The Esprit de Corps of Pentecost

Thank you so much for that wonderful special music. So inspiring. Also calming. I want to thank also the pianists that have participated. The sound crews, the set-up crews. So many people have sacrificed a lot of time, so we can come in here. Everything's set up. We can just calmly listen to the messages, but there's a lot of work behind all the set-up, and we want to thank everybody involved.

As it has been mentioned several times already, we know Pentecost is the anniversary of our church from 31 A.D. to the year 2010. It's been a long time. Right now, by next year, it will be 1,980 years since that first Pentecost. So there have been 1,980 times that people around the world have met during this day of Pentecost. And of course, it has to do with the fruits of God's Spirit. In Christ said, by their fruits, you will know them.

Not by the foliage, not by the greenery, but by the actions you see what people are all about. And of course, there are two types of fruits. There are the fruits of the flesh or the fruits of God's Spirit. But how were those fruits of God's Spirit manifested?

Do we have any concrete examples? Because of course, it sounds very beautiful. It can be very inspiring. But another thing is the concrete examples. Well, thankfully, we do. We have the book of Acts, and we are blessed to have such a carefully written book inspired by God. Back in the 1850s, there was a famous British professor of classics. He was an atheist.

His parents had been atheists. And so he set out, after preparing himself, he studied archaeology, geography. And he set out to go to the Middle East to refute the writings of the apostles, and in particular, the book of Acts.

So he spent some 20 years going to the different parts where the apostle Paul said he had been. He went to Ephesus. He went to Corinth. He went to Athens. He went to all of these areas that are now part of the coastal area of Turkey. And after 20 years, he came back and he said, I was wrong. Every place that I have seen, I have found that it is a truthful account. And he was converted to Christianity. His name was William Ramsey, and he wrote one of the most inspiring and also accurate writings.

It's called The Life and Travels of the Apostle Paul. Now, we don't even have to buy that book. You can go down. It's one of the Google books. And he was knighted by King Edward VII in 1906 for his contributions to geography and archaeology. So this book of Acts is marvelous. We should never take it for granted. This is what William Ramsey said, Luke is a historian of the first rank.

Not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy. He is possessed of the true historic sense. In short, this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians. This is a man who was a professor of the classics of all the classic literature. And he still puts Luke as one of the greatest historians. For his contributions to archaeology, geography, like I said, he was knighted. So his name today is Sir William Ramsey. So this book of Acts has a very particular point of view that we can study it from the principle reason of the change that took place in the believers.

It has already been brought out in the sermonette. But we're going to focus on what was it exactly that inspired them. The Holy Spirit guided them, but there was something, a model, something concrete that truly was always in the vanguard. It was in front of them. It inspired them. It caused them to suffer and to proclaim the message. It was something revolutionary, life-changing. This is found in the book of Acts after they received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In Acts 1, verse 14, we start, and we're just going to go over the first couple of chapters of the book of Acts, because here it's not just theory. It's practice. It's how these people acted.

And of course, they can set a model for all of us. In Acts 1, verse 14, it says, So we see that the church started with 120 people. There weren't any very important names here. They were pretty commonplace people. They were the first fruits of the New Testament church. Now, notice Luke uses the term one accord 11 times in the book of Acts, because this is part of how they had the same spirit, the same mindset. This term one accord, which comes from a beautiful Greek word, homothumodon, which means of one mind, of one accord, unanimous.

It comes from the word homos, which means same, and thumos, which means mind or spirit. So here were people of the same mind and spirit. You can call it the sprit de corps, the spirit that animated the whole group. The word sprit de corps, it's a French phrase, it means a common spirit of devotion, enthusiasm, loyalty, and of one mind.

And that's what we found in this book. In Acts 2, verse 1, it says, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, now why did it say that? It doesn't say that about Passover. Passover's a date. Pentecost had fully come because you have to count it. So you had counted those fifty days when it had fully come, when the count had reached fifty.

And the term Pentecost actually means fiftieth in Greek. So this was the time they had been ready for it. Jesus Christ had been resurrected now for that period of time. From the time He was resurrected on that Sabbath evening as the first day began in evening, you counted fifty days to this time of Pentecost. Now the first forty days, it tells us that He was resurrected during that time.

Forty days. That wasn't just one or two little appearances. We're talking here about over a month that He appeared to the people. And so it was something that they were sure about. And Jesus Christ told them that they would soon receive God's Holy Spirit. That's at the beginning of Acts 1. And notice when the day of Pentecost had fully come, verse 1, they were all with one accord in one place. So again, the emphasis here, the people were all receptive to what Jesus Christ had taught. They were receptive. They had the right spirit and attitude. They had all been baptized, but they still had not received God's Holy Spirit until this time.

Of course, you've probably heard that old joke that they say, well, did you know that there were Honda cars at that time? Why? Because it says they were all in one accord. Okay, that's enough for the corny jokes.

Start getting all taken by the spirit. That's not because the term here, glossa, means languages. And of course, that was a gift that was necessary because they had to go to all of these different nations and be able to give the testimony. And these were not people that were polyglots.

They didn't know multiple languages. And so God gave them the gift. They couldn't have the apostles and all the disciples running around with ten dictionaries to learn Babylonian or Persian or all of these others. So of course, that was a way to transmit God's truth in a very rapid way. And they began to speak as the spirit gave them utterance.

So why were they of one accord? What motivated them in this way? Yes, they received God's Holy Spirit, but something was behind this, a source that guided them, that they could always relate to. And while studying this for years, I was struck with this insight that we're going to analyze. Let's go to verse 40 of Acts 2. As after the sermon that Peter gave, where they were cut to the heart, Mr. Thomas set the table for me here because we're going to continue with verse 40. And it says, continuing on, it says, So notice these characteristics, the apostles' teachings, based on what they received from Jesus Christ.

Their eyes were opened to the truth. And with what kind of spirit? They had fellowship. Notice the humility. They weren't standoffish. They were all together, no matter what station in life they shared. They didn't look down on people of different races or different economic situations. They were all sharing like one big family that shared God's Holy Spirit. It says, In the breaking of bread, and of course, this is the meals, fellowship meals that they would have. Bread was used as a type of silverware, kind of like a spoon. Because at that time they didn't have forks and all kinds of fancy things. They had this very brittle bread, and they would break it, and then they would dip it in the sop.

And then that's the way they would eat. So that was the fellowship meals and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. So we see here wonders and signs. In verse 44, Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

There was just this willingness to share, to help each other out. Now this was something that there was no discrimination. And there's a good commentary here by Gil. It says, it was therefore perfectly voluntary. This wasn't some type of forced sale of everything, so you didn't have a place to spend the night.

But it was that people were just open. Many of them had extra houses or extra riches or whatever. They were willing to share. And it says, as was evidently adapted to the special circumstances of the early converts. Many of them came from abroad. They were from Parthia, Medea, Arabia, Rome, and Africa. It is probable also that they now remain longer in Jerusalem than they had at first proposed. Many of them came for Pentecost, and all of a sudden they believed. They probably had relatives that had told them, look, we saw Jesus Christ.

We saw him resurrected. Here's Peter. And people were converted. But they didn't have places to stay. And so everybody opened their homes. They helped each other out. It says, and it is not at all improbable that they would be denied now the usual hospitalities of the Jews. The unbelieving Jews would have rejected them. Just like many in the church have had to do when you come in. You get rejected by your family or where you live. That happened to me when I came into the church.

I had to sneak out the back door on the Sabbath to be able to go from Murphy, North Carolina to Chattanooga. And one day my dad said, if you go to that church again, don't come back to the house. And I thought, well, I guess I'm going to have to finish high school in Chattanooga. So I called the minister.

And I said, looks like I'm going to have to go and live over there. I called him. He was scared to death. He didn't have a place for me either. But I said, I'm going to go back home and I'm going to start packing my suitcase. And what I did, my parents were the ones that blinked first. And so he said, well, okay, no, you can go on the Sabbath.

And that was over. Now, that's not something I recommend doing all the time either. Anyways, a lot of people all of a sudden find they're forsaken by parents or whoever, and they're on their own. But see here, people were willing to help out. There was a family. You weren't going to be abandoned because you decided to follow God first. And again, I'm nobody. I'm nothing. But these are accounts that so many can share to encourage one another. That's the purpose behind it.

Continuing on, it says here. Let's go to verse 46. So continuing daily with one accord, there it is again, the same word being the same spirit, the same mind, the same spirit, the same spirit that they received at Pentecost. They continued daily in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.

They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of mind. Gio mentions this means without deceit and hypocrisy. Either in their thanksgiving to God or in their welcome and serving of each other and with great sincerity. It's just natural. They really felt that their bond with the spirit was stronger than their bond with their blood relatives or with the water of their friendships. You can say that there are three levels of friendship. You have basically friendship, which is like water. Then you have something that's thicker. They say blood is thicker than water because family is even a stronger relationship.

But spirit is even stronger than blood. And that's the way they felt here. Notice in Acts chapter 3 verse 1, the attitude of Peter and John after a miraculous healing. Verse 1, Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, just around three o'clock in the afternoon. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried from there, laid daily at the gate, the temple, which is called Beautiful. So there was this lame person, and he couldn't be taken care of, so he was out there begging to ask alms from those who entered the temple, who, seeing Peter and John, about to go into the temple, asked for alms.

He just wanted a coin. And fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. I don't know if you see that many times, but there are all kinds of people. Sometimes they're next to the curb on a, when you stop off and you, you don't really want to get too much eye contact, right? Because they know if they get eye contact, they'll probably get some money from you. And so here, he says, oh, good. Boy, these two, they, they make contact. They're going to feel compassion. I'll get something. Boy, was he surprised what he got.

Then Peter said, silver and gold, I do not have. But what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping and praising God. So you can imagine why you want to leap.

And you hadn't been able to use these useless limbs since it says it. He'd been lame for 40 years and now he could leap. It reminds me a little bit of that movie Avatar. Remember when he was able to get into the virtual reality and boy, he just took off and running because he was so happy that he could use his legs.

Well, this is the way this person felt. In verse 9, and all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement and what had happened to him. It is a tremendous miracle. Verse 11, now as a lame man who was healed, held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch, which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people, men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? So again, you see, they did not take any of the credit. They had that servant spirit which filled them. They did not commit Moses one serious mistake of taking personal credit for a miracle.

They took no credit for what had happened. The focus was totally on Jesus Christ, who was the one carrying this out. Verse 13, he says, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

This wasn't a second-hand account. And his name, through faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. So you see, there's this mixture of all of this inspiration and guidance, and still, he had compassion for them. He didn't browbeat them. He didn't say, oh, you miserable people, look what you did.

He said, look, I understand you have been deceived by the God of this world, and these authorities were deceived. And so you did this in ignorance. But now you can get away from that guilt. You can get away from feeling the blame for what you have done. And he says, verse 18, but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled, repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

So we see here this combination of humility with great conviction and power. So why was that so ingrained? Again, I present that it wasn't the Holy Spirit doing all of this. The Holy Spirit is a power of God, but it has to be based on a foundation.

Just like it has to be based on a foundation in our lives. Just because you receive God's Spirit, that's just empowering you. But that does not satisfy the basic foundation. And here we see the basic foundation for what made them change their lives so much. I'd like to read this comment about the 12 disciples from the book, The Training of the 12, by A. B. Bruce. And listen carefully, because here you see the source of what motivated them to change their lives. And not only at this time, but during the rest of their lives, that maintained them so faithful.

It says, what the disciples wondered at was not so much the miracles of Christ's healing operations. That wasn't what really inspired them as much. It says, but of the unfathomable depth of divine compassion which they revealed. Yes, miracles have happened, but nobody had that compassion and love for the people like they saw Jesus Christ have with those people. Throughout the New Testament, miracles are described in a sober, almost matter-of-fact tone. How is this to be explained? It is because the apostles had seen too many miracles to remain excited about them.

Their sense of wonder had been deadened by being sated. They saw miracles daily. After three and a half years, they had seen Christ walk on water, raise the dead, multiply bread. They had seen it all. And so finally, their sense was, well, what miracle is he going to do tomorrow?

It says, but though they seized to marvel at the power of their Lord, they never seized to wonder at His grace. They are merited, favor, and pardon of God. The love of Christ remained for them throughout their life a thing surpassing knowledge. And the longer they lived, the more cordially did they acknowledge the truth of their Master's word. Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see. Luke 10, 23.

They never got over that. Oh, they had miracles. But it was the personality, what they saw inside Jesus Christ, that they never lost the amazement. And as time went on, instead of diminishing, it became greater as their understanding of what Jesus Christ had done. It came even to a greater reality. We've talked about reality a bit today. This reminds me of Ephesians chapter 3. Put your finger here and ask because we're going to be coming back. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14. It says, It says, He says, This is the reason I just submit to God so fully that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. I submit to you that that was the source behind all their actions, but they never lost sight of. That power came through the love that they had felt of Jesus Christ and their lives. And of course, Jesus Christ, He's not some absentee landlord up there. He's working through us. He's working in us. If we don't hinder Him, He's ready to do much more with every one of us. Continuing on in Acts 4, verse 5, it says, By what power or by what name have you done this, that miracle with a lame man?

Whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. See, they never in their lives shrunk the image of Jesus Christ. They grew more. They gave Jesus Christ the credit for all the good works that they produced. And that was because of those three and a half years that they were together with Him. And as the memory of the different miracles slowly faded, Christ's personality and His love and compassion grew. And it made them become humble. They realized how little they were. Even if those great miracles were happening, they knew it's Jesus Christ. He's the one. We give glory and credit to Him.

That helped them maintain that humility. And it says in verse 11, This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved. So you see the spirit here, the attitude that they had.

Verse 13, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, they hadn't gone to the schools of Jerusalem. They weren't scribes. They weren't Pharisees. They weren't experts. But they knew these men are filled with God's Spirit. That they were untrained men. They marveled, and they realized that they had been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. They had gone by hundreds of times by this lame man. They had thrown little coins at him.

Now he was completely healed. They could not deny such a miracle. But they were not converted. They were looking at politics. They wanted to keep their positions. This Annas and Cephas, they were the ones that had condemned Jesus Christ. They weren't going to give up their power. They weren't going to recognize Jesus Christ as their Lord. So what were they to do? Well, here comes the political conniving. How do we do the spin control? How do we do the maneuvering? How can we discredit them? And so it says here, verse 17, But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.

Well, let's just bludgeon them. Let's intimidate them. Let's threaten them. That'll do it. We've got the power of the state. We've got all this Jewish authority behind us. We've got jails. We've got soldiers. And so people resort to these things, trying to put God's work down. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And so they said, well, you be the judge. Yes, we recognize you're the authority. You're over us. But here's what God is telling us to do. And we have to obey God before man many times. We have this quandary. We're told to do something and yet God's Word tells us to do it otherwise. What do we do? You've got to do what's right and let the chips fall where they may. We cannot compromise with God's truths.

We start going down that slippery slope of just doing things man's way according to our human reason. God does not want that from us. Notice in Acts chapter 1, it was an all smooth sailing. Yes, they were in one accord, but even then they had false brethren among them.

Not all were converted. Some just feigned, pretended to go along. Here's the first two false brethren that we see in the church. Acts chapter 1 verse 1. And chapter 5 verse 1. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira and his wife sold the possession because people were doing it. They had extra things. Just like today, we'd have savings accounts. And you'd pull out because the church at that time still had not fully established their funding. And so people are saying, well, here, write a check here. I'll help you.

We've got to get this work done. And so people were selling a possession. And notice that Barnabas, in the previous chapter, verse 36, and Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which translates Son of encouragement and Levi of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

So this was something that was appreciated and mentioned. So here comes Ananias with Sapphira, and they sold the possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself while it remained?

Was it not your own? In other words, there wasn't any obligation to sell things. It was voluntary. If you would have said, look, I sold this and here's a part, you wouldn't have had a problem. But there was a motivation behind that.

See, they had seen how much Barnabas had been held up and how well it went. So they said, well, we want some of the fame too. And they were willing to lie and deceive to do it. And so it says here, why have you conceived this thing in your heart? Ambition, importance was in their mind. Have you not lied? You have not lied to men, but to God. This was the beginning of the church.

God's Holy Spirit was guiding them powerfully. And yet we have these that had the wrong motives, wrong attitudes. Then Ananias, hearing those words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. These were the first false brethren that we had. And God took care of that. So you see, we still have that same servant spirit, but it does not gel. It does not mix well with another type of spirit that works underneath, that has all kinds of machinations and ideas and how to weave and get things done in a worldly way.

And then it says here that, verse 7, it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

And the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord, same mind set and Solomon's porch. And yet none of the rest there joined them, but the people esteemed them highly. And so the idea is that Ananias and Sapphira, they had tried to be part of the apostles. They seemed that Barnabas had been added, but not because he had sold possession. It was he had the right mind and spirit, and they tried to do it the wrong way, sort of purchase their favor. And they did not have the right set of mind. And so it says here that nobody else tried that trick to impress the apostles and trying to finagle some type of position. So they had to boldly defend the faith. In Acts chapter 8, we see the other false brethren, Simon Magus, who actually was baptized and then found to be a false brother as well. Yes, they were meek, but they were not weak. But they were still loving the way they handled the situation. Notice in Acts chapter 5, verse 12, I read this about being in one accord. Verse 20, it says, Now when they were imprisoned, the high priest laid hands on the apostles and put them in prison. Verse 19, But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. Because they are words of life. They are a way of life that gives us that eternal life in the future. And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together with all the elders of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, Indeed, we found the prison shut securely and the guards standing outside before the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. So again, for God, nothing is difficult or impossible. He can open prison doors. He's got millions of angels to do his bidding. Now, when the high priest, the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. He said, What else can happen? Who is motivating all of this? What kind of power are we facing? So one came and told them, saying, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence. See, they tried to be very careful because the people were going to have an uprising if they were harmed. For they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, your teachings. And intend to bring this man's blood on us. Oh, woe is me! We're not victims of this. We're innocent.

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. We've got to put God in His way of life first. We have all had authorities over us who have commanded us to do wrong things and wrong teachings. And we have had to stand up and say, No, I've got to obey God before man. And many of us got fired and got expelled because we just said, We're not going to teach those things. And that happened throughout the world. And God did a sifting. Who is for me? Just like Joshua 24. I don't know about you, but for me and my family, we're going to follow God's commandments. We're going to respect them. That's why all of us are here on Pentecost. And so he brings all of these points to these rulers that they have to be willing to accept that there is a higher power involved here. I'd like to read from another book from James Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark. It's a commentary. But you notice here, let me read verse 22. No, a little more. Let's see here. Verse 41. Let's go down to verse 40. And they agreed with them. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as a Christ. You see, they had the image of Jesus Christ and they said, well, we're counted worthy. He suffered crucifixion. We just got beaten. Instead of being all despondent and depressed, they said, wow, God is now purifying us. We are able to suffer through our faith and we're able to give witness to it. That's the type of spirit that imbued them. The spirit of Pentecost. They were imbued and gave them that strength that went beyond the day of Pentecost. James Edwards, like I say, the gospel, according to Mark, says, T. W. Manson rightly notes that, quote, the kings or emperors of the first century did not seem to rule. They did rule. And usually with a heavy hand. Jesus rejects this model of rulership, heavy handedness. That's the way the world rules today. And if you don't like it, don't get the police and take care of you one way or the other. Jesus says in Mark 10 43, it will not be so with you. You shall not rule in this way.

Thus, to fail in being a servant is not simply to fall short of an ideal, but to stand outside of an existing condition that corresponds to the kingdom of God.

At no place do the ethics of the kingdom of God clash more vigorously than with the ethics of the world and in the matters of power and service. In a decisive reversal of values, Jesus speaks of greatness and service rather than greatness of power, prestige, and authority. He says, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. The apostles made many mistakes as they guided the church through those beginning decades. But the New Testament shows that they finally learned the lesson of being servant ministers. It was one of the most difficult lessons they ever learned. Having a servant ministry and not a lordship ministry. They were not imperious. They did not strut around like little emperors. You can trace the problem that they had wielding authority after the transfiguration. When they saw Jesus Christ transfigured in the kingdom, they started realizing, we're going to be very important in that kingdom. Yes, he's going to be the ruler and we are going to be under him. So, ambition started to well up in their hearts.

They began to get heady with their part in the kingdom. In Matthew 18, what did Jesus Christ do? He had to whittle them down, as he had to do time and time again. Because they did not know how to handle authority in the proper way. In Matthew 18, verse 1, it says, At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? See, they just gone through the transfiguration. They had come back. They called about the kingdom. Elijah and Moses. And yes, we're going to be there. And all of a sudden, they started saying, Well, who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them, and said, Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. So you see, he was continually inculcating into them. This is the way to do it. Leadership in the church is going to be one that isn't from the top just dominating everything down. But it's actually the person bringing people up, helping them. And instead of having self-centered leadership, they were learning other-centered leadership. How to put others and help them develop and build the consensus and show them how to do it.

He had to do that several times. In chapter 19, the next one, they were popping up again. They were getting inflated again. So again, he had to deflate them. In Matthew 19, verse 13, Then little children were brought to him, that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and departed from there. So he was constantly saying, Look, the child, one of the characteristics of a child that you need is to be unpretentious, to not have that attitude. As you can know, little children, they all get together, they have fun. It could be the child of the President of the United States and the child of a little beggar. They don't care. They have a good time together. Nobody's showing offices and how important one is. They're all together.

It's more important getting the thing done than who gets it done. In verse 28, here's a clincher in Matthew 19, 28, where he says in Matthew 19, verse 28, So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. So boy, now it wasn't only a transfiguration. And now they said, Wow, thrones, Israel. Yeah, we're going to be very powerful. So what happened? He had to whittle them down again. Notice in Chapter 20, where this culminates. Chapter 20. It says here in verse 20 of Chapter 20, Then the mother of Zebedee and sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.

She said to her, What do you wish? She said to Him, Grant that these two sons of Mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said to them, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to Him, We are able. Of course, they were all going to abandon Him. In just a few days, they weren't ready.

So He said to them, You will indeed drink my cup. Of course, after your conversion, you will eventually have to drink of that cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my Father.

And when the Ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers because they were thinking they're trying to edge in on the best positions, on the best posts. Oh, they're going to get the big jobs. We're going to get little jobs. I don't want a little job in the kingdom. We should have talked about little jobs in the kingdom instead of big jobs, just to keep that humility down a bit. And it says here, verse 25, Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over them.

Yeah, they lorded. That's a word that they would use time and time again throughout all of the epistles. You are not to lord it over the brethren. Yet it shall not be so among you. That's what Jesus Christ is saying. We have to have a different system of government. We have to include that humility centered leadership, and we have to teach it and propagate it because if we don't, we're going to fall into the same error of mankind during 6000 years. And we just will not grow spiritually as we should.

Continuing on, it says, Yet it shall not be among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

Edwards continues here in his commentary. He says, The preeminent virtue of God's kingdom is not power, not even freedom, but service. Ironically, greatness belongs to the one that is not great. The diaconos, which is the term we get deacon, is the ordinary Greek word for waiting on tables. The preeminence of service in the kingdom of God grows out of Jesus' teaching on love for one's neighbor, for service is love made tangible. Pursuing the point further, Jesus declares that whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

The pronouncement is, of course, in oxymoron, for a slave, doulos in the Greek, who was inferior even to the servant, the diaconos, was in ancient society last and least of all. The idea of a slave being first is absurdly paradoxical. The implications of diaconos and doulos for the twelve, as for ministers and leaders in the church for every generation, are inexhaustible. The Christian fellowship does not exist for their sake, but they for it. That is the origin of the concept of servant ministry. In Acts 15, verse 1, and we see here when they have the counsel in Jerusalem, the example they gave.

Acts 15, verse 1, it says, And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And of course, at that time, that was the way the Jewish or the Gentile proselytes, the only way they could come into church was to be circumcised and submit to all the ritual and ceremonial, and not only to the spiritual law. They had to submit to the ceremonial, the civil, and the moral or the spiritual law. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. And it says, verse 4, The oral part, because that's all they knew. Verse 6, Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter, and when there had been much dispute, so it wasn't like everything was going to be rubber-stamped. There's a lot of things that were conversed openly. It says, Peter rose up and said to them, and I'm not going to go into that, but he was the first one, gave a witness of what he had seen in God's Holy Spirit. And he was the one that actually baptized, or the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius in Acts 10. Then Paul and Barnabas gave their account as well, and then James, as being in charge there of the church in Jerusalem, and basically one of the pillars, said, yes, this is the right path to go. But notice as we go in verse 22, it says, So here's again the term, one, two, three. And then, in verse 22, it says, And then, in verse 22, it says, And then, in verse 22, it says, And then, in verse 22, it says, One Third Thing, in verse 22, it says, So we have come to a unanimous decision that we should choose men and send them to you with our dear Barnabas and Paul." So they came to a decision. Do you think Pope Peter got up and said, well, I'm the one that does the final decision here? Doesn't say that. And James certainly backed what was said and so forth, but you see, they came to a consensus, a broad consensus, so they could say, well, this isn't just one man, the apostles and the eldership, they all came together to this decision. And so we have determined this.

This is so important because, of course, coming together and being of one mind sometimes takes time and differences of opinions as it did then. For iron to sharpen iron, some friction will take place, but it is a healthy part of the process of sharpening iron tools. After all, an absence in any discussion in a home usually means somebody is completely dominant, and that is not good for the overall welfare of the family. So we can go and notice in 1 Peter chapter 5, as I begin to wind this down, I'd like to read 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 through 4, the contemporary English version. Notice the attitudes of servant ministry in these apostles as time progressed. They never forgot the lesson that Jesus Christ taught them. Church leaders, I am writing to encourage you. I too am a leader, as well as a witness to Christ's suffering, and I will share in His glory when it is shown to us. Just as shepherds watch over their sheep, you must watch over everyone God has placed in your care. Do it willingly in order to please God, and not simply because you think you must. Let it be something you want to do instead of something you do merely to make money. Don't be bossy to those people who are in your charge, but set an example for them. An example of what we've been talking about, the servant ministry. They show that through their example. Then, when Christ the chief shepherd returns, you will be given a crown that will never lose its glory. Paul constantly uses the term, doulas, a slave of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 1-1, you can read there. He used it many times. It's a Christ-like attitude of humility and service.

Finally, Philippians 2, where he mentions in verse 5, and we'll finish with this scripture, Philippians 2, verse 5, it says, "...let this mind be in you," talking about being in one accord, "...which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in likeness of men." Yes, bond servant. Doulas! He was a slave. Now, was that a weakling? That we just... everything is wishy-washy? No, of course not! But with what attitude? It's to reach a consensus. It's to build up. It's to take people's outlooks and opinions into account, to do things slowly, to carry them out, where everybody can finally agree. And sometimes it's a very difficult situation. It takes a lot of patience. But when you do it, everybody feels they've been consulted. They've been... of course, that doesn't mean 100 percent, because you're never going to get 100 percent agreement. You're not going to ask the little children either. I'm talking about people that really should be consulted. So continuing on, it says, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. See, because he's our model. It doesn't matter what Mario Sagley thinks. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. This is the way Jesus thinks. And that's the transformation that began with the spirit of that servant ministry during the day of Pentecost. Yes, it is not easy. It means having a self-sacrificing and not self-aggrandizing spirit. But that is the goal for our family, work, and church to live with the same attitude shown during that day of Pentecost and throughout the book of Acts, to spree the core of Pentecost.