Jesus Centred Faith and Actions

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
6th Sept, 2009
Posted By Teresa Han

Acts 4:1-22
Main Idea: Faith must be centred in Jesus
Objectives: a. To drive home the point that our Christian faith is Christ-centred; b. To preach for the need Christ-centred faith to produce Jesus-centred actions.

A. Introduction- The degree of faith that one places in a given object is directly proportional to one’s knowledge of the object. For example, consider a man terrified of flying. When he first arrives at an airport he buys insurance at those coin-operated insurance-policy machines. He has his seat belt buckled 20 minutes before the take off and is sure to listen carefully to the routine “emergency instructions.” He has no faith in the ability of the plane to get him to his destination. But, as they journey progresses, this passenger begins to change. He first unbuckles his seat belt, then has some lunch, pretty soon is talking to the person next to him and joking. Why the change? What happened? Is there more faith at 36,000 feet? Of course not. The more he learned about the object of faith, the plane, the more faith the exercised in that object. So, it is with disciples of Jesus. The more we learn of our Lord Jesus, the more faith we can place in Him.
- Faith is only as good as its object. A small boy in England was asked by a scientic team to be lowered down the side of a cliff to recover some important specimens. Though the scientists offered to pay him greatly, the boy said no. They tried to persuade him further and he consented finally, but only on one condition – that his father would be the one to hold the ropes by which he would be lowered.
- Can you trust the object of your faith? Jesus Christ, the centre of your faith. Is Jesus the centre of your faith? Or, it is other things like knowledge, material wealth, fame, wisdom, miracle, experience, etc? It is very easy to test what or who is at the centre of your faith? When you are in trouble, who or what you turn to first?
- Why is Jesus-centred faith so important? What is so big deal about it? Let us turn to the faith of the early apostles and disciples and see for ourselves what it means to have a Jesus-centred faith and why it is so important.

B. Jesus must be at the centre of your faith
- I am amazed by this big paragraph. Only for this reason. As I meditated on this passage I discover that apostles Peter and John and the early disciples were so particcular about the person and divinity of Jesus. They really got personal withe the person Jesus. They regarded Him as God. Their belief, trust and faith were Jesus-centred. How could this be?
- Firstly, in verse 2, we are told that Jesus was at the centre of the apostles’ teaching in front of the people. We are told that the priests and captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees were greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. Their faith was such that it was based on the resurrection of Jesus. Becasue of the resurrection of Jesus who was dead, they preached Him. They were arrested and jailed because of their Jesus-centred teaching. In verse 4, we are told that the number of men (not including women) who believed grew to 5000. You see, the Jesus-centred teaching even resulted in conversions.
- Secondly, in verses 7 to 10, we are told that when aposltes were questioned by the rulers, elders, teachers of the law and the priests on the name or the power that healed the crippled beggar, apostle Peter was filled by the Holy Spirit answered with certainty in verse 10, “...It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.” This is an excellent example of how Jesus-centred was the apostles’ faith. They commanded the healing in Jesus’ name, and of course it was Jesus of Nazareth even they could not see him who had resurrected. And the man who was miracurously healed was over 40 years old.
- Thirdly, the apostles took the golden opportunity to preach to the enemies whom some of them did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus and Jesus as the Messiah, the apostles claimed that Jesus was the name given by God to save mankind. In verse 12, we see apostle Peter said with the strongest conviction, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The name here is referring to Jesus and you cannot help but see that the apostles’ faith was very Jesus-centred. They believed that only Jesus and so, no other name can save and so they preached the Jesus-centred salvation.
- The opposition group against the apostles was astonished by the apostles who used to spend time together with Jesus and they recognized that these men were with Jesus before and they even warned the apostles not to teach at all in the name of Jesus. You see the Jesus-centred faith of the apostles, even the enemies recognized somehow their had something to do with Jesus.
- The opposition groud did not know what to do with the apostles. All over the place of Jerusalem people knew it was Jesus who healed the crippled beggar through the apostles, nobody could deny it. If they decide to punish the apostles, the crowd would get very angry with the opposition group for punishing the apostles who had been compassionate.
- The apostles were warned not to teach in Jesus’ name anymore by the opposition group. However, Peter and John were die hard followers, disciples of Jesus, they responded with the greatest conviction to mission for Jesus Christ, they cried out, “...Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” You see how Jesus-centred their faith was. At the end of the day, Jesus was all that mattered to them. Is this your attitude towards Jesus?
- Brothers and sisters, is your faith money centred; wealth centred; studies centred; girl friend centred; boy friend centred; children centred; greed centred; career centred; computer centred; material centred; pronography centred, etc?

C. Actions of Jesus centred faith.- I pray that your faith is most Jesus centred, you have no doubt that it must be done.
- What happened to apostles whose faith was Jesus centred? Let me preach to you with great excitement and enthusiasm. I observe in the passage today that the apostles backed their Jesus centred faith with actions. Their belief, trust and convictions for Jesus as the Saviour of mankind turned into great actions. They behaved as if they were totally at the disposal of Jesus. They went all the way to obey Jesus. They took actions to exercise their Jesus centred faith to heal and to preach the salvation offered by Jesus. Will you do the same as the early disciples?
- You see whatever faith you have in Christ, Jesus, it must be expressed through your actions. Your belief in Jesus must cause you to obey Jesus in action, in doing what He commanded in scripture.
- Otherwise, in the name of Jesus I tell you and I that we are not faithful to Jesus. Jesus is not requiring all of us to do prison ministry. His challenge to you is when He calls you, will you respond? Right there and then, you decide to be faithful to Him or not.

D. Two actions you need to take as a result of Jesus centred faith.- Firstly, you need to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations. When God calls you to preach Jesus to your family members, your colleagues, indigenouse people in Miri, Kapit, Balingian, Selangau, Bintulu, Belaga and the people in Cambodia, will you take leave to go? When God calls to pray for the sick; to visit the prisoners; to help the poor; to give towards the disaster victims of Taiwan; to help someone who is depressed; to forgive someone who offended you, will you respond because of your Jesus centred? I pray you do.
- By the way, we have 5 persons who have made up their minds to be missionaries among the Ulu Belaga Penans. The latest addition is a graduate from Sarikei.
- When I received the instruction to preach in revival at the first Bahasa Malaysia convention at Kuching Trinity Methodist Church among the indigenous people of all races, I obeyed Jesus and preached. I wanted to testify that I was filled by the Holy Spirit to preach with the strongest conviction. The result was amazing. People wept, repented and turned to God.
- In our church now, we are trusting God for an evangelism movement. I have trained 16 of you yesterday how to use your testimony and John 3:16 to preach the gospel, will you train others to do it and you yourself do it. Do not be reluctant to do it. Do not feel shy to do it. You have all the Holy Spirit to fill you. Jesus is never reluctant to save you; He is never shy to bless you with all He has.
- Secondly, you need to take your job as God’s calling. If you are a housewife; a student, do you believe that God calls you to be one? If you are an enginneer; lawyer; teacher; manager; computer expert; businessman; clerk; accountant; contractor; information person; human resource person; technician, etc, do you take your job as God’s calling. If you do, you will have strong sense of mission at your workplace, you will pray for the salvation of your colleagues, you will impact their lives with biblical love, care, concerns and values. You will be concerned about their salvation. People will see Jesus in you.

E. Conclusion.
What really matters at the end of day, in all our lives, Jesus matters in all aspects of our lives. You miss Jesus, you miss in your lives. I pray that you will realize this truth asap.