I have recently been studying Acts as part of our first teaching series with the Atlanta Eastside Project church plant and recently went through Acts 2:14-41, where Peter preaches a fiery sermon in response to a group of Jewish people gathered who heard all the commotion the Holy Spirit caused when He showed up in a house with wind, fire and foreign language miracles. The gathered folk had two responses to these signs and wonders: “What does this mean (spiritual seeking)?” and “They’re drunk (closed universe mockers).” To both, Peter responds with respect but boldness, laying out the Story, the story of why these signs and wonders have come (“The Spirit has come because the prophecies concerning the Messiah have come to pass,” Peter essentially says). And then Peter preaches the heart of the Gospel, ending by saying that Christ reigns as both Lord and Christ and calls everyone to repentance.
It is a fabulous sermon and full of theological orthodoxy but I have concluded that what makes this passage so profound isn’t just what Peter said but how he said it. Let me explain.

One of the most intriguing bumper stickers I’ve seen is, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ,” attributed to Gandhi. We can certainly understand that sentiment. A friend of mine has recently helped write a book entitled, UnChristian, which, in conducting research with those outside Christian faith, has discovered that many today have dismissed Christian faith based upon a negative image of it. One person interviewed said,
“Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe. “

The book’s author goes on to say, “We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for.” (One statistic said that 91% of those who are college age through early 30s consider Christianity to mean “antihomosexual.”) Sobering. We can be such poor reflections of Him, no doubt.
This is what makes Peter’s sermon on Jesus so powerful—he preaches with passion and from a life of integrity. Remember that Peter was the disciple who earlier alternated between prejudicial exclusivism and fear and denial. Nowhere is that better exemplified than in the Garden of Gethsemane when Peter goes from striking a servant of the Roman guard, whom he hated because he wasn’t Jewish (Peter and the other disciples thought Jesus would overthrow the Gentiles and establish a Jewish kingdom) to a few hours later, denying he even knew Jesus! But Peter is now changed. Peter begins to preach a message that included all sorts of people (“everyone”, Acts 2:21) rather than just his fellow Jews. Not that Peter didn’t still struggle with a provincial attitude again but he actually was beginning to cherish and love his enemies and those who rejected Christian faith. The rest of his life would demonstrate this well. You see, he could boldly commend who He cherished—Jesus—because he was first adored by Christ, the heart of this strange and good news that Jesus proclaimed. He knew that despite his tragic and shameful rejection of Christ, he had been given great mercy and love. His sin was not counted against him but paid for by the death of Christ for him. And Peter lives differently because of it, dishing out mercy to others, that they might encounter the love of Christ.
Here are a few questions, as followers of Christ, we must consider for our own lives, questions that get to the heart of not just what we preach but how we do it:
• Do I know the Gospel with clarity and can comfortably share its basics with anyone asking, ‘What does Christianity mean?’”
• Do people know that I am a follower of Christ and by what means would they know?
• Do people see in me more of what I am against than who I am for?

Look, here’s the really good news. Jesus was victorious over sin and death. His power changes people, including you and me. God wants us to have confidence that we can talk to people about Jesus in a way that, though we might still experience rejection, can reflect well who Christ is.