Salvation Is Big

Text: Acts 4:5-22

          Did you know that Acts 4:12 is the only place in the Bible where the noun “salvation” and/or the verb “to save” and the word “heaven” show up in the same sentence…or in the same paragraph…or even in the same flow of thought?  In the New Testament the word for “salvation” occurs fifty-one times and the verb for “to save” occurs 106 times.  At none of these occurrences do any of the New Testament writers define salvation or God’s saving activity as our going to heaven instead of hell when we die due to having faith in Jesus Christ.  Hmmm? 

To push the button a little more, I will make the bold claim that limiting oneself and one’s belief to a definition of salvation that pertains only to the after life can and will inhibit one’s experience of salvation.  Salvation as we have it in the Bible is very much a present reality, the present reality of God’s acting in our lives now revealing himself to us in the Holy Spirit and infusing the saving work of Jesus death and resurrection to us and thereby creating in our present lives a taste of the New Creation coming so that we might lives a signposts to it and as the living proof that God is faithful and will deliver his creation from the mess that it is in.  Salvation is a future certainty that is breaking in on us now. 

We need to expand how we think of salvation.  It isn’t only about me and my eternal destination; though that is important.  That’s thinking small and, honestly, quite selfishly about God’s grace.  Thinking big and humbly, salvation is a whole creation event.[1]  Start thinking this way about it.  When God the Son became the man Jesus, he not only took human being, human nature upon himself to deal with our sin, he took physical matter upon himself in order to deal with death.  The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead sent a shockwave infusing the life of God into his creation by the power of the Holy Spirit of which the fallout will be New Creation free of sin and death and in which unhindered fellowship with God is the norm for everyone and everything in it.  When he returns, the shockwave of his resurrection will bring about our own resurrection to live in the Kingdom of God in the New Creation.  Therefore, what the Trinity did to save his Creation in, through, and as Jesus of Nazareth affects all of Creation right down to each and every sub-atomic particle.  In, through, and as Jesus of Nazareth the Christ God infused his self into his creation setting in motion the New Creation that is coming when he returns.  It all has been, is, and will be made New.  The Prophet Isaiah said it best: “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge (knowing) of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (11:9).   Salvation is bigger than just a human matter.  God even cares about the tiniest particle of matter. 

So, since salvation is so big, as expansive and as deep as the universe itself (Go to the JPL NASA website and look at the pictures that the Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer telescopes are delivering and just try to fathom how far and how wide all this is); since salvation is so big, what is it to be saved?  What does Peter mean here at Acts 4:12 saying: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."?  In the context of Peter giving a defence for how it is they healed a man who had been born lame.  Peter and John were standing before the same inquisition of temple authorities who ordered Jesus to be crucified and so it is a truly in your face kind of moment here that they proclaim that it was by the power and authority of Jesus of Nazareth whom they had crucified that this man was healed.  Incidentally, in a third to a half of the occurrences of the Greek word for salvation particularly in the Gospels salvation is a physical healing which leads to the restoration of a person’s full fellowship in the people of God.  Back in that day people wrongly believed that a birth defect was God’s punishment upon a family for some terrible sin that the parents were trying to hide.  This healing meant that the sin had been forgiven (removed, born away) and the punishment revoked.  He was now a full member of the people of God able to live a life free of beggar’s shame and being an outcast.  Sin removed and personhood restored that’s what salvation is in this text and it served as a real glimpse of how things will be when Jesus returns and establishes God’s kingdom and all things are made new. 

So how does this pertain to us?  Paul writes at 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: “God chose you as the firstfruits of (into) salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faithfulness in the Truth.  To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  If you are getting what I’m proclaiming here about Jesus Christ and the salvation of Creation it is because God has chosen you to have a foretaste of salvation now which you will experience as the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and you will respond with faithfulness to the leading of the Good Shepherd as Jesus said there in John: The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (Jn 10:3-4).

I used a big word, sanctifying.  That means being cleaned up and set apart for God’s purposes.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit in or upon us to bring us to experience as God’s own work upon us an inner cleansing of shame and guilt and over time a healing of our defects in character like self-loathing, low esteem, and excessive pridefulness and in place of those things, he brings us to know compassion and humility at our cores,…but it takes work on our part. 

Once again, we come back to prayer, to contemplation, to meditation on the Word.  James writes: “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (1:21).  The word of New Creation has been planted in you each by the simple act of the proclamation of the Gospel that you hear here each week.  By your simply being here you have heard the Truth that sets you free from darkness and drives you to know the Truth.  Jesus has removed anything about you that you think might stand between you and fellowship with God.  Take the time to go before the Lord and lift up your soul and pray.  Paul writes in Hebrews: he (Jesus) is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25).  Jesus has made it so that we can know salvation now and he’s praying that we get it.  Go with it.  Go with him.  Amen.

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[1] If only the Reformation had begun with Colossians 1, Ephesians 1-2, and Romans 8 where Paul spells out the big picture of salvation.  Western Culture would not be culminating in narcissism and that soul-less beast we call the corporation.

Power in the Name of Jesus

Text:   Acts 3:1-21

A few years back I became the blessed recipient of this here Names of Jesus mug.  It bolsters my faith; makes me feel very secure, indeed, confident and powerful when I have it with me.  Nothing can stand against me when I am standing boldly with my Names of Jesus mug.  It's loaded with the Names of Jesus - Bread of Life, Alpha and Omega, Immanuel, Messiah, Lamb of God, Saviour, Son of Man.  With all those Jesus names this Names of Jesus mug is full of names of Jesus power.  I’m going to testify, people.  I was sitting on the subway the other day and this guy was giving me the evil eye, trying to curse me I know he was.  I just lifted my Names of Jesus mug to him and gave him a nod like I was going to say, "Cheers" and be friendly, but instead I say, "Names of Jesus".  Dude and his demons are off at the next stop.  There’s power in the Names.  Let me hear you say amen.  One day I loaned my Names of Jesus mug to a homeless beggar.  He wound up with enough money in one hour to start his own business.  He got himself a squeegee and a squirt bottle.  He's set for life now. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  Give man a fishing pole, he's set for life.  There's power in the Names of Jesus mug.  Let me hear you say amen, people.  The Names of Jesus mug, I think I'd better stop before I go too far with this.  

But still let's just stop and think for a minute; a Names of Jesus mug?  What have we come to here in Western Christianity that we can go to a gift shop and buy somebody a mug with the names of Jesus on it?  I’m going to sidestep the whole thing about commercializing Jesus and post the positives.  The mug is obviously a memory tool, a gift of assurance I might say.  The names are to remind us who Jesus is and what he has done for not only us each but the whole of Creation.  Jesus is the food of real life.  He’s the one through whom all things were created and the one in whom all things will find their end or completion.  He is God with us, God become man; the gentle one, the sacrificial Lamb who by his death has born our sin and its iniquity away.  He is the mighty one born of the Jewish people who has, does, and will deliver us from all things that oppress us even death.  This mug assures me of this.

This mug is also meant to be an opportunity to proclaim Jesus.  That’s good to know, but for me my contact with people is overwhelming with other Christians.  That being the case, I can get away with drinking from this mug publicly with little to no consequence. It’s not odd to see a minister in his church office or at home drinking coffee from a Names of Jesus mug.  People just say, “Sunday School picnic prize nobody claimed, preacher got a free cup.”  Or, “Poor guy, what else do people give ministers?”  But what if my work was out there in the real world where I was in contact with mostly non-Christians?  It is probable that drinking coffee from this mug in my work place would have its difficulties.  I suspect it would mostly go unnoticed.  Yet, there would be the odd person who would respect my courage and say so and the odd Christian who would think they had a guaranteed friend at work in me.  There would also be the one or two who would make me and my Names of Jesus mug bear the brunt of many jokes.  It is likely I wouldn’t be included in on the reindeer games because people would assume me to be highly moralistic, judgemental, and easily offended – characteristics of “good” Christians.  My supervisor would likely tell me my mug is making others uncomfortable (even if it wasn't) and encourage me to bring another because the office isn’t the place for proselytizing.   It's bad for business; might cause a missed sale.

The name of Jesus, is there more to it than just being a formulaic statement we tack on at the end of our prayers?  I know I feel a considerable bit of weirdness if I don't end a public prayer saying "in Jesus name we pray."  There are people who really believe our prayers won't get answered unless we superstitiously tack onto them the seemingly magic words "in Jesus' name".  Well, looking at the New Testament it would not be an understatement to say that everything the church does is in and by means of the name of Jesus.  Jesus sends us into the world in his name meaning with his authority and power.  Therefore, we teach, baptize, heal, and cast out demons in his name as well as suffer for his name’s sake - which is the likely outcome of wielding a Names of Jesus mug at work.

In our passage from Acts Peter wants the crowd to know that it was by the name of Jesus not by their own power or piety that this man born lame was healed; Jesus whom they, the Jewish authorities and the crowds in conjunction with the Romans crucified, but their God, the God of their father’s Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob glorified and raised from the dead.  Jesus’ name healed him – Jesus’ authority and power exercised by the disciples through faith, through prayer, at their command.

I don’t know the number of times I have read this account of Peter and John healing this man.  It gets my attention in a way that’s difficult for me to say.  This thing of Peter and John suddenly stopping on their way into the temple and staring intently at this lame beggar as if they knew something was up.  That doesn’t happen to me and I don’t know people that it happens to.  Its sounds like TV evangelist or Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship stuff (now Catch the Fire Ministries).  This is just not my experience.  Then, after getting the man to stare back at them, they say to him, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"  They take him by the hand and start raising him up and his legs are strengthened.  Never before had this man been able to stand and walk.  Jesus restored him to perfect health.  He could now work.  People would now see him as blessed by God and utterly forgiven rather than cursed by God which his birth defect was evidence of.  Back then that’s what people superstitiously believed.  They were wrong.  This sort of blatant display of the power of Jesus’ name just does not seem to be in our bag of tricks and I suspect it would shock us into silence if it happened here.

Nevertheless, Jesus is the Lord of the Kingdom of God and of all Creation and he has sent us into the world to be his proxy, to exercise his authority and power given to us through faith in his name.  To quantify the type of power we’re talking about; since it is the name of Jesus the risen Son of God, the power we have proxy of is the power by which the Father raised Jesus from the dead through the Holy Spirit.  It is a re-creative power, a renewing power, a delivering power, a healing power that brings glory and honour to Jesus, the Risen One. 

Remember last week when I said that the primary business of the church is testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, here is where it gets real.  But let’s remind ourselves again that it is not our own power or piety at work here.  It is Jesus’ power and piety for he is alive and in our midst, indeed in us and we in him by the uniting work of the Holy Spirit.  
Ministering in his name requires that we be in his name.  "Being" precedes "doing".  "In his name" is also a place.  It has location, a sphere of reality.  Let me use the analogy of coming in out of the cold into a heated room.  Gathering together in Christian fellowship, he is present with us and there is something different about our fellowship that is different than other kinds of fellowship that is akin to coming out of the cold into a heated room.  His name, what was called the Glory of God in the Old Testament, is with us and is experienced.  He permeates our space.  Similarly, the more time we spend throughout the day in prayer, in being aware of Jesus, of his presence is like being in the heated room getting warm with a warmth that stays with you out in the cold in such a way as others feel the warmth coming from you as well.  In this sphere of reality we call "In his name" we experience our selves being filled with him and things begin to happen.  Spending devoted time in the sphere of reality we call "In his name" results in our finding ourselves being healed of character defects and being filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; the fruits of the inward working of the Holy Spirit.  The greatest testimony to the resurrection of Jesus that we each can give is what he has done in us.  The super-fantastic nearly unbelievable things do happen in his name, but more importantly the power of Jesus’ name is at work in each of us making us to be more and more like him day by day.  Keep coming to Christian fellowship, keep praying "in his name" and you will see.  You will change.  Your life will change.  If this is not so, then Jesus is not raised and he is not Lord and we are the most pitiable among all peoples.  Amen.