Easter 2007 - Jesus is Lord and Christ (Acts 2,29-39)
Jesus, Lord and Christ
A. Introduction
1. Text: Acts 2:29-39
2. Title: The Resurrection Proves Jesus is the Christ
B. Body
The Book of Acts opens with Jesus resurrected and ascended to Heaven.
The first half of the book follows the story of Peter, one of the disciples.
The night before Jesus' crucifixion, Peter had sworn an oath to Jesus that he would never betray him. A few hours later, Peter had betrayed Jesus 3 times. Peter would rather lie than admit he knew Jesus, let alone that he was a disciple ... the disciple who had previously confessed Jesus was the Christ!
Why would the Book of Acts focus on Peter? Well, the Peter in Acts is a different person. He's changed - transformed by the resurrection.
1. What God Did Through Jesus Christ
Our story - the story of Easter - actually begins 1000 years earlier, when God made a promise to David. David was the King of Israel, the writer of many of the Psalms, and one of the heroes of the Jewish people. In 2 Samuel 7 God makes a promise to David ... that a descendant will reign as King over Israel forever. But there was a problem - for the 500 years before Jesus, there was no king, there as no Israel.
Peter took the Jews in his audience through God's promise to David, as well as David's anguish over death. But Peter also witnessed to the resurrection. Jesus is risen, Peter saw this; Peter ate, talked with, and touched Jesus after the resurrection. Not a dream, not a memory, but Jesus in flesh – Jesus is risen!
Peter ... the weakling who denied Jesus before his crucifixion, was now boldly and confidently preaching Jesus was Lord and Christ, the promised King of Israel. The promised, eternal King, who lives forever!
And after sharing this, Peter told them why this mattered: The resurrection was proof that God made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Jesus is the promised King.
So what? Why does this matter to us? Well, there are several reasons, but two need to be addressed immediately: One, that God is faithful; and the other, that we can have hope.
God keeps his promises. Now, a king who rules forever is a tough promise to keep. How can you or I defeat death? The answer is easy - we can't. But God can! God made a promise to us – the gift of eternal life! - and the resurrection is the proof we need to believe God that death has no hold over us.
But that's not all. Because God keeps His promises, we can have hope in something beyond death! In John 5:19, Jesus says that the Son - Jesus - only does what the Father does ... then, two verses later in 5:21, Jesus says, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives them life to whom he is pleased to give it." Jesus does what the Father does – he gives the power of the resurrection to us!
So in Acts 2:36, when Peter says, "Jesus is both Lord and Christ," the resurrection is used to prove this statement, and it also gives us hope - because God's done it once, and Jesus promised it will happen again.
In chapter 11 of John's Gospel, at 11:25, Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” So our hope is in Jesus Christ, and we have confirmation of what we hope in by Jesus' resurrection.
2. What We Must Do
John 11:25-26 ends with Jesus asking Martha a question: "Do you believe this?" The lady he asks says "Yes!", and then confesses Jesus is both Lord and Christ.
In our passage, Acts 2:, when Peter preaches to the Jews, they are convicted of this truth, but know something else. They were the ones who wanted him killed, and convinced the authorities to put Jesus to death. They shouted, “Crucify him!” They were guilty of killing the promised king!
They killed the King; God's promised king! What can they do? Actually,that's exactly what Peter's audience asked. What shall we do?
And, if we are honest with ourself, that's what we should be asking! Our sins put Jesus on the Cross, just as much as the Jews Peter was addressing did. So their cry is our cry: What can we do? We’ve killed our savior!
Peter answers this for them - and for us. "Repent and be baptized." Turn from our sinful ways and accept the forgiveness that Jesus secured for us on the Cross. Turn from our sinful ways, or rejection of God, and follow Jesus.
Repent and be baptized. Peter, through the power of the Holy Spirit, links repenting, baptism, and forgiveness. How can Peter say this? Well, it's easy to say "because its true" - and that's a good answer, but there's another reason - He had experienced it personally. Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, was restored by Jesus - by the resurrected Jesus. Peter knew first hand the power of forgiveness. How being forgiven powerfully changes us. Peter knew this, and so Peter preached this truth.
This is a truth we all can know. We've hurt people in the past; when we confess this and turn to the forgiveness offered by God, we are changed, transformed into something new, something different.
3. What God Will Do
I learned about this in part through my wife. Judy taught me what love is, and how love can change a person. The good that I am, that I do, is primarily a result of my wife. I make mistakes, and from my wife I'm strengthened by her love to admit them. My wife has made me a better person. But I'm still just a person. Her love has brought out the good within me, but she can't - her love can't - make me into something I'm not. No person can do that. Only God can do that. But through my wife's love, I've come to understand God's love for me better.
God can change me; God has changed me - through the power of the Holy Spirit. When I repented and was baptized in Jesus' name, I received a gift from God - the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that this makes me "a new creation" - I'm something different, better, because of God's love and God's Spirit of Life. The eternal life that Jesus promises believers in John 5 and John 11 is given to us - the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised is received by believers and powers their spiritual life.
How does the Holy Spirit change our lives? Well Paul, in 2 Tim 1:7, describes the Holy Spirit as a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, demonstrate a newfound power to live life. Peter - once a quick-tempered young man who failed to keep his oath to Jesus - was filled with the Holy Spirit and become a calmer, 'godly' person, loyal even to death proclaiming Jesus. Peter, who never spoke much in the Gospels, suddenly is preaching sermons like today's reading ... sermons full of power and conviction; full of God's grace. A sermon like this can only be delivered through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In my own life, I find the Holy Spirit active in two related ways: Peace and Prayer. I find myself no longer suffering from anxiety. Some might even say I'm relaxed, laid back. Without disagreeing with them, I just say that I have no reason for anxiety. My faith and hope are in God, the Father who raised Jesus, and Jesus Christ - who's resurrection proves death has no hold over me. The thing I was always most anxious about is death - dying. I mean, we're all going to die; I didn't know when. Death was not a stranger in my life - my father died young, I was holding my grandmother when she died. I worried my life couldn't have meaning because when I died, it was "over". The resurrection showed me something new - something better - eternal life. The Holy Spirit living in my heart keeps my soul turned to God, keeps my hope alive, and keeps peace in my heart. I'm not anxious because the spirit of peace promised by Jesus lives within me.
Now, I do struggle at times. But I find in these moments of doubt that I've turned from God. The Holy Spirit jabs me, my conscience is troubled, and I find myself drawn back to God in prayer. So I pray. And as I'm praying, I realize where I'm at, where I need to be, and am drawn back to God, back to peace, back to life.
Now the Holy Spirit fills my life with both peace, and calls me to prayer. I am freed from a life of anxiety over death ... and freed to be alive and live the life God called me to.
C. Conclusion
So we’ve seen in this passage that the Resurrection proves Jesus is both Lord and Christ; we’ve asked the question, “What can we do?” and discovered that when we respond to God, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Life living within us. The Resurrection truly is the power of God.
The resurrection is no stranger to doubt; Thomas doubted. But when Thomas came face to face with Jesus after the resurrection - he no longer doubted, he confessed, "My Lord and My God." Today, we are confronted with the same challenge Jesus asked Matha: Do you believe Jesus is the Resurrection, the life? Martha answered yes, and saw her dead brother restored to life. The Jews hearing Peter's sermon in Acts 2 believed, and were told to repent and be baptized - they did, and received real forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.
Saying Yes to Jesus' invitation to believe is the easy part. Living the rest of our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit is the exciting part. It's exciting, because we see what sort of person God intended for us to be. Some become bold, loose shyness, gain confidence. Others, who were arrogant and obnoxious become humbler, willing to serve, gentle and kind.
The change is possible because of two promises from God. First, that death would be defeated and His king reign forever. Jesus is the Christ who sits now at the right hand of the Father, King of Kings. And second, Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit to all who repent and are baptized in his name - that we may share in His reign forever.
There's a saying that there are only two certainties in life: Death and taxes. No one likes paying taxes, but at least it means we've earned an income. Likewise, we want to live; yet death is an enemy. Death is not the consequence of something good, but of sin. I can't save myself from death - scientists can't cure us of death - but God can. The resurrection proves to us, you and me, that Jesus is greater than death; and it confirms Jesus is the Messiah - the promised heir of David - the Christ.
But there's more! More good news. Not only am I freed from the curse of sin, but I am given life through the Holy Spirit living in me when I accept God's invitation. This is how Paul describes it in Romans 8:11 " ... if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." Jesus promised he is the way, the resurrection is the path, and the Holy Spirit is God's gift of power to travel the path back to God.