Sermon: 26 April 2020 (3rd Sunday of Easter) - Acts 2:14a, 36-41, "What Shall We Do?"
“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart,
and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
‘Brothers, what shall we do?’
And Peter said to them,
‘Repent and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:37-38
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
We’re not quite at the Day of Pentecost yet, but in these Sunday’s of Easter our text fast forwards us there today. We begin to see the work of God through His Word. We see how the Holy Spirit works through that Word to touch people’s lives. And we see the impact that Word has in those lives.
Peter preaches the Gospel, but, in the broad sense of that Word, we understand it to include the Law and the Gospel. With the Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost followed by Peter’s sermon, people were deeply moved. Peter didn’t mince words or minimize the situation. He told it like it was as he addressed the crowd. He addressed them as the one’s who crucified Jesus, the One God had made to be “both Lord and Christ.”
That was powerful. It touched their hearts. They became aware of Who Jesus was and were overcome by the Spirit’s work through Peter’s words, God’s inspired Word. God’s Word does that in our lives. It comes to us and touches us. The Spirit is at work and He nudges us to repentance and faith.
God’s Word Speaks Law
In our Confirmation Class I always teach my students to think of “SOS” when they think of work of the Law. You all know the distress that SOS signals. You know the desperation it means if a ship sends out that signal. It says we are sinking and sinking fast. We need help and we need it now.
We use that SOS to remind us that the Law of God “Shows Our Sin.” That’s what Peter’s sermon had done. They were guilty. They had sinned. They, as Peter reminded them, had crucified Christ. Not that they were necessarily on the Jewish ruling Council and participated in Jesus crucifixion but that their individual sins had caused it.
Jesus had to die to pay for their sins and for ours. That Word of Peter should hit us hard in just the same way. Peter is addressing us as well when he speaks of, ,“… ýou who crucified Jesus.” God’s Word first speaks Law to us, making us aware of our sins, leading us to repentance.
You see, those hearers that day became aware they were in a desperate situation. They, through their sins, had caused Jesus death. They were guilty. What now?
We too, hearing that Word should see the desperate situation we are in. Holding up the mirror of God’s Law we should understand that we are doomed on our own. We are, as God’s Word sometimes puts it, a “dying generation”. We are “dead in our trespasses.” We have no hope on our own.
God’s Law, the Ten Commandments in particular, lays it out clearly for us. God says, “You shall have no other Gods.” God is to be first and foremost in our lives. He is the One Whom we are to live to serve. He alone guides and directs our lives. We are to serve and worship no other. Yet, when we examine our lives, we find that other things take His place. Sometimes it is literally another God in another religion (Islam, Judaism, etc.) that is being worshipped and in that case we are guilty. But more often in our lives it is other things that take the place of God, things like, power, jobs, pleasures, people… anything that is most important to us, things that distract and entice us.
We often find that we are distracted by the things of this world. We are busy with life and daily living. We begin to forget about God and think more about this life. What do I need to do to keep going today? What do I need to do to get ahead in this world? What’s going to put me in the best light with other people? And there we are, serving the idols of this world, focused on today this life. Forgetting about the things of God and the life to come.
God used Peter’s words that day to touch people’s hearts, to get their attention and direct it back to Him. I personally believe that God is doing much the same thing with the current pandemic. He is getting our attention. He is helping us see how fleeting our focus on this life in this world really is. You see, the result of sin is death, and we normally keep that pretty distant in our world today. We know it’s coming but it always seems a long way off. Now, with the pandemic, with everyone stuck at home, limited in activity and given the sense that death just might be nearby, God may just have our attention.
But the Law of God is just His first Word, if you will. It is not the end of the story and it is certainly not the most important. It has a use, and it succeeded in that when the hearers responded with “What shall we do?” God’s Law convicts us but God’s Gospel announces His grace to us in Jesus Christ.
God’s Word Speaks Gospel
And that’s God’s most important Word. That’s what God wants us to hear and to know. He wants us with Him in eternity and the only way that can or will happen is by receiving Jesus forgiveness and being made children in His Kingdom. The people cry out to God in desperation. Guilty is the verdict their hear in God’s Law. But the Good News, the Gospel, announces a different verdict to us and that is not guilty.
Not guilty is the verdict we receive through faith in Christ. That verdict is the soothing salve that He has for us. That’s why He came into our world, took our sins upon Himself, suffered, died and entered the tomb. His resurrection again, assures us of His victory, that His forgiveness is sure and certain for us.
“What shall we do?” is our question of faith as well. Receive Christ’s forgiveness is Peter’s answer. The response of faith first desires Baptism, place where God welcomes us into His Kingdom. It receives what God has for us, the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of life eternal. In Baptism we are given new life that now lives for Christ. We are moved from the Kingdom of the Law to the Kingdom of Grace. Life is changed.
That doesn’t mean that sin ends. By now means! Rather it means that our attitude toward sin is changed. We seek to know our sin, to acknowledge and confess it to God and to receive His Word of forgiveness in Christ.
God’s grace, His Gospel comes to us in various forms. It comes through His Word, through the Scriptures, through Confession and Absolution, through the preached and proclaimed Word of God and in other ways that it is restated and shared. It also comes in the form of the Lord’s Supper, as Jesus comes to us with His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins, strengthening of faith and assurance of life everlasting.
God wants us to have all that we need for life eternal with Him. He’s taken care of it all. So the answer to those who heard Peter’s Words was they simply needed to receive what God had for them, the forgiveness won by Christ. They needed what Jesus had paid for on their behalf. Here, He says it’s yours.
Just as I remind my Confirmation students about the SOS of the Law, I also teach the SOS of the Gospel. This one, though is not one of distress, it is one of great joy. The Gospel “Shows Our Savior.” This is the Good News that the Scriptures reveal to us. The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives in and through God’s Word and Sacraments. He comes to us, leads us to repentance and comforts us with His Word of forgiveness. He shows us how Jesus has opened heaven to us and assures us of our salvation in and through faith in Him.
As we make our way through these days of the pandemic may we keep our eyes focused on Him, hearing His Word of Law that leads us to repentance and hearing His Word of Gospel that assures us of forgiveness and acceptance for Jesus sake. He came to save us. He came to assure us of life eternal with Him. He gives us all that we need for that.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.