Believe and Turn - Sermon on Acts 11:19-21 & Numbers 21 4-9

We’re continuing in our sermon series which is an unpacking of the Acts 11 passage by looking into the different key phrases we find in the passage.

This morning I want to pick up on the phrase “Believe and Turn”. It’s a phrase found right near the beginning of the Acts 11 passage – so we’ll start by reading just the first few verses there to see it in context.

“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

May God bless to us the reading of his Holy Word, now and forever.

Let us pray. Father may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and bring you honour and glory. Thank you for your word to us this morning. In Jesus name Amen.

“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

Believe and turn.

When I first saw this phrase my initial reaction was “I’ll probably pick that one last!” I’m not entirely sure why – I think it has something to with how I associated it with the ‘turn or burn’ sermon style… a frightening sermon where the minister would threaten the congregation with judgement and hell if they didn’t turn and believe.

But then I read the passage again, and again, and suddenly this phrase actually became appealing. I began to see it in a different light altogether. One of the Bible stories that I believe can help us understand this phrase well comes from the Old Testament – Numbers 21

The background to this text is that it takes place during the 40 years of wandering in the desert. The Israelites received the Law at Mount Sinai, travelled to the borders of Canaan where the twelve spies went in and brought back reports – ten of them saying – we cannot do this, its impossible, and only Joshua and Caleb saying, Yes there are giants, but the Lord is on our side – we can do this! 

The people trust the 10 spies over the two and God declares that because of their lack of trust in him, they would wander for 40 years before being able to enter into the land again. God has been providing food in the form of Manna – bread from heaven, and by sending flocks of quail for meat. He’s provided water in miraculous ways, like pouring out of a rock. And yet time and again the people lose faith, complain and begin to look back to Egypt. In the beginning of chapter 21, God has just given them victory over a King who attacked them. And so we begin our reading in verse 4:

“They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people.

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then wen anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

Believe and turn.

There are a couple of interesting things to pick up in the passage. Firstly, this is the harshest complaint against the Lord given – “We detest this miserable food.” No bread, no water. And yet time and time again God has provided for them. They have again forgotten that the provision they receive daily is pure grace. They don’t have to harvest wheat and bake bread – they’re in a desert. There is nothing… and yet God provides his Bread to nourish and sustain them. Purely by grace. And they at first battle t trust that it will arrive every day – yet God is proved faithful there. Now they are so used to it arriving that they now despise it. How shallow, how arrogant… and yet how human. Are we not like this? We simply expect our provisions because we believe that we’ve worked or studied or gotten the job we have by our own sweat, and therefore nothing dare threaten it. Because we deserve it. It’s a powerful reminder that all we have, our sweat and blood, our very next breath, our ability to work, the job we have – are gifts, they’re a grace.

The other interesting thing to notice is that God doesn’t do what they ask… Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. God doesn’t take the snakes away. Rather he provides a way to escape the death that follows. And the provision comes through believing Him to provide healing and then turning from wherever they are, and whatever they are doing and gazing upon the snake of bronze, lifted up high to be seen by all. Fast-forward about 1500 years… Jesus applied this well-known event to his own lifting up on the cross. In the conversation he has with Nicodemus, the Pharisee in John 3, He said, “As Moses lifted up the snake on a pole in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Then,” said Jesus, “Everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The symbol of the snake on the pole, while Moses and the Israelites at the time had no idea, was one of the many pointers to Christ, the promised Messiah, and it was a picture of what He would do not only for the Israelites, but for all mankind.

Many times in Scripture, snakes or serpents are indicative of sin. We see the snake In the Garden of Eden – and because of that people may question, how Jesus can equate Himself hanging on the cross with the snake hanging on the pole – and yet while Jesus hung on the cross, he was covered and carrying the sin of the world, the brokenness of humanity from the moment time began until it will end one day – all the filth and evil and despair that goes with it was poured onto him. His physical suffering there, while terrible, was only part of the terrible agony. And so covered by sins, your and mine, he is separated from God. And so a snake is a fitting symbol, because all of our sin hung on that cross with Jesus.

Believe and turn.

Just as the snakes were not taken away, so sin has not been removed from our world yet. We still see the effects of it all around us, and we still see its effects inside us. We don’t have to look far to see brokenness and injustice in our world. We have all been touched by grief, by illness, by the insensitivity of another. And while we are being changed inside, we still struggle and fight sin within. Paul writes in Romans 7,

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

And then beautifully, in the last verse of the chapter – he answers his own question:

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

This is belief. I believe that sin does not have the final say. I believe that brokenness does not rule my life. I believe that evil will not win in the world. I believe that I cannot fix this myself. I believe that Jesus has done it for me, and for you, and for the world.

When the men from Cyprus and Cyrene brought the good news to the Greeks in Antioch – this was the good news they brought. Your sins do not need to rule over you, they will no longer bring death. Just as the Israelites could believe in God healing them when looking upon the serpent, we can believe in God saving us too – by looking upon the cross.

And this is what we sing of – In How great Thou Art we sing the words:

And when I think that God his son not sparing,

Sent him to die - I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

The hymn it is well with my soul has this verse:

 My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

This is what we believe.

And because this is what we believe – we turn. Acts 11 says,

“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

Just as those bitten in the desert, acted in belief and literally would turn from where they were towards the bronze snake to look up at it – so because of their belief in Antioch, because of what we believe, we turn to the Lord.

In Christian lingo we use the word repentance. But it’s important to remember that it is not repentance that saves us, but rather the sign that I believe what I believe. It goes together. The belief in God’s healing resulted in a turning to the snake on the pole, the belief in God’s salvation for us, results in us turning to the cross. Oswald Chambers explains it like this:

“There is a danger to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience that puts me right with God? Never! I am put right with God because prior to all else, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, instantly the stupendous atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God. By the miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because of anything I have done, but because of what Jesus has done. The salvation of God does not stand on human logic; it stands on the sacrificial death of Jesus. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures by the marvellous work of God in Christ Jesus, which is prior to all experience.”

And so the turning is as a result of what we believe, is as a result of what Christ has already done for us.

And so there are two responses from this for us today. If believing and turning is something you have never done, if you have never come to the point where you have recognised that because of your sin and brokenness, you cannot save yourself – then there is the call to salvation, where I can say, Listen – this is what Jesus has done for you and it is a beautiful thing – freely available to everyone, everywhere – it is a gift– believe and turn! Believe that he has done it, turn to Him, and receive his salvation. Turn to Him, talk to Him this morning, admit this to Him, thank Him for the cross and ask Him to live in you and change you, to be your Lord from today onwards.

But many of you here have done that – many of you have been walking with Jesus, loving and serving him as Lord for many many years.

To you I would encourage two things.

Remember what you believe. Be reminded of the horror and the beauty of the cross. Remember that this free gift cost God his very heart – the life of his only Son. Remember that it was done because he loves you. Remember that you didn’t do this – That He did it all.

And then turn…  Because turning is not a once off thing. We turn each Sunday when we come here and pray our prayer of confession, we turn away from the things that have kept us from God and begin again, in fact every time we come to God and confess our sins we are turning to Him.

But I believe that it goes even further than that. Every day we are faced with choices. Every single choice we make turns us towards God or away from Him. CS Lewis talks about this in his book Mere Christianity, where he argues that each choice we make either journeys us towards becoming a more heavenly being, or more hellish. Every moral choice we make is either saying yes to God and to His ways, or No. Either moving us towards Him, or further away. The choice of getting up this morning and coming to church, a time where you could focus on Him and worship… The choice of reaching out in kindness to someone even if it costs us precious time. The choice of telling the truth even when we feel it will count against us. The choice of speaking hopelessness and negativity, or speaking life. Each of these choices is a turning.

Believe and turn.

I pray that this morning the reality of your salvation will be real to you once again… that you will realise as the Israelites did with the snakes, that Jesus is our only hope – and because of that has become our everything. I pray that you remember what it is that you believe and be amazed once again by its beauty. I pray too that you will always choose when confronted by the snake of sin, to turn to the cross, to choose Jesus and His way.

Let us pray.

John 21:15-25: Coming, Confiding & Continuing

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said , “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”)

When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, What about him?”

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” John 21:15-24

As many of you know, Peter was one of Jesus most devoted disciples. In many ways he was seen as the leader, and Jesus had even changed his name from Simon to Peter, meaning the Rock. And yet Peter had many faults. He talked big and yet couldn’t always follow through – most recently and most painfully, hours after claiming that even though everyone else might fall away he would stand strong. He would even die for Jesus – he stands terrified before servants and slave girls swearing that he did not even know Jesus. Can you imagine the shame, the humiliation? Jesus then rises from the tomb, and while Peter rejoices in the return of his friend and teacher, he also wonders – have I gone too far this time? Will it ever go back to what it was between us? Will Jesus ever trust me again? How could I have done it? I wish I could go back…

But in spite of these fears Peter does three things right. And this is what we will be looking at. In my research there is so so much richness in this passage – hundreds of different sermons could be written and each time we read it something else could speak to us. I encourage you to do some research and a Bible study into what happens here as in the time we have, we will only begin to scrape the surface, not mine its depths.

We can read slightly before our passage that when Jesus walked along the shore, Peter dives in the water to meet with him. In verse 7 we read

“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him, and jumped into the water.”

The first thing Peter does is that he runs to (or in this instance swims to) Jesus. I know when I’ve offended someone my instinct is to avoid them. The shame and embarrassment makes me want to hide rather than to seek them out, and yet here Peter cannot even wait for the boat to arrive at the shore. Ever impulsive Peter goes straight to his master.

“Come to me” Jesus says

 “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened”

“Let the little children come to me” Luke 18:16

“…Come to me to have life” John 5:40

“He who comes to me will never go hungry…” John 6:35

“If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink” John 7:37

 “…Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” John 6:37

I don’t know where you are or what it is that keeps you from going to Jesus. Perhaps you feel you have stumbled too far off the path, perhaps you feel it’s been too long, maybe its shame or fear or anger. Maybe its sheer laziness or apathy – it might even be a blindness we have to the slippery path we have begun to walk and so feel no need to go to Jesus – it’s just a little thing we rationalise…

One of the keenest lessons I ever learnt from Jess, Kingsley wife came a few years back at St Mungo’s on a Sunday morning. I was making my way through the tea area on my way to Teen Church when a dear congregation member came and criticised me for something I felt she had no right or knowledge on to truly criticise! And so feeling quite hurt I left her and went downstairs to a close friend of mine, and moaned to her about how very unfair this comment had been.

Jess over-hearing our conversation came and said, “Jackie – run to Jesus. Take this hurt, this feeling and run straight to him – you cannot let any seed of bitterness or resentment grow up!” And so we did, right then and there in the pre-primary classroom.

Is there something you need to run to Jesus about?

 The second thing that Peter did right was he was honest with Jesus.

Seated there beside the fire, Jesus turns to Peter and says Simon, son of John – do you truly love me more than these?

Our Lord searched the heart of Peter with three questions, which brought up to Peter's mind the roots of his failure, rather than the overt act of denial. The heart of the matter was that Peter, if you love me, you will obey my commands, you will acknowledge me. So the real question is Peter – do you love me?

In C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the White Witch needed to know only one thing about Edmund to get him to betray his siblings. By asking a few simple questions, the witch learned that Edmund’s weakness was his love for a candy called Turkish Delight. The piece she gave to Edmund was more delicious than anything he had ever tasted. Soon Edmund could think only about “trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted.”

Each of us has a vulnerability like Edmund’s. It may be something addictive like drugs or alcohol, or it may be something seemingly harmless and perhaps even good like food, friendship, or work.

After His resurrection, Jesus asked Peter this personal and probing question: “Do you love Me more than these?” Many have speculated as to what Jesus meant by the word “these,” but it’s probably better that we don’t know. It allows each of us to personalize the question and ask ourselves, “What do I love more than Jesus?”

And when we hear Him asking "Do you love Me?" how do you answer? 'Jesus, I admire You. Jesus, I think you are fascinating. Jesus, I have a great respect for You'? Or can you say with Peter, 'Lord, you know what is in my heart, You know that I love You'?

One of the fascinating gems I found in studying this passage was that there are two different Greek words here used for our word “know”

The first three times Peter says, “Lord you know…” he is using the word ‘oida’ which means know intellectually, in your mind, but the last time he says Lord you know “oida” all things, you know “ginosko” that I love you. This second Greek word means to know experientially or personally. To know because you have been there and witnessed and are familiar with it…

I can quite comfortably say that I know Nelson Mandela. I mean you all know Mr Mandela right? We’ve heard him speak, we know where he lived and lives. We know quotes of his and how he struggled for democracy. Some of us may have visited his prison cell on Robben Island, or his old house in Soweto and some of us may even be able to say we have had the honour of shaking his hand. This is Oida knowledge…

But then I can say that I know my husband Tim. This is a very different kind of knowledge. I know Tim because I live with him, I wake up beside him every morning, I know his dreams, his worries and what he is passionate about. I know why he enjoys running the sound at the church and what to cook for him on his birthday. I also know that he loves me. This is ginosko knowledge… I am familiar with Tim, I experience living with him every day.

And this is what Peter is saying – Lord you know all things you have experienced and are familiar with how I love you. Can you say this to Jesus? Do you know Jesus in this way? Do you love Jesus in this way?

The reason I say that Peter was honest in these questions was because of how he responded. Again we miss so much without the Greek translation… as many of you know there are different kinds of love in the Greek language and the two that are mentioned here are Agape which is a pure, self-less God-like love. And Phileo, a deep love between friends or companions. Keeping that in mind, the conversation between Jesus and Peter actually goes as follows, “Peter do you love me with a God-like love?” “You know that I care for you” “Peter do you love me with a God-like love?” “You know that I care for you” “Peter do you care for me?”

“Yes Lord, you know that I care you.” The change in Peters tone is astounding. From being the boastful, sure-of-himself leader… Peter has changed to, Lord I dare not claim anything that I cannot be sure of – I cannot claim to agape you, you know my heart, you know how I love you. It reminds me of a father who takes his demon possessed son to Jesus to be healed, and when Jesus asks him if he has faith, the father cries in desperation, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief”

Jesus in his compassion in the last question sinks to Peter’s level and asks if he cares for him…  The Lord asks for our honesty and our love. Peter gave both.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart oh God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:170

Lastly, Peter accepted his forgiveness and continued to follow Jesus. So many of us when we have broken our word, when we have hurt others, when we have let God down, let ourselves down – exclude ourselves from his calling.

Many say that the reason that Jesus asked the question 3 times was because Peter had denied him 3 times. This is a likely possibility, but there is another way of looking at it. The three questions might relate to the three denials… thus the undoing of them. Or they might refer to the making of a contract. At this time in history a threefold of questions and answers was done to enact a contract. Peter was being re-commissioned.

In Matthew 4 we read, “And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.

Imagine Peter's thoughts - This same seaside is where Jesus called Peter to follow Him. And he had left all to follow Him. And then he had declared his "unshakeable" loyalty. But now he’s failed and denied Him three times. And now he was back where he had began the journey with Jesus. Was this the end of the journey? Could Jesus ever use a failure like Peter? If we have followed Jesus for more than a few years, these are questions we've all probably mulled over in our mind at one time or another, which is why this personal, poignant interaction between Jesus and Peter is so powerful and so pertinent to our lives -- because we have all failed our Lord in one way or another and our failure has left us downcast and grieved in spirit. Is this the end of the journey for us? Can Jesus ever use failures like us?

Peter had returned to fishing. When Jesus walked along the shore this time, Peter was back in the boat. Yet at the sight of Jesus, Peter swam back into his arms, was humble and honest with him, and in doing so reaccepted his calling, his commission from God.

Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep, feed my sheep.

We might feel like we’re useless, that we’re failures. But Jesus is able and willing to take broken hearts and restore them to his service. To the service of loving and caring and tending to his family.

Jesus then finishes the conversation with the same command that he had given Peter so long ago… Follow me.

At times our path is rough and steep,
Our way is hard to see;
We ask God, "Why is life unfair?"
He answers, "Follow Me."

The question I want to ask you – have you had a fireside conversation with Jesus? Have you gone to him with all that it is in your heart, and heard what he has to say to you? Will you be courageous like Peter and run to him, will you be honest like Peter and tell him that you want to love him, that you want to truly know him? Will you be faithful like Peter and hear the call to follow, to live to glorify him, to tend his sheep…

Jesus is saying, Come to me, Confide in me, Continue with me…

May I encourage you to have a time of prayer now, where you can truly meet with Jesus. Where you can sit with him and have that conversation.

Lord Jesus, we welcome you here. Meet with us as we run to you this morning…

Lord you know all things.  You know about our immaturity.  Lord you know about our past experiences.  Lord you know we struggle with authority; Lord you know that sometimes we are confused about our own feelings.  You know we lack direction.  Lord you know we don’t even know what to ask.  Lord you know we are lonely.  Lord you know the world seems confusing to us.  Lord you know we are living with bitterness or un-forgiveness and Lord you know about our personal struggle with besetting sin.

Your word tells us that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” and how very grateful we are Lord.

You also promise Lord that if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This morning accept us once again back into your service… as the old hymn says

Son of the living God! Oh, call us
Once and again to follow Thee;
And give us strength, whate’er befall us,
Thy true disciples still to be.
—Martin