Standing In Grace (Romans 5:1-4) 5/26/13

Standing in Grace

 Romans 5: 1-4

On the afternoon of Monday, May 21, 2013, Anna Canady and Jessica Simonds were teaching their kindergarten students at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma. A mile away, Paula Fauble was doing the same thing at Briarwood Elementary. Sheryl Stoepker, a nurse, had just helped deliver a baby at Moore Medical Center. In a matter of minutes, everything changed. Only miles away and coming fast was an E5 tornado two miles wide, seventeen miles long and carrying winds of 210 miles an hour. It was headed right at them. There was no place to run, no place to hide. The fury of nature was bearing down on them in all its ferocity and power. More on that later.

The book of Romans is thought to be the fullest expression of the Apostle Paul’s theology. He is writing from Corinth to the church in Rome but has yet to visit there personally. In the opening verses of Chapter 5, Paul celebrates the blessings that come from justification by faith. He begins by simply reminding his audience that we Christians are justified by faith. While it helps to know that Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome, his words bring equal light and comfort to Christians today. The watchwords in this passage are faith, peace, access, rejoice and hope, and they are interconnected. Watch for them as we explore this passage.

Back in Oklahoma, it started out as an F1 tornado, which would have been bad enough, as it would have been accompanied by 100 MPH winds, but evidence indicates that within ten minutes, it had turned into an F5 and over 200 MPH. That’s not twice as bad. Scientists tell us it’s eight times worse. On the ground the wind force is greater than that of an atomic bomb at ground zero. That goes over the top of my ability to describe with words, but words are not needed. We have all seen the pictures and the video footage. Everything in the path of that tornado in Moore was either flattened, splintered or thrown hundreds of feet.

Paul said to the Roman Christians that since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. We no longer stress over our inability to adhere to the law, to all the rules and regulations that would make us righteous. We are made righteous, not by ourselves, but by the atonement of our Savior. Our faith in Christ is all that we need. He is our refuge and our strength, just as the Psalmist says.

Tornados give signs, but little warning. What I mean is, weather people can tell us that conditions are favorable for a tornado, but that warning tends to be geographically wide, as it was that Monday. Much of that portion of the state was under a tornado warning. But the tornado itself comes with little warning and can gather strength very quickly. The monster came flying through the town of Moore, destroying everything in its path. When it got to the hospital, it looked like a hundred wrecking balls had hit simultaneously. But Sheryl Stoepker was ready. She was trained in emergency procedures, including tornadoes. She got that one hour old baby and its mother to the center of the hospital in the cafeteria where all were gathering. Sheryl and the new mother lay down on the floor and hugged, with the newborn in between them.   They are people of faith, and they began to pray. Over 250 people had gathered there and when the tornado hit, the winds pushed them into a big pile of bodies, but everyone survived. Sheryl calls it a miracle.

Paul says that through Christ we have obtained access by faith. How different from the days of the judges and kings of Israel. On the Day of Atonement, which came once a year, the high priest prepared himself meticulously for his annual venture into the Holy of Holies. He would disappear behind the veil and enter into God’s presence, where he would offer the blood of bulls as the sacrifice of the people. The people never entered this place. Indeed, the high priest himself entered it only once a year.   No more, says Paul. Through Christ we have also obtained access by faith to the grace in which we stand. The Greek word for access is prosagwh>n (prosagege). The word is used only three times in the New Testament, all by Paul. Every time, it is applied to Christ. It is the word used to mean introducing someone into the presence of greatness or the divine. Paul is saying that Jesus opens the door for us to God’s presence.

Access was important to Paula Fauble, as she and three other teachers at Briarwood Elementary gathered eighteen children into a hallway between the bathrooms. They put the children on the floor, put pillows between them and the adults and climbed on top of them. Four adults covering eighteen children. Paula says at one point all she remembers hearing were the prayers of the adults. Think of that. A tornado is coming through your building and all you can hear is the prayers of those around you. After the tornado, there was nothing much left of that wing of the building except the hallway where they had gathered.  Everyone survived. Paula lived only a block away. When she went home, it too was gone. Rummaging through the rubble, Paula found her tote bag, complete with comb and brush. She was delighted. Asked if she had lost her faith, she looked surprised. “Oh, no,” she answered. “My faith is stronger than ever….God took care of us.” Paula had access to God through faith…faith in the grace in which we stand.

Paul told the Roman Christians, and us, that we rejoice. We rejoice in hope and even in suffering. Our hope is for the glory of God. Our suffering is a road to more of that hope. As Paul says, it produces suffering, which produces endurance, which produces character. And character produces hope. And there we are again: back to hope. When we believe, we hope. When we hope, we will find God’s glory. We will even share in it.

Can you rejoice in the middle of a tornado? I don’t think I could, but I want to believe that I could hope. I want to believe that I could hope like Anna Canady and Jessica Simonds were hoping that Monday when the sky turned dark and they shielded those kindergarteners from the wrath of the tornado as it tore through Plaza Towers Elementary School. As they climbed on top of the children, a wall crashed down on them. Then a car flying through the air came to rest on the wall, wedging it in place. In some aberration of gravity, the car may have actually helped keep the wall in place as an overhead shelter. When workers came through after the tornado had passed on, they saw only Anna’s head sticking out of the rubble as she called for help.  They gathered enough people to roll the car from atop the wall. Then, one by one, the children were passed out to the rescuers. The adults were last. They all survived. Anna says that she kept asking God to take her instead of the babies. One of those babies was her own daughter. She just kept telling the children that it was going to be OK.

It is. It is going to be OK. As Christians we know that. As Paul tells us, through our faith, we have peace with God. Through Christ we know who God is. Through the Holy Spirit, we come to that personal relationship with him that gives us that peace, the peace that we are at home, that we are loved, that we are OK. Paul calls it justification. We might call it “right with God.”

Through Christ, we also have access, not only to God, but to his grace. It is the grace in which we stand, the grace by which we enjoy that access, the grace which gives us hope, that realistic expectancy that it really is going to be OK. That gives us reason to rejoice, a word Paul uses thirty five different times in the New Testament, and with good reason. Ask Anna Canady or Jessica Simonds or Paula Fauble or Sheryl Stoepker or a lot of other folks in Moore, Oklahoma. They are rejoicing in the midst of tragedy and suffering, because they have that peace and that hope which Paul talks about. Yes, people dies in that tornado, but we look at all that wreckage and marvel that so many survived.

          Stories of hope that come from experiencing God’s grace abound.  The Bible is full of them, from Joseph to Lazarus. God lives and he lives in our hearts. Our stories are his stories. Our victories are his victories. Our suffering only brings us closer to him.

Do you have a story? If you are one of his, you most certainly do. Why don’t you share that story with someone? You don’t need a microphone. You don’t need a TV camera. Just tell it to someone. If you’re telling your story about your experience with God, they will listen. In Moore, Oklahoma, they are calling all these stories “God-Winks.”  We need to do some winking of our own. We are all, as Paul says, standing in the grace of God. Don’t wait for a tornado to tell your story. Just stand in his grace…and start talking. God will do the rest.

Spirit Led (1 Samuel 17: 26-47, Romans 8: 14-17) 5/19/13

Spirit Led

 1 Samuel 17: 26-47, Romans 8: 14-17

            In ancient, biblical Near Eastern literature, a champion is a man who steps out to fight between the two battle lines. Sometimes a champion would fight on behalf of his entire people. It was a gamble. It was winner take all, so you had to have a lot of confidence in your champion’s ability. Such was the case for the Philistine army encamped at the Valley of Elah in the time of King Saul of Israel. The Philistines had a champion. His name was Goliath. He was six cubits and a span tall. In today’s measurements, that’s 9 feet 9 inches tall. His armor was made of bronze and weighed 125 pounds. His shield was 10 feet tall and he had an extra man just to carry it. Just the tip of his spear weighed 15 pounds. It was mounted on a shaft described as like a weaver’s beam. This guy had some serious size and some serious armor and weapons.

          Goliath came out from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted to the army of Israel, challenging them to send their champion to do battle with him. Scripture tells us that Saul and all Israel were dismayed and greatly afraid. One might ask at this point what the big deal is. Just say no and go to war with your army. Well, we are not told the numbers, but I’m thinking this was not really a good option for Saul. He must have been outnumbered and out weaponed and he probably knew it. He also was out of favor with God. The previous passage tells us that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. He even sent for this teenage shepherd, the youngest son of Jesse. The kid was pretty good on the lyre, a musical instrument sort of like today’s flute. When he played the lyre, it soothed Saul. The kid’s name was David.

          Goliath came out every day for forty days and made his challenge to the Israelites. As God would have it, Jesse sent young David to the front lines to take cheese and grain to his older brothers in Saul’s army. Apparently, the armies were about to go to war when David showed and heard the challenge of Goliath. The teenager speaks up: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Word travels fast about the young man. David is sent to King Saul, where he volunteers to be Israel’s champion. Saul is unimpressed, but David does a little resume building. He has killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands. That is, says David, the Lord delivered him from the paw of both the bear and the lion.  And Saul said to David: “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

Now Saul himself is a seasoned warrior with lots of notches in his war belt. But Saul has broken faith with God and he isn’t feeling all that good about his chances. Was Saul impressed with David? Did Saul hear God’s voice again?  It’s really hard to tell from the text. Maybe he just didn’t want to be responsible for all that death about to happen to his people.

So Saul tries to equip David with his own helmet and armor and sword. David tried them on, but they just didn’t feel right. He ended up swapping them out for five smooth stones and a sling. Now David still carried his staff, and might have been lucky for him that he did. That’s what Goliath focused on, and maybe he didn’t notice the sling that David carried in his other hand. The Philistine hurls some insults at David and David responds. David says “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts…This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

You know the rest. Even Goliath’s size and his bronze armor could not protect him. The Scripture says that the Philistine was struck on the forehead. Surely his helmet was on. Did David hit the one square inch exposed? Did the power of his sling throw cause the stone to penetrate the bronze helmet? It hardly matters, for David was right. The battle belonged to the Lord. David, already secretly God’s anointed, was just the messenger.

In the eighth chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul writes the Church in Rome, probably while he is in Corinth during his third missionary journey. Paul wants the church to know of God’s saving mercy. He says that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  Yes, if we are his God’s children, then we will suffer as Christ did. But we will also be glorified with him. You can almost hear the sound of David in the background saying “the Lord will deliver you.”

There is no other glory. Christians understand that there is the glory of God, and there is death. David said to the Philistines: you have defiled God’s army and you cannot stand. Paul said to the Romans and to us as Christians: Don’t fall back into the fear and slavery of sin. You are adopted. You are in the family. You are fellow heirs with Christ. Dare to let yourselves be led by the Spirit. There is no need to fear, for glory awaits.

In the old story of David and Goliath, we learn of a champion that would act for his people. The Philistine’s champion is Goliath. Israel’s champion is….no…not David. It is God himself. God is the champion of Israel. God is the champion of his people. From time to time, people are called upon to act as God’s messengers to a task or an event. David was one of those people. He, like Paul, was led by the Spirit of God.

David had the good sense to realize the source of his power. It didn’t come from armor or man made weapons. David’s power came from the courage to follow God’s will and to trust in the Lord to equip him with the tools to both do the task at hand and to deliver him from danger.

All of the time, people are called upon to be led by the Spirit of God. But we have to come to the task in humility and obedience. We have to recognize the source of our power. God will give us the tools we need to do the task at hand. We just celebrated Mother’s Day. Ask any Christian mother about the source of her power. This next week, we will celebrate Memorial Day and honor those among our number who gave all they had for our country. They gave that last full measure of devotion out of duty and a love of country. For those who now live with God, they also acted with the trust that God would deliver them. And he did. Ask any Christian soldier the source of his or her power. They too are Spirit led.

Never, ever fear to follow where God leads. Every one of us can be God’s champion. If we believe, we are adopted. If we are adopted, we are heirs. If we are heirs, God will deliver us. He promised.

A Call to Stay; A Vision to Go (Acts 26: 6-15) 5/5/13

            “Go West, young man,” said nineteenth century author Horace Greeley, although he probably borrowed it from newspaperman John Soule. He was referring to Manifest Destiny, the 1850’s movement to populate the American West and the desire of many to join the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While the movement that may have been inevitable, it left many casualties in its wake.

          Mankind’s drive for adventure, to conquer, colonialize and occupy, is nothing new. It has been both blessing and curse, depending largely upon whether you are the mover or the moved. It is certainly not unique to emperors and kings. We can also find it in God’s Word. For instance, Abraham was called to a great Bedouin dynasty, Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, David to unite the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel.

          In some ways, Paul’s second missionary journey seems like a blueprint for God’s manifest destiny, for that second missionary journey could easily not have happened, and just as easily have gone in a different direction. The fact that it did happen, and that from it came the spread of Christianity to the West, has much to do with the survival of Christianity and its worldwide influence. And it all started with the Holy Spirit saying “No” to Paul.

          Ever start to take a step in the dark, and something holds you back? Ever start to do a job and it just won’t happen, as though some invisible hand is restraining you? Ever start to talk about something serious with someone and you know right away it’s the wrong time? We all have experiences like this, when somehow we are led to inaction. Usually it turns out that whatever we were about to do was not a good idea. Call it instinct. Call it Providence. Whatever it is, sometimes it can save your life, or save a relationship, or change the course of your life or someone else’s.

After the famous Jerusalem Council of Acts 15, where the leaders of the Jerusalem church affirmed Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, Paul and Barnabas go down to Syrian Antioch. Soon after, Barnabas suggests that they return to the cities they had previously visited, but they disagree over whether to take Mark. This results in a split. Paul chooses Silas and departs for the region of Cilicia. In the city of Lystra, Paul meets a young man named Timothy, who joins the ministry.

Apparently Paul wants to go east into Asia, but Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit forbade Paul to speak the word in Asia. Paul then wants to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus does not allow him. They continue westward to Troas, where Paul has a vision. In the vision, a man from Macedonia stands in front of him and urges him to come to Macedonia and help. Paul concludes that God has called them to preach the Gospel in Macedonia.

          The Trinity is all over this passage.  The Holy Spirit forbids Paul to speak in Asia. The Spirit of Jesus stops Paul from turning North or East.  A vision from God propels Paul the way he is to go. Paul is stopped twice from striking out in a certain direction. While we are not given the details, we are certainly made privy to the source of Paul’s inaction. God is preventing him! Paul is called to stay. Then, and only after two false starts, Paul concludes that God has called him to Macedonia. Paul’s direction comes from a vision in the night, perhaps in a dream.

          So armed with God’s vision, Paul and his friends go west to Macedonia, the region which we refer to today as Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, or today’s Eastern Europe.

          Acts 16 is also the first recorded appearance of Luke as a participant in Paul’s ministry and not just Paul’s physician. Luke apparently joined Paul’s group, perhaps in Troas, as they set out for Macedonia. He may have come to treat Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Perhaps this ailment is what God used to hold Paul back temporarily. At any rate, Luke now narrates the story using the pronouns “we” and “us” throughout the passage. He is not only reporting; he himself is witnessing as they take the Gospel westward.

Paul’s group arrives in Philippi, a leading city and Roman colony in Macedonia. It was customary for Paul to first go to the synagogue for Sabbath worship, but Philippi had no synagogue. So they go outside the gate to the riverside, thinking it to be a good place for prayer and worship. And once again, Paul is thrown a curve. Rather than talking and sharing in the synagogue or to some gathering of men outside the city, Paul and his disciples engage with a group of women. Among them is Lydia, a seller of purple goods. She has come from Thyatira to set up her marketing business.

Lydia must have been quite a merchant. She was in a business that required a lot of capital. Purple goods were in great demand and also in short supply. The purple dye had to be gathered drop by drop from a certain shellfish. To dye a pound of wool in purple cost the equivalent of about $350. Lydia was probably at the top of the social scale of the time. Yet here she was at the river’s edge with a women’s prayer group. And Luke tells us that “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” She and her household were baptized. Lydia became Paul’s first European convert.

This was Paul’s second missionary journey, but he had not been this far west the first time. Others had preceded him, and Lydia was probably not the first convert in Europe. But it is noteworthy that the first European convert recorded in God’s Word was a woman. Lydia’s home was to become a base of operations for Paul in future journeys. Her wealth and generosity probably helped finance his ministry. Perhaps God used Luke’s gospel here to point out how important women were to the spread of the Gospel from the very beginning.

While these stories are helpful to show us where and how the Apostle Paul’s ministry began to penetrate beyond the confines of Palestine, they are even more important to illustrate how God worked then and how he works now. Paul was held back. God the Holy Spirit and God the Son held him back from going east and north into Asia. This must have been confusing and frustrating to Paul. We are not told how Paul was restrained, but clearly God restrained Paul from going his intended way. For a time, Paul was called to stay.

Like Paul, we have sometimes thought sure we were in a position to do God’s work, only to be thwarted and held back. Obviously, Asia was reached by Christian missionaries, but it was not God’s will for Paul to carry that banner. God had other plans for Paul.

When God was ready for Paul, Paul was given the vision to go. For Paul, it came in the form of a vision in the night, but God’s call comes in as many ways as there are people. Some of us are called to go across the street, others to the far regions of the world. The call is no less important in our dens and kitchens than it is in third world huts and grass houses. And when the vision comes, we should do as Paul did. We should immediately make plans to follow that call.

Equally important was the way God chose to use Paul in Philippi. Rather than debate with philosophers, as he did in Athens, or engage with religious leaders, as he did in synagogues, God took Paul to a riverbank and a small group of women. God led Paul to Lydia, opened her heart to receive the message, and from such unlikely beginnings, established a base of operations that was to aid Paul and others in their mission to Europe.

The work of God can be done by all of us, but it is done best when we are guided by the Master. He will take us to people and places that we would never have gone under our own direction. In what Paul might have characterized as misdirection, he was introduced to Timothy, his son in the faith, to Lydia, his first European convert, and to Luke in yet another calling, as he grew from doctor to reporter to missionary in his own right.  

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that “From days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him” [Isa. 64: 4]. It’s amazing what can happen when we listen. Where one door closes, another is opened. When we wait for God, great things are possible. We too can experience visions of our own. They may come from prayer or conversation or just being still. When we wait for God, he will be faithful to guide us. As Paul found out for himself, a call to stay is just the prelude to a vision to go.

Who Am I to Stand in God's Way? (Acts 11: 1-18) 4/28/13

           

When one of my daughters told me that she was going to Africa for a year through a  youth mission program, I thought that was a little “out there,” but nice.  I was proud of her. She was going to spend a year on another continent helping others in the name of God. That’s great. When she came back home a year later and took six months to get over the anti-malaria drugs, I thought: oh well, now that’s over and she survived. So I was glad when she settled down nearby to teaching again.

That “settling down” didn’t last long. About eighteen months later, my daughter announced one day that she was looking into returning to Africa. Not long after, she was in the airport about to board a plane to Kenya to look at a job she had been offered, when she got another call. It was a headmaster she had met before. He was starting a school in Rwanda and wanted her to join the faculty he was assembling.  She cancelled the flight to Kenya, came home, packed a couple bags, said her goodbyes and ten days later got on a plane to Rwanda.

I know she was a grownup. But after all, I was her father. I had carried her back and forth to college and hauled her bags up and down those dormitory stairs. Cindy and I had helped her nurse herself back to health after Kenya. I was her mentor or so I fancied myself. You would think I might have had a vote in her decision, that I might have been consulted rather than informed. You would think that if she wanted to change the world, at least she could have started in Kenya, a place she had been, rather than some new country.

Well, I wasn’t asked. I don’t remember being consulted at all. I was just informed. She was going to a new job in a new country with a new boss and no friends on a continent with an ocean in between us. She took a job on the phone, changed her life just that fast and ten days later, she was gone. Four years later, she is still gone. In many ways, she is as African as she is American. I am her earthly father, but she answers to a higher voice than mine.

I wanted to stop her. I still want to stop her. I miss her and I worry about her health and all that she is missing. But who am I that I could stand in God’s way? For it was God’s call she answered, not the call of a headmaster. He was only the messenger.

Peter left his comfort zone in Jerusalem and traveled to Lydda, where he healed Aeneas, a paralytic. He was called to Joppa and he prayed for the life of Dorcas and she was raised from the dead. He stayed in Joppa for a time at the home of a tanner, where he had three successive visions. They involved abandonment of the ritual purity laws with which he had grown up. Peter was Jewish and observed these laws as a man of faith. But then he had these visions and he struggled to see what God was telling him. “What God has made clean, do not call common.” What did it all mean? Was it about food or was it about something much bigger?

Meanwhile, up the coast a little ways in Caesarea, Cornelius, the Gentile Centurion, has a vision of his own. He is told to send men to Joppa to fetch Simon called Peter from the house of Simon the tanner. Cornelius is nothing if not a man used to giving and following orders. He sends two servants and a devout soldier to Joppa for Peter. Thus, the stage is set for one of the great revelations of all time. The tongues of fire of Pentecost and Jerusalem are taking wing on the coast of the Mediterranean, and the definition of who are “God’s people “ is about to be expanded.

“What God has made clean, do not call common,” said the voice in Peter’s vision, and no sooner does it end than there comes a knock at the door. It is the three men from Cornelius. Peter tells the Jerusalem Christians that the Spirit told him to go with them. So he went. Six men accompanied him. There is good reason for this. Egyptian law, well known to the Jews, required seven witnesses to prove a case. Roman law required seven seals to authenticate a document. So when Peter took those six brothers along with him, he was making his case as he went. Nothing would be in dispute, for the seven witnesses proved the facts.

So Peter and his men arrive in Caesarea at the house of Cornelius the Centurion. We know that Cornelius is already a devout man, offering up tithes to God for himself and his household. But Cornelius is a Gentile. He is on the outside looking in. Even in the days of the early church, it would seem that the Gospel was for the Jews, God’s “chosen people.” And yet, here is Peter in the house of a Gentile. He is already engaging in highly questionable behavior by his very presence in the home of Cornelius.

Peter’s story to the circumcision party gets very tender here.  He says that he began to speak, and that as he did, the Holy Spirit fell on the people assembled in the home of Cornelius. The way Peter describes it, it is apparent that what he is describing is something that he saw. Peter is almost at a loss for words. He says it’s just like the way it was “on us (meaning the disciples) at the beginning.”

Then Peter says that he remembered the word of the Lord. He remembered his Savior saying these words: “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Peter saw that Holy Spirit come upon those gathered there. No matter that it was the house of a Gentile, a Roman soldier. Peter saw it and it was just the same as he had seen before. Peter then states the only conclusion he can draw: If God gave the same gift to the Gentiles as he did to the disciples, then who was Peter to stand in God’s way?”

What is really happening? The prime mover here is not Peter or Cornelius or the circumcision party or the Jews or even the church. They are all bit players on God’s grand stage. The star of the show is the Trinity: God the Father speaking the message of God the Son through God the Holy Spirit. And the message is that God’s world and God’s love are big enough for all. Peter says the Gentiles received the same gift as did the disciples “when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Witnessing the scene, Peter humbly realizes the power of God and will not, can not, stand in God’s way. It is Peter’s privilege to be the messenger, but the news is all about God.

Theologian William Barclay reminds us of the importance of this story in the history of the church. Luke is laboriously writing on a scroll of papyrus, the forerunner of paper. There was no printing in those days. A papyrus roll was about thirty five feet long, a cumbersome affair at best, and coincidently just about exactly the size needed for the Book of Acts. Imagine yourself as the writer in those times. You know that you need to consolidate your information in such a way that it will fit on one scroll. Knowing that, you are going to be very choosy about the material that makes it onto the scroll. And yet, when it comes to this story of Peter and Cornelius, Luke practically tells the story twice. Chapter Ten—all 48 verses—is devoted to this story of the Holy Spirit coming to the Gentiles in the home of Cornelius. And then Luke spends 18 more verses in Chapter Eleven to retell the story as Peter presented it to the church leaders and the circumcision party in Jerusalem. That’s a lot of copy, as they say in the newspaper business.

It is a lot of copy and for a very good reason. God has introduced this theme through Jesus on several occasions, and now he uses Peter and Cornelius to make it known that the membership of God’s church will be defined not by culture, not by ethnicity, not by observation of rules, but by “belief in the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 17). The church has no borders, no boundaries, no conditions of admission save one: Do you believe in Jesus? This was news so revolutionary that Peter could barely believe his own words.

And yet, he had seen. He had heard. The Holy Spirit came to Caesarea and to Gentiles as surely as it had come to Jerusalem and the disciples. Peter says: “Who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” Peter realized that it was God’s message. It was God who was calling the Gentiles. Who was Peter to stand in the way of God’s call? And those present that heard Peter fell silent. Then they, too, glorified God for granting the life giving power of repentance to the Gentiles.

Throughout history we continue to stand in God’s way. From the beginning, God has had to keep moving those of us too stubborn to see, too deaf to hear, out of his way. God continues to reveal himself to all who would hear, to save all who would believe. But we are stubborn. We segregate ourselves by religion. We separate our churches by denomination.  We mark our territories, whether they be neighborhoods or lunchrooms or church pews. And like he did with Peter, God comes and gives us visions of togetherness. He still sends the Holy Spirit to dwell not only within us, but among us. He calls us to him in the midst of our stubbornness.

We have so much available to us with which to be illumined. We are invited to feast at His table. Will we dare to separate those whom God has no intention of separating? Will we stand in God’s way or will we help clear the path for him? Although he does not need our help, he wants it.

Instead of asking what one’s credentials might be, let us ask instead if they might worship with us. Instead of invoking rules like the circumcision party of the early church, let us instead show up at the houses of strangers. Let us invite them into our midst and praise God that he might use us to make himself known to them. Let us do as Peter. Let us ask always: Who are we that we could ever think to stand…in God’s way!

Dorcas Rising (Acts 9: 36-43) 4/21/13

          The Book of Acts focuses on the early Church, and the last few weeks, we have been looking at Chapters 6-9. Stephen is martyred. Saul is arresting Christians. There is Saul’s Damascus Road experience and his conversion to Christianity. Halfway through Chapter 9, the emphasis shifts away from Paul and back to Peter. That’s one way of looking at it. But if we look at these stories in another way, the emphasis never shifts at all. Instead, it weaves a tale just like its title. It is telling us about the Acts of the Apostles.

          At the end of Chapter 9 after Paul has been converted and escaped from both Damascus and Jerusalem, the Apostle Peter takes center stage once again. This time he is involved in two miracles. In Lydda, Peter heals Aeneas, a paralytic for some eight years. Meanwhile, in the neighboring town of Joppa, a prominent Christian woman becomes ill and dies. Her name was Tabitha. The Greek translation would be Dorcas.

          Apparently, some disciples were in Joppa. Joppa was a coastal town on the Mediterranean, lying in the fertile coastal plain district of Sharon. It was the seaport most used by those from Jerusalem. The word of Peter’s healing of Aeneas probably spread quickly from Lydda to Joppa, as Lydda was on the route from Jerusalem to Joppa and only ten miles away. One might have stopped in that crossroads town to “gas up” on the way to the coast and Joppa.

          At any rate, Peter got the word that this disciple Dorcas had died. Luke characterizes her as full of good works and charity. As was the custom, her body was washed. She was laid in an upper room. Luke does not tell us that her body had been prepared for burial. Since the custom was to have a burial the same day as death, things were moving along very quickly. Two men were dispatched by the disciples to fetch Peter, who came at once. We can assume he got there fairly quickly, as he wasn’t far away.

 What a time in history this must have been! The Apostles were empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They were out in the cities and towns, up and down the roads of the Decapolis. North, South, East and West they spread, bringing the Gospel to everyone they met and doing miracles from God to demonstrate the healing power of Christ. Luke tells us that after Aeneas was healed of his paralysis, “all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to God.” This was the time of miracles, and Peter was on the road to Joppa and another miracle.

We marvel at what Peter did in those days. The blind were healed, the lame could walk, the sick were made well. We marvel at the miraculous and mighty acts of the Apostles performed in the name of God. And yet, we think little of the everyday miracles performed by doctors and nurses and first responders. Hearts and livers and corneas are transplanted routinely. We have a polio vaccine, a shingles vaccine, a pneumonia vaccine. We are perfecting cures to disease, and many diseases no longer hold power over us. And yet, because God has allowed us to discover these solutions to health instead of sending someone to heal us in the same way as Peter did, we discount the miracle value. Because some of these everyday miracles are done by atheists and non-Christians, we do not see them as miracles. But aren’t they? Aren’t these modern day miracles from God as well?

Can’t you just almost hear God chuckling at us? Were it not for God, we would have no knowledge, no technology, no modern miracles. Because of God’s permissive will, we have scientific and medical breakthroughs as a matter of custom. And just to remind us periodically that God is and always will be part of the equation, we all have stories of answers to prayer. We all have been witness to that person who was healed and the doctor who had no medical or scientific explanation. Invariably, that person was the subject of hundreds of prayers lifted up in his or her name by faithful Christians. Surprise, surprise!  God acts in our lives and he is faithful to us. We have no idea the power of which we are capable, if only we would tap into the Holy Spirit residing within us.

So Peter arrives in sunny downtown Joppa and is ushered to the upper room where the body of poor Dorcas lies still. The room was full of widows, all witnessing to her kindness and generosity, holding up things she had made for them. It was a wonderful testimony, but Peter had other things on his mind. God was calling.

Peter thanked the women for their great show of affection and asked them to please leave. He wanted to be alone with Dorcas…and Jesus. He wanted to see what God wanted to do that day. Peter knelt down and prayed.

Peter did not know Dorcas. In the short time he was in the house, he had heard testimonies from those who knew and loved her. On the way from Lydda, he might have heard from the men sent by the disciples. But Peter had never met Dorcas. She was a good woman from Joppa who had fallen ill and died. Why would Peter come from Lydda to the house of this woman? And why, seeing her lifeless body, would he pray for her life?

One way we have to understand this behavior might be to look to the city of Boston this past week. In the aftermath of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, Cappy’s Pizza filled orders from donors for over 100 pizzas to be delivered to Mass General Hospital. Gifts of flowers-daisies-showed up for patients at Tufts Medical Center. And at the Starbucks in the Governmental Center, a lady from Newtown, Connecticut donated $100 to customers in line there…because someone had done it for her and others in the midst of the Sandy Hook shootings. Everywhere in Boston, random acts of kindness are on display to total strangers. The signature of the citizens on this act of terrorism is that mankind is bigger than its violence, nobler than its meanness, kinder than its dark side would have us believe. As it was in New York on 9/11, we say again in lockstep that we are all citizens of Boston. This week, we are Boston strong and our Christianity is showing in our acts of kindness and humanity.

Why would Peter pray for the life of Dorcas? Because he had seen his resurrected Savior. Because he had seen Jesus ascend to heaven. Because ever since Pentecost, he had felt the fire of that gospel in his belly and life for Peter was one long opportunity to spread that gospel. Because Peter was learning that God’s power was without bounds, and Peter was praying in faith for God to act. And because just like the random acts of kindness witnessed all over Boston this week, he was called to a task, a task for his Lord. Peter was learning to show up, to do the praying and let God do the rest. He had seen his Savior do it. He had the faith to trust God. And so he prayed. He knelt down and he prayed. Then he turned to Dorcus’s body and said: “Arise.”

          It is so simple. Trust God. Act for his glory. Expect miracles. In spite of all the evidence, we still dance the dance of doubt. Are we good enough? Do we know enough? Have we exhausted all our choices? Perhaps instead we should ask whether we really have the faith necessary for God to act? He is big enough, but have we the spiritual muscle to call upon his name?

          Peter said: “Dorcas, arise,” and she opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and she got up. How simple. One person has the fullness of trust and faith to ask, and another is delivered. That God can send us miracles is not news to Christians. In a very real sense, the miracle is that one person can have that depth of faith and trust that God finds acceptable.

          Peter got on his knees and prayed. He said two words, and he witnessed a miracle. Dorcas rose from her deathbed and was presented by Peter alive to the saints and widows waiting there. Luke tells us that the event echoed throughout all Joppa; that many believed in the Lord. Peter had gone out of his comfort zone of Jerusalem to Lydda and Joppa. These cities were only 25 and 35 miles away, but they represented a great reach for Peter. He had gone into the homes of strangers and had called upon God for healing. God answered with two miracles. Though Peter’s acts were probably done for Jews, God was preparing him for something even bigger, for Peter would soon have three visions from God that would find him in the house of Cornelius, the Centurion. Peter was about to open the door of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

          If Peter were here today, CNN would have his face plastered on every TV screen in the land. The cell phone video of the miracle would go virile, and Peter would be offered a book deal. Peter would be dumbfounded. The fisherman turned fisher of men most likely would just look in the camera and say two more words: Praise God!

That’s the lesson. Peter came. Peter prayed. Dorcas rose. Praise God. It still works that way. We come. We pray. God moves among us. Praise God!

Cataracts (Acts 9:1-19( 4/14/13

For a couple years, I had noticed that my vision was deteriorating. During a beach vacation a couple summers ago, I realized that when I looked at someone in bright sunlight, I could see nothing but a silhouette if the person was between me and the sun. I thought I was just hyper sensitive to glare. But it kept getting worse. So did my driving. It finally occurred to me that I might have a problem.

I went to an optometrist, who pronounced that I had not one, but two, dense cataracts on the lenses of my eyes. Over the next several months, both cataracts were removed and I received artificial lenses. Now I see like an eagle. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. Before, my vision was impaired. Now, I can see clearly.

I hope I never forget the day my bandage was removed from my first cataract surgery. It was late spring. I walked outside the hospital to an explosion of definition…and color! I remember that the grass and the leaves on the trees were so much greener than I had noticed in years. And they were even different colors of green. Everything was vivid and full of detail. It was as though I was being re-introduced to sight. I was amazed. I felt like a child, with so many new things to discover. As Cindy drove me home from the hospital, she had to listen to me constantly exclaiming over everything I saw. Even road signs fascinated me. I felt as though I had been blind, and now through a modern medical miracle, I could see again.

The apostle Paul had a similar problem. He had a really bad case of cataracts…only his cataracts were spiritual instead of physical. They blinded his heart from seeing the gospel of Jesus. When Stephen became the first martyr to Christianity, the stoning witnesses laid their garments as Saul’s feet.  Saul later testified in Acts and in his epistles to having been instrumental in that execution. He began to ravage the church. Acts 8 tells us that he “dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

Not content with his actions in Jerusalem, Saul petitioned for, and got, letters from the chief priests giving him permission to go to Damascus and do the same thing to the Christians there. Luke tells us that he was “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” Paul was a man in a hurry. He was so busy doing the work of a zealous, legalistic Pharisee that he had no time to hear that still, small voice of God inside him. So Saul was not only blind, but also deaf, to the gospel.

Theologian Robert Maddox, Jr. speculates that Saul’s spirit was very restless. He couldn’t be still. He had to be on the move. Maddox wonders if Saul wasn’t about to explode from the inner pressure of doing what must have on some level felt completely wrong to him. All those innocent, kind faces, beginning with Stephen. All those people not fighting back. Maybe it was beginning to have an effect on Saul.

Can you identify with Paul? Paul, then Saul, was so on fire with what he was about that he had little time or little inclination to stop and ask God if he was headed in the right direction.  Perhaps the most notable characteristic of the Pharisees was their devotion to prayer, and Saul was the Pharisee of Pharisees. Yet for all that prayer, he must have been doing a lot more talking than listening. Sound familiar? Sometimes it’s tough to wait for the answer to prayer. It’s tempting for us to inform God what we’re about and figure he will stop us if we are going the wrong way. Our impatience and our desire to make our own decisions get in the way of our faith.

You know, when Jesus wants our attention, he is most certainly going to get it. Saul was no exception. Jesus got his attention on the road to Damascus. There was this incredible light, then the voice and then…blindness. Luke describes the event in Acts 9: “Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” He fell to the ground. He heard a voice, saying “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul said “Who are you, Lord?”, but I’m thinking he knew perfectly well whose voice it was. He was trying to figure out if he was in a vision or a dream or a close encounter of the Jesus kind. Jesus identified himself and then told Saul to get up and that he would be told what to do.

So Saul gets to his feet. He opens his eyes and sees nothing. How ironic. For the first time, Saul is seeing consistent with his mind. All this time, he has been exposed to people martyring themselves and suffering for the gospel, and he has looked right through them and their witness, seeing nothing. Now he sees nothing for real. He is now physically aligned with his spiritual blindness.

I can remember clearly when my cataracts were removed from my eyes. Although my eyes were sedated, I can remember the room being bathed with much more light. The scales which had covered my lenses from normal sight were gone and the light could once again penetrate my line of vision. I knew even before the surgery was complete that something very significant had happened to me.

I’m thinking that as Saul was led by the hand by his fellow travelers, he too was aware that something very significant had happened to him. He was undergoing spiritual surgery and he was never going to be the same. For three days not only could he not see; he also neither ate nor drank. Saul was being emptied.

Enter Ananias. Ananias is a God-fearing Christian who is minding his own business when God decides to use him. God speaks to him in a vision and the next thing he knows, he has been commissioned to go to the murderer of Christians. God tells Ananias that Saul is his chosen instrument to carry his name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Guided by a vision from God, Ananias plucks up his courage and goes to Saul as he is ordered.

So…let’s try to follow this. In a series of ironic twists, the man who cannot see Jesus comes face to face with the risen Christ. The person who sees only his own will loses all sight in order to see God’s will. The leader of the Jewish opposition to Christianity becomes God’s agent to the Gentiles, even though he is not himself a Gentile. A humble disciple who fears for his own life is called to lay hands upon the blind Saul in order to restore his physical sight. And he finds his subject where? On a street called Straight in Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the history of the world.

The result is predictable. After three days of listening, prayer and an epiphany supplied by God, Saul is ready. He has become weak enough to find his strength in God. He has, in his inability to see anything, become ready to see the truth. Paul’s sight is restored. He is baptized. He is ready to see, not only physically, but spiritually. He has been emptied in order to be filled…filled with the Holy Spirit and the revelation that comes with it. His path from here on will be like the street upon which his sight is restored. For him, the way is now Straight.

I have thought many times since my cataract surgeries that I got a new lease on life with my eyesight. But that experience reminded me that real vision takes not only my eyes, but all my other faculties as well. I have the lesson of Saul to remind me that seeing is only part of vision. There is so much more.

It is no accident that we can read so much symbolism in this story of Saul on the Damascus Road. Like Saul, we all need to meet with God’s disciples on the Straight Street of life. Like Saul, we all need the laying on of the hands of our fellow disciples. And we all need to do what Saul was told by God to do: to rise and enter and wait until we are told what to do. Saul waited only three days. I’m sure it seemed like an eternity to him at the time. But look at what God was able to do with him once he got Saul to see. He became Paul, the thirteenth Apostle.

God can do that for you and me too. We just need to rise and enter that Straight Street…and wait…until he tells us what to do. Ananias will come to us too, or we may find ourselves playing the role of Ananias for a time. He may be named Officer Jones or Uncle Bob or Aunt Sarah, or he or she may be you on God’s errand. He may just be that still, small voice in our heart. But he will come, and give us the vision that we were meant to see…if we rise…and wait…until we are told what God wants us to do.

We Are Witnesses (Acts 10: 34-43) Easter Sunday 3/31/13

There are many great writings. The Bible is thought by most, both religious and secular, to be the most influential book ever written. Of course, the Bible is not really a book as much as it is a collection of writings that form one bound version. It is generally accepted by Christians to be the written Word of God.

Once in a while, a document comes along, like the Bible, that seems to capture reality and destiny and humanity in just the right way at just the right time. The Creeds and Confessions of the Christian Church possess that kind of importance. So does the Magna Carta (1215), the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), to name a few.

Sometimes, a speech, or even a sentence, can incite great things from people. Think of some of those famous one-liners that even now can stir our blood and incite us to action, such as:

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask instead what you can do for your country. [John Kennedy]

Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. [Joshua]

          Today, as we look as this short passage from the apostle Peter in the tenth chapter of Acts, we see just a few words, just a summary of what the Gospel is all about. But for the gathering of Gentiles in the house of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, they were all the words that were needed to change their lives forever. One could argue that this is the pronouncement of the greatest, most far-reaching news in history, for here Peter announces that if you believe in Christ, you are “in”, you are saved. Of course, we are gathered here today to celebrate our risen Savior, and that is truly the greatest news of all time. But Peter’s announcement in the house of Cornelius is the result of that very sacrifice.

          Peter has been a busy man. Since Pentecost, he has gone to Samaria with John, then began to witness in the Coastal Towns outside Jerusalem. While in Joppa, he is asked to come north to Caesarea to the house of a Roman Centurion named Cornelius. Peter has gone far outside his comfort zone. The lines are already blurred for this simple Jewish fisherman from Galilee. He has become an Evangelist. Now he is asked to come to the home of a Gentile. Before he is done, he will not only stay there, but also eat there in Gentile fashion, all forbidden actions to a pious Jew. He will end up making another speech that opens the doors of Christianity to the world. This simple fisherman is articulating the Great Commission and inviting everyone to hear the story of Jesus.

          “So Peter opened his mouth…” Luke uses this phrase twice in Acts, the other time speaking of Philip, as a way to introduce something of great importance. And what Peter says next tears down hundreds of years of racial prejudice.  “God shows no partiality.” No matter who you are, no matter what your lineage, if you fear him and do what is right, he will find you acceptable.

          The Gentiles gathered at the Centurion’s house are sitting up and paying attention now. And Peter goes on. God anointed Jesus. God was with Jesus. God raised him on the third day. God made him to appear to those chosen as witnesses. It’s all there. That’s the story of Jesus.

          Well, not quite. There is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say. The Gentiles are standing and sitting and leaning forward. They don’t want to miss a word that Peter is saying. He said every nation, not just the Jews. What will he say next?

          What Peter said next was the good news that we celebrate today. Jesus “commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.” Every one who believes in him is forgiven.

What are the qualifications? Jewish? No. Circumcision? No. The Law? No. You must believe in Jesus as God’s Son, who came for us, died for us, arose in body and spirit and ascended in glory.  Those are the only qualifications.

          As Peter was giving witness, the Holy Spirit came upon all who heard. The Jews with Peter were amazed. Here was God’s Spirit coming into these Gentiles, these pagans. What is amazing to us now is that those Jews found it amazing. How could it not! It happened in Nineveh when Jonah brought God’s Word to the Assyrians. It happened to the Samarian woman at the well when she met Jesus.  It happened to an Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza when he encountered God through Philip’s witness.

          The Holy Spirit continues to come on all who hear the Word. As surely as the story of Jesus became Peter’s story to tell, it also became Peter’s story. His was the story of a simple fisherman called to fish for men. His was the story of faith strangled by fear…and of courage released by the Spirit. Peter was just like you and me, until the Holy Spirit came into him. Then he became a force, a force so powerful that he was thought of as the head of the early church. Peter had a story to tell, the greatest story ever told.

In the house of Cornelius that day, those Gentiles were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they became part of the seeds of the harvest of believers that continues to this very day.

That story is history. Someone has pointed out that the word “History” looks an awful lot like a compound word. You know, two words that make up one new word. History: His story. That’s what Peter told that day, and many other days after that. “His story” became the telling of the story of Jesus, for once the Holy Spirit had entered him, in spite of his earthly failing, he was never the same man again. He belonged to his Savior, and he told His Story for the rest of his life.

Jesus is that. He went to that cross for you and for me and he did it forgiving us all the way. And today, he is Risen. He conquered death and sin and holds out his hand and says to us right where we are and no matter who we are or where we have been, I forgive you. That is His Story.

Peter was convinced. When he saw God at work, that was enough for him. When he saw the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon people not his own, it didn’t matter any more, for they belonged to God. It was God’s Spirit in them. And he said, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit?”

This is the message of Easter. Today, we have again witnessed the telling of His Story. Now that we have witnessed, let us, like Peter, become witnesses. What is your story? Have you been to the Cross? Have you had a visit from Him? If you haven’t, then right now is your time and right here is your place. If you have, then tell His Story. Make the telling of it your story. Don’t worry about the words. If a simple fisherman can tell the story, so can you. God will give you the words, the same way he gave you your life. What has God done for you? That’s the story you need to tell. God will do the rest. If you love him, then spread that love. That’s the way we will make…History.