“The Voice of Victory!”
Brimfield Faith UMC / April 8, 2012
Acts 10:34-43
INTRO
It has been a busy spring and an especially busy week for my family. On Monday, my son, Malachi Michael was born. So I hope you’ll forgive me if I look a bit tired this morning or a bit frazzled. A two year-old and a new born infant will do that to you. Nonetheless, I am excited and blessed to be here to share in the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.
Lent began in February as a journey guided by God’s voice from darkness to the light of Christ. This Easter morning is the breaking forth of God’s light and his glory manifested in the Resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. The Scripture reading from Acts 10 is not the traditional Easter text. The story that we all know so well is recorded in all four of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you haven’t ever read it, I would encourage you to do so. The stories vary in detail, but the main events and point are the same: Jesus Christ died, was buried and on the third day was raised from the dead. Easter is the celebration that God makes all things new, that hope is alive, that resurrection in real.
The Easter story is not just a nice story in the Bible. It is THE story in the Bible. Christianity does not exist today if not for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acts 10:34-43 is a testament to the significance and the power of the Easter message. Therefore, I want to share from it this morning because it captures the three overarching themes of the Easter message: what Jesus did, what was done to Jesus and what Jesus wants us to do. It boils down to this: Easter proclaims that hope is alive because resurrection is real.
HOPE IS ALIVE
Acts 10 is an address from the Apostle Peter preaching the Good News of the Easter story. In verse 34 he begins by talking about what Jesus did in the world. The following five verses are the summary of God’s work through Jesus Christ on the earth. Jesus proclaims hope is alive. In a world filled with despair, poverty, brokenness and hopelessness, Jesus brings a message of hope. It is a message that was not only brought 2000 years ago, but it is a message that continues to be true today. Hope is Alive.
Hope is Alive because no one is beyond God’s love. At the beginning of Acts 10, Peter deep into prayer when he realizes he is ravenous with hunger. As he heads down for lunch, God takes him into a vision. In this vision, God places all kinds of animals and food before Peter and says, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter resists because as a good Jewish man he followed all of the dietary laws found in the Old Testament. The animals God tells Peter to eat are not in accordance to those laws. Yet, God insists that Peter eat what God has made and called clean. Peter is confused but is struck with a profound revelation that he expresses in Acts 10:34, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
While we may consider this to be a strange way learn about God’s love, it is profound for Peter. Paul reiterates the same message in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither dead, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God says to each of you that regardless of where you are in life, you are not beyond his love. You are not left out in the cold. You are not being judged. You are not being cast away. God is calling you with his love. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past or are doing in the present, you are not beyond his love and acceptance. Jesus proclaims to you that hope is alive!
Hope is alive because the power of the Holy Spirit brings healing and freedom. In Acts 10:38, Peter describes “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.” Jesus brings hope to everyone who needs healing and freedom.
The power of the Holy Spirit is still active, alive and accessible today. Most of us can think of some area of our life that needs healing. All of us can think of someone else that needs healing and freedom in their lives. This community needs healing and freedom from poverty, drugs, and addiction. The only way that you can break strongholds in your life is through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus offers freedom and healing to those who ask for it, to those who seek it, and to those who cry out for it. If you are in need of healing and freedom don’t leave here without crying out to God for it.
JUDE AND MALACHI
Last year on March 15th, my second son, Jude Jeffrey Bissell was born with a serious congenital heart defect. His body was too sick to sustain life and he passed in his mother’s arms after only 25 hours of life on this earth. It was the hardest, most heartbreak moment of my life. The birth of a child is supposed to be a joyous and exciting experience. Jude’s birth was filled with grief and pain. Over that past year, I have sought the healing and freedom of Jesus. While I continue to mourn and always will, Jesus proclaims over my life every day that hope is still alive. Last year, I took six weeks of bereavement leave after Jude’s death. The first Sunday after the leave that I preached was Easter Sunday.
This past Monday, April 2, my third son, Malachi Michael Bissell, was born. He is a health little boy who is in his mother’s arms this morning in worship. My first Sunday preaching after Malachi was born again is Easter morning. I’m not completely sure what to make of it, but I sense God’s presence in it. Both Jude and Malachi reminds me that there is power in the Easter story. That God has not forgotten me. That God has not abandon me. That hope is alive.
That resurrection is real.
RESURRECTION IS REAL
The Easter story declares that hope is alive because resurrection is real. Easter morning is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The women found the stone rolled aside and the tomb empty. The disciples experience the same thing and then later commune with the resurrected Jesus. Peter testifies to this reality in Acts 10:39-41. “They put him to dead by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
The details of these verses are intentional. They emphasize that Jesus was a man who actually suffered and who actually died. Jesus was crucified and died on a tree, a Roman cross. It was the most humiliating and painful way to die in the ancient world. Hanging, beheading, the electric chair, and lethal injection, all pale in comparison to crucifixion.
The story does not end with the grave. Verse 40 celebrates: “God raised Jesus on the third day and allowed him to appear.” His appearances and the meals that he shared with his disciples testify to that fact that Jesus actually conquered death. He was not a ghost or an apparition, but was still a man. A man that was hungry. A man that lived in the flesh. A man that had died and was now alive. A man that proved resurrection was not only a nice theory or theological idea, but proved that resurrection is real.
The truth that Resurrection is real gives us hope not only in this world but in the world to come. We may never be completely healed and freed in this life. There will always be suffering, pain and tragedy on earth. The world is broken and groaning to be renewed. Resurrection reminds us that there is hope beyond this world. Resurrection tells us that sin and death do not have the last word. Resurrection cries out victory in the world. It cries out hope in the face of pain, suffering and despair. Hope is alive. Resurrection is real.
SHARE IT
In Acts 10:42-43 Jesus commands all who follow and serve God to preach and proclaim the Good News to the world. Jesus wants us to experience the hope of Resurrection in this world and out of that experience and share it with the world. God offers forgiveness of sins. He offers freedom and healing. He offers hope and peace. He offers acceptance and unconditional love. He offers victory over sin and death.
When you have accepted the invitation to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, you can experience the fullness of the life which God offers you. As you experience that life, the only authentic response we can have is to share it with others. This means telling your story. Telling how Jesus continues to bring healing and freedom in your life.
I am open with you about my ongoing faith journey not for my own benefit. Instead, I share it because I want you to know that everyone needs to continually receive the healing and love of Jesus. Regardless of where you are in your faith journey, God’s is extending love and redemptive power of the Holy Spirit.
We need hope. We need resurrection. We need God. As individuals and as a church, God’s grace must abound in our lives. We must continually experience that hope is alive because resurrection is real. This is the message of Easter. This is the message of the Gospel. This is the message for all time. This is God’s message to you.
Let’s pray.
