Acts 2 14, 36-47 2008
Easter 3
Acts 2:14, 36-47
April 6, 2008
“What Shall We Do?”
Scripture: Acts 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: 36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Introduction: Two brothers and a sister were left home for the day at their parent’s home. It was one of those special days when they were all getting along with each other, enjoying each other’s company. They were in the living room and began wrestling around on the sofa, tickling each other and laughing out loud. They were laughing hysterically. Then with one wrong move, they landed on the antique coffee table sitting in front of the couch. Their parent precious antique table split in two. Their laughter was replaced by horror at what they had done. Their joy turned to tears. They looked at each other and said, “What shall we do?” There was no way to replace it. “What shall we do?” There was no way that they could fix it, “What shall we do?” There was no way they could get rid of it without their parents knowing, “What shall we do?” In their helplessness all they could do was say, “What shall we do?”
The people of Jerusalem had gone about their lives waiting for the Messiah, the Savior to come. Then He came. But they didn’t recognize Him. They were looking for a powerful leader, a majestic king, but Jesus came humbly and in the form of a servant. He lived a peasant’s life and then was crucified in a criminal’s death. They participated in His death at the instigation of their religious leaders. In ignorance, they did something terrible. They took the precious son of God and crucified him on a cross. In today’s text, Peter boldly points out, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When these words struck their hearts, it felt like a dagger. The deed was done. They couldn’t take back the spikes. They couldn’t remove the cross. They couldn’t get rid of the evidence. Now Jesus was Lord and Christ. You can feel the sense of hopelessness as the Jews cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
That’s quite a question, isn’t it? What can I do to make up for putting God’s Son to death - for spitting in His face - for mocking Him - for whipping Him, for putting Him to death? We might feel the same way when we think about the sins that we have committed. With these sins, no matter how much we might try to think of ways to hide them or make them right we there is nothing we can do now to take them back - nothing that can be done to make up for what was done. We may want to change our lives, try to make up for past sins. But no matter how hard we try, we can’t change the past.
There was a man who had served over 20 years for a murder that he had committed. He knew that if he could have done anything to make up for his deed, he would have. But the one thing the parents and family wanted was their son back. And so there was nothing that he could do. No matter how many lives he saved, no matter how many people he fed, or how many years he was in prison, he could never do enough to make up for the life of another. The same is true of us and the deeds we have done. We know that our sins too, sent the Savior to the cross.
So how did Peter respond? What if Peter had shrugged his shoulders at their question and said, “I don’t know!”? Or worse, what if he had said, “it’s too late. Or what if he had said, “There is nothing that you can do”, and “You’re going to hell and that is all there is about it.” Can you imagine what utter despair the Jews would have gone through! But Peter had a better answer which gave them a bright ray of hope in the midst of their guilty darkness.
How? First of all, Peter told them to repent. The Jews had already been struck with sorrow over what they had done. But repentance doesn’t only mean sorrow over sins. It literally means to “change your mind,” to change the direction of ones life. They knew what they had done was wrong. So by telling them to repent - Peter was not only telling them to stop going down the path they were headed - he was pointing them to the new pathway - to the path of heaven. And there was and is only one way, one path to heaven. Jesus said in John 11, He who believes in me will live. So what Peter was really telling the Jews was to believe in Jesus Christ!
The next thing Peter told them to do was to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Faith in Jesus Christ is connected to Baptism. Through Baptism they would be connected to Jesus Christ and would be given all the blessings of Jesus. Through Baptism, all the benefits of Jesus life, death and resurrection would become their own. This is the power of baptism. Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the world, and rose three days later as evidence that God accepted His sacrifice. With His sacrifice and from His cross flows the forgiveness of sins…all sins…even the wickedest of intentions, even Christ’s own crucifixion are washed away in the flood of baptisms waters and faith in Jesus Christ.
That wouldn’t be the only benefit of baptism. Peter said, repent, be baptized, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. God Himself would actually now dwell in their souls - giving them faith - enabling them to believe in Jesus as their Savior and act like believers.
It was a cold winter’s night, way below zero. It was late at night, very late. Two friends were on their way home. They turned off the highway and started off down the dark road towards a house that was still a long ways off. Then it happened, the lights went dim, the motor stopped, and they glided to a stop on the side of the road, surrounded by the cold and the dark. They tried to start the car but nothing happened. They weren’t dressed for the cold so there was no way they could walk and there was no where to walk to. Then one friend said to the other with exasperation, “What shall we do?” “What shall we do.” Neither of them had been going to church regularly, nor had they talked to much about religion and faith, but one friend surprised the other with these words, “I think we better pray…there was nothing else left to do in their desperate situation. Uncomfortably they bowed their heads and began to pray. As they finished praying they raised their heads and helplessly looked around one more time. This time, off in the distance, almost invisible to their sight was a phone booth. It wasn’t long before they had help, a new battery for the car and an engine that roared to life to take them home.
In baptism God gives us the forgiveness of sins. But He also gives us so much more. He gives us His promise to always be with us. He promises to listen to our prayers and answer in His own way, even though we don’t deserve it, even when we are not faithful to Him, He always remains faithful to us.
Peter told the Jews - this is God’s promise for you - and not only for you - but also for your children - for all who are far off. What does all mean? It doesn’t matter who you are, how old you are or how young you are, it doesn’t matter if you are born in Milwaukee or Manchuria, it doesn’t matter what you have done or left undone, what Jesus Christ did he did for all. He did it for you. There is plenty of forgiveness to go around! What good news this must have been for the Jews – God’s grace given freely and without cost. They didn’t have to do anything. That is because God, in Jesus Christ had done it all. How can it be so easy?
Of course some people don’t believe that it can be that easy. After all, this is hard for many people to believe. How can forgiveness be so easy? How can salvation be given through repentance, faith and the washing of water in simple baptism? Maybe people find this difficult because we humans find it so difficult to forgive. If a person offends us, sins against us, and they are sorry, we are tempted to say, “Ah, Ah Ah, it’s not so easy, I have expectations of you, you need to do certain things before I am willing to forgive.” And the astonishing thing is, even if these conditions are met, forgiveness is seldom freely given. After all, most people like to carry grudge boxes around. And they are happiest when those grudge boxes are full. Thanks God that He doesn’t carry a grudge box. Oh, the grudges He could keep against us! By faith in Jesus Christ and through the waters of Baptism God washes out His grudge box. This is forgiveness. For God it is as if our sins are as far from Him and His memory as the east is from the west.
”What shall we do then?” How did the people respond? After Peter laid out such an easy course for them, the Holy Spirit worked through that message to give many of them faith. The text goes on, “those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. We are impressed when we read that the Lord added over 3,000 people to His church on that first day of Pentecost. Yet I have heard that on a world scale, the Lord adds more than 3,000 people to His church every day, even right now, on this very day. The miracle of Pentecost is still happening throughout the world. We are witnesses to this miracle of God. In the mountains of Thailand a church of 100 people continues to grow. Through out many other villages’ hundred more believe in Jesus Christ and being baptized. This year, two men will be ordained into holy ministry and they will nurture these Christians with God’s Word and the Sacraments. It all started when the Gospel was preached and the people heard the message of the gospel and “What did they do?” They believed and were baptized. IT is through you and your support of this mission that the miracle of Pentecost continues.
We need not go to Thailand to see the miracle of Pentecost. Over the last 2 years, here at Immanuel the Lord has brought in 24 new people to be with us, to join us in serving God, and praising His Holy Name. Young and old, the Lord is increasing His golden harvest of those that He has saved. For this we celebrate and give our Lord Thanks and praise. The most amazing thing is that most of us didn’t even notice. That is of no matter. The Lord continues His work of salvation whether we notice or not and He increases His church. He sustains it.
3, 000 people were added to the church on that day in Jerusalem. But that was not the end of it. Did they say, “We were baptized, so we can just live however we want to now?” Of course not! That day was not the end of their Christian faith, but the beginning of their new life in Jesus Christ. We are told what was involved in this life. They began to devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. In other words, they went to church, they took care of each other. They shared the Lord’s Supper together and they prayed.
As the Holy Spirit produced in the early disciples a sense of family, as they shared everything with one another, we too learn each day what it means to be family to each other. We share the common joy of knowing Jesus our Savior. We share the tears of heartache and failure. We comfort each other knowing that God forgives us our sins. We learn to share God’s love with each other and with people through out the world.
As God’s family joined together her at Immanuel, I ask you, “What then shall we do?” How do we respond to God’s out pouring of grace and forgiveness? Together we celebrate what God has done and what He is still doing. We celebrate Easter and the new life that we have in Jesus Christ. Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Jesus lives! And as long as He lives, we have reason to live as well. What shall we do? We will continue to trust in the promises of God, His forgiveness and life given to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.