The kind Church the Spirit plants.
Isn't it good, when you go on holiday, to get to church? You see what a different congregation are doing: comfy seats, coffee and doughnuts before the service, nice new actions songs for the kids, the minister wears robes – or jeans. As Paul lands in Syria and works his way towards Jerusalem, he finds himself among churches he's not seen for years – maybe never been to before; but he has the joy of seeing that God is at work in these churches... in Tyre, in Ptolemais, in Caesarea, and even in Jerusalem
These were probably groups that had come into existence as far back as Acts 11. 19. In the excitement of the story of Antioch – remember, where the Church first began preaching the Good news to people who weren't Jewish – and Paul's journeys from there, they are hardly mentioned until now, but God has at work by the Holy Spirit. In places that Paul has had no involvement, churches have sprung up. What are these Churches like that have been growing up without Paul's input?
1. Inclusive
These had probably begun as groups of Jewish Christians. Remember it was only when the Good news came as far North as Antioch that disciples routinely began preaching to Gentiles. So these groups had begun as Jewish disciples – but most likely Greek-speaking Jews, and probably some gentiles had joined some of them over the years. The were certainly quite comfortable with Greeks like Luke being around. In Tyre, Paul found himself surrounded by not only the men but the women and children too. We are learning from Gods' word the importance of welcoming the children in our homes and our life together. Even the Jerusalem church – which seems to have had a a bit more of a Jewish flavour – still had room for people like Mnason the Cypriot who had been there along time. Different flavours in different congregations; and even within those congregations, different characters and outlooks.
Look around you at the Church you are part of: what sort of people are they? They are a mix of male and female, old and young; outlooks can be deeply different. But they are together. The fact that er are all different, means that there is a place here for you.
2. Prophetic
They were places where people heard from God. These were groups where they were used to hearing from God – not only through the preached word but also through the Holy Spirit's gift of prophecy. In Tyre, “Through the Spirit” – that is in response to something they became aware of through the spiritual gifts of prophecy – they warned Paul to keep away from Jerusalem. In Caesarea, Philip had four daughters who had a prophetic ministry. And to Caesarea, came Agabus, who again brought an acted-out prophecy about what was going to happen to Paul.
This wee passage tells us a lot about the prophetic ministry in the earliest Church.
Diversity . From unknown individuals in the Church at Tyre; to the daughters of Philip – young women, maybe teenagers; to Agabus who had exercised a prophetic ministry for years and been proved “Right” (see Acts 11. 28) . We have a God who speaks; and we have a God who speaks through old and young; well-known and obscure; he could speak through you.
Discernment Luke tells us that “Through the Spirit” the Christians in Tyre warned Paul against going to Jerusalem So who was right and who was wrong? Should Paul have obeyed that prophetic word? Or did those who warned Paul get it wrong?Paul knew God was calling him to go to Jerusalem, despite the dangers. God never contradicts himself. So here's what I believe was happening. The Holy Spirit showed them what was going to happen to Paul, confirming what Paul already knew. That was the “God” bit, “Through the Spirit”. Then they concluded, “if this is what is going to happen to you – don't go!” They, quite understandably but wrongly, decided God must be warning Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
We need, therefore, to be careful about what we do with prophetic words. We need to get in the habit of expectancy; but we need to get in the habit of self-awareness so we can spot when our own thoughts and feelings seep into what we are saying. And we need to get the habit of asking questions: “Lord, I believe that this is what you are saying, but what does it mean?” It is possible to get something wrong. All prophecy should be weighed and especially any prophecy that involves telling people “what God says they are to do.”
Then Luke gives us a throw-away piece of information about Philip's daughters, but doesn't tell us what, if anything, they said. (Incidentally, this is one of these indicators that Luke’s telling of the story can be believed: if he was making this stuff up, what would be better than to put some prophetic word into the mouths of Philip's young daughters?) It's perfectly possible that although they had prophetic gifts, they were simply not given anything at this point. Having a prophetic gift doesn't mean we are always prophesying. In fact, Philip and his daughters eventually moved to Asia, where as more mature women they were sought out, not for the prophetic but as eye-witnesses of the earliest days of the Church.
Drama But when Agabus turned up, he had a word from God. He took Paul's belt; tied his own wrists with it, and then said “The owner of this belt is going to be tied up just like this....” The Holy Spirit is a good communicator. The prophetic can come visually as well as verbally. It doesn’t need to be dressed up in language and grammar that is quaint and out of date: in fact I would go so far as to say that authentic prophecy will always be in a form that the hearers can immediately identify with.
Depth. The prophetic will not always involve promises of blessings and prosperity. If we examine the prophetic in the Bible we find many times there are warnings and challenges. The point about prophecy is not to make us feel good: it is to build us up and encourage us so we are able to make the next step on our journey. Judgement without grace, and blessings without holiness, are equally marks of false prophecy.
We need to be a community with a reputation for being somewhere people hear from God. We can hear from God both through Scripture and preaching that explains Scripture, and through the Holy Spirit: speaking directly into our lives, challenging us, correcting us, warning us. Let us be expect to hear the voice of God.”
3. Loving.
Paul and his team were show such love: this took a number of forms:
Welcoming: Hospitality that was more than skin deep.
The Church at Tyre welcomed Paul (and a sizeable team); they opened their homes to them. They opened their hearts to them: the fact that whole families including women and children accompanied Paul to the beach, shows that Paul had embedded himself in families and become “part of their lives”.
Weeping: Dealing with emotional stuff.
At Caesarea they all wept over Paul as he went into a dangerous situation. The Bible tells us to weep with those who weep, and we need to be brave enough to sit with people and support them when they are going through difficult times. But at one point Paul had to tell them off for crying and making a fuss about the risks he was taking. It almost seems a bit harsh of Paul to speak like that; but I guess he had his own feelings to deal with as he faced an uncertain future in Jerusalem. Like Paul’s friends, we sometimes don't get it right. Sometimes our emotions get in the way of other peoples' healing.
Walking. Being there for people.
These were people who were prepared to walk with Paul through this difficult journey. They travelled with Paul, not just to “see him off” but right the way from Caesarea to Jerusalem, so he could find Mnason's house. Sometimes we need to walk with people when we can't fix their problems or stop them from doing something foolish. It's important not only to weep with people but to walk with them.
4. Trinity
The Church, the ministry, the mission, is never just about us. It is always about the mysterious, mighty, wonderful three-in-one God: Luke mentions all three persons of the Trinity:
The Spirit is constantly there, filling, empowering, gifting, speaking to God's people.
The Lord Jesus – who died for us and rose again, motivates us. He deserves our absolute 100%
unconditional love, surrender. Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.
The Father: who rules over everything. When Luke and the others couldn't persuade Paul to stay away from Jerusalem, (and they did try!) they had to say “The Lord's will be done.” The Lord is King – and to come to him, receive him, can only be done in one posture – face down.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Acts 20 v 13-38
Paul: A Man with a Plan
1. Focus. He wanted to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost, and time was getting kind of tight. So, although he had spent three years at Ephesus, pr4ached the Gospel, laid important foundations and made good friends, he didn't want to go into the city. There had been trouble before he left last time, and if eh was arrested, he might be stuck there for some time. Even if he didn't get arrested, there were so many groups, how long might it take him to get round them all. So he headed straight for Miletus, 25 miles or so south of Ephesus, and asked the Ephesian Elders – the leaders of the various congregations and small house-churches and house groups in Ephesus, to come and see him. Cheek of it! But Paul knew what he wanted, and he was working to that plan. As a leader, he was focussed enough that he was prepared to ask others to inconvenience themselves. Paul's face was set towards Jerusalem in a way that was very much like Jesus himself. (See Lk 9. 51: As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.)
2. Legacy
You know how I lived the whole time I was with you (v. 18)
The “Touch”. Paul had touched lives. He had worked, he had been humble, he had cried, he had persevered despite opposition (v. 19); he had used every method he could – “publicly and from house to house” (v. 20); and he has supplied his own needs and show a radical attitude to material things (v. 33f). His temperament and behaviour in every contact with people, has set a standard, provided an example for others to follow,..
“The Truth” The Story – the Gospel of the Kingdom. (v. 25) He has taught them useful truth: stuff that can be put into practise (v. 21) not just a load of theory. In particular he had called everyone – Jew and Gentile – to turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus; (v. 21) and that is useful truth that we need to act upon; he has been preaching the kingdom (v. 25) – so he has talked about what life is like when God rules, and that too is useful, practical teaching.
“The team” The guys he is talking to are the “Elders” of the Church. In Acts 14. v23 we are told that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church they planted. So these guys may have been from a variety of congregations and house churches in Ephesus. See v. 28. They are the Shepherds of the flock – which is God's church (not theirs!). They are overseers or visitors to care for the broken and needy. They have to take care of their own spiritual lives as well as those of the flock. Leaders, we can't steer others to port if we are not steering ourselves to port. They are there (v. 29) to keep the flock focussed on the truth, on right teaching. And they are plural. The idea of a lonely individual who does that job – for a stipend or not, with the tile “Pastor” or not – is foreign to the New testament. Leadership is teamwork.
3. Change. He had begun as a local evangelist, become a travelling missional leader (remember – because a wise man called Barnabas encouraged him to join the team) and church planter; he had been a pastor and teacher, particularly during his third journey. N and now he faced something different, more difficult to define: he himself would describe himself as an ambassador in chains (Eph 6. 20) – travelling at the Emperor's expense as a prisoner; encouraging all he met, sharing the Gospel, and writing letters. Befriender, campaigner and author.
That change is a matter of shape; not content. There are three constants in Paul's life.
He has always been about Jesus, forgiveness of sins and the Kingdom of God. Changing shape doesn't alter the message.
he has always been himself. Changing shape doesn’t' alter the man. We need to remain firm and constant on the message of the Kingdom Good news. And we need to remain ourselves. Ministry involves being who we are, and using the personalities, skills and gifts God has given us. Whether you're a quiet introvert, or a noisy extrovert; whether you're energetic and always on the go or slow and methodical; whatever your natural skills and talents; your training; your spiritual gifts; they are part of you. Use them!
He has always been a man of the Spirit. Paul describes himself as compelled by the Spirit (NIV) or more literally “Bound by the Spirit” (AV, v. 22). What does that mean? That’s an unusual concept. Paul himself says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor 3. 17) He certainly doesn't want there to be any legalism about his life – indeed legalism was one of the hallmarks of false teaching. But it is only as we accept the bondage of the Spirit – letting him be in complete control of our lives what ever the cost – that we really experience the freedom of the spirit.
4. Sacrifice: There area a number of dark themes brooding over this passage: Paul's ministry was changing shape, and that may have sounded a bit scary. We don't like change! All change – even good change like leaving school or getting married or your child growing up and leaving home – involves loss. One of our wedding pictures shows me with a very serious face on – I guess I had just signed my life away! In a few weeks time our youngest son will get married in France. I know that the father of a bride once said “I don't think I'm so much losing a daughter - as gaining a bathroom!” But seriously I know it's a good change – Pete's found a beautiful and spiritual girl; they want to serve the Lord Jesus together; but there's a sense of uncertainty and loss. Nobody likes change, because nobody likes the experience of loss.
Paul specifically knew he was facing difficult times; somehow the Holy Spirit had made it clear to him that he faced imprisonment (v 23) and that this was his last visit to Ephesus, where he had spent 3 years (v. 25) And there would be challenges not only through separation from Paul but through false teachers. No wonder there was a river of tears (the Message) as he prayed for the elders. There is pain in life; and in ministry. I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but it is the reality.
And then the elders accompanied him to the boat. The word accompanied is used in various ways...
“conduct, escort, esp. a departing traveller”: that's the obvious one here.
But it can also mean to “follow a corpse to the grave”, and that is what it must have felt like to the Elders.
But there's another meaning: the word can mean “carry offerings in procession.”
The way to deal with loss is the way of conscious and voluntary sacrifice: in Romans 12. 1, Paul says present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It was in that spirit that Paul, “Bound in the Spirit” walked onto that ship, ready for whatever God had for him. And in that spirit the Elders had to hand Paul – and themselves – over to God. And as fully surrendered men and maybe women of God, they were ready to be shepherds of the flock and servants of the king.
Surrender is the attitude we need. Now I value the healing ministry. It is important. Just accepting everything isn't surrender: it's fatalism. We need to take seriously what Jesus meant when he told us to pray with faith, and that faith can move mountains. I believe we need to “birth the supernatural” in or midst (to quote the title of a recent book by Heidi Baker). But we get upset when things don’t work out the way we expect or want. Why? I believe some of our prayer is about “controlling God” (which actually is magic not faith. And surrender means yielding control. It's when we are yielded to him that we can pray prayers of faith. Surrender is not a “bargaining chip” that we can use to get what we want from god. That would be another form of control. It is simply surrender to him. We say “God you're in charge; you're in control. Your Kingdom come.”
When we are yielded to God we can pray with compassion instead of self interest. When we are yielded to God, we don’t waste energy chafing about the things we don't like or understand. When we are yielded to God, we are free from fear. When we are yielded to God, we can handle anything.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
1. Focus. He wanted to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost, and time was getting kind of tight. So, although he had spent three years at Ephesus, pr4ached the Gospel, laid important foundations and made good friends, he didn't want to go into the city. There had been trouble before he left last time, and if eh was arrested, he might be stuck there for some time. Even if he didn't get arrested, there were so many groups, how long might it take him to get round them all. So he headed straight for Miletus, 25 miles or so south of Ephesus, and asked the Ephesian Elders – the leaders of the various congregations and small house-churches and house groups in Ephesus, to come and see him. Cheek of it! But Paul knew what he wanted, and he was working to that plan. As a leader, he was focussed enough that he was prepared to ask others to inconvenience themselves. Paul's face was set towards Jerusalem in a way that was very much like Jesus himself. (See Lk 9. 51: As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.)
2. Legacy
You know how I lived the whole time I was with you (v. 18)
The “Touch”. Paul had touched lives. He had worked, he had been humble, he had cried, he had persevered despite opposition (v. 19); he had used every method he could – “publicly and from house to house” (v. 20); and he has supplied his own needs and show a radical attitude to material things (v. 33f). His temperament and behaviour in every contact with people, has set a standard, provided an example for others to follow,..
“The Truth” The Story – the Gospel of the Kingdom. (v. 25) He has taught them useful truth: stuff that can be put into practise (v. 21) not just a load of theory. In particular he had called everyone – Jew and Gentile – to turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus; (v. 21) and that is useful truth that we need to act upon; he has been preaching the kingdom (v. 25) – so he has talked about what life is like when God rules, and that too is useful, practical teaching.
“The team” The guys he is talking to are the “Elders” of the Church. In Acts 14. v23 we are told that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church they planted. So these guys may have been from a variety of congregations and house churches in Ephesus. See v. 28. They are the Shepherds of the flock – which is God's church (not theirs!). They are overseers or visitors to care for the broken and needy. They have to take care of their own spiritual lives as well as those of the flock. Leaders, we can't steer others to port if we are not steering ourselves to port. They are there (v. 29) to keep the flock focussed on the truth, on right teaching. And they are plural. The idea of a lonely individual who does that job – for a stipend or not, with the tile “Pastor” or not – is foreign to the New testament. Leadership is teamwork.
3. Change. He had begun as a local evangelist, become a travelling missional leader (remember – because a wise man called Barnabas encouraged him to join the team) and church planter; he had been a pastor and teacher, particularly during his third journey. N and now he faced something different, more difficult to define: he himself would describe himself as an ambassador in chains (Eph 6. 20) – travelling at the Emperor's expense as a prisoner; encouraging all he met, sharing the Gospel, and writing letters. Befriender, campaigner and author.
That change is a matter of shape; not content. There are three constants in Paul's life.
He has always been about Jesus, forgiveness of sins and the Kingdom of God. Changing shape doesn't alter the message.
he has always been himself. Changing shape doesn’t' alter the man. We need to remain firm and constant on the message of the Kingdom Good news. And we need to remain ourselves. Ministry involves being who we are, and using the personalities, skills and gifts God has given us. Whether you're a quiet introvert, or a noisy extrovert; whether you're energetic and always on the go or slow and methodical; whatever your natural skills and talents; your training; your spiritual gifts; they are part of you. Use them!
He has always been a man of the Spirit. Paul describes himself as compelled by the Spirit (NIV) or more literally “Bound by the Spirit” (AV, v. 22). What does that mean? That’s an unusual concept. Paul himself says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor 3. 17) He certainly doesn't want there to be any legalism about his life – indeed legalism was one of the hallmarks of false teaching. But it is only as we accept the bondage of the Spirit – letting him be in complete control of our lives what ever the cost – that we really experience the freedom of the spirit.
4. Sacrifice: There area a number of dark themes brooding over this passage: Paul's ministry was changing shape, and that may have sounded a bit scary. We don't like change! All change – even good change like leaving school or getting married or your child growing up and leaving home – involves loss. One of our wedding pictures shows me with a very serious face on – I guess I had just signed my life away! In a few weeks time our youngest son will get married in France. I know that the father of a bride once said “I don't think I'm so much losing a daughter - as gaining a bathroom!” But seriously I know it's a good change – Pete's found a beautiful and spiritual girl; they want to serve the Lord Jesus together; but there's a sense of uncertainty and loss. Nobody likes change, because nobody likes the experience of loss.
Paul specifically knew he was facing difficult times; somehow the Holy Spirit had made it clear to him that he faced imprisonment (v 23) and that this was his last visit to Ephesus, where he had spent 3 years (v. 25) And there would be challenges not only through separation from Paul but through false teachers. No wonder there was a river of tears (the Message) as he prayed for the elders. There is pain in life; and in ministry. I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but it is the reality.
And then the elders accompanied him to the boat. The word accompanied is used in various ways...
“conduct, escort, esp. a departing traveller”: that's the obvious one here.
But it can also mean to “follow a corpse to the grave”, and that is what it must have felt like to the Elders.
But there's another meaning: the word can mean “carry offerings in procession.”
The way to deal with loss is the way of conscious and voluntary sacrifice: in Romans 12. 1, Paul says present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It was in that spirit that Paul, “Bound in the Spirit” walked onto that ship, ready for whatever God had for him. And in that spirit the Elders had to hand Paul – and themselves – over to God. And as fully surrendered men and maybe women of God, they were ready to be shepherds of the flock and servants of the king.
Surrender is the attitude we need. Now I value the healing ministry. It is important. Just accepting everything isn't surrender: it's fatalism. We need to take seriously what Jesus meant when he told us to pray with faith, and that faith can move mountains. I believe we need to “birth the supernatural” in or midst (to quote the title of a recent book by Heidi Baker). But we get upset when things don’t work out the way we expect or want. Why? I believe some of our prayer is about “controlling God” (which actually is magic not faith. And surrender means yielding control. It's when we are yielded to him that we can pray prayers of faith. Surrender is not a “bargaining chip” that we can use to get what we want from god. That would be another form of control. It is simply surrender to him. We say “God you're in charge; you're in control. Your Kingdom come.”
When we are yielded to God we can pray with compassion instead of self interest. When we are yielded to God, we don’t waste energy chafing about the things we don't like or understand. When we are yielded to God, we are free from fear. When we are yielded to God, we can handle anything.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Matthew 18. 1-14
"Who's the greatest?”
We
are often obsessed with the question “Who's the greatest?”
With matters of status, power, with “winning”. We don't
grow up much from being like kids in the playground: measuring each
other to see who's the tallest, bullying the kid who is wearing
cast-off clothes, or saying “My Dad could hammer your Dad.” The
life of kids in the playground reflects the disorder in our hearts.
And even at a few weeks old, Georgie Grace is trying to let it be
known who's in charge in the Mitchell household!
And
that is the problem that Jesus faces even in his group of followers.
(v 1) Jesus' answer is to get a child to stand in the middle of the
circle (v 2). He knows the kid is not perfect. A newborn will scream
the place down for what she needs. A toddler will grab something and
insist “that's mine!” Jesus has no illusions about children. He
knows what they are. They are simple, emotional, they express what
they feel. They are simply, like the rest of us, wired for survival.
But this child can teach the disciples something.
The only way
And the first lesson the child teaches
is “The way, to be the greatest, in fact the only way even to enter
the Kingdom of Heaven, is to turn around – a complete change of
direction – and be like a child: not fighting for supremacy, but –
well, what? The answer is humility.
It is the humility of the child that
Jesus commends. The word “humble yourself” literally means make
oneself small. It's a complete “turnaround;” in the adult world
we spend so much of our energy trying to “big ourselves up”, when
God calls us to “small ourselves down” We complicate our lives.
We complicate our thinking. We jockey for position. We manipulate.
We argue. We justify ourselves. What Jesus likes in the children is
their humility. No airs and graces. Not sense of “I am better
than you”. No sense of “I deserve” and certainly no qualms
about asking for what they need. Children come with a humility.
“Here I am. I have needs: I'm hungry, I’m scared, can you help?”
The complete turn-around to
childlikeness, trust and humility are the way into God's Kingdom.
That's a lesson we all need to learn.
Welcome
And it follows,
that God cares about the children. It matters how we treat them. We
need to welcome them (v. 5) That means in our homes. It means in
our Churches. And to welcome someone doesn't simply mean we are
pleased to have them there. Of course we are thrilled to be parents
or grandparents. Of course we are thrilled to have children in our
churches. But to welcome them we offer them a hospitable, safe,
environment. The Greek word means welcome, accept as an ally, to
take note of, and receive.
In the Film Greystoke, when Tarzan
comes home to Greystoke, and breaks the rules by drinking his soup
out of the plate, the old Earl, his grandfather, does the same and
the rest of the guests follow the old man's lead. That's a welcome:
every effort made to make someone feel at home.
To welcome someone means to remove the
“stumbling blocks”. (v. 6f) The Greek word originally meant a
trap spring – the bit of the trap that causes it to catch its prey.
It came to be used of these stones that stick up out of the earth,
on country lanes, that are so easy to fall over. It's happened to me
a number of times – I limp home covered in blood because of some
wee stone hidden in the grass. There are things in our lives that
trip people up, hinder their journey and endanger them emotionally
and spiritually. We need to get rid of these things. The same things
often make us stumble as well. (v. 8f)
We need to get rid of
the baggage we carry around, habits and ways of behaving, that trip
and trap other people, and trip and trap ourselves, that make
us
stumble. We
need to rid ourselves of the baggage that hinders our journey, even
if that is hands or eyes.
Little
ones may be literal children or Jesus may be extending the meaning to
include all of the least in society... the poor, the learning
disabled, the physically and sensory disabled, minority peoples.
Woe
to any who place a stumbling block in the way of little people –
that is who make it more difficult to continue their journey.
Especially their journey towards faith.
Respect
Secondly, Jesus says, “Do not despise
the little ones.” (v
10)
Respect. Honour them; listen to them; learn from them. Their
angels are constantly able to look the Heavenly father in the face.
The Bible says a lot about angels: nations, churches and even the
smallest people have their angels who are constantly gazing on the
face of God himself. We should treat the little ones with respect.
But Jesus calls God “Father”. I
know there's a lot of stuff out there about contacting the angels –
a lot of it moneymaking, and will take you into darkness not light.
We don't need angel cards, and a whole pile of books and merchandise
or some kind of knowledge about who these angel are. Because the
angels look our Father in Heaven in the face. He is a father. He
loves us just as we are and welcomes us just as we are. In fact all
that angel stuff will get in the way. We don't need to know their
names. We just need to say “Dad” to our heavenly father.
Then Jesus tells a favourite story of
his about a lost sheep. (v 12f) There was only one lost, but the
shepherd went out looking for that one. He's teaching us what it
means to care for the little ones and the lost ones. And he's
teaching us about our Father's love for us. He doesn't want even one
to be lost. Respect the little ones. Respect yourself. God is out
looking for the little ones; God is out looking for you. That's what
the whole life of Jesus was about. (v. 11) God the Heavenly Father
doesn't want any of us to be lost. He wants every one of us to come
to know him, and trust him, and love him; to enter his Kingdom. (v.
14)
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we know that in
your Kingdom, there, there is peace, strength, and forgiveness, and
things are made better. We come to you humbly, wanting to enter your
Kingdom. Thank you that Jesus came to seek the lost, and that you
don't want anyone to be lost. Please receive us now into your
kingdom as we turn to you. Amen.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Acts 20. 1-12. Church as if people mattered
Luke continues the story of Paul's third mission journey: after the riot in Ephesus, Paul heads off to Macedonia, at the Northern end of Greece. Luke doesn't give us details but in Romans 15. 19 Paul says that he has “fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ, from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum.” This was probably the time he reached Illyricum (which makes the line for the journeys of Paul in most Bible maps wrong!) Paul just loved breaking new ground, going to new places and new people with the gospel. But Paul also loved the Church: and much of what he did in this stage of his third journey was about the Church. Luke doesn’t' give us details of the mission – but does focus on the inner life of he Church. And it's good to do that. Emil Brunner once wrote “The Church exists by mission as a fire does by burning”. Although he was a great theologian, I believe that is a dangerous statement. It can lead to an unhealthy emphasis on the activities and outcomes of mission, and a productivity-driven and pragmatic vision of Church which undervalues the quality of our life together and the needs of the people who make up the Church. The Church is both the agent and outcome of mission. Mission and pastoral care go hand in hand.
Mike Breen and the 3D Mission movement talks about the balance between invitation and challenge. Both are needed for a healthy Church and a growing Church. We need the challenge to be engaging in mission; and we need the invitation to be cared for and loved as God's people. As we've looked at Acts 19 we have been hearing a challenge; now it's invitation time!
Comfort and encouragement
So we find Paul revisiting the Churches of Macedonia and Greece – to “encourage” them. Encourage is of course παρακαλέω... the word that speaks of invitation, encouragement , comfort, motivation; the word that refers to the activity of the Holy Spirit, the “paraclete” – the one called alongside us, who encourages us and comforts us and motivates us as he invites us to the journey of discovering what God has for us. .
We need encouragement. Some of us are going through difficult times; some of us have been through difficult times; some of us simply have something in our hearts from god's word, that we hetcan use to “encourage” one another. That encouragement, that motivation, that accompaniment, is something we need to be able to find within the Body of Christ. If it's not there, something is wrong. If all “church” does is make demands, there's something wrong. If all Church does is purvey sentimentalism, something is wrong. The word comfort comes from two Latin words: con meaning with and fortis meaning strong. When people are comforted they are strengthened together. Real comfort, someone effectively drawing alongside, will give s us the strength to continue the fight.
Teamwork
Paul is surrounded with people. Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea (a relative of Paul's), Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. And Luke the physician. Notice he refers to the group as “we”. Paul is in a team. The work he does, whether it involves missionary initiatives, breaking new ground, or pastoral care, is done in a team. There are a number of advantages to team work:
1. Witness: a team of keen believers from all over Asia and Greece, would confirm to the Elders in Jerusalem that Paul really was doing a good work as eh travelled the world. Having a team means we can can confirm and support one another, whether in discerning God's will or in fulfilling or call, the responsibility is shared.
2. Accountability: one of Paul's projects is gathering funds from the gentile church, to help and support the struggling Church in Jerusalem. Having a team that was pretty representative of the churches that had given the money, meant Paul was accountable: he wasn't going to disappear to Rome and live in luxury for the rest of his life. A team makes us accountable for our actions and how we steward the resources God has given us
3. Protection. This was a decent sized company of men, some of them at least quite young and presumably fit. Robbing Paul wasn't going to be an easy matter. In a team, we look after each other. “As a fellow team member, “I've got your back.” I love the image of Marcello kneeling by the injured Neymar and shouting for help. That’s the role of a team-member.
The Worshipping Community together
Once again Paul is in Troas. This time, there is a church in the town. Paul spends a week there and his last full day is the Sunday. Now, it's difficult to tell whether Luke is reckoning the time by Jewish reckoning that meant a day began at sunset the previous evening, or by the Roman reckoning that meant the day began at Sunrise. What is important is that the Church met of the first day of the week – the Sunday – in a conscious and deliberate focus on the resurrection of Jesus. They were the people of resurrection, and the natural day to celebrate that was resurrection day, Sunday. The time was interesting: it was an evening meeting – when people had finished the day's work. In a struggling, working class community, the Church met when people could get there. The convenience and needs of the poorest and most needy people was what mattered.
Their worship included breaking bread: that included a meal. As Paul says in 1 Cor 11.21, some came to church hungry (not surprisingly if they had been working all day). And at that meal, bread would be broken in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice for us on the Cross, wine shared in remembrance of his blood shed on the cross. We need to remember that church is people and to retain the human side of Church. Communion is not just a ritual but a family meal.
But it took them a long time to get round to breaking bread. Paul was teaching the people. Once again, the word Luke uses suggests dialogue. You remember (from three weeks ago) how we saw Paul having a dialogue in the Synagogue (Acts 19. 8) and in the lecture hall (v. 9). Well, he is doing the same thing in this upstairs room, with a group of committed believers. He's teaching them. He is ministering the word. He kept talking until midnight. (The Greek says he stretched out the word until midnight!”) But the shape of that ministry was conversational.
We place far too much of an emphasis on monologue – the preacher as lecturer or stand-up comedian. That has its place, and it is wrong to suggest that people can't listen for more than five minutes these days. But Biblical preaching was interactive and dramatic, not always a monologue; People learn when they are involved. they learn by action; by being able to ask questions; by answering questions and testing out their own understanding. We have strayed from the Bible, and from good communication by our overuse of monologue. We need to rediscover dialogue.
Power.
The conversation went on for so long, the room as full oil lamps which were using up the oxygen, and people got drowsy after a hard day's work. A young man called Eutychus who was sitting in a window, dozed off, lost his balance and fell from the second floor window to his death. Luke says “He was taken up for dead” and as a Doctor, he gives us the benefit of this professional knowledge. When Paul says “his life is in him” he is not saying “he survived the fall” but “he has returned to life.” In other words, Luke is describing a miracle. Plain and simple. And that miracle took place in the context of a situation of real need within the Church. When eventually – at dawn – they took Eutychus home alive and well, the Church were “Greatly comforted.” Again, the Greek word is παρακαλέω which implies comfort, encouragement, stirring up.
We need to recognise that the Church is not just “there to reach the lost” it is there: the people of God, and needs to live as though people mattered. Comfort and encouragement, teamwork, space for our humanity around a table, conversations about faith – and space for the God of miracles to be at work. And when the Holy Spirit is at work in the church, people are encouraged and comforted.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
Mike Breen and the 3D Mission movement talks about the balance between invitation and challenge. Both are needed for a healthy Church and a growing Church. We need the challenge to be engaging in mission; and we need the invitation to be cared for and loved as God's people. As we've looked at Acts 19 we have been hearing a challenge; now it's invitation time!
Comfort and encouragement
So we find Paul revisiting the Churches of Macedonia and Greece – to “encourage” them. Encourage is of course παρακαλέω... the word that speaks of invitation, encouragement , comfort, motivation; the word that refers to the activity of the Holy Spirit, the “paraclete” – the one called alongside us, who encourages us and comforts us and motivates us as he invites us to the journey of discovering what God has for us. .
We need encouragement. Some of us are going through difficult times; some of us have been through difficult times; some of us simply have something in our hearts from god's word, that we hetcan use to “encourage” one another. That encouragement, that motivation, that accompaniment, is something we need to be able to find within the Body of Christ. If it's not there, something is wrong. If all “church” does is make demands, there's something wrong. If all Church does is purvey sentimentalism, something is wrong. The word comfort comes from two Latin words: con meaning with and fortis meaning strong. When people are comforted they are strengthened together. Real comfort, someone effectively drawing alongside, will give s us the strength to continue the fight.
Teamwork
Paul is surrounded with people. Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea (a relative of Paul's), Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. And Luke the physician. Notice he refers to the group as “we”. Paul is in a team. The work he does, whether it involves missionary initiatives, breaking new ground, or pastoral care, is done in a team. There are a number of advantages to team work:
1. Witness: a team of keen believers from all over Asia and Greece, would confirm to the Elders in Jerusalem that Paul really was doing a good work as eh travelled the world. Having a team means we can can confirm and support one another, whether in discerning God's will or in fulfilling or call, the responsibility is shared.
2. Accountability: one of Paul's projects is gathering funds from the gentile church, to help and support the struggling Church in Jerusalem. Having a team that was pretty representative of the churches that had given the money, meant Paul was accountable: he wasn't going to disappear to Rome and live in luxury for the rest of his life. A team makes us accountable for our actions and how we steward the resources God has given us
3. Protection. This was a decent sized company of men, some of them at least quite young and presumably fit. Robbing Paul wasn't going to be an easy matter. In a team, we look after each other. “As a fellow team member, “I've got your back.” I love the image of Marcello kneeling by the injured Neymar and shouting for help. That’s the role of a team-member.
The Worshipping Community together
Once again Paul is in Troas. This time, there is a church in the town. Paul spends a week there and his last full day is the Sunday. Now, it's difficult to tell whether Luke is reckoning the time by Jewish reckoning that meant a day began at sunset the previous evening, or by the Roman reckoning that meant the day began at Sunrise. What is important is that the Church met of the first day of the week – the Sunday – in a conscious and deliberate focus on the resurrection of Jesus. They were the people of resurrection, and the natural day to celebrate that was resurrection day, Sunday. The time was interesting: it was an evening meeting – when people had finished the day's work. In a struggling, working class community, the Church met when people could get there. The convenience and needs of the poorest and most needy people was what mattered.
Their worship included breaking bread: that included a meal. As Paul says in 1 Cor 11.21, some came to church hungry (not surprisingly if they had been working all day). And at that meal, bread would be broken in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice for us on the Cross, wine shared in remembrance of his blood shed on the cross. We need to remember that church is people and to retain the human side of Church. Communion is not just a ritual but a family meal.
But it took them a long time to get round to breaking bread. Paul was teaching the people. Once again, the word Luke uses suggests dialogue. You remember (from three weeks ago) how we saw Paul having a dialogue in the Synagogue (Acts 19. 8) and in the lecture hall (v. 9). Well, he is doing the same thing in this upstairs room, with a group of committed believers. He's teaching them. He is ministering the word. He kept talking until midnight. (The Greek says he stretched out the word until midnight!”) But the shape of that ministry was conversational.
We place far too much of an emphasis on monologue – the preacher as lecturer or stand-up comedian. That has its place, and it is wrong to suggest that people can't listen for more than five minutes these days. But Biblical preaching was interactive and dramatic, not always a monologue; People learn when they are involved. they learn by action; by being able to ask questions; by answering questions and testing out their own understanding. We have strayed from the Bible, and from good communication by our overuse of monologue. We need to rediscover dialogue.
Power.
The conversation went on for so long, the room as full oil lamps which were using up the oxygen, and people got drowsy after a hard day's work. A young man called Eutychus who was sitting in a window, dozed off, lost his balance and fell from the second floor window to his death. Luke says “He was taken up for dead” and as a Doctor, he gives us the benefit of this professional knowledge. When Paul says “his life is in him” he is not saying “he survived the fall” but “he has returned to life.” In other words, Luke is describing a miracle. Plain and simple. And that miracle took place in the context of a situation of real need within the Church. When eventually – at dawn – they took Eutychus home alive and well, the Church were “Greatly comforted.” Again, the Greek word is παρακαλέω which implies comfort, encouragement, stirring up.
We need to recognise that the Church is not just “there to reach the lost” it is there: the people of God, and needs to live as though people mattered. Comfort and encouragement, teamwork, space for our humanity around a table, conversations about faith – and space for the God of miracles to be at work. And when the Holy Spirit is at work in the church, people are encouraged and comforted.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
Sunday, 3 August 2014
Acts 19. 21-41
Revival: a closer look
We saw last week that our experience of God – repentance, faith, baptism in water and the Spirit – is meant to lead to mission, whose Motivation is love, whose method is a mixture of Conversation and Demonstration, and whose outcome is Transformation not only in individuals but in communities – what we often call revival. Luke gives us a deeper insight into the nature of that "revival" transformation as he continues the story... And that "Revival" is somethign we need in Scotland today. In the five years from 2008-2013, the church in Scotland has declined by 17.3%.
It is structural.
Its scope is global. It is more than individuals burning £2m worth of occult literature. It is individuals changing how they spend their money, their time, what is important to them – and eventually it begins to affect the economy. Put simply, the silversmiths who have been used to making religious trinkets and souvenirs, mainly little silver niches containing a statue of the goddess, find that trade is slumping. Less people are buying silver idols – and Christian merchandise, silver crosses and doves and fishes and WWJD bracelets haven't been invented yet! Some of the guys look like they might go out of business. We know we have revival, not just when we're packing people in to the churches, but when we are having a positive impact on our community. When revival begins to bite in the economy, at the ballot box: in Barvas, Lewis, during the revival in 1947, pubs and dance halls closed: went out of business. In Manchester, Police chiefs reported a fall in crime corresponding to the work of the Message trust on some of the roughest estates: as individuals were transformed, the community itself began to feel the benefits. When British young people stop flying out to dance drunk and naked in Magaluf, when global corporations accept they have a responsibility to pay their workforce a fair wage and a safe place to work, we have signs of revival, when bankers and business leaders are prepared to limit their salaries and bonuses because of their Christian faith, we have signs of revival. When Russians and Eukraneans can't carry on a civil war because the young men love Jesus more than they love their racial identity, we have signs of revival.
It is supernatural.
Revival is God not man. "It's not Paul" It may harness and use the gifts of a man or woman yielded to God, but it is not dependent on any one human being. Revival is the outcome of the whole church living in the life. This story begins with Paul and his team deciding to move on. Two key team members have already gone. Paul himself takes almost no part in this story. The rest of the believers are restraining him for his own good. It’s not Paul’s doing. It has got bigger than Paul. Paul wasn't like the Baptist pastor in a small town church in the Midwest. It was very out of the way, and although it had a railway line it had no station, and one train passed though a few times each week. The pastor was very popular, but he had one eccentricity. Every time the train passed, the pastor was there at the level crossing, just standing there, watching. Eventually it became talked about round the town, so the Deacons had a word with him. His explanation was simple: “I love that train. It's the only thing that comes through this town that I don’t have to push!” Paul hasn’t pushing. The people had taken up the challenge and were running with it. Paul didn't have to push, because the revival had gotten a life of its own. In Barvas, Lewis, during the revival in the 1950's, Duncan Campbell said seventy five percent of those who turned to Christ, did so before they ever got to the Church. Over a hundred young people were in a dance hall and the holy Spirit just touched the place, and young men and women fled the place, running to the church, weeping in repentance. Later that night Campbell and one or two others found a young man, weeping and crying out to God by the roadside. Seven men who were being driven to the Barvas in a butcher’s van fell under Holy Spirit conviction and were saved before they got there.
It is supernatural. "It's not Politics" The transformation we want to see isn't rooted in any of the world's “isms”: environmentalism, feminism, pacifism, socialism, capitalism Yes, it's right that we look after the environment, seek peace and justice, oppose racism sexism and exploitation. But that is not because we buy into movements. These values flow from the Kingdom of God which, says Paul, is “Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The revival in Ephesus began with people trusting Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. It began with Paul proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
In fact, the New Testament Church never talked about revival – it hadn’t had the time to get dead. We we need revival. remember the statistic I quoted earlier. Do we, or do we not, need to be revived? I believe that the Biblical word for revival is simply the Kingdom of God. There is a “kingdom dynamic” to revival. It involves a visitation by the Holy Spirit of God, whose coming was “messianic”. It is the work of messiah to baptise in the Spirit. It involves action as believers engage in conversations and demonstration. It involves transformation in society. The Kingdom Spirit comes; Believers become disciples with Kingdom values, taking kingdom action; and the world feels a kingdom impact.
It involves Spiritual warfare.
And revival – the Kingdom impacting society – takes us into the realm of spiritual warfare. It is radical. It created a stir. The world wanted to fight back. Let's look at the strategies and qualities of the opposition.
1. Demetrius the silversmith had a complaint. “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.” There was a commercial aspect at the heart of this.
2. Demetrius appeals to national pride. “The temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited” When the City Clerk, the senior local official answerable to the Roman Governor, calmed the people down, he said, “doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis?” Here is religion with a connection to the state, the city.
3. Artemis of the Ephesians was a fertility Goddess. Her “image which fell from the sky” it thought to have been a meteor which looked kind of like a woman with many breasts. Because she was all about fertility and reproduction, worshipping her was an excuse for a lot of sex and wild partying. There was a high level of self-indulgence in the Artemis cult.
4. The City Clerk refers to Artemis' image “which fell from the sky”. Here is belief that will not stand the test of thoughtful scrutiny. It's always been like this. It's traditional. Don't trouble us with the facts.
5. And this religion, lastly, will fight or coerce to protect its interests. It is marked by physical and verbal violence, intimidation, and the mob mentality
The Kingdom will always find itself at odds with the world's values and with worldly, pagan religion: with everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Interestingly, the Kingdom will always find itself challenging religion. Sometimes that means direct, in your face paganism; sometime it's a subtle idolatry: if we worship our kids, our TV, our home or possessions, or our nation, if we allow them to take Gods' place, we have an idol. The kingdom challenges. When religion, even if it claims the name of Christian, becomes a commercial moneymaking concern, or enters an unholy partnership with the state, or a matter of self indulgence, or mindless traditionalism, or uses aggression and verbal or physical violence to protect or promote itself, the kingdom challenges.
Finally, it makes sense.
Did you ever stop to ask yourself why Luke alone of the four gospel-writers, wrote a part 2, the story of the early church? One of his reasons for writing was evangelistic. He hoped that some people who were not yet Christians would read his books. He hoped they would agree that Jesus was amazing; they would see that, in the life of the Christian Church, all this stuff about Jesus, worked out, and worked out well. He hoped that they would want their sins forgiven; the Holy Spirit and a taste of the Kingdom Jesus preached in their lives.
This City Clerk wasn't a believer: he was still a worshipper of Artemis. Yet what he says shows an important, educated man who doesn't need to accept the extreme things that people were saying about the Christians: “They are just trouble makers. They are all off their heads. Irrelevant, dangerous, foreign, subversive.” Luke is at pains to record those moments when sensible, respected people out-with the Church agreed that the Way “makes sense”. In the same vein, he name-drops, letting us know that Paul had made friends with the Asiarchs (locally elected rulers).
Today we might be dismissed as “Stupid, bigoted, narrow-minded, middle-class, self-interested, fantasists.” Revival isn't meant to make the rich richer, the state stronger, and the church more comfortable. It's meant to make the Good news make sense.
The Church in Revival, the Church experiencing the realities of the Kingdom, is supernatural; it may find itself in conflict with the world. It may on occasions be counter-cultural and counter-intuitive. But it isn't anti-intellectual, illogical, inconsistent or escapist. It makes sense.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
We saw last week that our experience of God – repentance, faith, baptism in water and the Spirit – is meant to lead to mission, whose Motivation is love, whose method is a mixture of Conversation and Demonstration, and whose outcome is Transformation not only in individuals but in communities – what we often call revival. Luke gives us a deeper insight into the nature of that "revival" transformation as he continues the story... And that "Revival" is somethign we need in Scotland today. In the five years from 2008-2013, the church in Scotland has declined by 17.3%.
It is structural.
Its scope is global. It is more than individuals burning £2m worth of occult literature. It is individuals changing how they spend their money, their time, what is important to them – and eventually it begins to affect the economy. Put simply, the silversmiths who have been used to making religious trinkets and souvenirs, mainly little silver niches containing a statue of the goddess, find that trade is slumping. Less people are buying silver idols – and Christian merchandise, silver crosses and doves and fishes and WWJD bracelets haven't been invented yet! Some of the guys look like they might go out of business. We know we have revival, not just when we're packing people in to the churches, but when we are having a positive impact on our community. When revival begins to bite in the economy, at the ballot box: in Barvas, Lewis, during the revival in 1947, pubs and dance halls closed: went out of business. In Manchester, Police chiefs reported a fall in crime corresponding to the work of the Message trust on some of the roughest estates: as individuals were transformed, the community itself began to feel the benefits. When British young people stop flying out to dance drunk and naked in Magaluf, when global corporations accept they have a responsibility to pay their workforce a fair wage and a safe place to work, we have signs of revival, when bankers and business leaders are prepared to limit their salaries and bonuses because of their Christian faith, we have signs of revival. When Russians and Eukraneans can't carry on a civil war because the young men love Jesus more than they love their racial identity, we have signs of revival.
It is supernatural.
Revival is God not man. "It's not Paul" It may harness and use the gifts of a man or woman yielded to God, but it is not dependent on any one human being. Revival is the outcome of the whole church living in the life. This story begins with Paul and his team deciding to move on. Two key team members have already gone. Paul himself takes almost no part in this story. The rest of the believers are restraining him for his own good. It’s not Paul’s doing. It has got bigger than Paul. Paul wasn't like the Baptist pastor in a small town church in the Midwest. It was very out of the way, and although it had a railway line it had no station, and one train passed though a few times each week. The pastor was very popular, but he had one eccentricity. Every time the train passed, the pastor was there at the level crossing, just standing there, watching. Eventually it became talked about round the town, so the Deacons had a word with him. His explanation was simple: “I love that train. It's the only thing that comes through this town that I don’t have to push!” Paul hasn’t pushing. The people had taken up the challenge and were running with it. Paul didn't have to push, because the revival had gotten a life of its own. In Barvas, Lewis, during the revival in the 1950's, Duncan Campbell said seventy five percent of those who turned to Christ, did so before they ever got to the Church. Over a hundred young people were in a dance hall and the holy Spirit just touched the place, and young men and women fled the place, running to the church, weeping in repentance. Later that night Campbell and one or two others found a young man, weeping and crying out to God by the roadside. Seven men who were being driven to the Barvas in a butcher’s van fell under Holy Spirit conviction and were saved before they got there.
It is supernatural. "It's not Politics" The transformation we want to see isn't rooted in any of the world's “isms”: environmentalism, feminism, pacifism, socialism, capitalism Yes, it's right that we look after the environment, seek peace and justice, oppose racism sexism and exploitation. But that is not because we buy into movements. These values flow from the Kingdom of God which, says Paul, is “Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The revival in Ephesus began with people trusting Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. It began with Paul proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
In fact, the New Testament Church never talked about revival – it hadn’t had the time to get dead. We we need revival. remember the statistic I quoted earlier. Do we, or do we not, need to be revived? I believe that the Biblical word for revival is simply the Kingdom of God. There is a “kingdom dynamic” to revival. It involves a visitation by the Holy Spirit of God, whose coming was “messianic”. It is the work of messiah to baptise in the Spirit. It involves action as believers engage in conversations and demonstration. It involves transformation in society. The Kingdom Spirit comes; Believers become disciples with Kingdom values, taking kingdom action; and the world feels a kingdom impact.
It involves Spiritual warfare.
And revival – the Kingdom impacting society – takes us into the realm of spiritual warfare. It is radical. It created a stir. The world wanted to fight back. Let's look at the strategies and qualities of the opposition.
1. Demetrius the silversmith had a complaint. “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.” There was a commercial aspect at the heart of this.
2. Demetrius appeals to national pride. “The temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited” When the City Clerk, the senior local official answerable to the Roman Governor, calmed the people down, he said, “doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis?” Here is religion with a connection to the state, the city.
3. Artemis of the Ephesians was a fertility Goddess. Her “image which fell from the sky” it thought to have been a meteor which looked kind of like a woman with many breasts. Because she was all about fertility and reproduction, worshipping her was an excuse for a lot of sex and wild partying. There was a high level of self-indulgence in the Artemis cult.
4. The City Clerk refers to Artemis' image “which fell from the sky”. Here is belief that will not stand the test of thoughtful scrutiny. It's always been like this. It's traditional. Don't trouble us with the facts.
5. And this religion, lastly, will fight or coerce to protect its interests. It is marked by physical and verbal violence, intimidation, and the mob mentality
The Kingdom will always find itself at odds with the world's values and with worldly, pagan religion: with everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Interestingly, the Kingdom will always find itself challenging religion. Sometimes that means direct, in your face paganism; sometime it's a subtle idolatry: if we worship our kids, our TV, our home or possessions, or our nation, if we allow them to take Gods' place, we have an idol. The kingdom challenges. When religion, even if it claims the name of Christian, becomes a commercial moneymaking concern, or enters an unholy partnership with the state, or a matter of self indulgence, or mindless traditionalism, or uses aggression and verbal or physical violence to protect or promote itself, the kingdom challenges.
Finally, it makes sense.
Did you ever stop to ask yourself why Luke alone of the four gospel-writers, wrote a part 2, the story of the early church? One of his reasons for writing was evangelistic. He hoped that some people who were not yet Christians would read his books. He hoped they would agree that Jesus was amazing; they would see that, in the life of the Christian Church, all this stuff about Jesus, worked out, and worked out well. He hoped that they would want their sins forgiven; the Holy Spirit and a taste of the Kingdom Jesus preached in their lives.
This City Clerk wasn't a believer: he was still a worshipper of Artemis. Yet what he says shows an important, educated man who doesn't need to accept the extreme things that people were saying about the Christians: “They are just trouble makers. They are all off their heads. Irrelevant, dangerous, foreign, subversive.” Luke is at pains to record those moments when sensible, respected people out-with the Church agreed that the Way “makes sense”. In the same vein, he name-drops, letting us know that Paul had made friends with the Asiarchs (locally elected rulers).
Today we might be dismissed as “Stupid, bigoted, narrow-minded, middle-class, self-interested, fantasists.” Revival isn't meant to make the rich richer, the state stronger, and the church more comfortable. It's meant to make the Good news make sense.
The Church in Revival, the Church experiencing the realities of the Kingdom, is supernatural; it may find itself in conflict with the world. It may on occasions be counter-cultural and counter-intuitive. But it isn't anti-intellectual, illogical, inconsistent or escapist. It makes sense.
© Gilmour Lilly August 2014
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