God Has Come Down To Us
Through all the peaks and valleys in life wouldn't it be great to have the confidence that God is not relaxing on some distant cloud but right with us, always caring for us in the best possible way and for our eternal benefit? That's what this Bible account in Acts 14:8-18 offers us. God Has Come Down To Us, and he comes now to us through his word. May 13, 2007.
Es gibt allerlei Menschen in Gottes Menagerie. That’s one of the neat German sayings my grandma taught me when I was a little kid. Loose translation – “There are all kinds of people in God’s zoo.” Another similar saying goes like this – “There are all kinds of nuts in God’s fruitcake.” That may sound a bit odd, but it’s actually true. The idea is that we shouldn’t be too surprised to meet people who are different from us. No two people are alike. God has made them all, and just because someone is different, that doesn’t mean that he or she is better or worse than we are. The world is made up of all kinds of different people.
Sociologists and historians tend to categorize all these different people in groups – rich and poor, young and old, those from Western culture and those from Eastern culture. But the portion of Scripture we’re going to concentrate on today from the Book of Acts chapter fourteen gives us another kind of grouping – those who have problems and troubles and realize that God is their only hope for help, and those who feel they are doing OK and don’t give God much thought or simply take him for granted.
Which category are you in? It’s likely that in your lifetime you’ve been on both ends of the spectrum and sometimes in between. Through all those peaks and valleys in life wouldn’t it be great to have the confidence that God is not relaxing on some distant cloud but right with us, always caring for us in the best possible way and for our eternal benefit? That’s what this Bible account offers us because what happened one thousand nine hundred sixty years ago in a town five thousand five hundred miles from here still happens in Milwaukee in 2007. God Has Come Down To Us.
He gets our attention
The author of this Bible book was a man named Luke, a traveling companion of the apostle Paul. Luke was a physician. He had an eye for and an understanding of life’s problems and troubles, especially those related to physical health. In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He relates the details with emphasis, piling up three phrases, crippled in his feet ... lame from birth ... never walked, to make it absolutely clear. This man was beyond human help. Where else could he turn but to God?
We don’t know whether this man had heard about the true God. It’s likely that he hadn’t. I think it’s safe to assume that his only hope was the dim and faint knowledge which all humans have that there is some sort of Higher Power out there. But the man must have been wondering, “If there is a Supreme Being, why does he seem so far away? If only there would be a way for that Higher Power to come down to give me help!” Can’t you just picture this man sitting in the town square, listening to any kind of religious preacher who came to town, hoping to learn the truth? God had gotten this man’s attention.
There were, of course, other folks living in Lystra, and for the majority of them life just went on day after day, business as usual. Lystra was no metropolis. It wasn’t known for commerce or trade. It wasn’t the capital of the region. It was just a typical little town, built on a hill, with a river running through a nearby valley, good pastureland for local sheep farmers, home to a few educated and wealthy land owners, and an outpost for a squadron of Roman soldiers. Like any small town in America, most of the citizens of Lystra just went about their daily routines of farming, land owning, and soldiering without giving much thought about a Supreme Being or a Higher Power.
The God of all grace, the God whom we know and love, wanted to pour out his love to those people. But first he had to get their attention. He did it in a very unusual way. Paul looked directly at the man ... and called out[the original indicates he shouted], “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk”. The townspeople witnessed a miracle. God had their attention.
What will it take for God to get our attention? “Hey! We’re Bible-totin’, church-goin’ people! What are you saying, preacher? Are you insinuating that we’re not paying attention to God?” No! I know most of you are very committed to your Lord and would never dream of doing something contrary to his Word and will. I just know what I’m like. I know that I’m lugging around this extra baggage called a sinful nature which I just can’t seem to get rid of. It makes me take God for granted once in a while. It diverts my attention. It puts blinders on me so I don’t see the possibilities for spiritual growth and greater service. It makes me say, “What more do you want, Lord? You see all things. You know that I’m giving you all the time and energy and money and prayer I can!” Then all of a sudden God allows something to happen, usually when I least expect it, and just like that God’s got my undivided attention.
Has that ever happened to you, or am I the only one? He may not do that in as drastic a way as a long term crippling disease or in as devastating a way as a funeral or in as surprising a way as witnessing a miracle. But he will get our attention, and when he does, praise him because that’s his way of helping us see a bigger picture.
He broadens our vision
The people of Lystra had a very narrow view of God. All they had were wood and stone statues, worthless idols, and whimsical stories like the one told by the Roman poet Ovid in his book Metamorphoses which included the legend about the Greek gods, Zeus and Hermes, who came to a village not far from Lystra and visited the home of a couple who weren’t sharp enough to realize they were entertaining the gods.
So, when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they (reverted to their native tongue instead of speaking Greek and) shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes [the messenger god] because he was the chief speaker”. The crowd even wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
God had their attention. Now he used Paul and Barnabas to broaden their vision. “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We’re not gods. But we are bringing you good news, the best news you could ever hear. It’s news about that Supreme Being you know exists. It’s news about that Higher Power whom you may think is sitting on a distant mountain. He’s no weakling. He doesn’t need extra gods to get the job done. He’s not far away. He’s not dead and gone, buried in some dusty poetry book. He’s the living God, and he has come down to you with evidence that he alone is God and that he has exclusive rights to your souls. Just look around. Do you see the heaven and earth and sea and everything in them? He made them. And guess where the rain and seasons and crops come from? You got it! The true God is so big and so wonderful that he controls the forces of nature and fills your hearts and tummies with joy. He has come down with power and wisdom to remain active in every facet of our lives.”
If the apostles had stopped right there, the account would have probably continued with a description of the people of Lystra shriveling up in fear, “God is too big and powerful. How can we stand before him?”
If you’ve ever experienced long term illness, or faced surgery, or watched someone you care about suffer, or hit the pits in any way, you may have wondered, “What is God trying to tell me?” Well, for one thing, recognize that when bad stuff happens, God has your attention. That in itself is a blessing. But recognize that we have a tendency to bury our noses in our problems. In reality God is using the things that go beyond explanation and the bad stuff to broaden our vision so we can see how awesome he really is.
A single person wanted to know, “Why hasn’t God allowed me to find someone to marry?” Only later did she realize that her single status allowed her the flexibility of schedule to bring Christ into the lives of several friends. Mothers are being recognized and honored today, but one young mother had it right when she said, “I never realized the importance of spiritual strength until waiting for surgery to be completed on my child.” An older person wondered, “Why has God kept me on earth with all my aches and pains when my forty-five year old neighbor died of cancer?” Only later did he learn that his example of quiet confidence in Christ led two nurses and a physical therapist into the Scriptures and into the arms of Jesus.
But when God gets our attention and broadens our vision, we would shrink back in fear if not for the best part of the good news about the living God.
He personalizes salvation
The crippled man heard it. He listened to Paul. What do you think Paul was preaching about? The relative merits of the latest candidates for emperor? The economy? El Mediterranean-o? The reasons for social unrest in the big cities like Corinth, Rome, and Alexandria? No! Paul preached Christ crucified. Paul preached Christ risen. Paul preached Jesus. No wonder this man believed that he could be healed. “If Jesus can forgive a sinner like me and give me heaven, he can surely fix my feet. But even if he doesn’t fix my feet, I know my soul is healed.” That’s how the crippled man was thinking.
Do you see what happened? The great and awesome God who made heaven and earth came to personalize salvation. He looked right at this man and said, “You are mine!”
I know that some of you have at one time or another taken your passport and crossed the border into Illinois to visit Chicago. Maybe you have a chance to go up to the top of one of those downtown skyscrapers like the Sears Tower or the John Hancock building. The view is magnificent. You can see out over Lake Michigan and over the sprawling city. God sees all that. You can Google a satellite of the planet and zoom into your own backyard. God sees all that in real time.
But don’t ever forget that while God sees all, at the same time he sees each and every one of us, personally and individually. He has come down to us in human form, in the form of a servant, to die for us, to live with us, to personalize salvation. He comes to us one at a time with his very own word. Think of it! Think of it often! That will keep you from taking God for granted. God Has Come Down To Us, and he lives with us now.
The whole of human existence could be summarized as one massive effort to climb up to God. But humans can’t do it. So stop trying to get up to God. Recognize that he has come down to us. What Peter wrote to first century Christians I can say to you, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). God Has Come Down To Us, and he comes now to us through his word. Because that’s true, we will go up to him. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on May 13, 2007
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