May 29, 2011 6th Sunday of Eastertide
Acts 17: 22-31, 1 Peter 3: 13-18, John 14: 15-21
Disciples ACTing Out: Resurrection Witness (5th in Series)
Today is the final sermon in our series Disciples ACTing OUT. Today the subject is Resurrection witness, and centers on how to be a witness to Jesus Christ today. If you have been here for all of the series, you recall that the Resurrection hope the disciples received after Jesus went to be with God. That hope prompted and motivated their actions. Peter's witness to Jesus' life, death and resurrection, after he had been filled with the Holy Spirit was a bold proclamation from someone who had been changed.
The second week we talked about Resurrection power. We looked at how the disciples had the power of the Holy Spirit within them; the power to do things God wanted them to do. Their lives show us that we to have the same Spirit within us. In spite of how we may feel sometimes, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to love the unlovable, to live fearlessly, to be generous, to control ourselves, to forgive, to endure suffering, and to express joy, praise and gratitude.
The third sermon in the series was about Resurrection people and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The early church devoted their time, energy, and resources to the study of God's word, to prayer, to fellowshipping together and to the transformation of the world. As disciples ourselves, these same actions are what we still do in 2011.
Last week we talked about the Resurrection Kingdom. Our call from God is to proclaim the kingdom of God having come in Jesus Christ. Being under the rule and authority of God means that we follow the Lordship of Jesus and all that it entails.
This week we end our series with a look at the Disciples ACTing Out from our study of Acts by looking at Resurrection Witness; how disciples of Jesus Christ acted out in proclaiming the Gospel message to all people and what that says to us here at Pisgah today.
I imagine that all of us...when we hear the word "witness" kinda get weak in the knees. It's kind of like getting your teeth cleaned...we know we need to do it...but think of it as a rather unpleasant experience, so we only do it when we have to.
This week our scripture lesson from Acts is part of the story of Paul when he traveled to the Greek city of Athens. You may remember Athens as the hometown of Socrates, the philosopher who was "martyred" for the sake of his principals some 430 years before Jesus was born. Athens was the seat of learning, with many stoic and epicurean philosophers. I suppose you could look at Athens when Paul arrived there like a small university town, where people were constantly examining the new and different.
Paul was on his second missionary journey. Like all missionary journeys, there are the good days and the bad days. He had been traveling down the eastern coast of Greece, and had stopped at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea where he had gotten into a lot of trouble: imprisoned, beaten with rods, and chased out of several towns he had visited. Like we learned last week, the life of a witness is pretty harried sometimes.
In Athens Paul was appalled at the numbers of temples, the idols, and deities that the city boasted. In such a place with so many gods and philosophies, I might have kept my head down. But not Paul. He was fearless. I am always in awe of his boldness in preaching, teaching and taking on authorities. Another thing that has always amazed me is how Paul connected with whomever he met.
These Athenians were people who liked to hear about any new thing. That is what had motivated them to ask Paul to the Areopagus to discuss his new teachings and to hear about Jesus. Paul could have allowed himself to be offended by the numbers of idols in the city, but rather he used the fact that the people were very religious as a way to connect to them.
Though Paul did not diminish his message, he was able to build a relationship with the Athenians. This was Paul's method of connection much of the time. He wrote to the Corinthians that:
"For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law...so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law...so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 (NRSV).
With the Athenians, Paul realized they were very religious people and were continually seeking the truth, even to the point of building an altar to the "unknown" God. These people were open to allowing citizens to worship the "god" of their choice. The altar gave Paul a perfect opportunity to tell them the good news.
Like me, do you find it ironic that these Athenians seem to be like people today? I've never known a time in my life where there is more pantheistic worship; more idol worship. It is amazing the things, people, deities that people worship, and many people don't seem to mind that all that much. They say things like, "what's right for me, may not be right for you." The term "absolute truth" just isn't as absolute as it used to be. Have you noticed that almost anything goes these days?
So what does it mean to "witness" today. Remember that the term witness and martyr were interchangeable in Paul's day. Over the years, those who have been killed for their proclamation of their faith or their causes have been called martyrs. Witnessing then can be said to include the possibility of giving up our lives. Giving up our lives to the gospel.
Giving up our lives is not a mandate of God, but rather it is our response to what God has given us. Our motivation to be a witness comes from love and compassion for our fellow humans. So anytime we are sharing love and compassion, we are being a witness.
Involves:
· Giving money to a local charity or cause
· Forming a group to work at a local soup kitchen
· Preparing for and raising money to go to Alabama, Missouri, to help re-build a church or home
· Bringing a pack of underwear and a can-opener
· Starting a food pantry
· Helping to tutor a child
· Setting up free wellness clinic
· Sharing your gifts of music, singing, and writing
· Getting to know your neighbors, inviting them to our church
· Avoiding being judgmental of others looks, issues, struggles, addictions
This list is very long because there are thousands of way that we can give our lives to be a resurrection witness.
I have just got to say that today the world is full of "show me" people; people who if they do not see people whose words line up with their lives...will not listen to a word we have to say. In order to be taken seriously...we gotta walk the walk. That is what Paul did. That is what Peter did. That is what Stephen did... the disciples of the early church walked the walk.
And what drives us to walk the walk? Is it because we have to? No. We try as best we can to walk the walk because we see the great need for the gospel, the love, the joy of being children to be shared. Because we have the Holy Spirit filling us with compassion and love for anyone who is not connected to God that is why we witness. We witness out of love for others. God's love within us calls us to act OUT, being the hands, feet, voice, love and compassion of Jesus to the world.
Disciples who ACT OUT...are empowered by God. We have hope in the resurrection; empowered by the Holy Spirit; thus live a disciplined life of prayer, study, fellowship and transformation; following the Lordship of Jesus Christ and witnessing to the gospel in graceful, compassionate and loving ways.
Those disciples R us. Acting Out in the name and power of Jesus. Amen.
©2011 Judy H. Eurey
