The Lutheran Hour
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"Words of Grace Build Us Up"
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Text: Acts 20:32
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God’s Word for us today is Acts 20:32— “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Paper greeting cards still work. We’re talking today about the cards you put in an envelope and mail, or that you hand to someone, or that you put on the top of a gift. I know that you can send greetings electronically, and social media has all sorts of ways to send messages and best wishes. But the traditional greeting card is still working. I read recently that the greeting card industry is around 7 billion dollars a year in the United States. That’s a lot of birthday cards and get-well cards. All those cards do at least three things: They wish us well, of course. But they might also contain a gift besides just the words. Finally, they remind us of the people with whom we belong.
Our text today does those three things and more.
Paul speaks of the power of God’s Words of grace. The Words of grace build us up, giving us more than just a wish. The gracious Words of God actually change our lives and always for the better. These gracious Words also tell us of the inheritance we have coming. Finally, these Words remind us that we are part of a much larger family than we can imagine, the family of all who are sanctified by God’s gracious Words. These Words of grace are not just a sincere wish, but they are the power of God to do His work.
Let’s go back, however, to greeting cards for a moment. I have a number of greeting cards propped up in front of me. I have a birthday card, a get-well card, a congratulations-on-your-wedding card, and a sympathy card. Our local grocery store loves me for buying all these—though they’re wondering why I needed so many of them all at once.
While they’re all different, in essence, all these cards wish someone the best. We hope that someone has a wonderful birthday and a great year to come. We wish the wedding couple the very best on their marriage. We hope that the one who is in the hospital will get well soon and can come home. These are all wonderful wishes, and we mean them. We send the cards and hope for the best.
But hope is the best we can do with a card. However, the word of God’s grace can do so much more. God’s Word truly builds us up, as the Acts 20 text says. The Word of grace is not just a sincere wish. Words of grace tell us the heart of God and His intentions towards us. Words of grace are God’s verdict over each one of us. That gracious judgment is spoken in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Because God has chosen to deal with us by undeserved grace, we have a new peace and relationship with Him. Romans 5:1-2 describes this so well, saying: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.”
These Words of grace change our hearing of all that God says. Imagine that all you have received in the mail lately are bills. There are bills you expected and bills you never imagined would find you. The debts just keep running on, and you have no way to catch up. You hear the mail truck pull up, and you know the mailman is filling your box again. You run down to get the mail as soon as he pulls away? No. You don’t even want to know that he’s come. If you could, you’d just leave that mailbox unopened.
Now suppose someone gets the mail anyway and brings it in for you. He says, “You’ve got mail again. Do you want it now?”
You say, “No, you can just leave it there. I’ll get to it sometime.”
But what if the one holding the mail said, “I think you want to open this. This is not a bill.”
“Really?” you say. “What else is there?”
“Look, it’s a card. This can’t be a bill. Here, open it and see.”
And so, you take it and it is a card, not a bill. It’s a card with the best news you could ever imagine. It says all your debts are paid. They’re paid and they’re gone. And the future is paid for also. Any future charges that might come after you are paid already. You’re free. Paid for. Out of debt. Now is that news you want to hear? Is that news that could build you up? Absolutely!
That is the Word of grace that builds us up. We lift up our eyes from the despair of debt over sin. We hear God’s voice out of the darkness, and His call is to listen to His promises and believe His payments have come fully for us. This is the wonderful news of the Words of grace that we are more than glad to hear.
Forgiveness is the word of God that builds us up. Because of this message of grace, Paul can say in Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope.” Hope is a fine thing, and joy is better than despair. But unless we have a reason for hope, our joy is an empty shell. But God’s Word of grace insists that God has paid our debts, and He has kept His promises for each one of us through the power and sacrifice of Jesus. Our joy is built on the firm Words of grace, and our hope has no room for doubt within. We are built up with the Words of grace.
So, we could stop here with the power of God’s Words of grace, but there’s still more to the message of God. It’s a bit like getting birthday cards when you’re 8 years old. When I was a boy on the farm, a birthday meant lots of cards. I come from a big, extended family with plenty of aunts and uncles, and so birthdays meant cake, candles, and cards. Now, by the time I was 8, I knew that some cards held more than a few kind words. An 8-year-old boy can feel if there’s something else in that card. Now, opening it up you’ll find one of two things. There could be simple money in there. A $5 bill back then was a great gift. Or, it could be a check and that would always be something more, $10 or even $20! Great, but it’s a check. I have it but I don’t have it. It won’t be money until Dad goes into town, goes to the bank, and cashes the check. Then I’d have the gift.
That’s Paul’s next point in our text, Acts 20:32. He writes, “I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” The Words of grace are wonderful in their message of forgiveness through God’s mercy. But there’s more than words of hope in the message of grace. There is God’s promise of the inheritance to come.
What is the inheritance He gives? It’s the new life to come with Jesus’ return and thereby the resurrection of the dead. All those who have died in faith will be raised, their bodies transformed to reflect His resurrected body. Listen to Paul’s promise of this inheritance in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also, when you heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.”
We start with the certainty of this inheritance of resurrection and eternal life. The news is wonderful! We will be raised from the dead, transformed from death to life. But can we trust this news that we still can’t see in ourselves? We don’t have renewed bodies. We’re still living with our bodies that are so often weak and painful. How do we rejoice in hope with the promise of this inheritance?
It’s like getting that check in the birthday card. At 8 years old, I couldn’t drive from the farm into town. I couldn’t walk into our bank and cash the check. But Dad could do that. The very next day, when Dad was getting ready for going into town, you know I made sure to give him the check to cash. I’m sure I reminded him more than once to not forget the check. And my father never forgot. The promise was always kept.
If our earthly fathers can keep a simple promise to cash a birthday check, can we depend on our Heavenly Father to keep His promise of the inheritance of eternal life? Will He remember to raise us up to the places He’s prepared for us? Absolutely yes! He will remember and He has already given us the assurance of this inheritance. In the Ephesians 1 text we read that He sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance. God’s good news of grace is not only words, but it is both a present gift and guarantee of the inheritance to come.
Knowing that we will be anxious about our inheritance of eternal life, God gives us the Holy Spirit as the gift that is here and now. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the promise coming in the future while also giving us His presence every day right now.
When you got money for your birthday, did you get to spend it? How about a trip to McDonald’s for two Big Macs and a small order of fries? That sounds great, but I’m guessing you got to do that once. The rest of that $20 went into some kind of savings, either at the bank or into that piggy bank that was almost impossible to empty out. You had the gift, but there wasn’t much you could do with it in the piggy bank.
God’s gift of Words of grace are more than an untouched treasure. The Spirit promises us the future resurrection, but He also dwells with us every day. The Spirit brings His fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the gifts that are here and growing today. Certainly, in heaven we’ll see the full measure of these, but already the Spirit raises up these gifts now. The Spirit is a guarantee of the future resurrection and also the present, living dwelling of God with us. He who lives within us now will complete His promise of a complete inheritance of resurrection to come.
So, these Words of grace build us up and also promise the coming inheritance. We certainly could stop here and ask for nothing more. However, there is one final stage to the Words of grace. Listen again to our Acts 20:32 text: “And now I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” The inheritance comes with the whole company of all who believe and will receive the same.
I wonder if only my mother did this with Christmas cards. I wish we could share our experiences of growing up, but here is my memory. When Christmas cards came to our house, my mother taped them onto the door frames of the house. She started with the three doors leading into the kitchen and then branched over to the living room. Did your family do this? As a boy growing up, I thought everyone put Christmas cards on their doorframes, but later I learned that we were a little unusual. The point of the cards was to brighten up the old farmhouse and also to remind us that we were part of a very large circle of family. I remember reading these cards and asking who this or that person was. My mother would say, “Oh, you know them. That’s your cousin in Detroit.” Whether I remembered them or not, it was simpler at that point to agree that, of course, Alice and Herbert were the Detroit relatives.
Those Christmas cards and words reminded me that, though our family was small—just my parents, me and my sister—we were part of a really big, far-flung family. That is the third message and effect of the Words of God’s grace. We are built up, receiving an inheritance and doing so as part of the whole people of God. That larger family of God doesn’t diminish our significance. The inheritance of the resurrection and eternal life is complete for every one of us included in His kingdom.
Perhaps the best vision of this inheritance shared by a countless body is John’s vision of heaven in Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” What a gathering, which, being from every tribe and nation, means there is no barrier to any of us due to our heritage or inheritance. This gathering depends on one key. John asked who these in heaven were, and the joyful answer was this: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Our pasts have been washed away by His sacrificial blood, and that cleansing has come entirely by His actions of grace. Only His mercy covers us in His presence. But with that gracious mercy, we can come without fear both into the family of God and onto His throne.
Hebrews 4:15-16 expresses that freedom due to God’s grace. Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Grace brings us near to the one and same throne where every one of us receives the same gift of mercy in time of need. While our cards and especially our Christmas letters might tell of the differences between us and our cousins in Detroit, the gracious Words of God level all our differences. In coming to His throne, we find the same mercy and the same welcome. Our pasts are washed away and only His mercy draws us together.
These are the Words of grace that build us up. Greeting cards are good, and I trust the greeting card industry will keep on doing just fine. But while cards can wish us well and might include cash and checks from our distant relatives, they are nothing compared to the Words of God’s grace. That grace truly builds us up by fulfilling God’s wishes for us, giving us the lasting inheritance and gathering us with all His saints.
Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank You for the Words of grace that You have spoken to the world through the work of Your Son. Open our ears to hear Your gracious Words, to be built up and reminded of the inheritance we will share with all Your people. We pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Reflections for July 14, 2024
Title: Why was St. Paul on trial?Mark Eischer: Joining us now, here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Mike Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. And thanks to Pastor Paavola for the message today. We’re visiting again with Dr. Jeff Gibbs, a beloved Bible teacher in our church body. Welcome back, Jeff.
Jeff Gibbs: Thanks, Mike. It’s good to be here.
Mike Zeigler: We are nearing the end of our study on the book of Acts, and roughly a quarter of that book is devoted to Paul’s trial, this defense that he’s giving in response to accusations that are brought to him and against him. How would you summarize the complaints about Paul that are being brought? What do his opponents think he deserves to be on trial for?
Jeff Gibbs: That’s a good question, and there’s probably more than one answer. But when you recall that arrest in chapter 21, it had to do with the temple, and the place of the temple in how God wants to save and protect His people. And Paul believes, like all Christians, that there’s been something new that God has done, now that He’s sent His Son. There’s like 50 Bible verses crowding into my head at this moment.
Mike Zeigler: Which one? Which one’s going—
Jeff Gibbs: Yeah, well, I was actually going to run to the Gospel of John, “The Word became flesh and tented among us.” So that now the temple is the presence of God to save and to give His gifts of life, and forgiveness, and wisdom, and everything, are in Jesus. The temple was a great idea. It was God’s idea. Right? But now the “fulfillment,” that important New Testament word, a temple has been fulfilled in Jesus. But they didn’t like the idea, and they destroyed the temple. But in three days—
Mike Zeigler: He raised— God raised—
Jeff Gibbs: … there’s Easter, there’s the resurrection. So the resurrection is not only the proof that Jesus is the temple, but it is His vindication, His priestly office. This is Hebrews now. You can’t be a high priest if you’re dead, that’s what Hebrews says, all those other high priests were prevented from continuing in office because they died. But Jesus’ priestly office and intercession for us at God’s right hand is because He has the power of an indestructible life. So they knew this. And so his opponents are still focused on the temple. So if you just read Acts 21, you think, “Oh, they were just upset about this: they thought he had brought a Gentile into a place where Gentiles were not allowed to go.” And that was the immediate occasion for the riot and Paul’s arrest. But it was more about Who’s the temple? See?
Mike Zeigler: Mm-hmm.
Jeff Gibbs: And who is, you could say it this way, the living house? Now, I’m running to 1 Peter, “living stones.” So it’s all wrapped up in what the resurrection of Jesus has not only demonstrated, but accomplished. And then, early on in Acts, it says in chapter 4, they’re really upset because they’re proclaiming, in Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. So that’s their witnessing, that’s their center of their message. So you could say that Paul is on trial because of what he thinks about the temple. That is to say, because of what he thinks about Jesus, risen from the dead. And they don’t get all that, but Paul gets it, and that’s why there’s been a riot. And, now, the Romans have him in protective custody, and then it takes off from there.
Mike Zeigler: So they have this trial, they have to move it to Caesarea because of the riot in Jerusalem. And then it’s like the Jewish leaders get a lawyer, who can speak to the Roman official, and he lays out the Jewish charges, that he’s breaking the Jewish laws. And then he throws in, “And he’s a troublemaker and he’s a disturber of the peace.” And that’s the whole case that’s brought to him. But then every time Paul gets a chance to defend himself, he always says it’s something about “the hope of Israel,” or “I’m on trial for the resurrection of the dead.” Which relates to exactly what you were saying.
Jeff Gibbs: Exactly, the risen Jesus has given His spirit, who’s guiding and empowering and giving courage and leading Paul into places where He gets beat up. But, yeah, that’s the hope. Paul always reverts back to that. And you see this in his letters.
Mike Zeigler: So the temple, all the laws of Moses, these were holding patterns or pointers to this greater hope of a Person, the Lord God Himself, the Messiah, was going to come in this Person. And the resurrection proves that Jesus is that guy, which displaces all those other things because the One has arrived. And that’s the issue.
Jeff Gibbs: Yes. And I would even change just one word that you said. He doesn’t displace them, He catches them up in Himself. And then in doing that, He transforms them. Some of them more radically than others, like the sacrificial system. We got a sacrifice, now, it’s one and done. And there are no more sacrifices of that kind any more. Other things, the fulfillment, to us at least, doesn’t look like quite as radical a transformation.
But, yeah, someone said to me once that God never has a bad idea. He catches them all up in Himself. And so the Sunday school answer, “It’s Jesus,” is really right and profoundly true in lots and lots of ways. And with Easter, something new has happened. Never before, since Genesis 3, has death been destroyed permanently, but now it has. We’re living in the Easter time now. There’s still faith required. There’s still hiddenness. There’s still struggle. It’s not all happy-clappy. But Jesus is raised, and by His Spirit whom He poured out because He was raised from the dead, He’s guiding and protecting His church as well. That’s the story of Acts.
Mike Zeigler: Well, on that, not everything’s happy-clappy. Every time Paul has a trial, the officials always declare him innocent.
Jeff Gibbs: Yeah, that’s right.
Mike Zeigler: And, yet, it keeps on going on. So what is driving this? Why does the trial just get drug on now for seven chapters?
Jeff Gibbs: I think it’s at least related to this, that—so Paul, we know from Romans, and we can affix when Paul wrote the letter of Romans, we know he was planning to go to Rome. Now, he was going to go from there to Spain. That’s what he says at the end of Romans in chapter 15. And then Jesus appears to Paul after the trial business has started. He says, “You’re going to go to Rome.” But if you read Acts, what Jesus could have said in that vision, “But you have no idea how you’re going to get there. And you don’t actually know how it’s going to turn out. But you know what? You’re going to get to Rome and you’re going to testify.”
And so at least part of the message there for us, if we want to apply this to ourselves, is that message: Jesus is Lord. Oh, you don’t know what’s going on? Jesus is Lord. And you don’t know how this is going to turn out? And, of course, Paul was given a dream twice. So he knew, “Okay, somehow, I’m getting to Rome.” But I just think it’s part of that, as you know, you emphasized this nicely a few weeks ago, Acts begins with, OK, the first Gospel—that’s what Jesus began to do. Now, guess what? Jesus is going to continue to do things, but He’s the Lord. He doesn’t tell us. I guess we’ll just have to trust Him.
Mike Zeigler: Amen.
Jeff Gibbs: Yeah, right. Yeah, you want to take up an offering? That was a little bit like a sermon. You’re the Lutheran Hour Speaker.
Mike Zeigler: Thank you so much for joining us in these conversations. And we’ll have you back for one last one, as we talk about that shipwreck and that chaos in which Jesus reigns in, nonetheless.
Jeff Gibbs: Indeed, yeah. Sounds good.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“How Richly God Will Bless Those” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Jesus, Priceless Treasure” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.