A sermon preached by the Reverend Dr. Royal Kemper
on Sunday, April 23, 2006
at Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, PA.

Freakonomics for Older Adults
 

And with great power the apostles gave their testimony
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was
upon them all. - Acts 4:33

Sometime last year (2005) a book of less than 240 pages was introduced to the reading public. Freakonomics, as the book is called, sets out on the rather unconventional premise, that,

if morality represents how we would like the world to work,
then economics represents how it actually does work.

Take this example. In a given year some 40 million Americans will divulge intimate information about themselves with complete strangers on the Internet. Information may include a photo, vital statistics, income, level of education, what you like and dislike, etc. Many of these dating sites will ask what type of relationship you are looking for.

It doesn't take long to question just how honest these people really are with their personal information. Two things must be kept in mind.  For one thing, is the amount and kind of information provided, and, what level of response may be drawn from this material.  With these two factors in mind, some 30,000 internet users were surveyed, half of whom were in Boston, the other half in San Diego. Fifty-seven per cent of these internet users were men, with a median age for all users between twenty-six and thirty-five.

As you might suspect, the results were a bit over-drawn. They all reportedly were richer, thinner, taller, and better looking than average. More than four percent claimed to earn over $200,000. a year (one percent actually earn that much). Both men and women typically said they were about an inch taller than the national average, and the women almost to a person said they weighed about twenty pounds less than the national average. (Oh, well)

What was most impressive, is that the vast majority of women claimed to have "above average" looks, with a number stating "very good looking". The men were absolutely gorgeous hunks, invoking the gods of pulchritude as being "very good looking". Nobody wants to be "average". Further, some twenty-eight percent of the women claimed to be blond - a number far beyond the national average. I wonder what causes the black roots in the midst of their blond hair? Now contrast this information with the verse from the book of Acts where it says that

"the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power and great grace was upon them."

What does this actually mean?

Bear in mind, that this portion of Acts appears for the Sunday after Easter, traditionally called, "Low Sunday". At first glance, we may wonder what these exciting accounts of everyday life in the early church have to do with Easter. After a congregation's exuberant celebration of the resurrection on Easter, it may seem odd to talk about getting things done in the church and that the apostles lived in harmony with one another. In the author, Luke's mind, everything that follows is integrally connected to

"their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (4:33).  Living the testimony of the resurrection makes for bold living.

When you come to think about it, the quality of the church's life centers not so much on Easter Sunday, but rather that a group of people whose life together is so radically different, so completely changed from the way the world builds a community, that there can be no other explanation than they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The "great grace" indicates a type of enthusiasm that may be translated from Green-speak as "irrational exuberance". Their lives "breathed" the power of the Holy Spirit, for there was an immediate awareness of the presence of God, and an incomparable sense of dynamism guiding their lives.

Every congregation has the potential to be a center for people to find the resurrection power in their individual lives. People come into the church who have been primarily concerned with their own affairs.  Within the context of the gathered community, these people become aware of the needs of people far and near whom they have never thought of before. Here they share the grace and power of the resurrected Christ with those whose lives are enriched as they begin to relate the story of Jesus' resurrection power at work in their lives.

At the very heart of the church is the intent to help individuals find themselves by bringing them into the life of the Christian community. The purpose of the church is to acquaint persons with the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in their own lives. We all know the phrase that "your home is your castle". There are many who are still searching for a castle. To them, a castle is some kind of fortress that is impenetrable, sound-proof, odor-proof, love-proof, where no foreign idea can long survive. Such insulated units break down into lonely fragments of depression. We need to look for a community where we can be redeemed by grace that is greater than all our sin, where the power of the Holy Spirit can raise us to a new level of life.

In 1934 Kari Barth wrote "The Barmen Declaration" for the confessing church in Germany especially to see the purpose of the church in strong, bold lines.

Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture,
is the one Word of God which we have to hear and
which we have to trust and obey in life and death.

Here is another way of saying this. Stanley Hawerwas and William H. Willimon, both on the faculty of Duke Divinity School at the time of their writing Resident Aliens, quote John Howard Yoder in his Concept of the Believer's Church, by identifying the distinguishing qualities of three types of churches.

The first is the activist church which wants to build society by reforming the church, taking their lead from the world outside.

The second is the conversionist church who wants to rid the church of counterfeits in religion, shifting the sphere of action to a position within the church where inward change is to be made.

The third type is the confessing church who works with the faithful  in the congregation's determination to worship Christ in all avenues of  life. Stress is laid on being faithful. Conversion is seen as a long process of being engrafted into a new people through baptism. Such a church seeks to influence the world by being the church, that is, by being something the world is not, nor can it ever be, lacking the gift of grace, which is ours in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel Accounts make it perfectly clear that the disciples didn't have a clue as to what they had gotten themselves into when they accepted the invitation of Jesus to, "Follow me". Jesus invited ordinary people from all walks of life to become part of a new adventure, a journey that kept surprising them at every turn in the road. It is significant that the gospel writers spoke forcefully about a "journey of faith" when speaking about discipleship with Jesus.

The church today, is still in the business of inviting people to a new venture of life as a journey, where, despite the unbelief of the world, it promotes a life of discipline and balance, where decisions are made according to the standard of Jesus Christ. It is here that we discover ourselves to be what God intended for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. It is to this adventurous life that I invite you today. This is the place where people with great power give their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, for the abundant grace of God is with them.

The difficulty of a text like this, is not in interpreting the reality of a truth like the resurrection, whether it is historical or scientific, like asking, "How could such a thing happen?"

The real question is "Why don't more people in the church look more resurrected?"