Easter Sunday 2024

Listen here.

We hear the Easter story.  Jesus lived, was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again.  That is why we celebrate Easter.
Today, I want to speak from a story that happened sometime after the resurrection, but it is about what the resurrection did for others.

Peter is in the house of Cornelius, a centurion, a gentile – not a Jew.
In a vision, Cornelius was told by God to send for Peter.  So, he sent men to get Peter and Peter went with them to Cornelius’s house.

When Peter entered the house, he said,

“You know, I’m sure that this is highly irregular.  Jews just don’t do this – visit and relax with people of another race.  But God has just shown me that no race is better than any other.  So the minute I was sent for, I came, no questions asked.  But now I’d like to know why you sent for me.”

Cornelius tells Peter his whole vision (you can read it later in Acts 10) and tells him that he did what God told him to do, which was sent for Peter. Then he said, “and you’ve been good enough to come.  And now we’re all here in God’s presence, ready to listen to whatever the Master put in your heart to tell us.”

And this is what Peter had to say!

Acts 10:34…
Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites (KJV-God is no respecter of persons)!  It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to do as he says (KJV – feareth him, and worketh righteousness), the door is open.  Peter continues on,  The Message God sent to the children of Israel – that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again – well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone.

“You know the story of what happened in Judea.  It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change.  Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action (KJV – with power).  He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil.  He was able to do all this because God was with him.

“And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross.  But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen.  Not everyone saw him – he wasn’t put on public display.  Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand – us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead.  He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead.  But we’re not alone in this.  Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets.”

No sooner where these words out of Peter’s mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners.  The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on “outsider” non-Jews, but there it was – they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.

A baptism took place with no objections.

Then they asked Peter to stay on for a few days.

So Peter is there because God told Cornelius in a vision to go get Peter and listen to what he has to say. Meanwhile, as the men travel to get Peter, Peter is having a dream, in which the Lord tells Peter that whatever was unclean is now clean.  Whatever was prohibited, is now permissible, then God tells Peter the men that are at your door, go with them:

Now, Peter is wanting to know WHY Cornelius sent for him:
And now we’re all here in God’s presence, ready to listen to whatever the Master put in your heart to tell us.

When is the last time you showed up with a desire to hear another? To be honest, we barely show up to our own families to hear their heart.  I’m guilty.  Sometimes I feel like I already know what they are going to say and frankly, I just don’t want to hear it again, I don’t have space in my head or time to hear it again. Be honest. Some of you feel like this too.

Listening is almost an extinct art.

Cornelius was a man who gave orders. People listened to him, but after his vision from God and Peter entering his house, he bowed before Peter to worship him.
This was not cool.
Peter, knowing he was only a man, picked Cornelius up and said, “Don’t worship me. I’m a man just like you.“

Peter was not about to be put on a pedestal. He did not need a pat on the back, and neither did he need worshippers or followers.  In fact, Peter had just had a dream that would change the world. What was prohibited by Jewish law was now encouraged by God.

This dream was about to shake up the world.

I was told growing up to follow God. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. 
I knew what it was like to not follow God.
Guilt. Shame.  Avoidance of those who seemed to follow God…aka “The Rules.”
I also know what it was like to follow God. Hard. Freeing. Conflicting.

Conflicting because I could be judged by  the church by following God in ways that others in the church did not understand.  And accepting things that church doctrine frowned upon.  This is a risky sermon today. But let me keep going!

As I matured in Christ, not meaning years in service to God, but the being with, listening to, slowing down becoming more compassionate, evaluating hard core rules, becoming more open to new ways of experiencing God in the world around me…this kind of maturing in Christ…

When I began to mature in Christ, I began to follow God into new places.
Places where the door was open. Open to share Christ and open to be taught by Christ. In these same places!

“If you want God and are ready to do as he says (KJV – feareth him, and worketh righteousness), the door is open.”
These were Peter’s words!

If you follow God and begin maturing in Christ, you may be led to forbidden places, or shall I say prohibited places by church folk.

God’s desire is to heal us from the inside out. We are guilty of doing the opposite. We try to heal from the outside in, meaning we change behaviors all while we are going crazy on the inside because now that we appear to look the part, we have no place to share our struggles.

I hate to tell you this, but the church is not always a safe place. But I promise if you stay long enough and observe long enough, you will find people who show up to listen to all God is doing and wants to do in your life. There are safe people here. Safe people in other churches.  Perhaps that is why God hasn’t returned??? The church just isn’t ready.

There are people who have journeyed through prohibited places and survived. And because of their courage to follow God into those places, they are some of the most loving, compassionate people you will ever meet. We have young people who have old souls, meaning they are more in tune with God’s compassion than people who have been in the church for years!

Before you get mad at me, remember it’s Easter Sunday. God was dead but is now alive. We can trust the Spirit to guide and direct us even when we are led to what was once prohibited places.

Peter was changed by the resurrection. He was OPEN to God in new ways. In a dream, God told him to partake of something that had been prohibited since before the flood in Genesis!!!!

Preacher, what are you saying?
I love to say, I really don’t know, but I have a good idea of what I think God wants to say to us today.  I’m not an expert on your spirituality, but I know what God has been doing in my life.

The scripture says, “If you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open.”

Quit looking at all the closed doors in your life and look for the open door. Every time you look at a door that God has closed in your life, you get envious of the same door that God opened for someone else. Your heart becomes toxic. Your words become slander. And soon enough, you drag others into your venomous accusations. And this happens while you miss out on all the ways God wanted to be with you if only “you wanted God and were ready to do as he said.”

Maybe the invitation today is to learn the discipline of celebration. Celebrating someone else’s freedom and open door. Even if yours was shut. 

Why?

Because there is always an open door.

God is always at work, closing some doors and opening others.

What doors has God opened for you?

Be there!