Sermon by Pastor Robert Green, 6th Sunday of Easter, 5/1/16, No. 1190, Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, W.E.L.S., based on Acts 14:8-18
Take to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glory!
The reading for today is about miracles. Who would not want to see a miracle, for to see a miracle is to witness the power and love of God put into action to change what otherwise would naturally happen. Most of us have never witnessed a miracle in the sense that we have perceived something most extraordinary happening. It is good to keep in mind that often we fail to see the miracle happening right before us. Whether or not we think we have seen a miracle let us always give God his glory! Let us always take to heart the resurrection of our Lord is the greatest miracle of all for it proves God died and rose to save us from sin and death!
The reading for today follows last week’s reading of Luke’s account of Paul’s first missionary journey he made with Barnabas. Recall Paul and Barnabas had preached in Persidian Antioch, but some of the Jews and leading men and women of the area so opposed the Gospel message that they drove the two from the area. Paul and Barnabas did not give up, but continued preaching the message of forgiveness. Paul and Barnabas traveled on to and preached in Iconium and a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed the Gospel message. However, some who so opposed the Gospel message that they plotted to stone Paul and Barnabas. Finding out about the plot, the fled to Lystra. Take to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glory especially forthe power it gives to believers to serve our Lord God even under the most difficult of circumstances!
This is where the reading for today begins in which Luke tells us “In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out,“Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.” Dear child of God, take to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glory by recognizing his miracles of healing, though there are times when we may not perceive the healing as a miracle.
In the reading we see the miracle of faith worked in the heart of a man who had little reason to believe in a gracious God, for from birth he was never able to walk. Luke tells us the cripple, “listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed.” There no question that this man, born an unbeliever, listened to the Gospel and God granted him the gift of faith.
Keep in mind that God has never said that miracles are a means or tools of grace to bring a soul to faith. Yet, take to heart that it is always a miracle someone comes to faith, for that does not happen by human effort, but only because God the Holy Spirit gives the gift of faith. Faith is always a miracle for by definition apart from faith a soul is spiritually dead. For a spiritually dead soul to come faith takes a miracle for the soul must be born again, something only God can do. God gives the rebirth through the gift of faiththrough the use of his Gospel message and infant baptism. The crippled came to faith, but not because he was healed, for he had faith not after, but before his healing. Dear believertake to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glory especially for the miracle of faith he performed on you!
There is a question about translation about the words “he had faith to be healed.” In Greek the word for “to be healed” is the same word for “to be saved.”Thus, the words “he had faith to be healed” can be translated “he had faith to be saved.” Context always drives the translation. In context one could understand the word used for “to be healed” either way. However we understand the translation, we must not attribute the healing to power or depth of the man’s faith, for nowhere does God promise if only we believe enough he will heal us. The crippled was healed not from his faith, but because God caused the healing through Paul.
When the people saw this incredible miracle they would have reason to believe Paul and Barnabas had come from God, for only God can do miracles. This would have given them reason to listen to the message Paul and Barnabas brought. Unfortunately, while the miracle indeed gathered attention, the people concluded not that Paul and Barnabas were from God, but that they were gods, forLuke tells us, “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”
This conclusion shows the great danger of not having the Word of God, for without the revealed Word of God, the soul has nothing but reason and emotion upon which to rely to determine all things divine. Marvel that God gave us his revealed Word, the Holy Bible, that we might know him. Without the Word, the people saw a miracle and quickly concluded Paul and Barnabas must be gods. In a society which recognized many gods, it was little to add a couple of more gods. These people were not giving our Triune God his glory, for to give God his glory is to recognize he is the only God, for there is no other.
Luke tells us, “Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.”It is not surprising to see their reaction that once they concluded Paul and Barnabas were gods they wanted to worship them. Take to heart the folly or recklessness of their worship, for however sincere, it certainly gave no glory to God, for it was not directed to him. As Christians let us remember that any act of worship, whether it be a worship service, a prayer offered to any god other than to the one and only God, our Triune God, fails to give the one true God the glory due his name.
Paul and Barnabas understood this and took to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glory, for Luke tells us, “But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.” Paul and Barnabas shockand distress was real and immediate as revealed in their tearing of their clothes. In those days such an act revealed great angst and desperation especially in matters divine.
To give God his glory, Paul and Barnabas shifted the emphasis from the miracle of healing, to the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through faith in Christ. Take to heart the power of their response for they did not mince their words nor try to be politically correct, for they said, “We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God…” Imagine having the courage of conviction to be in a strange city with the crowds trying to sacrifice to you and you telling them that their gods were worthless things. Dear Christian, take to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his gloryby taking the stand that any god other than the Triune God is nothing but a worthless thing, created by the imagination of man.
Paul continued, “In the past, he let all nations go their own way.” Several times in history God had arranged matters so that every single soul on earth knew the truth about him. When Adam and Eve were the only ones present they knew the absolute truth about God. It did not take long before that truth was lost, not because of God, but because of man. Right after the flood there were only eight souls on earth and all knew the truth about God. In just a few generations that truth was widely lost as seen in the account of the Tower of Babel. Though God came to Israel with his Word, so many failed to believe. This again was not God’s fault, but the fault of man. When men reject God, God lets them go their own way as Paul said, “In the past, he let all nations go their own way…”
Paul continued, “Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” We see the great love and providence of God for he gave all men the natural knowledge that there is a God. As David says in Psalm 19 (NIV84) says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Thus, speaking of the natural knowledge Paul spoke of the miracle of God’s preservation of the earth and his goodness, for all, the good and the bad, for he sends rains, producing crops for all. God does this to help all know there must be a God and so listen to him, believe and be saved. Let us learn from Paul to resort to the natural knowledge of God, to try to lead another to listen to the Gospel.
Yet, the natural knowledge of God is incomplete, for nature does not have a single word to say about the Savior or the Good News of his death and resurrection. God reveals his Gospel message only in the written Word. Thus, we call the Bible the revealed knowledge of God. If you want to know who God is, then trust his own testimony, his revelation of himself to you. It is only in doing this that you will give God his true glory!
The unbelieving heart is stubborn for as Luke tells us, “Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.”The story does not end well, for “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.” Like Paul and Barnabas,take to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glorycontinuing to serve him in the face of adversity.
Ask yourself if you are taking to heart the power of the resurrection and giving God his glory. The good news is that if you believe in Jesus, you are taking to heart the power of his resurrection. The sad news is that daily we each sin much and do not give God his glory, for we do not live according to his commands. That is why we need a Savior and why in faith and repentance, taking to heart the power of the resurrection, we daily turn to God trusting in Christ for forgiveness. We do this for God has performed a miracle in each of us, for he has brought us from the deadness of unbelief to faith. What more reason need we to take to heart the power of the resurrection and give God his glory? To God be all glory, amen!