I am thankful for the ministry of
the church where I was saved. I came
across the history of that church while looking through my files one day. The date was 1815 on Long Island, a
fish-shaped strip of land, jutting-out 110 miles from the southeastern tip of
New York State into the Atlantic Ocean.
Halfway out on that island stood the little town of Lake Grove; hardly a
town, just a few family homesteads.
The American Revolution was just
32 years before, and the Civil War was still 45 years in the future. James Madison was the president with only 9.6
million Americans. There were only 23 states.
The first entry in the ledger for
the church of my spiritual birth,
March 27th A.D. 1815
West Middle Island. A number of the
inhabitants met and took into consideration the state of Religion and thought
proper to form into a church.
The ancient, crumbling paper read
that they considered the state of religion and THOUGHT
PROPER to form into a church.
They thought "proper!" Over 130 years before I was born, a church
was waiting to minister Christ to me. I
am so grateful they were “thinking proper,” which means making wise decisions.
In our text for today we find the
disciples standing in the shadow of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus had shared His plans and power with
them for reaching the world with God’s good news of salvation. They had waited for God’s “go-ahead” to
begin. It came at the time of Pentecost
in the form of the Holy Spirit descending upon them in power, and urging them
to go out and spread the news.
Peter, the big fisherman was their
spokesman, and he stood in front of a very large crowd of his fellow
countrymen. He told them that we are all
sinners before God, and guilty; therefore we all need to be saved. Our text records their response:
Peter’s words pierced their
hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should
we do?” Peter replied, “Each of you must
repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
to show that you have received forgiveness for your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. This promise is to you, and to
your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord
our God.” Then Peter continued preaching
for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this
crooked generation!” Acts 2:37-40 (NLT)
Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
There is ‘proper thinking’ if ever it was proclaimed! To be saved from corruptness is all about
Jesus, all about being forgiven and welcomed into God’s “Forever Family”.
I read something years ago which
was attributed to George Ingles. He said
that there are really “…three conversions in a man: First to Christ; Second to the church; and
Third back to the world.” If a man comes
to Christ, he ought then set his sights on the Church, the bride of Jesus, and
then on the world, bringing the Christ-less
to the Lord.
Three conversions – yet, there is
something that comes before conversion.
The people standing and listening to Peter’s sermon understood
that. They understood it enough to ask
the question…what should we do? They
understood that they were sinners before God.
That “understanding” is what we
commonly call conviction. If
there is going to be a true conversion in a person’s life (or true conversions),
then conviction comes first (like a doorway) to each of the conversions.
Let’s look at those doorways of
conviction that lead to true conversion.
Doorway #1 Conviction for
Christ
Those who believed what
Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. Acts 2:41 (NLT)
Peter’s sermon was Jesus-centered. The convicting power of that sermon was
not Peter’s clever words. The messenger
is never the message. Peter was no
public speaker; whenever he opened his mouth it was usually only to exchange
one foot for the other. The convicting
power of that retelling of the Gospel story was the Holy Spirit working on the
hearers to produce conviction. Jesus
told the disciples it would be this way:
And when he comes, he will
convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming
judgment. The world’s sin is that it
refuses to believe in me. John 16:8-9
(NLT)
Conviction – a holy conscience –
is a powerful thing. It can change
everything. Conviction is never an easy
thing. Sometimes preachers can make
coming to Christ a too-easy pathway.
However, if you take the conviction out of the conversion process, there
will not be a true conversion to Christ.
And just how can you tell the
difference between a false or genuine conversion? The difference is in the changed life; it is
when priorities change that you know the conversion was genuine.
Paul the Apostle had an
experience on the road to Damascus; Paul met Jesus, and he was convicted and
changed. His heart was pierced with
guilt because Paul had been putting Christians in jail, and even seeing to
their executions. Paul came under great
conviction and it led to a genuine conversion, because Paul did an immediate
and lasting turnaround.
Where once he persecuted the
church and her Lord, now Paul gave his life to preach Jesus and love His bride,
the church.
Does that describe how you came
to Christ? Was there a conviction
deep-within that your sin had offended holy God? Was there a sense that things would never be
right until your entire life and priorities were changed – put in Jesus’ hands? That’s true conviction for Christ; it leads
to a conversion to Christ. That will
lead to another conviction.
Doorway #2 Conviction for
the Church
All the believers devoted
themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in
meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came
over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met
together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and
shared the money with those in need. Acts 2:42-45 (NLT)
In true conversion to Christ, conviction for the Church is what
naturally follows. You read about Paul’s
love, his conviction for the church in Scripture.
3Every time I think of you,
I give thanks to my God. 4Whenever I pray, I make my
requests for all of you with joy….you have a special place in my heart….God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender
compassion of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3 - 8 (NLT)
How does it come about that Paul,
a man who hated and tried to exterminate the church, became one who loved the
church like that? The answer is that he
was linked to them by love. People who
love the Lord and belong to the Lord love what and whom the Lord loves. I’ve heard it said before that everyone
who belongs to the Lord belongs to everyone who belongs to the Lord. Love will make you like that!
Do you
recall the story of Ruth? Ruth was from
Moab. As a Moabites, Ruth was part of a
race that was not highly cherished in the eyes of the Jews. Yet she married Naomi’s son, a Jew. And when he died Ruth gave her entire life to
watching after and caring for her mother-in-law, Naomi. As a Christian you cannot come into the
family without being truly linked in love to the family.
Do you belong to the church Jesus
loves? Are you linked in love to the
church? Here are a couple of questions –
a kind of self-test we can all do to discover the answer to that question, am I a part of the Lord’s church:
·
Do I care
what happens to this church, enough…?
·
Do I care
about the ministries of this church, enough…?
·
Do I care
enough about this church to tithe, labor, and sacrifice and defend her?
If I can answer “yes” to those
few simple questions, there is a good chance that my conviction for Christ led
to a genuine conversion, and my conviction for the Church brought about a
conversion to the Church.
There is a third conversion, back
into the world…
Doorway #3 Conviction for
the Christ-less
They worshiped together at
the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals
with great joy and generosity— all the while praising God
and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their
fellowship those who were being saved. Acts 2:46 - 47 (NLT)
Did you notice that there is a
transition in this story? They continued
meeting in the temple area. That’s like
our church meetings. But it also spread
to the homes where fellowship and sharing became the norm. But, understand this clearly – it did not
stay within their “holy huddle”. Doctor
Luke tells us (v.47) that they began to enjoy the goodwill of all the
people.
There are two important words
there. The meaning of the word “goodwill”
is, the
divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude. The word is actually charis or grace. And the
word “people” indicates those different from their own
folks. This means they didn’t keep Jesus
to themselves! They went to outsiders
and treated them like insiders!
If you consider this, that group
of folks had such a conviction to reach the Christ-less that they paid
attention to them and began to have an influence upon them. Those people without Christ were glad
to have the Christians around.
Unbelievers looked at their Christian neighbors and saw their Christian
Master!
Beloved, that is what it is like
for people who have a genuine conversion to Christ and His church. When you are truly saved by grace,
·
You’ll be a
blessing to those who are without Christ
·
You’ll be
kind, generous and a really good neighbor.
·
You’ll take
a lot of “shots” and overlook a lot of obnoxious behavior just so someday you
will have the opportunity to share Jesus with someone who needs to know.
Am
I right about this? And if so, how did I
know that will be the case?
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your
Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-44
When Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the good
news, He knew that the journey around the world begins at our neighbor’s
doorstep.
How about us….today?
·
Have you
been convicted once…to
Christ?
If so, you “thought proper”.
·
Have you
been convicted a second
time…to His Church? If so, you “thought proper” a second time.
·
Are you a three-time convicted winner…to the Christ-less?
Have you “thought proper” about
these? Have you allowed the conviction,
that internal voice telling what you ought to do, to lead to
conversion?
If not, why not? And, if not, will you now?
