I Love to Tell the Story
Notes
Transcript
Acts 10:34-43
Have you ever binge-watched a certain tv show on Netflix or Hulu or somewhere else like that? It seems to be pretty common for people to binge watch a series nowadays. I hate binge-watching because I feel like it is a huge waste of time, but sometimes a series is just so good that I have to watch it. Sometimes too, people just keep talking about a certain tv show that it seems like everyone has seen it. In those situations, you better hurry up and watch the show, otherwise it will be spoiled or you’ll feel left out. How did people ever used to wait a whole week for a new episode? I forget like everything about the show by that point. I NEED those episode recaps if I have to wait a whole week. Now, for a tv series to be deemed binge-worthy, it has to first have a good plotline for it to be worth your time, right? There’s just something about well-made tv that is so compelling. Something about great stories that just sucks us in.
Who doesn’t love a great story? Great stories bring us into some other world or some other time and make us feel like we are really there and really experience it. I can remember as a boy listening to my grandpa tell us stories of Vietnam and what it was like there. He was only there one year, but to us grandkids, he was like Tarzan, living in the jungle like a wild man. Or his hunting stories about how he almost got that one deer that one time. Or even his work stories where something crazy happened. Us grandkids always exaggerated the story in our head and our grandpa was like a superhero in our minds. My uncle calls our grandpa’s stories the Legends of Paw. We all liked to watch tv shows, but what really captured our imagination even more than anything we ever saw on television were the real stories of my grandpa. He not only had really engaging stories, but they were also real stories.
So what is it about real stories that makes them so much more compelling than made up stories? I think that its because they connect us to something that actually happened. It’s like those movies that you watch and when the credits role, it says based on a true story. I think to myself What, this changes everything! I immediately have to go to the internet and look up the true story to see for myself. Because no matter how good made-up stories are, they never really happened. They sure are entertaining, but they don’t connect back to our world. Real stories come from experiences of real people. There’s just something different about real stories.
So how real is the gospel story to us? Do we treat the good news as though it is just some mildly-entertaining story that’s also got its fair share of boring elements? Or maybe do we treat the gospel as though it’s a good storybook, but nothing more? Or do we treat the gospel as though it is a real story that means something significant for us today? The gospel is what being a Christian revolves around. Today we’re going to look today at the significance of Jesus’ story, and specifically the resurrection, but before we start, would you pray with me. God, I pray that you open our hearts today. Empower me to speak words that you would have your people hear. Open our hearts to hear your words and to put them into practice. Let the message we hear today be lifechanging and spirit filling. Amen
Today’s scripture is from Acts 10:34-43. But before we really get into this passage, we need to understand the context. What is going on here? There was a man named Cornelius. Now Cornelius was a powerful man. He was a centurion, meaning that he had power over 100 Roman Soldiers. He was also curious as to who God is, what the gospel is, and how he could try to understand. He was confused and he needed to hear the truth. So an angel came to him and told him about this guy named Peter who used to hang out with Jesus who could answer his questions. Cornelius sent some guys to go find this Peter guy and bring him to him so that Peter could explain. Peter is hesitant at first, but he eventually understands that it is God’s will for him to go to Cornelius. So Peter goes to Cornelius’ house, and then he begins to speak.
There’s also something else important to the context of this passage. There were some deep divisions between Peter’s kind of people and Cornelius’ type of people. Peter was a Jew, but Cornelius was a Gentile. These two groups of people did NOT get along. The Jews was constantly causing uproars against the Romans, the Gentiles, and they were kinda stuck up. Because they were God’s chosen people, they needed to be liberated from the rule of the Romans. The Gentiles on the other hand were pretty bad themselves. They were pagans and did all kinds of nasty and terrible things to each other. They also ruled the Roman Empire with an iron fist, crushing all who rebelled. But there were really no differences between them. They were all human beings. Really, the only difference was that the Gentile men had an extra piece of skin on a certain part of their body than the Jews. So what small differences can you think of between two groups of people? They can be funny or serious. So what can you think of off the top of your head?
So we’re going to pick up the text right where Peter begins to speak to Cornelius in Acts 10:34-43. If you have your bibles, turn with me to the text. The text reads, “Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
So we see Peter and he really just seems to be talking about Jesus story. That’s it. No fancy parables or metaphors, just Jesus’ story. Resurrection Sunday was just this past Sunday. The focal point of Jesus story is on the resurrection. For us as Christians, the focal point of our faith is also on the resurrection. Do we really treat the resurrection of Jesus as an event that means something significant, or has the significance of the resurrection faded? Why exactly is the resurrection important for us today? It might seem like a basic question, but I want us to think about it. Take a few minutes and write down thoughts and ideas.
The good news isn’t just that Jesus died for our sins, but that he was raised to life again. Because of the resurrection, Jesus has shown that death doesn’t have the last word and that he is the Lord over the whole creation. But even beyond that, Jesus resurrection means everything for us. We are able to be justified and united with Christ and have hope. So we celebrate the resurrection. But the resurrection doesn’t stop at the empty tomb. We also find a new life in Christ because of the resurrection. Paul says it phenomenally in Romans 6. He writes, Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The resurrection had meaning for us because God resurrects our old, dead lives to become new, alive lives! God doesn’t just forgive us our sins and leave us in a broken state. No, he also brings us back to life and gives us new lives. Everything is changed. The resurrection story still has meaning today because the story continues on in us. Each one of our lives is a testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. The work of God in our lives shows ourselves and others that if God can raise us back up and give us new lives, then Jesus is certainly risen! In this way, the resurrection of Jesus means everything for us as Christians. We not only celebrate the resurrection in our lives, but we also experience the resurrection in our lives. We can’t treat the gospel as though it no longer has meaning or as though it’s just a good story. It’s not just a good story, it’s the best story. And yes, it’s a real story also. We really find the roots of our identity as Christian in the gospel story, and so it means everything to us.
So let’s go back to the Acts narrative. Peter preached the story of Jesus to the Gentiles, and then what happened? The Spirit came down on the Gentiles even while Peter was still speaking! The Spirit just couldn’t wait to come down on the Gentiles. And all Peter did was preach the gospel. The Jews who went there with Peter were amazed and couldn’t believe what had happened. The Holy Spirit with the Gentiles? Absurd! Yet they still believed. The two groups of Jews and Gentiles were now one group in Christ. They were all Christian now. This was amazing! What ideas off the top of your head can you think of of different people coming together? I can think of the Avengers.
Was it harder for you to find some of these examples than these examples? Yeah? We have a lot more of this, division, in our world than this, unity. We are surrounded by division all around us. There’s division where there should be unity instead of unity where there shouldn’t be division. But that’s not what we see in the Acts narrative. You see, the gospel story wasn’t sowing division among the people, it was bridging the gap between people. The people were experiencing the resurrection because they were given new lives, new identities. The gospel brings together all people everywhere. The gospel story has no limits on who is included. And together, as the body of Christ, we are resurrected. We are given a new life on a personal level, but beyond that we are given a new life on a corporate level, making up the body of Christ. The gospel story means everything to us because God gives us each new lives, but he also finds a way through the resurrection story to fix all of that division.
The reason the church comes together on Sunday is because that was the day that Jesus was raised from the dead. Every time we meet, we celebrate the resurrection. The Resurrection is not some meaningless event in Christian history and it certainly isn’t some made up story. No, the resurrection is the center of the gospel, and it is very much so real story and a powerful story. The resurrection is what our faith revolves around. We are Christian because Christ was resurrected. We are able to live a new life because Christ was resurrected. So this Easter we don’t just celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. We also experience the Resurrection. And we experience the resurrection together. This Easter, let’s really live into the power of the resurrection. Let’s remember the new lives that God has given us because Christ was resurrected.
As we close, let me pray a blessing over us. The blessing for this week comes from Psalm 118:17-19. The Pslamist reads, 17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. 18 The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. 19 Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
And to make that our blessing:
May you believe that God has not left you where you were at, but has made a way for you to truly live by resurrecting your life
May you not die, but really, truly live, realizing that the resurrection of our Lord means everything to us, both individually and corporately
And finally, may your life proclaim the power of the resurrection and may all who look on your life will see that if God resurrected your life, then he certainly resurrected Jesus.