Have you ever asked yourself why this church auditorium isn’t filled to overflowing during our services? Perhaps you haven’t, but it’s a question that I have often asked myself. Maybe you already have an idea about the answer. If the World Wrestling Federation or Taylor Swift were at the Coliseum, there would also be 10,000 people. Yesterday, in stadia across the country there were 75,000 to 100,000 fans cheering on their school’s first football games of the year. And in many cases there were millions of others watching by way of television. But you are here in the house of God with only 20 others; and that’s the way that we usually are. Why are we so few and they are so many?
If we could survey all of the people who have visited us during the last three years – those who didn’t return, they could probably give us many reasons why there aren’t more people here today. Of course, they would most likely only tell us about their religious preferences – they didn’t find here. They might talk about the kind of music we sing – too old fashioned. They might say that we don’t have a separate church service – babysitting service – for the children. They might say that we don’t use multi-media visual techniques. They might say that the sermons are boring, or that they’re too long, or that they aren’t relevant. They might say that it’s simply not worth the trouble to come back. The investment that they made wasn’t worth the size of the return. Those might be the reply of people who visited but didn’t return a second time. But what if we could survey the people who have not visited us at all in the last 36 months: That would be a couple hundred thousand people – If we could ask them why they don’t even consider coming to this house of God… They would have different kinds of answers to the others who didn’t return. They might say that to talk of God is fraud, because there is no God, or God is dead. They might deny the reality of sin and so there is no need to deal with it. Some would say that they’re simply too busy with more important things, like fishing and boating. Some would say that they have been hurt by a church in the past, and so they hate organized religion. Probably the majority of both groups would simply say that church is just not worth the trouble.
But why would they think that the study and worship of God isn’t worth the trouble? It’s because the god whom they worship, or don’t worship, is not truly God. They have some imaginary version of deity. But the God whom we serve is worthy of more worship and praise than any of us even begin to give Him. I think that I’ve told you about the chaplain at an old Christian university. He said that students would sometimes come into his office and plop down on a chair and declare: “I don’t believe in God!” They thought, in their sophomoric way, that this would shock and silence this old preacher. But he learned over time to disarm them by leaning towards them, replying: “Tell me about the kind of god that you don’t believe in. Chances are that I don’t believe in him either.” And then he would talk to that person about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Two thousand years ago, Paul stood before a Roman Governor and a Semi-Jewish King. He had been summoned to explain why his countrymen hated him so much. He knew that King Agrippa was probably in more agreement with the Jews than with him. Agrippa worshiped another god than Paul; another of a completely different kind.
So God’s apostle asked a very pointed question: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Isn’t this one of the reasons why our church parking lot is NOT too small? And yet on the other side, isn’t this one of the reasons why WE – you and I – ARE here today? We not only think it’s NOT incredible that God should raise the dead; we are counting on it and Him. We are not going to join the Jews to pick up stones to cast at Jesus for forgiving a man of his sins. We glory in that. We are not ashamed of the fact that the symbol of our faith is a tool of ignominious execution. “God forbid that we should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I would like us to think this evening, very briefly, about the implication of Paul’s question.
“Why should it be thought an incredible thing with you, that God should raise the dead?“
Putting ourselves into the shoes of Agrippa, we find that he wears the same size sandals most men. He didn’t believe that God could raise the dead – because that was the way he that was raised. He was never taught anything different. He had a PREJUDICE against such ideas as resurrections, miracles and angels. He needed to be forced to come up with a good reason for his unbelief. Perhaps he had never specifically considered the question before – “Tell me why, King Agrippa.” And why aren’t we putting more chairs out this evening to hold the vast crowds? Because, among other things, the world has been mis-taught about the resurrection-power of God. That is part of the prejudice which surrounds us.