Sermon (March 4) "Unbinding Your Heart: The Converted Community

I am so proud of the way our church is living out our commitment to God through our Unbinding Your Heart E-vent. Wow! If you're a guest today, you have come to a church that is on an incredible journey with God. We're asking how God wants to transform us spiritually to be a growing community of faith. Today, we're exploring together the three relationships that must be healthy for our church to be all God wants us to be.

The story of Pentecost boggles our minds to this day. As the Bible tells the story in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes and touches all of the disciples. They suddenly are able to speak in different languages. Many people, 3000 the text says, get baptized and start following Jesus that day.

The miraculous stuff of this story steals the show. It's usually what we focus on when we think of this story. But there's something more ordinary going on that we need to see. In the midst of all the hubbub, in the middle of the bold signs of God's presence, something is quietly happening that is essential to the story. Look closely.

The wind, the flames, the speaking in tongues bewilder the crowds that have gathered. Wouldn't you be as well? This stuff might scare us more than thrill us. Peter overhears some of the crowd talking. He realizes that they don't understand what is happening.

So he stood up to explain. Maybe this isn’t that remarkable to those of us who have grown up in the church because we have read this text so many times. But there is something extraordinary happening here. Have you ever wondered how Peter could stand there and preach like that after what he had done?

How was he able to do this? Just before Jesus was killed, Peter promised to stick with Jesus through thick and thin. But as soon as Jesus was arrested, he told people he didn’t even know Jesus! Then Peter totally abandoned Jesus at the cross. In the back of our minds, you and I might have the story at the end of John's gospel where Jesus restores Peter by telling him to feed his sheep. But that is not the way Luke tells the story.

Remember, the author Luke wrote both the gospel and the book of Acts. Luke ends his gospel with no reinstatement of Peter. There is no specific moment of forgiveness between him & Jesus. So in the gospel of Luke the question hangs in the air: how will Peter respond to Christ's death and resurrection? What will Peter do now that the crucifixion is over and Christ has been raised?

In Unbinding Your Heart, Martha Grace Reese introduces us to the "Trinity of

Relationships." After studying 150 mainline churches that are really alive and growing, she discovered something. All of these vibrant churches had a set of three relationships that were very real and healthy: (1) relationships with God (2) relationships with people outside the church, and (3) relationships with each other within the church.

When Peter stands up to explain things to the crowd, something remarkable

is happening in the Trinity of Relationships in his life. We'll briefly talk about the

first two relationships. Then I want to focus on the third.

First, something remarkable happened in Peter’s relationship with God. Imagine being Peter, knowing how miserably you had failed Jesus. When Pentecost Day dawns, and the Holy Spirit comes upon all of the believers, Peter is included. He receives the power of the Spirit of the Risen Christ. Imagine his relief! Imagine his joy at the new start he receives from God!

The denial . . .

The abandonment . . .

The broken promises . . .

They are all water under the bridge in Peter’s relationship with God. They are washed away, removed as far as the East from the West. Peter accepts the clean slate God gives him. How can Peter stand? He is living out his forgiveness. He is bearing the fruit of a spiritual reality. This is what a person freed by God’s love looks like:

Standing boldly,

Proclaiming freely,

Sharing the love of God generously.

Peter is experiencing a whole new, fresh start given to him by God. He is living out a moment of forgiveness. Literally, the last words that the author Luke has Peter say in Luke 23 are, "I do not know who Jesus is."

But the words Peter says now are: "Let me tell you who Jesus is!" Peter's relationship with God has been renewed. He is living in bold joy due to the forgiveness he's received. Only if our relationship with God is renewed like this everyday will we be able to stand up and speak up when we hear confusion in someone's life.  At Pentecost, something remarkable happened in Peter’s relationship with God.

Second, something remarkable happened in Peter's relationship with people outside the circle of believers. Peter is moved to his core by these people who don't know that God has sent Jesus for them.

Verse 40 says Peter "pleaded with them." When you've received forgiveness like Peter, when you've gotten that kind of relief, you want to share it. This won't be the last time Peter is compelled to share the gospel. In a couple of chapters, he gets in real trouble by taking the news of Jesus to a non-Jew! This Pentecost day catapults Peter into a no-holds-barred compassion for people who don't know Christ.

Third, something remarkable is happening to Peter's relationships with his fellow disciples. This is where I want to focus with you. When Peter does stand, notice Peter does not stand alone. The second chapter of Acts, the fourteenth verse says: "Then Peter stood up with the eleven and addressed the crowd." When he rises to speak the other disciples get up to stand with him. They stand together.

Yes, the other disciples know that Peter has a big mouth that gets him into trouble. They know that Peter promised Jesus more than he could deliver. They know that Peter bragged about how faithful he would be and then failed. But they also know their own sins against Jesus. They could have just pointed the finger at Peter. They could have said, "Here he goes again, talking the big talk." But they didn't. In humility, they got up to support him by standing alongside him.

They are a vibrant picture of forgiven people forgiving each other.

They are tangible evidence of the reality of the mercy of God.
They are the most believable witness to the grace of Jesus Christ.
Together, they are a community of the redeemed.

All of the aspects of the Trinity of Relationships are essential for us to grow us a church. We need real and vibrant relationships with God, with people outside the church, and with each other. But right now I want to ask you about our relationships with each other.

Are we real with each other?

Are we forgiving each other?

Are we standing with each other,

as Peter and the disciples stood together?

I wonder what the community sees when they look at this community of believers,

when they look at our church? Do they see a community of redemption, a place

where people are genuinely gracious and supportive of one another?

In your bulletin is a drawing of the "Trinity of Relationships." Prayerfully think about which of these three essential relationships needs your attention this week. Let’s take a moment right now. This is just between you and God. Let me strongly encourage you to especially consider the relationships you have with other church members. Is there something that is not right in your relationship with someone here? Be real with God and with yourself about the need for reconciliation.

Take a deep, gentle breath. Exhale slowly. Close your eyes. Simply ask God, “Where do you want to work in my relationships?” Just listen for a moment. Ask God for help to make things right again. [Pause for one minute]

Has God put someone on your heart in our church?  Here in front of our alter, you’ll notice that we have a basin, a pitcher of water, and a towel.  This is to remind us that we are drawing closer to Holy Week and that time when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper.  It’s this same spirit of humility that we are to offer to one another in our church relationships.

I was reading about a church that has been experiencing a lot of growth. They had been adding several members a month but that suddenly stopped. Visitors came but they wouldn't join. The pastor finally asked a visitor to tell him what was keeping them from becoming a part of the church. They confessed to him, "We like the church, but . . . it's cold!"

And they were right. The church members talked about being a friendly church, but the crossed arms said otherwise. Visitors didn't have to know all the details.

They could sense people were tense. They could tell members were angry with each other. They could feel that forgiveness was being withheld. The energy of the church members wasn’t going to new people because they were so wrapped up in the conflict of the church.

The pastor realized his own lack of forgiveness and how he had also been contributing to the big chill. He and another leader in the church had a conflict that was causing ill feelings. It was one of those heads-butting, arms-crossed tensions. The pastor mustered his courage, prayed, and called on the man he was at odds with. The pastor did his part in resolving the issue. In the following weeks, 2 people joined the church, and 4 more the next week.

After all of this, the visitors who had complained about the coldness of the church finally became members of the church. When the pastor asked why they had decided to join, they said to him, "It felt right all of a sudden."

When we stand in God's love, when we stand together, and when we stand for people who need to know Jesus Christ, it's Pentecost all over again. It IS right all of a sudden. It is all that is required, and everything that is needed, for the Spirit to work through us.

One of the names we give to the Sacrament that we are about to receive this morning is “Holy Communion.”  When we share in the bread and the cup, we do this together.  Regardless of our diversities, our opinions, and our backgrounds, first and foremost, we are a communion of brothers and sisters in Christ.   

A holy communion.  Thanks be to God!

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