2nd Sunday of Easter (March 30, 2008)

“Are You Obeying God or Men?”
Acts 5:29-42

INI

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The words of our text today in Acts 5 seem straightforward. “We must obey God rather than men.” Nothing complex about that, is there? When the apostles were told to keep their mouths shut about Jesus—they refused. Though God uses the government and authorities to keep order, they cannot tell God’s people to refuse to speak about Jesus. It is not allowed. We must obey God rather than men. After Jesus had rose from the dead and ascended to the Father’s right hand, the twelve disciples of Jesus began carrying out the task of apostles, preaching and teaching about who Jesus was…what Jesus did…everywhere they went. You will remember from the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday that Jesus didn’t die as the most popular man in Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, the man who died on Good Friday was the most hated and reviled man in all the land, even to the point of being rejected by his own Father. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Now to be in that same city as one of Christ’s commissioned apostles and to have to preach that name of Jesus—you can imagine that there was a bit of conflict. You can imagine that they weren’t received warmly by everyone—namely the priests, the scribes, and members of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council) that put Jesus to death.

But that didn’t matter. “We must obey God rather than men.” They went right into the temple…right into the heart of the enemy and taught people that God had raised Jesus who had been crucified. They were witnesses to those things and they simply couldn’t be silent. They had to do what God said. “Obey God rather than men.” That sounds like a pretty simple principle to put into practice. It sounds like an easy way to go about your business. Do what God says. Don’t follow the ways of man. Listen to God’s Word. Don’t listen to the culture. So why is it that you and I have such a blasted hard time doing just that?

God summarized his Law to his people in ten statements—which you and I know better as the Ten Commandments. Jesus made it even simpler—two statements. “Love God. Love your neighbor.” It’s very easy to remember. But unfortunately many of us fall into thinking that because the commandments are so very easy to remember that they are very, very easy to keep. “Love God. Love your neighbor.” “Sure,” some people think. I’m doing okay at that. I’m obeying God and not men. You know, I’ll bet a lot of those Pharisees and rulers who wanted Jesus put to death thought that they were keeping those commandments pretty darn well. And still they put the Lord Jesus Christ to death.

I would argue that the one commandment people particularly struggle with today is the Third Commandment. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” And as Luther rightly shows us, when we break any commandment, we’re ultimately guilty of breaking the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods.” But the Third Commandment is a particularly troublesome commandment because it teaches us, in the words of Luther, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” In order to obey God—rather than men—you must know God’s Word. You have to know what it is saying to you…what it is commanding you. You must treasure it. You must cherish it. You must devote your life to learning it and hearing it.

And still there is debate and arguing among the people of God over things God’s Word says clearly. When the question arises, “Can women serve as pastors?” the answer mankind wants to give says—“It doesn’t seem right to not allow women to serve in the same way as men.” And yet God’s Word clearly says a woman is not speak and teach in church…we must obey God rather than men. Who should come to the Lord’s Supper? Conventional human wisdom says, “That’s between a person and God…and not for us to judge.” And yet God’s Word says unequivocally that there should be no divisions between people who come to the altar together, for they are one fellowship…we must obey God rather than men. What should you and I do with our financial resources? The mind of men says, “Store it away…nothing is promised to you…take care of the future.” And yet the Word of God teaches us, “Don’t store up earthly treasures. Invest what you have in the building of God’s kingdom. Trust in God for your provisions”…we must obey God rather than men.

The answer to all our problems seems relatively easy, “Obey God…not men!” But obeying God means he’s in charge and you’re not. Obeying God means he calls the shots and you don’t. Obeying God means doing things his way and not yours. You and I are prideful people. We want things to say what we want them to say. Our friends in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are in the midst of a controversy right now over whether or not to ordain gay and lesbians as pastors…and over whether or not to bless same-sex unions. There’s been a lot of paper put to use in studies and research over this topic. The other day I was reading a Bible study that the ELCA put together for youth on sex and sexuality. One of the topics in that study was called, “When Is Sex Okay?” I was curious what it would say, so I gave it a read. Here’s what it said: “At one time, at least in perception, marriage was the proper place where our sexually intimate relationships took place. Clearly, with the changing culture, that is no longer the case for many people.” The study basically told kids that the culture changes and therefore we just have to figure out the best way along to do things…and recognize that we’re sexual beings.” That’s a pretty good description if you’re looking for an excuse to have sex outside of marriage. Let’s contrast that with what God says in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 6: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

People like you and me hear that constant refrain: “Obey God.” The problem is that even when you and I want to obey God, we’re by nature attracted to obeying the things of men. I’m reminded of St. Paul’s famous words in Romans 7 when he says, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Even when our deepest desire is to serve God and obey him only…it is natural for each of us to cave into sin and listen to the ways of man. The council that the disciples in our text appeared before—they are a perfect case of people who were truly pious…people who cared about their faith…but still they failed to obey God because they failed to understand his word rightly. Even pious old Gamaliel, the well-known Pharisee could only come up with, “Leave these guys alone, in case they are from God.” Even so, often times our best motives for obeying God are, “If I do what he says, maybe I’ll get on his good side.”

Contrast that with the attitude of Jesus Christ. If there was anyone who had a case for doing his own thing instead of God the Father’s…it would have been him. God laid before him the plan of leaving the glory of heaven to become a man. That’s not very good. As a man, he would have to endure all the temptations and struggles of being a human being. That’s even worse. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, he would have to be shamed, suffer, and die at the hands of people the Father wants to save. He would have to carry the curse of sins he never committed. He didn’t deserve that. He shouldn’t have had to do that. But Jesus obeyed God rather than men. When Simon Peter turned him aside in Matthew 16 and rebuked him for saying he would have to suffer and die, it would have been more convenient for Jesus to say, “You’re right, Peter. This suffering and dying thing just isn’t for me.” But Jesus obeys God rather than men. He says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

This morning in our Gospel from John 20 we have the account of Jesus appearing to the disciples. I don’t know where Thomas was the first time Jesus showed up…apparently he had somewhere else he had to be. But Thomas is the classic case of someone with the things of man in mind. “People don’t rise from dead.” That’s the logical way of thinking. Keep in mind, this is the guy who had seen Lazarus from the dead. But common sense is only common…and what’s common isn’t necessarily correct. Jesus appeared to Thomas to show that according to the Father’s will, he had been raised from the dead.

Jesus dies in our place…he also lives in our place as well. He has obeyed God rather than men, for those of us who have failed to obey God rather than men. Without his life lived for us, there is no death died for us, and no resurrection for each of us to give us the hope of life. His appearance to the disciples…to Thomas…they were the proof that Jesus had obeyed God rather than men. The wounds in his hands…the spear into his side…he did what God had laid before him. He carried out the plan of salvation. He obeyed God’s desire to save you and me from sin, rather than fulfill man’s wishes of putting on a power display.

And now that power is here for you as well…as the disciples said, they were the witnesses who had seen Christ alive from death…and now the Holy Spirit, who bears witness to the risen Christ dwells within each of you who hear the word of God and receive it in faith. That’s what it means to “obey God.” It means to hear the Word…receive the promises that God has attached to it…and to be filled with the Holy Spirit that carries out Christian living in this world. The Word of God has two purposes for us: first, it tells us how to obey God—and also how we have failed to obey God through our lives of sin. Secondly, the Word of God holds the risen Lord Jesus before our eyes to show us that he has fulfilled the commands of God on our behalf and died and rose again to give those benefits to us. In the name of Jesus…Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.