The Day After Easter

A sermon preached on Sunday, April 7, 2013 at Hebron Baptist Church, Denham Springs, Louisiana by Pastor Joe Alain.

April 7, 2013, The Second Sunday of Easter

Scripture Readings: Acts 5:27-32; Revelation 1:4-8

What happened to Easter? Just last week, stores were stocked full of “Peeps,” “Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs,” and chocolate bunnies; Easter dresses were paraded in newspaper inserts, churches were full, and Charleston Heston made his annual appearance on TV, along with an assortment of specials on the life of Jesus. But now hardly a trace of Easter remains. And yet, Easter isn’t over, it’s  just begun!

Easter is what gives us hope, it’s what keeps us going, it declares that we are forgiven, it’s what makes our new citizenship in God’s kingdom possible. What John says is true (Rev. 1:4-8). Easter means we’re loved, we’re freed from our sins, and God has made us a people, a kingdom, “priests to serve” our God and our Father (Rev. 1:5-6). Our world puts Easter in a nice colorful and comfortable box (somewhat like a box of chocolates), and views Easter in terms of nice friendly Easter bunnies and vibrant Spring flowers.

But Easter cannot be contained in a box, it’s not a weekend or even a season, Easter means Jesus is alive, the powers of death have been conquered, and God’s people are now empowered to share God’s story, they are His witnesses proclaiming the forgiveness of sins through repentance, turning to God. Easter means that we give witness of the reality of the one “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).

However, if you take the day after Easter very seriously, you might get into some trouble as did the early disciples in our first reading from Acts 5:27-32. The disciples had previously been instructed (commanded is a better word) “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (4:18). But to Peter’s credit, even then he wasn’t making any promises saying, “how can we not speak about what we have seen and heard!” (4:20).

Not deterred by this troubling development, the church set themselves to praying, and what did they pray about? For deliverance from persecution? For a more comfortable accommodating existence? No, they prayed that they would be able to speak God’s word with boldness (4:29). They prayed that when the time came, they would be courageous in the face of adversity. And empowered by God’s Spirit they did teach and preach in the name of Jesus and they turned the world upside down which was turning it right side up. The world takes notice of people who take Jesus seriously.

Now, before the Sanhedrin the “Lordship” test has begun, the apostles are being questioned about their illegal activities by the high priest (5:27). The Sanhedrin was attempting to silence the proclaiming of the name of Jesus, but how does one go about silencing the voice of God, the voice of truth? Can “the Almighty” really be silenced? It’s often been lamented that God has been removed from society and in certain cases and with certain groups, there is an aggressive attempt to remove all vestiges of Christianity from the public square. However, can God be removed from the world that He created? You can no more silence God than you can silence the conscience! The name of Jesus, the name that the Sanhedrin would not even mention (they depersonalized Jesus referring to him as “this name,” v.27), this name has been declared by the Father to be “the ruler of the kings of the earth . . . the Alpha and the Omega . . . the Almighty” (Rev. 1:5, 8). The heavens continually declare the glory of God (Ps. 19) and no man, no council can silence His voice!

The real problem that the Sanhedrin had with the apostle’s teaching was that their teaching about Jesus was true which put them squarely on the wrong side of history. John makes this clear when he says, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (1:7). Ultimately, history has a way of revealing the “crucifiers,” then and now. Here’s my paraphrase of verse 28b. “You are making us feel bad about what happened and we want to ‘feel’ ok but you are making it hard to do that.” Strangely, the Gospel that heals the brokenhearted, cuts deeply the soul of the hardhearted. The Gospel that proclaims freedom to the captives, threatens the oppressors of this world. The Gospel that elevates the humble and downtrodden, destroys the haughty and self-righteous. The Gospel that feeds the hungry gives heartburn to the “full” of this world. The Gospel that brings comfort to the afflicted, afflicts the comfortable.

Human authorities and powers are quite comfortable with a human-only Jesus, a Jesus who loves with limitations, who heals the well-healed, who forgives the faithful. The world loves a Jesus who can be controlled on demand. But the world’s powers cannot accept the Jesus that loves without limits, who touches the untouchables, who forgives the unredeemable, the Jesus who holds all people accountable, personally and morally, the Jesus that calls all people to repentance, the Jesus that demands costly obedience to a higher authority, the authority of God Himself. No, the Sanhedrin was insistent,  “You must not teach in this name! We will have none of ‘this man.’”

The early disciples are beginning to experience what Jesus foretold, “No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. . . They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me” (Jn. 15:20-21). The truth is,  ministry is always going to be a struggle. It’s going to be struggle to live holy, to live godly, to do the right things in life. There will always be forces at work to restrain you from doing what’s right and godly. 

You are prophets and “priests,” but there are forces at work that would restrain your voice and service, but you might be surprised where those restraining forces lie. In the case of the early disciples in our text, the restraining powers were human authorities, and in some settings there are still human authorities restraining the Gospel. In some places speaking truth may be considered “hate speech.” But more often the restraining forces at work are inward forces. Our ignorance of the Gospel, what it entails, and what it demands, restrains our mission. Our love of comfort, of ease, the pride of life, the giving in to our fears, restrains the giving of ourselves to God with all of our being. The fact that living out the Gospel requires costly obedience and change hinders our “priestly” efforts.

The apostles were able to face these internal and external restraining forces because of their prayers and the prayers of the saints. They stood because they first prayed! Remember, they were bold in their preaching and in their stand because they had prayed and the church had continually brought them before God. Obedience to God follows our prayer life. If you do not “feel” like obeying God, pray and pray some more! Radical obedience to God is never easy and can never be measured in terms of how you feel. “What you feel,” is never a fully adequate voice to heed because much of the time “what you feel” may be contrary to God’s kingdom.

What did the apostles do in the face of these outward threats and opposition? They could have done what would have been expedient, back down, give in, retreat and wait to fight another day. But to retreat from this stand would be to forfeit soul freedom and the essential Gospel profession of faith, “Jesus Is Lord!” And so faced with this dilemma, they said, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (v.29). Likewise, for us to not exercise our priestly ministry of preaching and service is to forfeit the Gospel. We too must obey God rather than give in to the voice of reason, or the voice of our feelings, fears and excuses.

What would bring these early believers to express such a depth of commitment? Jesus is alive! He is Lord and Savior! God has raised Him from the dead (5:30)! And they cannot help but speak His name for they are “witnesses” of marvelous things (vv.30-31). Here is the real insight into their power, their depth of commitment – personal experience, they are “witnesses” (v.32). In the reading from Revelation, John also highlights the personal experience of himself and all believers. Believers know that God “loves us and has freed us from our sins, . . . and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve” Him (1:6).

You do not place your life on the line for second hand truth. You don’t sacrifice comforts, prestige, lands, family, friends for beliefs of no consequence. No, you only lay your life on the line, you only lose your life for that which is all-consuming reality, for that which you hold to with every breath and fiber of your being, for something that you have personally experienced. They can only obey God because He alone is worthy of that ultimate obedience, for he has shown Himself to be “the Almighty!” Stop preaching, teaching, ministering in the name of Jesus? Try telling the sun not to shine, or God to cease being God. “We are witnesses,” (v.32) and can do nothing less than give our lives completely to telling His story and serving humanity in His name.

Today, we make our bold stand and we serve unashamed as “priests” to all people because history belongs to the people of Easter. Easter is not over, it’s just begun! “Look!”, John said, “He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (1:7). The powers that now restrain will ultimately be loosed when heaven is loosed. “To him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (1:6).