The Ball's In Our Court!
Sermon
CALLED TO JERUSALEM: SENT TO THE WORLD
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
I. RSVP! Please!
It's true! He never said he would come. Then again, he never said that he was not coming either! Since we had heard nothing, we might have assumed that he was not. Yet, when the invitation was personally extended, he had postponed his response, specifically not choosing to accept or decline at that moment - suggesting, perhaps, that he was not sure that he could. Now what? The day and the hour came. Our friend didn't!
So, there we sat. The spaghetti grew cold and sticky. The sauce tended to firm up a bit. While spaghetti need not be an expensive meal to prepare, it required some planning for married graduate students of the 1950s. It was their poor man's feast.
Not preparing a special dinner had been an option, but one with embarrassing risks. Suppose he had shown up after all, reminding us that we had invited him. It had seemed a better course to be prepared, ready to welcome our guest should he arrive. We hoped, of course, that he would. We prepared for our hope. Later in the evening, we ate alone ... and just a bit hurt.
"I never agreed to accept your invitation," he later said. "You had no right to obligate me by your invitation. When you did not hear from me after our conversation, you should have assumed ..."
"Obligate by our invitation?" Why, that thought had never crossed our minds. We wanted to give, to share and to offer our hospitality to a friend. Obviously we valued his presence more than he valued our gift of hospitality.
The lesson for our family was both painful and priceless. It's true! An invitation extended does mandate an answer - even if we have not asked for the invitation. A gift offered must be accepted or rejected. To place a gift on hold is to reject the gift and the giver simultaneously. Answers delayed or denied are rejections. There is no way to avoid one choice or the other.
So it is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once heard, the invitation places the ball squarely in our court. We must play it. In the gospel, God makes an offer, proffers a gift and extends an invitation. Like it or not, it demands a response.
When Peter preached on that first Pentecost, the gospel demanded a response. The people were "cut to the heart," and they said to Peter and the disciples: "Brethren, what shall we do?"
In the dialogue of preacher and people that follows Peter's preaching in today's lesson, we are caught up into some profound understandings of preaching, of repentance and conversion and of God's invitation.
II. Of Preaching - God's Ongoing Invitation
Preaching is, and has always been, God's formal invitation. Preaching is the way witnesses of one generation call witnesses forth in another. Philip Brooks once wrote that preaching is "truth through personality in the midst of personalities."1 By preaching, those who are "witnesses to the resurrection" give their personal testimony. By their faithfulness, demonstrating the present power of Christ in their lives, their hearers see and experience the power of Christ firsthand. Their hearers thereby become witnesses, too. Preaching is, indeed, "truth through personality in the midst of personalities."
This is not to say that preaching is "a monologue by the man in the pulpit. The speaking of the divine word, the personal and contemporary word, is a dialogue between the Lord and any who will hear him."2 To all who hear there must be a response. Preaching becomes God's most often-experienced "indicative,"3 God's self-revelation. It therefore carries God's "imperative," the unavoidable necessity of response. That response in today's lesson is immediate and positive: "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Unfortunately, it is not always so. We recall John's account of Jesus' healing of the blind man. After the healing, a confrontation with Jesus develops with the Pharisees who, of course - though having seen and heard - still rejected God's revelation. Jesus' comment affirms that every "indicative" of God carries a corresponding "imperative," demanding a response. "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains (John 9:41)."
Preaching, from Jesus' own preaching to that of our day, has been God's primary means to create new witnesses in the church. Early church leaders were called as preachers, not priests, not educators, not administrators and ... not even as pastoral counselors. They were called as preachers! Paul says it well: "God did not send me to baptize, but to preach (1 Corinthians 1:17)." He counseled young Timothy forthrightly: "Preach the word."
Saint John Chrysostom, a fourth-century Bishop of Constantinople and a doctor of the church, called preaching "the one vital medicine" for the sickness of the church. Luther wrote that "at home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me. But in the church, when the multitude is gathered, a fire is kindled in my heart."5 It is the experience of the church that the powerful moments of reformation and renewal - in church and in society - have been kindled and kept ablaze by solid preaching. Names such as Ambrose, Augustine, Savonarola, Huss, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr. stand out in crucial moments of church and secular history. Today, it has been estimated that more than five million sermons are preached each year in this country alone.6
In addition to Peter's powerful proclamation in today's lesson, we have Paul's direct and profound affirmation: "Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news' (Romans 10:13-15)!" Indeed so!
Equally and from the beginning, preaching has had its detractors. Even Paul's Corinthian parishioners complained (2 Corinthians 10:9-10)! Fred B. Craddock, one of today's foremost preachers, has written, "To a large extent the pulpit has from the first century received poor reviews."7 Clyde Fant writes that "no part of the worship of the church has been so generously and ecumenically roasted as preaching, but likewise no aspect of its worship has been more generally and ecumenically practiced. In fact, the art of preaching may be the most truly ecumenical observance of the church. It has a longer continuous history of virtually unanimous practice among all groups, Protestant and Catholic, than any other elements in her worship."8
Preaching is, in itself, God's miracle. To this day, good preaching still draws crowds. Moreover, the "kerygma" of the church has the power to evoke that which it celebrates.9 In today's lesson, people are moved to repent just by hearing the story. The gifts of the Spirit - forgiveness and repentance - are not just for eyewitnesses. We need to hear Peter's proclamation clearly in this: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him."
We recall that Jesus prayed in his "High Priestly Prayer" recorded in John 17:20, "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one."
Preaching is empowered and authenticated by the Spirit. More than a few of the faithful in the ranks of preachers have been reassured by the prophetic words of Isaiah: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11)."
This miracle of preaching is just that. It is God's message and God's miracle. Preaching without God's power and without his authority is both "presumptuous and ineffective. In effective biblical preaching, the Holy Spirit works mediately through God's Word and the human messenger of that Word."10 Armed with the scriptures, the evangelical preacher is "constitutive to apostolic presence." Preaching is therefore nothing less than God's continuing presence, revelation and action in our midst.
Preaching is God's message to his people. Not every religious lecture, dialogue or conversation is "preaching," the "kerygma," that "core message" of the gospel. Jeremiah makes the point clearly: "For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to perceive and to hear his word, or who has given heed to his word and listened? ... I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.... 'Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat?' says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:18, 21-22, 28)."
Peter's sermon in today's text is a splendid example. It points beyond Peter to the God who saves. It is the God who keeps promises that matters. That is the good news. That is the gospel. Carefully Peter weaves the matrix of promise and fulfillment, clearly and closely linking the history of Israel with the life of Jesus, asserting that the community formed by the Spirit is in unbroken succession with Israel's own experience of expectation and realization. Just as Israel exists as fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, so Jesus, filled by the Spirit, confirms the Messianic hope of Israel. By the time Peter ends his sermon, there can be no doubt. There is a gracious and just God who is busy in this world, a God who works for the salvation of his people, and that God is the God of Israel 'working in Jesus, the Christ.
Preaching is the mobilization of our memories.11 One of the basic thrusts of repentance is to have second thoughts, to think again and to think new about something we have done or are doing. Preaching retells the God story another time, interprets its meaning and fills in blanks we have overlooked - intentionally or unintentionally. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it (Acts 2:22-24)."
Preaching retells God's story and it retells our story, too. Memories are mobilized and clarified in preaching, placing God's story and ours side by side, quickly giving us pause for "second thoughts" about the selective ways we may have chosen to recall these things. Of this, Peter's sermon is an outstanding model. The miracle and power of preaching are clearly demonstrated and attested. Those who began as scoffers, ridiculing the coming of the Spirit, are now calling out: "What can we do?" They are aligning themselves publicly with the gospel in their baptism - 3,000 strong!
Too often in our time, preaching is done by pastors who have missed the point, and preaching is heard by people who no longer expect anything to happen.'2 Preaching is God's work, God's miracle and God's ongoing gift and invitation. After every sermon we must decide afresh. We must respond. Solid preaching always puts the ball in our court!
III. Of Repentance And Conversion
When the people heard the preaching of Peter, they were "cut to the heart." God had lobbed the ball of grace and the opportunity of reconciliation into their court. "What shall we do?" they cried out to Peter and the apostles. "How can we respond?" "What is it that God wants from us?" "How can we make this all right again with ourselves, and with God?" "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Instantly Peter presents them with three urgent exhortations. "Repent! Be Baptized! Save Yourselves from this Generation!"
Repent - Whatever else the gospel is about, it is about the change of mind and of life. We cannot sing of life (joy) and live death (gloom). The New Testament word translated as repentance is metanoia. It means to change one's mind. The Hebrews talked of "turning around," of "coming home." To "repent" means "to turn to God because he graciously turns to us and offers forgiveness in spite of our deeds."3 To "repent" is to "have second thoughts," an "afterthought," or even to "come to one's senses," as in the case of the famous prodigal son. It means, in precisely the way Jesus used it in that parable, to "turn around and come home." Surely Jesus' prayer from the cross - "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" - is answered in the "second thoughts" and the repentance of the crowd at Pentecost. Many of those in that crowd were residents of Jerusalem and were likely to have witnessed or consented to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. It's no wonder Peter's preaching "cut them to the heart."
Further, "changing one's mind" must be followed by the change of behavior. Both mind and behavior must be changed. The mind may be changed while the behavior continues. Conversely, one might change behavior because of fear, while the mind remains unchanged. To repent is to change one's mind, one's heart and one's behavior.
It's no wonder that the word "conversion" surfaces so often when Christians speak of repentance. Repentance calls us to be converted into new persons in Christ. To be open to the Spirit in repentance is to expect conversion, to accept the Spirit's work of "secular detoxification."
Repentance carries us far beyond a moralistic requirement. It presses us to reorient our presuppositions about power, right and goodness. "Conversion as the miraculous power of God to make the church the church and to overcome every enemy and boundary is at the very center of the church's life. We ignore the phenomenon of conversion at the peril of losing the church. Here is a God who takes us 'Just as I am without one plea,' as we are fond of singing in the old hymn, but encounters with this God do not leave us just as we are."4 Acts reminds us that conversion, changeovers and turning are part of the Christian lifestyle. All of this brings us to the second of Peter's exhortations.
Save yourselves! Now really, none of us can ever do that. If we are to be saved, it must be by God's grace. The translation should read: "Let yourselves be saved."5 It is God's call and God's offer for reconciliation that make repentance possible.
It is as simple as this. One cannot turn around and go home if there is no home to which to return, no door open to receive us, and no heart of grace to forgive. One might as well stay in the far country of rebellion and make the best of it. Only God's love - promised, announced and demonstrated in Jesus Christ - makes our homecoming possible at all. Repentance therefore, is God's doing, too. He is the "first mover" toward our reconciliation. Again, the ball is in our court.
Not only is this God's doing, but Luke would have us understand that we cannot contain and restrain the restless Spirit of reconciliation in dogmatic sequences and systems of salvation theology. Baptism and the Spirit are part of the whole gift. The Spirit blows where it will and as it will in the Book of Acts. In some cases the gift of the Spirit came at baptism. For others, it came much later, as in the case of Cornelius, when the Spirit came upon Cornelius and his family. Peter used that moment of the Spirit's coming as the justification for the baptism of this gentile military officer and his household.
"Let yourselves be saved" is to say no more than to invite Peter's listeners to accept the things God has done and is in the process of doing for them at that very moment. So too in our time, God is doing the work of salvation. All we need do is accept his invitation to change our minds from our former posture and behavior.
Be baptized! Along with changing our minds and turning around, we must also align ourselves on God's side by a conscious and a public act. Remember, these people probably consented to our Lord's condemnation and crucifixion - they may even have been present. Again, baptism is something God offers to do for us, adopting us as his children and setting aside our guilt. It, too, is a gift God offers and an invitation God extends. In our baptism we accept God's invitation, receive his gifts of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, and publicly align ourselves with what God is about in our lives and in our world.
How clearly this alignment stands out in some of our denominational orders for baptism and for affirmation of faith: "Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism: To live among God's faithful people, to hear his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the world?"6
On this day, following Peter's preaching, it is a miracle of the Spirit that 3,000 of those who only lately scoffed at the Spirit and assented to the Savior's crucifixion agreed to align
themselves with the crucified and risen Christ through the public act of baptism.
IV. Of Response - The Ball In Our Court
Preaching is God's invitation and the offering of his gifts to us. It is the "indicative" of God, in which God reveals, shares and offers himself for our salvation. As in every invitation received or gift offered, we must decide to accept it or to reject it, receive it or refuse it. Silence is a refusal. Doing nothing is therefore not an option for us.
God's invitation to be faithful and the promise of his gifts are offered not only to those outside of the community of faith, but to those inside the community of faith as well. Responding to God's call is a daily challenge for us. Paul writes: "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death (Romans 7:21-24)?"
Martin Luther rightly advises in the Large Catechism that we must put on our baptism as a daily garment which we are to wear all the time. We are daily to put off the old and put on the new, as Paul counsels (Colossians 3:9-10).
Since we struggle to be faithful in Christ, and to accept the gifts God offers, each new day is a new opportunity. Every new hearing of the gospel is a new invitation. Day by day, in matters of stewardship, discipleship and service God issues his call and offers his gifts. Day after day he comes to us, inviting us to his banquet. There is no way to avoid responding. A response delayed until tomorrow is a rejection today.
We need the church's preaching and teaching and the spoken witness of the believers to reorder and to mobilize our memories of God's story and our story. On these hang our renewed repentance, conversion and service. God looks for growth. God looks for change. The invitation has been extended. RSVP! Please!
Finish then thy new creation,
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee!
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heav'n we take our place.
Till we cast our crowns before you.
Lost in wonder, love and praise!17
Conversion is not the end of faith. It is only the beginning. Once God has revealed himself to us, we are like the disciples at Emmaus in today's gospel (Luke 24:13-35). We must do something about it. There comes a time when we must push our chairs back from the table and run out to tell somebody: "We have seen the Lord!" The ball's in our court.
End Notes
1. George E. Sweazey, Preaching the Good News, (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1976), p. 5.
2. Henry Grady Davie, "The Moment of Recognition," Preaching With Purpose and Power, Don M. Aycock, Compiler and Editor, (Macon, Georgia, Mercer University Press, 1982), p. 213.
3. Foster R. McCurley, Jr. and John Reumann, Understanding the Bible, Vols. I and II, The Word and Witness Series (Philadelphia, Division of Parish Services for the Lutheran Church in America, 1980). The parallels of the "Indicatives" and the "Imperatives" of God are introduced in this work.
4. Sweazey, op. cit., p. 7.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 1.
7. Frank B. Craddock, As One Without Authority, (Enid, Oklahoma, Philips University Press, 1971), p. 1.
8. Clyde E. Fant, Preaching for Today, (New York, Harper and Row, Publishers, 1975), p. 1.
9. William H. Willimon, Acts, Interpretation Series, James Luther Mays, Editor and Paul J. Achtemeier, New Testament Editor (Atlanta, John Knox Press, 1988), p. 36. "Kerygma" is a Greek word used by scholars to refer to the core of the preaching/proclamation of the New Testament church.
10. Wallace E. Fisher, Who Dares to Preach?, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1979), p. 56.
11. Walter Brueggemann, Easter, Proclamation 4, Series A, (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1989), p. 26. The concept of preaching as "mobilizing the memory" appears in this article. It seems a useful phrase in determining the dynamic of preaching.
12. Willimon, op. cit., p. 37.
13. Gerhard A. Krodel, Acts, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1986), p. 90.
14. Willimon, op. cit., p. 104.
15. Krodel, op. cit., p. 91.
16. "The Order for Affirmation of Baptism," The Lutheran Book of Worship, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), p. 201, reprinted by permission.
17. Charles Wesley, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," The Lutheran Book of Worship, op. cit., Hymn No. 315.
I. RSVP! Please!
It's true! He never said he would come. Then again, he never said that he was not coming either! Since we had heard nothing, we might have assumed that he was not. Yet, when the invitation was personally extended, he had postponed his response, specifically not choosing to accept or decline at that moment - suggesting, perhaps, that he was not sure that he could. Now what? The day and the hour came. Our friend didn't!
So, there we sat. The spaghetti grew cold and sticky. The sauce tended to firm up a bit. While spaghetti need not be an expensive meal to prepare, it required some planning for married graduate students of the 1950s. It was their poor man's feast.
Not preparing a special dinner had been an option, but one with embarrassing risks. Suppose he had shown up after all, reminding us that we had invited him. It had seemed a better course to be prepared, ready to welcome our guest should he arrive. We hoped, of course, that he would. We prepared for our hope. Later in the evening, we ate alone ... and just a bit hurt.
"I never agreed to accept your invitation," he later said. "You had no right to obligate me by your invitation. When you did not hear from me after our conversation, you should have assumed ..."
"Obligate by our invitation?" Why, that thought had never crossed our minds. We wanted to give, to share and to offer our hospitality to a friend. Obviously we valued his presence more than he valued our gift of hospitality.
The lesson for our family was both painful and priceless. It's true! An invitation extended does mandate an answer - even if we have not asked for the invitation. A gift offered must be accepted or rejected. To place a gift on hold is to reject the gift and the giver simultaneously. Answers delayed or denied are rejections. There is no way to avoid one choice or the other.
So it is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once heard, the invitation places the ball squarely in our court. We must play it. In the gospel, God makes an offer, proffers a gift and extends an invitation. Like it or not, it demands a response.
When Peter preached on that first Pentecost, the gospel demanded a response. The people were "cut to the heart," and they said to Peter and the disciples: "Brethren, what shall we do?"
In the dialogue of preacher and people that follows Peter's preaching in today's lesson, we are caught up into some profound understandings of preaching, of repentance and conversion and of God's invitation.
II. Of Preaching - God's Ongoing Invitation
Preaching is, and has always been, God's formal invitation. Preaching is the way witnesses of one generation call witnesses forth in another. Philip Brooks once wrote that preaching is "truth through personality in the midst of personalities."1 By preaching, those who are "witnesses to the resurrection" give their personal testimony. By their faithfulness, demonstrating the present power of Christ in their lives, their hearers see and experience the power of Christ firsthand. Their hearers thereby become witnesses, too. Preaching is, indeed, "truth through personality in the midst of personalities."
This is not to say that preaching is "a monologue by the man in the pulpit. The speaking of the divine word, the personal and contemporary word, is a dialogue between the Lord and any who will hear him."2 To all who hear there must be a response. Preaching becomes God's most often-experienced "indicative,"3 God's self-revelation. It therefore carries God's "imperative," the unavoidable necessity of response. That response in today's lesson is immediate and positive: "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Unfortunately, it is not always so. We recall John's account of Jesus' healing of the blind man. After the healing, a confrontation with Jesus develops with the Pharisees who, of course - though having seen and heard - still rejected God's revelation. Jesus' comment affirms that every "indicative" of God carries a corresponding "imperative," demanding a response. "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains (John 9:41)."
Preaching, from Jesus' own preaching to that of our day, has been God's primary means to create new witnesses in the church. Early church leaders were called as preachers, not priests, not educators, not administrators and ... not even as pastoral counselors. They were called as preachers! Paul says it well: "God did not send me to baptize, but to preach (1 Corinthians 1:17)." He counseled young Timothy forthrightly: "Preach the word."
Saint John Chrysostom, a fourth-century Bishop of Constantinople and a doctor of the church, called preaching "the one vital medicine" for the sickness of the church. Luther wrote that "at home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me. But in the church, when the multitude is gathered, a fire is kindled in my heart."5 It is the experience of the church that the powerful moments of reformation and renewal - in church and in society - have been kindled and kept ablaze by solid preaching. Names such as Ambrose, Augustine, Savonarola, Huss, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr. stand out in crucial moments of church and secular history. Today, it has been estimated that more than five million sermons are preached each year in this country alone.6
In addition to Peter's powerful proclamation in today's lesson, we have Paul's direct and profound affirmation: "Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news' (Romans 10:13-15)!" Indeed so!
Equally and from the beginning, preaching has had its detractors. Even Paul's Corinthian parishioners complained (2 Corinthians 10:9-10)! Fred B. Craddock, one of today's foremost preachers, has written, "To a large extent the pulpit has from the first century received poor reviews."7 Clyde Fant writes that "no part of the worship of the church has been so generously and ecumenically roasted as preaching, but likewise no aspect of its worship has been more generally and ecumenically practiced. In fact, the art of preaching may be the most truly ecumenical observance of the church. It has a longer continuous history of virtually unanimous practice among all groups, Protestant and Catholic, than any other elements in her worship."8
Preaching is, in itself, God's miracle. To this day, good preaching still draws crowds. Moreover, the "kerygma" of the church has the power to evoke that which it celebrates.9 In today's lesson, people are moved to repent just by hearing the story. The gifts of the Spirit - forgiveness and repentance - are not just for eyewitnesses. We need to hear Peter's proclamation clearly in this: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him."
We recall that Jesus prayed in his "High Priestly Prayer" recorded in John 17:20, "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one."
Preaching is empowered and authenticated by the Spirit. More than a few of the faithful in the ranks of preachers have been reassured by the prophetic words of Isaiah: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11)."
This miracle of preaching is just that. It is God's message and God's miracle. Preaching without God's power and without his authority is both "presumptuous and ineffective. In effective biblical preaching, the Holy Spirit works mediately through God's Word and the human messenger of that Word."10 Armed with the scriptures, the evangelical preacher is "constitutive to apostolic presence." Preaching is therefore nothing less than God's continuing presence, revelation and action in our midst.
Preaching is God's message to his people. Not every religious lecture, dialogue or conversation is "preaching," the "kerygma," that "core message" of the gospel. Jeremiah makes the point clearly: "For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to perceive and to hear his word, or who has given heed to his word and listened? ... I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.... 'Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat?' says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:18, 21-22, 28)."
Peter's sermon in today's text is a splendid example. It points beyond Peter to the God who saves. It is the God who keeps promises that matters. That is the good news. That is the gospel. Carefully Peter weaves the matrix of promise and fulfillment, clearly and closely linking the history of Israel with the life of Jesus, asserting that the community formed by the Spirit is in unbroken succession with Israel's own experience of expectation and realization. Just as Israel exists as fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, so Jesus, filled by the Spirit, confirms the Messianic hope of Israel. By the time Peter ends his sermon, there can be no doubt. There is a gracious and just God who is busy in this world, a God who works for the salvation of his people, and that God is the God of Israel 'working in Jesus, the Christ.
Preaching is the mobilization of our memories.11 One of the basic thrusts of repentance is to have second thoughts, to think again and to think new about something we have done or are doing. Preaching retells the God story another time, interprets its meaning and fills in blanks we have overlooked - intentionally or unintentionally. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it (Acts 2:22-24)."
Preaching retells God's story and it retells our story, too. Memories are mobilized and clarified in preaching, placing God's story and ours side by side, quickly giving us pause for "second thoughts" about the selective ways we may have chosen to recall these things. Of this, Peter's sermon is an outstanding model. The miracle and power of preaching are clearly demonstrated and attested. Those who began as scoffers, ridiculing the coming of the Spirit, are now calling out: "What can we do?" They are aligning themselves publicly with the gospel in their baptism - 3,000 strong!
Too often in our time, preaching is done by pastors who have missed the point, and preaching is heard by people who no longer expect anything to happen.'2 Preaching is God's work, God's miracle and God's ongoing gift and invitation. After every sermon we must decide afresh. We must respond. Solid preaching always puts the ball in our court!
III. Of Repentance And Conversion
When the people heard the preaching of Peter, they were "cut to the heart." God had lobbed the ball of grace and the opportunity of reconciliation into their court. "What shall we do?" they cried out to Peter and the apostles. "How can we respond?" "What is it that God wants from us?" "How can we make this all right again with ourselves, and with God?" "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Instantly Peter presents them with three urgent exhortations. "Repent! Be Baptized! Save Yourselves from this Generation!"
Repent - Whatever else the gospel is about, it is about the change of mind and of life. We cannot sing of life (joy) and live death (gloom). The New Testament word translated as repentance is metanoia. It means to change one's mind. The Hebrews talked of "turning around," of "coming home." To "repent" means "to turn to God because he graciously turns to us and offers forgiveness in spite of our deeds."3 To "repent" is to "have second thoughts," an "afterthought," or even to "come to one's senses," as in the case of the famous prodigal son. It means, in precisely the way Jesus used it in that parable, to "turn around and come home." Surely Jesus' prayer from the cross - "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" - is answered in the "second thoughts" and the repentance of the crowd at Pentecost. Many of those in that crowd were residents of Jerusalem and were likely to have witnessed or consented to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. It's no wonder Peter's preaching "cut them to the heart."
Further, "changing one's mind" must be followed by the change of behavior. Both mind and behavior must be changed. The mind may be changed while the behavior continues. Conversely, one might change behavior because of fear, while the mind remains unchanged. To repent is to change one's mind, one's heart and one's behavior.
It's no wonder that the word "conversion" surfaces so often when Christians speak of repentance. Repentance calls us to be converted into new persons in Christ. To be open to the Spirit in repentance is to expect conversion, to accept the Spirit's work of "secular detoxification."
Repentance carries us far beyond a moralistic requirement. It presses us to reorient our presuppositions about power, right and goodness. "Conversion as the miraculous power of God to make the church the church and to overcome every enemy and boundary is at the very center of the church's life. We ignore the phenomenon of conversion at the peril of losing the church. Here is a God who takes us 'Just as I am without one plea,' as we are fond of singing in the old hymn, but encounters with this God do not leave us just as we are."4 Acts reminds us that conversion, changeovers and turning are part of the Christian lifestyle. All of this brings us to the second of Peter's exhortations.
Save yourselves! Now really, none of us can ever do that. If we are to be saved, it must be by God's grace. The translation should read: "Let yourselves be saved."5 It is God's call and God's offer for reconciliation that make repentance possible.
It is as simple as this. One cannot turn around and go home if there is no home to which to return, no door open to receive us, and no heart of grace to forgive. One might as well stay in the far country of rebellion and make the best of it. Only God's love - promised, announced and demonstrated in Jesus Christ - makes our homecoming possible at all. Repentance therefore, is God's doing, too. He is the "first mover" toward our reconciliation. Again, the ball is in our court.
Not only is this God's doing, but Luke would have us understand that we cannot contain and restrain the restless Spirit of reconciliation in dogmatic sequences and systems of salvation theology. Baptism and the Spirit are part of the whole gift. The Spirit blows where it will and as it will in the Book of Acts. In some cases the gift of the Spirit came at baptism. For others, it came much later, as in the case of Cornelius, when the Spirit came upon Cornelius and his family. Peter used that moment of the Spirit's coming as the justification for the baptism of this gentile military officer and his household.
"Let yourselves be saved" is to say no more than to invite Peter's listeners to accept the things God has done and is in the process of doing for them at that very moment. So too in our time, God is doing the work of salvation. All we need do is accept his invitation to change our minds from our former posture and behavior.
Be baptized! Along with changing our minds and turning around, we must also align ourselves on God's side by a conscious and a public act. Remember, these people probably consented to our Lord's condemnation and crucifixion - they may even have been present. Again, baptism is something God offers to do for us, adopting us as his children and setting aside our guilt. It, too, is a gift God offers and an invitation God extends. In our baptism we accept God's invitation, receive his gifts of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, and publicly align ourselves with what God is about in our lives and in our world.
How clearly this alignment stands out in some of our denominational orders for baptism and for affirmation of faith: "Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism: To live among God's faithful people, to hear his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the world?"6
On this day, following Peter's preaching, it is a miracle of the Spirit that 3,000 of those who only lately scoffed at the Spirit and assented to the Savior's crucifixion agreed to align
themselves with the crucified and risen Christ through the public act of baptism.
IV. Of Response - The Ball In Our Court
Preaching is God's invitation and the offering of his gifts to us. It is the "indicative" of God, in which God reveals, shares and offers himself for our salvation. As in every invitation received or gift offered, we must decide to accept it or to reject it, receive it or refuse it. Silence is a refusal. Doing nothing is therefore not an option for us.
God's invitation to be faithful and the promise of his gifts are offered not only to those outside of the community of faith, but to those inside the community of faith as well. Responding to God's call is a daily challenge for us. Paul writes: "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death (Romans 7:21-24)?"
Martin Luther rightly advises in the Large Catechism that we must put on our baptism as a daily garment which we are to wear all the time. We are daily to put off the old and put on the new, as Paul counsels (Colossians 3:9-10).
Since we struggle to be faithful in Christ, and to accept the gifts God offers, each new day is a new opportunity. Every new hearing of the gospel is a new invitation. Day by day, in matters of stewardship, discipleship and service God issues his call and offers his gifts. Day after day he comes to us, inviting us to his banquet. There is no way to avoid responding. A response delayed until tomorrow is a rejection today.
We need the church's preaching and teaching and the spoken witness of the believers to reorder and to mobilize our memories of God's story and our story. On these hang our renewed repentance, conversion and service. God looks for growth. God looks for change. The invitation has been extended. RSVP! Please!
Finish then thy new creation,
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee!
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heav'n we take our place.
Till we cast our crowns before you.
Lost in wonder, love and praise!17
Conversion is not the end of faith. It is only the beginning. Once God has revealed himself to us, we are like the disciples at Emmaus in today's gospel (Luke 24:13-35). We must do something about it. There comes a time when we must push our chairs back from the table and run out to tell somebody: "We have seen the Lord!" The ball's in our court.
End Notes
1. George E. Sweazey, Preaching the Good News, (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1976), p. 5.
2. Henry Grady Davie, "The Moment of Recognition," Preaching With Purpose and Power, Don M. Aycock, Compiler and Editor, (Macon, Georgia, Mercer University Press, 1982), p. 213.
3. Foster R. McCurley, Jr. and John Reumann, Understanding the Bible, Vols. I and II, The Word and Witness Series (Philadelphia, Division of Parish Services for the Lutheran Church in America, 1980). The parallels of the "Indicatives" and the "Imperatives" of God are introduced in this work.
4. Sweazey, op. cit., p. 7.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 1.
7. Frank B. Craddock, As One Without Authority, (Enid, Oklahoma, Philips University Press, 1971), p. 1.
8. Clyde E. Fant, Preaching for Today, (New York, Harper and Row, Publishers, 1975), p. 1.
9. William H. Willimon, Acts, Interpretation Series, James Luther Mays, Editor and Paul J. Achtemeier, New Testament Editor (Atlanta, John Knox Press, 1988), p. 36. "Kerygma" is a Greek word used by scholars to refer to the core of the preaching/proclamation of the New Testament church.
10. Wallace E. Fisher, Who Dares to Preach?, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1979), p. 56.
11. Walter Brueggemann, Easter, Proclamation 4, Series A, (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1989), p. 26. The concept of preaching as "mobilizing the memory" appears in this article. It seems a useful phrase in determining the dynamic of preaching.
12. Willimon, op. cit., p. 37.
13. Gerhard A. Krodel, Acts, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1986), p. 90.
14. Willimon, op. cit., p. 104.
15. Krodel, op. cit., p. 91.
16. "The Order for Affirmation of Baptism," The Lutheran Book of Worship, (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), p. 201, reprinted by permission.
17. Charles Wesley, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," The Lutheran Book of Worship, op. cit., Hymn No. 315.
