The Most Successful Sermon
Ever
Dr. Larry Thorson
Acts 2:14-41
14 Then Peter stood up with
the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all
of you who live in
36 "Therefore let all
37 When the people heard this,
they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles,
"Brothers, what shall we do?"
38 Peter replied, "Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are
far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40 With many other words he
warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt
generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were
baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Today’s New International Version Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
Wow! Three-thousand converts after hearing one
sermon. That HAS to be the most successful sermon ever. Unfortunately we don’t see that happen very
often, not even again in the New Testament.
It was one of those days when they had the perfect response to a sermon:
"What should we do?"
I struggle with that question every week when I’m
preparing a sermon. If I was going to
speak one time to a group of people I didn’t know, I’d give them something
specific to do at the end of my talk.
When I preach to you every week there’s only so much I can expect you to
do. One week I might urge you to read
your Bible more. Another week it might
be pray more. The next week it might be
to work with children in our Sunday school.
If you did everything a minister thought you should be doing as a result
of his sermon you’d have to cut down on bathroom breaks, eat your meals faster
and sleep less to get it all done.
"What should we do?" One minister said
of preaching “We hear the scripture. We hear the word preached. But nothing
happens until those of us who polish the pews with our posteriors ask that
question. Until we do, what we have is not a message, but a massage." I’d have to say that massages are not all bad
especially if you’re getting pretty beaten up during the week.
But sometimes we need to change and Peter told these folks to repent and be
baptized in the name of Jesus so that their sins could be forgiven and they
could receive the Holy Spirit.
"Repent and be baptized,
everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ..." I want you to notice how Peter
doesn’t give us helpful hints on living a more fulfilling life, no useful
projects to work on, no feel-good platitudes.
His message was not a massage. Rather,
he simply calls people to change.
A Sunday School teacher once asked
a class what was meant by the word "repentance." A little boy put up
his hand and said, "It is being sorry for your sins." A little girl
also raised her hand and said, "It is being sorry enough to quit."
There was a cartoon wandering
around several years ago in which little George Washington is standing with an
axe in his hand. Before him lying on the ground is the famous cherry tree. He
has already made his smug admission that he did it - after all, he "cannot
tell a lie." But his father is standing there exasperated saying,
"All right, so you admit it! You always admit it! The question is, when
are you going to stop doing it."
Each year the New York Times takes
a national poll concerning what Americans believe about the direction of our
country. This year over 80% of Americans
- more than four out of five of us -thought our nation was on the wrong track,
the highest number ever recorded since the sampling was begun. That’s up from
69% a year ago and 35% in early 2002. According to the paper, "Although
the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in
National change starts with
individual change. As the old adage has
it, when I point a finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back
toward me. We need to change.
Psychiatrist Tom Harris, who wrote the high
selling book, I'm OK, You're OK, says that
there are three reasons why people change.[2]
First, people change when it is more painful to remain as they are than to
change. For example we’ll put off going to the doctor until the pain makes us
miserable. We make a change only when it is more painful to stay where we are
than to change.
A second reason for change, according to Dr.
Harris, is finding our self at the point of despair. Perhaps we suddenly come
to the realization that we are about to lose our marriage, our family, our
health. At that point we may change. You have heard people say, "I had to
reach rock bottom, before I could take hold of my life."
Harris adds a third motive for change. He calls it
the "Eureka Stage." That is, some people change because they discover
- much to their surprise - that there is something better that they have been
missing. That’s the message of the Gospel.
There is a richer, fuller life in Jesus Christ that is available to all who
will receive it.
Those who heard Peter preach that day knew that
they had found something that would make their lives more joyous, more
purposeful, more livable. This was it.
Repentance, of course, is only a first step,
according to Peter. "Be baptized, every one of you." Think not of
simply a ceremony that involves some water. Think instead of what baptism does
- it introduces someone officially into the life of the church. Peter's
instruction about baptism says we cannot handle this repentance stuff on our
own - we need the help of the family of faith. Then we can experience
forgiveness, then we can experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
These were powerful words from Peter on Pentecost. "Brothers, what can we
do?"
Repent, be baptized, and receive power. And, as
the text has it, "and about three thousand were added to their number that
day." The most successful sermon ever.
We are invited to join them. Is there something in
your life that needs to change? Are you
happy with your weight right now? Are
you happy with your blood pressure? Are
you happy with your daily exercise regimen?
Are you satisfied with the amount of time you spend alone with God each
day? Are you satisfied with where your
spiritual life is right now?
Change begins with the decision to stop the
direction you’re going in and start going in another direction. If you’ve already been baptized that means
you have fellow believers in a church who will help you in your decision to
change. Tell them. Share with them your struggles. Let them hold you accountable.
Then you can receive real power from above. But don’t be looking for that power if you
refuse to change your lifestyle. If
you’re going to refuse to exercise, refuse to stop abusing the bottle, refuse
to change anything about your life then don’t expect that power of God on your
life. But if you’re willing to admit you
need to change and make an effort to change, God’s Spirit will give you
incredible power to overcome. Let the
change begin today, here and now, as your Lord welcomes you to his table.