Page 2: We Cannot But Speak

Acts 4: 1-20

 

 

          What does it matter? You go through life and you encounter things every day that just don’t matter.  Should you wear this tie or that tie? Should you wear a tie at all? Should you wear heels or sneakers? Should you vote for this man or that woman?  Should you buy groceries today or tomorrow? Should you carry an umbrella? What’s for supper? You know what I mean.

          Life is an unending series of answers to questions that don’t matter. Daily, we make dozens of decisions, the outcome of which has little to no effect on our lives. We choose our clothing, our meals, our conversations, with no impact on our existence. Sometimes, we change jobs or make allegiances to significant others or we sign up for other long term commitments. These decisions do impact our lives. We recognize them because we are called to think about them, to deliberate upon their ramifications. Then we make our choice.

          There are other decisions in our lives. They sneak up on us in the middle of our day. They give no warning and they come with no tag reminding us of how important they are to us and to those we love. They just show up without notice and many times, it does not register with us that this thing, this event, this confrontation, is a game changer for us.

          The book of Acts is a whole series of stories about the life of the early church, and also about the men and women who were there, who participated in that movement. We call them the Apostles.  They were, for the most part, uneducated, common men. Luke tells us that in Chapter 4 of Acts. But these men had a message. They all had the same message. Even then, it was packaged in different styles for different audiences, but it was the same message. The apostles were bold. They did not mince words. They went right into the teeth of those who opposed them and they spoke their peace. If they paid any attention to the consequences of their actions, it’s pretty difficult to tell when one reads Luke’s account. These men had a story to tell. It was so important to them to tell the story that they would not be quieted.

        Throughout history, men and women have come along who had a story to tell. In a high school in Duncanville, Texas, a student stands up in class and challenges his World History teacher for not ever teaching and just handing out packets to study. He is kicked out of the class but his point ignites other students to demand more accountability.

          In the 1980’s, Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a leader of the opposition against apartheid in South Africa. When a political rally was cancelled by the authorities, Tutu declared that he would hold a church service instead. St. Georges Cathedral was filled to overflowing. During the service, hundreds of armed police entered the cathedral and lined the walls as a show of force, taking notes of what Tutu was saying. At one point, Tutu addressed them directly, saying: “You are powerful. You are very powerful, but you are not gods and I serve a God who cannot be mocked. So, since you’ve already lost…I invite you today to come and join the winning side.” The congregation erupted in dancing and singing. The police didn’t know what to do. It was only a matter of time until right prevailed.

         Peter and John speak to the people in Jerusalem outside the temple and five thousand people were converted. The next day, they are ordered before the high priests.  The priests want to know by what power and authority such healings were done, for it is they who hold the religious power in town. Sound familiar? Peter answered. It is by the name of Jesus that these miracles are done. Jesus, the cornerstone of salvation. The priests were stunned. Like the policemen at St, Georges, who were confronted with a church full of believers, here was the healed man standing beside them. What could they do? They told Peter and John to quit teaching. They might as well have told them to go jump in the lake for all the good it would do. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. He had a story to tell.

         Peter’s response is the forerunner of Tutu and so many others throughout the history of the church. Peter tells the so-called religious leaders they can judge for themselves whether they should be listened to and obeyed.  He does not even try to stop them from judging. What he does do is stand up for Jesus. Peter tells them that where religious authority knocks heads with Godly authority, there is no contest. God wins. Peter has seen the resurrection. He has heard the testimonies and has one of his own. He will trust that over all man made authority. “…for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

         There is another application to this standing up in faith, and that is breaking the silence. Why do we put up with prejudice? Why do we let loudmouth people yell insults at coaches and umpires at ball games? Why do we stand by and listen to people berate and insult others? Politicians stood by and passed the buck and engineers stayed silent and a storm named Katrina nearly destroyed a great American city.  Leaders stood by and let tribal frictions go for so long that Rwanda suffered though genocide and millions died.

When it comes to standing for something important, silence is our enemy.

         Perhaps the greatest observation on today’s scripture is that the courage to speak up, to witness, does not come from us, but from our acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. We can be too.

         Ted Talks are one of the more popular forums on the internet. People are invited to come on for about five minutes to push their philosophy or agenda. Not too long ago, a twenty five year old schoolteacher names Clint Smith made an appearance. He was talking about speaking out for what you believe…and for not holding your voice when something important is going wrong. He wasn’t making a Christian appeal, but he might have been, as his words are of equal or greater value to a Christian. This was what he had to say:  “Who has to have a soapbox, when all you ever needed…was your voice.” 

          Faith…that’s all that Peter had…and look what that faith did. People will say it could have cost him his freedom…or his life, to say what he did. They’re right, but not in the way that they think. What Peter had to say gave him his freedom…and his life!

                        Witnessing from Solomon’s Portico

Acts 3: 1-19

 

            If you’re ever in Jerusalem and visit the Dome of the Rock, you might be standing on the spot where the Temples of first, Solomon and later, Herod the Great, once stood. Both are long gone, or buried, the last being destroyed in A.D. 66. If the temple were there today and you stood at its front door facing away from the entrance, you would be looking across the outer court to the eastern wall of the Temple grounds. In first century Israel, the eastern wall was about 600 cubits, or 900 feet, long. That’s about three football fields. When Herod rebuilt the Temple, the eastern wall was the only portion of the Temple remaining from Solomon’s time.  It was massive. The wall rose over 500 feet high and had double columns all along it. It was called Solomon’s portico because Solomon used to hold court there, pronouncing judgment upon various issues. The gospel of John records that Jesus taught there during the Feast of the Dedication. It was near this historic spot that Pater and John performed the first miracle of the Apostles, healing a crippled beggar.  And it was here, on Solomon’s Portico, that Peter witnessed the gospel to the people running to see the evidence of the miracle just performed.

          Peter and John had gone up to the Temple at prayer time. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. This was one of the three designated prayer times, the others being early in the morning and at sunset. A beggar, lame from birth, asks the disciples for money. Peter says “Look at us,” and the beggar does so.  Peter says I have no money for you, but what I do have, I give to you. Then Peter invokes the name of Jesus and tells the man to get up and walk.

          Peter took him by the hand and the man walked. It was instantaneous. He leaped! He started praising God and all the people in the area saw him. The man crippled from the first day he drew breath on this earth, the one who had to be carried daily to the place where he begged, was walking and leaping in the air!  The people were amazed. The man hung on to Peter and John like his life depended on it. He would not let them get away. And the people. They came running, straining to see what had been done.  

         I have to wonder. Was Peter amazed? Was John amazed? They had never done such a thing. What got into Peter to be so bold! Right in the temple court in front of everybody, Peter attempted a miracle. Peter was always impulsive, but this! This was over the top.

          And then there was this new sermon. Just like his message to the people at Pentecost, Peter proclaims Jesus as Savior, as Lord, as the Holy and Righteous One. Then, he calls for repentance. Peter is doing some serious witnessing. Gone is the lack of faith that made him sink when walking to Jesus on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. Gone is the fear that caused him to deny Jesus three times before the cock crew on the night of Jesus’s arrest. But still present, thank God, is that impulsive humanity, the humanity that got him out of that boat to begin with, the humanity that caused him to leave his fishing business and follow Jesus.

          That impulsiveness of Peter, his willingness to dive in head first without giving much thought to the consequences; that is what we see on exhibit here in Acts 3. Peter sees a man who is lame. Peter believes that Jesus can heal that man and Peter believes that Jesus can heal that man through him, the agent of Jesus. Nobody taught him how. Nobody taught him the words. The record tells us nothing of Peter discussing anything with John. Peter just acts, and he acts in the most exquisite way a Christian could possibly act. His words are perfect. “I have no money, but what I do have I give to you.”

          What did Peter have? What did John have? They had nothing…except what they needed. What they needed was faith…a boatload of faith. And they had it. Peter called for the healing of a grown man lame from birth and he called for it not in private, not in the relative safety of the Upper Room, not surrounded by Christians, but rather in the most public of all places. He was at the gate of the Temple and it was prayer time. Everyone religious was there. A skeptic can call that grandstanding. I call it utter and genuine faith in the living person of Jesus Christ and in the gospel he proclaimed.

          Some say church is boring. Some say church is unexciting. I’m sorry if church hits you that way. I’m so busy being awed by the presence of God that I seldom see it that way. But if you do, try reading the book of Acts. There’s nothing boring about it. It would make a great television series. For starters, look at Peter’s sermon.

          Peter is standing on Solomon’s portico, looking out over the city and back toward the temple. He looks at the crowd that has gathered and he calls out to them. Why are you staring? Do you think we did this! It wasn’t us. It was Jesus! Remember Jesus, the man you delivered to Pilate, the man you denied in his presence? Remember Jesus, whom you let die and delivered a murderer instead? You killed the Author of life itself. At least you thought you did. But he can’t be killed. He arose and it is the living Jesus, the son of God, who did this!

          Then Peter reveals the source of his power, the source of his belief. Peter tells the crowd that God raised Jesus from the dead…and it is that incredible truth to which Peter is bearing witness.  It is fitting that such a sermon is delivered from the portico where King Solomon rendered judgment over the people of Israel, for the news to which Peter bears witness is the greatest, most important news of his time, of our time, of all time! He is risen! He has conquered death and evil, and he invites us to be saved by our belief in him.

          Peter forgives his brethren for missing the message. He tells them that they acted in ignorance, as did their rulers. But he reminds them that what they did does not have to be what they do. He points out that all the prophecies with which they are so familiar have been fulfilled, including the suffering that Christ endured. Then he offers them forgiveness. In the same way that he acted as Christ’s agent to the lame man, he now acts to the crowd assembled on the portico. They can repent. They can turn away from that misguided way and they can find all their sins forgiven, blotted out. 

          It is a wonderful, stirring sermon delivered on the heels of a miraculous healing. How could Peter do it? How could he have undergone such a change in a few short weeks? Peter tells us. He has faith…faith in the name of Jesus and all that it means. Peter’s own faith in Jesus’  name caused the lame man to walk and leap as though he had new legs and indeed, in a very real sense, he did, for those legs had never been used in such a way until faith stood him up on those legs. Peter’s faith came from finding the truth, and the truth is that Jesus conquered death and that he promised such victory to all who believed in him. Faith…that’s all that Peter had…and look what that faith did.

          Peter also had the courage to speak of his faith and to do so in places where it could cost him his freedom or his life. Why now and not before? Because before, he did not have the faith to trust. Before, he did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart.  Now Peter knew the truth and it was so powerful he had no choice but to share it. What changed with Peter? Dorothy Bernard says this about courage: “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”  George Patton, the famous general of the Third Army during World War II, said it this way: “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”

          I doubt that Peter ever lost his fear, but he said his prayers…and he learned how to hold on that extra minute. I think, that when it comes to Jesus, the question is whether we truly believe who he was, who he is, and what he promised. If we do, his love will give us all that we need to speak…and to live…boldly, for him. Maybe John Lennon said it best of all: “Love is all you need.”

One Heart

Acts 4: 32-35

 

 

          We’re only a week removed from Easter. Only seven days ago, we were here, celebrating. Family came in for the weekend. We had communion. We had a sunrise service and breakfast. The church was packed. We spent forty days of Lent in the approach, a week of services, and then it was done. It was just a week ago.

          After the Easter service, many of us went home to rest, for Holy Week is a big production, even here in little old Jefferson, SC. We visited with family before they said their goodbyes. It felt joyous, even victorious, to celebrate the victory of Jesus.

          But what about Monday? And Tuesday? What about this Friday? Last week was Good Friday. What about this Friday? Last Sunday, he arose from the grave, from the dead. What about this Sunday? It’s only been seven days. What changed? Has anything changed?

          Luke tells us in Acts that the disciples waited in Jerusalem, probably in hiding, until the Feast of Pentecost, as they had been instructed to do by Jesus. About fifty days after the Resurrection, the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit during that feast. They came out of hiding and began to speak boldly, proclaiming the gospel to everyone. There were many converts. They numbered in the thousands. The disciples had changed. They were empowered and they empowered others. This, Annas and Caiaphas couldn’t handle them.

          In the book of Acts, Luke is telling us about the early church. It is a story of what those early believers did after the events of that first Easter were written on their hearts. Remember God’s promise to the prophet Jeremiah? He said “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts…no longer shall each one teach his neighbor [to] know the Lord, for they shall all know me.” God told Jeremiah that it was the new covenant. At the last supper before his arrest, Jesus raised his cup to the disciples and told them that the wine represented his blood poured out for them as the new covenant.

          Now in the book of Acts, the story of the early church begins to unfold. It is not just about the evangelistic Acts of the Apostles. It is the story of the tremendous power and grace that descended not just upon them, but upon all those who believed. It is the story of people who came together armed only with one common belief…that Jesus was the Christ…and how they formed into a family that became the sons and daughters of that new covenant.

          It was announced in Jeremiah; communicated in the flesh by Jesus. We are the heirs of the new covenant. It is a covenant promising that God is for us and that we are for God. It was made to the people of God and to each of us individually as well. God says in Jeremiah that we shall all know him, from the least of us to the greatest of us. We need not go through a priest or a minister to find him. His love is written on our hearts! The early church experienced this transforming power and grace and showed it in the way it did business with the world.

           Over history, we have made many attempts through various forms of government to be our brother’s keeper. We have seen Roman imperialism, dictatorships, monarchies, socialism, communism and democracy, to name only a few. In the private sector, we have tried capitalism, sectarianism, monasticism and the like. We have experimented with communes and living in solitude. Even in the days of the early church, there were those like the Essenes, who retreated into the desert to start communes set apart from the rest of society. But no matter what the “ism,” sooner or later it failed. If history is our informant, democracy will eventually go the way of all the others. No civilization, no form of government and no type of society designed by man has prevailed over time.

          The early church was different. It worked. It is interesting to see how simple it was. Although it had plenty of leadership, it had little by way of centralized power and authority. It didn’t have layers of bureaucracy. It had a remarkable system of welfare, but no formal programs. It doled out food and shelter, but there were no taxes to raise the needed revenues for such relief. The believers in the early church practiced communal living, but yet they owned their own homes and had their own possessions. They did not form a closed society like their brothers at Qumran. Instead, they lived right in the midst of Jerusalem and the Roman Empire. They were married and continued to marry and raise families.  

          The difference was not in the form of their society or church. The difference was in the application of the new covenant to their daily lives. The early church was a sharing church. They had possessions but rather than consider them exclusive, they used them as they saw fit to help those in need.  The church that Luke describes in Acts was a church that saw its mission as individuals and acted out that mission in community.

          The difference we see in the early church from all other forms of social interaction is not hard to spot. The believers represented in that early church were unified with one another through a common bond, the bond of love. Luke tells us that “those who believed were of one heart and soul”…that “they had everything in common.” The church was unified. It acted as one body with one voice. Everyday life in the church involved sharing. Those who had, shared with those who didn’t. In verses 34 and 35, there is evidence that in extraordinary circumstances, those who had property sold it or some of it in order to deal with that emergency. So sharing was an ordinary, everyday occurrence and sometimes it went much further if there was a need for more.

          Those who believed were of one heart. How strange that sounds to an American today. This is a culture of independence, of doing your own thing, going your own way. Even in the halls of Congress, the only signs of unity are those that surface in discord. Twenty Congressmen band together to reject or protest something. They are the “say no” lawmakers. The church Luke describes in Acts doesn’t seem to have had much time for saying no. It was too busy saying yes. It was of one heart.

          Does that mean that if we are to be effective for God, we all have to be the same? Not at all! We can be as different as night and day from one another and still be of one heart. Look at the Acts church. People were rich and poor, married and single and widowed. Some lived in big houses, some in small houses, some not in houses at all. The economic status of a believer was important only in the sense that he or she could give more money to a certain need. The unity came not from the neighborhood you lived in, but from the understanding that your common allegiance was to Jesus.

          In the thirteenth chapter of John, Jesus tells his disciples that “All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Here, armed with the Holy Spirit, the disciples got the message. Luke says in that the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power; that great grace was upon them all.

          Last week, we were reminded of the new commandment. It came to us written in red through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. He died that we might live and live abundantly. This week we take a moment to look at the church he left behind. To this day, it is only partly built. God’s work is not done and the story remains unfinished. The example is there. The mandate is clear. Be of one heart. Have many bodies, perform many tasks, go many places, but be of one heart.  If this body of believers follows the example of the early church, we too can have great power in our testimony. We, too, will find great grace poured out on us all.

          For all its failures and mistakes along the way, the church of Jesus Christ is here some twenty one centuries later. It has survived all the failed civilizations and societies now gone and in the history books. How has it managed to do so? The church is God’s bride. It is not an institution of man. It has heavenly roots. We are at best only its stewards as God writes his story on the pages of history and on our hearts. 

          Yes, something has changed since Easter. Through the resurrection, we are empowered with God’s grace. We are to be of one heart and soul. We are to follow our Savior.  What is the task of the church? To disciple for Jesus with one heart!

Do You Love Me?

John 21: 1-17

 

 

          In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, a story of World War II and specifically of D Day, Old James Ryan has returned to Normandy and stands over the grave of Captain Miller, the man who was sent to save his life.  The whole squad was killed trying to save Private Ryan. In his dying breaths, Captain Miller tells young James to “earn this…earn it.” Now, as Ryan stands there some fifty years later, he talks to Miller’s headstone as though he were there. “Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.” Those men died for Ryan. They died to save a stranger. Five sons had been sent by the Ryan family. Only James returned. Only Captain Miller met him and that for just  for a moment. And yet, they gave all they had for this private.

          In the gospel of John, Jesus shows up on the shoreline for breakfast. It is after his death and resurrection. Seven of the disciples are there. It is daybreak. There is a great catch of fish…153 fish, the same number as there are varieties of fish in the Sea of Galilee. They had breakfast and were sitting around, maybe telling fish stories. Then Jesus spoke to Peter. “Peter,” he said, “Do you love me?” “Yes Lord, you know that I love you,” said Peter. Jesus answered: “Feed my lambs.”

          Jesus asked a second time: “Peter, do you love me,” and for a second time, Peter answered “Yes, Lord. you know that I love you.” Jesus answered, “Feed my sheep.”

          Yet a third time, Jesus addressed Peter saying: “Peter, do you love me?” And for a third time, Peter answered Jesus: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Don’t you know that by that time, it was occurring to Peter that Jesus had asked him about his love and loyalty three times, the same amount of times that Peter has denied Jesus on the night of his arrest. How that must have stung! And for the third time, Jesus answers: “Feed my sheep.”  

          Do you think the disciples were listening this time? Do you think Peter was? I think he was. We do that a lot, don’t we? We listen really well after the sun goes down on our mistakes and failures. Failure is such a splendid teacher.

          John gives us two wonderful word pictures here in this 21^st chapter of his gospel, a chapter many think was added later by someone else. I really don’t care, for my thought is that God kept it for us to read and share regardless of who wrote it. The first lesson is in the catch. John gives us the number (153) for a reason. First of all, the net is full. It can’t hold any more. Secondly, the catch is of every variety of fish in the sea. If the catch were men and women, they would be from all walks of life. They would be from all nations and continents. They would be men, women and children. And there will be many…enough to fill heaven.

          But Jesus saves the greatest lesson for his friend Peter. And Peter was his friend, regardless of what Peter had failed to do in the past. The god who became man, who brought us everlasting love, who taught us how to give love, who gave his all to prove that love, asks Peter if he got the message.  For the message of our Savior is love…love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus asks us not once but three times: Do you love me? In the gospel of John, this is the last time they, the disciples, saw Jesus. And Jesus acted not like a god, but a friend. He could see the swirls of fish from the shore and told them where to cast their nets. He probably helped them pull in the haul. He made breakfast for them. Then, knowing he was not to see them again on this side of heaven, he chose Peter to whom he would give some final advice. The advice he gave to Peter that day has been written down and preserved for the ages because it was that valuable. It was not just advice; it was a commission. If we love Jesus, as we say we do, then we can show that love by the way we handle our lives.

          It is as though Jesus is talking to us as his friends, but that is no accident. Jesus is our friend. Earlier in this same gospel, Jesus tells us that “greater love hath no man, than he lay down his life for his friend.” Do you love me? he asks. The answer is not just yes. We must realize just as Peter came to realize it, that to love Jesus is to spend that love on someone else. Love is the currency of heaven and not unlike a bank that pays interest on your investments, when you spend the love of Jesus on your fellow man, the Holy Spirit that dwells within you grows you a bigger heart.

          Feed my sheep, says Jesus. Peter heard him. The others heard him. They spent the rest of their lives finding lost sheep and feeding them. Jesus didn’t care about what Peter had done wrong. He doesn’t care about what you’ve done wrong, either. Jesus cares about what you have learned and what you do with that information. He doesn’t want you to do a thing for him. He wants you to do for others. That’s the way you show that you love him. Peter got another chance and he cashed in on it. He loved Jesus by loving others until his death.

          You know, Private Ryan had the right idea. He tried to live his life earning the gift he was given. He couldn’t pay for it, but he could pass it on. He came home from that terrible war and got a job and fell in love and married and raised a family. He showed up every day and tried to be a good man. He did what Captain Miller had asked him to do. He earned the investment of his fellow soldiers by living his life in honor.

          Jesus came to teach us love. Today of all days, on Easter Sunday, we realize that sometimes real love comes with great sacrifice… and always with steadfast diligence.  “Feed my sheep,” he said to Peter… and to us.

Happy Easter. He is risen!