Date: May 29th, 2011
Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder
Title: Remember Who Holds You
Text: Acts 7
INTRODUCTION
i.e.
Story - young toddler with Dad playing basketball. One point toddler indicated he wanted to make a basket. “Me”, “Me”
Dad picked him up while he was holding the ball….lited him up even with the rim and told him ‘Put it in”. “Put it in”.
When he did he punched his hands in the air & declared “All by myself.” “All by myself.”
Of course that was a bit of an overstatement for the little guy don’t you think?
- Who lifted him?
- Who coached him?
- Who steadied him?
He seemed in that moment to forget that.
And often – so do we.
In fact, that Stephen’s message in a nutshell.
Remember who holds you.
He chronicles for the religious leaders of his day 2000 years of history in 52 verses. He replays God’s activity in their past…They exist because of Him.
Look at his emphasis:
a. Abram
Acts 7: 2
“To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’?a?
4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’?b? 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
God showed…sent…gave…promised…spoke…protected….gave
b.Joseph
9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt.But God was with him10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
God was with him…rescued him…gave wisdom …enabled….made him ruler.
c. Moses
God called him…saw the need…set out to free them…sent him as a leader….enabled him to do signs & wonders…gave him living words to pass on…sent them into exile…gave tabernacle as he directed…
d. Joshua
God drove the people’s out before him
He goes on to mention David & Soloman….and then in 2 verses he signs his death sentence
Stephen’s message
- You have forgotten who holds you
- You persecuted
- You resisted the Holy Spirit
- You killed the prophets
- You betrayed and murdered the Christ
- You haven’t obeyed.
In a nutshell there are 2 points:
- You have forgotten who has got you here
- You have forgotten how big God is – (v. 47 – 52 – can’t dwell in temples made with human hands…the earth is his footstool…”)
APPLICATION
The temptation to forget is strong, isn’t it?
- How easy it is to forget who put us on the fencepost
- Who lifted us to make the basket
In the Spiritual realm….
- We start out so humble.
- The act of conversion is a humbling one.
- We confess our sin, we admit our sins, declare our shortfalls.
- We beg for mercy. We bend our knees.
- We accept the humble act of being baptized….
- We identify with the thief on the cross….Peter’s denials…Paul’s claim to be the worst of sinners.
When we come to God there is no “all by myself’ declarations.
Every time we take the cup we are reminded of the gift we have been given in Jesus Christ
One of my favourite passages is Titus 3: 3 – 7
3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.He saved usthrough the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
We are what we are by God’s grace.
- But then God brings life.
He forgives. He cleanses. He renews and restores.
Like an antique furniture restorer, he removes the old stains, smooth’s out the mars, rebuilds the framework, and restores us gradually for good.
God is at work gradually rebuilding our faith, our worth, our character, our attitudes, our minds and our appetites and our minds.
- God begins to use us in his mission.
We help. We care. We give. We listen. We build. We pray. We work. We serve. We teach. We love.
We begin to see things perhaps God has used us for. We feel significant. We don’t feel small anymore.
Then one day on the screens of our minds flashes the image;“See what you have done.”
It can happen in the economic realm
We started with nothing. Just scrape by. Watched every penny.
But advancement came. Business took off. Risks paid off.
Now we live comfortably. We have toys. We have to say “no’ to very little. Life is easier.
And one day on the screens of our minds flashes the image;“See what you have done.”
i.e.
It happened to Nebucchednezzer , an Old Testament king
Daniel 4:1, 29
“Peace and prosperity to you!
2 “I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the Most High God has performed for me
3 How great are his signs,
how powerful his wonders!
His kingdom will last forever,
his rule through all generations.
Note: what God has done for me…not through me.
Note: 29 verses later:
29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
31 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled.
It can happen to us intellectually…
We started out in school…low guy on the totem pool. But first finished high school….university….graduate school. There were times when the more we learned the more we realized how much more there was to learn….but then one morning there was the voice”See how much more you know than others. See what you have achieved.”
It can happen in our careers.
We started washing dishes, sweeping floors…but moved up the ranks…now we run the company… and we hear the voice “See what I have done.”
Pride can creep in to virtually every aspect of our lives. A virus that can infiltrate every cell….what we look like…where we live…what we’ve accomplished…
Pride blinds us. It distorts our memory and our perspective.
- We say “All by myself.”
- “I" suddenly becomes bigger in our stories.
- We feel the need to speak more than to listen.
- We smile as we look at the people who are now in our rearview mirror… the people we have passed on the moral highway. – people who haven’t conquered the habits that we have
- Spiritual highway – the people who haven’t mastered the spiritual disciplines, or know as much as we
- Intellectual highway – the people we think who haven’t got as many letters behind their name
- Accomplishment hwy - the people who haven’t climbed the ladder of success as much as we
- We do an opposite of John the Baptist “we become greater and Jesus becomes less.”
It can happen whenever we forget who holds us
i.e.
We are like a flea in a giraffe’s ear. Giraffe runs over bridge. Flea exclaims “Boy, did we shake that bridge.”
We think we are shaking the world, when in reality we are like the flea along for the ride.
Like that toddler we lose perspective on who lifted us, who holds us, who steadies us, who coaches us…and foolishly we blurt out “All by myself.”
Transition
Yet the reality is as Andrea Crouch wrote in that great song “My Tribute”
“All that I am and ever hope to be…I owe it all to thee. To God be the glory.
i.e.
John Newton is a famous name in Christian circles now. He is the posterboy for God’s transforming work.
- He was a former slave trader. Captain of a slave vessel.
- He met Christ. Became a minister and served from 1764 – 1807.
- He wrote 1000’s of hymns including the most well known and favourite hymn of all time “Amazing Grace.”
On his deathbed he said to a young minister:
“I’m going on before you, but you’ll come after me. When you arrive our friendship will no doubt cause you to inquire for me. But I can tell you already where you’ll most likely find me. I’ll be sitting at the feet of the thief whom Jesus saved in his dying moments on the cross.”
John Newton never forgot who lifted him.
You see, Jesus expressed and exampled true humility.
- He walked on water but never strutted on the beach.
- He turned a basket into a buffet but never sought applause.
- He never dropped names. We don’t hear him say after the transfiguration “Just the other day I was conferring with Moses & Elijah.”
Instead we hear:
- John 13:3 - Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
- Phil 2: 5
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,?*?
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges?*?;
he took the humble position of a slave?*?
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,?*?
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Jesus was never too big to stoop, to serve, to depend on the Father.
CONCLUSION
- Friends, maybe today you feel good about yourself. You look at the long road from which you have come and feel good.
- Maybe as a church we have moments where we feel good about ourselves. We get a lot of praise about the Center. Significant things have, are, and will be accomplished there.
But remember who holds you. You enter his kingdom as a child. And no matter how old, how far, how great you have travelled never lose the image of that Dad holding that toddler above his head to make the basket. Never forget that’s you.
Today we gather before the Lord’s Table. A table that reminds us – who saved us, cleansed us, is transforming us, and who holds us.A table that reminds us that Jesus is the “wind beneath our wings.’
May we never outgrow our need of this table in our hearts or minds.
May we never forget that “all that I am and ever hope to be – all owe it all to thee.”
And so at this table we stand on level ground – young or old, rich or poor, better and worse, sick and well, kings and commoners…we stand before this table - all as “sinners in need of his grace”
May we remember.
And in contrast to the leaders of Stephen’s day may not give in to the pride that would rather kill the truth than consider and accept it.
Amen
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a Gen. 12:1
b Gen. 15:13, 14
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ac 7:2-8
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ac 7:9-10
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Tit 3:3-7
Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Da 4:1-3
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Da 4:29-33
Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Jn 5:30
Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Jn 13:3-5
* Or Being in the form of God.
* Greek he emptied himself.
* Or the form of a slave.
* Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.
Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Php 2:5-8