What Happens in This Place Doesn't Stay in This Place
Luke 24:40-49 does not mention Grace Church, but God does address us in this scripture. He wants us to be His witnesses. These words of Jesus find their fulfillment in faithful followers who preach repentance and forgiveness in Jesus' name. Just like with the original disciples, where what happened in Jerusalem didn't stay in Jerusalem, What Happens in This Place Doesn't Stay in This Place. March 25, 2007 Grace Center Dedication.
“Virginia is for lovers.” “Texas: it’s like a whole other country.” And, “I love New York,” have succeeded as slogans for drawing record numbers of visitors to these destinations. But none of them has topped the advertising slogan for the city of Las Vegas: “What happens here stays here.” After taking a few years to spread its message, the slogan helped to explode the tourist market in Vegas so much that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced the construction of over 5,000 additional hotel rooms in 2007. Over the next three years they will add 40,000 more rooms to push the total hotel room volume well over 150,000. Comparatively, the city of Milwaukee doesn’t come close to offering 40,000 hotel rooms and developers announcing plans to build hotels in the new Park East corridor are being laughed at by critics for the lack of a market. While Milwaukee may not be able to boast hot spot tourism like Vegas, we do have something they don’t. The Grace Center. Maybe we need a slick slogan for the Grace Center that rivals Vegas. May I suggest, What Happens in This Place Doesn’t Stay in This Place.
You see, we built the Grace Center because of what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel before he ascended into heaven: “You are witnesses.” While Vegas wants people to know that their sins in Sin City can remain a secret, Jesus appoints us to spread the word so that people know their sins are forgiven and Jesus makes anyone right with God and ready for life. Before we apply this to our use of the Grace Center, let’s take a look at how it happened first in the city of Jerusalem.
The city of Jerusalem
“No … Way!” means you can’t believe what you just heard, but it’s really good news so you’ll take the person’s word for it. “You’ve got to be kidding!” means you never dreamed it would work out this way; the shock and awe have caught you by surprise but you’re just elated. That’s how the Bible describes the disciples who saw the dead Jesus appear to them alive: “they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.” The reality so overwhelmed their small faith and tunnel minded vision that they needed a few moments to let it sink in, all the while elated at the good news. That’s better, of course, then not believing something because of pride or fear. Like not believing a certain segment of the population should be allowed in the Grace Center because they’re not as sophisticated as we are and don’t serve such class accommodations. Or not believing that everyday Grace members can join together as volunteers to create and carry out new programs without the Midas touch of pastors or paid church staff. That kind of unwilling pride or fear slaps God in the face. But not believing “because of joy and amazement” is like slapping oneself in the face to wake up and smell the roses. “Wow! I never believed this could be true. But here it is! Praise God!”
As the disciples considered this, Jesus spoke. “Touch me,” he tenderly invites his skeptical friends. “Do you have anything here to eat?” he asks these slow-to-believe followers before swallowing some broiled fish to show them he wasn’t a ghost. Then, instead of lecturing them to think outside the box, have a little more vision for kingdom growth, and open up their minds - Jesus opens their minds for them. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.’”
Jesus knows the tendency of people to close our minds. We get caught up in our own little world, we like it there and don’t want it disturbed so we close our minds to beneficial change, close our minds to helping people who aren’t like us, close our minds to giving more and loving more than we’re comfortable with, close our minds to what God has in mind for our lives because we prefer the easy way. Then Jesus opens our minds. Opens them to understand that whatever God says in his Word will happen - always happens!
God’s Word said that Jesus would suffer for our sins. And he did. God’s Word said Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day. And he did. Now, here’s an even more unbelievable part. Jesus pointed out how accurately the Scriptures are fulfilled by his saving work, but then he pointed out how accurately the Scriptures are fulfilled by our work of spreading the word to others. “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached … to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” As surely as the Scriptures promised that Jesus would suffer, die, and rise and he did, so the Scriptures make promises about his followers, that we will preach repentance and forgiveness, that we will be witnesses. And here we are today dedicating a building to his glory for use in his mission for us to preach, proclaim, and publicize forgiveness. The predictions and promises of the Scriptures are finding their mark in us!
Jesus offers even more, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” It was time to cap it all off with some extra equipment for his disciples (like James Bond always gets a few new gadgets before a new mission). So they stayed in the city until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit burst onto the scene with special gifts and skills to equip them for witnessing, and anointed them with power and strength to give them courage for the task. The Bible reports that what happened in Jerusalem didn’t stay in Jerusalem. After foreigners visiting Jerusalem heard the followers of Jesus speaking about repentance and forgiveness in their own language they took the message home. The word of God spread beyond Jerusalem when Stephen’s martyred death sent a powerful statement that Jesus was worth dying for. Philip performed miracles and witnessed in Judea and Samaria. Jesus knocked the persecutor Saul off his horse, converted him to the faith, and sent him on mission trips around the Mediterranean. Believers in Jerusalem were scattered by persecutions, a strange fulfillment of the promise of God that then also scattered the news of repentance and forgiveness to other countries. In the following centuries the news spread throughout Europe and Africa, then to Asia and America, then you were born and baptized and here you are today. All because these words of Jesus find their fulfillment in faithful followers who preach repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. What happened in Jerusalem didn’t stay in Jerusalem.
The Grace Center
What happens in the Grace Center doesn’t stay in the Grace Center. By the power and promise of Jesus we are his witnesses. That means Jesus believes in us. Otherwise he’d be sending his angels or resurrecting the apostles or allowing only pastors to preach about repentance and forgiveness of sins but he believes in all of us. Because he has given us something to believe in. Because he has opened our minds. Because he has given us gifts, skills, and resources - the Grace Center among them. Jesus believes in us that we are the best people to show our friends forgiveness. Jesus believes in our volunteers with different skills and interests who will create exciting new programs in the Grace Center to reach our community. Jesus believes in us that when it comes to having enough money to pay for the Grace Center mortgage and expand our programming and staff, we will give generous financial offerings for his kingdom work. Jesus believes in us that we won’t hunker down, lock the doors, and lay claim to the Grace Center as our own little tower of Babel to bring glory to ourselves, but instead we will be witnesses to our neighbors and the world. So that What Happens in This Place Doesn’t Stay in This Place.
Las Vegas welcomed a record 38.9 million visitors in 2006. Milwaukee dreams of that kind of opportunity, but we probably won’t ever experience it. But we have something that Las Vegas doesn’t. We have the Grace Center. And the Grace Center has an even bigger opportunity. Last week a Christian research group announced that our country now has a record 100 million unchurched people who need Jesus, enough people to form what would be the 11th largest nation in the world. What an opportunity! Where do we begin? It begins with you inviting your unchurched friend to the Project Paul performance this Saturday … to the Grace Place coffee lounge for a book club meeting discussing the DaVinci Code … to a special information class in the Grace Center introducing seekers to the basics of the Bible. It begins with you volunteering so that we can create more programs to reach more people. Then it continues when your friend lets a friend know how his or her mind was opened to Jesus … and that friend asks a friend about this Jesus and What Happens in This Place Doesn’t Stay in This Place. So go to the Grace Center today, thank God for such a wonderful gift, and gawk at the architecture and design. And notice the windows. Lots of windows. We designed it that way not only to let light in, but so that we can stand in the Grace Center and see that there’s a neighborhood and a world out there waiting for our witness. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on March 25, 2007
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