Acts 3:1-10 (NIV)
1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at
the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now
a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple
gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg
from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter
and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter
looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look
at us!" 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting
to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give
you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by
the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles
became
strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them
into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all
the people
saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who
used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled
with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
1 Corinthians 15:55-16:4
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"56The sting of death
is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be
to God! He gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give
yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor
in the Lord is not in vain.
1Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches
to do. 2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a
sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come
no collections will have to be made. 3Then, when I arrive, I will give letters
of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.
4If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
One of the great mixed blessings of being educated as a
Presbyterian minister in Canada is the compulsory study
of a Biblical language—either Hebrew or Greek. I took
Greek.
For me, and many others in my class, learning Greek was right
up there with getting our wisdom teeth pulled and filling
out our tax forms. It could be both painful and extremely
complicated.
But, all of the original writings of the New Testament
were in Greek. Hence, the need to know something of the language.
This being Thanksgiving Sunday I would like to give thanks
for Greek classes and take you along with me as we do two
important word studies. I hope these word studies show
the importance of being familiar with the original languages
of Scripture without being too painful for you.
The first word study is the Greek word for thanksgiving.
In Greek, thanksgiving is “eucharistia”. The
root word here is “charis” which is translated
in English as grace. More specifically charis means “everything
about which one rejoices.” The preface “eu” in
eucharistia means “well, rightly, properly or very”.
So, an extended translation of eucharistia would be “to
express a very thankful attitude through rejoicing.”
We have here a word of action—a word that speaks
of showing gratitude through doing something. Indeed, one
term for the Lord’s Supper is Eucharist—expressing
thankfulness for Jesus by eating and drinking the bread
and wine of the sacrament.
Thanksgiving, then, isn’t understood in Scripture
to be passive. It’s active. It isn’t limited
to a few words of appreciation. It’s expressed in
doing, living, being.
Our second word study comes from our readings in Acts and 1 Corinthians.
Acts 3:7
7Taking him by the right hand, he (Peter) helped him up,
and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
The term “helped him up” comes from the Greek
word “anastasis”. It means to be raised up—to
stand up.
Peter helped the lame man up. He raised him up. He did
so physically but it was much more than that. Peter raised
him up by healing him. He raised him
up spiritually. He raised him up in every way imaginable. It’s a powerful
expression with a powerful image attached to it.
“Anastasis” figures powerfully as well in 1 Corinthians 15.
This is called the “Resurrection Chapter.” It
deals with the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection
bodies of believers.
Because of the resurrection death had no power over Jesus.
Death has been defeated. It has no permanent hold over
those who claim Christ by faith. Death, for the Christian,
is a
passageway from this life into new life in God’s
full presence in heaven.
The Apostle Paul even taunted death in our lesson:
Vss. 55
“
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
The resurrection of Jesus has defeated death and confirmed
Jesus as the Son of God. It offers the assurance for
us that Jesus is who He said He is. It’s
proof that what Jesus said and did were direct revelations of God.
The resurrection is our guarantee of these truths.
The Greek word for resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 is “anastasis”.
Now, immediately after this glorious theological affirmation
of Christ’s
resurrection and our assured resurrection and victory over death, Paul
does an interesting thing.
1 Corinthians 16:1-3
1Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches
to do. 2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside
a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come
no collections will have to be made. 3Then, when I arrive, I will give letters
of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.
Tied directly to the wonder and awe of the Resurrection
is the practical, concrete appeal for a collection for the
Church in Jerusalem.
After the sermon comes the offering!
See—it’s Biblical! J
The collection Paul writes about is something that runs
through several of his letters.
The background to it is this:
The Church in Jerusalem was the original Christian Church.
It spawned Paul, who went out to the known world to spread
the Gospel of Christ and plant more Churches.
But, as the Church grew in far flung corners, the believers
in Jerusalem struggled. They suffered persecution from
both the Jewish hierarchy and the Roman rulers. Things weren’t
easy for the original group of Christians. People lost
jobs because of their faith. Some lost their freedom. Some
lost
their lives.
The people and the Church found themselves between a rock
and a hard place. They also found themselves strapped financially.
They needed help so Paul circulated among the broader Church
the needs of what was really the parent Church. If help was
to come it had to come from those outside Jerusalem.
Paul wrote of the needs without shame and without apology.
There was financial hardship and it was his prayer that fellow
Christians would respond.
From the strong emphasis on the Resurrection and its victory,
Paul went right to the nuts and bolts of life.
Faith was founded in a response to what Christ had done.
It was lived out in the actions of those who followed Christ.
Faith wasn’t a theological concept. It wasn’t
just a theory of hope for the future. Faith was real and
its reality meant that it was to be expressed in concrete
ways. One of those ways was to meet the needs of those
struggling in Jerusalem.
Let’s review our word studies.
“Eucharistia” means giving thanks through joyful
action.
“
Anastasis “ means to be raised up.
Tying these two concepts together for Thanksgiving, I’d
like to talk about how a raised up community of Christ gives
thanks through concrete service—and concrete service,
as Paul noted, involves financial offerings.
There are two forms of helping concretely—helping
financially—I’d like to talk about.
First, we can give thanks to God by helping with Mission work.
And we can give thanks to God by contributing to the ministry needs here
at St. Timothy’s.
Mission work has changed over the years. It’s no longer just about preaching
the Gospel and trying to get people in other countries to embrace Christianity.
It’s no longer a mix of our faith plus our culture that’s on
offer.
There is a new thrust in missions today.
A group of Christian campers, from around the world, gathered
together at a campfire. The conversation turned to how they
reached out with the Gospel in their various denominations
and countries.
Maria, from Africa, said that her group didn’t hand
out pamphlets or stand on street corners to preach at people.
Instead they sent one or two Christian
families into a town to live and work there. When the town folk saw what
Christians were like, they often wanted to become Christians
too.
That’s what our missionaries do nowadays. Missions
isn’t about beating people over the head with the Bible.
It’s about living amongst others and showing Christ’s
love and care—showing a gracious way of life.
That work is exciting. It takes special people. It also
takes interest on the part of Christians in established communities
in developed parts of the world.
Missions, like any Christian responsibility, makes demands
of us—but it also blesses us in many beautiful
ways.
A Church that looks beyond itself is a stronger Church.
A Church that seeks to spread the Gospel beyond its four walls is a Church
whose priorities will be blessed.
A Church that takes Missions seriously will have all that it does invigorated
with the excitement of the Holy Spirit and His power.
Missions is important.
May we give thanks for it.
May we pray for it.
May we contribute towards it as best we can.
We also give thanks, in a concrete way, as we support the
local ministry of this congregation.
I’m very proud of St. Timothy’s. We have taken
on some challenging budgets over the past few years—budgets
that have stretched us—budgets that have provided
for different ways of doing ministry.
I give thanks that we aren’t like the congregation
where the preacher said, “This Church, like the crippled
man, has got to get up and walk.”
And the people responded, “That’s right! Let
it walk”
“
This Church,” he continued, “like Elijah on
Mount Carmel, has got to run.”
“
Amen”, the people shouted, “Let it run.”
“
This Church has got to mount up on wings like eagles and
fly”.
“ Let it fly. Let if fly!”
But when the preacher said, “If it flies it will take
money!”, the people shouted, “Let it walk!
Let it walk”
By God’s grace we have been walking and running and
flying.
Much has been accomplished.
Ministry, by definition, reaches out beyond itself.
Ministry points to others and expresses the love, care and
concern of Christ.
Ministry changes conditions around it.
It brings hope.
It touches lives.
As we offer our financial resources, God blesses them and
develops ministry through us.
We have much to give thanks for.
We give thanks—we offer our “eucharisita”—when
we share our resources—resources that can and do
make a difference when we offer them to Missions through
Presbyterians
Sharing or Presbyterian World Service and Development or
outside agencies such as World Vision or Sleeping Children
Around the World or Christmas Shoe Boxes or the Salvation
Army Food Bank.
And, we give thanks that we can share our resources to keep
this congregation moving forward as a congregation that
is “anastasis”—raised
up in Christ’s name. 45 years down and we pray another
hundred and forty five years to go—minimum.
There remains much to do.
There will always be a need for the love, compassion and
truth of the Gospel.
There will always be a need to live out the Gospel in far
away places.
There will always be a need to be the Body of Christ here
at home.
There will always be a need for “anastasis eucharistia”—a
raised up community giving thanks in active and powerful
ways.
(1691)
© The Rev. Dennis Cook, St. Timothy’s Presbyterian
Church, Ajax, ON, Canada
