City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

³⁴ For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
³⁵ until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

³⁶ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 2:34-38 (ESV)

¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 (ESV)

Reflection

When Jesus teaches us to pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” we should expect something like what happened on the day of Pentecost.  Not necessarily that our language would be unscrambled and that everyone would understand us completely, though that could happen; but rather, we should expect that heaven will crash into our normal and operate in a completely different way.  Things that were a high priority for us to overcome may simply drop away, and new capabilities and areas of confidence may show up.  When heaven shows up, old bonds are broken and old understandings fall away.

When the people on the day of Pentecost realized their situation, they responded rightly.  They were cut to the heart and were ready to do whatever was needed to get things right. They said, “Brothers, what shall we do?” When heaven comes, this is the right question to ask.

Peter explains that they need to repent and be baptized, the two fundamentals of Christian faith. Repentance is for salvation and baptism is for sanctification. Repentance turns the believer from looking to the world and its ways, to looking to the Lord and His ways. In my old Lutheran catechism, I was taught that repentance is the killing of the old man, and baptism is the burying of him. So, repentance without baptism is like carrying a dead person around with you, on your back. You must let the waters of baptism wash the old man away.

Do we still sin? Yes, unfortunately. Do we still go back to our old ways at times? Yes, also unfortunately.  But this is not the end of the story.  Do we call upon the Lord?  Yes, with great anticipation!  Do we receive the power to overcome?  Absolutely!  And the Lord’s kingdom comes and His will is done. Praise the Lord!

Application

Take a little time to think about the day of Pentecost and the moment when “God fearing Jews” realized that they were guilty sinners and needed a savior.  Think of how all of their assumptions about the Bible, their society, and their future all were falling away.

Then think about how the fall of Adam and Eve propagated through human society and colored every action of man with the death and destruction caused by sin.  It is a dark and dreadful picture.

Now think of this moment on Pentecost when God’s promise to heal the human heart was being fulfilled.  The confusion of language and separation of people groups was being fixed.  As C. S. Lewis puts it, “a broken arm in the universe has been healed.”  Though really, it was a broken heart.  Let the jail cells of your soul be open and let the prisoner see days in the sunlight, that God’s will might be done in his heart.

Prayer

⁹ Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.

¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Amen

-Matthew 6:9-14