Sermons for the Month
The Next 364 Days Are Vital Too!
DATE: April 18th, 2004
SERVICE: Second Sunday of Easter
TEXT: Acts 5:27-32“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
Last Sunday we celebrated THE most important day of the year for Christians. So, if that was THE most important day, then what is there to say about today, the Sunday after Easter? Some would equate this Sunday with some others in the year, like the Sunday before Memorial or Labor Day, or the Sunday after Thanksgiving or Christmas or the one closest to July 4, when taking a break is expected.
Yet, if a church sign I noticed this week is true, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every Sunday. And our ancestors in the faith certainly did not take a break once they accepted the resurrection as a reality and were filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead, even after being beaten, they rejoiced and did not cease their proclamation of Jesus.
Today's reading from Acts, the book of the Bible that we'll be focusing on during this Easter season, is part of an exciting story. Let me fill you in on the details we did not read.
First, let's remember when all this occurred. The account in Acts 5 took place after the resurrected Jesus, having spent 40 days with his followers, has ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit has descended upon the followers of Jesus. Empowered by that Spirit, the apostles have been doing many signs among the people and preaching about Jesus. They had already been taken into custody once by the religious leaders and were warned to stop speaking about Jesus and his resurrection. But, they have not stopped, and more believers than ever are being added to their numbers.
So, the high priest arrested them and put them in prison. The next day he gathered together the Sanhedrin and elders of Israel and ordered that the apostles be brought to them. His intention, no doubt, was to have a trial and punish them for disobeying the previous order stop proclaiming the Risen Christ.
However, when the temple police arrive at the prison they could not believer their eyes. The jail cell door was locked, the guards stood firm in the proper position, but the prisoners were gone. It's a scene that is similar to the one at the tomb of Jesus - there is no way to explain why the people who are supposed to be inside are missing.
Then amazing news is reported. The apostles - instead of fleeing the city which is what one would expect escaped prisoners to do - are back in the temple teaching the people.
By now the authorities have come to the conclusion that the apostles have more support than they had imagined. It is believed that they have sympathizers in the ranks of the temple police. How else would they have been freed without damaging the locks on the doors? They, of course, would not in their wildest dreams attribute the escape to an angel of the Lord.
Once again the apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin and are reminded that they are under strict orders not to preach in Jesus' name. Peter's response is simple, but powerful. He says, first of all, that they will not stop preaching about Jesus because God told them to do so, and God must be obeyed rather than human authority. Second, he makes it clear that although the Romans executed Jesus, the Sanhedrin was responsible for his death because they handed him over to them. And, third, Peter reminds the Sanhedrin that he and the other disciples all witnessed both the death and resurrection of Jesus, the implication being that those experiences and the power of the Holy Spirit will keep them talking regardless of the threats made against them.
The response to Peter is strong; the religious leaders want to kill the apostles. But, they were advised against it by a respected teacher of the law. He told them that if the apostles' teaching was of human origin it would fail. But if it was of God, they would not be overthrown, and in that case the Sanhedrin would be fighting against God.
So, the apostles were flogged, ordered not to speak the name of Jesus and released. As they left the Council, though, they did something amazing. They rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of Jesus. And, they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.
That is such an inspiring story, and in the past I've preached that we need to be like them. But, as I thought about it this week, I realized how impossible that is. We have not spent time with the resurrected Jesus nor been released from a locked jail cell and given instructions to keep preaching by an angel. To compare us to them is like saying an orange is the same as a watermelon.
So, I wondered, what do we have in common with these first believers? Well, we too are followers of Jesus, we too have celebrated his resurrection from the dead and we too have been filled with the Holy Spirit.
Just as the Holy Spirit was at work in their world, that same Spirit is with us in this particular time and place making sure that the Good News about Jesus survives. Then, the proclamation about Jesus was made possible through jail escapes and the Spirit-given ability to rejoice in spite of physical abuse and suffering. How will that proclamation be kept alive among us? What obstacles will the Holy Spirit empower us to overcome?
On Monday I went to see the exhibit in Akron, "From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book" and I walked away with such a strong sense of the Holy Spirit's work among us. When I looked at those fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and saw manuscripts written in Greek - an ancient language that I have studied - and recalled how people literally were martyred for the cause of translating the Bible into common languages it seemed clear to me that it was only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we hold holy scripture in our hands and have multiple Bibles in our homes. The Holy Spirit was at work in people of the past to overcome obstacles to the spread of God's word in written form.
Given all that, I am completely confident that the Holy Spirit is at work here. While the details of what that means for us here at Faith Lutheran are still being uncovered, there is no doubt that God wants to use us just as the first followers and then the later scribes were used to keep the Good News alive. So, the question looms for us, how will we witness to the resurrection? What obstacles will the Holy Spirit help us overcome?
It seems to me that this is what I'm going to call a "G" time in the life of our congregation. GOD is with us as we GROW spiritually and in relationships through the various small group and other programs that are being initiated here. GOD is with us as we discover the GIFTS each individual has been given and put them to use as followers of Jesus. GOD is with us as GATHER information about expanding our outreach and about meeting space needs. Clearly, whatever obstacles we encounter in this "G" time will be no match for the power of the Holy Spirit who has made it possible for great threats to the proclamation of Jesus to be overcome.
During this "G" time God is preparing us for that which we can only begin to imagine. I'm thinking the vision will become clear in a year or so. In the meantime, while we GROW and discover our GIFTS and GATHER information, this we know, the command that was given to the first followers of Jesus by the angel who released them from jail is for us as well. "Go", the angel said, "…and tell the people the whole message about this life." That is, life lived with a resurrected Lord.
Last Sunday was THE most important day of the year; it initiated the next 364 vital days of proclamation and thankfully, because of the Spirit's presence, we are empowered to never cease in announcing that Jesus is alive. AMEN