SERMON 497
EASTER 3 – APRIL 29, 30, 2006
ACTS 3:12-19, 1 JOHN 3:1-7. LUKE 24:36B – 48
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AND POWER AT WORK IN US AND FOR US!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.
While Eric Hulstrand of
As they strapped her to a
stretcher and got ready to head out the door, Mary regained consciousness. She
motioned for her daughter to come near. Everyone thought that she was summoning
her strength to convey what could be her very last words. The daughter leaned
over until her ear was at her mother’s mouth.
“My offering is in my purse,”
she whispered.
Faithfulness is something
that we all recognize when we see it. This elderly lady, in thankfulness and
gratitude, was going to give her offering to God no matter what befell her.
Faithfulness is something that we yearn to find in others and that we yearn to
find in ourselves. Faithfulness is something that even our world praises even
if many in the world do not practice it themselves.
As we look at our lessons we
shall do so under the theme GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AND POWER AT WORK IN US AND FOR
US!
We see the power of God at
work in the first lesson from the book of Acts. Peter had just healed a man who
had been paralyzed from birth. The man had been carried by his friends to lie
at the foot of the gate called Beautiful to ask for alms, as was his custom.
Rather than giving him any money, Peter gave him what he never dreamed
possible. He was actually able to stand up and walk for the first time in his
life. The man was so overjoyed that he entered the temple with them, jumping
and leaping up and down and shouting and praising God. It created quite a stir
indeed, and a large crowd gathered around Peter and the man. Everyone was
filled with wonder and amazement as well they should have been. Peter took the
opportunity then to proclaim both God’s power and God’s faithfulness.
Now a man paralyzed from
birth does not simply stand up and start walking, indeed begin by jumping up
and down, without there being some extraordinary power involved. There was! And
Peter, though he was the one who spoke the words to the man and told him to get
up and walk, took no credit. This power was evident in their midst through the
use of the name of Jesus Christ. God was at work in their midst and it was
God’s power that made the man whole.
The miracle also pointed to
God’s faithfulness. God had made some promises some twenty centuries before to
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of the ancestors of the Hebrew people. God
had promised to bless all of human kind through their seed, their descendants.
And now God had done just that. God had sent the long promised one in the
person of Jesus Christ to be the redeemer of the world.
But as he spoke of God’s
power and faithfulness, Peter had no alternative but to point, rather
dramatically, to human kind’s unfaithfulness. God had fulfilled his promise and
sent the righteous one. Human kind had put him to death by crucifixion.
Can you imagine any greater
contrast? When God sent his son, we asked that he be put to death and a
murderer released in his stead. Now Jesus was not only an innocent man. He was
the only person who ever lived who was without any sin. God could find
absolutely no fault in him, in thought, word or deed. Human kind simply could
not stand having such a righteous person in their midst. Human kind put him to
death and released a murderer in his stead.
But God’s faithfulness
extended even beyond that. Even after we put the sinless one, the innocent one,
the righteous one, the very author of life to death on a cross, God turns
around and offers to forgive the culprits. Peter told those assembled there
that God wanted them to turn to God, repent and believe. God promised that in so
doing their sins would be completely wiped out by the righteous one they had
crucified. Talk about faithfulness!
In the lesson from the letter
of John, we hear John tell of the faithfulness of God when he uses the word “love”.
John tells us, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called
children of God.” God is so faithful that he will ensure that when he comes and
when we see him as he is, we will even be like him. God in his faithfulness and
love is prepared to glorify us as he glorified his son so that we can actually
be like him.
As parents and grandparents
we strive to be faithful to the ones that God has given us to be our children.
We struggle to find a balance as to how much we shall give them and leave them,
and how much we shall withhold from them and discipline them. We do not want
them to be just like us, we want them to be better than us. God, the author of
life, the author of love and life, actually wants us to be like him, completely
faithful, loving and generous.
In the Psalm for the day,
human kind are asked how long they will dishonor God’s glory, how long they
will worship dumb idols and run after false gods? When we see the dumb idols
that our generation runs after, and when we hear of the terrible atrocities
that are being inflicted in warfare on women and helpless children we are often
overwhelmed with horror and sadness and questions. The Psalmist tells us that
in the midst of all this continuing disobedience of human kind, we are not to
lose heart. God, he continues will do wonders. God is faithful and God will do
wonders for the faithful. He will put gladness in our hearts. He will make us
dwell in safety and he will show us better times. God is our defender and he
will hear our prayers. There is one who actually listens to us and hears us,
and responds to us. Quite amazing is it not?
In the Gospel lesson from
Luke we have recorded one of the appearances of our Lord Jesus to the
disciples. Jesus did whatever was necessary to calm their fears, from showing
them the nail prints in his hands to actually eating a piece of fish. But what
calmed the disciples the most was to hear his voice and listen to what he had
to say. Is it not comforting to know that the risen Lord still speaks to us? On
that occasion he told his disciples and us that all that had happened to him
was by God’s design. God had foretold all of what happened to Jesus centuries
before in the words of the prophets, enclosed for us in Holy Scripture; his
life, his suffering and his rising.
But God’s faithfulness
continues to this very day. Jesus told his disciples that the good news of what
he had done for human kind needed to be spoken to every generation. Jesus name
needs to be proclaimed to every human being on the face of this earth. The
invitation to repent and believe the gospel and follow Jesus needs to be given
to all.
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AND POWER
AT WORK IN US AND FOR US!
To whom shall we go when we
follow the command of our Lord Jesus to bear witness to his name among all the
peoples? I have been reading about that group of people that we call”inactive”.
Indeed, there are more inactive people in our churches than active. We
sometimes look upon them with a bit of scorn as the unfaithful ones. But many
among them are still believers and remain away from the fellowship because they
believe that no one either remembers or cares a wit about them. And they carry
with them the unhealed hurts of years past in the fellowship. As we follow the
command of our Lord to bear witness to God’s power and faithfulness, perhaps we
can begin there with a word of hope and an embrace of love.
We have been meditating on
God’s faithfulness and power. Time would not permit each one of us to testify
to God’s presence in our own lives, day after day and year after year. But it
is proper to spend a little time reflecting on the faithfulness that we see
active in our own life together here.
God’s faithfulness and power
is certainly at work in our midst in generous giving that is part and parcel of
this congregation’s life. You remember the story of the woman, who, as she was
being carried out on a stretcher, whispered to her daughter that her offering
was in her purse. In this congregation we have a large number of
extraordinarily generous people who will never forget their offering or fail to
meet the needs that are presented to them.
God’s faithfulness and power
is certainly at work in our midst in the generosity that is provided for the
homeless of our city through Inn From the Cold. It was certainly not easy to
embark on such a complex service to others, but it was done here, in this
place, in joy and confidence.
God’s faithfulness and power
is certainly at work in our midst as we have ministered to the needs of the
elderly and disadvantaged at Fanning for over 25 years, and now also at George
Boyack.
God’s faithfulness and power
is certainly at work in our midst as we have attempted to work together with 3
other congregations and provide a vital youth ministry in our midst.
God’s power and faithfulness
is certainly evident in our own midst as people step forward time after time
and volunteer to take on the multitude of tasks that are required to keep a
congregation going. Such faithfulness is always a marvel to behold and a wonder
for which to be grateful.
God’s power and faithfulness
is certainly at work in each one of our individual lives. As the Psalmist said:
The Lord has put gladness into our hearts! Whenever we have offered God our
sacrifices of time and talents and treasure and put our trust in the Lord, we
have been blessed beyond measure. We have learned that in the Lord we can dwell
in safety, that he will always be our defender, and never fail to listen to our
prayers!
The man paralyzed from birth
could not stop leaping and shouting for joy when he was healed in the name of
Jesus. We have every reason to leap and shout for joy to. We continue to be
witnesses to the very power and faithfulness of God at work in us and through
us. AMEN