To Be Expected

 

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.  But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him.  They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.  None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.  So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.”  This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law.  So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.  The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses.  We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”  At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.  Acts 6:8-15

Cats have this inner drive to hunt, and then play with their food.  The old saying about cat and mouse is a clear picture of this drive.  And it’s not a pretty picture from the mouse’s perspective. 

Stepen is a poster child for the mouse’s perspective.  Jesus had warned his disciples about the treatment they would experience at the hands of this world’s power brokers.  As this chapter opens the church is flourishing as many are being saved.  But there was a division brewing (that always happens when the church grows). Some of the widows were being neglected at the food pantry.  So the church chose seven servants (deacons) to oversee this.  Stephen is the first name mentioned, and, it appears, he jumped into serving Christ with his whole heart.  What happened next was predictable, because Jesus predicted it. 

He told his disciples:

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.  The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world.  I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.  Do you remember what I told you?  ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’  Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you.  And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.  They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.  They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them.  But now they have no excuse for their sin.  Anyone who hates me also hates my Father.  If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty.  But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.  This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures:  ‘They hated me without cause.’  “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth.  He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.  And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.  John 15:18-27

A cat torturing a mouse before it finally eats it is a sad commentary on religious authority mimicking worldly power systems.  The plotting of Pharisees and the religious leaders to kill Jesus was a cat and mouse game, of which those religious leaders would regret eternally.  Stephen was full of grace and God’s power; Pharisees, keepers of the law of Moses ought to have been rejoicing.  They didn’t.  Out of jealousy and pride they arrested Stephen and played their cat and mouse game until they realized they were losing the debate.  Since losing was not an option for the fat-cat power crowd, they hired false witnesses to lie about Stephen.

Finally, they stoned him to death.  Game over…or so they thought, for the time being.

For You Today

If you’ve decided to be a disciple of Jesus, don’t expect a parade in your honor.  A servant of Christ is mostly seen as lunch by the cats in charge.  Expect the kind of welcome to the table Stephen got.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Acts 6 see A Sermon to the Stubborn and for John 18 see Anger on the Wall                              and Like Father; Like Son

Seed of the Church

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Thursday, November 22, 2018

Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.  A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.  Acts 8:1(NLT)

When you’re in eleventh grade and your life revolves around football practice, games, math tests, and wondering if you’ll get into college, it would hardly dawn on you that something history-shaping is happening 1600 miles away in Dallas.  

Today is the 55^th anniversary of the assassination of President Jack Kennedy.  There have been volumes written by the press, investigators and conspiracy-theorists, about this event.  But that day, I just thought it was strange that football practice had been cancelled.  In the upcoming days I watched the funeral and unfolding drama of the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby, live, on-camera.  All of it was bewildering and incomprehensible to a 16-year-old whose depth of thought didn’t reach past watching Andy and Opie make sense of Aunt Bea and Barney every Monday evening. 

Digress about 1800 years and you have Tertullian, 2^nd century Christian author who wrote of the overwhelming persecution of believers that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.[2]  Trying to make sense of the stoning of Stephen a century after the fact, Tertullian had the hindsight perspective of the wave of persecution that swept over Jesus’ disciples, and how that blood-bath scattered believers everywhere.  And in the flight to avoid torture and death, the Gospel was carried around the world.

And this is a scenario that has been played-out over and again in history.  Every time there is a move to stamp-out the church it is like pouring water on a grease fire; the Kingdom of Christ spreads with ferocious faith, despite the threats.

It’s strange to think how such events as the stoning of Stephen, as well as the modern-day assassination of a president can inspire movements.  Kingdoms topple, paradigms shift, hearts are rearranged – all because evil wants to strut, but God shouts back with calm resistance.

In the case of Stephen and the early church, Saul was part of the mob; he was given the coats of the execution mob to hold.  But he probably yelled encouragement to inflict death on Christ’s witness, Stephen.  Sometime later it was Saul who would have his heart and life rearranged after a meeting with Jesus on the Damascus Road.  Jesus gave him a new name, Paul, and we have that name affixed as author to roughly one-third of the New Testament scriptures as evidence of just how drastically a life can change when the blood of a martyr becomes a seed in your history.                                                

Jack Kennedy was not a martyr for the cause of Christ; he was hardly what you’d call “a saint”.  He was a politician…beloved and despised by political types, but a fallible human being with a reputation of infidelity.  We don’t know much about Stephen, other than he was a well-respected leader in the early church, who didn’t keep his mouth closed when he had the opportunity to be a witness for Christ; neither did he keep silence when they threw the stones to knock the life out of his body.  Stephen died begging God to forgive his killers.

For You Today

A question that comes to mind for us all is to what star would you hitch YOUR wagon?  Would you leap into a movement for a president, gunned-down, heroically-promoting his political agenda?  Or would it be to join Stephen, a nobody, erased by an angry mob, simply proclaiming the agenda of a Heavenly Kingdom?

Which seed would you plant?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Rembrandt (Public Domain)

[2] Apologeticus, Chapter 50

After the Vote

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Last week during the announcements portion of worship at Pleasant Hill I got blind-sided; David Hayes had snuck-up behind me to add one more item to the calendar.  I was being recognized by the congregation for Pastor Appreciation month.  He said, Pastor, we got together to talk about recognizing you as a pretty good pastor…and the vote was 15 to 14 in your favor!

I just had no words!

Well, after that vote of semi-confidence, I started to think about how much I have been thinking about the other vote that’s coming in February at General Conference.  And the Father began speaking into my heart and mind several concerns, one of which is addressed by what happened to the early church when the culture began to invade Christianity.

Let’s unpack the vote of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and ruling elders of Israel in the Acts text we just heard:

1.    Confrontation by Cultural Puppets

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.  These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.  They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.  Acts 4:1-3(NLT)

The culture of Judaism was so entrenched that they would not entertain anything but what their power structure dictated.  The Pharisees, religious leaders wanted to keep their power base untouched, so they had these trouble-makers arrested.  It’s amazing how people can start out in life with genuine concerns and truth to guide them, and eventually become puppets to the power structure.  There was little question then, and little question now, that speaking truth in the presence of power-puppets will get you in trouble!

2.    Courage of True Faith

But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.  Acts 4:4(NLT)

Despite the possible consequences of being arrested and even put to death, the message of Christ birthed faith in the hearts of those who heard the Gospel.  Faith knows no crippling fear.  So, the church was growing, despite the heat from the elders.  If you read the next couple of chapters of Acts it becomes clear that this courageous group in the early church got not only the attention of the in-charge group, they got their anger stirred-up.  This was the beginning of persecution that resulted in incredible growth.  The Pharisees and ruling elders were trying to stamp out this upstart bunch of Christians, but it was like pouring water on a grease fire…persecution only produced more courageous faith and growth.

3.    Conceit of the Wicked Minds

The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.  Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.  They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”  Acts 4:5-7(NLT)

Demanding an accounting of Peter and John about their faith, these rulers were steeped in their own self-importance.

4.    Cause-Driven Testimony

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?  Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.  For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’  There is salvation in no one else!  God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:8-12(NLT)

This answer, given by Peter, was driven by a clear understanding of the mission to proclaim the Gospel.  This is what Jesus had told his disciples:

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.  Mark 16:15(NLT)

5.    Confusion of the Powerful, but Lost

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.  They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.  But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.  So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.  “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other.  We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.  But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”  So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.  Acts 4:13-18(NLT)

In every way the rulers were unreasonable, not even coming close to appearing like they wanted to get to the truth.  They even ignored the fact that a man who had been paralyzed was standing whole before them.  They couldn’t say a word, so they wanted to drag the disciples down to that level and keep them from speaking.  The only thing important to them was holding together their precious organized crime syndicate.

Sticking with the Gospel as our mission (like the disciples did) will confound the so-called wise.  It will stymie and silence the powerful.  Christ’s work done in Christ’s way will be its own validation.

6.    Conquering Evil by the Spirit of God

But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”  Acts 4:19-20(NLT)

This was a question no Pharisee or Sadducee could answer without convicting himself.  This was a courageous move by Peter; his faith had grown by tremendous leaps and bounds in the few weeks since he’d denied he even knew Jesus.  He stood and put that faith to the test with the kind of boldness only a fool, or man possessing great faith can muster.  And when faith marries bold courage, Christ will always be honored.  And Christ, in turn, will always vindicate righteous faith!

The Message for Today’s Church

There is a message in all this for today’s church, and our United Methodist tribe in particular; it comes in two parts:

1.     Take Heart

As we sung earlier in the service, Jesus calls us o’er the tumult of life’s wild, restless sea to follow and love Him more than anyone or anything this world offers.

Now that would sound like a daunting task, and who feels up to it?  Most of us are over 50 in this church, probably a median age of over 60.  Who has that much strength or influence?  But do we remember that we’re not alone in this?

Scripture tells us there is a great cloud of witnesses in Heaven saying Take Heart:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.  Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.  Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.  Hebrews 12:1-3(NLT)

Stephen, one of the first martyrs for the faith, took heart to stand for, and to proclaim the truth before the powerful.  He was rejected, and the mob took him out to the edge of the city to kill him.  Stephen never lost heart, he prayed while he was being stoned to death for God to forgive his killers.

We have just passed another Reformation Day, celebrating Martin Luther nailing 95 theses of disagreement with the powerful church of his day that had grown cold, indifferent to the needs of the poor and powerless.  For thanks he was hauled before a court to defend himself.  This is what he said:

I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the

Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen[2]
Peter, the apostle who denied faith in Christ in the cold, darkness outside of Pilate’s house while Jesus was being unfairly beaten, tried, and illegally-convicted by a kangaroo court, more than turned it around.  He was so bold to proclaim Christ it got him in trouble over and over, until finally he was crucified.  When it came time to be put on his cross, he begged to be turned upside down, declaring he wasn’t even worthy to be killed right-side-up.

These early believers, and many to follow through history took heart and served their Lord.  That is what their testimony calls us to do in this current tumult of our days.  Whatever happens in the vote of General Conference 2019, take heart; Christ is in your heart, and He will not abandon us.

The second part of this message for the tribe known as United Methodist is to…

2.      Take Responsibility

There’s a more important question than what will happen after the vote at General Conference.  That question is what will you DO after the vote?  The possibilities are: 

·      We can take our ball and go home…let this church fall apart on its foundations.

·      We can sit and wait for the wave of the powerful to overwhelm whatever is left of this denomination, until they kill it altogether, and just shake our heads.

·      We can take heart and serve the Lord with gladness

There is a great illustration of this in the story of Shawshank Redemption.[3]  Two men,

Andy DuFrane and Red Reddington are imprisoned, and bond over nearly 20 years.  The warden is an evil man, while the two prisoners act with common decency.  At every turn the warden does what he can to beat-down all the prisoners, breaking spirits.  

The ordeal nearly robs Andy of all hope, but in the final minutes of the movie he turns to Red and says:  I guess it all comes down to a small choice; you either have to get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’!

If I had the right as pastor to commission you in your next steps as a church, here is what I would say:  Get busy living!

In light of all the Saints of that great cloud of witnesses, and the Great Commission of Christ, himself, do not let bishops, delegates, District Superintendents, unbelieving clergy, or anyone else of evil desires cause you to fail in serving Christ. 

With bold faith and unending courage, take heart, take responsibility, and serve the Lord with gladness!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Let the church say “Amen”!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Martin Luther’s answer to charges by the court at the Diet of Worms

[3] 1994, Columbia Pictures

Paul's Legacy

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Tuesday, July 24, 2018

But when we landed at Miletus, he sent a message to the elders of the church at Ephesus, asking them to come and meet him.  When they arrived he declared, “You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears.  I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews.  I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes.  I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.  “And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.  I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.  But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.  “And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again.  I declare today that I have been faithful.  If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault, for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.  “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.  I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.  Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.  Watch out!  Remember the three years I was with you—my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.  “And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.  

Acts 20:17-32^(NLT)

Final, or parting words are memorable only when the life and words match-up.  Nathan Hale was a patriot who declared:  I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.  The first deacon of the church, Stephen’s last words were of forgiveness for those who were stoning him:  As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.  Acts 7:59-60^(NLT)

While this passage does not record the final words of Paul’s life, they are his parting words to the Christians at Miletus, and all the Asian continent before heading off to Jerusalem.  This was the pathway that would ultimately lead to Paul’s execution – but also his greatest impact for the Kingdom of God.

In this address are:

·      Paul recalling his work in that area to bring the Gospel, overcoming hardship and opposition

·      The call of God’s Spirit to endure even worse as he presses on to Jerusalem

·      An assurance that this was a one-way-ticket; the Apostle would never see them again, and…

·      Paul’s clear heart; his legacy included telling them everything he knew about God and Christ, along with a warning to guard against any enemy that would steal that teaching, or their faith.

All the way to the end – finishing the course – that is what this apostle, a man sent by God to do the work of God, did.  And, in this beginning of the earthly end for Paul, his concern is that whatever legacy he left, it would include first and foremost, the souls of those God entrusted to his pastoral care.

Frankly, a preacher who does not feel this burning inside for those to whom she or he preaches, and those to whom God has sent him or her, is no preacher of the Gospel of Jesus.  To be called of God is to despise one’s own life for the sake of another’s.  It is what Jesus did on the cross; it is that to which Jesus calls his disciples:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.  Matthew 16:24^(NLT)

For You Today

Daily, piece by piece, you are stitching-together the legacy you will leave some day.  Whatever “words” you say at the end will not change what you do today. 

For a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ, the marching order today is as unchanging as the course of the sun, moon, and stars; pick up the cross and follow.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Lenten Walk - Part 12

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Friday, March 2, 2018

“Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’  Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai.  And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.  “But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses.  They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.  They told Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’   Acts 7:37-40^(NLT)

This text is part of Stephen’s speech to the rulers in Jerusalem in defense of why he proclaims Christ as Messiah.  That speech got him in a lot of hot water, and Stephen became the first martyr of the church.  Stephen’s speech merely recounts how God’s people have always gotten themselves in hot water whenever they decided to walk by sight, and not by faith.  The ruling council (Sanhedrin) knew Israel’s history, how their ancestors were more than willing to follow Moses out of Egypt when they carried with them Egypt’s treasure.  The Egyptians were afraid to have any more plagues, so they loaded-down the freed slaves with gold, silver and jewels and pleaded with them to leave and not come back.  But life in the wilderness carried with it some danger and uncertainty.  The people were uneasy about where they were headed, and if they’d actually get there before getting slaughtered by some other nation.  When Moses went up on the mountain to speak with God, and didn’t come back for more than a month, uneasiness turned to abject fear and unbelief in this God they could not see.  They defaulted back to making idols to worship and have something tangible to which they could cling for comfort.

This history of God’s special people, the Jews, also plagues the people of the New Covenant.  In our era fear is no less a detriment to faith as it was in times of old.  We may not wander in the desert wilderness for forty years eating manna, but we’re no stranger to wandering around in the bone-drying opulence of materialistic abundance.  Somehow, the greater threat is not an absence of things, but having too much.  The minute we have more, we want much more.  John D. Rockefeller was the world’s richest man in the 19^th century; he was asked by a reporter:  How much money is enough?  The billionaire replied:  Just a little more!  Lent is a season to prepare ye the way of the Lord…to clear the junk of materialism, bad attitudes and uncleanness from the pathways of our lives, and make a welcome sign for Jesus over the doors of our hearts.

I have this shed in my backyard.  We used to call it our “barn” because it is shaped like a barn.  It still looks good…from a distance.  But up close you can see It leans towards the back, and is covered with dust, dirt, and who knows what else.  And those are its lesser problems you can see from the outside.  You have to open both double doors to get inside.  There are yard tools on the floor, along with assorted leftover scraps from projects, and old parts of things I can’t identify.  On the workbench, and everywhere you look there are things stuffed in storage bins, around, and on top of more storage bins.  There are nests of creatures who have decided to live in my barn-turned-junk-shed.  There is nothing but chaos everywhere!

Now, the only solution (besides a bulldozer) is something I dread; I have got to make the decision, carve-out the time on a vacation week, and empty the junk from my shed.  It will require more than a little rearranging; this level of junk-affliction demands total clean-out, re-leveling the floor, bleach and pressure-washing, and an incredible amount of prayer!

For You Today

In case you missed the sarcasm directed at my lack of care for the barn-shed, I wasn’t talking about my storage house for yard tools; I was talking about my life (and yours, perhaps?) and this season of Lent. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com.