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After the Apostles

John 14: 9 – 14

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 22 Oct, 2006

AS WE continue thinking about how to be the church in the fullest sense in the world where we have been placed, I want us to think about the ministry of Christians after the apostles.

We are all Post–apostolic Christians. What makes us think we are lesser beings, somehow less important in God’s sight?

When the last apostle died, people must have wondered, would the power and the gifting of the apostles continue until Jesus comes again? Or was that the end of it?

The pagan writer, Celsus, raged against Christians ministering in the market places. He was disgusted that ordinary workers and slaves were healing important people and delivering them from demons. How dare such lowly people even look at their betters?

Some Christian leaders cringed because of that kind of criticism, and discouraged Christians from getting too involved in ministry.

Every Christian leader has sometimes cringed at what young believers do or say. But how do we learn if we don’t make mistakes?

But when Christians weren’t ministering, then more and more teachers said that all spiritual gifts had ended with the apostles. That was safe. There were no problems and no untidy ends.

However, that wasn’t what Jesus taught, and it wasn’t what Paul taught, and it is not what we should believe.

We are called to repeat and extend Jesus’ ministry. We need his power, and his presence. And that power and presence are ours if we truly desire them.

Jesus said,

¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

So, let’s look at what Jesus did, and see how that has continued through history, and how it can work for us.

Jesus’ ministry had many aspects , but we’ll look at three: preaching the good news, demonstrating the power of the gospel; and confronting the powers.

Of course, some Christians see driving out demons as the same as confronting the powers. In fact, they are different, though related.

There are exceptions to the rule, but, generally, if the Bible uses different terms it means different things.

So let’s start with preaching good news.

Over the past weeks, I have talked about how evangelism and social action go hand in hand. I mentioned what Kevin Rudd said about the Christian social voice. I spoke about making disciples and proclaiming the kingdom as we wait for the return of Jesus.

Christianity without good news is just humanism in a dog-collar. But Christianity without social action is mere hypocrisy.

In Mark 1:14 & 15,

Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Luke 4 shows the content of the good news:

^4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

This is no “Pie in the sky when you die” Christianity. It is a faith right down there among the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed.

Last Sunday, Claire said that healing and wealth are in the cross. It is true, but it can be misunderstood. We’ll look at that as we go. There is an important truth there, that Christianity is about more than waiting for a future salvation. It is very here and now, and touches all of life.

The gospel Jesus preached was never just about heaven when you die. It was about a transformed life, about changes in everything.

But it was a transformation not based in filling the trough, but in filling the cup — filling the cup of his own suffering, and calling us to follow in his footsteps.

Paul put it well: if we suffer with Christ, we shall also live with him.

After the apostles, Christians still kept preaching good news.

Justin, who was martyred for his faith in 165AD, was a philosopher. But an elderly man challenged him and made him think until he discovered Jesus. And Justin went around as a philosopher, teaching in market places, just as many Stoic and Epicurean philosophers did. Only he was a philosopher for Jesus.

The pagan, Celsus, writes against Christian evangelists. He says,

“We see in private houses, wool–workers, cobblers, washermen, the most uneducated, mere clowns. They would not venture to open their mouths in the presence of their elders or their wiser masters. But they get hold of the children privately and any women who are as ignorant as themselves. Then they pour out wonderful statements...”

Celsus concludes,

“With words like these, they win them over.”

The church sometimes tried to control evangelism, but they never stopped it.

St Francis in the 12th Century evangelised. The 14th Century Lollards travelled around England, preaching Christ.

Even Martin Luther first heard the gospel from his fellow Catholics.

The Anabaptists were so successful that they had spread from Switzerland to Holland and across to Poland in about 25 years.

History’s great evangelists include George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles H Spurgeon, D.L Moody, Charles G Finney.

There is salvation in the cross of Jesus, where his blood was shed for you and me. It is still the only means of salvation.

There was ongoing evangelising in the name of Jesus. The message declared by Jesus continued through the apostles and goes on to this day.

Then there is demonstrating the gospel power.

At the start of his ministry, Jesus works a miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. He turns water into wine.

Another time we see him walking on water. There was the time he fed 5000 with a few buns and a couple of fish. And don’t forget when he calmed storms.

Jesus demonstrated power over nature.

Then he demonstrated power over sickness.

There was the woman with the discharge of blood. How about blind Bartimaeus, begging outside Jericho? There was Jairus’ daughter, the little girl who was sick, and then the message came that she was dead. Often we just hear that they brought the sick to him and he healed them all.

He had power over sickness.

And, of course, he had power over demons.

For a long time, well after I was converted, I had serious doubts about demons, whether they existed at all. But I have seen enough to convince me of the reality of these things.

They are parasitic, they feed on bruised human personality. But they are real.

And Jesus cast them out — the demoniac in the synagogue was delivered from his demons. There was the demoniac in Gerasa who had so many that they went under the name of Legion. Or there was the boy who could not be delivered by Jesus’ disciples, but Jesus drove out the demon which used to make the boy take fits and fall into fires or water.

Healing and deliverance are in the cross of Jesus. You heard that from Claire last week.

The fact is that every blessing is in the cross. The Bible says that healing is ours because, “...by his stripes we are healed.”

The error some Christians fall into is that of assuming that we will always be healed if we have the right faith. That is not Biblical, because, as Paul says, what we have now, we have only in part, as a kind of down–payment on what is perfect.

But that doesn’t mean that healing and deliverance are not there. It just means that we can’t demand them, or guarantee them in every case.

Irenaeus, who wrote around 150 years after Jesus rose from the dead, said that there had been several occasions when people had been raised from the dead in his congregation after people fasted and prayed. He also says,

“Some do, really and truly, cast out demons, so that those very ones who have been cleansed from evil spirits often believe and are in the church... What is more, as I have said, even the dead have been raised and remained with us for considerable years...”

He then goes on and talks about the many spiritual gifts manifested in his congregation through faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

Around 250 AD, Origen, who was wary of wild claims of miracles, wrote about Christians telling about Jesus’ healings and calling on his name over the sick and needy. He writes,

“...by these means we ourselves have seen many set free from grievous symptoms and distractions and madness, and then thousand things beside, which neither men nor demons had cured.”

The writer to the Hebrews explains why these powers continue to this day:

^2:3...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. ⁴ God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

The truth of the message preached is confirmed by the signs and wonders which accompany it.

A famous worker of miracles in Jesus name was Smith Wigglesworth, who visited Australia in the 1920s. Another more recent one was Kathryn Kuhlman. Even people who are normally sceptical about healing ministries have generally accepted those two as genuine.

There was ongoing miraculous power in the name of Jesus. The miracles done by Jesus continued through the apostles and a century or more after the last one died, and go on to this day.

Finally, there is confronting the powers.

As I said, this is different from driving out demons.

Do you remember when Jesus refused to condemn the woman caught in adultery? Don’t be mistaken. This is more than a religious conflict. It is a political and legal conflict. As much as Bob Brown confronting the Tasmanian Government over dams, or Martin Luther King confronting the Mississippi Government over access to buses by non–whites.

Jesus is saying, in effect, “You political leaders think that harsh laws will make society better. I’m telling you that harsh laws do no good, and the solution is mercy and compassion.”

When Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, he is confronting wealthy property–owners who consider themselves good enough to please God, yet neglect the needs of the poor and needy. It’s the same in our day. There are so many who have made decisions for Christ, yet justify harsh treatment of the poor in the misguided expectation that the rich will work harder if you give them more and the poor will work harder if you give them less.

Some Evangelical Christians fall into this trap because they believe that wealth and success are the invariable evidence of God’s blessing, and are an inseparable part of Jesus‘ work on the cross. But these things are just like healing. When they come, we must give thanks for them. But we can’t blame people for not having them, and claim that it is just because they are not where God wants them to be. Eventually, all material blessings will be ours, but once again, these things are only partial in this world, mere down–payments.

Meanwhile, it is as much our responsibility to work and think and act for Jesus, doing good to all as he did.

When Jesus taught the parable of the separation of sheep and goats at the Judgment, he explains that it is a separation based on how we live out our faith in Jesus within our society, caring for the poor and needy in his name. That is, the division is based on our practical discipleship — and not based on our experiences or our abilities.

In the fourth century, we hear John Chrysostomos preaching against social evils and against the harshness of the Emperor. In the late 19th Century we find William Booth of the Salvation Army writing an Empire–shaking sociological treatise called In Darkest England, and the Way Out.

I mentioned socially active Christians a week or so back, like the Berrigan brothers. There have been so many throughout history, like John Cadbury and his work to ban child labour, or John Howard, the prison reformer. Evangelists like Wesley and Finney were often social reformers as well.

There was ongoing confrontation of the world‘s powers in the name of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus in social reform continued through the apostles and goes on to this day.

In conclusion, then, if Jesus preached good news, then we must, too. If Jesus healed and delivered and worked miracles, we must, too. And if he worked for justice and for social change, then we must, too.

We may not see every disease healed or pennies falling from heaven. We may not see the evil fall to their knees and worship as soon as they are challenged. We may vote for Christian politicians and find they are converts but not disciples. There are all kinds of possibilities in this world.

But if we pray and if we trust, expecting God to save through faith in Christ, it will happen more frequently. If we pray and trust, expecting God to work miracles to confirm the preached word, we will see these things happening more often. And if we pray and trust as we work for justice, for righteousness and for love, we will see them established in more places.

This is the last in this series, but probably far from the last time I will speak on these matters, because they are vital for any church.

Let’s determine to reveal our Lord Jesus Christ wherever we go, whenever the opportunity comes, and with all the strength we can muster, so that he can continue his works through us, and do greater works, because he has gone to the Father.

AMEN.

© Peter R. Green 2006. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)