a ransom for many, is able to do more through His power of lowliness than the powerful are able to do through publicity and money.

The cross is not something we understand. It is something we live out. Deacons help us to stay on track that way. They have learned that the cross is not only what men did to Jesus. It was something that God was doing. Peter says here that this happened “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” This is what we believe and it is the pattern we follow in the church. Because of the cross, we are not all that surprised when the Apostle Paul tells the churches “that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” See Acts 14:22.

God raised him up... (24)

But do not misunderstand what God is saying to you. The cross is not some depressing message of defeat to quietly subdue you into a life of low expectations and inactivity. We also believe in the resurrection. It is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we have evidence that a new age has already begun, and it is through the Holy Spirit that we can walk now, not only in the power of the cross, but in the victory of the resurrection. Deacons must follow Christ; yes, in lowliness, but also in victory.

We do not gather together just to comfort one another with the idea that no one's prayers are being answered. We gather in the Name of the Lord of the resurrection, and we are expecting Him to do great things. This is not because we understand the resurrection, or that we understand prayer. We just want to walk in these things with the confidence that God will use us.

Peter says here that Jesus of Nazareth broke off the chains of death that encompassed Him. He says that it was impossible for death to keep Him bound. Deacons, we are asking you to walk in these truths of the faith. Hold on to them with a clear conscience. We are asking you, by the grace that God supplies, to lead us forward as Jesus leads you in a life that is worthy of the cross and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Congregation, Jesus is asking us to be willing to do what the residents of our town agreed to do when they founded this settlement in the 17^th century: “Live quietly and peaceably together in all godliness and honesty.” Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought to. But do think of Jesus of Nazareth more highly than you every have before, and allow Him to lead these men and you with them in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. May God be pleased to bring us a year of Jubilee, using us to “repair ruined cities,” overturning the “devestations of many generations,” and causing “righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.” Amen.

1. How does Peter describe the activities of Jesus prior to the cross?

2. How does he speak of the cross from God's perspective?

3. How does he speak of the cross from the perspective of mankind?

4. How does he speak of the resurrection of Jesus?

OT Passage: Isaiah 61