God’s Redemptive Work: Our Part
NO 1/13/08 EW
Introduction
Generally, folks in our culture think of God as out there somewhere – a distant God who was involved directly with folks long ago but is not so involved today. We often think and even speak of meeting God when we die as if we are not meeting God this very day. I’m telling you, God is seeking us every bit as much as we are seeking God.
Korea – “Bed Bug”
During early years of my life my mother would often say, as I was headed for bed, “Good night, Ben, ‘Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.’” Now, I really never knew what that meant but while in Korea her meaning became obvious.
For many mornings, I would wake up with little bites all over my body. I would shower a couple times a day, had the Korean help change my bedding every day. Use some kind of awful powder the Army supplied us to be used for something – I never knew what. Nothing got rid of that bed bug. It was relentless. I would itch all day but never got even a glimpse of that little scutter.
One night I awoke to the feel of something crawling on my chest. I carefully lifted the covers and waited patiently for the crawling to pick up again and it did. I placed my finger below where I could feel the movement and sure enough, the little fellow climbed right up on my finger. Folks, I caught the bed bug that had so relentlessly worked on me night after night.
God Is Relentless
That little bed bug was a lot like God in the sense that it just kept after me until I caught on. That sense of, “There must be something more to life than this.” or “I feel this sense of emptiness and don’t know what to do.” Or “I’m confused. Nothing is going the way it should in life.” Or even, “I feel so depressed at times and seem to have nothing to be depressed about.” All of these, and many more thoughts, feelings, experiences that we normally don’t connect to God can be God’s crawling around in our lives seeking to redeem us. Relentless, God is relentless.
Those wonderful changes in life that we like to think result from our achievements through practicing our faith or that we become much smarter are the work of God and our response to God rather than what we do. We have turned the process upside down and given ourselves a great deal of credit that doesn’t belong to us. Well, it does but it doesn’t.
Peter’s Second Confession
When we think of Peter’s great confession, the scene when he confesses Jesus as the Savior comes immediately to mind. Surely, that is so. There is, however, in our scripture lesson this evening a second confession: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel – that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again – well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone.” (Acts 10:34b-36, The Message.)
Peter’s Struggle
When I read those words my heart rate jumped and I could feel laughter, the kind that goes with a great “aha” moment, swell within my entire body. Peter, the Rock, the Confessor, one of the main players in the forming of the Way preaching that the Good News is for everyone. Can you imagine how difficult that would have been for him?
Here is a man raised among the chosen people of God. Here is a man knowledgeable of the Jewish way of life. Peter has been back in Jerusalem working with the other disciples setting up the new Way. Peter demands for one to be Christian one had to become a Jew first. Peter was party to demanding Gentiles be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws to be Christian.
American Methodism
This is very similar to Wesley’s struggle with American Methodism. He sent leaders to America to help people form societies where they would mature in the Christian faith and serve others. They were to worship in the Church of England in America. He never once wanted to create a new church and was really hostile to the idea. Eventually, by the working of the Spirit, he changed his affections even though he never left the Church of England. Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury were ordained and eventually became Bishops of The Methodist Episcopal Church.
Power of the Spirit to Transform
What we see in these events is the power of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to transform individuals and collections of individuals. It is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, that reaches into our lives and makes changes and if we give ourselves to that power we are transformed today and all the todays of our lives.
We Methodist Believe It’s What God Does First
Bishop Willimon calls us a “Peculiar People” and Will Garret did the same last Sunday. We are a peculiar people because we believe it is God who acts first. We are able to love, we read in the Bible, because God first loved us. We know Jesus because the Father brings us to him. Not everyone who followed Jesus came to know him. We need to keep in mind that some of his followers turned around and found a different rabbi when Jesus’ message became too inclusive and too demanding. God is at work and our part is to join in with the redemptive work already going on.
Peter’s Third Confession
Well, we have Peter confessing that Jesus is Lord and that he is Lord for everyone. We just can’t get God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – to fit into the boxes we construct in our minds and hearts. I understand that we would like to get God down to a size where we can claim to understand God’s way but just as we do, it changes. Peter, and the other original disciples, was sure that they were building the Way correctly, as they gathered in Jerusalem. They were also certain that this guy Paul was going against the Way of God as he developed the church among the Gentiles.
Peter could have said, “God has always preferred the Chosen People. God guided us, saved us from captivity, came to earth and lived among us, died and was resurrected for us. I can prove this is for us because only we saw him after the resurrection.” Peter could have used their seeing the resurrected Jesus as proof of their specialness but listen: “Not everyone saw him – he wasn’t put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand – us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead.” (Acts 10:40, The Message.)
Peter did not only say that they saw, met, and ate with Jesus but that they had been chosen by God to do so. Not everyone saw Jesus. Those who God chose saw him.
Conclusion
Finally, I glimpse the practical need for confession and repentance. Not just once but daily or more often, we need to confess our sins and repent for a very good reason. Our holding onto our way of life keeps us from seeing how God is at work in our lives. Our fear of losing what we have keeps us from experiencing that God knows our needs even before we do. Our fears of having life become chaotic keeps us from experiencing that God can bring order from chaos. Our personal drive to understand God blocks the whispers of God’s Spirit telling us the direction God has in mind for us. Our need to get it right smothers our relationship with God and one another.
Do you think Peter would have ever come to his confession had he been left alone by God? I don’t. He had it figured out. Peter and his little group were sure that they knew what God wanted from them and they were doing it. Their achievement was no little thing. And then God said, “I want you to go a different way.” Peter listened and responded to the Spirit.
I invite you to listen to God’s Spirit in your life tonight. If you have an inkling that you’ve been listening to yourself rather than God, stop and listen to God. If you have been thinking that you want to give your life to God but you’re waiting for the right time – listen to God, this may well be the right time.
Our part in God’s redemptive work is to listen and respond. God’s grace is already a fact for all persons. Jesus hanging on the cross, being buried, and being raised from the dead was God’s very clear statement that God has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Our part is to respond to what God has already done for all people and what God’s Spirit is doing in our lives.
Just like God choosing those who saw Jesus following his resurrection in those first days, God is choosing us to see Jesus today. How do you see Jesus transforming your life? How is the Spirit at work in your life? Peter tells us that that is our testimony. And that we are to go out and tell the world of how the Spirit is at work in our lives. “He commissioned us to announce this in public, the bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead.” (Acts 10:42, The Message.) He reminds us of our being chosen to go out into the world and that when we do we are not alone! (Acts 10:43) Peter tells us that’s our part.