Ready to Change

Psalm 51

His majesty’s secretary for appointments came into the throne room to announce that Nathan wished to have a word with King David. (See 2 Samuel 12)

Almost everyone in a culture touched by the Jewish and Christian tradition knows of King David, the one-time shepherd, giant-killer, and musician, who had become the ruler of Israel.  Those who know only that David once killed a giant, Goliath, with his slingshot might not know of the years he spent as a fugitive, running for his life from the jealous King Saul.  During that time David was in exile, living in the land of Israel’s longtime enemy the Philistine.  Eventually, Saul was killed in battle and David was able to take the throne.  His four decades long reign began about a thousand-fifty years before the birth of Christ.  

David was no longer on the run, relying on the hospitality of enemies bartering a place to sleep for his military skills or sleeping rough when no one would take him in.  He was living in a palace.  It may not have been Buckingham Palace but it was a far cry from sleeping on a hillside with a bunch of smelly sheep or smelly mercenaries, for that matter.  David began to change.  One writer said the new way of life made him “soft.”  Perhaps, but in any case, it seems to have made him forget his need to stay close to God.

David had been reigning for several years when Nathan cam to see him.  His kingdom seemed secure and David felt confident enough to allow his generals to go out and fight any enemies that might be threatening the nation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

It was during this time that David had an affair with a woman named Bathsheba.  She was the wife of one of David’s officers, Uriah.  Bathsheba became pregnant and that initiated a crisis.

 Without going into great detail, to keep his adultery hidden, David arranged for Uriah to come home for a brief stay.  David assumed he would spend time with his wife but he didn’t, believing it was unfair for him to enjoy his wife’s company while his men were in danger on the battlefield.  Finally, David arranged for Uriah to return to the battlefield.  David used the faithful soldier to carry secret orders to the general, orders that instructed General Joab to place Uriah where he would certainly be killed.  Think of how callous that was; David had the unsuspecting Uriah deliver his own death warrant.  Uriah was killed and David took Bathsheba as one of his wives.  The king believed he had successfully hidden his crime.

The second key person in the throne-room was Nathan.  Nathan was a prophet, one of those individuals God used to communicate his will to the people.  When God had something to say, He sent a prophet.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

David admired Nathan and appreciated his support in the rocky early days of his reign, so he asked the prophet to come in.

As Nathan stood before David, he began to tell a little story.  Only the hardest heart would be unmoved by the story.

"There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 

 2.  The rich man owned many sheep and cattle. 

 3.  The poor man owned nothing but a little lamb he had worked hard to buy. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 

 4.  One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing a lamb from his own flocks for food, he took the poor man's lamb and killed it and served it to his guest."

 5.  David was furious. "As surely as the Lord lives," he vowed, "any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 

 6.  He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity."

 7.  Then Nathan said to David, "You are that man!”

Nathan let David know that God was fully aware of his activities.  His conduct had not escaped notice.  

It has long been believed that Psalm 51 was written out of David’s reflection on his encounter with Nathan and the exposure of his shameful behavior.  It probably was, though the last two verses may have been added after the Exile.  That would have expanded the scope of the prayer from one for an individual to one for a whole nation.  We’re going to look at it as a prayer for an individual.

David’s prayer reminds us that God’s power can change us.

If  you want God’s power to change you, if you want to become new, there comes a time for recognizing the nature of our problem.

--We have sinned against God.  “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”  David’s sin had social and even national implications, but all sin is ultimately an act of rebellion against God.  It fails to honor the holiness and glory of God.

David used three words to describe his actions.  He speaks of “sin,” the word  that speaks of missing the mark, failing to live up to God’s demands.  He speaks of “transgressions,” going over the clearly defined line (in this case violating the commands against adultery and murder); the New English Translation’s “rebellious acts”  suggests an attitude that takes a stand against God.  He speaks of “iniquity” or “wrongdoing,” those acts that are rooted in our corrupt character, our “wrongness.”

--Our problem is rooted in our character.  David looked over his life and concluded, ‘I was born a sinner-yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.”   This is neither saying that his mother had somehow sinned in his being conceived or that sexual acts are inherently sinful.  He is saying he shares the common human condition.  If he ever harbored the notion that God had favored him because he was a cut-above the ordinary Israelite, he was surrendering that idea.

If we want God to change us, we have to give up any such notion about ourselves.  We must admit we have a natural propensity to live in rebellion against God.  

Sin gives birth to one of the most disturbing truths of the human condition, illustrated by the fact that the hand that wrote the words sending Uriah to certain death, wrote the words, “The Lord is my Shepherd….” We are broken and need God’s help.

If you want God’s power to change you, if you want to become new, there comes a time for recalling the character of God.

--God seeks sincerity and honesty in our relationship with him.  As verse sixteen says, ^”Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.”  

Instead, God looks for a brokenness which came from the depths of those seeking him.  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;  a broken and contrite heart,”

--At the same time, we need to recall that God is a God of mercy.  David sought mercy from a God known for “steadfast love” and “abundant mercy.”  He cries out in hope, “God, be merciful to me because you are loving. Because you are always ready to be merciful.”

When our boys were in elementary school they believed the principal “went up and down the hall looking for kids to paddle.”  Some people have the same image of God.  To them, God is always looking for someone to punish.  David opens our eyes to see God a new way.  One paraphrase of verse one describes God as “generous in love” and “huge in mercy.”

When you and I want to change, we need to remember God wants us to change more than we do and he is ready to help us.   

If  you want God’s power to change you, if you want to become new, there comes a time for letting God do his work of  radical transformation.

 --Born sinners, we have an inherent inability to please God;  it can’t be done, no matter how hard we try.  David saw this.  His goal to bring honor and glory to God as Israel’s king, had been derailed by the spiritual corruption of his own heart.  He needed to change but he couldn’t do it on his own.  That transformation would have to be accomplished by God’s work within him.  So, he prayed….

    [10] Create in me a clean heart, O God,

        and renew a right spirit within me. 

Jesus would underscore the same truth when he said, “You must be born from above.” 

It would not be enough for God to cleanse his heart; he would need a new spirit to enable him to live a transformed life.  He needed to be converted.  Conversion is the product of allowing God to do his work of radical transformation within us.

--the one who is converted knows joy in place of shame.

--the one who is converted becomes a witness to the power of God.  

Alan Walker shares an autobiographical note about the power of conversion.

His story begins in the days when Australia was a penal colony where England sent prisoners.

“My  great-great-grandfather was sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia for stealing ten pounds.  My great-great-grandmother likewise recdeived a seven-year sentence for stealing some curtain material for a London shop.  The met in Sydney and began living together.  They could not marry, for my great-great-grandmother left a husband behind in England.

“In 1810 a boy was born to whom they gave the name John Walker.  On completing their sentence, they were given a small landholding near the Hawkesbury River where they reared their family.  By the age of twenty-six, John Walker was in the grip of alcohol.  He was drunk at a funeral and was reprimanded by a neighbor.  This troubled his conscience.  Some months later a Methodist preacher came into the valley.  John Walker was soundly converted.  At once he began to preach, becoming respected for his transformed life.

“I am the thirteenth Methodist—now the Uniting Church—minister who has come from the conversion of John Walker.  Our two sons are ministers of the gospel.  Therefore, fifteen ministers of the gospel have come from the conversion of the one illegitimate son of two convicts.  Do you wonder why I believe in conversion?  God in Christ transformed our family story, setting us off in a new direction.”

A change like that could only be accomplished by the power of God.

Conclusion

A few years ago I talked with our son David down in Austin.  I asked him how our daughter-in-law Kelly was handling the news about contaminated spinach.  He said he’d told her not to eat any, then he added, “Of course, you and I are safe.”  David knows that neither one of us is a fan of spinach.

When we read the story of King David’s failure we have to be careful that we don’t say something like, “Of course, I’m safe—that could never happen to me.”

What  King David said of himself is true of every one of us.  We have all been sinful from birth.  At one time or another we have all given evidence of possessing a rebel’s heart.

We all need God’s mercy and cleansing, we all need God’s transforming power.

There may come a time when you need to feel again the touch of God’s transforming power—his power to change us, the power which David discovered was also the power to restore.

You see, King David had already enjoyed a rich relationship with God but his sin had robbed him of the joy and peace he once knew in that relationship.  Because he came to God, that joy and peace was restored.

Even if you’ve never trusted Christ, never sought his salvation, you can know that transforming power, if you open your life to Him.

Come to God, let him change you.

Happy Day

I Cor. 15:20-26.54-57

I was a little surprised when I heard a store clerk wishing each of her customers a “Happy Easter.”  It’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone do that.   Anyway, when I heard it I thought of all the hubbub over just wishing someone a “Merry Christmas.”  For a while, some folks felt there was an implicit gag-order that kept them from saying something as innocent as “Merry Christmas.”

Last Christmas we heard the familiar greeting more often so I wonder if we’re going to hear “Happy Easter” more often.  It’s hard to say.  You see, Christmas and Easter are different.  Obviously, Christmas is on a fixed date—December 25th—and Easter is a “moveable feast,” that is, the date varies from year to year.  Of course, you can argue that it is really on the same day each year: The first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring equinox.  But there are other differences.

Christmas points us to a Baby and babies are so cute.  Only a Grinch doesn’t love a baby.  A baby isn’t particularly threatening; well, unless you’re a paranoid king, but that’s another story.  Christmas reminds us of a young couple who loved each other and their Child, it reminds us of pious shepherds (shepherds weren’t known for their piety but at Christmas we picture them as really spiritual), and it reminds us of generous Wise Men.  Christmas can be captured nicely on a Hallmark card.

Easter is different.  To get to Christmas you have to deal with songs about seven French hens leaping as they play pipes for swans in a pear tree (or some such thing); it’s annoying but hardly disturbing.  To get to Easter you have to deal with that Man on a cross.  And that can be disturbing.

Add to this the fact that Christians—the people who insist we should observe both Christmas and Easter—use the days before Easter to encourage people to think about their sins and the need to repent.  Then, too, while you can spend the days before Christmas at parties gobbling down candy, cookies, and eggnog; some Christians dare to suggest the days before Easter ought to be times of self-sacrifice and reflection.  How in the world can anyone say “Happy Easter?”

Of course, sometimes it seems we’ve tried to treat Easter to a paradigm shift, to change the whole focus of the holiday.  But, again, the Easter story itself won’t let us get away with that.  Our attention many be diverted to “hopping down the bunny trail” but then we hear:

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way suffering

Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King.

But he chose to walk that road out of his great love for you and me.

Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

In the end, we’re not allowed to forget that Easter is not about chocolate bunnies, not about bonnets or new dresses, not about pristine lilies;  it’s not even about the promise of spring seen in the blossoming of flowers.  And again, even the most obtuse maybe forced to ask, “How can the day commemorating Jesus’ death be called ‘Good?’”

That’s why Easter is as exciting as Christmas.  Imagine it, we’re talking about the event that prompts statements like, “The best news the world ever had came from a graveyard.”  Yet, many don’t know what Easter is all about.

We can begin to understand the meaning of Easter as we peer into a dark tomb—hardly a happy place.  But, remember, it’s an empty tomb.

As we look…

We can say “Happy Easter” because in it we see the beginnings of a glorious faith.

The church’s earliest historian reported.

…with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  

Acts 4:33 (ESV)

The Easter story was on the lips of every Christian teacher and preacher.  Why?

--Through the resurrection of his Son, God confirmed the claims of Christ.

Many men have made fantastic claims about themselves, but they lie decaying in their tombs; Jesus Christ made fantastic claims about himself and his tomb is empty!

Easter teaches that God was committed enough to his creation, us that he joined us enrobed in humanity, showed us what we were intended to be, died the death we deserved, and offers us eternal life.  

Remember this, Christians were speaking of Jesus as God within a fortnight of his crucifixion.

What convinced them to describe Jesus as God rather than as a just another tragic figure who gave his life for his convictions was the resurrection.

We can say “Happy Easter” because in it we see the possibility of a glorious forgiveness.

The Easter story is a wonderful story but it demands that we answer the question, “So what?”

The resurrection of Christ was God’s seal of acceptance on the sacrifice Christ made on the cross.  Good Friday and Easter are not two separate events.  They are linked.  

Let Christ remain in his tomb and you and I are left with the impossible task of making peace with a God whom we cannot approach because of our unrighteousness.  

 The Risen Christ has opened the door of forgiveness to all who will put their trust in him.  Paul wrote, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Romans 10:9 (ESV)  

The Resurrection is the foundation of that promise of forgiveness but it isn't enough to simply affirm the fact.  Easter calls for our response.  Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul’s words:  “Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you.”

Easter is just a date on the calendar, unless you respond in faith.  

We can say “Happy Easter” because in it we hear an invitation to a glorious fellowship.

There’s an invitation to fellowship with the Risen Lord and with the people committed to that Risen Lord.

Everywhere they went the Christians proclaimed the Easter story, and wherever men and women believed that story an enclave of “Easter People” was left behind.

In a world marked by despair, we may have fellowship with the most hopeful people in the world.  It changes perspective.

Joseph Bayle buried three of his four children before they reached adulthood.  Listen to his “Psalm of Laughter for Easter.”

Let's celebrate Easter with the rite of laughter.

Christ died and rose and lives.

Laugh like a woman who holds her first baby.

Our enemy death will soon be destroyed.

Christ opened wide the door of heaven.

Laugh like children at Disneyland's gates.

This world is owned by God, and he'll return to rule.

Laugh as if all the people in the whole world were invited to a picnic and then invite them.

Bayly would have been the first to say the Easter People don’t deny the reality of grief and loss, but he would have insisted they bring a new perspective to the graveside.  Those people helped him face those repeated blows that might have been broken him.

We can say “Happy Easter” because in it we see the potential for a life-changing freedom.

There’s the freedom from the dread of death.

We spend much of our energy in the denial of death because we so dread the unknown beyond the grave.

Because of the Resurrection we know this is not the end, that whatever makes us unique does not dissolve into nothingness, is not absorbed into some impersonal mass of spiritual stuff.

In his book Where is God When It Hurts?, Philip Yancey describes a  funeral custom conducted by African Muslims—a custom which would not be orthodox by either Christian or Islamic standards. Close family and friends circle the casket and quietly gaze at the corpse. No singing. No flowers. No tears.

Each person receives a peppermint candy. At a signal, each one puts the candy in his or her mouth. When the candy is gone, that participant remembers that life for this person is over. They believe life simply dissolves. No eternal life. No hope.

What a contrast to the viewpoint of those who have the Easter faith.  When Jesus came out to the tomb he provided living proof that life goes on, that who you are isn’t obliterated by something as insignificant as death.  Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, “…if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.  But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.”

Christ’s resurrection pointed ahead to that time when all believers would share the same experience.

Believers can live life to its fullest because they have been set free from the dread of death.  They don’t have to focus only on themselves.

There is the freedom from the grip of grief.

We may confront our own motality and even come to grips with the fact that we will one day die, but how do we handle the death of a loved one?

Paul wrote to answer the Thessalonian Christians who were wrestling with the loss of loved ones and friends to death.  He told them that he did not want them “to grieve as others do who have no hope.”  While he did not expect them to be without grief, he did believe their faith in Christ would cause their grief to be qualitatively different from that of non-believers.

Their grief would be tempered by hope.

Conclusion

Holy Week is a time of looking back.  On Sunday we recall the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  We remember the cheering crowds with their cries of “Hosanna.” 

On Good Friday, we focus our attention on the cross.  We recoil from its brutality but know we must look if we were to even begin to understand the depths of God’s love.

Remember, on the eve of that first Easter, that Friday looked anything but good.  Those who watched the crucifixion walked away chalked another one up to death.  The Saturday before the first Easter was a day with little hope.  That’s because his followers didn’t know what was going on.

Jesus had died but it was the aftermath of his death that made such a difference.  Somewhere in the world beyond human perception, Jesus stood eyeball to eyeball with death and death blinked.

The first Easter morning Jesus stepped out of that tomb a victor.

Some of you came this Easter morning with hearts filled with grief.  Death may have touched your family.  It may have been recent, it may have been years ago but you still feel the pangs of loss.

You need to leave this morning knowing that death has been defeated.

That knowledge won’t necessarily ease your grief, but it can transform it.  Knowing death has been defeated silences the mocking echoes from the grave.

Early in 1992, some old friends visited Pat’s family in Amarillo.  We joined them for a meal.  Their son, a member of Penn State’s football team, was with them.  Earlier that year, Penn State had beaten Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl and the young man was wearing a ring to commemorate the event.

Someone asked him what it was like to play in a big game like that.  

He said he hadn’t played.  He had spent the game on the bench, injured.  Still, he had the ring—he shared the victory.

That only seems fair.  Earlier in the season he had helped bring his team to that Bowl game.  But consider this.

You and I didn’t feel the sting of the whip on our bare backs.  You and I didn’t hear the hammer blows nailing us to the cross.  You and I weren’t left in a dark tomb borrowed from a generous friend.

Still, we share Christ’s victory over the grave.  It is that victory that gives meaning to Easter, it is that victory we celebrate this morning.  

Jesus’ victory is a victory we can share.  His resurrection was a pledge of net life to come.

That makes Easter a happy day.  

The One Who Died

Acts 3:1-19

Textual Introduction:  This story comes from the early days of the new church. .

********

Earlier this year the film “Son of God” opened in theaters; it hardly created as much controversy as “The Passion of the Christ.” I’ve seen Mel Gibson’s movie but I haven’t seen the film made by Roma Downey and her husband.  Church people apparently like it but what about those who may not know as much about Jesus as that man or woman who regularly sits in a Sunday school class or in a preaching service?

One critic, Sheilia O’Malley, has said this about “Son of God.”

It’s heavy-handed and melodramatic, openly sentimental, and extremely earnest.  ‘Son of God’ earnest-ness is not necessarily a strike against it; it was made by earnest people who want to spread the word.  But it’s a tough draught to swallow if you’re not in the mood for a sermon.

Perhaps O’Malley’s most telling statement comes at the conclusion of her remarks about the film.  She says,

His Sermon on the Mount isn’t rousing or mind-blowing in ‘Son of God’.  It’s delivered too casually, too off-handedly for that.  It is difficult to believe that that pretty-man in a white dress strolling around smirking ever threatened anyone.

In other words, the filmmakers committed the terrible sin of making Jesus boring.

 The early church discovered very quickly that bringing up Jesus did not inspire people to yawn.  The fact that Jesus died on a cross was a point of contention for centuries wherever the gospel was preached.

Mention Jesus in post-Pentecost Jerusalem and the first response would likely be, “You mean the man they crucified?”

Gibson’s film is known for its portrayal of crucifixion that exceeded the gospels in picturing its brutality.  Of course, those who first heard the gospel didn’t need to be told about crucifixion; they could observe a crucifixion almost anytime they might wish to.  The Romans were fond of this form of execution, thinking it a deterrent to crime.  But the gospels’ de-emphasis on such details probably had another reason.

They knew the “how” of Jesus’ death was significant, but never so significant as the “why” and “who” of his death.  The intensity of the suffering is meaningful only in light of the identity of the Sufferer.

Have you ever heard someone try to shake up a group of morose looking friends by asking, “Who died?”  Part of the reason the message of the cross shakes people up is found in the answer to that question:  Who died?

We see this in the story of a forty-year-old man who asked Peter and John for change and received a kind of change he never expected.  (Sorry.)

This dramatic moment provided an opportunity for Peter to address the crowds at the temple.  Everyone there needed to understand just who had died on the cross that first Good Friday.

In his sermon following the healing of the lame man, Peter gives several clues about Jesus identity.

So who died on that cross the first Good Friday?

We can begin by saying Jesus was a Jewish man who lived in a particular time and a particular place.  

On the one hand, that may seem to be a given which is why Peter doesn’t spend a lot of time on it.  Of course, Jesus lived at a particular time and a particular place.  It may seem a given but it isn’t—at least not anymore. 

Once again, there are those who are questioning the very existence of Jesus, saying his life and ministry were a complete fabrication.  They don’t have a wide following but in a university town like Columbus, it would not be unusual to find some undergraduate who believed such a thing, maybe even a professor or two.  

I won’t spend a lot of time on this.  I’ll just say the argument has been made before and historians have been quick to show its fundamental flaws.  Bart Ehrman is an admitted agnostic  and probably the best known critic of the New Testament today.  He disappointed the agnostic/atheist community not long ago when he published a book affirming the historicity of Jesus.  Sure, he didn’t argue for the existence of the Jesus of orthodox Christianity but he did argue that Jesus really lived.

Now, to move on.  We don’t know as much about Jesus’ earthly life especially before his public ministry began as we would like to know.  In fact, a lot of what we think we know may be the influence of tradition.  For example, that wonderful image of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem with Mary sitting on a little donkey and Joseph leading them isn’t found in the Scripture.  A carpenter, Joseph might very well have built a little cart for his wife to sit in as they journeyed to the City of David.  We just don’t know.

As ironic as it may seem, Jesus was most likely born about 5-7 BC.  We’ve known for a long time that when leaders of the medieval church tried to establish a chronology of Jesus’ life they got it wrong.  Most likely the events of the first Good Friday took place when Jesus was about 35 years old, maybe as old as 37 but that’s not likely.

It’s widely believed Jesus spent his early life as a carpenter but that’s not even certain.  The gospels tell us that Joseph was a carpenter but not that Jesus followed him into that trade.  

Recently, Rodney Stark has argued that Jesus’ family was relatively wealthy.  Stark doesn’t say they were the Wolf’s or the Wexner’s of Nazareth but they were by no means impoverished.  The argument he makes isn't flawless but he finds much of his support in the gospels, so we can’t rule it out completely.

True, Jesus said “foxes have holes but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” but this was after he had begun his itinerate ministry.

We don’t know if Jesus was short or tall, if his voice was deep like James Earl Jones’ or high like Abraham Lincoln’s is reported to have been.  Phillip Yancey once suggested that he probably looked a lot more like the Lebanese Jaime Farr (Max Klinger) than Tab Hunter or I might add, Jim Caviezel.  Again, we just don’t know.

We don’t know because this is not really as important as we might think it to be.  We can say some other, more important things about the man who died the first Good Friday.

Jesus was One whose unique power to transform continues to be demonstrated in the lives of those who believe in Him.

We already had a hint of this when Peter addressed the lame man.  He said to him, “In the Name of Jesus…rise and walk.”  Several modern translations say something like, “By the authority of Jesus rise and walk….”  

The idea here is that Jesus, through Peter, was carrying on the work he had done during his earthly life.  

Peter is very quick to deny that this miracle had been done through any special piety he or John possessed.  Jesus of Nazareth—the man many in the crowd would have thought to be safely buried—had done this great work.

As great as this miracle was, we’d be mistaken if we thought of it as only giving the power to walk to this poor man.  The story says he joined Peter and John as they went into the temple.  Actually, we’re told he went “walking, leaping, and praising God.”  A Jewish person hearing this account would have understood his elation.  You see, anyone with a physical deformity was not allowed into the inner court of the temple.  So, for the first time in his life, he was able to worship with his fellow Jews.

Peter sums up his explanation of what happened by telling the crowd that the healing had taken place because of faith in Jesus’ Name.  His words underscore the power and necessity of faith in Jesus.

Such faith brings the transforming power of Jesus into our lives.  In the New Testament miracles are sometimes like visual parables, they portray in dramatic form a spiritual reality. 

 Faith in Christ brings “complete healing” to our souls.  This can be said about no other person.  When Peter defended his healing of the lame man—and the sermon which followed—before the Sanhedrin he made the dramatic claim:  “…of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved."

It’s never been enough to merely know the facts of Jesus’ life, we need to put our faith in him.  We need to accept his word and rely on him for our greatest spiritual need, our salvation.  

Jesus is identified as the One who was on special mission from God.

Once again, Peter’s words to the lame man are a clue.  Peter refers to “the Name of Jesus Christ.”  We have become so accustomed to hearing references to Jesus Christ that we easily forget that the term “Christ” was originally, not a name, but a title.  The  International English Bible retains this understanding when it translates Peter’s command to the lame man:  “By the authority of Jesus the Messiah  from Nazareth--walk!''  Remember, this was still early days in the history of the church.  Some hearing a Christian preacher for the first time would have been shocked to hear any man, especially a man who had been crucified, described as the Messiah.

At the same time, Peter describes Jesus as God’s “servant.”  The title “servant” comes from Isaiah’s description of the Messiah.  

For centuries the Jewish people had awaited God’s anointed Agent who would bring salvation not only to Israel but to all humankind.  Now, Peter is telling the crowd that he had come.  He had come but he had been rejected.

In pointed words Peter said, “you rejected him,” “you handed him over [to Pilate],” and “you didn’t want him.”  

 Wrong-headed people, sometimes claiming to be Christians, have used the story of Christ’s death to justify assaults on Jews.    But that’s not Peter’s purpose.

General Sherman was from Ohio, but just as no sane Georgian would blame a 21^st century Ohioan for what happened in the middle of the 19^th century, no sane person would blame 21^st century Jews for the actions of a band of corrupt Jewish leaders and their followers/minions some 2000 years ago.  

I was working on this when I heard a news item that Blazing Saddles came out forty years ago.  Remember the governor’s great line: “Gentlemen, we’ve got to protect our phoney-baloney jobs.”  That’s what the Jewish leaders were doing when they plotted to kill Jesus, protecting their jobs.

In the end, Peter is not being anti-Semitic in bringing up the Jewish role in the crucifixion.  He’s not even attempting to affix the blame.  He’s issuing a wake-up call.   He is saying, in effect, “Look, this Jesus was the One we’ve all been waiting for.  You rejected him once, if you continue to reject him, there’s not going to be another Savior coming along.”

Peter would probably say something similar to us.  He would warn us against rejecting the Savior God had sent.   You and I might go to movies or look at famous religious art depicting the crucifixion and go away saying, “How could anyone do that to another human being?”  Peter—and all who stand in the tradition of those who share the gospel—might see men and women continue to reject the call to faith in Christ and say, “How can anyone do that?”

Jesus is the One whom God honored because He lived as no one else ever lived.

This is a true story.  A woman was responding to an episode in the Gospels in which Jesus becomes angry.  She said, “I’m happy to see Jesus get angry, it tells me that he was a sinner just like me.”  

That woman’s comment reveals a trend in recent years to see Jesus as sinful.  The New Testament writers would have never embraced such a viewpoint.  The idea is expressed in a variety of places.  Paul in 2 Corinthians is very direct, “He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God.”

The writer of Hebrews makes the same claim about Jesus, saying “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)  There are men and women we meet who live with an evident integrity, yet this cannot be said about any of them.  In fact, most of these people would be the last to say it about themselves.  Jesus alone has the right to the title “the Holy and Righteous One.”

Yet, this man died as a common criminal.  He died charged with blasphemy and sedition.  To the Jews the manner of Jesus’ death marked him as cursed by God.  

But God overruled the sentence of a corrupt human court.  He honored his Son through the Resurrection.  The truth is, had Jesus remained in the tomb it would have been the greatest miscarriage of justice in human history.  Men and women have sometimes suffered injustice, but all of these men and women would have eventually faced the death sentence for their sins, the death sentence we all will one day face.  The Bible teaches us that death is the result of sin.  Jesus alone did not merit death in any form.  

Still, he died.  He died, not for sins of his own, but for our sins.  Paul would later explain this more fully.  But Peter’s listeners, standing as they were in the shadow of the temple with its elaborate system of sacrifice, understood the notion of substitution.  Jesus died for others.  

So, on the one hand we can say that at a particular time and in a particular place Jesus died through a conspiracy of certain corrupt Jewish leaders and a compliant Roman governor.  But, in a larger sense, all of us made Jesus’ death necessary.  How he died pales in comparison to why he died.  

He died to bring new life to you and me.  The resurrection which we will celebrate on Easter reminds us that God honored that sacrifice.

Some ask, “How could the death of a man two-thousand years ago provide forgiveness for every other person in the world?”  That question as caused some to reject Christianity.  Thomas Jefferson rejected orthodox Christianity, in part, because he couldn’t answer that question.

Over the centuries, the church has tried to answer that question with what are called “theories of the atonement.”  Some of these theories are better than others but none of them answer all the questions. 

I’ve found some insight from a statement in John’s Gospel.  It’s found in Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus.  Jesus says to him, “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.”  He was referring to an occasion when Israel had sinned and God sent deadly serpents to punish them.  When the people cried out for mercy, God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole; he then was to lift up the serpent so everyone could see it.  Those who looked on the serpent were healed and lived.

There is a series of books available that claim to tell us what we should do to survive “the worst-case scenario.”  You, know, what should you do in a tornado or when you’re being chased by a bear at Yellowstone.

Well, I’ve not studied all those books but I’m pretty sure you won’t find anything like this:

If you’re walking through the woods and are bitten by a rattlesnake, you should immediately use mud, play-doh, or biscuit dough to make a snake model.  Stare at that and you will be okay.

When you’re bitten by a snake, there is no therapeutic value in looking at the statue of a snake.  Looking at that bronze snake saved the people of Israel because God said it would.  Putting our faith in a man who died on the cross two-thousand years ago deals with our sin-problem because God said it would.  That’s true whether we understand it or not.

In any case, the cross and the empty tomb are forever linked in God’s plan to bless us through the work of Christ.

Jesus is the One who is the source of a life that can only come from God.

In his confrontation with the crowd that morning, Peter says to them, “you killed the Prince of Life.”  The word translated “prince” means “author or source.”  The irony is that they, by rejecting him and turning him over for crucifixion, had killed the Source of life.  One old commentator describes this as a “Glorious paradox.” Of course, Peter is quick to declare that God had trumped their actions through the resurrection.  

There’s no evidence that “Prince or Author of Life” was a widely used title for Jesus Christ, but the words do describe his work.  Years later John would recall how Jesus had spoken of his intention for his followers, “I came, so that they might have life--to the fullest!”

In commenting on that verse from John ten, William Barclay offers a beautiful explanation of its meaning.

Jesus claims that he came that men might have life and might have it more abundantly. The Greek phrase used for having it more abundantly means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who he is and what he means, is to have a superabundance of life.  When we try to live our own lives, life is a dull, dispirited thing. When we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life. It is only when we live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word.

In that interview with Nicodemus, Jesus had said, “You must be born again.”  He was talking about the need to possess life which only comes from God.  Without this life there is no hope of a future with God, a future of joy in God’s presence.  That’s a stiff requirement but the good news is that Jesus is eager to give this life.

The Man who knew the darkest night of death wants to give this life to those who believe.   The passion of the Christ, his suffering on the cross, is as much about life as it is about death.

He died that we might live, really live.  Our sin has left us as spiritual cripples, barred from the presence of God; Jesus longs to transform our lives, to give us a new life, a life which sends us into God’s presence “walking, leaping, and praising” Him.

Conclusion

Peter had used some pretty hard language with the crowd that gathered to see what all the fuss was about.  He had told them they had rejected the One they had been looking for their entire lives.  He might say the same thing to lots of us today.  Peter was saying, “If you think Jesus was just a man who was crucified, think again.”  To us he might say, “If you think Jesus was just a good man who said a lot of good things, think again.”

Born Free

Galatians: A Study of Christian Freedom

Lesson 13:    Born Free!  Galatians 4:21-5:1 

Let me tell you a story, a true story that happened almost 4000 years ago.  It is the story at the heart of Paul’s final appeal to the Galatians.  

Should you decide to read this story as it unfolds in Genesis 16 and 21, you’ll find it’s not a pretty story.  None of the principal characters make a very good showing, except for God and a toddler. And the toddler was, well, a toddler and probably didn’t have a clue.  Paul doesn’t include those details since they're not necessary for his point.

As you recall, God had called Abraham from his father’s country in Mesopotamia, promising him that he would become the founder of a great nation.  In fact, his descendants, so The Promise said, would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

There was a great problem.  Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children,  The years passed and still no child.  

When she was about 75, Sarah seems to have concluded that God was taking too long and came up with a scheme to have a family.  She would use her servant Hagar to be a surrogate.  Any child Hagar had would become her child.  This was a perfectly legal arrangement at the time, since servants were the property of their owners and had no rights.  Some masters used their female servants as unofficial concubines but there’s no suggestion Abraham treated the female slaves this way.  But, in this case, for what appears to be the only time, Abraham agrees.

So, Hagar becomes pregnant and eventually gives birth to Ishmael.  Almost immediately, hostility develops between the two women and Hagar runs away with her son.  An angel appears to her and tells Hagar she is to return; so, she does.  About fifteen years later, Sarah finally gives birth to Isaac, the child of promise.  Once again, hostility develops, this time caused by Ishmael’s bullying of young Isaac.  Sarah banishes the two of them to the wilderness where they would have most likely died had God not intervened.  In fact, God promises that Ishmael, himself, will be the founder of a great nation.  But that’s another story.  

This story has long been seen as an example of what happens when we attempt to second guess God, when we attempt to improve upon what God has done, when we set out to tweak God’s plans.

Did Paul have that in mind when he used this story?  We can certainly see how the Judaizers seemed to have concluded that the way of salvation by grace needed improvement.  That’s what Paul has been struggling against throughout the letter.  Certainly, Sarah’s scheme to improve God’s plan led to trouble for Israel.  But, if Paul has this in mind, it’s secondary his main point.

Two Mothers, Two Sons

Paul’s purpose is served by reminding us that there were once two mothers and two sons.  One mother was free, the other was a slave; one son was born free, the other was born a slave.  Isaac was born by God’s power, not through human scheming; so he was the child of The Promise.  You know, God’s Big Promise to Abraham that he would make him the father of a great nation that would eventually bless the whole world.  Like Isaac, Christians are God’s children through God’s power, not through human effort.  The Apostle John may not have written his Gospel yet but he makes the same point about believers:  “But as many as received [Christ], to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”

In telling this story, Paul seems to be asking the Galatians, “Who are you going to be, a child of Sarah or a child of Hagar?” 

Any Jew hearing that question would have replied “I’m a child of Sarah; I was born free.”  Then, with that Paul suddenly starts talking about MtSinai.  What’s he doing?

As he explains, he is using a literary device called “allegory” in many translations.  The translation is accurate but the word translated “allegory” had a broader meaning in Paul’s day.  Paul is offering an illustration drawn from a historical event, like an analogy.  Jewish teachers commonly used it to make a point. 

One Mountain, Two Cities

This becomes clear when he suddenly starts talking about MtSinai.  He says, “the two women are like the two agreements or covenants between God and his people.”  One was made at MtSinai.  That’s where Israel received the Law.  As a consequence, MtSinai was considered to be a sacred place.  It had treasured associations with the Jewish culture.  It was where the Law that defined what it meant to be a Jew was given.  

 But it was also in Arabia where Hagar and Ishmael eventually settled. So, Paul links Sinai to Hagar.  In other words, I don’t think I’m going too far to say that a child of Sinai (one who attempts win God’s favor through the Law) is a slave, just like Hagar’s child.

At this point, the Judaizers are beginning to seethe.  So, Paul turns up the heat.

In contrast to being a child of MtSinai was being a child of Jerusalem.  But Paul makes it clear he is not talking about the Jerusalem at 31.78 degree’s North and 35.22 degrees East.  

That Jerusalem, the earthly Jerusalem, remained under the grip of the corrupted understanding of the Law’s purpose and of how we receive God’s favor.  Although they were hundreds of miles from each other, the earthly Jerusalem remained under the shadow of MtSinai.  

Those who study the history of religions, say that the followers of many of the world’s religions see some special place as the axis mundi, that is they see that place as the center of the world.  For Jews it may be Jerusalem, for Christians it may be Mount Calvary or the Empty Tomb; for Muslims, it may be Mecca; closer to home, for the Cherokee, it may be a little valley in North Carolina where some in the tribe believe the first man and woman were created.  It is some geographical location around which everything else revolves.  It’s an important concept for understanding things like pilgrimages and the Crusades.

But Paul—religious sociologists not withstanding—says the Jerusalem to which we are to show allegiance isn’t on any map.  It is a “heavenly” Jerusalem.  It’s the capital of a Kingdom that is not on any map.  It is the capital of the Messianic Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  The earthly Jerusalem is a place of legal bondage; the heavenly Jerusalem is a place of grace because it is under the rule of the Messiah.

Like Ishmael mistreated Isaac, the children of the law will mistreat the children of grace, but they cannot take away their freedom.

So, the question remains:  Who are you going to be?  A child of slavery or a child of freedom?

Born Free

This brings Paul to the moment he has been moving toward for four chapters.  He makes the declaration that sums up his plea to the Galatians.

Christ set us free so that we could live in freedom.

Christ our great Liberator liberated us so we should live in liberty.  This brings Paul to issue a warning:

Therefore, stand firm and don’t 

submit to the 

bondage of slavery again.

 Get that, Christ died for our freedom; living in slavery of any kind short-circuits his work.  In other words, with apologies to lionesses everywhere, you were born free; live free.

On a deep level, this reflects God’s commitment to our freedom.  To speak of human freedom is frightening to some people, yet that seems to have always been God’s great wish for us.   Chris Blake describes God’s commitment to our freedom:

  Freedom is sacred to God.  God would rather have us free than have us safe, God would rather have us free than have us forever saved.  Otherwise, He would force us to be saved, to be gentle, to be unselfish and kind.  God understands that sullen submission breeds resentment and rebellion.  God knows love cannot be forced.[1]

This freedom has several dimensions  

God would have us free from legalism.  That’s the repeated message of Galatians.  We are free from the need to fearfully observe a set of rules and taboos in order to win God’s favor.  Receiving God’s favor is not linked to a list of do’s and don’ts;  it rests on God’s promise to accept those who trust the word of the gospel.

God would have us free from fanaticism.  Christianity calls us to commitment, to take up the cross and follow him.  But there is a difference between such commitment and raw fanaticism.  Commitment is born out of love for God; fanaticism is born out of fear—fear that only the extraordinary act will secure God’s favor.  Jesus offers us freedom from such fanaticism.  He accepts us, not for what we might do for him, but simply because he loves us.  

A former Muslim who converted to Christianity explains what Jesus’ death means for him.  He says, “… Jesus died on Calvary, so that I wouldn’t have to. And if I may be so crass,,,, Jesus strapped Himself to a cross so that I wouldn’t have to strap a bomb to myself.”

God would have us free from fear.  So much of legalism, fanaticism, and religious extremism is rooted in fear.  Jesus wants us to live free from that fear.  This is at the heart of what Christians call “peace.”  It is the tranquility rooted in our confidence of God’s acceptance.

God would have us free from the dictates of a broken culture.  Paul would tell the Romans, “Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold.”  Of course, ever a realist, he would tell the Corinthians that getting away from bad influences would involve going “out of the world” which was impossible.  We live in a broken, but inescapable, culture; a culture that would gladly squeeze us into its mold.  And, because we are broken too, we are susceptible.  

Sometimes giving into the pressure may even take a form that seems spiritual, even commendable.  The Judaizers so much wanted to escape the criticism of their community they took a religious stand in favor of traditional rules and taboos that ultimately would corrupt the gospel of grace. 

God would have us free to be neither left nor right, free to take the unpopular view even if it means flying in the face of the cultural consensus, free to refuse the easy answer to a complex issue.

God would have us free from sin’s dominion.  Some fear the gospel of grace because they believe it is indifferent to sin.  But how could God be indifferent to such a destructive power? Sin is more than affront to God, it is an assault on the crown of his creation—us.  

God does not want us dominated by sin.  So, the gospel has liberating power.  To honor the anniversary of his own conversion, Charles Wesley wrote:

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive…

To the degree we open ourselves to the Spirit’s work we know that life as a reality.

Conclusion:

Paul is about to turn a corner.  He will turn from the foundation of the Christian life to the outliving of the Christian life.  But he knows that life cannot be lived apart from what he has already said.  

This is why it’s so important for us to remember we were born to be free.  When I was checking out the background of Wesley’s hymn, I came across the testimony of a man who, when he was thirteen, read a book that listed 101 sins to avoid.   The man says the author told his readers that success was their responsibility.  The man said it was a “straitjacket” that left him with fear and self-absorption.  He says he knew nothing of the joy Wesley’s hymn speaks of.

Paul wanted nothing to do with a gospel without joy, without freedom, without peace. He didn't want it for himself, he didn’t want it for the Galatians; and, if we could ask him, I’m sure he wouldn’t want it for us.

So keep in mind  “Christ has set us free! This means we are really free.”

[Paul doesn't mention the second covenant, perhaps because his readers would have understood it was initiated by the death of Jesus.  In any case, his point was made.]