Outlive Your Life Part 2

Jesus' miracles were proof of his divinity. When he healed bodies and fed hungry bellies, when he commanded the waves as casually as a four-star general does the private, when he called life out of Lazarus's dead body and sight out of the blind man's eyes, these miracles were G.o.d's endors.e.m.e.nt. G.o.d gave Jesus his seal of approval.

2. Then G.o.d delivered him to death. "[He] had already planned and decided that Jesus would be handed over to you. So you took him and had evil men put him to death on a cross" (v. 23 CEV).

G.o.d deemed Christ worthy of G.o.d's most important mission-to serve as a sacrifice for humankind. Not just anyone could do this. How could a sinner die for sinners? Impossible. The Lamb of G.o.d had to be perfect, flawless, and sinless. When the Romans nailed Jesus to the cross, G.o.d was singling him out as the only sinless being ever to walk the face of the earth, the only person qualified to bear "our sins in His own body" (1 Peter 2:24). The cross, a tool of shame, was actually a badge of honor, a badge bestowed one time, to one man, Jesus of Nazareth. But G.o.d did not leave Jesus in the tomb.

3. "G.o.d set him free from death and raised him to life. Death could not hold him in its power" (Acts 2:24 CEV).

Deep within the dark sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea, behind the secured and sealed rock of the Romans, amid the sleeping corpses and silent graves of the Jews, G.o.d did his greatest work. He spoke to the dead body of his incarnate Son. With h.e.l.l's demons and heaven's angels watching, he called on the Rose of Sharon to lift his head, the Lion of Judah to stretch his paws, the Bright and Morning Star to shine forth his light, the Alpha and Omega to be the beginning of life and the end of the grave. "G.o.d untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him" (v. 24 MSG).

I envision Peter pausing at this point in his sermon. I can hear words echo off the Jerusalem stones. "Death was no match for him . . . for him . . . for him." Then for a few seconds, hushed quiet. Peter stops and searches the faces, his dark eyes defying someone to challenge his claim. A priest, a soldier, a cynic-someone, anyone, to question his words. "You are insane, Simon. Come, let me take you to Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Let's roll back the stone and unwrap the decaying cadaver of Jesus and put an end to this nonsense once and for all."

What an opportunity for someone to destroy Christianity in its infancy! But no one defied Peter. No Pharisee objected. No soldier protested. No one spoke, because no one had the body. The word was out that the Word was out.

People began to realize their mistake. The gravity of their crime settled over them like a funeral dirge. G.o.d came into their world, and they killed him. This was the thrust of Peter's sermon: "You killed G.o.d." "G.o.d proved . . . to you . . . All of you know this . . . You took him and had evil men put him to death." You. You. You. On three occasions Peter pointed a verbal, if not physical, finger at the crowd.

The question of the hour changed. "Whatever could this mean?" (a question of the head) became "What shall we do?" (a question of the heart). "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (v. 37).

They leaned in to hear Peter's reply. So much was at stake. What if he said, "It's too late"? Or "You had your chance"? Or "You should have listened the first time"?

Peter, surely with outstretched arms and tear-filled eyes, gave this invitation: Turn back to G.o.d! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord G.o.d will choose, no matter where they live. (vv. 3839 CEV) Peter would eventually speak about poverty. The church would soon address the issues of widows, disease, and bigotry. But not yet. The first order of the church's first sermon was this: pardon for all our sins. Peter delivered the bread.

Would you allow me to do the same? Before we turn the next page in the story of Acts, would you consider the offer of Jesus? "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again" (John 6:35 NLT).

The grain-to-bread process is a demanding one. The seed must be planted before it can grow. When the grain is ripe, it must be cut down and ground into flour. Before it can become bread, it must pa.s.s through the oven. Bread is the end result of planting, harvesting, and heating.

Jesus endured an identical process. He was born into this world. He was cut down, bruised, and beaten on the threshing floor of Calvary. He pa.s.sed through the fire of G.o.d's wrath, for our sake. He "suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all-was put to death and then made alive-to bring us to G.o.d" (1 Peter 3:18 MSG).

Bread of Life? Jesus lived up to the t.i.tle. But an unopened loaf does a person no good. Have you received the bread? Have you received G.o.d's forgiveness?

We cherish pardon, don't we? I was thinking about pardon a few afternoons ago on a south Texas country road with hills and curves and turns and bends. I know it well. I now know the highway patrolman who oversees it.

And he now knows me. He looked at my driver's license. "Why is your name familiar to me? Aren't you a minister here in San Antonio?"

"Yes, sir."

"On your way to a funeral?"

"No."

"An emergency?"

"No."

"You were going awfully fast."

"I know."

"Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you a second chance."

I sighed. "Thank you. And thanks for giving me a sermon ill.u.s.tration on pardon."

G.o.d has posted his traffic signs everywhere we look. In the universe, in Scripture, even within our own hearts. Yet we persist in disregarding his directions. But G.o.d does not give us what we deserve. He has drenched his world in grace. It has no end. It knows no limits. It empowers this life and enables us to live the next. G.o.d offers second chances, like a soup kitchen offers meals to everyone who asks.

And that includes you. Make sure you receive the bread.

And once you do, pa.s.s it on. After all, if we don't, who will?

Governments don't feed the soul. The secular relief house can give a bed, a meal, and valuable counsel. But we can give much more. Not just help for this life but hope for the next.

Turn back to G.o.d! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord G.o.d will choose, no matter where they live. (Acts 2:3839 CEV) So along with the cups of water, plates of food, and vials of medicine, let there be the message of sins forgiven and death defeated.

Remember the bread.

For G.o.d was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's amba.s.sadors; G.o.d is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to G.o.d!" For G.o.d made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with G.o.d through Christ.

(2 Cor. 5:1921 NLT).

My blessed Savior and Lord, I praise you for freely giving me the Bread of Life. You replaced my darkness with your light, my fear with your security, and my despair with your hope. Remind me every day, Father, that the Bread of Life I have in Jesus comes to me by your grace and through your love-and that it delights your generous heart when I tell others where they can find and partake. Make me into an eager amba.s.sador of Jesus Christ. Turn my fear into boldness so that heaven's streets may be filled with men and women who love the Savior, in part because they first heard of his grace and mercy from my lips. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

CHAPTER 5.

Team Up.

Now all who believed were together.

-ACTS 2:44.

In 1976 tremors devastated the highlands of Guatemala. Thousands of people were killed, and tens of thousands were left homeless. A philanthropist offered to sponsor a relief team from our college. This flyer was posted in our dormitory: "Needed: students willing to use their spring break to build cinder-block homes in Quetzaltenango." I applied, was accepted, and began attending the orientation sessions.

There were twelve of us in all. Mostly ministry students. All of us, it seemed, loved to discuss theology. We were young enough in our faith to believe we knew all the answers. This made for lively discussions. We bantered about a covey of controversies. I can't remember the list. It likely included the usual suspects of charismatic gifts, end times, worship styles, and church strategy. By the time we reached Guatemala, we'd covered the controversies and revealed our true colors. I'd discerned the faithful from the infidels, the healthy from the heretics. I knew who was in and who was out.

But all of that was soon forgotten. The destruction from the earthquake dwarfed our differences. Entire villages had been leveled. Children were wandering through rubble. Long lines of wounded people awaited medical attention. Our opinions seemed suddenly petty. The disaster demanded teamwork. The challenge created a team.

The task turned rivals into partners. I remember one fellow in particular. He and I had distinctly different opinions regarding the styles of worship music. I-the open-minded, relevant thinker-favored contemporary, upbeat music. He-the stodgy, close-minded caveman-preferred hymns and hymnals. Yet when stacking bricks for houses, guess who worked shoulder to shoulder? As we did, we began to sing together. We sang old songs and new, slow and fast. Only later did the irony of it dawn on me. Our common concern gave us a common song.

This was Jesus' plan all along. None of us can do what all of us can do. Remember his commission to the disciples? "You [all of you collectively] will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8 NIV). Jesus didn't issue individual a.s.signments. He didn't move one by one down the line and knight each individual.

"You, Peter, will be my witness . . ."

"You, John, will be my witness . . ."

"You, Mary Magdalene, will be my witness . . ."

But rather, "You [the sum of you] will be my witnesses . . ." Jesus works in community. For that reason you find no personal p.r.o.nouns in the earliest description of the church: All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer.

A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy.

(Acts 2:4246 NLT) The cameo contains only plural nouns and p.r.o.nouns.

"All the believers."

"Devoted themselves."

"Awe came over them all."

"All the believers met together . . . and shared everything."

"They sold their property and possessions and shared."

"They worshiped together . . . and shared their meals."

No I or my or you. We are in this together. We are more than followers of Christ, disciples of Christ. "We are parts of his body" (Eph. 5:30 NCV). "He is the head of the body, which is the church" (Col. 1:18 NCV). I am not his body; you are not his body. We-together- are his body.

But his body has been known to misbehave. The brain discounts the heart. (Academics discount worshippers.) The hands criticize the knees. (People of action criticize people of prayer.) The eyes refuse to partner with the feet. (Visionary thinkers won't work with steady laborers.) A clear case of mutiny on the body.

If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now G.o.d has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (1 Cor. 12:1518) The early Christians surely chuckled at these word pictures. What if the whole body were an eye? If you were a collection of eyeb.a.l.l.s, how would you function? Five eyes on your hand, which is an eye, attached to your arm-sized eye, affixed to a torso eye from which extends your neck eye, and . . . The thought is ludicrous! You'd have to bathe in Visine. But, then again, you couldn't bathe, for you wouldn't have hands.

"The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'" (v. 21).

We cannot say, "I have no need of you." The megachurch needs the smaller church. The liberal needs the conservative. The pastor needs the missionary. Cooperation is more than a good idea; it is a command. "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3 NIV). Unity matters to G.o.d. There is "one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16 NIV).

What if the missing ingredient for changing the world is teamwork? "When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there" (Matt. 18:1920 MSG).

This is an astounding promise. When believers agree, Jesus takes notice, shows up, and hears our prayers.

And when believers disagree? Can we return to my Guatemalan memory for a moment?

Suppose our group had cl.u.s.tered according to opinions. Divided according to doctrines. If we had made unanimity a prerequisite for partnership, can you imagine the consequences? We wouldn't have accomplished anything. When workers divide, it is the suffering who suffer most.

They've suffered enough, don't you think? The Jerusalem church found a way to work together. They found common ground in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Because they did, lives were changed.

And as you and I do, the same will happen.

We will help more and more people, such as Jose Ferreira. He runs a small pharmacy in a slum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's really more a tin-walled shed and bench, but since he sells medicine, it bears the hand-painted sign Farmacia. He started his store with three dollars' worth of medical supplies that he bought from a larger pharmacy downtown. As soon as he sells the medicine, he closes his store, walks to a nearby bus stop, rides one hour to the larger pharmacy, and buys more stock.

By the time he returns, it is dark, so he waits until the next morning and repeats the cycle: open, sell the product, close the store, and travel to purchase inventory. Some days he does this twice. Since his store is closed as much as it is open, he scarcely makes a profit. He and his family live in the back of the shack and subsist on the equivalent of three dollars a day. If rains flood the favela and wash away his shack, he will lose everything. If one of his children comes down with dengue fever, he likely will not have the money for medicine. Jose knows this. But what can he do? He indwells the low-ceilinged world of the poor.

But while Jose is struggling in Rio, G.o.d is working in London. A good-hearted taxi driver named Thomas reads an article in a magazine. It details the fascinating process of microfinance. Microfinance provides small loans to poor people so they can increase their income and decrease their vulnerability to unforeseen circ.u.mstances. Thomas is not rich, but he is blessed. He would happily help a fellow businessperson on the other side of the world. But how can he? Can a British taxi driver help a Brazilian merchant? Through microfinance organizations, he can.

So he does.

A few days later Jose is offered a microloan of fifty-five dollars. In order to qualify for it, however, he has to join a borrower group of six neighboring businessmen. Each one receives a loan, but each member of the group cross-guarantees the loans of the other members. In other words, if Jose does not repay the loan, his friends have to cover for him. (Peer pressure turned positive.) Jose puts the loan to good use. With the extra capital he is able to reduce his purchasing trips to once a week and keep his store open all day. After two years of growing his business and paying back his loans, he saves a thousand dollars, buys a plot of land in the favela, and is collecting cinder blocks for a house.1 How did this happen? Whom did G.o.d use to help Jose Ferreira? A taxi driver. A humanitarian organization. Fellow favela dwellers. They all worked together. Isn't this how G.o.d works?

This is how he worked in Jerusalem. The congregation is a microcosm of G.o.d's plan. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. And when we do, statements such as these will be read more often: "The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and G.o.d's great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them" (Acts 4:3334 NLT).

Our only hope is to work together.

Some years back a reporter covering the conflict in Sarajevo saw a little girl shot by a sniper. The back of her head had been torn away by the bullet. The reporter threw down his pad and pencil and stopped being a reporter for a few minutes. He rushed to the man who was holding the child and helped them both into his car. As the reporter stepped on the accelerator, racing to the hospital, the man holding the bleeding child said, "Hurry, my friend. My child is still alive."

A moment or two later he pleaded, "Hurry, my friend. My child is still breathing." A moment later, "Hurry, my friend. My child is still warm."

Finally, "Hurry. Oh my G.o.d, my child is getting cold."

By the time they arrived at the hospital, the little girl had died. As the two men were in the lavatory, washing the blood off their hands and their clothes, the man turned to the reporter and said, "This is a terrible task for me. I must go tell her father that his child is dead. He will be heartbroken."

The reporter was amazed. He looked at the grieving man and said, "I thought she was your child."

The man looked back and said, "No, but aren't they all our children?"2 Indeed. Those who suffer belong to all of us. And if all of us respond, there is hope.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down,

his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

(Eccl. 4:910 NIV) O Lord, I have been called to be part of a holy community. You did not call me in isolation but placed me in the body of Christ, along with every other believer in Jesus throughout the world in every age. Let us grow as a team, work as a team, worship as a team, weep, laugh, and live as a team. Grant me the wisdom and the strength to partner with you and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. For Jesus' sake and in his name I pray, amen.

CHAPTER 6.