Christ Unbound: Lord of All

Christ Unbound: Lord of All ““I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. …

Jesus Christ_he is Lord of all.” Acts 10:34-36 (portions)

Main Point: The Spirit is calling believers out of the bondage of religion into the new life of Jesus Christ.

Easter Sunday April 24, 2011 Acts 10:34-36, Psalm 118:20-24, Matthew 28:1-10

Congregational Church of South Hempstead I. Introduction Why it is that in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, now Libya, and even rumblings in China; people are rising up against dictatorships?

I think it’s more like the cab driver I met when I

participated on an educational tour of Cuba two years ago

with a delegation of clergy, lawyers and academics…

50 blankety-blank years… enough already!!!!

Christ Unbound, Lord of All 4/24/11

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There’s something in the air _I believe it is the same thing

that moved people to break out of the mold of politics-as-

usual to elect President Barack Obama _ there is an

energy, a shared yearning in the hearts of people all over

the world to be free from the bondage of old, stanky ideas;

to be loosed from the tyranny of tired, unproductive,

unimaginative leadership.

All over the world… people are tired of the same old stuff

and they are hearing a call to something new…

II. What Does That Have to Do with Easter?

When Jesus got up… he performed the greatest miracle of

all time. Somebody said “well what about Lazarus?” Yes,

raising Lazarus from the dead was, for a few weeks, until

Easter, perhaps the greatest miracle Jesus ever performed.

But,

1 Kings 17, Elijah and the Zarephath widow’s son

2 Kings 4, Elisha and the Shunamite woman’s son


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Nowhere else in the Bible does anyone get up from the

dead on their own….

Now there was a time when I would use my precious few

Easter moments to try to convince the 1-2 nonbelievers in

the room that resurrection is real; that God can do the

impossible act of making a dead body alive again ….

Suffice it to say that there is NO definitive evidence

anywhere proving that Jesus did NOT get up from death;

no grave for Jesus has ever been found; no document, no

conspiracy theory; no secret book; no Da Vinci code

Hollywood movie…

The only evidence of what happened after Jesus’ death is

biblical evidence, and the evidence of a surviving

movement that’s over 2000 years old….

So I’m not going to try to prove to you that Jesus was born,

Jesus lived, Jesus taught, preached and healed, Jesus died,


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and Jesus rose from the dead. The Bible says that it

happened.

But beyond that,

beyond the evidence of biblical witnesses;

beyond the stories of his eating and drinking with the

disciples

beyond the testimony of some 500 hundred witnesses

beyond the Gospel accounts of Mary, and Mary

Magdalene and the other women at the tomb

beyond all of that

something deep within my soul;

something within me

something within me I cannot explain

somethin’, something within

Psalm 42:7 says of it “deep calleth to deep”

In the deepest part of my soul

I can say with confidence , like Job said “I know that My

Redeemer lives”


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III. A New Day for the Church

What I believe God wants us to see today, in the spirit of

the Resurrection, is what the Holy Spirit is saying to us in

the Acts 10 tradition about Peter, the disciple of Jesus and

fantastic preacher, and the Roman Centurian Cornelius

and his household, the first Gentiles, the first non-Jews to

become Christians... [TELL THE STORY]

If it was left up to Peter, Cornelius (a more religious man

than a lot of Christians) would have never met Jesus. For

Peter, Jesus was not supposed to save Gentiles.

The first verse of the first Gospel refers to Jesus as the son

of David. This is a direct reference to 2 Sam 7:13 when the

Lord promises King David that throne of his descendant

will endure forever… All of Israel, all Jews, all of the

disciples believed that the Messiah would be a return to a

King like David… Jesus was not the Israelite idea of

second King David.


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The Scribes, Pharisees, religious leaders were looking for a

Messiah who was ritually pure and doctrinally exact…

Jesus healed the blind man, fed the hungry, and did all

kinds of “works” on the Sabbath! Jesus was not the

religious leaders’ idea of Messiah.

The disciples were expecting Jesus to use his God-powers

to lead a hostile takeover of the kingdoms of this world.

But Jesus surrendered to the temple guards knowing that

he was going to be crucified. Jesus was not the

disciples’ idea of a warrior-king.

Peter was content to preach the Gospel to the people of

Israel and to lead the growing Messiah movement

exclusively within the global community of Jews. Jesus

was not Peter’s idea of a Savior for anyone but his

own people.

The Catholic Church once taught that the bible was the

only source of revelation and that the pope was the head of


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the church. But in the 16th century Martin Luther said that

neither of these things was so, and started the Protestant

Reformation. For the Catholic church before Martin

Luther, Jesus was not supposed to reveal

anything directly to lay people.

The Lutherans thought that their way was the right way to

do baptisms and serve the Lord’s Supper. But then came

the Anabaptists, and then the Methodists, and then the

Anglicans, and then the Episcopalians, and the

Presbyterians, and the Pentecostals, and the Evangelicals,

and the Congregationalists, and over 100 different kinds of

Baptists, and the Reformed Church, and the Orthodox

Church, the Church of God, the Church of Christ, the

Church of God in Christ, the United Church of Christ, the

Disciples of Christ, and…. I can go on and on with this list,

and then I can go to another country… But excuse me if I

use Ebonics to say this: Jesus ain’t studyin’ any o y’all

denominations….


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What am I saying today, Beloved?

Jesus was not bound by the Israelites’ hopes for a

Second David

Jesus was not bound by the regulations of the lawyers,

the Scribes, or the Pharisees

Jesus was not bound by the disciples hope for a warrior

king

When he went before the high priests in that mock trial

that would lead to his death, Jesus was not bound to

answer their questions.

When he forgave the crowd before he died on the cross,

Jesus was not bound by our ideas about forgiveness

And when he got up…. got up…. got up from the dead,

Jesus was not bound by the laws of nature.

There’s not enough extra-biblical “evidence” to prove

the resurrection one way or the other, but Jesus is not

bound by our belief or our unbelief


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Whether Peter got the vision or not, Jesus was not

bound by Peter’s ethnocentrism and Peter’s prejudice

against Gentiles

Jesus is not bound by what the Catholics say he is

Jesus is not bound by what the Protestants say he is

He’s not bound by whether you claim to be

Congregationalist

Nor is he bound because you belong to the UCC

Jesus could care less that you believe God is still

speaking

Jesus is not bound by your belief that God can only

speak through the bible

Jesus is not bound by your hatred of Muslims or your

love for certain hymns

Jesus has never voted Democrat

Jesus has never been to a Tea Party

Jesus can go to any church he wants to.

Or Jesus can go to a synagogue, a temple, a mosque, a

bar, a jail house, a storefront church, a cathedral, a crack

house, a park bench, a homeless shelter, the White


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House, the Kremlin, Jesus can even go to one of those

caves that bin Laden is hiding in…

What the HS was saying to Peter is the same thing that

Jesus is saying to the church today. GET WITH THE

PROGRAM PEOPLE!!!! NOT EVEN THE GRAVE CAN

KEEP ME BOUND. WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN

KEEP ME BOUND UP IN THAT LITTLE, TINY BOX

CALLED YOUR IDEA OF CHURCH OR YOUR IDEA OF

WHO I CAN SAVE?

The Spirit is calling believers out of the bondage of

religion into the new life of Jesus Christ.

The message of the resurrection is that Jesus Christ cannot

be bound. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

There’s something in the air … There is an energy, a shared

yearning in the hearts of people all over the world to be

free from the bondage of old, stanky ideas; to be loosed


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from the tyranny of tired, unproductive, unimaginative

leadership. All over the world… people are tired of the

same old stuff and they are hearing a call to something

new… They’re primed for some church folk to show up in

the name of Jesus….

The Spirit is calling believers out of the bondage of

religion into the new life of Jesus Christ.

The message of the resurrection is that Jesus Christ cannot

be bound. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

Christ is unbound. Jesus Christ is Lord of All!!!

Christ Unbound: Lord of All

Spiritual

Transcript of Christ Unbound: Lord of All