If I preached this sermon again, I would take the sub-point about Simon thinking he could franchise God's touch and make it the second move. Actually, the move would be Simon really sees the value in God's touch and the Holy Spirit. then, I would move to the third section about how the touch is not for sale. I think that would have been a better sermon.
The Associate Pastor pulled out the phrase, "the intent of your heart may be forgiven you" for her pastoral prayer. That also would have been an interesting sermon, although it would have been very different sermon.
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come[a] upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John[b] laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money! 21 You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.
“Is the Touch for Sale?” Acts 8: 14-23; Numbers 27: 18-23; SAPC, Denton; May 28, 2017
Move 1: The laying on of hands has been going on among God's people for a long time.
(touched by God” is not unique to this sermon series!
- We read the passage in Numbers and are reminded that Moses laid hands on Joshua to confer on him the mantle of leadership of God's people.
1. As Moses laid on hands it was a symbol for God's people that Joshua had been chosen.
2. But it also conveyed to Joshua the power of God that will be at work through him as he leads God's people.
b. In similar fashion, Peter and John have been laying on hands.
1. Their touch carries the power of God and the bestowing of the Holy Spirit.
2. A symbolic ritual that shows forth the presence of God.
3. But also the conveying of the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. they are not marking the next leader of God’s people, but their touch lays claim on those who seek to know and serve God.
c. these stories bring to mind the ritual we follow when we ordain ministers, or ruling elders, or deacons.
1. You have seen it, maybe experienced it.
2. Those being ordained kneel and all the ruling elders and ministers come forward and lay on hands.
3. a powerful experience.
4. A symbolic gesture.
5. A touch that confers power.
c Back to our story in Acts — meet Simon.
1. A believer; he's been baptized; he hangs out with Philip,another of the disciples, watching all that Philip does. Mesmerized and amazed by what he sees.
2. Simon perhaps appreciates more than most what the disciples are doing more than most because he himself is a magician.
3. He does amazing, magical things.
4. If you go back a few verses in this same chapter of Acts, you can read about how some people thought Simon was like the disciples, that his magic was God at work.
5. Simon does not make that claim
6. In fact, he recognizes that the disciples offer something more.
7. He wants what they have.
6. He wants the power to confer God's touch and the Holy Spirit with his touch.
e. He asks Peter, “Can I buy that touch?”
1. Sort of like a franchisee, maybe?
2. I can hear him explaining the proposal to Peter: “Peter, you touch the people where you are and give them God’s power; I touch the people where I am, and give them God’s power.
Maybe we can both make a little money on this.
I bet people will pay for God’s touch.”
3. Simon is not really a bad guy. In fact, when Peter challenges him for wanting to buy God's power, Simon repents.
4. I suppose he could not help himself. He recognizes the value of God's touch, and he wants to capitalize on it.
Move 2: Simon does not realize the touch of God is not some bigger, better magic trick that can be packaged and sold.
- Notice the contrast created between Peter, Christ's disciple who baptizes and lays on hands, and Simon, who is a magician.
1. Astute biblical students might remember that Peter is also known as Simon Peter in other places. The point being made that Simon and Peter are not far apart.
2. Except…., except that Simon is offering magic and Peter is offering God.
3. It would not have been unusual for a magician to be part of the daily life in this era of the early church.
4. magicians doing things that amaze and cannot be explained.
5. No doubt some thought that Jesus was a magician with all his healings and miracles. At least until his magic ran out, so to speak, with his death on the cross.
6. Probably some thought the disciples were magicians as well.
b. this past Thursday was Ascension day. I the beens assured by Lisa that St. Andrew congregants know what Ascension day is, but for those of you who need to be reminded, it is the day we remember and celebrate that the resurrected Christ, who had been walking on earth with his followers, ascended to heaven.
1. On Ascension day, you two ministers and two ruling elders did not ascend to heaven with Jesus, but we did go to a presbytery meeting.
2. Cindy Rigby, professor of Theology at APTS,
preached on ascension, and in her sermon she
reminded us that Karl Barth, a great Reformed
theologian, thought Jesus’ ascension was very
important.
3. important because it “tells us that
resurrection was not temporary.” Resurrection reveals
God’s desire and power to bring about new life.
4. That is the gift that Peter shares with his touch — the power of God to transform us and bring us into new life.
5. . The touch of God is not magic.
6. The touch of God is not merely a tactile experience.
3. the touch of God empowers new life.
Move 3: Peter also makes clear that the touch of God is not for sale.
a. Simon is not the first or the last person to try and turn God into a business.
1. We remember the practice of indulgences. Although indulgences were meant to be part of the response to having sin forgiven, by the late Middle Ages, the buying of indulgences was little more than buying God's favor for yourselves and for you relatives who have died. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286800/indulgence)
2. Robert Tilton – purchase his handkerchief. Robert Gibson Tilton (born June 7, 1946) is an American televangelist of the prosperity gospel widely known for his infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life, which at its peak in 1991 aired in all 235 American TV markets (daily in the majority of them), brought in nearly $80 million per year, and was described as "the fastest growing television ministry in America."If he's wiped his brow, then it costs a bit more.
3. Even as we point to out other like Tilton,
Sometimes we link our giving back to God with buying
God's favor. If I give enough, surely God will be present
for me.
b. For Simon, purchasing the touch of God brings a business approach to God’s power.
1. The word translated "power" (exousia) in vs. 19 denotes the legal authority to make decisions (New Interpreter's Bible). Simon is speaking the legal language of business and applying it to the touch of God.
2. I suspect he rightly understood there was a market then, and there will always be a market for those who desperately seek God's presence and will buy anything that might bring them God's touch.
3. it would have been lucrative for Simon if he had been able to buy the ability to convey God's touch and the power of the Holy Spirit.
c But God's touch is not for sale.
1. it is a gift; given by God in maddening fashion to whomever and wherever or whenever God chooses.
2. Peter knows with certainty that he cannot sell God’s touch and God’s power because Peter does not control it or own it.
3. the best Peter can do is give this gift away to those who need and desire to have God present in their lives.
3. A priceless gift because there is no price attached to it.
4. the gift that comes free from God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
5. Simon can have it, but he cannot buy it.
6. You can have God’s touch, but you cannot buy it.
7. It’s not for sale.
d. Jim H.
1. the church I served in OH had a chapel with a
center aisle like this sacntuary, except it was much
smaller. It seated babe 65 people (if you sat closer
together than Presbyterian generally want to do)
2. they had an 8:30 service every Sunday. When I
arrived, they had several ushers. All men. the head
usher would tell you where you could sit.
As time passed on and an usher lost mobility or even
died, the next man up would take over ushering
(eventually women were allowed and no one told
anyone where to sit)
About the third head usher in this succession was a
man named Jim. As young man, Jim had played
catcher in professional baseball. he never made it to
the majors, but he played for several years in the minors
and had big, gnarled hands that would be fitting for a
catcher.
After he left the minor leagues, he became first a high
school coach (he was inducted into the high school’s
hall of fame), and then when he retired from teaching,
he became the coach at a local community college. At
his funeral were numerous baseball players, a couple
of whom had made it to the majors.
Every week for over a decade, when i would walk up the
aisle after the benediction, he would give me a fist
bump.
His gnarled knuckled extended to me.
3. A free touch.
4. Probably too dramatic to liken it to Peter’s
touch, but it was there every week, good sermon or bad;
no price to pay; just a free touch.
5. I never asked him why and he never offered
an explanation. I figured it was his way of offering
support, of acknowledging that we were connected, of
noting our common ground we shared as fellow
followers of Christ.
Of course, he could have just liked to give fist bumps!
6. Each week a free touch. A gift from Jim. A gift
that seemed to me to be like the touch of God.
Conclusion: As you leave worship this morning, there are baskets with a gift for you.
A Presbyterian blue wrist band to remind you that the touch of God, which coveys God’s power to bring about new life is a gift.
A free gift.
Amen.
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