Community Church Sermons

 

April 8, 2007

Easter Sunday

 

“We Believe in Jesus…”

 

Acts 10:34-43

 

              

 

Listen to this Sermon!

 

 

It was Easter Sunday and a young man who’d grown up in the church came home from college for the holiday. To humor his parents, he agreed to attend Easter services with them, even though college had made him far too sophisticated and smart to believe in anything as archaic as God anymore. But he went with them anyways.

 

After the Easter service was over and the last “Alleluia’s!” had been sung, he had a moment to speak with the pastor he had known since he was a little boy. She was delighted to see him and asked how he was doing. “Fine,” he answered, “but I have to tell you, I don’t believe anymore.”

 

“What don’t you believe?” she asked.

 

“I don’t believe in any of that religious God-stuff anymore,” he answered.

 

She paused for a long moment and then simply said, “Who the heck cares?”

 

Well, that was not exactly the kind of response he thought he was going to get and it troubled him greatly. “Who the heck cares?” What the heck kind of answer is that?

 

So he went back to school and got on with his life. Got his degree. Got a job. Got married. Had children. But still, he was troubled by the pastor’s Easter question. He thought about it a lot. Struggled with it. Wrestled with it. And somehow, all that thinking and struggling and wrestling led him – over time - to a conversion experience! He became a believer again! And he couldn’t wait to go back home to tell his pastor.

 

The next Easter – ten years after that momentous “Who the heck cares?” question was asked - he brought his family to services at his old home church. After the service was over and the last “Alleluia’s!” had been sung, he sought out the pastor. She was happy to see him, and warmly greeted him, and asked how he was doing. He put a big smile on his face and said, “I know you’re not going to believe this, but I believe again!”

 

“What do you believe?” she asked.

 

“I believe in God and all that religious stuff again!”

 

She looked at him with loving eyes and – after a long pause – said, “Who the heck cares?”

 

Stunned, the young man walked away. “Who the heck cares?” What the heck kind of answer is that?

 

So life went on and the years rolled by. The young man grew older and, as he did, his beliefs swung back and forth from absolute certainty to complete doubt and every stage in between. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

 

But somewhere along the line, his theology seemed to become less important than the realities he was facing in life. One such reality was the declining health of his parents, especially his dad who became lost in the world of Alzheimer’s. He moved his family back home to be closer to them, and devoted himself to their care. Along the way, he met other people struggling with the same illness in their families, and they banded together to help each other out. They gave respite care to each other, and sat with each other’s loved ones, and went to workshops and shared their learnings, and even planned outings when they took all their loved ones to ballgames, and on picnics, and even – one Easter – to church! This man’s home church!

 

So there they were, this big motley group of people in all their unsightly glory, sitting in the congregation on Easter Sunday. One little lady insisted on singing a song whose tune and lyrics were nothing more than gibberish, and she sang it all the service long. One man smelled of urine, and another just swayed back and forth incessantly. Some of the other worshippers wished someone would take all these people out of the sanctuary – maybe to the nursery or somewhere where they wouldn’t disrupt the service. But no one dared say anything. After the service was over and all the “Alleluia’s!” had been sung, the man sought out the pastor. She was glad to see him again after all those years, and asked how he was doing.

 

“Well, I’m okay, but I’m not really sure WHAT I believe or don’t believe anymore!” he said.

 

She smiled and laughed. “Tell me about all those people you were with.”

 

“Oh, we’re just people who need each other, and my dad and the others with Alzheimer’s just need all of us to make sure they’re loved and included as best we can.”

 

There was a long pause. And then she slowly reached out and gently touched his shoulder, and simply said, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”

 

 

Easter really has very little to do with what you believe. Some of us here today believe a lot. Others of us don’t believe at all. Still others swing back and forth between believing and not believing. But like the man’s pastor so eloquently said, “Who the heck cares?”

 

In our reading from the book of Acts, the apostle Peter gives us a refreshing new look at the meaning of Easter. In fact, Peter tells us the resurrection of Jesus is not so much about what you believe as WHO YOU INCLUDE!

 

Peter has just had an amazing vision about how God makes no distinction between people. And this vision is followed by a person knocking on the door of the house where he is staying, asking Peter to go and see a certain Gentile Roman army commander by the name of Cornelius. Now this is a real test, since in Peter’s native religion neither Gentiles nor Roman soldiers could possibly be included in the household of God. The Corneliuses of this world are the enemies of God’s people!

 

But remembering the vision and the message about God loving everyone, Peter reluctantly goes to meet Cornelius. And while they are together, the Holy Spirit falls upon them, and Peter and Cornelius alike - Jew and Gentile – the oppressed and the oppressor – are both embraced in the inclusive love of God that opens its arms to EVERYONE!

 

And Peter says something really special!

 

“I now realize that God does not play favorites…!

 

God loves all his children – Jewish apostles as well as Roman soldiers – believers and unbelievers alike!

 

And then Peter explains how he can now see this great truth in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He tells us why he has now come to this new discovery of God’s welcoming and inclusive love:

 

·                     First, Peter says, in the coming of Jesus, God sent a message to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus. That is to say, in Jesus’ advent, God was reconciling the world to himself. God was single handedly and unilaterally making peace between himself and all people. Peace on earth, good will toward all! That’s what the angels sang! God plays no favorites. You are ALL loved! That is the message God sends us in Jesus’ birth.

·                      Second, Peter says, Jesus went around doing good and healing people whose lives were damaged by evil. Do you remember how he healed lepers, and those possessed by demons, and how he accepted even tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners? The life of Jesus shows us that God plays no favorites. You are ALL loved! That’s the message of Jesus’ beautiful life!

·                     Third, Peter says, the resurrection proves that God has appointed Jesus as the judge of all people, and the judgment is this: you are forgiven! Forgiveness and reconciliation to God is what Jesus’ life was all about. Forgiveness and reconciliation to God is what the Cross was all about. Forgiveness and reconciliation to God is what Easter is all about! God plays no favorites. You are ALL loved and forgiven! That is the judgment of Easter!

·                     And finally, Peter says, the Church has been entrusted with the message of God’s inclusive, redeeming love that is proven in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And the message is simply this: Believe in Jesus by welcoming ALL!

 

Believe in Jesus! And welcome all into the redeeming love of God! That is the calling of Easter!

 

You know, our church is sometimes a puzzle to those who meet us. One of the first questions people ask is, “What do you believe?” And what they are usually asking is this, “What do you believe about the Bible? What do you believe about the virgin birth? What do you believe about substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, and maybe even premillenial, mid-tribulational dispensational eschatology?”

 

And our church struggles with how to answer those questions. It’s not because we don’t believe those things. In fact, I would lay claim to all of them in one form or another and so would most of our members.

 

But, as the young man’s pastor said, who the heck cares?

 

So often the belief systems to which we attach our lives cause us to divide ourselves one from the other. They split the world into camps of right and wrong, saved and unsaved, accepted and unacceptable, clean and unclean, and provide religious justification for all sorts of evil behavior.  You know as well as I do that some of the most destructive people in our world today often seem to be the most religious people among us.

 

Is that what Easter is about – turning people against each other?

 

Or is Easter more than that? How can we claim an Easter faith that really matters? How can we claim the power of Christ’s resurrection and use it to bring people together and build a better world? How can we find a faith that is like the faith Peter found?

 

Well, Peter would tell us this: by anchoring ourselves in Jesus and welcoming EVERYONE in Jesus’ name..

 

I don’t know if this will be helpful to you or not, but this is a little something I’ve written as a description of what I hope our church believes:

 

We believe in Jesus.

 

We want to be like Jesus.

 

We want to teach what Jesus taught and live like Jesus lived.

 

We’re not much into doctrines and human-made systems of belief. Those mostly serve the purpose of dividing people into camps of right and wrong, acceptable and not acceptable.

 

We don’t believe Jesus lived that way.

 

Jesus found ways to accept and love everyone he came into contact with. We try to do the same, although we have to admit we’re not nearly as good at loving as Jesus was. But we’re trying!

 

We call ourselves a “community” church because we believe Jesus made himself available to the whole world – not just a little group of select people. We’re not overly troubled by folks who come to us with different beliefs, ideas or experiences. We find reason to “commune” with each other not because we all think or believe alike, but because we are all seeking the same thing – a Way to a better world, a Truth that sets people free, and a Life that is abundantly full and meaningful. We believe the Way, the Truth and the Life revealed in Jesus is worth discovering and sharing together!

 

We believe in Jesus.

 

Do you?

 

Today, on this Easter Sunday, who the heck cares about what you think about theology?

 

The only thing that really matters is what you believe about Jesus - that Jesus is God’s message of peace to the world, and that Jesus went about doing good and healing the broken, and that by Jesus’ death we have been forgiven, and are welcomed into the family of God.

 

So open your arms to the world. Open your hearts to everyone.

 

Easter is not about what you believe.

 

Easter is about who you include.

 

That’s why that young man’s pastor said what she said. He had opened his arms to people who needed to be loved and welcomed into the family of God.

 

And who you include is the strongest evidence of what you truly believe about Jesus!