Download Easter VII

Easter VII
May 28, 2006
Series B
Acts 1:15-17 & 20-26
Tonto and the Lone Ranger are riding through a canyon. Suddenly both sides
were filled with Native American warriors on horses. They looked deadly serious and
they were dressed for battle. The Lone Ranger turns to Tonto and asked, "What are
we going to do?" Tonto replied, "What do you mean 'we,' Whiteman?" Needless to
say, they had a unity issue. It’s easy to be unified when things are fine. But are they
100% fine? When is there no strife at home or big work issues? Even here, how
often is it that there are no unity problems? We desire it greatly, but true unity is a
hard thing to come by. There always seems to be something trying to break people
apart, turning them against one another and causing them to clam up and turn
inward.
But as Paul said, “Dear brothers this cannot be!” We know what a lack of unity
does in a family. When lies are told, motives questioned and everyone’s doing their
own thing, its ripped apart. Same thing at work. When managers don’t get along
with workers & vice versa, production promptly halts with gifts unused, relationships
not fostered and frustration abounding. It is hardly how God wants our homes and
workplaces to run. But think how damaging disunity is in church. A religious mailing
once said relationships hold the church together. Rubbish. Human relationships
don’t hold the church together. The Holy Spirit does. They are not the building
blocks of the church - Christ is. The only thing keeping God’s people as one is God
himself.
But think of the damage done by a failure to have loving, Christian relationships.
Like a disunited family, there is no real concern for each other. Like a disunited
work force, nothing gets done. And like Tonto, in difficult times people protect self,
not others. Relationships aren’t church glue. But through them God does his work
and helps us do ours. So let us focus on Sticking Together for our spiritual good and
others.
Many books and movies have come out where people who’ve never met wake up
in a room together and have to figure out why. In the end they realize all were on
the same vacation, guilty of the same crime or had relatives with the same disease.
They had to understand what they had in common. What do we have in common?
What ties us together? The same things as the 11 disciples in our lesson. It takes
place after Jesus ascended - before Pentecost. The 11 were waiting for the Holy
Spirit. Instead of being happy 11 were left, Peter reminds them Scripture
prophesied Judas would fall away and another will take his place. Scripture spoke the disciples acted. Don’t we have that same attitude - the Bible is the center of
everything? We don’t read the Koran one week, the Book of Mormon the next and
the Talmud after that. We gather around the Bible. We understand what Paul wrote
to Timothy, “All Scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, correcting,
rebuking…” As the disciples realized God’s will for them was found in the Bible and
what it said was truth, so do we. So 1.) we are united in the sense that we
understand it is the only place to look.
And not only are they united in that they search God’s Word for guidance in
replacing Judas, they are united in the main teaching of Scripture – Jesus is the
Savior. They don’t want a replacement who’s somewhat familiar with Jesus. They
knew this replacement had to know (start to finish) what Jesus’ ministry was about.
If they didn’t get this, they didn’t get Scripture. They wanted true unity based on the
message/work of Jesus. Again, doesn’t the same thing go for us? Some of you have
been here for years. Some of you were baptized and confirmed here. One of you
came in today. But whenever you came in, one thing was clear: this church is all
about Jesus’ work. He is the cornerstone. While we talk about what that means in
our families, jobs and marriages, we never stray from that core. So 2.) we are
united in our understanding that the main purpose of the Bible is to teach us about
Jesus and how he saved us.
More unity in our lesson. The disciples were united in their faith God will do what
is best. In Peter’s prayer, that is clear. If they had to make the decision alone as to
Judas’ replacement, they’d have fallen apart. But they knew God would lead and
guide them, that he would do what is best. And don’t we do the same thing? Think
how often we end our prayers with the words, “Thy will be done.” We don’t go
seeking our will. So 3.) we are united in believing he will do what is right and
understanding he makes no mistakes.
One more. After all was done, they didn’t doubt what God or have a waiting
period to see if Matthias, the new guy, would work out. When God revealed he was
the guy, they added him to their number. Where God worked unity of hearts, there
was unity of purpose. And once again, we see that here. There are no levels or
different classifications. Once there is true unity, all new members stand up here and
promise before God to support the work of this church with prayers, time, talents
and offerings. They don’t wait 6 months. So 4.) we are united in faith in order to
carry on the work of the Gospel.
Get what it means to be truly united? It doesn’t just mean joined together. You
can tie 2 cat tails together, but that’s hardly unity. True unity means together
understanding the Word and why it was written, understanding that God is in charge
of everything and understanding he has called us to work together for his purposes.
That is not false, feel good unity. It’s not like the unity you have because your
children go to the preschool but you can’t stand each other. It is true unity, based
solely on Christ.
Thank God for such unity. But do we always appreciate it? Do we daily rely on
God to keep it up or do we become apathetic, not always realizing what a precious
gift this is? If we say we always appreciate it & never take it for granted, we’ve
blinded ourselves. Peter mentions Judas for a reason. Judas once had true unity with
Jesus and the 11, but he forsook that for more money, a lavish lifestyle or whatever.
When he lost sight of who Jesus was and what he was doing, he lost the core
necessary for unity, the core which is also the power to be united. See the warning?
If we forget the person we are working with is a soul for whom Jesus died, then we
get hung up on what they wear, how they speak or their odd habits. If we lose
sight of the fact God has given different gifts to different parts of the body, all united
under Jesus, we start getting mad someone is not pulling their weight. And when
we take for granted what God has done for us as individuals and fail to use all he
has given us to bring Him praise, it is easy to get mad at those asking us to do and
be more.
Get how serious this is? If, like that brochure said, the church was built on
relationships, this church would be extinct. As sinful people with sinful desires, we
can’t make it work with 10, 100 or 1000. Any church built on people, built solely on
human unity, meaning every looks the same, likes the same thing, does the same
stuff is a church destined to fail. And when the church fails, that is the result of
sinners failing, failing in their faith, failing in sin and failing to be the perfect people
God demands them to be. And God doesn’t take failure lightly. In fact, all alone,
such failure would earn us a one way ticket to hell, to total separation from Him.
What is the answer? In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded Linus change
channels. "Why do you think you can walk in and take over?" "These 5 fingers," says
Lucy. "Individually they're nothing but when I curl them into a unit, they form a
weapon terrible to behold." "Which channel?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at
his fingers. "Why can't you guys get organized like that?" Is it with threats of what
will happen if people do not comply? Do we use God’s law alone, pointing out
failure and telling people to shape up or ship out?
Back to our lesson. On what did the disciples rely to unite them as they
prepared to head out as servants? On the Word, on Jesus revealed in the Word and
on prayer to the One who controls all. They did not do their own thing, holding
meeting after meeting, trying to find some common ground. They went right to
God, for only He could unite them to serve him. And the Lord granted them such a
blessing. A few days later, the Spirit was sent and the rest is glorious history. The
Gospel spread, and by the grace of God, thus came to us.
God is the one who did the uniting. And he does that for us. How? Think about
a tuning fork. If you have 20 pianos and you want to make sure they are in tune
and sound the same, you don’t pick one and try to make the others sound just like
it. The only pure sound that can be relied on is the sound from the fork. So you
make sure each one is in line with the fork, and when all are, they sound the same.
And in Christ, we not only sound the same, we look and are the same in God’s
eyes. He sees each of us as his children, as people he brought to himself through
baptism, as people to whom he sent His Spirit to build us up and keep us in faith.
He sees us as he sees his Son, perfect and holy, for that is why Jesus gave his life,
that we would be received by our Father now and in eternity. In spite of our failures,
disunity and so on, we are united in Christ, like the disciples. It’s not because we
hammered out a contract to get along. It is because God hammered one out with
each and all us, a one sided contract that forgives all our sins. He allowed his Son to
be hammered to the cross, but the result for us is we’re 1 body, united in Jesus our
Savior.
Is this sermon meant to have more people sign up for flowers or to tell those
who get frustrated at those who don’t bring flowers to cool their jets? No. But it is
a reminder for us to go back and see what God has done for us, he has done for all
here. With that truth, will we work in a loving fashion to lead others to serve and
more importantly, help them as they help us in our daily walk with God and growth
in faith? Absolutely. With that truth, will we assume when someone speaks, even
reprimands us, that they are doing in out of love for Jesus and for our good?
Absolutely. And with that truth, will we all, as the disciples did, understand that God
brings us together for the purposes of praising him and spreading his Word? One
more time – absolutely.
Our unity is not a fickle thing. It does not hang on one person failing to do this
or saying the wrong thing. Our unity is founded in Christ and established at the
cross. We were united as we came into the family of God through Baptism. Can we
weather the storms that will surely come? Alone? Never. The disciples wouldn’t
have made it had they tried to go it alone either. But they did make it, and so will
we, for our Savior is the glue that holds us together. As we finish out the Easter
season and sing “I Know that My Redeemer Lives”, keep in mind what we have said.
That living Redeemer holds us close to him and one another. And with the common
love we have for that Savior, let us unite, that the Lord receives our thanks as one
and that together, we are witnesses to his goodness. Amen.