Acts 2:14-41

THE THANKSGIVING DAY SERMON

THAT LAUNCHED THE CHURCH

Pentecost was the Jewish version of our Canadian Thanksgiving Day. It came at the end of one harvest and the beginning of another, just as many of our harvests are coming to an end. Pentecost was a time to give thanks to God for his faithfulness in providing the Jews with their material needs.

            We give thanks to God today for the same reason. Our nation sets aside a day to be thankful for food, for life, for liberty, and for many of the gifts we would otherwise take for granted. It is good to be thankful, to develop an attitude of thanks. Unlike many Canadians, we do not merely say “I am thankful,” we know to whom we owe a debt of thanks.

            I ran across a list of things to be thankful for, but it comes with a delightful twist of perspective. (Read list)

I am Thankful for......... 

....the taxes I pay 
....because it means I’m employed. 

....the clothes that fit a little too snug 
....because it means I have enough to eat. 

....my shadow who watches me work 
....because it means I am out in the sunshine. 

....a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and 
....gutters that need fixing 
....because it means I have a home. 

....the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot 
....because it means I am capable of walking. 

....my huge heating bill 
....because it means I am warm. 

....all the complaining I hear about our government 
....because it means we have freedom of speech. 

....the lady behind me in church who sings off key. 
....because it means that I can hear. 

....the piles of laundry and ironing 
....because it means my loved ones are nearby. 

....the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours 
....because it means that I’m alive. 

....weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day 
....because it means I have been productive.
           

            I love twists in stories. They turn things upside down in ways you don’t expect. That’s probably why I like the new TV show This Is Us, because at the end of every episode there is always a plot twist that makes you want more.

            Into this context of Pentecostal thanksgiving, Jesus introduced a twist. Just as the Jews offered God the firstfruits of the harvest, Jesus, raised from the dead, was the firstfruits of the resurrection. Suddenly, the meaning of Pentecost moved from the harvest of essential crops to the deeper impact of Christ’s sacrifice and triumph and what that meant for the audience that day.

            The twist that Jesus introduced, the hook, came with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But the experience left the audience in Acts 2 bewildered. “What does this mean?” they said. Peter rose to the occasion and preached a sermon that resulted in the launching of the most significant movement the world has ever known – the church.

            As I wrestled with the text to summarize in one sentence the thrust of Peter’s sermon, I found none better than his punch line in v. 36, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” How did God do that? How did he make Jesus so central to the church? And why are believers more thankful for Jesus Christ than anything else?  

            Luke’s account of Peter’s sermon is but a thumbnail of the actual sermon. The Acts version would be over in three minutes. Peter spoke much longer than that, but Luke provides us with the gist of what Peter was getting at.

            To explain the wind, fire, and tongues of that day, Peter briefly addressed the Holy Spirit with the passage from Joel 2:28-32. But he spent more time on Jesus. Peter knew that the outpouring of the Spirit found its root in Jesus and God’s endorsement of Jesus as the Christ. Peter revealed four ways that God endorsed Jesus.

           

God approved Jesus’ earthly ministry

Peter had the attention of the crowd. They were eager to hear the meaning of these wonders. So Peter spoke, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know” (2:22).

            Everyone knew of Jesus. The drama of his death only 50 days earlier still reverberated in the city. There was no question that a man named Jesus, a great prophet to many, lived and died. Even today, magazines like McLean’s still ponder the meaning of Jesus’ life, not as some legend, but as an historical figure that impacted our world. Few scholars deny that Jesus lived.

            But Peter makes it clear that Jesus was more than a good teacher. Jesus healed, cast out demons, restored sight to the blind, turned water into wine and raised the dead. These miracles, signs and wonders indicate something more.

            Nicodemus acknowledged that “something more” when he said to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know you are teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2).

            Both Peter and Nicodemus clarify that they know that it was God working in Jesus and through Jesus to do these things. This crowd was a witness to the facts. When Jesus spoke, God authenticated his words with miracles.

God planned the death of Jesus long ago

Heads were nodding in the crowd. Then Peter lays a heavy on the crowd: “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (2:23).

            The only thing they heard at first was Peter’s accusation – “You did this.” How is this an endorsement of Jesus? All it says is that God collaborated with lawless men to crucify Jesus. This could hardly validate Jesus’ messianic claims. But this is a superficial response.

            Peter was not making a victim out of Jesus; he was not killed because his plans went awry and everything fell apart. He was killed because that was God’s plan from long ago. Isaiah prophesied 700 years earlier, “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…” (53:10a). And Jesus continually told his disciples that the Scriptures foretold the Christ should suffer and die for the sins of the world (Luke 24:46). He was fully aware that his mission was to die and become the Savior of the world.

            The death of Christ, albeit at the hands of Jews and Gentiles together, fulfilled God’s plan. Christ’s death actually validated Jesus as the only one worthy enough to die for the sins of the world.

            At the same time, the crowd must take responsibility for the death of Jesus. Even if they did not realize they were fulfilling God’s plan, they took Jesus and murdered him. It was their sin that put Jesus in this position; it was their sinfulness that led them to reject God’s Son. So the guilt still fits.

God raised Jesus from the dead

If Jesus remained dead, he would have been a martyr. If Jesus were still in the grave, he would be a failed figure of history that said some good things, but died. The resurrection of Jesus does not allow for such a conclusion.

            Peter gives God’s third endorsement, “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (2:24).

            The imagery Peter uses of Jesus’ resurrection reminds us of a pregnant mother at full term that cannot and does not want to keep that baby in the womb any longer. Death could not keep its hold on Jesus but must give him up and let him live.

            Peter spends much more time on the resurrection than any other of God’s endorsements of Jesus. He quotes a psalm of David (16:8-11) that speaks of one who does not get abandoned to the place of the dead, nor does his body see decay. But David died, so he could not be speaking of himself. Peter and everyone present knew that David died; his tomb was known to everyone in the city. David must be talking about someone else.

            Peter answers that question, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it” (2:32). What the audience was meant to understand was the clash between their rejection of Jesus and God’s acceptance of Jesus; their defamation of Jesus and God’s affirmation of Jesus. Now it is not simply a matter of killing a man, but of opposing God.

            Remember that the people gathered there that day were devout, religious Jews. These are good people, worshiping people, people who knew scriptures by memory, and Peter was telling them that they were at odds with God. They claim to know God, to love God, and to follow God. But Peter says they are opposed to God. This is what will cut them to the heart.

            Someone may claim to know God but in fact may be against God. How do we know? Because that person does not embrace God’s endorsement of Jesus in the resurrection.

            Paul takes this theme of resurrection and fleshes it out in his letter to the Corinthians where it seems that some doubted the resurrection. (Read 1 Cor. 15:12-19).

            God raising Jesus from the dead overwhelmingly authenticates Jesus as Lord and Christ.

God exalted Jesus to his right hand

Peter presents one more validation of Jesus, one more piece of evidence that God approved of him. “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” (2:33).

            After Jesus was raised from the dead, he appeared to his disciples and others giving many proofs that he indeed lived. Then, after 40 days, he ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

            The roaring wind, the flames of fire on the heads of disciples, and the speaking of many tongues all make sense now. Peter’s listeners can see through the signs and wonders that Jesus has been given power and authority to gift His Holy Spirit to those who believe.

            Peter again quotes David who said, “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” Who are these enemies? The enemies of the Messiah are those who crucified him. Who crucified Jesus? Peter says, “You did!”

Here is the punch line again: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

            The audience on the day of Pentecost was cut to the heart when they heard this final indictment. Peter had presented them with four ways God had endorsed Jesus as Lord and Christ. When they realized who Jesus was, and that they were responsible for his crucifixion and death, they felt it deeply.

            Spurgeon said, “It is idle to attempt to heal those who are not wounded, to attempt to clothe those who have never been stripped, and to make those rich who have never realized their poverty.”[i]

            So let me make this quite plain: Who crucified Jesus? You did. I did.

            Why is it important to acknowledge this responsibility? Just like the crowd, we did not yell “crucify him!” or hammer the nails in his hands and feet. We did not literally kill Jesus in the most physical sense. Why do we need to confess to such a crime?

            The crowd asked Peter and the disciples what they should do. Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (2:38).

            Unless you admit that you killed Jesus, you cannot be a part of his church. Many will balk at confessing this because they reject the idea that they had any part of killing Jesus. We still hear the objection, “I’m a good person. My sins aren’t that bad.” But James reminds us that if we break one law, we’ve broken them all (James 2:10).

            Unless you repent from that attitude, you cannot be a part of his church. Some may consider Jesus as the Christ and change their mind about who he is. But repentance means more than a change of mind or attitude. Repentance is a change of direction in one’s life, a physical or literal turning away from a sinful and godless life.

            Unless you are baptized, you cannot be a part of Christ’s church. The NT makes that clear. The apostles could not conceive of a person who followed Jesus but was not baptized. It just never entered their minds.

            God has endorsed Jesus as Lord and Christ through his miracles and ministry, through his death, and through his resurrection and exaltation. If you accept this and repent and are baptized according to these scriptures, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And it is through the Holy Spirit’s work that we become the Church of Christ.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God for exalting his Son, Jesus Christ to the highest place, proving that He is Lord and Christ. I give thanks for His church, the community of faith that believes in Jesus Christ as Lord.

                                                            AMEN

Prayer:

Our Father, we thank you for the truth in this mighty declaration that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, that you have exalted him and give him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We pray that any who have never come to know this One as Lord may now open their life and cry out to him as these men and women did: "What shall we do?" and hear this delivering word to repent and to believe, and thus receive the promised Spirit, who is available to all. We thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.  (Ray Stedman)

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[i] (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Ages Software], vol. 44, “A Far Reaching Promise”)