Introduction

As our reading from the Book of Acts begins, the apostles Peter and John, empowered by Jesus, have just miraculously healed a man who had been lame from birth so that he could walk. But when Peter and John begin crediting the man’s miraculous healing to Jesus, proclaiming that God had brought Jesus back from the dead and that through Jesus’ powerful name the man had been healed, they attract the attention of the Sadducees.

The Sadducees were a denomination of Judaism that did not believe in resurrection, that is, the teaching that at the end of time God would raise everyone who’d ever lived back to life and judge each one for their faith and deeds: Those who were believed and lived doing good would be rewarded with eternal life; those who did not believe and lived accordingly would be punished forever.

So Peter and John were arrested for preaching and teaching about the resurrection in general and about Jesus’ resurrection in particular. But after questioning Peter and John and threatening them not to speak or teach about Jesus and His resurrection any longer, the Sadducee leaders let them go…

The Acts of the Apostles 4:23-35 [NLTse]

²³ As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. ²⁴ When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the sea, and everything in them— ²⁵ You spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, Your servant, saying,

‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? ²⁶ The kings of the Earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His Messiah.’

²⁷ “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, Your holy servant, Whom You anointed. ²⁸ But everything they did was determined beforehand according to Your will. ²⁹ And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, Your servants, great boldness in preaching Your Word. ³⁰ Stretch out Your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹ After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the Word of God with boldness.

³² All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. ³³ The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. ³⁴ There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them ³⁵ and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

Sermon

I’d like to share with all of you something that happened to me that is very personal to me and also very holy to me: The day my younger brother was killed I saw Jesus.

It happened the very day that I arrived on the campus of my seminary.

Here’s u a picture me and my wife in those days. I had no belly and no gray hair. Amy, of course, looks exactly the same… We had no kids in those days, but we did have a minivan full of stuff that we had just started to unload into our campus apartment in Richmond, Virginia. Upon arrival I found a note on our door that said, “Call your mom and dad.” Well, it had been a long drive and there was a lot of work to do unpacking and getting settled, and I thought that my beloved parents could wait to hear how we were doing until the work was done and we were better squared away.

It was a hot day and we were sweating and meeting neighbors and fellow students as we unpacked and hung pictures and found places for things, when some neighbors from upstairs came to our door and told me that the seminary administration had just called them asking me to call home.

I never had a clue. All the way upstairs to their apartment (because our phone was not set up yet, and cell phones were the size of brief cases in those days J) I remember feeling so embarrassed that my folks were hounding me like this. I was twenty-seven years old! I didn’t need them calling my neighbors to make sure we were okay! But when I called our pastor picked up the phone and I knew something was terribly wrong. The first thought that came into my head was that my dad had died, but I quickly found out it was not my dad but my younger brother, Charley. (We’d just celebrated his twenty-first birthday a couple weeks before.) And I cried: I sat there in a stranger’s study – they’d closed the door when I went to make the call, so the administration must have known and told them what had happened – and I balled. These kinds of horrors happened to other people. I couldn’t believe it had happened to us, to me!

The rest of the afternoon was a blur: I told my wife, Amy, the news and then she and I cried together. And we talked. And though we wanted to leave for my parents’ house right away, we couldn’t because our minivan was still mostly filled with all our stuff, and so we got to work emptying it out: No more hanging up anything or looking for just that right spot; we wanted to get the van unpacked and get back home.

As a part of it all, I remember sitting in the driver’s seat. I’d just moved the van because a better parking space had opened up closer to our building. I had just turned off the car and I was crying with my head down on the steering wheel. And then Jesus was kneeling next to me.

(New minivans have those consoles built in-between the front driver’s and passenger’s seats, but back in the early 90’s there was open space in-between the seats so that you could turn and walk – hunched over, of course – from the front seats to among those sitting in the back. [Perhaps so that moms could discipline the kids in person without having to pull the car over. J] And in that space between the two front seats Jesus was kneeling beside me.)

And He spoke to me.

He said, “I’m sorry.”

And then He was gone…

I’ve often looked back on that occasion and wondered why the Lord came to me. I mean, others have experienced much greater losses; and still others have been far more faithful Christians, and loved Jesus far better and far more than me, I’m sure…

At other times I’ve looked back and questioned the experience altogether: Maybe it was all just in my head, a product of my grief; or maybe I just wanted it to happen so badly that I made the whole thing up…

And yet, it happened. And why the Lord came to me, I have no idea: An act of kindness on His part. Surely not because I deserved it or had earned it. Just a miraculous expression of His amazing grace, I guess…

And what did He mean by telling me He was sorry? But all of that is for another time…

Today I’d like to focus us on the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Jesus is not dead. He is alive!

And remember, I’m not telling you this because it is right doctrine. I am not telling you this because someone told me it was true and I’m now passing it on to you. I’m telling you that Jesus, the son of (it was thought) Mary and Joseph of Nazareth, Who lived and was killed almost 2,000 years ago, is alive because I’ve seen Him with my own eyes and heard Him speak with my own ears!

Historical records verify that on April 7, AD30 a man named Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to death by the high court of all Judaism – the Sanhedrin – and then crucified to death for treason by the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate. And we know that the Bible testifies, and that other historical records confirm, that this same Jesus rose from the dead two days later. And we know that He was seen and heard and touched to be alive by His followers almost 2,000 years ago. Well, it’s in-line with all that that I am here to tell you that that same Jesus is alive today and with us – His followers – today!

I’ve heard different ones of you tell me that you’ve seen Jesus, too. One of you told me that once, when you were sitting back [pointing] there, where you, NAME, are sitting today, that you saw Jesus sitting over [pointing] there, where you, NAME, are; sitting, worshiping among us. Another one of you told me, just this week, that you’ve seen Jesus several times, here in the Sanctuary, walking up and down the aisles, in and out of the pews, radiant and glorious as we’ve worshiped..!

I’m sharing all this today because, in our reading from Acts 4, we can see that central to the apostles’ ministry in those first months and years of the church was their testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Christianity is not a faith based upon some god’s private revelation to someone, like the way Muslims believe that Allah spoke to their founder, Mohammed, or like the way Mormons believe that God spoke to their founder, Joseph Smith. Christianity is not a faith based merely upon reason or wisdom, like Jehovah’s Witnesses or Confucianism, or based upon the promise of power or good feelings, like Wicca or other New Age faiths.

The Christian faith lives or dies on the reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. As the apostle Paul once wrote, “Since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God. (For we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.) And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)

For those of you who’ve gotten caught up in the worldliness around us and begun putting your hope in politics and presidents, I tell you that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead! For those of you who’ve found yourselves worn down by pain into putting your trust in doctors and diagnoses, I tell you that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead! For those of you who’ve been out of work or who’ve just been making ends meet, who think you need a job (or a better job), not Jesus, I tell you that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead! For those of you who’ve been let down, betrayed, and abandoned your whole life long, who’ve gotten used to putting your faith in you, yourself, and what you can get done, I tell you that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead!

He even came to a wretch like me to tell me He was sorry. Surely He’ll come to you and provide all that you need. Your part is to trust Him. Your part is to seek Him. Your part is to let every word you speak be what He would speak, and every thing you do to be what you know He would do. Your part is to live your life His Way: To watch for Him and listen for Him, following as His Holy Spirit guides you and provides for you as you call out to Him each day.

I’ve seen the Lord. He’s alive.