Instruments in the sypmphony of God's grace

Isaiah 43:1-3

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. ²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. ³For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

This is a long passage and I want you to hear it first as a whole. The Bible is one story, about God’s love for us and the twists and turns that takes. It’s also a bunch of stories, each with its own integrity. So I want to talk about this whole story before we dive in. We read earlier about how Saul was an approving witness when Stephen was executed. We also read that he was a leader in the persecution that drove Christians out of Jerusalem. Here we continue the strange story of Saul.

Acts 9:1-9

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ⁵He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, ¹²and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” ¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; ¹⁶I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, ²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” ²¹All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” ²²Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

²³After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, ²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; ²⁵but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. ²⁶When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. ³⁰When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. ³¹Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

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Now that you’ve heard the whole story, I want to focus on one part of it, but without losing the whole story we’ve just read. As I’ve read and reread this passage the word that keeps tugging at me is “instrument.” Maybe the first time you read or hear this passage the word doesn’t make much of an impression. Can you remember where the word “instrument” comes up in the passage?

            The Lord is talking to a disciple named Ananias. God tells him to go to Judas’s house and there he’ll find a man named Saul, who is praying. Saul will be expecting Ananias and Ananias is supposed to lay hands on Saul so he can get his sight back.

            Ananias is taken aback. Saul is the biggest enemy of the church right now. He’s in Damascus to arrest disciples of Jesus and take them to the chief priests in Jerusalem. God tells Ananias: “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

            That word, “instrument” has been tugging at me all week, and even before. And then it broke open for me in a whole new way through God’s amazing gift of music. Maggie and I went to see Pink Martini on Friday as part of Jazz Fest. If you don’t know Pink Martini, you really should. They’re incredibly eclectic. During the concert on Friday they sang in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian and Croatian. Most of their songs are jazz with female lead vocals. Some are new renditions of old favorites and others are original. One piece was basically straight up classical music with a violin and guitar. The band on stage included a trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, piano, upright bass, guitar and two drum sets as well as tambourines and such. The concert as a whole blew me away and opened my heart and mind in some ways I’m not at the bottom of yet, to say the least.

            The part of the show that’s related to our passage was a song called U Plavu Zoru, which means “At Blue Dawn” in Croatian. The song starts out with an unbelievable cello solo. Unbelievable, not because it is technically difficult, though I’m sure it is, but because it’s so emotionally intense. For that moment the cello is the whole world. It’s speaking right to your heart and all you can do is listen totally captivated.

            As the piece moves on, the cello takes on a rhythm that reminds you of a train, because the song is about a train taking the singer far away from someone she loves. Then the cello steps out of the spotlight and becomes just a sound effect of a train running on its tracks. The other instruments take over and the cello disappears completely to make way for the rest of the band. That piece and the show as a whole made me think a lot about what it means to be an instrument.

            What is an instrument? Usually we think of musical instruments, but we can also think about scientific instruments like test tubes and stirring rods. We can think about architectural instruments like a straight edge and compass for drawing buildings not yet built. An instrument is something that someone uses for a purpose; it is a tool.

            So if Saul is God’s chosen instrument to proclaim the gospel, especially to gentiles and people in power, that means that God will use Saul for that purpose. And even though Saul is the author of a quarter of the New Testament, it is not about him. He is a servant in a bigger story. Sometimes, like the cello solo, he is the central voice. His teaching and preaching ministry was important, and even early on, he was the target of criticism and persecution. But even when he’s the center of a community or a book, the story isn’t his. He is an instrument, not the composer.

            As I think about this passage and about instruments, I think also about the lesser-known characters in this story. As far as I know, this is the only time we hear about Ananias. But at a time when the world was turned upside down and everything was dark for Saul, Ananias is the one who brought healing and hope. Ananias was the one who first welcomed Saul to the community of disciples, who restored his sight and baptized him into the body of Christ.

Barnabas made a brief appearance earlier when he sold a field and gave the proceeds to the church. Here he appears as Saul’s way in to the community in Jerusalem. We don’t know how he and Paul met, but Barnabas believed him and helped convince other leaders he could be trusted. Paul and Barnabas end up traveling together to spread the good news. Ananias and Barnabas don’t have huge parts in the symphony of faith, but without their roles, without them as instruments of God’s grace, the song wouldn’t be the same.

            The community of faith is like an orchestra. Each instrument is important, but it is the sound of the whole thing that matters most. For the whole orchestra to sound good, every musician has to practice on their own with dedication and they have to play their heart out on stage. At the same time, they also have to put the whole ahead of themselves. They need to merge their sound with that of their neighbors. Sometimes they have to hold themselves back so their neighbor’s sound will come through more clearly. Sometimes, they have to be totally silent for the sake of the overall effect, though even in silence, they are part of the composition.

sharing our faith

Acts 8:1-13

And Saul approved of their killing him. That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. ²Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. ³But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.

⁴Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word. ⁵Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. ⁶The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, ⁷for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed; and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured. ⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹Now a certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great. ¹⁰All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” ¹¹And they listened eagerly to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. ¹²But when they believed Philip, who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³Even Simon himself believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs and great miracles that took place.

Acts 8:26-40

²⁶Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”

³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

³²Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. ³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” ³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” ³⁸He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

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            When Jesus gave his last instructions to the disciples, he told them that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Faithful to Jesus’ direction, the disciples waited in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit and then began to tell the story of God’s amazing grace in Christ. Last week Susan shared the story of Stephen, the first Christian to die for his faith. Stephen’s murder began a wider persecution that scattered the church, but God used that scattering to spread the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria and, eventually to the ends of the earth.

            What I love about these two stories, especially the story about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, is that the Spirit leads and Philip follows. The Spirit tells him to go to the chariot. He doesn’t know who is in it or what he’s going to do with this chariot, but he trusts that he will know what to do when he gets there.

Notice how Philip approaches the man in the chariot. He hears him reading scripture, so he opens the conversation by asking about it. He doesn’t force his way in. He doesn’t attack the man’s beliefs or push Christ on him in some aggressive way. He doesn’t start the conversation in a confrontational way. “Do you know where you’re going to spend eternity,” is almost never the best way to open a conversation. Instead Philip listens to what the man is reading and then asks a simple, respectful question.

            Miracle stories are sometimes hard to related to, since I don’t have any experience with miracles. But I can ask a question and tell a story, and so can you, so this story is easy to relate to. Philip is an especially good example of evangelism for our time. People are skeptical about authority telling them what to do or believe. But people are also hungry for meaning. In the aftermath of a Christian culture, most people know that the church has something to do with a man named Jesus. They know there’s something about eternal life, sin and salvation. But they don’t necessarily know the story, and more importantly, they don’t know the story is for them because no one has invited them recently.

            People need Christ, and you can reach people no one else can reach. As a disciple of Jesus you have what you need to evangelize like Philip, so let’s break it down. The first step is having a strong faith. You can’t share what you don’t have. Many of us mildly believe or mildly don’t believe in God, but we don’t do anything to change that. Going to church each week isn’t going to make you believe in God, it takes something more than that.

            Here’s a simple experiment I want you to try this week if you’re feeling unsure in your faith. Act like you believe in God this week. Pray frequently like you’re talking to someone who really cares about you. Don’t worry about saying the right words, just talk. Read scripture ready to hear a word to you. Spend some time in silence reflecting on who God made you and how you can use your gifts. Don’t spend time wondering if God is real; for the moment, just assume that he is and live like it.

What I think you’ll find is that as you actively reach out for God, you’ll find him. It might not be obvious or dramatic, but the more you practice relying on God and listening to God, the clearer God’s presence will become in your life. But you need to reach out.

The next step in evangelizing like Philip is to open your ears and your eyes and your heart so you can see where God is leading you. Keep doing the things you do: go to work, spend time with friends and family, play golf. As you do all your normal things, pay attention. Who is hurting? Who seems to need some hope? What do your friends worry about? Is one of your coworkers going through a hard time?

As you pay attention, make yourself available to the people God puts in your path. Be open to them. Allow yourself to feel with them. Listen to what they say and listen to how God prompts you to respond. Trust God to lead you and say what you feel your heart leading you to say. Usually you’ll listen more than you will talk. People in pain first need to know someone is listening to them and cares about them.

Sometimes it will feel right to share a word of faith; a simple phrase of God’s truth can be a beam of hope for them that will guide them to the next step. Often people need to hear something like: You are not alone. God hasn’t given up on you. God cares about you. God loves you.

Give a word of hope. Give it honestly and then listen. Sometimes a simple phrase about God’s love unleashes a flood of doubt, or grief, or hurt, or longing. Be ready to hear uncomfortable things. Listen to them, patiently, lovingly. Don’t listen like you’re waiting to respond; listen to really hear what the person is saying. Listen for the words and the meaning behind the words. Let them know you are listening.

back to the beginning

Acts 1:15-26

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, ¹⁶“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— ¹⁷for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. ¹⁹This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” ²³So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

            My goal for today is a little ambitious, but if you stick with me, we can do it. I’d like to give a brief introduction to the Book of Acts and its historical setting as a whole. Then I’d like to catch us up to where we are now, so that we’re all on the same page as we start this series on Acts. Finally, I’d like to dig into the passages for today to think a little bit about Church leadership, since today we will elect leaders for the coming year.

My hope this summer is not only to work through the whole story of Acts in worship, but also to set up some small group opportunities so we can engage the story at a deeper level through discussion. I encourage you to read the Book of Acts on your own. If you get my daily readings, you’ll get a lot of it that way, but it will give you a great foundation if you read the whole story through on your own. I’d recommend shooting for 5 chapters a week, but read the first 7 chapters this week to be ready for next week. That’s a great pace to absorb, miss a day here and there, and also keep some momentum.

First, why Acts? This generation is a time of huge change in the church. Many of us remember the 1950’s and 60’s as a great time for church. The values of the church were widely shared in the culture: even those who didn’t belong to a church knew the story of Jesus and many of the core beliefs of Christianity. Churches were typically well attended and growing, and the postwar boom in US economic and social life enriched the church.

            That’s not the case today. When I think about friends my age, not counting pastors, only a few go to church outside of Christmas or Easter. While politicians still usually find it necessary to claim religious affiliation, and most people respect Christianity in general, the church doesn’t have the political and social clout it once had.

            There are a lot of reasons for these changes, and the rough sketch I offer this morning leaves out a lot and can’t do justice to the complexity of the story. Starting in the 1960’s the pace of social change accelerated. Civil rights movements and the women’s movement uncovered oppression that had gone unquestioned by many before, upsetting the false calm of the dominant social system.

            Related to that, many people came to distrust institutions in general, and the church is an institution. Sins of the organized church from sex and abuse to financial misconduct came to light, further eroding trust in the church. People are also aware of greater diversity of religion, culture and outlook, so Western, Christian culture no longer has the monopoly it once had.

            All those changes and more have left the church smaller, weaker and less central to society than we were two generations ago. Often that makes us nervous, so we wish for and try to recreate those “golden years” of our youth when the church was full, the finances were strong and there were great programs for every group within the church.

            It’s never going to be 1960 again. The institutional wealth and stability the church had then is not coming back, and that is great news for the church. Like all gospel, like all good news that matters at a deep level, the good news about change in the church is not easy; it’s difficult and disruptive, but it can help transform us into the people and the community God wants us to be.

            Instead of looking to the sixties, we’ll do better if we look back at our real roots, which is the church’s birth told in the Book of Acts. There are two big reasons for that. The first is that the change we need in the church isn’t tinkering around the edges; it’s a fundamental recreation of the organization. After Jesus returned to heaven the disciples had to build something that had never existed. Their first creation of the church by the Holy Spirit’s guidance is the best instruction we can have for recreating the church today.

            The second reason for digging into Acts is that there are a lot of similarities of the first century to our time, so looking at how the church navigated that culture can help us navigate our own.

            Let’s start this adventure with some historical background. Alexander the Great unified most of the Mediterranean world about 300 years before Jesus was born, and the Roman Empire took over and continued that consolidation a hundred years later. While many other languages were spoken, Greek, and much later Latin, provided a common language for most of the known world. The stability of a strong empire made travel and communication relatively safe and easy with good roads, a reliable postal system and many seaports.

            The first century was a global time. Greek philosophy and religions coexisted with religious ideas from Egypt, Asia and parts of Europe. Ideas, foods, market products and people could travel widely, and many big cities enjoyed being cosmopolitan and sampling the diversity of the world.

            The economics of the Empire were not entirely healthy. While trade flourished, the far-flung military obligations of a huge empire created severe financial strain. Taxes were high, especially in conquered areas. Society was divided economically with little upward mobility. Rome and other cities were nowhere near self-sustaining, and most people there relied on government distribution of food.

            With all the advances and changes in commerce as well as many people forced to move by Roman conquest or economic forces, many people felt isolated from their native culture without a community to support them. The dangers and uncertainties of life made many people feel like they had no control over their destiny. People believed parts of different religions, and the official Roman faith imported gods and ideas from many areas into the traditional religion of Greece and Rome.

            I imagine you recognize some parallels with our own time here. From diversity to communication to a global economy full of opportunity and instability, many parts of our current world resemble the Roman Empire. In some ways English plays the role of world language and Western commercial culture plays the role of Roman civilization. Then, as now, there are opportunities for communication that allowed the Christian faith to spread quickly and people who were hungry for good news and real community.

            Perhaps the most important part of that landscape for us is that in those days the church was tiny. It had very little organization, basically no property and negligible power. In that setting, the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ spread throughout the known world within a generation. That was the time of the church’s greatest faithfulness and most dynamic growth.

            Christianity is supposed to be a movement of people giving their lives for God’s love, not a powerful institution forcing others to listen to us. The message of a crucified God is one that is best told humbly and with love, not at the point of a sword or in a setting where people have to believe to fit into society. Losing our dominant place in the culture is the best path to faithfulness to God’s calling, but it means we need to let go of some of our ideas of church to make space for God’s idea about church.

            That’s the big picture, so let’s catch up with our part of the story. Acts is Part 2 of Luke’s Gospel. It starts where Part 1 left off, with the risen Jesus spending time with his disciples. Jesus tell his disciples that their job is to take the message of God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth, but first, they need to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus rises into heaven to return at the right time.

            As Susan read, the first thing the disciples did after that was to elect a new apostle to take Judas’ place. After that they did what Jesus said, they waited in Jerusalem with lots of prayer and fellowship. 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven the disciples were together in an upper room when the Holy Spirit came down and filled them with power and the ability to tell God’s news in other languages. Peter told the crowd about Jesus and thousands of people became part of the movement right away.

            Soon after that Peter and John heal a man in the temple. They make it real clear that Jesus’ power is responsible for the healing, not them. The religious leaders arrest and interrogate them, but eventually let the disciples go after warning them to stop talking about Jesus. Obviously, the disciples are not going to do that and soon they are arrested and released again. They pray for boldness to tell the story and the church keeps growing.

Members of the church care for each other so radically that they share what they have so no one is in need. There are problems too: then as now money can be a temptation and some people wanted the credit for giving their property away while holding on to some of what they have. Overall, commitment continues to grow and even people who are too scared to join the church respect and admire the disciples. That’s where our story picks up:

Acts 6:1-7

Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. ²And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, ⁴while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” ⁵What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. ⁷The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

            Even early in the church, the believers recognized that leaders were important. Jesus had appointed 12 apostles even though there were many more who followed him. The early church kept the tradition of having 12 apostles, so they elect Matthias to serve that role, though many others continue to have leadership responsibility, including women.

            As the church grew, so did its leadership needs. In this case, the important ministry of caring for the most vulnerable members of the community, the widows, was getting too difficult for whoever was handling it. Specifically, while the Aramaic speaking or Hebraic Jews were being served, it seems that some of the Hellenistic or, Greek speaking, Jewish widows were not being cared for adequately.

            The twelve apostles couldn’t spend more time on that, since their main calling was preaching the word, so they asked the community to pray and chose people appropriate for the job the community needed done. That’s just what we’re doing today. When our worship draws to a close we will pray for God’s guidance, and, like the early church, we will chose people to lead this congregation.

            The leadership those people provide will be important for the growth and guidance of our community in the year to come. Each person has been nominated because the committee sees specific gifts of wisdom, organization, practicality, care, love and creativity in them.

While we choose specific people for leadership ministries at specific times in the church’s life, that doesn’t change the bedrock fact that each of us who follows Jesus also has a calling. This is not a church of leaders and spectators. Like the early church, we are called to be a community of disciples. We are each called to follow Jesus, to grow in our faith, to minister to each other and to the world in Christ’s name. Some people are called to specific jobs, but all Christians are called to lives of faith and service.

As we’ll see next week, the folks the church chose for the ministry of “waiting on tables,” didn’t limit themselves to that. One of these new servants, Stephen, preaches powerfully, maintains his courage in the face of persecution, and becomes the first martyr for the good news of Jesus Christ. That wasn’t in the job description to which he was elected, but it was a consequence of following his calling as a Christian and as a leader in his time.

I hope none of the folks we elect today will have to face trial and execution. At the same time, the reason the church was so successful in those days was that the leaders and members of the church were ready to die for their faith. Everyone who joined the church was actively choosing a new life committed to Christ and to community and different from the society around them. That situation created a church that was strong, compelling and knew its purpose.

I pray that the loss of the church’s power in society renews our sense of purpose. I pray as we lose the material benefits of belonging to the in crowd of a culture that thinks it is Christian, we will gain the spiritual benefits of freely choosing a path different from the majority and clearly committed to love. That is my prayer for our new and continuing leaders and my prayer for the whole church as God recreates the church in this age. May it be so for you and for me.

Thanks be to God.

telling the truth, 5.12.13

Colossians 3:12-17

¹²As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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Before we dig into our second reading let’s review King David’s story. Starting from the beginning, what are some important events in King David’s life?

-Goliath

-Rise to power

-conflict with Saul

-becomes king

-Bathsheba

-Amnon and Tamar

-Absalom and Amnon

-Absalom’s exile and return

The text never tells us why, but soon after his return to Jerusalem Absalom started thinking a lot about his own power. It started small, but certainly not harmlessly. Absalom recruited an entourage to show he was important. Then he started spending time at the city gate, which is where the elders of the city and other people went to talk about important things. In many ways that was the court in those days. People went to the gate to settle contracts and to seek justice when they were having trouble.

Absalom didn’t go to the city gates to help his father or to find out how things were going. Instead, when someone came to Jerusalem with a problem Absalom would tell them that their complaint was right, but that there wasn’t anyone in David’s administration who would listen to it. Then he would go on to say how much he wanted to help people get justice. Little by little, Absalom built up a following, all the while keeping the problems from ever making their way to David’s ears.

Finally, when he felt he had enough people following him, he went to Hebron, where David had first been crowned, and had himself declared king. Surprisingly, David panicked and abandoned Jerusalem with his leaders. Many others followed him as well.

Absalom took over the city of Jerusalem and plotted his next move. Meanwhile, David and his followers mourned and worried. Then they got ready for the battle. David was not going to give up the throne, so they needed to fight. David split his forces into three groups, each led by trusted leaders. Joab, David’s chief general led one group. David’s commanders convinced David not to go into battle himself and he sent them out begging them to be kind to Absalom.

Of course, battle is a hard place to be kind. I’m not a parent, but the biggest flaw David has shown so far in his parenting is not stepping in when his kids are doing the wrong thing. He didn’t do anything when Amnon raped Tamar, so Absalom felt like he had to be the one to execute justice. Then, as Absalom was building his power base, David ignored that problem too. At this point in the story, I think it’s too late to be kind.

Joab thinks so too. Joab is a favorite character of mine in the story of King David. He is fiercely loyal to King David. He is a brilliant strategist and ruthless realist. He is also ruthless about looking after his own interests. At two other points in the story David tries to appoint another commander in chief of the army and both times Joab kills them. I’m not going to hold Joab up as a moral example in any way, but he is loyal to David.

In this case, even though he has heard the King’s command to be gentle with Absalom, Joab does what he think needs to be done. One of his men discovers Absalom hanging from a tree by his hair. Joab and his closest followers kill him and bury him in a pile of rocks. Then Joab blows the trumpet to signal that the battle is over and sends a runner to bring the good news to King David.

The runner announces to David that the battle is won, but all David wants to know is whether Absalom is safe. The messenger says, “May the Lord grant that all the enemies of my lord the king be like that young man.” David leaves the command post to go to his room weeping for the life of his son. That’s where our story for today picks up:

1 Kings 19:1-8

It was told Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” ²So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops; for the troops heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.” ³The troops stole into the city that day as soldiers steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. ⁴The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

⁵Then Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your officers who have saved your life today, and the lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives and your concubines, ⁶for love of those who hate you and for hatred of those who love you. You have made it clear today that commanders and officers are nothing to you; for I perceive that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.

⁷So go out at once and speak kindly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night; and this will be worse for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your youth until now.” ⁸Then the king got up and took his seat in the gate. The troops were all told, “See, the king is sitting in the gate”; and all the troops came before the king. Meanwhile, all the Israelites had fled to their homes.

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            I think we can identify with David’s grief. Too many parents know the pain of a child’s death. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like if that child died in battle against the parent. David has lost his son. In the terrible tension of waiting for the battle to be over he must have thought about the possibilities. He must have tortured himself with the should haves and would haves, with reexamining his actions and imagining what he could have done differently to avoid the horrible situation he’s in now.

            David was a great battle commander himself, so the logical part of his mind knows that this can really only end two ways. His troops can lose the battle and Absalom will be king or his troops can win and Absalom will probably die. He knows that, but in his heart he still holds out hope that everything can miraculously turn out right. Maybe somehow he can win without Absalom dying. Maybe somehow he and his son can be reconciled and their mistakes won’t have to be the end of their story together.

            Kings are human, and they feel grief like anyone else. But kings and other leaders often have to put their feelings aside. One of the hardest thing about power is that when it is used right it is much more obligation than privilege. David’s first duty here is to his soldiers and followers, to those who have stayed loyal to him in the hardship of rebellion and flight. David is usually a natural leader with an instinct for doing the right thing. In this case, his grief and guilt make him forget his duty. All he can think about is his dead son.

            So now David’s soldiers who have stood by him feel abandoned. Instead of celebrating and giving thanks for a hard victory, they sneak back home ashamed. They have done everything right; they’ve stood by their king when it would have been easier to stay home, but when they see their king’s grief all they can do is feel bad about what they have done.

            There aren’t many men who would dare to approach David in his grief. It’s easier to give him the space he so obviously wants. But Joab is a loyal commander and friend. He sees the danger in David’s situation and he goes to save him. Joab knows that the rebellion, the flight and the battle have been hard for the army as well as for David. He knows that they need praise and encouragement, that the men need to be reassured that their courage and sacrifice and suffering has not been for nothing. They need their king’s gratitude and support. The king has to put the duties of command, the duties of royalty ahead of his personal grief.

            So Joab goes and he tells David the truth. He knows David doesn’t want to hear it. He knows David wants to be alone to wallow in his grief, but Joab knows what he needs to do. David needs to know the truth so he can live up to his calling even when he doesn’t want to. That’s what true friends do; they tell us the truth even when they don’t want to and even when they know we don’t want to hear it. They tell us the truth and they keep loving us.

            Deep, faithful, challenging relationships are at the heart of what it means to be a church. Faith in Christ starts with knowing that we are sinners and we need to change our lives. It starts with knowing we can’t do it on our own, that we need Jesus to save us from our selfish ways.

            Once we start the path of discipleship we still need help. We need a community to support us and build us up when we’re having a hard time. We also need the honest, loving accountability of people who care about us too much to watch us take the wrong path. To be the best disciples we can be, we need a community with the kind of hard, loving honesty that Joab gives David.

            That’s what Paul means when he writes: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish each other in all wisdom…” Admonish each other. That means tell your brother when he’s doing the wrong thing. Warn your sister when she’s heading down the wrong path. Don’t just pray for your friend from a distance, let them know that you’re worried about the choices they are making.

            Our culture is weak on relationships. Most of our relationships are very surface level and we have all but lost the art of constructive criticism. We’re great at blasting people from a distance. We excel at sarcastic digs behind people’s backs. We’re skilled at saying we’re fine or telling a coworker their work is good while silently steaming because we will have to redo it.

Ministers of the gospel, 5.5.13

Proverbs 2:1-11

My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you,
²making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
³if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;
⁴if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures—
⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
⁸guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones.
⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;
¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you.

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

⁷But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift… ¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

¹⁴We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

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            People often ask me what they should call me, what my title is. Those who grew up in the Catholic church sometimes call me Father. Others aren’t sure what to say, so they ask. I say they should call me Sam, but sometimes that’s not enough.

            The answer depends on what we’re talking about. The title the Presbyterian Church gives me is reverend, so that’s the “correct” way to address me formally. The new Book of Order, which is the second part of the Presbyterian constitution, refers to me as a teaching elder. That emphasizes my role teaching in the church and also reminds us that, like the elders you will elect in June, I am an elder. We vote with the same weight, and we’re eligible for the same offices in the church.

            When we talk about what my job is, what my role is in this church, the correct word is pastor. In Spanish “pastor” is the word for pastor and for shepherd. My job in some ways is to guide the church and care for it, like a shepherd, which is where the word comes from. Another advantage of this term is that people outside our church understand it, whereas if I tell someone I’m a teaching elder they won’t have any idea what I’m talking about .

            Often people will say I am the minister of a church. That’s correct because that’s a term we have used in much of the church’s history. It also makes sense for people outside the church, because, like pastor, minister is a word people recognize. But the truth is that we are all ministers, so sometimes if people say I am the minister we forget that you are also ministers.

            Minister originally meant a servant. It means someone who serves others. Ministry means service, and the ministry of the church is everyone’s job together. That ministry is proclaiming the good news, serving the poor, encouraging people to live righteous lives, providing for fellowship, education and worship, and making our life as a church reflect God’s kingdom, so people can see what God wants our life to be like. That is not my job, it’s our job together. We are all ministers at Laurelton.

            Along with ministry, we talk about calling. God calls people to ministry in different ways. Some are painfully obvious and others are difficult to figure out. But there is a calling for everyone. God calls you to ministry. That starts with the calling to follow Jesus. Like Jesus invited the first disciples, Jesus invites each of us to follow him now. That’s a calling all Christians share. We don’t just happen to show up at church or Bible study. God calls us here.

Our calling shapes every part of our life, because following Jesus means turning away from certain other things, things like hatred, selfishness, judgment and sin. That’s why Paul urges the church, urges each Christian, to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we were called. Our call to discipleship and ministry is a high calling from God, and it takes work for our lives to be worthy of that calling.

putting others first, 4.28.13

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Acts 4:32-37

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). ³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

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Generally, I leave it up to personal preference whether you read along or not in the Bible. For today’s reading I’d recommend that you open the Bible and follow along. We’re reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 8 and you’ll find it on page 171 of the New Testament in the pew Bible. What I want to point out in this passage is that this letter is really a letter. It is part of an active correspondence between Paul and members of the church in Corinth, a community Paul founded and lived in for a year and a half. As you look at the passage you’ll notice that there are several places where there are quotations; the first instance is in the first line: “Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’”

            Scholars believe that these quotes were from a letter Paul received from Christians in Corinth. They either made statements or asked questions that Paul is directly responding to. We do this a lot when we’re writing emails to each other. We’ll often copy and paste quotes from the person we’re replying to, and Paul does the same thing here.

           

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; ³but anyone who loves God is known by him.

⁴Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁵Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— ⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

⁷It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸“Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

⁹But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. ¹²But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

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            It’s easy to feel like the stories in the Bible are so old, that things were so different then that the message doesn’t apply now. We feel like they were closer to Jesus because they lived a long time ago. Something about the distance in time makes it seem like they achieved feats of spiritual power we can’t even dream of today.

In reality, though, people of that time were a lot like us. They worked hard to support their families. They worried about their kids and their finances. They thought about how to succeed in their business or how to impress their supervisor. They sometimes argued with their neighbors or disagreed with their spouse. Like now, being a Christian was part of a person’s story; they also had other roles in life that sometimes supported and other times challenged their identity as a Christian.

Paul is getting at that conflict in the passage we just read from his letter to the Corinthians. In the first century, the culture overall was pagan. Judaism was a well recognized, minority faith, but most people, including many who weren’t especially religious, were pagan. Christians made a choice to be different.

The culture as a whole was religious, and religious in a way Christians rejected, so it was a challenge to be a Christian and a member of society at the same time. The particular issue Paul is talking about in this passage is meat sacrificed to idols. This passage is part of a longer section about meat and idolatry that takes up the next three chapters. We only have time for this part t today, but Paul’s argument will make more sense if you read from the beginning of chapter 8 through the first verse in chapter 11 when you get home.

This is a challenging concept for us now since pagan worship isn’t an issue anymore. Then, however, most people were pagan and much of the social life of the city was built around pagan festivals and pagan temples. Even more than now, life was social, and a person’s opportunities had a lot to do with whom he or she knew and how they cultivated those relationships. For members of the church, especially those in business, pagan celebrations would have been tempting networking and social opportunities, even though they didn’t worship those gods anymore.

The folks writing to Paul argue that since they know that the pagan gods aren’t really gods, they can go to their temples without betraying their faith. In chapter 10, Paul goes on to argue that this isn’t really true because God demands our full allegiance, so any kind of worship of other gods is off limits. Here his argument is about how going to the temple might hurt the faith of others in the community, so we’ll keep our attention on that part.

The Corinthian church was a mixed congregation. While most Christians in Corinth and elsewhere were poor, a few were wealthy and some were middle and working class. Some of the divisions about religious questions had a lot to do with economic situation or education level. Those with more education seemed to think of themselves as above pagan superstition and looked down on others who didn’t know as much. For philosophically minded Corinthians, knowledge meant freedom from superstition and from being enslaved to the physical world.

Paul certainly valued education too, but knowledge wasn’t the most important thing for him. As he puts it at the beginning of the passage, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” We aren’t saved by what we know, but by God’s love in Jesus Christ. And we don’t grow in faith by showing off our knowledge to others, but by loving other people.

Faith isn’t about getting the right answer to a theological or academic question. When we’re making a decision about how to act, the most important question is what is most loving and most beneficial to the community.

The question at stake here isn’t just whether or not it will compromise my faith to go to a pagan temple, the more important question is whether it could lead someone else in the community down the wrong path. For us pagan temples aren’t a temptation, but the principle is still important. I see this at work everywhere. In fact, this section of First Corinthians is a huge part of how I think about being a Christian. So let’s think about some modern examples.

Our culture is so much about our rights, but Paul calls us to look instead at how we can help others. We think that we have a right to speak our mind, and that’s true. But we also need to think about how what we want to say might impact others. That’s worth thinking about in terms of avoiding hurting someone else’s feelings as well as hurting someone else’s faith.

It’s important to bring faith outside the walls of the church, including places like the Boulevard. At the same time, people are watching. While I don’t have a problem with alcohol, many people do, so it’s important for me to watch my behavior if I’m leading a church discussion at the Boulevard so I don’t trip someone else up.

It’s the same thing with going to church. Believe it or not, your friends and coworkers are looking at you to see what it means to be a Christian. Maybe you are spiritually strong enough that you don’t need to be in church regularly. But if your friends see you putting other things ahead of church on your priorities list, that’s going to make them think church isn’t important and that they don’t need to make time for it.

It’s important in church too. Maybe a certain style of music or prayer or sermon isn’t your favorite. While I do want to know about that so I can plan worship that works for everyone over the course of the year, we have to make sure everyone is fed spiritually. And we need to put folks struggling the most first in that respect. Decision making in the church isn’t about earning a bigger vote by working hard; it’s about working together to build up the community

That means church is the opposite of a meritocracy where the people with the most skills and strength dominate. We’re supposed to be an upside down economy where we think most about what other people need, especially the newest or weakest members of the faith, and then later on about what we want. Ann Philbrick, who did our leadership training for New Beginnings put it well. She said, “Mature believers are willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel.” That means if something we’re doing here is reaching new people for Christ, but it’s not your favorite, we need your support anyway.

That doesn’t mean grinding yourself into the ground with church stuff you don’t enjoy. Joy is a huge part of following God’s calling in our life and God has given you your gifts and interests for a reason. But it does mean thinking about what other people need as well as what we want.

A lot of people think about religion as a bunch of rules they have to follow, and that’s not right either. Paul gives us a better way forward. It’s not about following an old set of rules or doing what other people say we should do, but it’s also not just doing what we want either. Being a Christian means following Jesus Christ and being part of a community that is bound together in love. And that means other people are just as important as we are. So when we think about our choices, the question isn’t so much “What do we have to do?” or, “What do I want to do?” Instead, maybe the best question is, “How can I love my neighbor with this choice?”

That’s not the same as, “What does my neighbor want me to do?” If we think about the example of going to the pagan temple, maybe our neighbor wants us to go to the temple so they can feel alright about doing it too. The point isn’t making everyone happy in the short term. It’s not about the lowest common denominator. It’s about contributing to an atmosphere where everyone can be their best, where everyone can grow in faith, where it’s easier to do the right thing.

That means pushing ourselves not to make the easier choice but the choice that reflects our faith most clearly. Most of all, it means putting our community before ourselves. That’s what we see in the brief snapshot from Acts that Sally read a few minutes ago. Luke tells us that the believers were so committed to their community that they sold their possessions so everyone would have enough.

We know that this wasn’t the case for everyone in the church in the first century. Actually, in the very next chapter of Acts Peter tells members of the community that they have a right to their property, but they have to be honest. The point of sharing this vision from Acts isn’t so make us feel guilty about the fact that we don’t share anything now. It’s not about guilt, after all; it’s all about love.

Instead my point is to hold up a vision of a community where people love each other deeply. What would it be like to belong to a community like that? How wonderful would it be to care about each other enough to stop worrying about ourselves? How amazing would it be to think about what would bless other people most? What kind of community would encourage you to be your best? What would a church look like that invited your deepest commitment and encouraged the same from everyone else?

How can we build a church where we think about other’s needs ahead of our desires, not because we feel guilty, but because we love each other? Picture that dream church of commitment and joy and love. Allow that dream to grow in your heart and let’s start building the dream together.

Thanks be to God.