Peace Lutheran Church
Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2024
Text: Acts 8:26-40
Outline:
1. Physical Hunger
2. Spiritual Hunger
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading of Acts chapter eight verses twenty-six through forty.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well this morning. Have you ever been really super hungry? So hungry that even breakfast is not enough food? You want a snack right after that gets done. We see someone in our text for today who is super hungry. He is hungry not for physical food but for spiritual food and drink that God gives. How can we be just as hungy for the Bible as we are for physical food and drink? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. Physical Hunger
“I am so hungry I could eat a horse.” “You say you are not hungry but your growling stomach is giving you away, come on and eat!” Have you ever been super hungry? I am sure you have. Some people even get what is called Hangry, angry due to hunger if they do not eat.
Humanity will go to great lengths to survive if needed due to hunger. There are reports of the famed Donner party when they were trapped in the Rockies, eating things like oxhides: “"Diets soon consisted of oxhide, strips of which were boiled to make a "disagreeable" glue-like jelly. Ox and horse bones were boiled repeatedly to make soup, and became so brittle they would crumble upon chewing. Sometimes they were softened by being charred and eaten. Bit by bit, the Murphy children picked apart the oxhide rug that lay in front of their fireplace, roasted it in the fire and ate it.” There is even reports, and actually recipes, for people using wood in place of flour to make bread in the late 1840s. I doubt that any of us have ever been that hungry.
2. Spiritual Hunger
Yet, in a way, that desperate hunger that some have experienced should remind us of our own hunger. We may not have a deep physical hunger but we should have a much deeper spiritual hunger. We should have a gnawing hunger because of our sins. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot satisfy the hunger because of sin. As my mother always says after hearing a good sermon, she got the meat and potatoes of God’s Word. Many in our world attempt to satisfy this hunger with worldly things. They feast on tempting sweet candy of the world rather than the rich feast of the Word. If they just good enough possessions, enough money, enough power, fame, or authority. If they just keep their good health, then that will satisfy their spiritual hunger if only for a short time. If they get a brief bit of joy, then they think that they are fine. Naturally, they want to do things that take the least amount of time or effort on their part possible. They are content to feast on ice chips rather than on the meat, fruit, and, veggies of God’s word.
Yet, what is the food that can fully satisfy our spiritual hunger? The only thing that can fully satisfy our hunger is the Word of God. Just look at Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. At the Lord’s command Phillip leaves prosperous Samaria, where thousands are coming to faith and believing in the Word of God, to go down a desert road. On this road he meets a single soul, an Ethiopian returning home from worship.
See this man’s great hunger for the word. He travels 1600 miles one way through rough desert and mountainous terrain. He arrives in Jerusalem for one of the feasts. His hunger for the Word is so great that even though all he can do is be in the very outer courts of the temple, still he goes staying weeks for the feast. Surely, being around Jerusalem at this time, he would have heard rumors of what happened to Jesus. This man is so hungry that he is spending his trip reading, not quietly to himself but loudly from the scroll of Isaiah, to the point that Phillip overhears. Phillip asks him if he knows what he is reading about. The Ethiopian tells him that he does not.
Phillip begins using that text to explain everything that Jesus did. That Jesus is the lamb led to slaughter. He was crucified, not for any sin that He had done, but as payment for every single one of our sins. Jesus rose from the dead to give to every single person new life in Him. To fully satisfy our spiritual hunger forever.
As Phillip talks, he must have expounded baptism to the eunuch. It is thus that he exclaims, “Lo, water!” with a happy ring in his voice. When asks about a hindrance to his being baptized he intends to indicate that he knows of none but leaves it to the fuller knowledge of his teacher as to whether his supposition is correct. He hunger and thirsts for the Word of God as well as the Sacraments. He is baptized, the first Gentile to convert to Christianity, and Phillip is taken away by the Spirit. The Ethiopian returns home rejoicing.
The same hunger that the Ethiopian had is the same hunger that we should have for the Word and Sacraments. We should let noting be an impediment to us. We have the wonders of modern technology that we can have the Word close at hand on our phones in a wide variety of languages. We can read it whenever we want wherever we are. We should desire and hold to God’s Word more than our very lives. We should do, and endure, anything to obtain them. As you promised in your confirmation vows, “To suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from the faith.” We should, as we pray in the Collect of the Word, “Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Word of God. We can by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us feast, not upon the candy and ice of the world, but on that which fully satisfies every one of our needs, feast on the rich feast of food that God gives to us in His Holy Word.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we hunger for physical food and drink, may we also be just as hungry for the rich feast God Himself provides us. Until that glorious day when we are at that great marriage feast of the Lamb which has no end because Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen indeed! Alleluia!
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 22, 2024
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading from the book of Acts chapter four verses one through twelve.
Boys and Girls, I pray that you are doing well. Have you ever seen really small animals? In the ocean there are small microscopic vegetable life of the sea who provides food for many of the ocean's smallest creatures. These little vegetable plants drift thousands of miles, wherever the current takes them. They have no power or will of their own to direct their destiny. They are called "plankton," a word that means wandering or drifting. How are we often like Plankton in our lives? How does God stop our drifting? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
Plankton is an accurate term to describe the aimless life of many people of our century, people who have lost a sense of direction, who are powerless to direct their own destiny, and wander through life without a purpose.
These are the people who are subject to the shifting wind of every fad. They struggle to find a purpose in their lives either in some sort of pleasure or in one of the new religious movements or mind control efforts. In our text today, Peter is saying that there is one way of escape; one way of finding meaning and purpose in life; one way to a new kind of life with God and that way is through the name of Jesus.
One of the exciting things about knowing that way through the name is that we can share it with others. Have you ever tried to share the name? Polls have indicated that about half of all Lutherans never do it, 40 percent do it once in a while, and 10 regularly. Yet, look at the power of the name that we share!
A. The Name Healed the Lame Man
The background of the text is that Peter and John had gone to the temple to pray as was their custom. As recorded in Acts 3, which was the First Reading last Sunday, they were confronted by a cripple at the gate of the temple, and Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but what I've got I'll give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk" (Acts 3:7). Immediately the man got up, leaped and jumped, and praised God. A great crowd gathered around to listen, so Peter began to preach as he usually did when a crowd gathered. He told the crowd that it was by this name of the servant Jesus that the man was healed and able to walk. It was not long until the temple guards, the riot control squad, arrived and dragged Peter and John off to prison for the night. The next day they were brought before the court, and there the question was asked, "By what power or by what name do you do this?" (Acts 4:7). In response Peter spoke those words of our text that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and he explained what Jesus did as he adds, "whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By Him this man is standing before you well."
B. God Chose the Name
The way is the name. The name is "Jesus," the name that God the Father chose to give His Son. It is not a name that the Old Testament prophets attributed to the coming Messiah. The name is in the Old Testament but in different forms, in words like Joshua and Hosea. It was God who chose the name for His Son. When it was time for the Messiah to come, God sent His messenger, the Angel Gabriel, to say to Mary, "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." That is what the name really means, "one who saves." In His sermon to the crowd in the temple, Peter connected that name "Jesus" to the "holy and righteous one," and to the "author of life whom God raised from the dead" (Acts 3:14, 15), making it clear that this "one who saves" is none other than the Son of God Himself.
C. The Name Saves
In some cultures, it has been common to give the name of Jesus to sons as a way to honor them. That is why some professional ballplayers have names that are variations of the name Jesus, as Jesu, or Jose. Some years ago, a group of mothers sent a protest and request to the archbishop of Mexico. They wanted him to ban the use of the name Jesus and refuse any christening by that name. The reason they gave was that it was sacrilegious to have so many crimes committed by Jesus—and then written on the police record.
Jesus is the Son of God, the one who is holy and righteous. To live a holy life for us was part of His work on earth. Then He took our sins upon Himself, suffered and died and rose again, making atonement for all sins for all people. That was how He "saved His people from their sins" and became the "author of life."
D. The Name Is the Only Way
Peter says that it is through this name that we have life with God—and there is no other way. "Saved" in the New Testament means that we are rescued. By nature, you and I and all people are in a state of sinfulness, which the Bible calls death. It is a spiritual death, a life without God. This is the basic cause of the restless search for meaning in life. People are separated from the God who created them and who wants them to be in fellowship with Him. Unless they find the way to God, they will keep on searching and finally die in their sins.
The way to have that life is through the name of Jesus. It is the only way. Jesus said, "I am come that you may have life, life in all of its fullness." That is His very purpose for dying and rising from the dead, to give us the fullness of eternal life.
E. There Is None Other
Only one name, only one way. But the way is for everyone in all of the world.
Yet, many in the world try a wide variety of different ways. There was once a survey of Lutherans which says that 70 percent of young people would agree to this statement: "God is satisfied if I live the best life I can." This is a subtle form of universalism that is, if our neighbor is a good person and lives a good life, he is going to make it. He is going to be all right somehow. Or as I think about my Jewish friends, I would like to believe that they can be saved through the Old Testament, and then I do not have to share Jesus Christ with them. There are many other forms of this kind of subtle universalism which takes away the need for me to share Jesus Christ with them. But we must share Jesus with theme. They need it just as much as we do.
F. The Name Must Be Shared
It is our privilege and our commission to share that name with other people. Peter gives us the example in our text. He is before the Sanhedrin, that august body, the Jewish high court consisting of 71 members. The high priest is the ex-officio president. There are the wealthy Sadducees, the religious Pharisees, the learned Scribes, the respected elders, and our text even mentions that the priestly family was present. The high priest was supposed to have been a hereditary office and one for life. But under the Roman rule the office was filed with intrigue, bribery, and corruption. Between 37 B.C. and A.D. 67 there were 28 high priests. All but six of them came from four families. Many of those former high priests were here at this court.
So Peter and John were standing before the wealthiest, most intellectual, most powerful men in the country. There Peter, an uneducated, humble fisherman, makes his witness. A number of weeks earlier Jesus went before this same court, and they sent Him to the Romans recommending crucifixion. Peter was then in the courtyard denying that he even knew Jesus. And now Peter stands before this same group of men and says, "You crucified Jesus of Nazareth, but God raised Him from the dead. Now this name is the only name under heaven, the only name in all the world, by which you can be saved." The difference in Peter, of course, is that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. This was after Pentecost, and the Spirit empowered him for his bold witness.
That same Spirit is still active today though you. You received the forgiveness of your sins and new life in your baptism. The Holy Spirit came into your life and has been nurturing your faith so that you can trust in the name of Jesus and live a life with meaning and purpose. Just as Peter witnessed to the Sanhedrin, the Holy Spirit can help you be a witness to others, to your friend, your neighbors, and even your own relatives who do not know the way to peace with God through the name of Jesus.
Think of it like sharing the cure of cancer. Someone is dying of cancer. He has taken every known treatment for it, and some of the treatments almost killed him, but he is still dying, and it won't be long now. What if I knew the cure for his cancer? Should I let him die or share the cure so he can live? Do you have friends, neighbors, relatives, who are dying because of the cancer of sin in them? They are separated from God and destined to an eternal death. There is one way to be saved. That is through the name of Jesus. Sharing that name really puts meaning and purpose into life.
Some people can witness better than others. The Bible talks about some having the "gift of evangelism," which means that they can communicate the Good News of the way and help lead a person to trust in the name of Jesus. Of course, it is the Holy Spirit that creates faith, but we are the instruments He uses, His mouthpiece. Some people think about 10 percent of all Christians have this special gift of evangelism. What about the other 90 percent? We also are witnesses, Jesus said, even though we can't do as well as the person with the special gift. Each one of us needs to share as we are able. We share in the daily contacts that we have with people, we show by our words, deeds, and example the wonderous news that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that there is no other name by which we must be saved.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Third Sunday of Easter
April 11, 2024
Text: Acts 3:11-21
Theme: Joyful Repentance
Outline
1. Repentance is serious
2. Repentance is joyful
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He Is Risen indeed Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading from Acts chapter three verses eleven through twenty-one.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever played the Hokey Pokey? You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out and shake it all about. Eventually your whole body is shaking and turning around. It is a fun game. It is also what the word repentance means. It means to turn around, to stop doing bad horrible things and turn to God, being sorry over our sins. It is something that is serious, but like the hokey pokey, can also be fun and joyful. How can that be? How does God call us to Repentance still today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. Repentance is serious
“13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ” Peter’s opening words create a stark contrast. The Jews killed the Author of life and asked for a murderer to go free in His place. Jesus they crucified, Barabas they released. A murderer takes life although it be only the earthly life; this Author of life has divine life in himself and has thereby become the fountain of spiritual and everlasting life for us. The contrast rises to a tremendous climax: the one destroys the lower life, the other bestows the highest life Killing the one who is the source and end goal of all life. Jesus who is the very words of life made flesh for humanity, to give to them life everlasting. Him they killed! With these words Peter calls the Jews to repentance over their sins. While they are marveling, dumb founded at this miracle that is before their eyes of a lame man now fully walking, constantly clinging to Peter and John in thanksgiving for what they did for him. Peter says no. They should not be marveling at this fact. Rather, they should be marveling that God has not slain them for their great sin against Him. They killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead. Because of faith in the Author of life, because Jesus was raised from the dead, this man was healed.
Repentance, and calling people to repentance, is serious business. Peter says, “19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ” We should take our sins seriously and its consequences. We should mourn over doing them. We should despise our dark thoughts that lead to even darker actions. We may not have physically killed Jesus like the Jews did, but that does not mean we have not done things in need of repentance. We, like the Jews, need to repent of our sins and turn back to God. We need to repent of our sins of rebelling against God when He does not act on our time table. Our sins of thinking that we know better than those that God has placed in authority over us. Our sins of words said in anger or frustration. Our sins of deeds done in the dark of night when we think no one is looking. Our sins of annoyance when something does a minor thing we do not like that causes us to get annoyed or angry. Our sins of impatience when someone cuts us off or we get stuck at every red light. Kill the author of life? No, but our sins are just as horrible. Just as deserving of present and everlasting punishment. James writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
Unlike many in the world who think that because Jesus died, then we are free to do whatever we want, that everything is forgiven. We dare not take our sins lightly. We dare not take our sins as anything less that what they are. Things to be abhorred. Spurned at the first inclination of them. Yet, how grievous our flesh! How quickly we cheapen the grace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ our Lord!
2. Repentance is joyful
As serious as we should take repentance, it is also a time to be joyful. Many times, we focus so much on the seriousness and somberness of repentance that we lose the joy. How can we have joy? Because of Who we are turning to. Just look at what Peter says will happen with repentance. “20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus ” We turn in contraction, in sorrow over our sins. Who do we turn to? We turn to the very Author of life, the very One crucified for us. The One who has joined us in our sorrows and weakness in order to redeem us. As Luther writes, ““We Christians must know that if God is not also in the balance and gives the weight, we sink to the bottom with our scale. By this I mean: If it were not to be said, God has died for us but only a man, we should be lost. But if ‘God’s death’ and ‘God died’ lie in the scale of the balance, then he sinks down, and we rise up as a light, empty scale. But, indeed, he can also rise again or leap out of the scale; yet he could not sit in the scale unless he became a man like us so that it could be said: ‘God died,’ ‘God’s passion,’ ‘God’s blood,’ ‘God’s death.’ For in his nature God cannot die; but now that God and man are united in one person, it is correctly called God’s death when the man dies who is one thing or one person with God.” Jesus took on our humanity, became one of us in every way yet was without sin, died, and rose from the dead that every single one of our sins are forgiven. They are covered by His blood. We rejoice that we are not left down in the balance of our sins but that He is on the other side. That He has made us light by taking away our sins. Because of Jesus God showers us, not with wrath and anger as our sins deserve, but with times of refreshing. When we turn to Him in repentance, He gives us joy that our sins are forgiven. He gives us of His Holy Spirit that we can, and do, turn to Him in repentance, be strengthened by Him in newness of life. We rejoice in the forgiveness that He has given to us in Christ.
We rejoice that God gives us the ultimate joy. Eternal joy found when Jesus comes again in power and glory. Raises the dead, bodies perfected forever, and we get to live with Him forever and ever in the new heavens and new earth eternally.
Is repentance something to be taken seriously? Yes, sin is serious business, but it leads to rejoicing in joy that we have repentance. We turn to our crucified, risen, and ascended Christ Jesus and receive forgiveness, and times of refreshment. All because Jesus the Author of life, has died and risen for you.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He Is Risen indeed Alleluia!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Second Sunday of Easter
April 07, 2024
Text: Acts 4:32-37
Sermon Outline
4. Jesus’ resurrection is a name changer; even more, a life changer for Peter and Thomas and Barnabas.
3. Jesus’ resurrection is a life changer for us as well.
2. Barnabas’s changed life well reflected the name “son of encouragement” in his giving generously to those in need and his words in support of Paul.
1. We become like Barnabas when we encourage others with our words and we encourage others with our generosity.
JESUS’ RESURRECTION GIVES GRACE AND POWER TO CHANGE LIVES INTO “BARNABASES,” ENCOURAGERS WITH WORDS AND GENEROSITY.
Sermon
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading from Acts chapter four verses thirty-two through thirty-five.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Today I have a gift, what do you think is in here? It could be anything. It is something related to Barnabas. Barnabas was a nickname given to a disciple named Joseph. People get nicknames for a variety of reasons. Some come by a physical trait, like Shorty for height or Red for hair color. A nickname could be a shortened form of a longer given name, one that is easier to say: Bart for Bartholomew; Beth or Liz for Elizabeth. Sometimes, you cannot be sure where a nickname came from. It seems quite a few guys have the nickname “Bud.” Not sure where that comes from, but it is fairly common. How do you think this box relates to the name Barnabas? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
4.
Just as we give nicknames today, the same is true for people who lived in biblical days. The disciple Simon was given another name: Peter. It meant “the Rock,” for the solid confession he made. One day Jesus asked who his disciples believed he was, and Simon said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mark 16:16). Great answer, solid as a rock. Now he is known as Peter. The disciples James and John wanted to call down a storm of destruction on a town that did not treat Jesus with respect. Their nicknames: Sons of Thunder. On this day, the Second Sunday of Easter, we remember that we have given a nickname to someone who did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. We now call him Doubting Thomas.
In the First Reading from Acts, we come across another nickname: Barnabas. The man’s name is Joseph, but he’s called Barnabas. Why? Because of what he so often did. He was an encourager. He built people up. He gave of himself to take care of others. He supported those who were all alone. He was a “son of encouragement.” That’s what Barnabas means.
What a great nickname! Barnabas, the encourager. Now that’s a nickname all of us could have. All of us can be encouragers, just like Joseph from Cyprus. Call me Barnabas. Yes, that’s got a wonderful ring to it.
So how did Joseph become Barnabas, the encourager? Look at Acts 4:33, and you’ll see the key to his nickname: “And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” The name Barnabas is a resurrection nickname. He becomes the encourager because of the power of Jesus’ resurrection. He encourages people because Jesus’ resurrection has brought grace to his life. But Jesus’ resurrection is not just a name changer; it’s also a life changer.
When Jesus rose from the dead, people’s lives were changed. Peter denies Jesus when things get tough. On the night when Jesus is betrayed, our Lord ends up on trial. He’s headed to the cross. Peter is watching all this play out. Three times people accuse him of being one of Jesus’ disciples. Three times he says, “I’m not.” No rock-solid confession that night. He is disgraced by denial. But later, Jesus, alive, body glorified, meets Peter on a beach and restores him. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Peter is crushed as he is reminded of his denial. Yet, Jesus tells Him feed my lambs, care for my sheep. Changed by his meeting with the risen Jesus, Peter rises up to become a great apostle in the Early Church. Same for Thomas. He doesn’t believe. “Got to show me,” he says. And Jesus does just that. “Here, put your hand into the nail marks, Thomas.” Everything changes. He believes. He, too, becomes a great apostle in the Early Church. He, too, is changed by the resurrection.
We don’t know if Barnabas ever personally saw Jesus risen from the dead. But it doesn’t matter. The message of Jesus’ resurrection the apostles proclaimed was powerful and life changing too. It changed Barnabas. Jesus, the risen Lord, came to him in that message, and Joseph of Cyprus became Barnabas, the encourager.
3.
The same is true for us. The message of Jesus’ resurrection changes us.
Are you struggling with a sin? Jesus is risen from the dead! Your life is changed because whatever that sin is, you are forgiven.
Are you doubting God’s love? Jesus is risen from the dead! Doubt becomes faith strong once again, because his death was because he loves you, and the resurrection proves that was his plan.
Are you too easily angered? Jesus is risen from the dead! Relax and be calm in his peace, because he lives to take care of whatever upsets you.
Are you afraid of getting sick, losing your job, losing someone you love? Jesus is risen from the dead! He is with you always, no matter what.
Are you weak and heavy laden? Jesus is risen from the dead! He listens to the prayers you take to him.
Are you complaining and jealous of what others have and you don’t? Jesus is risen from the dead! Contentment comes from the Lord, who lives to grant you rich supply.
Are you trying not even to think of your death? Jesus is risen from the dead! You, too, will rise, as will everyone who confesses him as did Peter, as did Thomas.
Are you crabby and negative? Jesus is risen from the dead! He can change you to be a Barnabas.
2.
Yes, you can be a Barnabas too. Just look at what Barnabas did. He had some property, a field. We don’t know how big it was. We don’t know how much he got for it. We don’t know if he had other fields. Doesn’t matter. What’s important is that he did not consider that field as his own. No, he knew it was God’s gift to him to use wisely. So he sold the field and brought the money to the apostles. What was the money used for? For those in need in the church. He saw that some people didn’t have enough. He sold the field. He gave the money.
You can guess what the result was: the people in need were encouraged. Someone cared for them. Someone knew what they were going through and wanted to help. Someone was willing to give away what he had to make sure they had enough.
You know who else was encouraged? Those in the church who watched Barnabas do this. They were encouraged that someone would be so generous. They saw that what they had wasn’t their own either but was the Lord’s gift to them. They gave too. In that church, at that time, none of the members was in need. Barnabas, the encourager, changed by the resurrected Jesus, helped make that happen.
Do you see what the resurrection looks like? It’s the grace and power of Jesus working in Joseph’s life so he’d get a resurrection nickname: the son of encouragement.
It’s not the only time Barnabas was an encourager. The apostle Paul started many of the churches after Jesus rose from the dead. He wrote many books of the New Testament. You could list them. But he was not always such a passionate proclaimer of Jesus’ resurrection. No, at one time he persecuted the church, and he was good at it. He arrested people who were Christians. He was happy when some of the early believers were put to death because of their faith. But then he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul’s conversion story could be told. Everything changed. The persecutor became the proclaimer. He wanted everyone to believe in Jesus. But not everyone believed he had changed. Many were still afraid of him.
You know who helped pave the way for Paul to be accepted by the other disciples? Barnabas. He spoke up for Paul. He vouched for him and traveled with him. He put his life and reputation on the line for Paul. His words encouraged Paul. That encouragement could have been one of the reasons Paul became the apostle who started so many churches, who took the powerful message of Jesus’ resurrection throughout the ancient world. Barnabas, the encourager.
1.
Here we are today. We’ve heard the powerful message of God’s grace. Jesus is risen from the dead. He is at work in our lives. He is changing us. We can each be a modern-day Barnabas. You can encourage by bringing food to others, by giving them a call and letting them know that you are praying for them. By simply being present as someone tells you what is going on in their lives. By asking, how are you doing? And actually meaning it.
What does that look like today? Barnabas spoke up for Paul. The words he used were words of encouragement. I’ve brought in a gift today. Bring out the gift-wrapped box previously prepared. Everyone likes to get a gift. This present is not an iPad or expensive purse. No, it’s filled with words. Encouraging words.
Two possibilities. One is to have phrases printed out so people could see them as you pull them out and read them. Examples: “Your smile at work is so wonderful to see.” “You did excellent work on that assignment.” “Your care for your kids makes you so beautiful.” “No, I won’t help you bully her.” “I’m coming over to keep you company tonight.” “Loser? No way. You’re God’s unique creation.” “You are loved by Jesus.”
One way to be an encourager is to use words that are a gift to someone else, to build people up, to let them know someone cares, that Jesus cares.
Barnabas also gave to those in need. It still happens in the church today. We take a meal for those who have fallen on hard times. We support the scout leaders as they lead. We provide a space for AA groups to meet so that they have help in their time of need. We pray for others, upholding them in prayer to our Heavenly Father.
Joseph of Cyprus is given a resurrection nickname: Barnabas, the “son of encouragement.” It’s a good nickname for us, too, when we encourage others with words that build up and by the generosity we show. But we need to remember one more nickname today—for Jesus. Jesus is given many names: Savior, Good Shepherd, Redeemer, Reconciler, Lord, Prince of Peace. But today we’ve heard another name for Jesus: Life Changer.
JESUS’ RESURRECTION GIVES GRACE AND POWER TO CHANGE LIVES INTO “BARNABASES,” ENCOURAGERS WITH WORDS AND GENEROSITY.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Easter Sunrise
March 31, 2024
Easter Sunrise Service
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
And this morning, as the sun rises upon us, we are joining with the saints, here and around the world, as well as the saints who lived and died here before us. We are reminded of all the great acts of old that the Lord did for the salvation of His people and the glory of His name. For we gather around the same Word proclaimed and the same Sacraments administered, which bring to us the same full and free salvation found in this same crucified and risen Lord Jesus. It all began with one of the apostles bringing to them the good news of Christ’s resurrection.
Consider the hymn that we sang earlier, “Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain” (LW 141). Here is an example of the deep Christian faith that has been present here and has been nourished here through that preached Word. That hymn was not written by a European Christian, but rather by John of Damascus, a Syrian Christian from the Eastern Church who lived in the early eighth century. That same hymn is a part of our repertoire of hymnody because of its catholic content and authorship. “For today among his own Christ appeared, bestowing His deep peace, which evermore Passes human knowing. Neither could the gates of death Nor the tomb’s dark portal Nor the watchers nor the seal Hold him as a mortal” (LW 141:4).
We are bound up in a catholic faith that is bigger than just us as American Christians. Here, in this one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith, the East meets the West, and the walls of culture dissipate through the historic liturgy and hymnody. This salvation, which we celebrate this morning, encompasses not only us, but also the entire world. It not only has relevance and application to this generation, but it also has been relevant and applied to all generations before we were ever conceived.
We heard in the Old Testament Reading about the people of Israel being delivered from Pharaoh’s army through water. This event was recounted as part of the salvific event of the Old Testament. Consider John of Damascus’s view of this event when he writes, “Come, you faithful, raise the strain Of triumphant gladness! God has brought his Israel Into joy from sadness, Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters, Led them with unmoistened foot Through the Red Sea waters. This the spring of souls today: Christ has burst his prison And from three days’ sleep in death As a sun has risen; All the winter of our sins, Long and dark, is flying From his light, to whom is giv’n Laud and praise undying” (LW 141:1–2).Walking across the sea bed on dry ground! Seeing our Lord burst forth from the tomb, conquering death by dying! Who could have ever imagined that the Lord would act in such an awesome and gracious way.
And yet we allow ourselves to be convinced of the deadly, mistaken notion that we understand and believe more fully now, in our highly enlightened era, than did those who came before us. We are but a mere blip on the line of time. The audacity of our arrogance to convince ourselves of our own important contribution to the relevance and application of the Christian faith is sinful. It smacks of idolatry.
Who are we to think that we are more enlightened than those before us? Our triune God has thoroughly revealed himself and his salvation of our souls in the Old Testament redemption story of the Passover. He now brings that Passover event to its ultimate completion in his sacrifice and in his gift as our Paschal Lamb for us to eat. In his resurrection does Christ, the slaughtered Paschal Lamb, guarantee our victorious passage through the Red Sea of death to life eternal.
Dear, sweet Mary had physically seen Jesus on a day-to-day basis. She had witnessed his many miracles of healing, feeding, and raising the dead. Yet even in her more enlightened status as one very close to our Lord, her sinful human nature blinded her from seeing her Lord. It was only when her gracious Shepherd called her by name that she recognized him in his glorified body. It was the voice of her Lord that called her forth from the tomb of despair and doubt.
Remember this hymn you learned as a child? “I am Jesus’ little lamb, Ever glad at heart I am; For my Shepherd gently guides me, Knows my need and well provides me, Loves me ev’ry day the same, Even calls me by my name” (LW 517:1, emphasis added). Mary was made alive again when the Great Shepherd of the sheep called her by name. You have been made alive again this morning, for your resurrected Lord has called you forth from the deadly and mistaken notion of your enlightenment to the life-giving and certain proclamation of your adoption by grace.
Having been called forth by name, we gather as one body and partake of the paschal feast of victory in the Holy Supper. Just as the many individual kernels of wheat lost all of their pride in themselves when they were crushed into one flour to make the one loaf, so are we in this one bread. And just as the many grapes lost all of their self-importance when they were crushed into one vat of juice being fermented into the one wine, so are we in this one cup.
“Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, Whom God so freely gave us; He died on the accursed tree—So strong his love—to save us. See, his blood now marks our door; Faith points to it; death passes o’er, And Satan cannot harm us. Alleluia! Then let us feast this Easter Day On Christ, the bread of heaven; The Word of grace has purged away The old and evil leaven. Christ alone our souls will feed; He is our meat and drink indeed; Faith lives upon no other! Alleluia!” (LW 123:3, 5).
We have seen how small and insignificant we are without Him, who is our strength and our shield. We know that we only can wait upon Him who controls all things and brings all things to pass, according to his good and gracious will. We are not our own. We are but the Lord’s servants. And we are faithfully fed and nourished by the pierced hand of Him on whom we feed. And we are faithfully led and guided by the voice of Him who has called us by name. Thanks be to God!
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!