Third Sunday of Easter - Words Revealed

Welcome Statement

Good Morning everyone. Last Friday I had the blessing of going to a Gideon’s appreciation dinner for Pastors (4/12/23). While we were there, two different Gideons spoke. One Testified on the many different people in his life he was able to meet and come across, both those who denied Christ, showing the reality of evangelism, but more importantly those who accepted Jesus Christ. He emphasized that he was just a vessel, and that it was Christ almighty himself who was the one that changed hearts, he was simply just one of many people handing out bibles to people, and asking if people were interested in salvation. Another one spoke a message on the story of the Gideons. I had never quite truly understood the mission of the Gideons. I knew they put Bibles everywhere, but I never quite understood why or what the reasoning was. Was it just accessibility of scripture? What was it? Well, the way I understood it after hearing them speak, and I would certainly let them all speak themselves sometime on their faith, they see the Bible as authoritative, as foundational, and as a living word, as said in John, and that maknig sure everyone has access to that word was of the utmost importance to them. That level of focus was a powerful story to me. The thing that stuck with me the most, as a Computer Engineer, was that they had crossed paths with an unbeliever, in college, who would go on to start the YouVersion bible app, which is quite frankly, the best free Bible App there is for everyday people. Taking that mission even further. These scriptures are sacred. But the scriptures themselves, they are just words, they have to be breathed with life by someone. someone living. that God who became man we met on Easter Morning, resurrected. The word that became flesh as proclaimed in John. We’ve talked about this before. About the imprinting of words on the heart. There is a difficulty that occurs before we get to having those words tattoo’d so to speak in our hearts. We have to wrestle with them. We have to find Justification with God. We have to hear those words, read them, find ourselves sitting in the throne room of God, to be justified by him in grace, mercy, and ultimately, faith in him. This comes with a lot of battles. The world Whispers in ones ears cultural ideas of who God is, who even what deity is in control of the universe and we find we have to put those biases away when reading scripture or hearing the good news, or witnessing miracles, or we might accidentally find ourselves worshipping false idols surrounding the miracle itself. Let’s look to Acts to see what I mean.

1st New Testament Reading - Acts 3:12-19

Acts 3:12–19 ESV

And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

Peter Heals the lameman

We see here the tail end of a story where Peter had just healed a lameman. The crowd was astonished and looked at them in bewilderment. If you are familiar with the story of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, where Paul heals a lame person by simply looking at him, the Lycaonians declare that Paul and Barnabas are simply gods in human form, calling Paul Hermes and Barnabas “Zeus”. We can imagine something similiar is happening here where people are starting to idolize Peter himself, wondering where he gained this power and strength from. This is where this passed proceeds to explain it is not him but a power above him.

Justification Through Wisdom

He makes it clear that the one they denied, the one that they acted against through ignorance, is where they derive this power to heal from. The God of Isaac, who is Jesus Christ. These people lack the wisdom, to see Jesus, to understand his words, when they heard his parabels, their hearts could not understand, so the words could not imprint onto their hearts. They lacked the wisdom. The question then becomes how do we make sure we gain this wisdom? It requires a heart made of flesh. A responsive heart. It requires that surrenderence that I repetatively talk about each week, because of our stubborn human natures.

Justification Through Faith

We see even explained clearly, it’s not through Peter’s own doing the person is healed, but the man’s belief in Christ’s power, the faith in Christ, that heals him, his belief and faith in Jesus, that he is able to heal, that releases him of his bondage of his handicap. He is justified through faith and faith alone. We see Christ expand upon this before he ascends in Luke.

2nd Testament Reading - Luke 24:36-48

Luke 24:36–48 ESV

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Christ Opens Hearts

This is where we as Methodists get this idea of “prevenient grace”. Christ is the one that has to “open minds to understand the scriptures”. Remember, in jewish culture of this time, the mind is understood to be in the levav, meaning, the heart. This means, we must have an open heart to receive. This is why God pours out his grace onto everyone, to help soften their hearts to make that choice. People can choose to reharden their hearts, they can choose to take the cards they were dealt, and reacts worse to this life than it has to be. I know how life is, I wish I could tell the card dealer “let me redraw, but only on these cards”, but that’s not how life works. This is why only an open heart for God’s grace is the way forward, we take both the blessings he has given us, and gladly take on the brunt of the fallen world around us, and try to improve things as we can, loving those around us as much as we can, being that image of christ to other people. We are to proclaim, as Christ said here, to all people, the repentence of sins.

Closing Statement

So when we reflect on the stories of people changing people’s hearts & minds, it isn’t through their own doing, it’s through God. The only thing these people have done if anything, is as the guy said, allowed themsleves to be a vessel for God’s Glory. We are to be vessels, so Christ can open hearts & minds. We can’t do it on our own, our own opinions and egos get high and mighty, and make us think we know better, especially when we get caught up on intricate details on people’s lives that bother us in their spiritual journey’s towards Christ. I have a book called Messy Church I’ve been reading, and I think they should make a follow up book called Messy Faith, because faith isn’t this clear cut and clean thing, where the person is just zero to one hundred a perfect follower of Christ. Many people misunderstand Wesley’s idea of Perfect Sanctification as some sort of ticket to perfection in an instant, when it’s really about God molding us overtime, with bumps, bruises, and lots of duct-tape. It is important when we read scripture, we do it with an open heart for the Holy Spirit to reveal the word’s true intentions, what it means for today’s context, what it mean’s for the future, what it meant for the people during the time it was written, and how it can help us follow Jesus Christ better, and love others better. How does it line up with other books? Or other Chapters? What are the connections? Scripture isn’t isolated. This is the beauty of the Bible. Wisdom and Knowledge is power as a Christian and is extremely important, and it must abound in love if we are to love effectively, and we can only have Christian Wisdom if we surrender to Christ. Let Us Pray.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We thank you for the Holy Spirit that imprints on our hearts the meaning of scripture, how it applies to our current contexts, our lives, the grand story of your vision for your Church, your body, how we might glorify you in our lives. As we go out this week, help us to be inspired by your word, to spread the good news again, to take a second read at something that caught our eye, make sure we didn’t misunderstand it, and make sure we truly are glorifying you when we can. Lord, we thank you for the blessings of Wisdom and Knowledge you provide through the Holy Spirit and through your Scripture. You inspire us to set ourselves apart from how the world behaves, and act better, knowing if we do falter, we can always come back to you for forgiveness. We thank you for that mercy, Lord.

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

As you go out this week, reflect on what it means that Christ really truly is that living word. That when he uses people as a vessel to serve, we are active participants in his glory, we are active helpers in building his church and kingdom. Reflect on the biggest lessons Scripture as taught you, and how the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes when your mind could not grasp the meaning on its own. Think how you might share that difference in understanding to someone, to help open them up to receiving the Holy Spirit for wisdom.

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!