- Acts 10:41-42
In his post-Easter sermons, the apostle Peter continues to point out that those who witnessed the Christ during his life as well as those who had the privilege of witnessing his resurrection were a called and chosen people. Yet we continue to ask ourselves what it means to be a chosen people. For the Israelites, it meant that they were God’s favored race, his special children who had a special relationship with the one true God. They also were given a charge to share this faith with others and to proclaim in their hearts and with their lives the nature of their God. At their best they led by example and preached the power and gifts of their God. At their worst, they withdrew into a type of holier-than-thou cliquishness which incited anger and resentment amongst their neighbors. Rather than spreading the word of God, they secured it within the temple and hid it under a mountain of religious laws and rules for daily living that only the most holy and pious among them could ever hope to follow. When they saw their chosen status as a vocation rather than a location, they sought to actively live God’s word as opposed to hoarding and hiding it.
The apostles’ initial reaction was to do just that; to hide in the upper room and keep the stories, the teachings and the community they had isolated from the rest of the world. But then a risen Christ gave them a commission to spread the news and be the chosen people once again – to show God’s love for his creation by living it with their lives. To be an apostle was not a badge of separation, but rather a charge to share what they had heard and seen. Peter referred to his ministry as something for all to see, it was not to be hidden, but to be shared. As witnesses to the risen Christ, the apostles once again became God’s chosen people, just as the nation of Israel had earlier been singled out. Yet the point of that chosen status was not to be exclusive, but to create an inclusive people of God by sharing the message and spreading the word.
For us today, there is the temptation to wear our status as disciples as personal gift of salvation to be put away for that time when we can claim it as our ticket to the eternal life. Yet God’s people are not chosen to be separate, but they are charged to continue the witness; with their lives, with their faith, with their worship, and with their love. It is our job to continue to preach the gospel just as those early disciples used their personal experience with the Christ to share God’s word with Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans, slave and free, male and female. This Easter I am going to ask you to step out in faith to preach the gospel with your lives and in your relationships. I want each of you to invite an un-churched acquaintance of yours to church before Pentecost. That gives you seven weeks to witness to those who have not seen, heard, or felt the risen Christ in their lives. We have been chosen as witnesses to make a change for the better in someone’s life. Let’s not hide in the church, but share in the daylight. Give the gift of Easter joy to someone who doesn’t even know that they need it yet.
Yours in Christ, Pastor Dave
