We hear a lot today about Timothy Keller of Redeemer
Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.
Indeed, in one of the fly leaves of one of his books he’s called “the
renowned” pastor of Redeemer Church. A
few years back, when Newsweek was still a “hold in your hands” publication, the
editors called him “the Smart Preacher.”
But before Keller ever got to New York City, he studied at Westminster
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. It
was there that he was profoundly impacted by Dr. Harvie M. Conn, the director
of Westminster’s Urban Mission Program.
In fact Keller says that one of the principal ways in which the Lord
called him to Manhattan was through the teaching and writings of Harvie Conn.
In 1982
Harvie Conn wrote a little book entitled Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace that
has had a profound impact on many, including Tim Keller. In it Conn cites a German by the name of
Rudolf Obermüller who wrote a book in 1952 entitled, Evangelism in Latin
America where he tells of a Brazilian university student who left the
Christian faith for Marxism. The student
said, “You Protestants seem to be concerned only about getting people to stop
smoking, drinking, and dancing. When the
communists speak to us about feeding the starving, teaching the illiterate, and
putting an end to exploitation and injustice.”
And the sad truth is that that’s largely the sad truth of many
Christians and Christian communities.
Conn calls it, “one-dimensional spirituality.” But, as Conn points out, God refuses to see a
dichotomy between the spiritual and the material. We see that throughout the Old Testament
where God defines “righteousness” and “doing justice” as serving “the least of
these.” Remember a few weeks ago when we
mentioned “the quartet of the vulnerable” in Israel – the poor, the widow, the
orphan, and the immigrant? From the
beginning of Israel’s history the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stood apart
from all the gods of all the other religions as being on the side of the
powerless and the disenfranchised. (See
Palms 68:4-5; Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:16-17; Zechariah 7:9-10; Psalms
146:7-9; Deuteronomy 10:17-18, to cite only a few such texts.) The truth is that most, if not all, of the
Lord’s searing indictments of His people in the Old Testament have little to do
with their individual morality and everything to do with their oppression of
the poor and weak among them. It’s a
remarkable thing to realize that though the Lord has called us, saved us, and
blessed us so that we can do likewise for others, our basic tendency to keep it
all for ourselves or worse to steal from others.
Last week
was the second message in our series, The Signature of Jesus, and we were in
Acts 1 talking about how doing justice and loving kindness is a matter of the
heart. And as we saw, the truth is
simply this – that the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in a life will
manifest itself in Jesus’ heart becoming our heart.
Let me give
you a great illustration from Harvie Conn’s book. In the summer of 1980, Harvie joined a half
dozen other Christians on the garbage dumps in Kampala, Uganda nine years after
Idi Amin had left the city devastated by terror and a public health crisis. There were massive amounts of garbage on
almost every street corner with children all over them throwing stones at rats.
Harvie says
that every street told the same story and the question was, “What can we do to
dramatize God’s love for the city and our willingness to serve in
humility?” Jack Miller was with them and
he gave them the answer – “Garbage Evangelism” was born.
They went
to the Minister of Health and asked for a truck to haul away the garbage. He couldn’t believe it. “Why?” he asked. They answered, “Jesus!” He gave them two trucks. The first thing they did was raise a banner
on each truck that read, “Jesus is the Answer.”
Within a few short days hundreds of Ugandas circled the piles and joined
in loading the trucks and singing praise songs to the Lord Jesus. During the breaks they’d preach the Gospel to
them. Soon a newspaper reporter showed
up for an interview. “Why are you doing
this? Are you members of a political
party?” They answered, “No. We are members of the body of Christ – the
same body that suffered, died, and rose again because of His great love for
Ugandans and Americans alike. We are
here picking up garbage because He picked us up first out of His great
love. And it’s out of His love that we
love you!”
This week
we are going to look at where all of this begins – Acts 2. Indeed, the reason Harvie Conn, Jack Miller,
and the others were engaged in Garbage Evangelism in Uganda was because the
same Holy Spirit who showed up in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost showed up
in Uganda. What He did in the heart of
Peter and the other disciples is what He did in Harvie Conn’s heart. It’s exactly what He intends to do in your
heart too!
In preparation for Sunday’s message, “Raising Him up,” from Acts 2:29-41 and Matthew 6:19-24 you may wish to consider the following:
1.
What does Matthew 6:19-21 have to do with
Matthew 6:22-23?
2.
What’s Jesus mean by “the eye is the lamp of the
body?”
3.
Is there a connection to Proverbs 31 and the
virtuous woman? (Of course there is)
4.
Is there a connection to Genesis 22:14? (This one too!)
5.
How many times does Peter reference Jesus in
Acts 2:29-41?
6.
How does Peter demonstrate inclusivity in what
he says?
7.
How does Peter mirror Jesus in his speech?
8.
Why do the foreigners call Peter and the other
disciples “brothers” in verse 37?
9.
How does Peter demonstrate a “good eye?”
10. What’s
the significance of Peter’s words in verse 40?
For fun:
·
Who was Frederic Bartholdi?
·
Who was Giovanni Montini?
See you Sunday!
