“Life-Giving Words”

Acts 10:34-43

March 23, 2008 – ©Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes

Introduction

There’s a great story about a man in Yugoslavia who had accidentally electrocuted himself when he reached up to turn on the light while standing in the bathtub. His wife found his body sprawled on the bathroom floor. He was pronounced dead and, as was the custom in that town, he was placed in a room under a crypt in the town cemetery for 24 hours before burial. In the middle of the night the man came to, realized where he was, and rushed over to alert the guard, who promptly ran off terrified. Fortunately, he returned with a friend, and they released the newly revived man, whose first thought was to phone his wife and reassure her. He got no farther than, 'Darling, it's me—' when she screamed and fainted. Next he went to the homes of several friends, who were sure he was a ghost. In desperation, he called a friend in another city, who hadn’t heard of his death, and who convinced his family and friends that he really was alive. [Dynamic Preaching, Mar 1991, p. 41-42 from Living Beyond our Fears, by Bruce Larson].

God Gives Life!

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was dead, but God raised him from the dead!

Yet how do we know that Jesus Christ is alive? Well, we have the testimony of the Mary’s. The angel at the tomb said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” [Mt.28:5-6]. Then, Jesus appeared to them saying, “Greetings. … Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” [Mt. 28:10].

We also have the testimony of Peter. Jesus appeared to the disciples later that day in a room where they had gathered. Peter says in Acts 10:40-41, that Jesus died on the cross, “but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. . . .by witnesses who God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that Jesus appeared after his resurrection to more than five hundred believers.

Jesus is risen. It’s a miracle – a miracle that amazed everyone, even those who saw Jesus alive after his resurrection. They’d seen Jesus do many miracles – heal the lepers, the lame, the deaf, the blind, and the demon possessed, and even raise the dead – but this – this was really a miracle.

People still doubt. They doubt the resurrection. People doubt miracles – things that can’t be explained by natural laws or science. Vance Havner suggests it’s because we live on such a low level of the ordinary, or the explainable, that we leave no room for God to do the unexplainable, to do a miracle. [PreachingToday.com, “Missing the Miracles”]. But God is in the business of miracles.

Last December 7^th, when the platform on which the two Moreno brothers were working collapsed and fell 47 stories to the ground, one brother died – the other lived, and they expect will walk again. [PreachingToday.com, “Window Washer Falls 47 Stories, Survives”]. That’s a miracle.

In May, 1999, 15-year-old Tyler Clarensau shuffled to the altar in his church to seek healing of his malformed knee joints that had been made more painful from surgery. Forty teenage friends stood around him and began to pray. Then the whole congregation prayed loudly together – for 45 minutes. Then silence fell, and a man stood up and said Tyler had been healed. Tyler slowly stood up, did deep knee bends and walked. Soon he was running. [PreachingToday.com, “Teen’s Miraculous Healing”]. That’s a miracle.

Last Tuesday, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room, while Kip underwent an angiogram, a procedure that allows the doctor to see if there are any blockages in the arteries. A chaplain came by and asked if I prayed for miracles. I said all the time. When the doctor called me in, he said Kip’s arteries were clear, no blockages anywhere. He could go home.

However, a few days before, when they did a stress-echo test, they saw a significant blockage in one artery. The cardiologist was so convinced that he wanted Kip to be admitted to the hospital. He checked with the doctor who was on call for Kip’s physician, and they agreed to let him go home, but wanted him to have the angiogram as soon as possible. Everything indicated a blockage, but there was no blockage at all. His chart will record that it was a false—positive test. I have no doubt that God did a miracle!

Most of the time healing comes through the miracles of medical science: doctors, medicines, treatments, surgery. Sometimes God does a miracle.

In A. W. Tozer’s words:

“Anything God has ever done, he can do now.

Anything God has ever done anywhere, he can do here.

Anything God has ever done for anyone, he can do for you.” [PreachingToday.com, “A. W. Tozer on God’s Power”].

So, was it possible for God, who spoke and the universe came into being, “who took the sun in his hand and flung it into the sky,” to also roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb? [The Splendor of Easter, comp. & ed. By Floyd Thatcher (Waco, TX: Word Books, Pub., 1972) 80].

Could God really raise to life the One who is life? Is Christ risen from the dead? Yes! Absolutely! Jesus is alive!

Jesus is Lord of All

Believing that Jesus was alive, Peter and the other disciples began to do what Jesus had commanded them to do: “Be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” [Acts1:8]. “Go and make disciples of all nations” [Mt.28:19].

Gradually the gospel spread. In Acts 10, Peter had a vision from God about all food being clean, not just some. The vision prepared Peter to see not just food, but all people as clean, acceptable to God. A Roman centurion, Cornelius, also had a vision, and was told to send for Peter, so that they could hear the God’s message.

Peter and a few others went to Cornelius’ home to tell Cornelius and his friends about Jesus. Suddenly, Peter understood God’s vision. “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what it right” [Acts 10:34-35].

Cornelius was a Roman and a centurion, a Jewish oppressor. Cornelius was a Gentile, unacceptable to Jews. Yet, Peter, who had been taught his whole life to see Gentiles as those who should be avoided, began to see people the way God sees them. For Peter, a faithful Jew, this was a miracle!

God sees the heart. God accepts and loves all people, and wants everyone to know him and love him. So those who believe in Jesus Christ should also show God’s love to all people.

Peter was able to reach out in love to Cornelius as God did when he got to know him. Peter treated him as a brother, as one who had value.

“Christian love is intensely personal! It’s not enough to love humankind. Our task, our calling—indeed, our privilege, is to love people, to love specific persons.” [James W. Moore, You Can Get Bitter or Better (Nashville, TN: Dimensions for Living, 1989) 106]. We have to get to know a person and show them that we value them as a person.

God values each person. God’s love is all-inclusive. When the church gathers we should show that we value each person and reflect God’s all-inclusive love. However, Christians don’t always show that kind of love that values others, that welcomes the stranger.

In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote of a time during his student days when, after reading the gospels, he seriously considered converting to Christianity. It seemed to offer the real solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he went to a church in hopes of speaking with the minister. When he entered the sanctuary, the ushers refused him a seat and suggested he go to worship with his own people He left and never went back. He thought, “If Christians have caste differences also, I might as well remain a Hindu.” [INFOsearch, Illy. “Why Gandhi Turned From Christ”].

All too often, that is what people see in a church. We get so comfortable with our circle of friends that we don’t really want to open up our circle and include anyone else. So we show the strangers by our actions that they are not welcome. We may not tell them to go away, but we don’t make an effort to get to know them or show them we value them. We don’t extend Christ’s love to them.

But, the church isn’t just a circle of our close friends. It’s “the body of Christ,” and includes all who fear the Lord, people from all nations, all avenues of life, all levels of society – all who do what is right in God’s eyes.

God’s love not only values each person and is all-inclusive, but it is also self-giving, sacrificial. How do we know that? Just look at the cross. On the cross Jesus’ gave his life for the sins of all people. No matter whom you are, or what you have done, your sins were laid on Jesus as he hung on the cross. We nailed him there – your sins, my sins, the sin of the world.

· No matter how many sacrificial acts of love we do, they will never be enough to make us right with God.

· No matter who we are, or how good we are, we will never be good enough to earn our way into God’s family.

That’s why we need the cross. Jesus’ sacrificial act of love on the cross puts us all on level ground. At the cross no one is better than another. At the cross we learn to value and love one another as Christ loves us. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, the way to God is open for all who believe in him.

Paul wrote in Romans 10:11-13, “’Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

Peter told the crowd at Cornelius’ house, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” [Acts10:36].

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” We have peace with Christ and peace with one another through the cross. That’s a miracle!

The real miracle of Easter isn’t about believing that God raised Jesus from the dead, that Jesus is alive.

The real miracle of Easter is that we can now live in the reality that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. [Acts 10:36].

The miracle of Easter is that through Jesus Christ we can gather together, people of every nation, and celebrate the Lord of life!

Conclusion

Today we celebrate again the good news of Easter – “Jesus has risen from the dead” [Mt.28:7]. Those are life-giving words. As God restored life to Jesus, so we are restored to life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Our task, as it was for the disciples, is to be messengers of the good news, that by our lives we will prove the power of the gospel.

Vinay Samuel, wrote, “One sign and wonder, biblically speaking, that alone can prove the power of the gospel is that of reconciliation. … Other religions may be able to duplicate the miracles that Christian miracle workers do. But they cannot duplicate the miracle of black and white together, or racial injustice being swept away by the power of the gospel.” [PreachingToday.com, “The Miracle of Reconciliation”].

Think about that.

· We, who have been reconciled to God by Jesus’ death and resurrection, are to be reconcilers.

· We, who have been loved by God, are to love others as we have been loved.

· We, who have received these life-giving words, are to give life to others by giving up our lives for others.

Do you believe in miracles? Look around you! The greatest miracle that the world can see today is the miracle of reconciliation through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is risen! And Jesus Christ is Lord of all!

Believe it! Share it! Live it! Amen.

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This sermon is copyright ©2008 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes, Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois.