1 5.27.18 What Should We Do? Acts 2.22-41 Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church This morning we pick up where we left off last week which was in the midst of Peter s Pentecost sermon. 22 You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know 23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24 But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25 For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. 29 Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool. 36 Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, Brothers, what should we do? 38 Peter said to them,
2 Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. 40 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. 41 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. In his excellent book, Living By The Word, Howard Hendricks advises asking several questions of a Biblical text including: Is there an example to follow? Is there a sin to avoid? Is there a commandment to obey? Is there a promise to claim? These are questions to keep in mind when we read the Bible. We re going to look at today s passage through the lens of these questions. The first question to ask of a Biblical text: Is there an example to follow? Peter is an example for us to follow. Peter witnesses to what God has done, he shares his experience with Christ, and he quotes from the scriptures. We re encouraged to do something similar in our own life. The subject of Peter s sermon is God who can be one of the most neglected subjects in the church and in the lives of people who claim to be Christians. Look at Acts 2:22-41 closely and you ll notice all God did and how many times God is mentioned. For example, in verses 22-24, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know 23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God... 24 But God raised him up, having freed him from death. In verses 32-33, 36, 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. God has made him both Lord and Messiah. God has vindicated the life and death of Jesus and turned a corner in the history of the world with the resurrection of Christ. Peter is an example for us to follow. He has confessed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, which is what we do when we re baptized. Now he s boldly sharing his faith and proclaiming what God has done, and inviting people to respond. Our task as
3 baptized believers is also to witness to the resurrection by sharing honestly with compassion and without condescension or judgment, God s love shown in Christ has changed my life; maybe it could make a difference for you too. Peter is able to share the story of God s love in Christ and how God s saving love has transformed him. Peter s witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus is wonderfully effective because it moves people to ask themselves the question, What should we do? A second question to ask a Biblical text: Is there a sin to avoid? Yes, the sin of denying our sin. Peter concludes his message by answering the question, What should we do? He tells the crowd and us to repent or turn from our sinful ways of living and to be baptized so we may be forgiven and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter urges his audience to save themselves from the corrupt generation in which they live. Corrupt means marked by immorality and dishonesty. We also live in a very corrupt generation. G.K. Chesterton wrote, Sin is the only Christian doctrine that can be empirically verified. People may question the validity or the possibility of the resurrection, but the presence and impact of evil and sin are much harder to deny. It s easy to name the sin we see in others and in our culture as a whole; the Seven Deadly Sins are on full display every day. They are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. In some truly corrupt individuals all seven of these sins are present and reinforcing each other. We might add to those classic sins the sins of dishonesty and the love of violence. While it can be easy to see many of these sins in others, for some of us it can be harder to name or acknowledge the sin in our own life. Through Jesus death on the cross, God gives us the freedom to abandon the pretense that there is nothing wrong in or with our lives. Some of us may think it s a sin to admit that we have a problem that we can t solve on our own, which is that we re habitual sinners. People in recovery from alcohol or drugs confess that they have a need in their lives that they are powerless to do anything about on their own. Many people who attend worship and call themselves Christians and more people who call themselves Christians but aren t actively involved in a church seem to have a far more difficult time facing the same truth about themselves. Like the more famous people we
4 hear about in the news, we re also tempted by and succumb to pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath sloth and self-destructive behavior. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. We need to get through our denial to face the reality of our own performance in life. We all have sinned fallen short of the glory of God and who were created to be. Without being Christ-centered, we are hopelessly selfcentered and self-absorbed. Peter s sermon teaches us that the cross shows us to be even worse than we imagine ourselves to be and yet even that can be forgiven by God. Anything we do can be forgiven, with the exception of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28-29, Matthew 12:31-32) which is to call the good that God is doing the work of the evil one. Anything else can be forgiven; that s why it s called Amazing Grace. Too often we continue to be shocked by human sin when we should be amazed and staggered by God s grace. We had a bumper sticker on our first car that said simply, Grace Happens. I liked that. When we re baptized, we die to our old self just as Jesus died on the cross. Our old self is crucified with him, and our sins are forgiven. There is no other way to save ourselves from this corrupt generation. Is there a sin to avoid? Yes, the sin of denying our sin. In response to their question, (part of being an acceptable witness is answering people s questions as best we can), Peter gives a command to obey. Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There wouldn t be any need for baptism if there wasn t a need in our life to be addressed. There is life change required in following Jesus that s what it means to repent. We stop doing some things and start doing other things that make it clear that we belong to God. Jesus says you will know a person by their fruit of his or her life. Matthew 7:16-20 (NIV), By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Becoming a believer in Jesus as Lord and Messiah includes one thing we do and three things God does. We repent, which means we turn around, we turn from
5 living for ourselves to (as the hymn says) living for Jesus, a life that is true, striving to please him in all that we do. We re baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as public sign of our desire to have our sins forgiven and to live as part of the forgiven and loving family of God. That may sound like something we do, but Peter says we accept the call of God so even the desire to be baptized is a gift from God. It s not so much save yourselves as let yourselves be saved. God is also the one who forgives our sins and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Is there an example to follow? Is there a sin to avoid? Is there a commandment to obey? Finally, is there a promise to claim? In verse 39 Peter declares, For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. We claim the promise by turning our lives over to God. If God loves you and forgives you, if Christ came for you and died for you, if the Holy Spirit has been given to you and empowered you and gifted you, that means you have tremendous value and significance! As a baptized believer we have a new self-image. Our life takes on new meaning and purpose. We live in a corrupt age in which some people would rather be envied than esteemed, are greedy rather than generous, arrogant rather than humble, dishonest rather than truthful, abusive rather than respectful and condemning rather than kind. Clearly those who chose to live that way have not repented nor are they following the path of Christ regardless of what they may claim. We know people by the fruit of their lives. Having a relationship with Christ can make an eternal and transforming difference in our lives. But we can t experience the mystery and miracle of Christ without facing the condition of our own heart. Don t underestimate evil; it crucified Jesus on the cross. But don t overestimate evil or give it too much credit because in the Holy Spirit God has given us the power to walk in freedom, love, joy, and service. When we ve been baptized, we re to follow the example of Peter who witnessed to the story of God s love in Christ, in the scriptures, and in his own life. We acknowledge the sin in our own life and we obey God s command to turn from it. The invitation and promise of new life is for all who choose to respond. William Willimon, long time Dean at Duke Divinity School wrote, Jesus did not come bringing an interesting philosophy of life. He came calling
6 people to a new way of living and dying. Thanks to the death and resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit there is power loose in the world which is power for us. Does it really make a difference to be baptized, as 3,000 persons were in response to the preaching of Peter? We will all struggle with sin for the rest of our lives no matter how devoted we are to Christ or how much we seek to rely upon the Spirit, but living in the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to live in a new way. How do we do that? I ll say it once again, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. Having attended graduations for our sons Nathan and Greg in the last nine days I m feeling very old. Thinking back to when our boys were young, one of their favorite stories from my sermons was about a devout older woman who lived alone. Late one night she heard a burglar breaking into her home and walking toward her bedroom. As the steps got closer she called out in the dark, Stop, Acts 2:38! The man froze as the woman called 911. The police quickly arrived, turned on the lights and were surprised to find the man still standing in the woman s doorway. An officer asked the guy why he hadn t run away and he replied, She said she an axe and two thirty-eights. Acts 2:28 as you now know is, Repent and be baptized You ll never find a better trade: your sins in exchange for the forgiveness of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we relinquish control and become Christcentered rather than self-centered, the gift of forgiveness and the empowerment of the Spirit will change us for the better. Striving to please God and not ourselves, our generation will be blessed and we will be too. Blessing 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22 (NRSV) 14 And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for
7 you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil. Questions for Discussion or Reflection 1. Read Acts 2:22-41 in your own Bible and underline the word "God" every time it appears. What do you notice? 2. What can we learn about being an acceptable witness from Peter both in what he says and how he says it? 3. How does Peter address sin in his sermon? What are the implications for us of what Peter says about sin? 4. If we were to respond affirmatively to Peter's message what would be required of us? What do we have to do? 5. What promise is offered in Peter's sermon? Who is it offered to? 6. How does believing Peter's message, being baptized, and becoming Christ-centered and Spirit-filled change a person's life? How has it changed yours? 7. Who can you be praying for and sharing this message with as God gives you the opportunity?