"Return" (Zechariah 1:1-17)

 

watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJMCSvMKLms&t=11s

Sunday, February 7, 2021

 

            Who are we? Who will we be?  Beloved movie heroes entertain us for 2-3 hours, trying to answer these questions.  Elsa in Frozen; who will she become, now that everyone knows she has super powers?  Luke Skywalker in Star Wars; will he ever become a Jedi Knight?  If he does, what then?  Steve Rogers in the Avengers; once the skinny weakling takes the super-soldier serum, what then?  What does he become? 

            As much as I love these stories, I find your more interesting because, (1) I can see you and talk to you.  You’re real!  And, (2) you don’t have super-soldier serum, you can’t shoot icicles out of your hands, and you can’t control force.  What you have going for you is the Holy Spirit!  I want to hear your story once the Holy Spirit enters your life.

            I want to find out who you are when you are ‘in Christ.’  I want to find out who the church will become.  The pandemic has rattled the church’s sense of itself.  Potlucks; bedside hospital visits; raucous laughter shared around the front hall coffee pot before the worship service; laying hands on someone being commissioned or ordained; embracing a friend; these things make the church and we can’t hardly do any of them.  Thanks, COVID-19. 

            What’s more, our church had just changed our name to “Hillside.” At the end of 2019.  We were coming out of two years of bumpy transition.  We were in the process of rediscovering our identity before COVID came along!  Does that mean we were ahead of every other church that had to deal with re-evaluating itself in light of COVID?  Or did it mean we were set back a year in the work we were doing to once again hear and answer God’s call.  I think it’s a little of both.

            More and more people are vaccinated each day.  The end is coming and when it does, we’ll have to be ready to understand our identity so we can be God’s witnesses here, drawing people in our town to Jesus.  But really, we have to begin that work before the pandemic ends.  Right now, today, we are called to be witnesses who tell what we have seen and experienced in following Jesus Christ.

            I had us begin 2021 in Haggai and now in Zechariah because these prophets spoke the word of the Lord to the covenant community in Jerusalem after the exile.  Exile had diminished them, displaced them, and broken them.  None of that changed the call.  Israel was to be God’s chosen people through whom the entire world would know and worship and serve the only true God. 

Exile had been the means by which God had punished his people for failing to answer that call and live his way.  When we get to Haggai and Zechariah, we find that the exile is over.  It’s time to start over, rebuild, and once again turn to the Lord and then draw the world to the Lord.  These prophets speak God’s word to a rebuilding people.

We are a rebuilding people.  The “who” question is an identity question.  Zechariah is not part of the answer to the “who” question.  Zechariah is a guide.  Listening to his truth, it sinks in.  We are the answer to the “who” question.  Who is this story about?  It’s about God as God is revealed in a rebuilding congregation, Hillside Church, emerging from years of transition and seemingly endless months of social distancing.  Who will we become as God’s people in Chapel Hill?

In this story, we are the “who”. God’s church.  What about the “what” and the “how”?

Who will Hillside Church be when we live into the identity God gives us?  “What” is the next question.  What needs to happen for us to be ready to live into our God-given identity as a people? The prophet Zechariah tells us in chapter 1.

“Return to me,” says the Lord of hosts in verse 3.  Zechariah warns the people not to repeat the mistakes of their parents, the exile generation.  God invited them to return, but they continued in their rebellion.  Now, they were gone. God’s word remained.  And so, the invitation is once again given.  “Return to me” (1:3).   

Zechariah writes in verse 6 that the people repented.  They turned away from injustice. They turned away from the worship of idols, false gods.  They turned away from sin and turned to God.  In their broken state, they accepted God’s justice, including the punishment.  With exile over, they were ready to return to God.

After this initial call to repentance and report that the people answered by repenting, Zechariah shares the first of his seven “night visions.”  At night, in a grove of myrtle trees, he sees a man astride a horse, and behind them several horses of different color, typical colors for horses. 

These horses act as God’s emissaries patrolling the earth.  The vision depicts for the prophet what he and we already know.  God can see the entire earth.  He is all-seeing and all-knowing.  The angel reports in Zechariah 1:11 that all is calm, the earth is at peace.

How can this be so?  How we say “all is well” when God’s temple is a pile of rubble and God’s people live as exiles?  Thus, the angel, not the prophet, confronts God asking accusingly, “How Long, O Lord” will you withhold mercy” (1:12)?  We can relate.  We know people refuse to wear masks, gather in close quarters, and ignore good pandemic behavior.  We know part of the reason this contagion has persisted and dogged us as it has is that people don’t do what is necessary to curb it.  Still, like Zechariah’s angel in chapter 1, we look to heaven, shake our fists, and through our tears bellow out, “How long will this go on, O Lord?” 

Zechariah 1:13 shows God as an understanding counselor, a patient therapist.  It says the “Lord replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel.”  In this same chapter, God is angry and God is understanding.  Both are true because God is perfect love. In verse 16, God says, “I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion.” 

Human suffering breaks God’s heart, even when we bring the suffering on ourselves.  God’s compassion is always for us.  As Jesus says in Luke 15, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (15:10b).  God wants us to be free of the pain sin imposes and God offers us that freedom.  We need to turn to Him.  We turn from the sin, acknowledge our absolute need, and turn to God.

Thus the “who” – our identity is defined by the “what”; what we do.  We see understand that we can only live dependent on God.  We turn away from putting our faith in people, things, dreams, and systems.  We turn from that and we turn to God.  The “what” is our need for His grace, for the Spirit’s empowerment, for forgiveness, and energy to start again. 

What about the “how?”  Who?  What?  How?  How do we begin living into the identity God has given to us? 

This part of the story is God’s work.  God says, in Zechariah 1:16, “I have returned, with compassion.”  More than once in Haggai God says, I will be with you.  The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus’ promise to his disciples (and to us), “I am with you always to the end of the age” (28:20).  In Revelation, we know that at the end of the age, Jesus returns, we are resurrected, and we live forever with him in our resurrection bodies.  The presence of God ties this all together. 

Just as Zechariah prophesied the temple building in Jerusalem, 515BC, we will build Jesus’ church right here in Chapel Hill.  God is with us, so we can do it.  We can encourage each other, feed the hungry, share good news, love all who come, and grow our family because God is here, filling us with His empowering spirit. 

Furthermore, in Zechariah 1:17, God declares, “My cities shall again overflow with prosperity.”  We will flourish as God’s church because we stand in our need, as a broken people who have been healed by love, a dead people born again, a repentant people made new.  It’s the story of God and us – us returning to the God who loves us.  That repentance is our act of acknowledgement and faith.  And the story ends in joy and peace because God is present.

At the communion table, we take a necessary step in the story.  We come to the table as we are.  We don’t put on a false front, no facades.  We don’t hide behind masks of respectability, false presentations of our best selves.  We wear our warts, pimples, scars, wrinkles and dried tears.  This is us.  We come name what we have lost.  We hold out our mistakes.  We have in mind those we have hurt either by our actions or our failure to act. 

On our way to the communion table, a table welcoming all, we stop at the cross.  There we lay down everything – our entire story.  When Zechariah says “return,” this is the repentance we ought to have in mind.  All are welcome, but we can’t get to the table without a stop at the cross.  We meet Jesus at the cross, and he guides us to take our seat at the table where we gather with brothers and sisters, a family, united by God’s love. 

Take your place.  Bring your story.  Open your heart to God.  Receive the grace and forgiveness he gives.  And the prosperity.  He makes us new.  Even as wrong as things seem in the world, he makes things right.

AMEN

The Cross: Our Foundation (1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:1-5)

Sunday, July 14, 2019

            Each week at the end of the message I say, “Now is the time to respond to God.”  I invite us all to open our hearts to what God is saying to us and doing in our lives.  I invite any who feel the need to come to front for prayer, whether kneeling at the steps or with me or Angel, or in the back with the elder of the week. 

            I’ll close with this same invitation today.  I’ll say, “Look at the cross and think about what it means.” God in human skin, Jesus who was innocent of crime and had not sinned.  God accepted his sacrifice as atonement for the sins of all people.

            Think about the implications.  God will sacrifice for our benefit.  He didn’t need to die on the cross in order to be God, wholly sufficient and wholly loving and good.  But we need that because our sin separates from God and we all sin.  We make choices, speak words, and commit actions that indicate we have, in small and large ways, chosen ourselves over God. That sin separates us and we cannot wash the sin away with good deeds or with endless repentance. 

The sin is covered by Jesus’ death on the cross.  We are made right by Jesus’ death on the cross.  And Jesus was fully human.  It hurt his body as much as it would yours to be flogged and then crucified.  It hurt his pride and dignity as much as it would mine to be stripped, mocked, and paraded through Jerusalem carrying the beam on which I was to be nailed.  It hurt his heart as much at it would hurt mine or yours to be abandoned by friends, and then seemingly ignored by Heaven when he prayed for another way.  The cross is an indication of how much Jesus sacrificed to help us be right with God. 

So, I will say, “Look to the cross.” 

Then, I will say, “Be fully open, honest, and receptive with God.”  Open – don’t hold anything back, not before He who sees all. He knows your story, but God wants to hear you tell it.  Honest – don’t try to impress God; you can’t.  Don’t try to be tough with God; he knows the weakness in Chuck Norris, and even he has them; and God knows the weakness in you and me.  Don’t try to act like you don’t need God.  There are longings in our lives only God can satisfy, hungers only God can feed, holes in our lives only God can fill. 

Look to the cross.  Be open and honest before God.  Then I will say, “Come and receive what God has for you.”  You might need God to give you a nudge because you’ve hesitated when God said “Go.”  You might need forgiveness because you’re weighed down with guilt.  You might need courage because you’re facing great obstacles or threats in your life.  I don’t know what you need, but God does.  Look to the cross.  Be honest with God.  And come and receive from Him. 

Studying 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 this week, I became aware of just how important it is that we begin by looking at the cross.  Paul, writes in 1 Corinthians 2:2 “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  In this letter, he touched on marriage, spiritual gifts, the proper way to observe the Lord’s Supper, sexual immorality, the supreme value of love, and the resurrection.  In fact 1 Corinthians is the core scripture text for many of our most cherished Christians beliefs. 

With much to say on so many topics, why does Paul write, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified”?  His Corinthians ministry takes place in a city that’s awash in competing ideas.  The Corinthian contenders jockeying to dictate the spirit of age includes Greek philosophers whose ideas determined the history of ideological development into our present age. 

However, Greek intellectuals weren’t the only ones trying to dictate the way people thought about the world.  Jewish theologians were as committed to monotheism as Greeks were to philosophy.  Jewish scriptures, more historically durable than any other writings in history, and their approach to wrestling with their scriptures – the idea of Midrash – continue to influence human thought today, nearly 2000 years after the writing of 1 Corinthians.  

One more contestant fought on this battlefield of ideas and ideals: the Romans with their power and organization.  They could not match Greek intellectualism or Jewish theology, but they held the power.  Whatever practice of living that would come out of Greek philosophy or Hebrew religion would have had to exist within a Roman system. 

Then Paul comes along and says, “I am not going to try to be smarter than the Greeks or better at religion than my fellow Jews or stronger than the Romans.”  In different ways – intellectual, religious and faithful, and political and militarily – the Greeks, Jews, and Romans, all vied for power.  Paul refuses to play this power game because He knew where real power was found.

Today we live in a swirling torrent of ideas where forces from all sides try to tell us what to think, how to think, what to believe, and how to practice our beliefs.  We have the American concept of freedom.  We are so indoctrinated into the American notion of liberty we believe it is the only way one can be free.

But hold your horses because along with American notions of freedom, we are lured to material wealth.  Capitalistic forces convince us the key to happiness and a life of meaning is found in stuff that we buy or experiences that we buy.  When we consider how relentlessly advertisers bombard us in the attempt to get us to buy what they’re selling, how could we deny that materialism is a force that’s attempting to define the spirit of the age in America, 2019?

Besides American Liberty and Western Materialism, on this spiritual/intellectual battlefield, Personal autonomy wants its say.  You are your own master and your own moral standard.  Do what’s right for you.  In the Marvel Avengers movie Infinity War, the character Star Lord is asked, “What master do you serve?”  Angrily he responds, “What do you expect me to say, ‘Jesus?’”  He goes on to vehemently declare that he serves no master except himself.  Of course, his name is Star Lord. 

Paul’s response to Greek wisdom, Jewish Theology, and Roman power is our response to the attempts made to dominate our souls by American Liberty, Capitalistic Materialism, and Personal Autonomy.  Paul said, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing”; those without Christ.  “But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  He doesn’t claim to have earned it.  Paul does not save.  He counts himself among those being saved. 

We are in that number.  We also need to be saved.  The good news is on the cross, Jesus began the work of our salvation.  How, the wise Greek asks, can this one who died so shamefully save the world?  It’s scandalous, the faithful Hebrew declares, to glorify one who dies as a common criminal.  It’s weakness, the mighty Roman roars, to hang there, defeated.  But Paul writes, “God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.  For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:21-24).

Note, even as Paul refutes the different ways we humans define power, he invites all of us into the salvation of Jesus Christ.  In his day, there were Jews who accepted that Jesus was the Messiah and the fulfillment of all their religious hopes.  There were Greeks who came to see that Jesus was the epitome of superior knowledge.  There were Romans who left behind their notions of might and power as they, born again in Christ, surrendered – think about a Roman surrendering – to the power of God.  Paul himself was a child of a Roman-Jewish union, and his right hand man Timothy, the child of a Jewish-Greek union. 

Ethnicity doesn’t matter.  Mixed-race families are fine.  All are saved when we give up our hold on power and surrender our hearts fully to God, confess faith in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit.  This hodgepodge of people was the New Testament church, and it is the church today.

American Liberty says our country’s story is the definition of freedom for all people.  In Christ, we claim that our greatest freedom is found when we give our hearts to God and become God’s possessions.  As jolting as it is to say it this way, we believe we discover our greatest freedom when we are enslaved to God. 

Capitalistic Materialism has completely bought into the idea that whatever we hope for in life can be purchased.  If I just get that house …; when I have enough for that car I really want; I just need to be able to retire in luxury and ease.  In Christ, we find joy in being extravagantly generous, giving away as much as we can to help others flourish.  In Christ, we claim that our money, possessions, relationships, time, and our very selves – belong to God.  Our greatest happiness is found when we are used by God for His purposes. 

Personal Autonomy insists that we are each endowed with inalienable rights that include the right to determine our own personal destinies.  It doesn’t say anything about inalienable rights in the Bible.  In Christ, we don’t determine who we are.  God tells us who we are.  We come with a story, tell that story to God, and then He is takes our story and invites us into His.  We don’t write our own stories.  We step into the story God is writing. 

Paul “decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified” because that’s the foundation.  Life is built when we die on the cross and are raised by God to new life in Christ.  Standing on that foundation, Paul can talk about current issues, theology, households and relationships, worship practices, and creation care.  Paul’s worldview develops after he sets the foundation, his encounter with Jesus at the cross. 

The 21^st century has already seen explosive growth in communication, technology, and scientific understanding.  We engage this complicated world after we have met Jesus at the cross.  Whatever new modes of relationships, sexuality, and our understanding of human gender arise in our time, our engagement with the world as it is happens after we meet Jesus at the cross. 

Whatever changes come to the world in the next 100 years – it does not matter.  We meet every new idea or new way of living as followers of Jesus – the crucified, resurrected one.  On the foundation of the cross, disciples are built.  I earlier mentioned the swirling torrent of ideas and change in which we live. The way to stand in swirling winds is to be anchored to a firm foundation and we are when we are anchored to Christ.  

So, look to the cross.  Open yourself completely to God’s love and forgiveness.  In honesty, come, tell God your story and then give it to Him and receive the new story He has for you.  In Christ, you are His beloved child.  Come to Him.

AMEN  

Where We Stand

            Ours is an era rife with painful division.  Republican v. Democrat; Pro-life v. Pro-choice; Young Creationism v. Evolution; Reformed Theology v. Arminian Theology; in too many spheres, we are defined by where we stand in relation to a hard line that’s been drawn usually by someone else. 

Finding a place in the center is not possible, nor is it commendable to try.  For instance, either you think abortion is the killing of a baby, or you don’t.  If that is what you think, then every abortion is the murder of the most defenseless of victims.  On the other hand, if you think abortion is the exercise of coercion on the bodies of women, who have had their bodies fondled, ogled, used, and abused throughout history, then your position is just as clear.  Either way, there’s no middle ground.

What reveals our character is how we handle the disagreement.  Does every disagreement prompt us to be ready to fight, to stand our ground, and to draw defiant lines in the sand?  Or, are disagreements the opportunity to show grace?  How an individual answers says a lot about who he or she is.  How you or I conduct ourselves in the conversation more clearly reveals our character than whatever stand we may take.

Titus 2:1 says, “Teach what is consistent with sound doctrine.”  Of course such an imperative strikes up a debate.  “What exactly do you mean by ‘sound doctrine?’”  An argument ensues as two views are posited.  Instead of the unending back-and-forth occurring over most litmus-test issues to day, turn back to Titus 2 and read all the way to the end of the chapter.  Verses 11-14:

¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,^[a]12 training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior,^[b] Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deed.

First note that grace precedes “training.” Before we even begin trying to live as Jesus’ disciples, we receive grace, that goodness from God that we desperately need, do not deserve and have not earned.  Verse 14 is absolutely clear.  Jesus gave himself up for us.  We know “gave himself up” refers to his death on the cross.  He did it so we would not be defined by sin (“iniquity”), but rather we would be seen as righteous.  Because by his sacrifice he removes our sin, we, in spite of our continued mistakes and flawed ideas, stand in position to be in a right relationship with God and each other.  That’s a relationship grounded in love, not in one’s stance on this or that issue. 

Second, because grace defines us, we are free.  We’re not bound by past mistakes.  We’re not reduced to party affiliations or the stances we have proclaimed in the past.  Instead, something else indicates who we are.  Christ, not some compromised, moderated position, is our center.  Christ is where we are located. Christ is where we stand. 

Additionally, verse 13 makes clear that in Christ, God initiates the action, not us.  This is especially hard for American Christians.  We sometimes think we are the cause of the good things we get to be part of.  But verse 13 says, “While we wait for the blessed hope and manifestation of glory.”  That “while we wait” line lets everyone know blessing is coming, but coming on God’s timing.  The idea of waiting feels frustrating and breeds anxiety, but it need not be so.  While waiting for God to act, we can allow ourselves to be shaped by the Spirit.  Instead of frustration, during the waiting we humbles ourselves, submitting to God’s timing and God’s initiative.  If nothing happens, we wait for God to make it happen. During the waiting, we willingly die to self (Matthew 10:39) to become new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

As New Creations, we are who God makes us to be.  We let our “gentleness be made known to everyone” (Philippians 4:4).  What would the debate look like if the debaters (no matter the issue), instead of establishing their ground, stood on Christ, formed by the Spirit, and strove to embody gentleness?  In that scenario, one can still be Republican or Democrat, Arminian or Reformed, but the gentleness of the Holy Spirit dictates how the conversation plays out. 

We Christians cannot determine the social climate.  There will be seasons of great and emotional contention and American culture is in the middle one of the most intense examples of such a season.  That just is how it is.  In the midst of the world, as it is, Christ-followers bring glory to Him by standing on him and letting that stand define how we participate in debates.  We don’t permit the debate to say what kind of Christians we are.

By the Name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:5-14)

Sunday, April 26, 2015

            Who are we?

            On the trips our church takes to Ethiopia, people from there see our group.  They hear us speak English.  They see us emerge from a guest house that is foreigners.  They watch us buy things designed to be sold to tourists.  They may not know our affiliation or that we are there to work with poor children.  But one thing is clear.  We are Americans.

            I travel back to Roanoke and spend time with old high school friends.  We reminisce about good times we spent as kids and a lot of those memories happened in the home where my parents still live.  Whatever else I am, in those moments, I am of the Tennant family.

            Who are we?

            Heather and I and other pastors gather, and it is clear, we are of HillSong Church.  Sometimes in an ecumenical gathering, I am the Baptist in the group.

            American; Tennant; HillSong; Baptist; who am I?  Who are you?  On what do we stand?  What is it that undergirds who we are, how we think and act, and all that we do? 

            It was a key moment for the apostles John and Peter.  Just before they entered the temple, a handicapped man asked for a hand-out.  He had been disabled from birth.  His entire life’s identity was built upon begging.  On what did he stand?  Nothing.  His role in society, his very identity, was that of one who could not stand and could only survive by the generosity of others. 

            Then Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk.”  In the name of Jesus Christ; and this man who have never walked, stood and jumped and leaped and praised God.  Heather discussed this last week in her sermon from Acts 3.  Right there in the temple, Peter preached an impromptu sermon in which he accused the leaders of killing Jesus (3:15) and then invited them to come to faith (3:19, 26).

            On what do we stand?  What authority authorizes the way we live our lives? 

            The leaders in Jerusalem stood on shaky ground according to Peter.  They heard him clearly affix responsibility for the death of Jesus to them.  They saw clearly that Peter and John healed a man everyone knew – a full-grown adult who have never in his life walked.  They felt the movement of history as the crowds flocked to the disciples to hear them talk about salvation in Jesus.  The leaders in the temple needed to cut this off, before it got away from them. 

            The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them “much annoyed” says Acts 4:2.  These officials of government and religion did not like the claim that in Jesus we have resurrection – his and ours when we put our trust in him.  No, they did not like any of this.  These officials stood on their own unique understanding of scripture, a perspective that assured them of power. 

            Do we dare confess a faith that upsets the conventions of our time?  Tolerance of all religions, which means saying all religions are okay and basically teach the same thing; this sentiment rules in our time.  Do we dare oppose this by saying Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him? 

An individual person’s individual rights are sacred and not to be threatened in our culture.  We believe in the autonomy of the individual.  At least, that is what we claim to live by.  Do followers of Jesus dare say, no, my rights are not as important fully submitting myself to Jesus as my Lord and my King?

The priests and Sadducees stood on their privilege as leaders.  They expected all in Jerusalem to live by this foundation, so they were furious that the disciples of an already crucified man would continue defying their authority.  But they could not deny what everyone witnessed.  The man with useless legs was now completely healed and jumping around praising God.   

How could they maintain power?  Who were they?  Those in leadership positions in the temple may not have consciously wondered that, but the actions of Peter and John created a crisis for them.  They who understood themselves to be the ones in control now had to face forces beyond their reach.  Verses 14-15 say, “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that [these] were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.  When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them [Peter and John], they [the officials] had nothing to say in opposition.”

All they could do was pose the question.  Their last gasp, their final lurch for control was to name this thing that was happening.  “By what power or by what name did you do this” (4:7)?

On what do we stand? 

What authority authorizes the way we live our lives?

Who are we?  Americans?  Tennants or Asbills, Johnsons or Bakers, Folliards or Sits?  Baptists?  Who or what makes us, drives and defines our actions and attitude, our thoughts, deeds, and words?

All the priests and Sadducees could do was throw the question out into the crowd, into the air, out where all gathered would hear and consider.  All Peter and John could do was give one answer – the only answer they had, the only answer that is true.  “Let it be known that this man is standing in good health by the name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified, whom God raised from the Dead” (4:10).

A few years ago I watched a film produced by an independent Christian film maker.[i]  It was about a couple professors at a Christian college in the late 1800’s.  They were debating morals.  Is it enough to speak and truth and do good works or must our truth and our deed of help and benevolence be done in Jesus’ name.  One professor said as long as good is done; it does not matter if it is in Jesus’ name or simply in the cause of doing what’s right.  His colleague disagreed.  He insisted that unless deeds were done in Jesus’ name, they could not be considered really true or truly good.

The film involves a time machine and caricatures that lack verisimilitude.  I found it silly.  But the debate between these fictional Christian college professors from the 19^th century is fascinating and is timeless.  In any context, we could ask, is a deed good in and of itself?  Simply speaking, yes.  It is good to give food to hungry people.  It is good to provide education to impoverished students so they can develop their minds, reach their potential, get good jobs and climb out of poverty.  These are a few of thousands of examples in which I see non-Christians contributing.  I have seen people who say, “I am not Christian,” contributing to the good of humanity.  Sometimes non-Christians outdo Christ-followers in generosity. 

Yet at a much deeper level, I side with the view that it is not enough to simply do good things.  At some point, after people have been healed, fed, clothed, educated, and given shelter, they gain power.  When they gain power, those who had been holding all of it will feel threatened and a confrontation occurs. 

“By what power or by what name are you doing this?”  The question is inevitable.  When it comes, we need more than groundless claims that love is self-evident and charity is self-evident and compassion is self-evident.  Where do these values come from?  Who are we that we dare stand on these things, and standing on these values, what gives us the gumption to help people? 

Unless we are in Christ, we are speechless.  If we are in Christ, our lives have purpose and we do not lack for words.  His Holy Spirit provides them.  “By what power?”  We answer, “We heal and we feed and we travel and we work and we love and we help in the name of Jesus.  He was crucified by sin, yours and ours.  He was raised by God.”  And we say as Peter said, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under given among human beings by which we might be saved” (4:12). 

I do not say any of this to reject the good things unbelievers do to help people in the world.  We have sponsors who support children in Kombolcha, Ethiopia who are not Christian.  We gladly receive their non-Christian sponsorship dollars and I affirm that what they do is helpful and is good. 

I find here in this story, in Peter’s word when the question is put to him that the intent of the Holy Spirit of God and the driving force in Peter’s actions not only heals crippled men at the temple gate and feeds hungry Ethiopian kids.  The driving force also transforms the giver of the gift.  The temple leaders, the Sadducees, some of the most lettered intellectuals of the day were silenced by uneducated fishermen from backwater Galilee.

How could that be?  Peter and John and everyone who acts in the name of Jesus by the name of Jesus speaks and works with power that is beyond what any human possesses. 

On what do we stand?  We stand on the name of Jesus. 

Who are we?  We are a community of followers of the risen, Jesus Christ, the King.  He is our testimony.  He gives meaning to what we do – transcendent, eternal meaning.  He binds us together as a family with God as our Father.  Under His banner, our acts, both the work in our day-to-day lives and the works we do that are explicitly Christian are part of a greater story – the story of the emergence of God’s eternal kingdom.  This included the work of home, vocation (our jobs), and the work of relationships, family, friendships, acquaintances, neighbors, and unexpected encounters.  In all works in every part of life, He is Lord and we speak, act, and think by His name. 

This week, you and I won’t be dragged before officials who want to know why we performed as miracle healing on a handicapped man who has never walked.  The world is different.  We will have opportunities to help people and do good things.  Right now we as a church body are invited to pray that God would ready us, so when those opportunities come, we’ll respond by His name in His power sharing His love.  Fueled by the Holy Spirit we will not only be inclined to do good and helpful things; we will also be ready to respond to anyone who wonders about us by pointing them to Jesus.

Please join me in silent prayer as we, the church, join our hearts together in asking God to fill us, empower us, and ready us to be His witnesses.

Now please join me in this responsive prayer.

Leader: Lord Jesus.

Congregation: You are the risen one.

Leader: Fill us with the hope and the power of the resurrection

Congregation: Help us to speak and act in Your Name.

Leader: Lead us, Lord Jesus.

Congregation: We commit ourselves to you.

AMEN

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[i] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295725/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_9