Today’s Scripture

Psalm 148       Acts 5:29-42    1 Peter 1:3-9   John 20:19-31

 

            In a few moments we will publicly proclaim our faith in the Apostles’ Creed.  Today will be a hymn version of the Apostles’ Creed.  It was not written by the apostles, but states briefly the doctrines which God gave through the apostles in the Bible.[1]  We read these teachings in today’s Gospel (John), Peter’s letter and in this account of some of the first activities in the fledgling but thriving Christian community in Jerusalem.

 

            The disciples are proclaiming the risen Christ in the temple courts.  This temple is the long-established institution of the church.  The traditions and teachings of the church go back to Solomon’s temple built nearly 1,000 years earlier.  The traditions and teachings reach back to the law given to Moses in the wilderness nearly 1500 years earlier when the confession of Jewish faith is given, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” [Deut. 6:4-5]. 

 

            But there is something new in this church.  Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God had now come into this world.  He lived, suffered, died, and has risen from the tomb to win once and for all the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting in his name.  God has delivered his people not from political oppression and earthly troubles, but from Satan, sin, and an eternal life in hell.  Believers in Jesus Christ know that through the troubles, the joys, the successes and failures, and in today’s reading the oppression by those opposed to Christ, God delivers his people and sustains his word for all time and peoples.

 

            The disciples had been preaching the risen Christ in the Temple courts.  The temple rulers had them arrested.  But during the night an angel of the Lord miraculously released them and they started the next day again preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the temple courts.  The high priest again ordered the disciples to cease preaching this great message.  Peter and the other apostles replied by again proclaiming Christ crucified, risen and ascended into heaven. 

 

            When the Sanhedrin again threatened to do away with the disciples, Gamaliel speaks up.  He is a most learned and one of the most respected Jewish scholars.  (Paul was a student of his).  It is interesting to us today how the Holy Spirit has worked even in his reply, “…For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against. God,” [v. 38-39]. 

 

            Today we continue to live in this new church.  We continue the New Testament Gospel, Christ Crucified and Christ Risen!  And that Gospel message remains a new teaching in an old environment today.  We have the old church still, the Law, the Psalms and the Prophecies.  We have the new church as Christ appears and reassures us with those words we celebrate today, “Peace be with you,” [John 20].  That peace is the forgiveness of sins he purchased with his precious body and blood.  That peace we joyfully share at the very time we celebrate that great gift in the Lord’s Supper.  It is because Christ has fulfilled all of God’s promises. 

 

            Immanuel is an old church.  Our history is going on 137 years.  Immanuel is a new church, proclaiming a new message to this community, to people who struggle with Satan’s old trick of salvation by one’s works or other means not according to God’s word.  There are popular and nice philosophies proclaimed by popular entertainers and leaders and by our daily neighbors and colleagues alike.  There are political forces that make people think that we can legislate morality and those Judeo/Christian values.  Christians have a new message, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Jesus Christ [Romans 10:17].  We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone and not of our own works [Ephesians 2:8].  And we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim this Gospel message just the same as the disciples were that day in the Temple courts.  The temple courts today are over the back fence, at the water cooler or copy machine, and any where we encounter people. 

 

            Has the message changed?  No.  We continue with the creed that states saving faith.  We continue with the teaching of God’s love in Jesus Christ.  We continue with the sacraments that are far more than nice things to do but actually work salvation in believers.  We hold true to God’s word that is truth for all people of all times, not to be changed by the simple desires of any person at any given time.  We hold true to the content of the services and activities that proclaim these truths.

 

            Have some of the practices changed and may they continue to change?  Yes.  Combined with familiar hymns and services, we have new tunes and new settings that reach out to the culture and environment we live in.  Yes, we dress differently than when this building was dedicated in 1957.  Yes, we hold a different style of services from Sunday mornings to Wednesday evenings to the occasional Saturday and Sunday evening services.  Are we a new church as visitors and members come into our presence from non-Lutheran backgrounds?  Yes we become that in how we do activities.  But do we have the same message of salvation?  Yes, that is our goal.  Twenty years ago many of you carried a clumsy tape recorder into people’s homes to hear the sermon message.  Today life-like DVD recordings go to homes and institutions bringing the entire service into living rooms and lives of people we do not know as well as long-time members who feel connected again with their “old church.” 

 

            Over the next few weeks we will continue to read the new church in an old church environment the disciples worked in.  It is not just a nice history lesson to us, but it is instruction and encouragement as we at Immanuel are placed and positioned as a “mission outpost” in our own community.  Are there new and different cultures in Des Plaines?  Yes, there are!  Are there different languages that people speak?  Yes there are!  Are there new ways to identify and to reach out to new people in our neighborhoods!  Yes there are.  Is there a new message to bring to them?  Yes.  It is the New Testament message Jesus speaks today, “Peace be with you.”  That peace is knowing and understanding and trusting in the forgiveness of sins won by Christ on the cross and unleashed in his victory over the grave.

 

            That peace we know because:

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!