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Fifth Sunday of Easter, 04/24/2016
Sermon on Acts 11:18, by Beth A. Schlegel
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
…
During this Easter season we are focusing on the resurrection of Jesus as fostering unity.
We all need unity – unity of mind, of will, of purpose.
Unity is oneness.
It is speaking with one voice
committing with one heart and mind
acting with one will
joining together in common life
When we have unity of faith and purpose
We experience less stress,
are more productive,
and are less likely to be depressed.
The scripture readings during this Easter season tell how the resurrection of Jesus unified his followers,
and they point us to how we also can live in unity as the people of God.
In our first message in this series, we learned how Jesus draws people together through forgiveness,
and how we are unified by forgiving one another and living in peace.
Secondly, we learned how Jesus people are united in his agape love
– given through his sacrifice on the cross and in the resurrection
And which we receive each week through the word of God and the Lord’s Supper.
When we experience the agape love of Jesus for us,
we are united with all those whom Jesus loves.
We belong together.
We are made part of the family of God through baptism into his name.
Jesus draws us into the unity of his love and transforms us into the community of those who share his love,
bringing others to life.
Last Sunday, we heard how Jesus unifies us as those who recognize our Good Shepherd’s voice among all other voices and who find our greatest joy in imitating Jesus as our Master.
This is the unity of discipleship, together learning from and following our Master, Jesus in bringing others to life.
Today, we pick up on another aspect of the church’s unity – unity in loving others, and particularly those who do not yet believe.
It is fairly easy to love those who are like-minded, whose culture we share, whose lifestyle is similar, whose values coincide with our own.
And we are supposed to do that – Jesus commanded us to love one another as he has loved us.
But he also commanded us to Go and make disciples of all nations.
We are to love those who are not like us, who do not share our culture or values or language or lifestyle.
We are to love them not simply by serving them in their needs, but by sharing Jesus with them.
The unity of love for others breaks down the barriers to faith for those who do not yet believe.
It recognizes that the church exists not for itself, but for the sake of bringing unbelievers to faith in Jesus Christ.
Hoo boy – this is not comfortable! This is downright scary!
When I was a student in Germany in my early twenties, I was the only practicing Christian in my house and among my friends.
We had intense conversations about why it was important to me to worship Jesus, to pray to God, and how I was convinced God even existed.
Only the Holy Spirit knows if I converted anyone, but it was definitely not comfortable being put on the spot.
Yet, through that experience, my faith became stronger as I wrestled with questions I had taken for granted.
There are several things I learned about sharing faith:
Actions are noticed by the unbelieving. Habits of worship attendance, prayer, deeds of mercy, and concern for others are a form of witness to Jesus. Sometimes, they are the conversation starter with an unbeliever.
God asks us only to speak what we know. The best witness is what we have seen, heard, and experienced for ourselves of the mercy and grace of God in Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit does the work. For me, this is the hardest thing but also the greatest hope. My ego wants to take credit for bringing people to Christ. But when that happens, I come on too strong, want their conversion too much and sometimes wind up losing them. I ask for forgiveness for this. Instead, I need to leave room for the Holy Spirit. This frees me to be humble in making my witness and to be respectful of the other person – and patient. The Holy Spirit will act – in God’s time.
Unbelievers need our love even if they remain unconvinced. It is a powerful thing for an unbeliever to feel loved by a believer even after rejecting faith. Over time, the Holy Spirit uses such love to draw people into faith.
No one is off limits.
The apostle Peter learned this when he received the vision of the unclean foods and was visited by the men. He had been obeying God by not engaging the pagans with their idol worship and sacrifices.
But now that Jesus rose from the dead, God changed the rules.
The Law had been fulfilled by Jesus on the cross so that now, salvation came through faith in Jesus rather than good works.
Because Jesus is risen from the dead, anyone who trusts him may receive eternal life.
God made that clear to Peter in the vision and visit.
“What God has made clean, you must not call profane”.
This meant Peter and the other disciples could share Jesus’ love with unbelievers first by accepting their hospitality.
Accepting someone else’s hospitality is an act of love. It says “I consider you worthy of my time, my presence, and my esteem.”
Isn’t that the kind of love Jesus extends to us?
Isn’t that the agape love Jesus commanded us to share?
Sure.
And it’s a lot better than sitting down to a nice steak dinner with someone you’ve just met and saying “I won’t eat meat because it is wrong and bad.”
Instead, we get to meet people on their terms and love them into fellowship with Jesus through us.
Always remembering that the outcome is the Holy Spirit’s work.
So how do we live out this unity of love for others by sharing Jesus?
By together making it a priority to reach unbelievers.
How can we share Jesus with unbelievers?
First – pray that God will open your heart to opportunities to share your faith.
Second – remember that you are not alone – the Holy Spirit is with you.
Third – speak of God’s actions in your life.
This can be as simple as saying “God sure has given us a nice day!”
Or “God has blessed you with that talent”
Or if you hear a lament about the state of affairs, you can say “If it weren’t for Jesus living beyond death, there would be no point to life.”
Or if someone is hurting, sick, grieving, you can say “I am so sorry you are suffering. I believe Jesus can help. May I pray for you?” And then pray – then and there, simply in your own words, and later in your own prayers.
If someone else starts the conversation, simply respond from your own experience of the grace and mercy of Christ. And invite that person to come with you to worship.
None of these encounters shows disrespect toward those who don’t believe nor imposes our beliefs onto them.
We simply share our faith and trust the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of those the Father is drawing into the unity of Jesus.
And then we welcome them with open arms into our fellowship in Christ.
For Christ is risen, Alleluia! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!