Epiphany Moments - Rejection Is Not A Sign of Failure

Epiphany Moments – Rejection Is Not A Sign of Failure is the theme for this Sunday. I started the worship service by saying it might look like this is the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord, but really is Rejection Sunday! There are a few different kid of rejections. The first isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault.

Empty Vault

In 1986 Geraldo Rivera was going to uncover the secrets of… Al Capone’s Vault. You can relive the 90 minute special in its entirety. I’ll link it up in the Monday blog post. There was a build up to this secret compartment that probably held untold riches and secrets. Talk about under whelming – there was nothing there. All of Al’s riches were cleaned out long ago before Geraldo came around.

Talk about made for TV, wouldn’t that have been great to have Gerlado roll the stone away. Push the soldiers to the side and check out Jesus’ tomb. It was just as empty as Al’s vault, but the truth of that empty chamber is life changing.

Overwhelming Evidence

Look at Peter and John, unschooled men who are not fishing. They are healing a cripple. This kind of begs the question – why didn’t leaders of the Jews believe?! They saw Jesus walk around after the resurrection. The guy who was healed was standing right there. The truth was standing right there, the man had not been able to walk from birth. They could see the evidence of Jesus’ power, but it didn’t matter.

There is a slice of Christianity the craves evidence. Some Christian apologists think that all we have to do is build a mountain of evidence for folks and they will have no choice but to give in and admit that Jesus is God. The truth is that it isn’t evidence that changes a heart for Jesus. It’s God’s Spirit who promises to work through the truth of the gospel. You’re a hopeless sinner, but Jesus takes that sin away.

Don’t Believe The Lie

That gets us to the lie. The lie is that God doesn’t exist. The lie is that sin isn’t real nor is the guilt that jabs at your soul like a stone in your shoe. It screams there is something wrong. You can lie to yourself like the guy who won’t go to the doctor or you can face the truth that your broken, we all are. In Jesus, in his forgiveness we are made new again.

Want to hear more? Watch this week’s message taken from Acts 4, Epiphany Moments – Rejection Is Not A Sign of Failure.