Scripture text: John 16:12-24
Memorial Day. It’s a day when we remember those who have given us so much, but are no longer able to receive our grateful words of thanks. And the truth is that for all of us, those memorable events of giving, as well as the lost opportunities to be thankful, seem to become more vivid as the years go by.
I remember one summer day when I decided to climb the tree that stood next to our house. It was a tall maple, and I was going to climb it to the very top to see how far I could see. It was an impressive view, and while I was there at the “top of the world”, my Mom came around the house calling my name. She didn’t see me, and I didn’t respond, and I figured that I had played a pretty good trick on her. Unfortunately, within a few minutes, it began to sprinkle, and then gently rain, and within 5 minutes, it was a downpour, with a mix of thunder and lightning for good measure! That was what Mom had come out to tell me!
I climbed down as quickly as I could on the wet limbs, but by the time I got into the kitchen, I was drenched. Mom turned around and sternly said “Where have you been?” I replied dejectedly “You dont even care!” Today, I wish I could take those words back. Of course she missed me, and she did what she could to warn me of the coming storm! And I did everything that I could to avoid her warning.
The Pennsylvania Dutch are credited with the saying “We are too soon old and too late smart!” How true. But God gives us chance after chance to be grateful for all that He has given and to offer Him our thanksgivings. And the richness of God continues to flow to the poverty of humanity.
Read John 16:12-16
From the moment of creation, God has been with us. With Adam & Eve, with Abraham and his offspring, with the children of Israel in their 40 year journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, with King David, with the prophets, and how many times do we see the people giving thanks? A few, but very few.
God sends His Son Jesus into the world to bring a message of hope for all and to win salvation for us, and how many actually offered Him thanks as He walked those dusty roads of Israel and Samaria? Very few, and even some who received the incredible gift of healing never offered a single word of thanks to Him.
And now, Jesus reveals that He will be leaving His friends, but that another will be taking His place. The “Spirit of Truth” will come and will bring us all that God has to offer. And this Godly Spirit will continue to give until Christ returns to claim His Church. And how many times have we given the Spirit our thanks?
“.. the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
The Spirit of Wisdom is among us, bringing the riches of God to all who will receive it in faith.
Read John 16:17-18
Isn’t this so typical of not only the disciples, but of all humanity? Jesus is promising that the Spirit will be bringing God’s Truth and Wisdom to us, and what are the disciples thinking about? What does He mean by I’ll be leaving in a little while, and then a while after that you will see me again? Not what is this Spirit, not who is the Spirit, not why is this Spirit actually coming? Not what will the Spirit specifically be bringing to us? Not how are we supposed to use this Truth and Wisdom? Not will there be power and authority? Not what does it all mean for our world?
They are so focused on Christ’s coming and going, that they actually miss the main point of the entire dialogue! And the point is that God is offering us the richness of His grace, and all we have to do is turn to Him and receive!
Read John 16:19-22
But for once, Jesus actually answers their questions directly, and lets them know that during the time He is gone, it will be a time of great mourning and weeping, but when He returns, the joy will be overwhelming and it will never leave them! So now we have two messages – first, that the Spirit of truth will be taking from Christ, and giving to us, all of God’s goodness, but second, that even in the midst of that goodness, we will experience loss and mourning and grief.
And today, we, too, tend to be more focused on the things of earth, and less focused on the glory of God! Jesus uses the analogy of a woman giving birth, which not only explains His words of leaving and coming back again, but also makes the point that we usually miss the best part.
Last night, I asked Diane what she was thinking during the delivery of our two boys. She offered words like “discomfort”, “pressure”, “concern” (Chris was 8 weeks premature), but not a thought of “great anticipation”.
Then she asked me what I was thinking. With Chris, I was relieved that I didn’t have to be in the delivery room (he was a c-section)! With Nathan, it all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to think much of anything! For both of us, the joy came when the baby was visible and not during the pain and struggle and mess of the delivery itself.
Why don’t we have more joy in the anticipation? Of course, the nine months of pregnancy has its moments of joy, like those times when you feel the kicks and bumps and rolling around, but for the most part, it is an uncomfortable struggle at best. And while we wait for Christ’s return, we also tend to focus on the struggles of this life, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit, who is with us every step of our way, seem to take a back seat. The phrase “I hope he hurries up!” is heard for both child birth and Christ’s return!
But even as Jesus fully acknowledges the pains and struggles that we will experience in life during this “time of the Spirit”, He doesn’t let the disciples, or us, off the hook regarding the coming of the Spirit.
Read John 16:23-24
“I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” When Christ returns, we will no longer need to ask Him questions. Why? Because we will either have the answers, or else they will no longer matter! When our boys were born, we no longer wondered when they would arrive, or what they would look like, or how we would feel about them. We could see them, we could hold them, we could love them, and now it was face to face.
When Christ returns, we will no long have to wonder about God either, for we shall see Him face to face, we shall see Him as He truly is, we shall know Him completely.
But until that time, we can't wait stoically or sit quietly in some corner. We have a Spirit with us who has all that we will ever need right at His fingertips. Whatever we ask in the name of Jesus Christ will be given!
Do you need healing? ASK for it in the name of Jesus!
Do you need courage to take that next step in faith? ASK for it in the name of Jesus!
Do you need patience during a time of trial? ASK for it in the name of Jesus!
Do you need divine intervention to resolve a trying situation? ASK for it in the name of Jesus!
Of course, it isn’t always on our schedule or exactly what we thought we needed, but rest assured, the blessing will come!
By the power of the Holy Spirit, whatever we ask for in Christ’s name will be given. The rich blessings of God are there for the praying poor! We have the Spirit of Truth with us. We have the Spirit of Wisdom with us.
We have the Spirit of Peace with us. We have the Spirit of Comfort with us. We have the Spirit of Healing with us.
Reach out in the name of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit, and we will never go wanting. The wealth of God has already been offered – we don’t have to wait until we stand face to face. Don’t wait until Jesus returns to know His glory and power, or to give Him thanks for all He has given – trust in the Spirit today, for our trust and faith and confidence in the promises of Christ will be all the thanks that He will ever need from us, and we will be a continuous and living memorial to His truth and His goodness and His promise.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
"Living the Spirit"
Scripture text: Acts 2:1-21
Today is one of the very special days in the life of the church – our introduction into a life in the Spirit. Pentecost had been a Hebrew holiday for a long time, but this is the day that it would take on a whole new meaning for the faithful.
The events that would come about on that day had been promised for many years.
- The prophet Joel had prophesied this day 800 years before – 2:28-29
- John the Baptist prophesied to this day a couple of years before – Luke 3:15-16
- Jesus Himself had promised this day before His ascension – Acts 1:4-5
Baptized with the Holy Spirit! The disciples knew about water baptism. John the Baptist did it, even they did it. You “buried” a person under the water, and when they rose up, they were, at least symbolically, a new person. For many, it had been a powerful experience, but for most, it was more of a simple and personal commitment to Jesus’ way than anything else. How much different could baptism by the Holy Spirit be?
Read Acts 2:1-4
I guess it was a lot different!
There is a story of an English bishop who visited a sleepy little parish along the river Thames. The village priest was discouraged and depressed, not really accomplishing very much. Finally, the priest confessed, 'Bishop, I can not say that we are setting the Thames on fire.' The bishop looked him sternly in the eye and said, 'Young man, I am not the least bit concerned about setting the Thames on fire. What I want to know is, if I take you out and drop you in it, will you sizzle?'
--James A. Harnish, Tampa, Florida, 29 May 1994.
The bishop wanted to know how the Spirit had touched the priest – was he on fire for the Lord? Unless he was walking with the Spirit, it was meaningless to even begin to talk about the members of his parish. The bishop wanted to know if the young priest was “living in the spirit”. If the Holy Spirit is in your life, you just have to sizzle! And if it isn’t, there isn’t going to be much going on within you.
On this day in Jerusalem, every person who was in that room was sizzling! Between the rushing wind and the tongues of fire, no one could escape the power and blessing of God, and they all began speaking in languages that they had never spoken before.
Read Acts 2:5-13
And even while many people were amazed at what they were hearing, there were some who just had to try to explain this miracle away. So what else is new? People who can’t quite convince themselves that God’s works are worthy of their trust, will always have secular explanations for His miracles. Have you heard some ofthese?
- The plagues in Egypt?
They were the result of volcanic action on the other side of the Mediterranean!
- The crossing of the Read Sea and the Jordon?
It was the wind that pushed the water apart!
- Isaiah’s victory over the priests of Baal?
A convenient thunder and lightning storm!
- The raising of Lazarus?
He wasn’t really dead! And neither were those children that Jesus supposedly brought back to life.
- The Resurrection of Christ?
He wasn’t really dead either, or it’s also possible that His body was stolen! We aren’t quite sure which it is.
- And now the speaking in tongues?
They’re all drunk!
Why is the world so afraid to take God at His word? Isn’t the evidence sufficient? Isn’t the witness of 3,000 new believers sufficient?
Read Acts 2:14-21
The Spirit had been promised, the Spirit had arrived, and now was the time for the Spirit to begin working in the lives of all believers. At first, it was the ability to speak so that everyone who was present could receive the message of salvation. Later, it would be visions that would clarify the Lord’s desire for each apostle, and later it would enable the evangelists to respond to God’s call without fear or hesitation, no matter where that call would take them and no matter what that call would require.
And how would it manifest itself in the people? Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia gives us some insight.
Read Galatians 5:16-17,22-25
It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that allows us to reject the sinful life, and to begin to set those things that are not of God far behind us. And yet, power is never mentioned in the list of “Fruit”! It isn’t about how much power we receive – it’s about remaining connected to the Spirit, and letting Him decide when, where, and how much “fruit” to send us.
The Christian author Herb Miller writes: “The branch does not need to get up every morning and say to itself, ‘I must work hard, or there will be no grapes.’ The branch's power comes from staying connected to the vine. In the same way, God gives us spiritual growth as a gift, through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we connect and stay connected with Christ. I am the vine, you are the branches ... bear much fruit” (John 15:5).
--Herb Miller, Connecting With God: 14 Ways Churches Can Help People Grow Spiritually (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 15.
Living within God’s Spirit has never been about our doing great things. It is solely a matter of remaining connected to God, and letting Him do whatever He knows is best.
So what does this mean for the people of today?
What can “living the Spirit” possibly accomplish?
What’s in it for us?
These are all pretty good questions, but the truth is that I don’t really have an answer! It’s going to be different for each of us and different for every situation that we find ourselves in. The only thing that I know for certain is that for a Christian who lives, and follows and trusts the Spirit’s leading, amazing things will happen. But the glory of those happenings will never be ours. We will be demeaned, despised, ridiculed, shouted down, and persecuted, and yet, the Holy Spirit will not be stopped.
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He began His message with the Beatitudes, and the last is this: (Matthew 5:11-12)” Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Galatians 5 didn’t tell us a single thing about power, and it also failed to mention glory. Neither of these will be ours in this life. But that doesn’t mean that power and glory won’t be evident! We will receive love, joy, peace, patience and the rest of that list, while God will use the power of His Holy Spirit to gain glory for the name of Jesus Christ. And we have been given the opportunity to be part of that glory-gain.
How much more could we possibly hope for than a “reward in heaven”? Would you prefer the glory-gain of earth that only lasts a few days, or at best a few short years, or would you prefer a glory that is eternal? The choice is ours to make. Rewards that fail, or rewards that last forever?
Seems like a pretty simply decision to me. Choose well.
Today is one of the very special days in the life of the church – our introduction into a life in the Spirit. Pentecost had been a Hebrew holiday for a long time, but this is the day that it would take on a whole new meaning for the faithful.
The events that would come about on that day had been promised for many years.
- The prophet Joel had prophesied this day 800 years before – 2:28-29
- John the Baptist prophesied to this day a couple of years before – Luke 3:15-16
- Jesus Himself had promised this day before His ascension – Acts 1:4-5
Baptized with the Holy Spirit! The disciples knew about water baptism. John the Baptist did it, even they did it. You “buried” a person under the water, and when they rose up, they were, at least symbolically, a new person. For many, it had been a powerful experience, but for most, it was more of a simple and personal commitment to Jesus’ way than anything else. How much different could baptism by the Holy Spirit be?
Read Acts 2:1-4
I guess it was a lot different!
There is a story of an English bishop who visited a sleepy little parish along the river Thames. The village priest was discouraged and depressed, not really accomplishing very much. Finally, the priest confessed, 'Bishop, I can not say that we are setting the Thames on fire.' The bishop looked him sternly in the eye and said, 'Young man, I am not the least bit concerned about setting the Thames on fire. What I want to know is, if I take you out and drop you in it, will you sizzle?'
--James A. Harnish, Tampa, Florida, 29 May 1994.
The bishop wanted to know how the Spirit had touched the priest – was he on fire for the Lord? Unless he was walking with the Spirit, it was meaningless to even begin to talk about the members of his parish. The bishop wanted to know if the young priest was “living in the spirit”. If the Holy Spirit is in your life, you just have to sizzle! And if it isn’t, there isn’t going to be much going on within you.
On this day in Jerusalem, every person who was in that room was sizzling! Between the rushing wind and the tongues of fire, no one could escape the power and blessing of God, and they all began speaking in languages that they had never spoken before.
Read Acts 2:5-13
And even while many people were amazed at what they were hearing, there were some who just had to try to explain this miracle away. So what else is new? People who can’t quite convince themselves that God’s works are worthy of their trust, will always have secular explanations for His miracles. Have you heard some ofthese?
- The plagues in Egypt?
They were the result of volcanic action on the other side of the Mediterranean!
- The crossing of the Read Sea and the Jordon?
It was the wind that pushed the water apart!
- Isaiah’s victory over the priests of Baal?
A convenient thunder and lightning storm!
- The raising of Lazarus?
He wasn’t really dead! And neither were those children that Jesus supposedly brought back to life.
- The Resurrection of Christ?
He wasn’t really dead either, or it’s also possible that His body was stolen! We aren’t quite sure which it is.
- And now the speaking in tongues?
They’re all drunk!
Why is the world so afraid to take God at His word? Isn’t the evidence sufficient? Isn’t the witness of 3,000 new believers sufficient?
Read Acts 2:14-21
The Spirit had been promised, the Spirit had arrived, and now was the time for the Spirit to begin working in the lives of all believers. At first, it was the ability to speak so that everyone who was present could receive the message of salvation. Later, it would be visions that would clarify the Lord’s desire for each apostle, and later it would enable the evangelists to respond to God’s call without fear or hesitation, no matter where that call would take them and no matter what that call would require.
And how would it manifest itself in the people? Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia gives us some insight.
Read Galatians 5:16-17,22-25
It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that allows us to reject the sinful life, and to begin to set those things that are not of God far behind us. And yet, power is never mentioned in the list of “Fruit”! It isn’t about how much power we receive – it’s about remaining connected to the Spirit, and letting Him decide when, where, and how much “fruit” to send us.
The Christian author Herb Miller writes: “The branch does not need to get up every morning and say to itself, ‘I must work hard, or there will be no grapes.’ The branch's power comes from staying connected to the vine. In the same way, God gives us spiritual growth as a gift, through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we connect and stay connected with Christ. I am the vine, you are the branches ... bear much fruit” (John 15:5).
--Herb Miller, Connecting With God: 14 Ways Churches Can Help People Grow Spiritually (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 15.
Living within God’s Spirit has never been about our doing great things. It is solely a matter of remaining connected to God, and letting Him do whatever He knows is best.
So what does this mean for the people of today?
What can “living the Spirit” possibly accomplish?
What’s in it for us?
These are all pretty good questions, but the truth is that I don’t really have an answer! It’s going to be different for each of us and different for every situation that we find ourselves in. The only thing that I know for certain is that for a Christian who lives, and follows and trusts the Spirit’s leading, amazing things will happen. But the glory of those happenings will never be ours. We will be demeaned, despised, ridiculed, shouted down, and persecuted, and yet, the Holy Spirit will not be stopped.
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He began His message with the Beatitudes, and the last is this: (Matthew 5:11-12)” Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Galatians 5 didn’t tell us a single thing about power, and it also failed to mention glory. Neither of these will be ours in this life. But that doesn’t mean that power and glory won’t be evident! We will receive love, joy, peace, patience and the rest of that list, while God will use the power of His Holy Spirit to gain glory for the name of Jesus Christ. And we have been given the opportunity to be part of that glory-gain.
How much more could we possibly hope for than a “reward in heaven”? Would you prefer the glory-gain of earth that only lasts a few days, or at best a few short years, or would you prefer a glory that is eternal? The choice is ours to make. Rewards that fail, or rewards that last forever?
Seems like a pretty simply decision to me. Choose well.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
Scripture text: Acts 16: 16-24
We’ve been following Paul and Silas on their journey through Macedonia. They had begun to head for Asia, but the Holy Spirit turned them around, and they willingly went to Europe.
But when they got there, their ministry in Philippi didn’t seem to go anywhere - they couldn’t even find a suitable place to pray and worship! No synagogue, no house church, no fellow Christians - they had to be content with sitting on a river bank, surrounded by a number of Gentile women. And Lydia and her household are the only ones, so far, who are reported to have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The mission to Macedonia seemed to be an outright failure, or at least it was by any measureable standard, and it was about to get even more interesting. But before we turn to the Word to begin our look at the current dilemma of Paul and Silas, we all need to be reminded that neither mission nor ministry seldom turn out the way we think it should. Sometimes our faithful efforts seem to fall upon deaf ears, and other times, the success is far more than we could ever imagine. We need to remember that the apparent outcome has nothing to do with us or our efforts - it all hinges on what God’s need is at the moment.
Read Acts 16:16-18
The slave girl had a spirit within her – a demonic spirit – and it allowed her to see into the future. And this demon had allowed her to know just who Paul and Silas followed. But if the demon was proclaiming Jesus Christ, why would Paul want the spirit to leave the girl? You might think that it shouldn’t matter who is claiming the Lordship of Jesus, as long as His Name is being raised up.
But the point is that it does matter. If Paul had allowed this false praise to go on much longer, the people of Philippi could very easily have begun to associate Jesus with the Greek and Roman gods that they worshiped every day. To allow that spirit to continue much longer would have been an outrage. Philippians 2:5-11 tells us that one day, “at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” - but that day has not yet come. When it does, everyone will truly know and acknowledge Christ’s Lordship. For now, they do not.
So Paul commands the spirit to come out of the girl, and it obeys. But you can imagine the effect that this will have on her – she no longer has the power to tell the future, and therefore, has lost much of her value to those who own her. We aren’t told what becomes of her, but we can assume that as far as her servitude goes, her higher standing in the household just went out the window. Paul has just blessed her greatly, but it won’t necessarily improve her position in life.
Read Acts 16:19-21
The slave owners had just lost a major source of income, and they were not happy! But the charge that they level toward the apostles is odd. They don’t claim loss of income – they claim that these Jews are attempting to convert the Roman citizens of the community to an illegal religion.
For Romans, there were hundreds of legitimate gods and you could worship anyone that you wanted to, as long as you also paid homage to the emperor. But Judaism, including the Christian sect, didn’t see it this way. For them, there is only one true God, and all others are false, including any worship of the emperor of Rome!
This isn’t all that dissimilar to the charges that were leveled at Jesus. The charge on that bleak Thursday was that He said He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days. Never happened! And the same thing was happening here. Paul and Silas were said to be advocating customs that were illegal for Romans to follow. And yet, Paul was a Roman citizen, and he was the one who was preaching Jesus Christ! and many Romans, civilians and military alike, had already started coming to Christ.
The problem in Philippi as I see it is this: The Good News of Jesus Christ was disrupting the lives of a few of the wealthy and powerful, and they didn’t like it! And so, they trumped up some charges, spread a few false rumors, incited the crowds to join them in the protest,
and they were off and running.
Not much different than today, is it? For some reason, the gospel frightens people. The truth doesn’t make sense – it seems to easy, or too hard, depending on the day. We want salvation without giving up the life we presently have. We want Jesus to grant us every wish that we can come up with, but have no intention whatsoever to grant Him even one request in return. We want the glory of heaven, but expect to avoid the pain of earth. We demand that God blesses us richly, without the need to surrender our allegiance to Him.
And when the truth of the Good News begins to settle in and people realize that the depth of Christian faith is over their head, they go running for the hills instead of trusting that the Holy Spirit will keep us afloat! Amen?
The owners of the slave girl were angry at Paul for destroying the “good thing” that they had going for them, and were scared at what these men might do next. They had to do something, so they brought these charges against them.
Read Acts 16:22-24
They were stripped and beaten and flogged within an inch of their life, and thrown into the deepest part of the prison. Maximum security. Solitary confinement.
Paul and Silas nearly died, and why? Simply this – they loved Jesus so much that they wanted to share Him with others.
These good men had come face to face with evil at work in that young girl’s life, and the power that was in them triumphed over the power of Satan that was in her. They came face to face with the ugliness of earth in the lies of the slave owners, and even though they suffered at those ugly hands, they still were victorious!
Now you may think that this is a little strange – how could there possibly be a victory when they were beaten severely, and thrown into jail! Remember what we said earlier – the victory is never ours – it’s Christ’s. And in Christ, there is never defeat!
I would like to offer two quotations, just so you know that this isn’t only my idea!
First, by Buel Kazee:
“Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left. When everything is gone with no hope of restoration and when there is nothing on which to base your faith; then [the faithful will] still trust God.”
--Buell Kazee, storyteller, ‘Faith Is the Victory’ (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 149.
And the second by Billy Graham:
“The forces of hate and violence must not be allowed to gain their victory not just in our society, but in our hearts. Nor must we respond to hate with more hate. This is a time of coming together.”
-The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, prayer service, Oklahoma City, quoted by Joanne Lynn and Joan Harrold in Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 172.
Are we willing to be the kind of Christians that Paul and Silas were? They went willingly to a place that they had no intention of going to, they spread the word of Jesus Christ wherever they could, even if the time and place didn’t make much sense to them, they freed a young girl from the control of an evil spirit, and were rewarded for their good deed by being beaten and sentenced to prison.
And do we read of any overt resistance on their part? Not a bit. They accepted the situation that came to them, knowing that they were where God needed them to be at the time.
The goodness of heaven, when confronted by the evil and ugliness of earth, can never loose. That doesn’t mean that everything will be bold and beautiful in our lives – remember that Jesus’ life here was anything but glamorous. He brought the hope of eternal glory with Him, but few would accept it. And what this means it this - that Jesus Christ will be glorified by our faithful service, and that one day, we will share in His heavenly glory. And that is a victory that will never, and can never, fail.
We’ve been following Paul and Silas on their journey through Macedonia. They had begun to head for Asia, but the Holy Spirit turned them around, and they willingly went to Europe.
But when they got there, their ministry in Philippi didn’t seem to go anywhere - they couldn’t even find a suitable place to pray and worship! No synagogue, no house church, no fellow Christians - they had to be content with sitting on a river bank, surrounded by a number of Gentile women. And Lydia and her household are the only ones, so far, who are reported to have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The mission to Macedonia seemed to be an outright failure, or at least it was by any measureable standard, and it was about to get even more interesting. But before we turn to the Word to begin our look at the current dilemma of Paul and Silas, we all need to be reminded that neither mission nor ministry seldom turn out the way we think it should. Sometimes our faithful efforts seem to fall upon deaf ears, and other times, the success is far more than we could ever imagine. We need to remember that the apparent outcome has nothing to do with us or our efforts - it all hinges on what God’s need is at the moment.
Read Acts 16:16-18
The slave girl had a spirit within her – a demonic spirit – and it allowed her to see into the future. And this demon had allowed her to know just who Paul and Silas followed. But if the demon was proclaiming Jesus Christ, why would Paul want the spirit to leave the girl? You might think that it shouldn’t matter who is claiming the Lordship of Jesus, as long as His Name is being raised up.
But the point is that it does matter. If Paul had allowed this false praise to go on much longer, the people of Philippi could very easily have begun to associate Jesus with the Greek and Roman gods that they worshiped every day. To allow that spirit to continue much longer would have been an outrage. Philippians 2:5-11 tells us that one day, “at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” - but that day has not yet come. When it does, everyone will truly know and acknowledge Christ’s Lordship. For now, they do not.
So Paul commands the spirit to come out of the girl, and it obeys. But you can imagine the effect that this will have on her – she no longer has the power to tell the future, and therefore, has lost much of her value to those who own her. We aren’t told what becomes of her, but we can assume that as far as her servitude goes, her higher standing in the household just went out the window. Paul has just blessed her greatly, but it won’t necessarily improve her position in life.
Read Acts 16:19-21
The slave owners had just lost a major source of income, and they were not happy! But the charge that they level toward the apostles is odd. They don’t claim loss of income – they claim that these Jews are attempting to convert the Roman citizens of the community to an illegal religion.
For Romans, there were hundreds of legitimate gods and you could worship anyone that you wanted to, as long as you also paid homage to the emperor. But Judaism, including the Christian sect, didn’t see it this way. For them, there is only one true God, and all others are false, including any worship of the emperor of Rome!
This isn’t all that dissimilar to the charges that were leveled at Jesus. The charge on that bleak Thursday was that He said He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days. Never happened! And the same thing was happening here. Paul and Silas were said to be advocating customs that were illegal for Romans to follow. And yet, Paul was a Roman citizen, and he was the one who was preaching Jesus Christ! and many Romans, civilians and military alike, had already started coming to Christ.
The problem in Philippi as I see it is this: The Good News of Jesus Christ was disrupting the lives of a few of the wealthy and powerful, and they didn’t like it! And so, they trumped up some charges, spread a few false rumors, incited the crowds to join them in the protest,
and they were off and running.
Not much different than today, is it? For some reason, the gospel frightens people. The truth doesn’t make sense – it seems to easy, or too hard, depending on the day. We want salvation without giving up the life we presently have. We want Jesus to grant us every wish that we can come up with, but have no intention whatsoever to grant Him even one request in return. We want the glory of heaven, but expect to avoid the pain of earth. We demand that God blesses us richly, without the need to surrender our allegiance to Him.
And when the truth of the Good News begins to settle in and people realize that the depth of Christian faith is over their head, they go running for the hills instead of trusting that the Holy Spirit will keep us afloat! Amen?
The owners of the slave girl were angry at Paul for destroying the “good thing” that they had going for them, and were scared at what these men might do next. They had to do something, so they brought these charges against them.
Read Acts 16:22-24
They were stripped and beaten and flogged within an inch of their life, and thrown into the deepest part of the prison. Maximum security. Solitary confinement.
Paul and Silas nearly died, and why? Simply this – they loved Jesus so much that they wanted to share Him with others.
These good men had come face to face with evil at work in that young girl’s life, and the power that was in them triumphed over the power of Satan that was in her. They came face to face with the ugliness of earth in the lies of the slave owners, and even though they suffered at those ugly hands, they still were victorious!
Now you may think that this is a little strange – how could there possibly be a victory when they were beaten severely, and thrown into jail! Remember what we said earlier – the victory is never ours – it’s Christ’s. And in Christ, there is never defeat!
I would like to offer two quotations, just so you know that this isn’t only my idea!
First, by Buel Kazee:
“Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left. When everything is gone with no hope of restoration and when there is nothing on which to base your faith; then [the faithful will] still trust God.”
--Buell Kazee, storyteller, ‘Faith Is the Victory’ (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 149.
And the second by Billy Graham:
“The forces of hate and violence must not be allowed to gain their victory not just in our society, but in our hearts. Nor must we respond to hate with more hate. This is a time of coming together.”
-The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, prayer service, Oklahoma City, quoted by Joanne Lynn and Joan Harrold in Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 172.
Are we willing to be the kind of Christians that Paul and Silas were? They went willingly to a place that they had no intention of going to, they spread the word of Jesus Christ wherever they could, even if the time and place didn’t make much sense to them, they freed a young girl from the control of an evil spirit, and were rewarded for their good deed by being beaten and sentenced to prison.
And do we read of any overt resistance on their part? Not a bit. They accepted the situation that came to them, knowing that they were where God needed them to be at the time.
The goodness of heaven, when confronted by the evil and ugliness of earth, can never loose. That doesn’t mean that everything will be bold and beautiful in our lives – remember that Jesus’ life here was anything but glamorous. He brought the hope of eternal glory with Him, but few would accept it. And what this means it this - that Jesus Christ will be glorified by our faithful service, and that one day, we will share in His heavenly glory. And that is a victory that will never, and can never, fail.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
“Sow Where You are Called”
Scripture text: Acts 16:11-15
If you remember last week’s text, Paul had intended to travel to Asia to share his witness of the redemptive power of the Blood of Christ. But instead of carrying out his own plans for the mission, he was redirected to Macedonia by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t know why, but he went just the same. And today, we are going to begin wondering why, too. Paul’s ministry to Philippi begins as anything but a resounding success!
Read Acts 16:11-13
Consider his struggle on this Sabbath day to find a place to worship! There is no place within the city gates that is suitable to pray in. There is apparently no synagogue or Christian home inside the walls of this Greek city – He has to find his peaceful place on a riverbank. There are no men – Jewish or Christian - to join with in worship – only a group of Gentiles, and women at that!
Hardly an auspicious start to his ministry on the European continent! Could the Spirit have made a mistake? Could he have heard incorrectly? Should he move on to another nearby town? Or should he just patiently wait here for a new word? The truth is that there was no mistake. This is exactly where God wanted Paul. This is the place that the Spirit was leading him to. The plea “Come to Macedonia and help us.” was a voice of truth and hope and desire.
Philippi would be the place where Paul would plant the first church in Europe, even though it may not seem to have much potential at the time.
Read Acts 16:14
And the first European convert to the faith is a woman by the name of Lydia – and an unusual woman, at that. She had her own business, which was unusual in itself for a woman of that day. She sold purple cloth, which, because of the dying process, would be much more expensive that other colored cloth, and her clientele would include the wealthiest and most powerful leaders in the city. She would not only know the rich and famous of the entire area, she would know them well.
Not so unusual for a woman of the 21st century, but it was practically unheard of in the middle of the 1st century! She had great potential, and Lydia even owned her own home, which would be a great asset in ministry.
But really now - could the conversion of a Gentile woman truly be the beginning of the Philippian church?
Have you ever wondered just how much good you were doing when every turn you take seems to place you in a dead end? When we are the ones who are making all the decisions of when and where to go, they probably are dead ends! But when we follow the leading of God’s very Spirit, every turn, every start, every stop will always – always - have far reaching consequences. Will you believe that?
We don’t always see the results of our service, and we don’t always know what will come of it, but our satisfaction with a job well done isn’t the point of faithfulness! Our society has become so wrapped up with “instant gratification”, that we no longer have any patience!
Consider the prophet Isaiah. He prophesied about the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and then it took 25 years, give or take, before it came to be. Do you think that there might have been more than just a few doubters of this prophesy in Israel? He prophesied about the coming of Messiah, and it took over 700 years before God arrived on earth in a human form. And by that time, very few could make the connection between the prophesy and the actual event.
But Isaiah simply did what the Lord called him to do and say, and never seemed to wonder if he was actually on the right track. He just knew, and went. He sowed the seed of faith where ever he went, and never worried whether it was falling on the most fertile ground or not. Most of the time, it didn’t, but when you sow as much as Isaiah did, it had to take root more than once.
Have you ever delayed in doing something that you felt you were supposed to do just because you didn’t understand what it would accomplish? Just because it didn’t make much sense at the time? Just because the ground doesn’t appear all that fertile, go ahead and sow anyway! God has an endless amount of “faith seeds” at His disposal, and as you get toward the bottom of your sack, He’ll refill it for you without you ever noticing it! After all, they’re His seeds! Why worry about where you’re sowing?
Paul sat down with a group of foreign women that day, never wondering why he was there and never doubting that these were the right people to share in his faith story. He never tried to find the right place to sow God’s seed - his attitude was that wherever the spirit lead him, it must be was the right place!
Sowing seed is an interesting process. Have you ever sowed seed by hand? When we moved into our house 23 years ago, the front yard was still rough graded dirt. I had received an outrageous estimate to put a lawn in, and it would have been beautiful. The company would have regraded the yard, applied several inches of top soil, and laid sod down. We would have had an instant and beautiful yard, but $5,000 was far beyond our budget at the time. So I decided to do it myself. I dragged the soil to eliminate most of the bumps, picked stone off for at least a couple of weeks, and then put down the seed. I didn’t have a broadcast spreader, so I just threw it out by hand.
When the seed began to sprout, it came up in curves with more vacant spots than I had expected. But over the next several years, a miracle occurred! The grass which had come from the seed I had sowed, even though it was as imperfect a planting as you have ever seen, especially with the seed being thrown out directly onto hard pan which is pretty typically poor soil for this area, began to spread out and fill in the gaps all by itself! All I’ve had to do over the years is give it a little “weed and feed” each spring, and now I have a pretty good looking yard. Not to my credit, though – it is all to God’s credit. He took my imperfect contribution of sowing, and did all the rest to bring beauty to my yard.
If God can do this with grass seed that we just throw out on the ground, just think what He can do with a few “faith seeds” that we faithfully spread around on those who He places in our lives!
To sow God’s seed in this world, all we need to do is open our hands and hearts to all we meet, and let them meet the Jesus that each of us has come to know and love. And then, we step back and watch what God can do with our imperfect offering. He may send someone else to do some watering, or trimming, or fertilizing from time to time, but in the end, the result will be marvelous.
But if we decide to stand firm and keep our hands firmly clenched, holding onto our “faith seeds” tightly, never allowing a single one to drop from our hands, the lawn will remain covered with weeds and dirt, and not a single blade of “faith grass” will ever sprout. It all has to begin with a “faith sower”.
Read Acts 16:15
The “seed of faith” had been planted in Lydia and her family, and in a few short years, the beauty of Christ would be spreading all over the area, producing a beautiful garden of believers. The imperfect but faithful Paul sowed the faith when and where God called him to sow. He didn’t question whether the people who were to receive the blessing were worthy, or would be receptive, or were the right ones to receive. He just sowed wherever God took him.
Won’t you give it a try? Share your faith with everyone you meet. Don’t worry if they are the right ones. Just sow wherever God leads you.
If you remember last week’s text, Paul had intended to travel to Asia to share his witness of the redemptive power of the Blood of Christ. But instead of carrying out his own plans for the mission, he was redirected to Macedonia by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t know why, but he went just the same. And today, we are going to begin wondering why, too. Paul’s ministry to Philippi begins as anything but a resounding success!
Read Acts 16:11-13
Consider his struggle on this Sabbath day to find a place to worship! There is no place within the city gates that is suitable to pray in. There is apparently no synagogue or Christian home inside the walls of this Greek city – He has to find his peaceful place on a riverbank. There are no men – Jewish or Christian - to join with in worship – only a group of Gentiles, and women at that!
Hardly an auspicious start to his ministry on the European continent! Could the Spirit have made a mistake? Could he have heard incorrectly? Should he move on to another nearby town? Or should he just patiently wait here for a new word? The truth is that there was no mistake. This is exactly where God wanted Paul. This is the place that the Spirit was leading him to. The plea “Come to Macedonia and help us.” was a voice of truth and hope and desire.
Philippi would be the place where Paul would plant the first church in Europe, even though it may not seem to have much potential at the time.
Read Acts 16:14
And the first European convert to the faith is a woman by the name of Lydia – and an unusual woman, at that. She had her own business, which was unusual in itself for a woman of that day. She sold purple cloth, which, because of the dying process, would be much more expensive that other colored cloth, and her clientele would include the wealthiest and most powerful leaders in the city. She would not only know the rich and famous of the entire area, she would know them well.
Not so unusual for a woman of the 21st century, but it was practically unheard of in the middle of the 1st century! She had great potential, and Lydia even owned her own home, which would be a great asset in ministry.
But really now - could the conversion of a Gentile woman truly be the beginning of the Philippian church?
Have you ever wondered just how much good you were doing when every turn you take seems to place you in a dead end? When we are the ones who are making all the decisions of when and where to go, they probably are dead ends! But when we follow the leading of God’s very Spirit, every turn, every start, every stop will always – always - have far reaching consequences. Will you believe that?
We don’t always see the results of our service, and we don’t always know what will come of it, but our satisfaction with a job well done isn’t the point of faithfulness! Our society has become so wrapped up with “instant gratification”, that we no longer have any patience!
Consider the prophet Isaiah. He prophesied about the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and then it took 25 years, give or take, before it came to be. Do you think that there might have been more than just a few doubters of this prophesy in Israel? He prophesied about the coming of Messiah, and it took over 700 years before God arrived on earth in a human form. And by that time, very few could make the connection between the prophesy and the actual event.
But Isaiah simply did what the Lord called him to do and say, and never seemed to wonder if he was actually on the right track. He just knew, and went. He sowed the seed of faith where ever he went, and never worried whether it was falling on the most fertile ground or not. Most of the time, it didn’t, but when you sow as much as Isaiah did, it had to take root more than once.
Have you ever delayed in doing something that you felt you were supposed to do just because you didn’t understand what it would accomplish? Just because it didn’t make much sense at the time? Just because the ground doesn’t appear all that fertile, go ahead and sow anyway! God has an endless amount of “faith seeds” at His disposal, and as you get toward the bottom of your sack, He’ll refill it for you without you ever noticing it! After all, they’re His seeds! Why worry about where you’re sowing?
Paul sat down with a group of foreign women that day, never wondering why he was there and never doubting that these were the right people to share in his faith story. He never tried to find the right place to sow God’s seed - his attitude was that wherever the spirit lead him, it must be was the right place!
Sowing seed is an interesting process. Have you ever sowed seed by hand? When we moved into our house 23 years ago, the front yard was still rough graded dirt. I had received an outrageous estimate to put a lawn in, and it would have been beautiful. The company would have regraded the yard, applied several inches of top soil, and laid sod down. We would have had an instant and beautiful yard, but $5,000 was far beyond our budget at the time. So I decided to do it myself. I dragged the soil to eliminate most of the bumps, picked stone off for at least a couple of weeks, and then put down the seed. I didn’t have a broadcast spreader, so I just threw it out by hand.
When the seed began to sprout, it came up in curves with more vacant spots than I had expected. But over the next several years, a miracle occurred! The grass which had come from the seed I had sowed, even though it was as imperfect a planting as you have ever seen, especially with the seed being thrown out directly onto hard pan which is pretty typically poor soil for this area, began to spread out and fill in the gaps all by itself! All I’ve had to do over the years is give it a little “weed and feed” each spring, and now I have a pretty good looking yard. Not to my credit, though – it is all to God’s credit. He took my imperfect contribution of sowing, and did all the rest to bring beauty to my yard.
If God can do this with grass seed that we just throw out on the ground, just think what He can do with a few “faith seeds” that we faithfully spread around on those who He places in our lives!
To sow God’s seed in this world, all we need to do is open our hands and hearts to all we meet, and let them meet the Jesus that each of us has come to know and love. And then, we step back and watch what God can do with our imperfect offering. He may send someone else to do some watering, or trimming, or fertilizing from time to time, but in the end, the result will be marvelous.
But if we decide to stand firm and keep our hands firmly clenched, holding onto our “faith seeds” tightly, never allowing a single one to drop from our hands, the lawn will remain covered with weeds and dirt, and not a single blade of “faith grass” will ever sprout. It all has to begin with a “faith sower”.
Read Acts 16:15
The “seed of faith” had been planted in Lydia and her family, and in a few short years, the beauty of Christ would be spreading all over the area, producing a beautiful garden of believers. The imperfect but faithful Paul sowed the faith when and where God called him to sow. He didn’t question whether the people who were to receive the blessing were worthy, or would be receptive, or were the right ones to receive. He just sowed wherever God took him.
Won’t you give it a try? Share your faith with everyone you meet. Don’t worry if they are the right ones. Just sow wherever God leads you.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
“Go Where God Calls, and Forget the Rest!”
Scripture: Acts 16:4-10
As I read over this passage a couple of times this week, I started to realize that it could take us in a couple of different directions. It could go to growth in the church, it could be about doors that open and close in our walk with Christ, it could be about visions and other spiritual gifts that God gives to us. But the thought that came out on top was one of obedience.
Obedience is one of those concepts that can be perplexing at times – especially when we are getting mixed signals from various authorities in our lives. Is our boss expecting one thing from us, like working 75 hours a week, but we believe that our families need something totally different? Do we have simple hopes and desires for our home life, but our family and friends are insisting that we should become much more complex and diverse? Is society demanding one response from us, while we feel that the Lord is calling us to a different standard? Who do we listen to?
Discovering the truth of what is right for us is never a simple endeavor – it must be a life long journey, and sometimes it is a major struggle. Amen? And discerning God’s Will for our life isn’t any easier. Sometimes we need extensive study of the various alternatives. Other times, we need to listen to the advice and guidance of Christian friends and confidants.
It is never easy, and the proof that we are finally in God’s way is not that everything is going smoothly. The winds of change will, at times, blow directly into our face and will try to make us go where we don’t want to go. The attitudes and advice of those who are closest to us may very well contradict everything that we believe to be true.
And sometimes we get so caught up in needing to do exactly what is right, and avoiding everything that is wrong, that we miss out on the joys of walking with Christ. The Pharisee Saul was committed to doing everything that the law said was “right”, and he never discovered the joy of Yahweh. But when he came face to face with Joy on the Road to Damascus, the apostle Paul began serving in a whole new way.
Read Acts 16:4-5
When Paul finally came to the truth of Christ, it all began to come together. Obedience wasn’t just an obligation of faith - Christ had freed him to serve in joy! He no longer had to be the one who was making the decisions. He could depend on the disciples, who were based in Jerusalem, to pray about what was to happen, to pray about the decisions that had to be made, and to convey the responses from the answers to prayer honestly and faithfully to those who were ministering to the world. And what came of it?
The church was being strengthened in faith as well as in numbers. The leadership was listening to God, and obeying His Will for the Church. Were there problems? You bet there were! There were those who wanted to blend Christ into Judaism, and expected all who joined them to adhere faithfully to Jewish traditions and practices. There were those who taught that followers for Christ had to have a secret and special understanding of faith if they were to be true Christians – they were known as Gnostics. There were others who simply tried to use the Church for their own gain – for their own benefit. But true growth in the Church only happened when the people were faithful to Christ’s teachings, and not to the ways of the world.
The Church also discovered that if they were to follow Christ, they also had to be Christ-like. Satisfaction with the way it had always been was no longer acceptable.
Grace Jantzen writes – According to his biographers, Francis of Assisi was a fastidious young man. He was horrified by poverty and by all forms of suffering, but nothing raised his revulsion so much as leprosy. If he chanced to see a leper while he was out riding, he would dismount, hold his nose, and send a messenger to give some alms.
Then one day, at the beginning of his conversion, he came unexpectedly upon a leper on the road. His first impulse was to recoil, then he remembered his desire for discipleship. 'He slipped off his horse and ran to kiss the man. When the leper put out his hand as if to receive some alms, Francis gave him money and a kiss.'
This was for Francis a significant turning point in his understanding of Christ. Now that he had identified himself with Christ and with the lepers, in action and not merely in theory, his practical understanding of the incarnation deepened in direct proportion to his active obedience.
-Grace Jantzen, AIDS, Shame and Suffering, Embracing the Chaos, 23-24.
It was no longer Francis’ decision – he had turned his life over to Jesus Christ, and was allowing Him to lead.
Read Acts 16:6-8
Perhaps Paul and his entourage felt that no matter where they preached the gospel it was the right place. Why wouldn’t it be? Didn’t the entire world need to come to know Jesus? But apparently, God had a different idea and a different plan! Doors were being closed, and Paul, to his credit, didn’t try to force them back open. Instead, he followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, wherever it might take him.
But we still need to ask – Why shouldn’t the message be carried to Asia? Didn’t the people of Mysia and Bithynia deserve to hear about Jesus? It appears that it isn’t about whether they needed to hear or not – they obviously did – but there was just as obviously a more urgent need elsewhere.
The apostles had set their own thoughts and desires aside, and had committed their mission to serving Christ wherever He might have need of them. What a lesson! I don’t know about you, but I always seem to struggle with what God wants from me. It always seems to require a lot of prayer and a lot of time before I even begin to sense His will for me. I envy Paul and others in scripture who seem to have such a good, solid grasp on God’s call to them. I also suspect that the writers of scripture may have simplified the process that these great examples of faith went through to know and acknowledge and follow their calling. And yet, I wish I could be more certain at times. How about you? Are there any who don’t struggle with this issue?
Read Acts 16:9-10
Paul knew and he acted, just as so many others have. Abraham began preparations to take his son Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice him the day after he was called by God. The Samaritan woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s well became an instant witness after the Lord had revealed the truth of her life and offered her a living water to sustain her. And who did she witness to? The very people who had condemned her every day of her life. On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit had touched Christ’s followers, was there any hesitation on their part to begin sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ? Hardly! They immediately went outside, and Peter began to preach like he had never preached before. And 3,000 were saved that day!
None of these faithful knew what would come from their commitment to follow a very difficult, and even stange path, but they went just the same. They all had known without a doubt, just as Paul did in our reading today, that “God had called them” for some purpose, even though they didn’t understand it at the time.
Is this a frightening concept? Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it. Any venture into the unknown involves a risk, and most of us are risk adverse by our very nature! But we also must know that we will never be stepping out into a void, and that we will never be stepping out alone. God has a plan, and all we need to do is to take that first step in faith, and then let God do the rest.
Will you take that step with me? Not only is God with us, but we must go out into the world to proclaim His glorious name together, as His Church. And we must never look back!
As I read over this passage a couple of times this week, I started to realize that it could take us in a couple of different directions. It could go to growth in the church, it could be about doors that open and close in our walk with Christ, it could be about visions and other spiritual gifts that God gives to us. But the thought that came out on top was one of obedience.
Obedience is one of those concepts that can be perplexing at times – especially when we are getting mixed signals from various authorities in our lives. Is our boss expecting one thing from us, like working 75 hours a week, but we believe that our families need something totally different? Do we have simple hopes and desires for our home life, but our family and friends are insisting that we should become much more complex and diverse? Is society demanding one response from us, while we feel that the Lord is calling us to a different standard? Who do we listen to?
Discovering the truth of what is right for us is never a simple endeavor – it must be a life long journey, and sometimes it is a major struggle. Amen? And discerning God’s Will for our life isn’t any easier. Sometimes we need extensive study of the various alternatives. Other times, we need to listen to the advice and guidance of Christian friends and confidants.
It is never easy, and the proof that we are finally in God’s way is not that everything is going smoothly. The winds of change will, at times, blow directly into our face and will try to make us go where we don’t want to go. The attitudes and advice of those who are closest to us may very well contradict everything that we believe to be true.
And sometimes we get so caught up in needing to do exactly what is right, and avoiding everything that is wrong, that we miss out on the joys of walking with Christ. The Pharisee Saul was committed to doing everything that the law said was “right”, and he never discovered the joy of Yahweh. But when he came face to face with Joy on the Road to Damascus, the apostle Paul began serving in a whole new way.
Read Acts 16:4-5
When Paul finally came to the truth of Christ, it all began to come together. Obedience wasn’t just an obligation of faith - Christ had freed him to serve in joy! He no longer had to be the one who was making the decisions. He could depend on the disciples, who were based in Jerusalem, to pray about what was to happen, to pray about the decisions that had to be made, and to convey the responses from the answers to prayer honestly and faithfully to those who were ministering to the world. And what came of it?
The church was being strengthened in faith as well as in numbers. The leadership was listening to God, and obeying His Will for the Church. Were there problems? You bet there were! There were those who wanted to blend Christ into Judaism, and expected all who joined them to adhere faithfully to Jewish traditions and practices. There were those who taught that followers for Christ had to have a secret and special understanding of faith if they were to be true Christians – they were known as Gnostics. There were others who simply tried to use the Church for their own gain – for their own benefit. But true growth in the Church only happened when the people were faithful to Christ’s teachings, and not to the ways of the world.
The Church also discovered that if they were to follow Christ, they also had to be Christ-like. Satisfaction with the way it had always been was no longer acceptable.
Grace Jantzen writes – According to his biographers, Francis of Assisi was a fastidious young man. He was horrified by poverty and by all forms of suffering, but nothing raised his revulsion so much as leprosy. If he chanced to see a leper while he was out riding, he would dismount, hold his nose, and send a messenger to give some alms.
Then one day, at the beginning of his conversion, he came unexpectedly upon a leper on the road. His first impulse was to recoil, then he remembered his desire for discipleship. 'He slipped off his horse and ran to kiss the man. When the leper put out his hand as if to receive some alms, Francis gave him money and a kiss.'
This was for Francis a significant turning point in his understanding of Christ. Now that he had identified himself with Christ and with the lepers, in action and not merely in theory, his practical understanding of the incarnation deepened in direct proportion to his active obedience.
-Grace Jantzen, AIDS, Shame and Suffering, Embracing the Chaos, 23-24.
It was no longer Francis’ decision – he had turned his life over to Jesus Christ, and was allowing Him to lead.
Read Acts 16:6-8
Perhaps Paul and his entourage felt that no matter where they preached the gospel it was the right place. Why wouldn’t it be? Didn’t the entire world need to come to know Jesus? But apparently, God had a different idea and a different plan! Doors were being closed, and Paul, to his credit, didn’t try to force them back open. Instead, he followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, wherever it might take him.
But we still need to ask – Why shouldn’t the message be carried to Asia? Didn’t the people of Mysia and Bithynia deserve to hear about Jesus? It appears that it isn’t about whether they needed to hear or not – they obviously did – but there was just as obviously a more urgent need elsewhere.
The apostles had set their own thoughts and desires aside, and had committed their mission to serving Christ wherever He might have need of them. What a lesson! I don’t know about you, but I always seem to struggle with what God wants from me. It always seems to require a lot of prayer and a lot of time before I even begin to sense His will for me. I envy Paul and others in scripture who seem to have such a good, solid grasp on God’s call to them. I also suspect that the writers of scripture may have simplified the process that these great examples of faith went through to know and acknowledge and follow their calling. And yet, I wish I could be more certain at times. How about you? Are there any who don’t struggle with this issue?
Read Acts 16:9-10
Paul knew and he acted, just as so many others have. Abraham began preparations to take his son Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice him the day after he was called by God. The Samaritan woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s well became an instant witness after the Lord had revealed the truth of her life and offered her a living water to sustain her. And who did she witness to? The very people who had condemned her every day of her life. On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit had touched Christ’s followers, was there any hesitation on their part to begin sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ? Hardly! They immediately went outside, and Peter began to preach like he had never preached before. And 3,000 were saved that day!
None of these faithful knew what would come from their commitment to follow a very difficult, and even stange path, but they went just the same. They all had known without a doubt, just as Paul did in our reading today, that “God had called them” for some purpose, even though they didn’t understand it at the time.
Is this a frightening concept? Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it. Any venture into the unknown involves a risk, and most of us are risk adverse by our very nature! But we also must know that we will never be stepping out into a void, and that we will never be stepping out alone. God has a plan, and all we need to do is to take that first step in faith, and then let God do the rest.
Will you take that step with me? Not only is God with us, but we must go out into the world to proclaim His glorious name together, as His Church. And we must never look back!
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