Peter's sermon in Acts 2 is just as relevant today as it was
2000 years ago. To put verse 36 in today's language, it might go something like
this:
“Everyone who is listening to my voice or reading this: You have rejected Jesus and refused to believe in Him. But God, the only God, the God of the universe, has made Jesus both supreme ruler and your one and only hope of rescue from evil. He is all that and more. And regardless of whether you accept this message, it does not change the fact that it is the absolute, bedrock truth.”
There are only two possible responses to such a message –
acceptance or rejection. There is no middle ground. To try to ride the fence or
remain indecisive is to reject Jesus and say no to God.
By way of persuading the people, Peter refers to a passage
from David that most of those present would have been familiar with, though
perhaps uncertain of its true meaning. Many may have thought it was just
flowery poetic language and that David was referring to himself or some purely
human successor. Peter clarifies: “David surely wasn't talking about himself.
You know David is dead, and you know where David is buried. No, he was talking
about Jesus, who is NOT rotting in a tomb, but was literally raised to life. We
all saw him and talked with him and ate with him AFTER he died on the cross.
Jesus has fulfilled David's prophecy. He's the real deal. And YOU killed him.”
Jesus is the real deal. Perhaps that's the message for this
modern, hip age. Don't we want the real deal, the genuine article, something
that won't disappoint? We see so much, especially in people, that turns out not
to be the real deal. Corrupt politicians, disappointing lives of actors or
sports figures. And closer to home, friends, coworkers, spouses let us down and
prove themselves to be untrustworthy. Not only that, but in our better moments
(when we are willing to own up to our own failings) we know that we ourselves
do the same to others. Paul reminds us in Romans 3 that none of us is the real
deal: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for
God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does
good, not even one.”
We all need, we all want, someone who is the real deal.
Peters words echo down through the ages, “You've rejected the one and only real
deal in the universe.” The people listening to Peter were convicted by his
message. They realized their desperate need to do something about the crime
they had committed. Not just any crime, but that of murdering the one whom God
had chosen. Although we today cannot reject him in such an overt way (murder),
we are still just as guilty of rejecting him, of refusing him, of turning our
backs on Christ.
God still longs for us to be convicted today, just as the
people were 2000 years ago. He longs for his prodigals to run to him, asking
“What shall I do?”. Happily, that forlorn question is not the end of the
matter. The screen doesn't fade to black at that point. Instead, Peter's
message is one of wondrous hope: Despite your sordid, rotten past, God holds
out his hand of love. Turn away from your past, believe in Jesus, be baptized
in his name, and God will wipe that past away. Turn to God, follow in Jesus'
steps, and receive the gift of God's spirit.
You want the real deal? It's Jesus, the God of the universe
in the flesh. For 33 years, God became one of us. He knows us from the inside
out, and he loves us. He's the one and only real deal.
- Donn Hines
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