Transcript

First time in my life ever raised the mic, off to a good start. I want to thank those who are participating in the worship, they're as busy as the rest of us. Robert had no choice, he's in my class. Janet, a secretary, I've asked three graduate students to participate, we sometimes forget about the graduate students, they too have souls, at least they did when they came, I don't know what happened. And Meg, thank you very much. When Meg was in my P301, she couldn't do a thing, in fact, after I heard her sermon, I said have you thought maybe of music, thank you very much. It's Easter, we're in the 50 days of joy, but even Easter is not a time of unambiguous joy. I recall a young, fresh preacher coming to our little church years ago, and on Easter Sunday he had printed those mock newspapers, Jerusalem news, and had all the stories about the resurrection as though they were public news. And he was jumping up and down, and had hallelujahs, and Christ is risen. On the way home, my mother said, it's apparent our new minister hasn't experienced Easter yet. And I said, well, he seemed excited enough, and she said yes, but he hasn't understood that if the debtor raised, then they leave us. Jesus' disciples finally understood that. And so you weep even at an empty tomb. And I know this is the spring of the year. Some of you will graduate and be leaving, and I'm not supposed to make this any kind of closing event, but I am not unaware of the fact that some of you will be leaving. And that is a fulfillment of Easter, but in the heart it is also an interruption of Easter. The text, which Brian read, is known to all of you, acts to, it's the narrative of the birth of the church. The disciples were all together in one place, the city is Jerusalem. There was the sound of a rushing of a mighty wind that filled the room, and tongues like fire sat upon their heads, and they began to speak in tongues. And most extraordinarily, everybody there heard what they said in his or her own language, a miracle of the ear as well as of the tongue. And there were people there from every nation under heaven, Luke says, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and Cappadocians and Libyans and Romans and from every place. And they saw what was going on, and they said, these people are filled with new wine. And Peter stood with the 11 and said, they're not drunk as you're supposed. It's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is the fulfillment of the prophet Joel. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. And having explained the extraordinary occasion, he preached Jesus Christ. And they were deeply stirred, and many of them were brought to faith. 3 ,000, says Luke, were baptized. That's the text. Frequently in classroom and in chapel, in lecture, and in sermon, the students complained about not having anything to think about during the lecture or the sermon. And they feel themselves not very well employed during the time. And I anticipated that problem because it's an old problem. Even in the first century in synagogues, the question came up, what are we to do if we have an old senile rabbi? And we don't get anything. And the instruction was this, if you have an old senile rabbi who stands up there and gives you nothing but the toothless reminiscences of his youth, take your books and study it during the sermon. After all, an hour of study is in the sight of the Holy One as an hour of prayer. So I anticipated this problem, and I've made some assignments for you to think about while I'm talking. Now John, all of these are based on the text that was read by Brian earlier, or at least from the narrative of Acts 2. Those of you whose last name begins A through F, I want you to think about this, the inclusiveness of the church on the day of its beginning. Now that's your thought. They were there from every nation under heaven, and the prophecy of Joel was, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh, you get that? Sons and daughters will preach, you hear that? Maid servants and men servants will prophesy, young and old, young will see visions, old will dream dreams, and whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Anybody left out? Nobody. Very inclusive. So think about that. You may want to think of some other things that come to your mind. For instance, the question that was asked the rabbis, why is it that our law, the law of Moses was given to us before we got to the land? It was given to us at Sinai in Arabia. Answer, so that we would always remember it is not for us alone, but for the world. You remember that? Yeah. Or you may think of that parable, that marvelous parable of God assigning a committee of angels to take care of the parting of the water at the Red Sea so Israelites could cross, and so the angels stood at the banister looking over, and when the Israelites got to the Red Sea they parted the waters, and then when the Egyptians came they released the water and chariots and horses and soldiers and all tumbling, drowning in the sea, and the angels were congratulating themselves on this assignment, and were jumping up and down and applauding and singing, and the Almighty came by and said, why are you so happy? I said, look, look, look, we got them, we got them, we got them. And the Almighty said, you're dismissed from my service. Why we got them? But the Egyptians are also my children, A through F, inclusiveness. G through M, think about what was preached. You may not recall it exactly from the text, but what was preached? When Peter stood with the eleven, it doesn't mean they were all talking at once, it means this is the apostolic preaching, this is normative, this is what C.H. Dodd researched, apostolic preaching, this is what they said. Notice, Jesus' way of life you all know attested by the power of God, Jesus' death you all know, in fact you're implicated in it, God raised him from the dead, and God lifted him to the right hand of the throne, where he sits and pours out the Holy Spirit upon the church. That's what they preached. Think about the need for just that being preached. Recall times when you've been to church and the preacher just put his or her finger on the own pulse and called it theology. This is the message. That's G through M, N through S, what I'd like for you to think about while I'm talking is how God is the subject of the story. Notice God is the subject of the story. Jesus' life in ministry, God confirmed by mighty works. Jesus' death by the foreknowledge and will of God, Jesus' resurrection, God raised him from the dead, Jesus' elevation, God exalted him to the throne. They preached the mighty acts of God. God is the neglected subject of preaching today. You can go to church sometimes, think about this, N through S. You can go to church sometimes and hear so much Jesus' talk and so much Holy Spirit talk, you forget that the proclamation is the mighty act of God. That's the subject. If you want to sit there and be disturbed by how this is so neglected, it's all right. It's all right to be disturbed by it. Don't create a disturbance. T through Z, T through Z, I would like for you to reflect on the closing of the sermon which according to Luke here, Peter and the others were interrupted. God has made him Lord in Christ, this Jesus whom you've crucified and the people said, but what are we to do? Now that was preaching, wasn't it? Preaching that stirred the question, what are we to do? How many sermons I've heard in which it was assumed somebody asked the question? And so we had sermons on what we're to do. Eight steps of salvation, four steps of salvation, whatever steps of salvation, droning through all of that when nobody has asked. Preaching of the gospel stirs the question, you see? And if you want to sit there and quietly weep over the deadness of pulpits that do not raise that question, it's all right. Now those are your assignments and if you care them out I will feel much more free to speak briefly about a theme in the story that is somewhat muted but it is by no means minor. I recall for you the language, this Jesus of Nazareth, his way of life you all know. That is to say, it's a matter of public record, the facts about it are accessible to historians, to the researchers, to the journalists, to the reporters, it's out there, public domain. This death of Jesus, you all know, it was very public, even passers-by saw what was happening. It is publicly visible, no secret, nothing private, no faith required, it's just there at the hands of lawless men killed. That God raised him from the dead, now watch it, that God raised him from the dead of that we are witnesses, you see the shift? His life you all know, his death you all know, his resurrection of that we are witnesses. Now for Luke, the preaching of the gospel is to witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the choosing of a successor, for instance, for Judas, they chose Matthias to do what? To be a witness to the resurrection and with great power they gave their witness to the resurrection. Paul when he was on trial said, I'm here because of the resurrection. In the text that Brian read, one verse on life, one verse on death, none verses on resurrection. But what I want to point out to you is, what does that mean? We're all going to live in the hereafter? Well Paul developed that, but we're talking about Luke. What did it mean to witness to the resurrection? It meant that Jesus Christ has been elevated to the right hand of God in his Lord of the church. That's what Luke says. Luke says that the resurrection means that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God pouring out the Holy Spirit for power and for guidance upon the church. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that the world has come to a critical corner and it is now turned. Peter said it in Jerusalem and Paul said it in Athens Greece. Peter in Jerusalem said, you have killed the Lord of glory, but I know you did it in ignorance, but now repent. This is a new day. And Paul stood on Mars Hill in Athens Greece and said, the times of ignorance, God overlooked. But now he commands all of us to repent by the announcement of the resurrection. The world has come to a new place. That's what the resurrection means. What does the resurrection mean? It means that the life of Jesus of Nazareth has been vindicated by God and therefore this is the life and this is the way the church is to live. What he did, we do what he said, we say. That's why, as you know, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts tell the story twice. Jesus' story and the church's story, it's told the same way. What he did, they did. He fed, he loved, he cared, he preached, they fed and loved and cared and preached. He ate with all kinds of people and brought them together and the church did. Oh, it was tough. The book of Acts says it was tough. They had councils about it and everything. How are you going to have it the same table? People who have different languages, dress differently, eat differently, have different histories. Their names are different. They just have everything different. People who have sworn, I wouldn't be caught dead together with those folk. How are you going to get them around the table? The church said we have to because he did. Now that's what witnessing to the resurrection meant and preaching means witnessing to the resurrection. But the point I want to make is this, that you and I are called on to speak when we don't have public approval or knowledge. There is no indication that the public believes this, cares for this, knows this. His way of life, you all know. His death, you all know. But his resurrection, we are witnesses. It means to give a minority report in the room. It means to stand up and say something that doesn't have general consensus. It means sometimes to be the only one who says it. That's frightening. It's no wonder the churches run to historians and scientists that get a little evidence in how preachers brag, you know, Dr. So-and-so, who's a known scientist, has come to believe so-and-so. And such and such a historian teaches at Princeton, has come to believe. And we think, hey, we're getting some help here. We're getting some help here. We're not getting any help. There is no help. We are witnesses to the resurrection. It means, therefore, to stand up and speak with courage. All the temptation is strong to get some proof. If we just had some proof, I hate to just stand up and say that and have somebody snicker that Christ is raised from the dead. I need some proof. I wish a lot of times God would support me a little more in things I say and just have a little, you know, people say woo -ee and have some support and some proof. It started a little bit in Matthew. In Matthew's account of the resurrection, having the soldiers there and the guards and the rumor and it really happened, he's already trying to prove it. I know the feeling. And in those post-New Testament documents, Christian documents, they would have the risen Christ appear in public on the street and, you know, going into Kmart and everywhere, just scaring people. Isn't that Jesus? That's Jesus because the church wanted so much for everybody to believe it and we just want to prove it. Faith doesn't come at the end of proof. Faith is in response to the witness, but that takes courage, takes courage to speak it in the face of cynicism, speak it in the face of indifference, speak it in the face of laughter, speak it in the face of greed, trying to get the attention of people who are on their way to some