Acts 2:14a, 22-32 (NRSV)
14 But Peter ,
standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,
22 “You that are Israelites, listen to what I
have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of
power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves
know— 23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan
and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those
outside the law. 24 But God raised him up, having freed him from
death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25 For
David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue
rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will live in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Fellow Israelites, I may say to you
confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his
tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that
God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on
his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David
spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
32 This Jesus
God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.
Year A
Second Sunday of Easter
April 23, 2017
Cross~Wind
Title: Walking with Jesus: Need for a Creed
Introducing the Passage
Acts 2:14-36 has the theme of the
message of Peter on Pentecost. Peter offers his first sermon. The Christology
is very elementary. We may describe the speech as an early Christian defense of
the gospel. The first aim of the Christian preacher was to show to his fellow
citizens that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Jewish faith. The
Crucifixion seemed to have given the lie to the preaching of Jesus concerning
the nearness of the rule of God. Until the early church could dispel this
impression all preaching of the Christian message was futile. Hence, the
defense of the gospel rather than its exposition is the need of the hour. Peter
will develop the first creed. He will clearly state what he believes about
Jesus and invite others to join him in the journey. The stress is not so much
on the content of the gospel as on the evidence of its truth. The supreme
argument for the messiahship was the Resurrection. It removed the impression
left by a disgraceful death, proved that Jesus was no impostor, and vindicated
all his claims. This explains the effort, so well illustrated in this speech,
to see the scripture differently than they had before. They now saw certain
passages as giving us a hint of the importance of resurrection for faith in the
God of Israel. In this part of the sermon, Peter will see some new things in
Psalm 16. Once the disciples saw this connection between their recent
experience of the crucifixion and resurrection on the one hand a scripture on
the other, they became the first to proclaim of what God had done in Jesus of
Nazareth. To a Jewish audience no other argument would be necessary. If the early church could show to a Jewish
audience that scripture prophesied an event, they would have sufficient reason
for believing in its truth and its divine significance. We believe because of
the testimony or witness of these apostles.
Introduction
Many preachers remember their first
sermon.[1]
Some people remember it as being particularly bad or cringe-worthy. My first
sermon occurred when I was about 19. I was part of a team from my college that
went out to share in different congregations. The first sermon was in front of
a Native American congregation. I do not remember what I said. We were in South
Dakota at Pine Ridge Reservation. I remember most that parents allowed children
to run around the congregation. I had a warning that this might happen. I had no
objection, but it was distracting. I was nervous, of course. Soon after that, I
delivered a sermon at Austin, MN, at the congregation in which I had grown up.
I do not remember the sermon, but it was such a privilege to be in that pulpit.
In both cases, of course, I wanted to do well.
It is like that old story about a
preacher who was leaving a congregation on his last Sunday. At the end of the
service, he stood at the door while the people filed out and said their last
goodbyes. One woman came to the preacher weeping, full of emotion. The preacher
attempted to comfort her. "There, there, sister. Even though I'm leaving,
I'm sure the bishop will send you a wonderful preacher." Through her tears
she replied, "That's what they've been telling us for 20 years and it
ain't happened yet!"
Will Willimon says that a first
sermon in a congregation is a lot like a first date -- you want to do well, be
impressive, put your best foot forward and not say anything dumb that might
endanger the future relationship.
It can be a struggle, however,
because we know our own struggles and weaknesses very well. We know that, at
base, we are not any more qualified than anyone else to speak for God,
regardless of that newly framed seminary degree. Therefore, we shake a little,
wondering how we came to be standing there with the Word of God on our lips. In
fact, the most important thing about every sermon is that the focus is the Word
of God and its application to our lives today. We need to trust that the Word
of God still speaks, even after this many centuries. Today, I think, we need to
preach naturally, rather than with a preachy voice. We need to keep it
relatively short.[2]
Application
The first
sermon of Peter focuses upon the power of the Word of God to interpret their
experience of Jesus of Nazareth, especially in his crucifixion and resurrection.
I know it might surprise some of
you, but Easter is a particularly difficult time for preachers.
Here we are, the Sunday after
Easter. If anything defines Christianity, it is here. God raised Jesus from the
dead. This means you can walk with him, learn from him, and be his disciple. As
many have done, so can you.
Are you a disciple?
In one sense, being a disciple is
simple and easy. Believe in Jesus and go to heaven. Yet, that leaves a lot of
time in between. What happens in between is not so easy or simple, for we keep
learning what it means to be a disciple, to be a student of Jesus, to walk with
him throughout our lives.[3]
Many young people today want the
church to be honest with them. What do you believe? What defines you as a
Christian community? In fact, many persons today want to connect with something
larger than what they could create. They want to be part of something huge. The
creeds remind us that we are part of a global Christian community that has
existed for almost 2000 years. We live into the creed, and as we do so, we let
it define us.
One pastor
put it this way:
What I felt was something akin to
wonder. When the people stood to say ‘I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth ...,’ I had a sense of being caught up in something
beyond my tiny self. Saying that affirmation of faith, Sunday after Sunday,
regardless of the archaic language or my particular mood of the day, has shaped
my faith ever since and grounded it in a living tradition.”
The word
“creed” is Latin, credo, I believe. Many religions do not have them. Some
Christian denominations do not have them. Some people think of them as getting
in the way.
In his
book, Creed: What Christians Believe and
Why it Matters, Luke Timothy Johnson points out that the root of forming
creeds is Judaism found in Deuteronomy 6:4: (“Hear O Israel, the LORD our God
is one LORD. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and all
your soul and all your might.”) We know this affirmation as the Shema in Judaism.
It means “Hear.” What is important about this statement is that it describes a
common belief about God and a personal response, so the creed here is both
communal (our God) and personal (love the Lord, your God).
Though
Christian confessional statements bear a remarkable resemblance to the original
Shema, there is one obvious alteration. The earliest Christians altered their
story of God’s way in the world in light of their personal experience of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christian creed focuses on Jesus. What we
believe about him causes us to follow him, to learn from him, to be his
disciples.
Creeds are
important not just because they articulate our personal experience of the risen
Christ , but they also serve to unite the church. When so much else divides the global church and
the local church, the story held in common by all Christians and expressed in
the creed, brings us together. Christians can and do disagree on any number of
issues that are rocking the world, but still maintain unity through a common
confession of faith.
The creeds
also protect believers from the tendency toward radical individualism or simply inventing our own faith.
Nothing we
created would contain God. The creed does not contain God. Yet, they do point
the way. Experienced in this way, creeds, like stories, open up a new world of
faithful exploration. Once we accept the truthfulness of what they are
expressing, that can shape our lives in the way Rich Mullins
“And I believe that what I believe
Is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making
me
It is the very truth of God and
not
the invention of any man.”
- Rich Mullins
Finally, William Sloane Coffin Coffin says it is something we must give
our hearts to, our lives to.
Conclusion
So what is
it that we are giving our hearts to? Career? Pride? Unhealthy habits? Leisure
toys? Consumerism? Vanity? Greed? Whatever it is, that is our creed.
Is it
serving others, increasing the supply of human kindness and happiness? Serving
God? Giving our time selflessly to family, friends and community? Whatever it
is, that is our creed.
Peter’s
story is an account that describes not so much what we can comprehend but the
God who comprehends us and provides for our salvation — and that is something
we can love, give our hearts to, and allow it to shape us.
Going deeper
These early accounts Luke offers of
the church in Jerusalem show that early Christians lived quiet lives of faith
in Jerusalem. We learn that Joel 2:32 and Psalm 110 were early biblical texts
that helped the early community understand who Jesus was. We detect little
trace of Pauline ideas that must have been current in the environment in which
Luke wrote. For example, any reference to faith as a necessary condition of
sharing in the blessings of the messianic age is noticeably absent. Only once
in these early speeches does Peter mention it: in 3:16, where it states that
this faith is the reason for the healing of the lame man—a close resemblance to
the view of faith characteristic of the Synoptic Gospels. To judge by these
early sermons the first preachers contented themselves with the demonstration
of the messiahship, and did not ask what the messiahship involved for Jesus
himself. There is no reason to suppose that at first their idea of messiahship
differed greatly from that of their fellow Jews. It was only when the original
messianic expectations had somewhat waned that Christians began to fill in or
add to the picture with its original Jewish content, probably by drawing on
their recollection of Jesus' own words, the full meaning of which they had at
the time missed. Only when it dawned upon them that Jesus' work was something
more than the founding of a national messianic kingdom did they begin to
speculate upon the person of Jesus himself. This explains the complete absence
here of any developed Christology.
14 But
Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,
[Peter is speaking as a leader of the church in Jerusalem.]
22 “You [Peter
explains directly that the responsibility for Jesus' rejection, condemnation
and crucifixion rests upon their shoulders.
If any group needed to be saved, it was surely this community. Peter
both proclaims Jesus as the Messiah and calls those who condemn him to
repentance--while offering them the outstretched hand of God's forgiveness and
salvation. As the rest of Peter's first speech makes clear, of all people, the
Jerusalem Jews should be stunned and ecstatic at this show of divine mercy.] that are Israelites,[ showing his own people rejected Jesus,
a notion in I Peter 2:4, 7.] listen to
what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds
of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you
yourselves know— 23 this man, handed over to you according to the
definite plan and foreknowledge (prognwsij occurring only here and I Peter 1:2) of God, [th| w`rismenh| boulh| kai prognwsh| tou qeou, is in the instrumental
case. Note
both purpose (boulh) and foreknowledge (prognwsij) of God and "determined" (w`rismenh, perfect passive participle,
state of completion). God had willed the death of Jesus (John 3:16) and the
death of Judas (Ac 1:16), but that fact did not absolve Judas from his
responsibility and guilt (Lu 22:22). He acted as a free moral agent.[4]] you crucified and killed by the hands of
those outside the law. [that is, the Romans.]24 But God raised him up, having freed him from death,
because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25 For
David [Psalm 16] says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always
before me,
for he is at my right
hand so that I will not be shaken;
26 therefore
my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will
live in hope.
27 For you
will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One
experience corruption.
28 You have
made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full
of gladness with your presence.’
[Peter will claim that the Psalm foretells the resurrection
of the Messiah.]
29 “Fellow
Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both
died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since
he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would
put one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David
spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
‘He was not abandoned
to Hades,
nor did his flesh
experience corruption.’
32 This
Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.
[We can see here that the cross is still an obstacle to
faith, to be overcome by stressing the resurrection. The conception of a suffering Messiah was
completely strange to contemporary Judaism, and there is little sign that the
disciples saw at first in Jesus' death, as did Jesus himself, any positive
contribution to the advancement of the kingdom of God. It may have taken some
time before early Christians, even before Paul, started to see the truth of
what Paul says in I Corinthians 15:3, where he says that he “received” the
teaching that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures."]
[Pannenberg
points to the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, one of which is that
if God raised Jesus, this for a Jew can only mean that God has confirmed the
pre-Easter activity of Jesus. He also finds reasons for maintaining the unity
of Jesus with God. One reason is that decisive for confidence in the facticity
of the resurrection of Jesus as the Christian message proclaims it are the
primitive Christian testimonies to the appearances of the risen Lord to the
disciples, along with the discovery of the empty tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem.
His point is that we as modern people cannot accept such testimony blindly
based on authority. Rather, we might do so only after whether the testimony
holds it up by testing other reported facts. In this context, he considers that
the oldest New Testament witness to the resurrection and ascension of Jesus
form a single event, which he sees as the point here in verses 30-32. For him,
this suggests that the account of the appearance of the risen Lord “from
heaven” to Paul in Galatians 1:6 is an indication of what is behind the Gospel
stories of the appearances as well.[5]]
[1] Perhaps it
is like a doctor performing her first hernia operation – it is not pretty, and it
is probably a bloody mess, but she gets it all stitched up and the patient is
good as new, better than ever. Maybe preaching that first sermon is like a
pilot going solo for the first time or a lawyer giving his first summation to
the jury.
[2] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/7-tips-for-my-younger-preacher-self
offers some good advice for new preachers.
[3] Many of the books Kayc is having us read around the
theme of the discipleship pathway stress the importance of practical teaching
of Bible, developing a view of the world rooted in the Bible, and developing
core beliefs that help shape people into disciples. The reason is that such
beliefs will shape your life.
[4]
Robertson’s Word Pictures.
[5]
Systematic Theology, Volume I,
352-55; Volume II, 354, Jesus: God and
Man, 67-68, 92.
