“What We Are”
Acts 3:12-19 (First Reading) | 1 John 3:1-7 (Epistle Lesson)
You know, you can do the same thing every day, you can have the same routine every day, but sometimes, if we allow it, God will put someone or something in our path, not to distract us but to use us if we allow Him. That’s what happened in the verses building up to what was our first reading for this morning from the Acts of the Apostles.
Peter and John were doing what they did every day at 3:00 in the afternoon—they were going to the Temple for prayer (everything begins with prayer). Every day that they went to the Temple, they saw him, the man lame from birth that was carried to the gate called “Beautiful,” where the rich folk would enter, so he could panhandle them for money. Yes, they and many others saw him every day and made a wide berth around him. But this particular day Peter said something: “Silver or gold I don’t not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (verse 6).
If you were here last Sunday you may remember hearing me say that to do God’s work we need the intimacy, love, direction, and enabling power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t do it on our own strength. That is what’s going on here in this text. Peter recognizes that he doesn’t possess the ability to heal this man, but the Holy Spirit that resides in him does. And he helps the man up and he is healed, instantly. I was told a long time ago that the only time you look down on someone else is when you are offering your hand to help them up.
Well, you can imagine the buzz of the crowd that day, as one by one, everyone saw the once lame man dancing around in the Temple. Soon, that whisper became a dull roar, and everyone in the crowd turned their attention to him wondering, “Isn’t that the lame man who always sits begging at the Beautiful Gate?” With the healed man still hanging on to Peter and John the astonished crowd ran to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade, and Peter had another chance for a Spirit-filled sermon.
Maybe you noticed that Peter said, “Why do you stare at us as if by our own power of godliness we made this man walk?” Jesus, not the apostles received the glory for the healing of the man. In those days a man’s name represented his character; it stood for his authority and power. By using Jesus’ name, Peter showed who gave him the authority and power to heal. The apostles did not emphasize what they could do but what God could do through them.
[1 John 3:1-7]
If you could create a whole new identity for yourself, who would you be? What would be your name or occupation? Where would you live? Would you change your name to Rosco and run away with the circus? Would you become a dance instructor in Florida or a pastry chef in Seattle? For those folks who enter the Federal Witness Protection Program, these aren’t idle questions.
The Federal Witness Protection Program was set up in 1970 to provide new identities for witnesses who risk their lives to testify in criminal cases. Since then, more than 19,000 witnesses and their families have been given new identities and new locations by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Before a person is absorbed into the Program, he or she must settle any debts and take care of any other obligation. They need to leave as few “loose ends” as possible from their old life. Then, they are assigned to a new place to live where there is very little possibility of being recognized. They are encouraged to choose a new name that is similar to their old name, maybe sharing the same first letters, so they can adjust to it more easily. The Marshals Service also help them find jobs—housing—arrange for counseling—and obtain their needed new paperwork (birth certificates, social security cards, and passports).
There are two incontrovertible rules that every relocated witness must follow in order to remain safe and in the program: they must never contact their old friends and colleagues, and they must never return to the town they came from.
Identity can be a tricky thing. We spend our lives trying to answer the question, “Who am I?” We sense that if we can answer that one question, then our path in life will become significantly clearer. Because when we know who we are, we have a better idea of what our values and priorities should be. We have a clearer picture of how we should invest our time and strength. (Jon Tyson – plodder)
In his book, Where I Am, Billy Graham shares a story about his beloved wife Ruth.
It seems that she had been on a road trip and after traveling through a rather long and congested zone came upon a sign that she told the family she wanted written on her tombstone—and she got her wish. If you go to Billy and Ruth’s burial site, you will read on her headstone: “End of Construction. Thank You for Your Patience.” That kind of sums up where we are as Christians. A construction zone.
As believers, our self-worth comes from the fact that God loves us and calls us his children. We are His children now, not just sometime in the distant future. Knowing that we are God’s children should encourage us to live as Jesus did.
Believing in Christ begins the process of becoming more and more like Him (Romans 8:29). This process continues until we see Christ face-to-face (1 Corinthians 13:12 and Philippians 3:21). We don’t know exactly how we’ll be like Him, but we know that we will have eternal, resurrected bodies. Clearly, resurrected life for us won’t be a pleasant continuation of all we’ve dug on earth, golf with regular holes-in-one or, as Tammy Faye Bakker fantasized, heaven as a shopping mall where you have a credit card with no limit. There, “We will be like him.” What was Jesus like? That’s ultimate humanity, your truest self, what you’ll be like…but then John adds, “For we shall see him as he is.” For—seeing Him will make us like Him.
We will be free from sin and pain, and we will have much more understanding than we do now on earth. Knowing our ultimate destiny motivates us to keep morally pure and free from the corruption of sin. It also gives us hope as we struggle with sin because we know that one day we will be totally sinless like Jesus. God purifies us, but we must take steps to remain pure. Every time we resist a temptation or turn from sin, we become more like Jesus.
Dallas Willard, in his book The Great Omission, which I just finished, writes that there are three substantive elements of evangelical piety across the ages, conviction of sin, conversion to a godly life of faith, and testimony to the saving work of God in the soul.
He writes that “Conviction of sin is no longer a popular topic among evangelicals. It has disappeared for the most part, but that is quite a recent development. “Sin” has totally disappeared as a category of analysis and understanding in contemporary culture.
“The second basic element is conversion. This involves both reconciliation and regeneration. You are given new life by grace through faith, and in the process, or in the light of it, your sins are, of course, forgiven. You can’t live in God or God in you without forgiveness and reconciliation.
“Piety involves working “the fields white unto harvest.” Evangelical piety requires presenting the gospel in all of its connections to life as well as in public efforts to “reach the lost.” In this context one sees why a lively conception of sin remains important. Christ-centered piety must always be from the heart and unto the Lord.”
Every person on earth is a creation of God but not a child of God (stay with me here). Every person is made in God’s image—this means that something of the essence of God is in each person. But only as one responds in faith to God’s offer through Jesus Christ does one become a child of God. Every Christian is an adopted child of God.
I’m the oldest child in our family and my younger sister and I always teased our baby sister that she was adopted. When she got older and could think for herself, if we would say she was adopted, she would come back with, “Mom and Dad were stuck with you, but they chose me.”
Author Sue Monk Kid writes: “We are each a thread woven into a vast web of the universe, linked and connected so that our lives are irrevocably bound with one another.”
This means that we live in intimate fellowship with Christ—as we worship, fellowship, and serve with other Christians—as we reach out in service to other people—then we gradually and increasingly resemble our Lord. His Spirit, His power, His wisdom seep into us. Therefore, we become capable of extraordinary deeds through Him.
It’s important for us to remember that God’s promises are to a very special group of people—to those willing to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Sure, we are accepted as we are—but once we turn to Christ—we are to seek to live just as He lived—love as He loved—forgive as He forgave. Many of us have a mushy kind of faith that says, “Everything is all right. Jesus loves me, this I know. It doesn’t matter what I do with my life. I can go ahead living for myself as if I am the only one on earth that matters.”
I’ve found myself jotting something down this week: “When you get to the Perly Gates you won’t find any ticket windows or signs that read, ‘You must be this tall to enter.’”
We are too often like the little boy who says to his father, “Let’s play darts. I’ll throw and you say wonderful!” That’s what we want out of God. For Him to tell us how wonderful we are. To tell us that we are accepted—forgiven—loved. And that nothing in return is expected from us!
Several years ago there was a very exclusive auction held. The money that was bid for the objects which were auctioned was far higher than you would have paid in an ultra-nice department store. For example, the winning bid for a rocking chair that had been valued at $3000 was sold for $453,500.
This was the case throughout the entire auction. A used car valued at $18,000 was sold for $79,500—a set of green tumblers valued at $500 were sold for $38,000—and a necklace valued at $500 was sold for $211,500. For four days articles of common, ordinary value were sold for wildly inflated prices. Why? The items auctioned were from the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The value of the items auctioned sold on the basis of the one whom they belonged to.
You and I are of great value to God. Look what He gave up for us—His one and only Son! No, we don’t have a great monetary value—but we are valued because of whom we belong to. We belong to God, and this makes us children of God! It’s what and who we are!
End of Construction. Thank You for Your Patience.
Thanks be to God!v
Eastman First Methodist Church 