If you are a leader and you run into someone that can’t produce something to be consumed then you are instantly pegged into the follower camp.  Your only real use is to consume whatever product, image or content that the leader has produced.  If you don’t produce something worth following then you are obviously of no use to the progress of the ministry.

My issue with this is that we were never called to be leaders or producers of content.  Where are the pastors, evangelists, servants and disciples?  Do we actually have any interest in these people or do they just get in the way of producing more content?

I think healthy communities learn to put leaders in their place and help them discover what their actual gifts are and give them opportunity to use them.  Healthy communities find that everyone is “leadership” material.  What would it look like if our communities didn’t just pay our leaders to produce content for us on Sunday mornings and started utilizing the gifts of all the people in a church.  I think a church would have to be very introspective and really get to know and see the qualities of everyone in their midst to do it well.  The way people are valuable would have to change.

I do think this is the way that communities need to move though; away from hierarchical forms of leadership with the one with best ideas is at the top and into a more balanced leadership model having different people operating in the gifts that they have.  Unfortunately the gift of “leadership” isn’t really a gift, so the dichotomy of leaders and followers will have to go.

Related posts:

1. Should We Choose Our Leaders By Lot?
2. Good and Bad Leaders
3. When Leaders Fail At Leading, What Next?

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Do you notice the common theme that has been present all through Acts? This isn’t a strategy by the apostles. They haven’t been moving forward because of the disciples. It’s always God and the Holy Spirit nudging them along, telling them where to go next. This is God’s plan and his strategy and these people are servants of that greater plan. God’s story, God’s rules. Luke goes through pains to keep reminding us that this isn’t a story about humans making good decisions. This is a story about God spreading his good news through humans.

I’m going to switch to The Message version for the rest just to help us get through it a bit quicker and easier.

Sent off on their new assignment by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went down to Seleucia and caught a ship for Cyprus. The first thing they did when they put in at Salamis was preach God’s Word in the Jewish meeting places. They had John along to help out as needed.

They traveled the length of the island, and at Paphos came upon a Jewish wizard who had worked himself into the confidence of the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man not easily taken in by charlatans. The wizard’s name was Bar-Jesus. He was as crooked as a corkscrew.

The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God’s Word firsthand from them. But Dr. Know-It-All (that’s the wizard’s name in plain English) stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer. But Saul (or Paul), full of the Holy Spirit and looking him straight in the eye, said, “You bag of wind, you parody of a devil—why, you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God. But now you’ve come up against God himself, and your game is up. You’re about to go blind—no sunlight for you for a good long stretch.” He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take his hand and show him the way.
When the governor saw what happened, he became a believer, full of enthusiasm over what they were saying about the Master.

We’ve all heard of famous movie plots of the new guy walking into a job, maybe as a police officer or something like that. He arrives and he is shocked to see injustice all around him. Everything seems corrupt and no one is saying anything. So he goes to his partner that has been around longer than him and tells him what he sees. The partner tells him to just keep quiet and ignore it. Things have been like this for a long time and there was no changing it now. That new guy is instantly faced with a decision – do you confront the injustice or do you compromise what you know to be right to keep your job, not ruffle feathers and just stay silent. This is the kind of situation that Paul would find himself in, needing to make the same decision. Paul is the bold one. He steps up and says some pretty harsh words to the false prophet magician guy. The words of a true prophet are not kind to those who are false. He just rips right into him.

Q: How do we deal with similar situations? Do you prefer confrontation or compromise? Is that a false dichotomy? Is there a third acceptable option?

“Christian mission then consists of helping people to do a little formation of life that, as we have seen, was happening all around the place in the early chapters of Acts. And so when we come to this great turning-point in Luke’s story, the start of the extraordinary triple journey that would take Paul right across Turkey and Greece and back again, and then again once more, and finally off to Rome itself, we would much prefer the story to be one of gentle persuasion rather than confrontation. We would have liked it better if Paul had gone about telling people the simple message of Jesus and finding that many people were happy to accept it and live by it.”
- N.T Wright

I’ve been to Africa now a few times, and one thing that is common is that whenever a guest is present they are given an opportunity to share or give a word of encouragement. There has been a number of circumstances now where I have a microphone shoved in my face out of nowhere and asked to ‘speak’ to a congregation that barely speaks my language. It’s this awkward moment where I don’t think anything I say is meaningful or important but I have to say something or it would be rude. So now Paul is on the move again and he shows up in Pisidian and he arrives at a Jewish place of worship, the Synagogue. They ask him if they have a word of encouragement for him. This is normal in these kinds of religious contexts. It is the same kind of culture of welcoming guests. So Paul takes the opportunity and jumps into his speech.

Paul’s speech is pretty long, it’s the next forty or so verses. So I won’t read it all but I’ll explain it quickly. The speech is broken into basically three parts. Each part is signified by Paul restating his greeting. “Fellow Children of Abraham and God-Fearing Gentiles” or “Therefore, my friends.” The first part is claiming and proving that Jesus is a member of David’s royal lineage and is the fulfillment of God’s promise. He talks about Israel and their exile and the prophets and the judges and eventually King David. This is an important part of the story which explains a lot about the genealogies that are present throughout the Bible. They are all leading somewhere. There is a point to them. They are all leading to Jesus. Jesus is what they had been waiting for. And trust me, they were a people of waiting. That’s all they did. They waited and waited for God to show and up and say what he was going to do. Now here is Paul in the middle of the Synagogue and he saying that they don’t have to wait anymore.

Think of it this way. Your sister is having a baby in another country. You have been sitting by the phone just waiting for them to call and tell you the baby came so you can go visit. Finally the phone call comes but it’s not your family, it’s a random person that you’ve never met before and he’s trying to explain to you how the baby was already born weeks ago and that you need to fly out there right now and meet the baby because he’s already starting to grow up. This is the kind of scenario that Paul explains about Jesus. They were all waiting for a Saviour and Paul was doing an excellent job explaining how Jesus was the person they were waiting for. Paul is getting better and better and convincing people that their hope has now been realized.

The second part of the speech is Paul getting a bit more specific and giving some answers as to why it took them so long to find out that Jesus was the Saviour they were waiting for. Even though God fearers were pouring over the scriptures they continued to miss over and over again the what the prophets were saying and pointing to. They missed it so bad that they killed the very hope that they were waiting for. But Paul reassures them, that this is all part of God’s plan. Because even though they were successful in killing him, they were not successful in keeping him dead. God turned up and raised him from the dead.

The whole speech is centered around this very fact. They would have had all sorts of people claiming to be a messiah coming through their Synagogues, but eventually they would have all died. Jesus was no exception. However, the difference is that Jesus didn’t stay dead. God rose him from the dead. Paul points to David and shows that when David died, his body decayed and he was no more. However, Jesus’ body did not see decay. He is alive. So everything that he said and proclaimed was true and coming true before their very eyes.

The third part of the speech is a little bit more harsh. I wonder if the people in the synagogue regretted giving Paul a chance to speak. Paul explains that this hope is available to everyone. The forgiveness of sins, the freedom from the law and to be made right before God. This was what the law was supposed to do, but it never could do. Jesus makes it possible. Paul from this point instantly goes into a little bit of an accusatory mode. He quotes one of the prophets Habakuk.

“‘Look, you scoffers,
wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would never believe,
even if someone told you.’”

I think there is something inside the human psyche that doesn’t want to ever miss out. There is a term that has been floating around lately for people like me. It’s called a FOMO – Fear of Missing Out. And it’s true. If there is something happening I want to be there. The worst case scenario for me is when there is two things happening at the same time. I hate not being there and I get frustrated and probably have a small little mental break down that I can’t be there. I wonder if this is built into a lot of humans on a more grander scale. When God says something like this here. Doesn’t it make you just go crazy? There is no way I wouldn’t believe it! Of course I’m going to be there in the front row when you do that thing that you are going to do. I think Paul is an architect of words. He takes passages from all over the scriptures and he uses them in this beautifully molded sculpture of an argument to bring along these folks in seeing Jesus for who he is. Then he instantly makes people feel left out if they don’t believe what he is saying. It’s almost manipulation if you ask me.

So I’ll read the last bit of Acts 13 here so we can all come together here at the end. So Paul just finished quoting Habakuk and that is where we will come in.

As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Things are starting to get intense a little bit now and we are starting to see a chasm being created between the Jews and the Gentiles. This will be an ongoing separation throughout the rest of the book of Acts as the message starts to spread. The message goes out to the Jews first because they have been the ones that were supposed to spread this message in the first place and then they go straight to the Gentiles. After all, the very purpose of Israel in the first place was to be a light to the Gentiles. Paul has no hesitation in reminding them of this. Paul seems to walk into this place and cause a lot more strife and division than anything.

Something though that we begin to notice is that re-telling this story to specific audiences becomes a major tactic for Paul to explain this to people. From the quote I send in theStory update e-mail, this is what N.T Wright says.

Paul’s strategy is a challenge to us all, to understand our audience well enough to know how to tell them the story in a way they will find compelling, how to setup signposts in a language they can read.
-N.T. Wright

I think this is an art of telling the Jesus story that we have lost. Our story now consists generally of saying a special prayer, going to church and being a good person so that you go to heaven and not hell when you die. There is no substance to our story and it certainly isn’t compelling to the culture around us anymore. It is barely compelling to those that grew up in the church. For the Jews and Gentiles in this situation the stories of Jesus coming from the line of King David and quoting a few scripture verses was enough to spark interest amongst the masses. Unfortunately I don’t think the same is true for us today. Our approach is different. We have to tell the story in a different way. This doesn’t make us more right or them wrong. It just realizes that we come from different worlds and understand our place in this world differently than someone does.

Let me give you another example. Our friend across the street, Shawn, he has an idea at the back of his head to save the world. It is what drives him. He wakes up in the morning because of this idea, every conversation he has centers around this idea. If you ask him one day to tell you why he started Artwalk, his answer is similar to the kind of answer Paul gives. He gives a history lesson, shows you proof about why the world has gone wrong and then shows you what the solution is. He goes back fifteen years ago when he realized that the world should be split into bio-zones and not national lines. The world was ordered wrong and we were perpetuating a system of waste and disaster that was bound to mess things up even more. So his plan is three fold. He wants to build up the native plants that are in an area and save native plants that are starting to be destroyed by development. So he started “Return the Landscape” as an attempt to make this work and grow this as a movement. Then he thought he needed a place to congregate masses of people to help promote and collect these ideas of why the world is messed up and solutions on how to fix it and move into the right direction. As an artists he knew one of the best ways to face into controversial messages and to celebrate beautiful solutions was through art. So Sarnia Artwalk was born. Now, his third part of his plan is starting to unfold in terms of waste diversion. Taking things that are normally thrown into landfills and turning them into something useful and productive. He’s working towards making pellets for pellet stoves and converting useless items into useful tools.

That whole story comes simply from asking him how did he start Artwalk. He has key signposts along the way and he has purpose and intention in the direction that he is heading. He has a story to tell and his entire life is consumed by this story. Try it sometime. Ask Shawn why he started Artwalk and if you let him, you will get the entire story told with a massive smile on his face because it’s a story that gives him hope and purpose in the world. Very rarely do I get the same kind of story from Christians today. Blank faces are usually what I see when asked to tell the story of their faith.

Q: If you were to retell your story to someone what would be key points that you would land on to tell your story? What are the questions, hopes and concerns of those that you would be retelling your story to? Would your story about your relationship with Jesus be interesting, offensive or boring to anyone else?

Shawn would die to have what we have here right now. If there is one thing I realize about Shawn is that most of the time he is alone in his passion. Sure he has different people here and there that will have their yards landscaped or jump into the festival. But nobody else is pushing these ideals as much as he is. Here at theStory, what we are supposed to be is a group of people that all agree and are passionate about the same story. There is ninety folks on that Family Tree chart over there and the reason you are on that Family Tree is because you are part of theStory. What is theStory? It is supposed to be a community that makes Jesus Lord in their lives, and lives and breathes the kingdom all day long. We are supposed to be a community that lives out these things that we talk about every week.

I’m sure Shawn would kill for ninety people to be gathered around his ideas and to meet once a week so that he can explain the ins and outs of everyone of them. Eventually I’m sure he would hope that he isn’t just explaining these ideas and showing people about native plants. What he would hope is that these ninety people catch the fire. That they start becoming the new Shawn’s and they start promoting and living their lives around these ideas and things that he is saying. This is because his story that he lives and breathes is bigger than himself. He sees it as a story that the entire world can embrace and make their own.

This is why we did a sermon like we did a few weeks ago. Remember the graph with the box in the middle and the kinds of people that come out of the box when we are done? The question we have to keep asking ourselves is are we actually starting to catch onto these ideas that we are talking about. Are our lives actually starting to take shape to the words that we speak together on a Sunday morning? Are these stories that we immerse ourselves in actually becoming our stories? We have to keep asking ourselves, how did we get here? When Paul gets an opportunity to share, he shares his story of how they got to where they are. When we are asked to share our story, do we know how we got here? Do we know what is happening or do we just do whatever we were trained to do?

Eventually history lessons like Paul gave, like Shawn gives, they turn into warnings. They aren’t warnings like we are used to “believe this or you will go to hell.” That isn’t the warning that Paul gives. Rather the warning is that you are going to miss out on the eternal life that is here for you. This isn’t a threat. It’s a desperate warning of not wanting anyone to miss out on what God is doing here and now in our midst. The kingdom of God is here. Are we just sitting on our butts and showing up at church? The kingdom of God is here and among us. We need to live it. We need to breathe it. We need to jump into the middle of God’s redemptive plan and make his story our story. We don’t want to miss out. Jesus has risen and the new creation has begun and we can be part of it. Sitting here on a Sunday will not suffice. Just listening and speaking about the plan over and over again once a week is not the redemptive plan God had in mind.

So this morning I encourage you. Discover your story and your place in God’s plan. Take cues from Paul and Shawn and know what you are driven by and then be driven by it. Have reasons for what you are doing here, for why you wake up in the morning and why you come to a place like this every week. You could miss out. It’s very likely. It’s very likely we all could miss out. Let’s dive right into this story, see that our sins have been forgiven and enter into the eternal life that has been promised to us here and now.

Related posts:

1. God Speaks Through Difference: A Sermon on Acts 6:8-8:3 (The Sermon and Stoning of Stephen)
2. What Are We Becoming? A Sermon on Acts 11
3. When You See Jesus, It Changes Everything: A Sermon on Saul’s Conversion (Road to Damascus), Acts 9:1-31

N.T. Wright offers a model of understanding the Bible in today’s context and I think this will be important for today and for reading the rest of Acts and what we will be talking about today, so I want to spend a bit of time on it. Here is how he starts.

Suppose there exists a Shakespeare play whose fifth act had been lost. The first four acts provide, let us suppose, such a wealth of characterization, such a crescendo of excitement within the plot, that it is generally agreed that the play ought to be staged. Nevertheless, it is felt inappropriate actually to write a fifth act once and for all: it would freeze the play into one form, and commit Shakespeare as it were to being prospectively responsible for work not in fact his own. Better, it might be felt, to give the key parts to highly trained, sensitive and experienced Shakespearian actors, who would immerse themselves in the first four acts, and in the language and culture of Shakespeare and his time, and who would then be told to work out a fifth act for themselves.

Consider the result. The first four acts, existing as they did, would be the undoubted ‘authority’ for the task in hand. That is, anyone could properly object to the new improvisation on the grounds that this or that character was now behaving inconsistently, or that this or that sub-plot or theme, outlined earlier, had not reached its proper resolution. This ‘authority’ of the first four acts would not consist in an implicit command that the actors should repeat the earlier pans of the play over and over again. It would consist in the fact of an as yet unfinished drama, which contained its own impulse, its own forward movement, which demanded to be concluded in the proper manner but which required of the actors a responsible entering into the story as it stood, in order first to understand how the threads could appropriately be drawn together, and then to put that understanding into effect by speaking and acting with both innovation and consistency.

This model could and perhaps should be adapted further; it offers in fact quite a range of possibilities. Among the detailed moves available within this model, which I shall explore and pursue elsewhere, is the possibility of seeing the five acts as follows: (1) Creation; (2) Fall; (3) Israel; (4) Jesus. The New Testament would then form the first scene in the fifth act, giving hints as well of how the play is supposed to end. The church would then live under the ‘authority’ of the story, being required to offer something between an improvisation and an actual performance of the final act. Appeal could always be made to the inconsistency of what was being offered with a major theme or characterization in the earlier material. Such an appeal—and such an offering!—would of course require sensitivity of a high order to the whole nature of the story and to the ways in which it would be (of course) inappropriate simply to repeat verbatim passages from earlier sections. Such sensitivity (cashing out the model in terms of church life) is precisely what one would have expected to be required; did we ever imagine that the application of biblical authority ought to be something that could be done by a well-programmed computer?

So N.T. Wright is giving us a basis on how to understand the scriptures and Acts especially. So let’s keep that in mind as we move in today’s message so help us better understand how to translate stories that we are reading every Sunday and make sense of them. Picture us being in the fifth and final act of God’s play. We’ve even seen how the beginning of this act has played out in the first eleven chapters of Acts. Now it’s our job as the church to live under the authority of these first four acts. That is our mandate if we are too call ourselves Christians and the church. So we can’t just extract key moments in the first four acts and try to repeat them, and we especially can’t think that the first four acts of the play is a script that we can live out verbatim. There is some discerning involved and a deep immersion in the first four acts but it’s not so we can repeat them, it’s so that we know where the fifth act is going and we continue on the play in the same Spirit?

Q: Does this analogy make sense? Anyone have any questions or not understand what is happening? How does understanding the Bible confirm or offend previously held beliefs on what the Bible is?

All right, so let’s move along and finish off this last bit of Acts 11.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

So we are getting kind of an overview here of how the church is doing and what is happening. [Summary of where we’ve been] Everyone has previously scattered all over the place because of the persecution and is starting to land in neighbouring towns and sharing to their kind what was happening. Because of this, Jesus’ words start to become true as we saw the news of Jesus spreading to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. We’ve heard key stories along the way of how these news has spread to these places specifically and then we heard an amazing story of Saul’s conversion and eventually instead of persecuting Christians he joins them. Tim shared with us two weeks ago Peter’s vision and how this gospel is no longer just for Israel but for the rest of the world too. This comes to a shock to many and it is hard work convincing people that those that were not chosen are now chosen.

So in looking here at the end of Acts 11, there is a few things that are probably important to highlight. For starters Antioch was third among the cities of the Roman world and was of great importance to early Christianity. It was the first major city outside of Israel where Christianity clearly established itself as a force with which to be reckoned. It was a great religious center and also a commercial centre where they were connected to all sorts of other places and on the coast of the Mediterranean. Even in this little bit at the end of Acts 11, Luke mentions that they were “spreading the word only among the Jews.” There is however soon after others that start spreading news to other Gentiles so the word is still getting out there, but it isn’t as normal yet to those other than Jews.

For the first time the word Christian comes up in the Bible. This Greek term is an important one because there was other terms to define those who belonged to or identified with Herod, or Nero. But in this case it’s a term referring to those who belong to or identify with the risen Christ. The most interesting part about this term is that it isn’t something they labeled themselves this was a term that was given to them because it’s how other people referred to them. “That group of people over there are Christians.” They are the ones that identify themselves and belong to the risen Christ. When early Christians spoke of themselves they called themselves believers, saints, brothers and sisters, followers of ‘The Way’ and sometimes even Nazarenes. In fact Christians probably didn’t start using this term to identify themselves until the second century. Luke wants to distinguish two different groups of Jews. There are Jews that followed Christ and others that didn’t, so this new term was given and used by those that were following Christ. Other Jews still wouldn’t believe or adhere that this Jesus they spoke about was the hope that they were waiting for.

We start to see more and more how these Christians would rally around each other to support each other and make sure that no one was in need. When the famines were coming whoever could pitch in and help did so by providing help to those that needed it. Luke highlights continuously through Acts how Christians take care of each other and when there was need they stepped up to the plate and made things happen making other Christian’s needs as important as their own.

So this morning where I want to spend the rest of our time is in figuring out what Luke, Acts and the bible is talking about when we talk about disciples. At first we get these introductions to the twelve disciples of Jesus and then we get his commission to go into all the world and make disciples. As Acts unfolds we see mention of these disciples all over the place and what they are up to and the kinds of people that they are. We also have heard many times I’m sure that we are supposed to be disciples. So today I want to follow this graph and together come up with a better idea, a more solid understanding of what a disciple looks like. What are the kinds of things that they participate it, what do they believe, think, care about etc.

So this is taken from a training session that is done with church planters and other people who are interested in gauging what the health is of their local church is like. So this is the exercise that I want to do with us this morning. This is how this graph works. We have all these people, basically everyone in this room this morning, everyone on the Family Tree in the back wall, and we all have our own pasts. Our pasts are full of all sorts of scenarios, good and bad actions, good and bad relationships, good and bad decisions. Somehow though we’ve all ended up here. Sitting in this room, on a Sunday morning, singing songs together, listening to each other talk, eating together. We all came for different reasons but we are all in the same place now. So that’s the arrows on the left side. So then we have the box in the middle. This is theStory. This is the things that we do together, the things we care about, the systems we have in place, the relationships we have. Pretty much everything that is on the Family Tree Poster in the boxes around our values. These are our structures, the things we’ve put in place here at theStory together. Then the black arrows on the right are what we are after coming into contact and the kinds of people we are. What do we look like, who are we, what kinds of people are we in the world.

“The end of all Christian belief and obedience, witness and teaching, marriage and family, leisure and work life, preaching and pastoral work is the living of everything we know about God: life, life and more life. If we don’t know where we are going, any road will get us there. But if we have a destination—in this case a life lived to the glory of God—there is a well marked way, the Jesus-revealed Way. Spiritual theology is the attention that we give to the details of living life on this way”
- Eugene Peterson

This is a graph that helps us see where we are going, and how the things that we do help us (or don’t help us) get there. So this is want to happen. I want everyone to split up into groups of three or four. I want them to fill in two different spots on the postcards that you have. In the first spot I want you to fill in the yellow box. What are the structures that we have in place here at theStory, what are the kinds of things that go on that shape people that come into contact with theStory. What are the practices, rituals, relationships, and activities that we do. Who are we? When you interact with theStory, where do you interact?

The next to the right arrows, I want you to come up with what kinds of people we are becoming. Some of you have been here for six years since the very beginning so you might have a certain perspective that others don’t have. But how are you different because of the things that you participate in, the relationships that you have and your involvement with theStory? If you don’t know, or if there is no change, that is fine too, but if there is something, put it on a postcard and put it up on the whiteboard next to the black arrows on the right.

[10 Minutes to Add to the Board]

So what we have basically done is a brief overview of what theStory is in the world. As Christians, we have a belief that the church is the body of Christ. It isn’t a place that you show up to. It isn’t a service. It isn’t a building. It is people who claim to be followers of the way of Christ. It is people who inaugurate the kingdom of God through their lives and actions in the world. It is a group of people who live with a king who is God and live as if he is king over the world. So this inner box is what this kingdom should look like. It is the practices and lifestyles of all those that consider themselves part of theStory. theStory is a group of people who have come together in Sarnia, Ontario and who believe that God is the king of this world and order their lives in such a way that says that this is a true statement. So what we have created in this box is a brief picture of what the kingdom of God looks like here with us and how that looks in our lives here at theStory.

Now the church, these people that live kingdom lives together, have always had this duty to create disciples. Basically creating the kinds of people that look more and more like Jesus and make their lives more and more centered around kingdom values. One of the core duties of the church, is to make disciples. So, when we look at this box, and then we look at the arrows coming from this box, the people that come out of this box should look more and more like disciples of Christ. Consequently, if the arrows out of this box don’t look more and more like Christ and people that live like the Kingdom, then there is something in this box that has gone wrong. It would mean that theStory isn’t actually doing its job in making disciples.

This gets easier and easier to notice as time goes on. Since theStory has been around for six years, we now should get a pretty good idea if what we are doing here with theStory is actually doing it’s responsibility as the church and making disciples. If we aren’t making disciples. If your time spent with theStory hasn’t made you more like the Jesus we are following then we and you are doing something wrong and the things in the box need to change. Making disciples is our job, and the way we conduct ourselves, the things we do together, the rituals we participate in together, the time we spend with each other determines the kinds of people we are.

Q: After seeing our church life from this point of view, do you think there are more things we can change ‘inside the box’ so that we are formed into the disciples that Jesus speaks about?

As we spend our time here in Acts we are going to see how the early church started asking themselves these same questions. They had to deal with and constantly ask themselves the question “what do followers of Jesus Christ look like?” “How do people who are committed to the Kingdom of God act?” Then, depending on the answer to that question they begin to invoke certain kinds of rituals, practices and traditions into their lives so that when they get through their own box, they look like these kinds of people. So when Barnabas and Saul are back in Antioch and they are with the church for an entire year, this is what they were talking about. They were teaching people the practices necessary and the lives that they needed to live so that they looked like the kind of people that Jesus called them to be. For them, this meant making sure that no one was in need, realizing that this message extended to the Gentiles as well as Jews and to constantly confront the allegiances to an empire that was not Gods.

I bet you didn’t think that you showing up here on a Sunday was actually part of a larger plan like this did you? But this is what the kingdom of God is actually about. And Jesus was all about the kingdom. This was never about getting saved and making it to heaven when you die, sorry if you thought that. This was about coming together with others who call Jesus Lord and then become the kinds of people that live out the reality of Jesus being Lord.

The church is not, in any proper sense, Christian. Its members are indeed called Christians (though it is worth noting that the name was first applied to them, in Acts 11:26 by outsiders); but it is not some sectarian society whose members have a monopoly on the mystery [the knowledge of salvation]. It is not a club of insiders who, because of their theology, race, color, or sex–or their good behavior, intelligence, or income bracket–are the only channels through which the Word conveys himself to the world. Rather, it is a sign to the world of the mystery by which the Light has already lightened the whole shooting match, by which the divine Leaven has already leavened the whole lump of creation.
- Robert Capon

So as we start to move deeper into Acts and we start to observe the conversations that are going on. As we start seeing the disciples being referred to and we start to see the kinds of things that they are doing. We can remember that it isn’t our job to replicate verbatim the words and deeds of these early disciples just because these stories are in our Bible. Rather, what we are doing is being the church. We are being the manifestation of God’s kingdom right here and right now. The point isn’t that we are Christians. This isn’t a title that we give ourselves, like Capon mentions. The point is that we are a sign. We are a sign to the rest of the world of what the Kingdom of God looks like when people are disciples and they make Jesus Lord. We’ll take it as a compliment if we get the title give to us

So our job at theStory. The reason that we are all here is that we get to participate in discipleship. We get to come alongside of these things that theStory does together so that we are shaped together to look like followers of Jesus. Typically this is seen as orthodoxy (believing or thinking the right information in your head) or orthopraxy (doing the right things). However discipleship is not really about those kinds of things. What it is about is orthopathy – desiring the right things, desiring the things of the Kingdom. theStory is meant to be a place that is designed where people can experience something about God. It is meant to be a place that helps shapes and forms desires into those of the Kingdom. This is what this place, this thing that we are doing should be up to and then inviting people along with us to be formed and shaped into this kind of discipleship.

It turns discipleship into a story. It takes everyone that is entangled up into this center box and it gives us a common story. We all are being shaped. We all are being formed. We all are saying this story is fixing me. This story is changing me. This is where I want to end today. I don’t want to look at our diagram that we drew and say this is right or wrong right now. I want this diagram to sit in your hearts. I want you to go home and think about this. Ask yourself the question, “are the things that I am doing in my life shaping and forming me to be the kind of disciple that I am called to be?” If in five years you are no different than you were before, then there are changes that need to be made. It’s time that we as a community start to make this story alive in our midst. God’s Kingdom is alive and it’s around us and we can choose to participate with him and be shaped by it. I want to end with the last part to N.T. Wright’s quote here which I think is a good bookend to this message.

That, in fact, is (I believe) one of the reasons why God has given us so much story, so much narrative in scripture. Story authority, as Jesus knew only too well, is the authority that really works. Throw a rule book at people’s head, or offer them a list of doctrines, and they can duck or avoid it, or simply disagree and go away. Tell them a story, though, and you invite them to come into a different world; you invite them to share a world-view or better still a ‘God-view’. That, actually, is what the parables are all about. They offer, as all genuine Christian story-telling the does, a world-view which, as someone comes into it and finds how compelling it is, quietly shatters the world-view that they were in already. Stories determine how people see themselves and how they see the world. Stories determine how they experience God, and the world, and themselves, and others. Great revolutionary movements have told stories about the past and present and future. They have invited people to see themselves in that light, and people’s lives have been changed. If that happens at a merely human level, how much more when it is God himself, the creator, breathing through his word.

In the church and in the world, then, we have to tell the story. It is not enough to translate scripture into timeless truths. The story has to be told as the new covenant story. This is where my five-act model comes to our help again. The earlier parts of the story are to be told precisely as the earlier parts of the story. We do not read Genesis 1 and 2 as though the world were still like that; we do not read Genesis 3 as though ignorant of Genesis 12, of Exodus, or indeed of the gospels. Nor do we read the gospels us though we were ignorant of the fact that they are written precisely in order to make the transition from Act 4 to Act 5, the Act in which we are now living and in which we are to make our own unique, unscripted and yet obedient, improvisation. This is how we are to be the church, for the world. As we do so, we are calling into question the world’s models of authority, as well as the content and direction of that authority.

So I’ll leave you with this. What story are you improvising? What story are you living out of? Is it the Story of God and his Kingdom? Is it a story of God redeeming the world with his Son and inviting you to participate with him? What kind of person are you going to become because of the story that you are living out? Let’s pray.

Loving God and Father
Help us to be the people of the Kingdom
Committed to your story and and what it entails
Giving it authority in our lives

Help us to grasp
the intricacies of your grace
Help us to think well, live well
Form our desires to be from you

Let us recognize our identity
We are the church
We are chosen to be a light
We are your disciples
We are committed to the mission of the Church

Your plan for us is scary
Sometimes we pretend we don’t really know what to do
Sometimes we ignore it completely
Forgive us when we turn in the other direction

Give us strength to be your disciples
Give us strength to be your representatives
Give us wisdom to know the direction we are heading
Give us wisdom to know when we are standing still
Continue to lead us

Amen.

Related posts:

1. God Speaks Through Difference: A Sermon on Acts 6:8-8:3 (The Sermon and Stoning of Stephen)
2. How Did We Get Here? A Sermon on Acts 13
3. The Gospel Embodied in Community (A Sermon on Acts 2:42-47)

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This means that consciously or subconsciously the leader at the front has one job.  This job is to convince you that your main goal in your Christian life is to keep showing up.  If you keep showing up and you can get your friends to keep showing up, then there really isn’t more expected of you (besides to make sure you show up more often to the programs and make sure your money shows up in the plate).  Great leaders have mastered the art of summarizing your entire Christian walk into showing up and listening to them preach and convincing you that this is your main duty in life.  The cycle goes around and around as great leaders convince through their clever communication skills that the very act of being communicated too is what life is about.

The bad leaders are the ones that work themselves out of a job by making themselves unnecessary.  Bad leaders are the kind that tell everyone that is being preached to and showing up at church is the most important thing they can do, and then do a below-par job at actually convincing them to stay at their church.  You generally get people complaining that they aren’t being fed at church, they aren’t being spoken too or the church just isn’t for them.  It sucks when you are a bad leader because you think the way of getting these people back is to just to become more convincing, but really it’s just a Catch 22.  You’ve already convinced them that all they they need in life is to show up, and then you don’t give them anything worthwhile to show up to.

Related posts:

1. Good and Bad Leaders
2. Couple Good Links
3. Christian Culture – Does More Harm than Good

One of these prayers, which you have probably heard is called a ‘Shema’ prayer and it’s a prayer that Jews would say over and over again

“Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, The Lord is One.”

Christians would have something similar and they had a prayer that they would say in repition

“One God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ”

There are many techniques and practices that Christians practice and many ways in which Christians learn to meditate and focus on the divine. Now back in the days when Acts was written, there was one type of Jewish meditation which became well known and practiced frequently. It was a sustained contemplation of the great vision of the first chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel where he sees something like a great chariot, with whirling wheels and flashing lights. There is a full description of the vision that includes four-faced angels who carry a chariot while sparkling and glowing, rainbows, jewels and thrones. The point on meditating on this vision for Jews was to see if by devout prayer, fasting and holiness one might come to share in the climax of this vision in Ezekiel 1

Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Now people who studied day in and day out in the scriptures longed deeply to share in this kind of vision. They would use this kind of vision as prayer in hopes that someday they would be able to see the same glory, God’s face on his throne, even if such a sight would hurl them to the ground.

The reason I tell you this, is because we are in Acts 9. Acts 9 might be the most famous passage in Acts because we are at the road to Damascus, or Saul’s conversion. Two times in our readings before we have heard mention of this Saul guy. He was the one that people were laying their coats down in front of during the stoning of Stephen and he was mentioned about that he was leading the persecution of the Christians around. So Luke was setting us up, he was letting us know that this was the ultimate enemy of the church. Saul was the one to be afraid of, this was the one that was willing to use any force necessary to stop this false teaching from getting any further.

There is plenty more about Saul that we wouldn’t know just yet about him from reading, but I think are important for us to know to get a better understanding of exactly what Saul was doing, the kind of person he was and why he was persecuting Christians everywhere. Saul came from a part of Judaism with a very deep devotion to God and his law, he was a Pharisee. So remember when we talk about Pharisees, we talked about this last year a bit, we can’t characterize them as the bad guys, they were the good guys. They were the ones that kept the law, that did what they were supposed to do. He was from Tarsus which was known to be an intellectual place and he studied under great Jewish scholars and rabbis of his time. Saul was the cream of the crop and he loved God deeply. His entire life was in devotion to him and he never stopped serving him day in and day out.

So let’s take a quick primer on what we’ve just been through. The gospel is spreading. It has reached Judea, Samaria (Simon the Magician), and the Ethiopian (the ends of the earth) which we talked about the week before Palm Sunday. So Jesus words have now come true. This gospel is moving fast. But along with this good news that is spreading is all this persecution and so many people trying to put it out. We have the Pharisees killing Stephen and screaming at the top of his lungs and we have people running around spreading this news about Jesus. The most powerful people are taking serious measures to put an end to all the nonsense. Luke is being sure to give us both sides of this story and fill us in on the successes and failures of the gospel spreading. So we have come to the main event. The leader of the persecution. Saul of Tarsus. The very person who was the cause of many of the sufferings of all these Christians. So let’s read at the beginning of Acts 9.

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Meditation like we just talked about would have been taught and practiced often. It’s very possible that even on this trip to Damascus that he was trying to envision this glory vision from Ezekial. The miraculous happens. The vision happens. Except that it wasn’t just God, it was Jesus. When he finally gets to see God’s glory like in Ezekiel, he sees Jesus. When something like this happens to you, your world gets turned upside down. Jesus changes everything. All this time he thought he was serving God, but it turns out he was persecuting Him. You can only imagine what this would do to you.

I remember when I read my first book on foreign aid companies. It was called the Road to Hell. It was a major criticism about the entire aid industry and how maybe wealthy countries were doing more harm than good by being there and bringing food. The stats were convincing and the stories were moving. The whole book did a number on me. All of sudden, some of the only things that I thought were good in the world and actually helping the world become a better place were actually making it worse. Nothing was safe, there was no good I or anyone could do. It was like my world was taken from right under me and I needed to start from scratch and really re-evaluate why I did the things I did and if I had really thought about them. It shifted my direction of thinking so much that the trajectory of my life changed with it. I cut out certain kinds of missions trips and I started investing my time and energy into helping locally run organizations. I started seeing the value in my individual relationships with the poor and not expecting some organization to do it for me. The list went on. I’ve had lots of these moments which makes me reconsider my past entirely. Even though my life I believe was always had good motives, I still come to grips with the reality that I was wrong, I was misinformed, I was missing something, I need to make some drastic changes. It’s odd how one moment, one realization can all of sudden bring a flood of new meaning to past events and to future ones.

Q: How about you? Have you ever had a Saul moment, where something registered with you and all of sudden you realized everything must change or has changed?

For Saul this moment was seeing Jesus. We have to keep in mind that Saul has probably seen Jesus before, he would have seen him with his followers and teachers around and would have known all about him. He just never made the connection. He never realized Jesus was God. As soon as that realization hit him. Everything changed. His entire life, all his prayers, all his memorized scripture, all his traditions all of sudden came to life and came with new meaning. Jesus was the answer to everything and he was working against it. He realized he was God’s enemy.

If you thought this gospel spreading to the ends of the earth was miraculous. How about spreading to the gospels enemies? The greatest enemy? This gospel is so powerful that it seems to be uncontrollable. We are beyond the ends of the earth and now reading the very hearts of those who opposed this gospel by killing people that believed it. Luke puts this story in just at the right time to remind us that nothing is about to get in the way. The very things that we thought were going to get in the way were going to become the things that furthered this good news forward.

Luke also is carrying on the theme quite strongly here, that this has nothing to do with people doing the right thing. Sure we know now that Saul writes half the New Testament, but to start the story off Luke just lays it bare. He was the enemy, he was the one to be feared. The reason he has now started following Jesus is not because he did the right thing, it’s because God stepped in and ordered his path. It’s not even like Saul was sitting in his chariot like the Ethiopian reading his Bible and seeking God to do the right thing. He was on his way to persecute and capture Christians. Nothing, and I mean nothing, that Saul did caused this event to happen. So, this is not a story that we can use to create some sort of formula to how people get converted or to what is the norm for salvation, but we see this as Luke placing this part of the story right here to show us something. That this is God’s story. Not Saul’s, Stephen’s, Peters – God’s. God showed up to him. He wasn’t even asking for it. Saul didn’t even know who it was at first. This was all God, from the beginning to the end. Saul was just a pawn in God’s master plan.

There is lots that we could spend our time in with just this little story. Like the fact that Jesus says why are you persecuting me? This question is packed full of theology that Saul will just start to begin to unpack here. He is persecuting Jesus because his followers are the body of Christ. Why are Christians considered followers of the Way? We could spend hours talking about what this meant. But we’ll just leave it for now, and keep moving on with this story.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

It’s interesting to note here that when the Lord speaks to Ananias, his response is “Here I am Lord.” This is a typical response to God throughout the scriptures. This was someone who knew God’s voice and was listening for it. When the Lord spoke to Saul, Saul’s first questions was “who is this?.” He was about to find out, but he had yet to make the connection that Jesus was Lord. There have been people that have said that Ananias is one of the forgotten great heroes of the church. Think about how messed up this story is. Ananias has no illusions. He knew exactly who this Saul guy is, and now he’s close by and he’s supposed to go lay his hands on him? This all sounds like a horribly bad idea. This was going to get him killed. But he does it anyway. The story continues to unfold and it continues to be lead by God and God only. God came to Saul. God came to Ananias and he’s getting this good news out no matter what, and he’s doing it in the most unique ways. I can’t help but think God has a sense of humour with a last line like that as well, “I’ll show him.” So now let’s go into the rest of this story without too many more stops.

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;
and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.
And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

So we are starting to see God’s mission unfolding. We’ve hit pretty much all the stops and it is now being spread through a very intelligent and zealous man named Saul. As I read through Acts, I can’t help but keep asking myself why all this is happening. Why do people care enough to go and kill Saul? Why did Saul care enough to persecute and kill Christians? Why is this so revolutionary that it’s literally turning people’s worlds upside down?

We don’t really live lives where a story like this makes sense. I don’t think any of us really care about anything that much. Which is why it’s constantly necessary to drag ourselves back into the context of this time to understand what people are feeling, and what they are pushing back against. The people that wanted to kill Saul are not bad people. They were good, upstanding God-fearing people. They believed that God alone was God, and they believed that he had given them his Law and that their entire lives should be summed up by fearing God and this law. God was king. God is sovereign. God cares about us and he is on our side. God is coming one day to free us from oppression, put our enemies under our feet and give us eternal life. We can barely imagine these people whose entire lives are consumed by these realities. This is the story of Hebrew Scriptures which they lived and breathed and memorized and hoped for.

Then Jesus shows up. He starts saying he’s the hope. He’s what they’ve been waiting for. Their entire lives now make sense because he is there. But he dies, so it’s a little unexpected, because the hope isn’t supposed to die, he’s supposed to win. But then his followers start saying he came back to life and he calls his disciples to start spreading this news to everyone. People are believing it by the droves and slowly the body of Christ, the church, becomes larger and larger and making converts from the most unlikely of places. The entire church is left with this mission to spread the kingdom of God everywhere and declare Jesus’ lordship over all of creation. As Newbigin puts it:

The concern for mission is nothing less than this: the kingdom of God, the sovereign rule of the Father of Jesus over all humankind and over all creation. Mission.. is the proclamation of the kingdom, the presence of the kingdom and the prevenience of the kingdom. By proclaiming the reign of God over all things the church acts out its faith that the Father of Jesus is indeed ruler of all. The church, by inviting all humankind to share in the mystery of the presence of the kingdom hidden in its life through its union with the crucified and risen life of Jesus, acts out the love of Jesus that took him to the cross. By obediently following where the Spirit leads, often in ways neither planned, known, nor understood, the church acts out the hope that it is given by
the presence of the Spirit who is the living foretaste of the kingdom.

The Church is bound to challenge in the name of the one Lord all the powers, ideologies, myths, assumptions, and worldviews which do not acknowledge him as Lord. If that involves conflict, trouble, and rejection, then we have the example of Jesus before us and his reminder that a servant is not greater than his master.”
- Leslie Newbigin

When Saul finally makes the connection that Jesus is his hope fulfilled, he starts to take all that zeal and all that passion and starts to live out the truth of this new Lord. As Newbigin states above, Saul is about to partake on a journey that is going to involve trouble, rejection, torture, pain and eventually death. When you say Jesus is the Son of God or that Jesus is Lord is challenges everything that doesn’t say he is Lord.

Q: Do we challenge powers, ideologies, myths, assumptions and worldviews that don’t acknowledge Jesus as Lord?

My assumption to this question is that we don’t.  We can look at the fact that we are all pretty comfortable, we are all pretty peaceful, and we never really challenge anything at all.  We barely know what it means to do that and we don’t like to exert much effort to do so.  The result?  Peace.  We are peaceful right now because we allow things to go along in the direction they are heading without ever challenging them.

“we take in the harsh truth that there was and still is a political cost to the incarnation of God’s peaceable love” – Common Prayer Intro

This story ends with Saul getting sent back to where he came from – Tarsus. He’s about to face into his own people. The people that he was raised with, his family, his friends, he is going back to them. Odds are that we probably just read a few years of Saul travelling around this little bit and preaching and proclaiming Jesus just in these last few paragraphs. This most likely happened all over the course of a couple years. We’ll get to see how that unfolds as we make our way slowly through Acts. In the meantime, the church that exists so far is enjoying peace. Finally, peace. The church is growing and being built up and there is peace, that can be either a good thing, or it can mean what it means for us today – a bad thing. I thought this would be a good place to leave it today. So go in peace.

Related posts:

1. God Speaks Through Difference: A Sermon on Acts 6:8-8:3 (The Sermon and Stoning of Stephen)
2. How Did We Get Here? A Sermon on Acts 13
3. What Are We Becoming? A Sermon on Acts 11

You can read the Good Friday Liturgy here.

[Reading - John 20]
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Mag’dalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him, “Teacher.”. Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Mag’dalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her

[Song - Jesus]
I will sing a song to you
And you will shake the ground for me
And the birds and bees and old fruit trees
Will spit out songs like gushing streams
And Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground do dirty
I will sing a song for to you
And you will stomp your feet for me
And the bears and bees and banana trees
Will play kazoos and tambourines
And Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
With soldiers and thieves and a sword in his side
And we will be joy and we will be right
Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty

[John 20]
The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples and said, Peace be with you!
Then were they glad when they saw the Lord.

[Prayer]
It was a long three days
It came as a surprise
We went back to fishing, back to our normal lives
We didn’t wait, we gave up
But you didn’t give up
You came to us instead
You came to us while we were still fishing
Still sinning

We really didn’t think this was going to happen
But now that it did
Now that you are standing here in front of us
The holes in your hand, the look on Mary’s face
It’s starting to make sense
You died so we didn’t have to
We die, so we don’t have to
You hung on that cross, in such a shameful way
So broken, so distraught that God forsake you
We felt forsaken too
We believe, help us in our unbelief

You lived the life that Israel couldn’t
You died the death that Israel wouldn’t
All these prophets words started to come back to us
You were the suffering servant
You were the broken Saviour
This is what we’ve been waiting for

This is Abraham’s promise being fulfilled
Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, David…
You were the light to the nations, you blessed the nations
You freed Israel from the law
You freed us from it as well

We welcome your death
Because this morning, even death doesn’t stay
Teach us how to die
So that we may live
Teach us how to live
So that we may die
We accept your gift
Your sacrifice
Your presence
Thank-you

Thank-you for everything
Creation
Your Patience
Your Direction
Your Way
Your Death
Your Grace
We rejoice in your ressurecction
We accept your new way of life
Give us strength to keep on this new life
You’ve turned back news into good news
Now we will turn this good news into real life

You have risen
We choose to follow you
Be here with us
Amen

[Communion]

[Song - In Christ Alone]
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

[Reading - 1 Cor 15]
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you–unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them–though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Related posts:

1. Good Friday Liturgy – 5 Stages of Grief
2. Christmas Eve Liturgy
3. Rob Bell’s Newest Video on the Resurrection

The Resurrection Sunday liturgy can be found here.

[Introduction]
Before we start, remember, Sunday service starts at 6:45 at Canatara beach at the Bandshell. Bring toppings for Pancakes as we will come back here after to eat.

As for the children today, we are requesting that they are on their best behaviour. For those that can read, we would love it if they would follow along with the liturgy in your hands. For those that can colour, there is a children’s liturgy of colouring pages that they can colour. If things aren’t working well then we would just ask that you would bring them to the other room, where the Easter story is playing by Veggie Tales. We have no one specific to watch them today, so if necessary just make sure your own children are taken care of or partner with someone you see that doesn’t have a kid.

This morning we are gathering together to recognize the death of our Lord Jesus. It is a solemn occasion. It’s the kind of time where we come together to mourn. To help shape our service this morning we will be using the five stages of grief to guide us through the reality of what it means for Jesus to be put to death. What it means for God, what is means for us, and what it means for the world. The liturgy will be full of readings, scripture verses, video clips, silence and prayers. We printed it out for you to follow along so you can see back with what has been said and look forward. So follow along, let your mind wander, and allow yourself to be overtaken by what we are reading, saying and doing together. Let’s begin.

[Reading - Mark 15:1-39]
At dawn’s first light, the high priests, with the religious leaders and scholars, arranged a conference with the entire Jewish Council. After tying Jesus securely, they took him out and presented him to Pilate.
Pilate asked him, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”
He answered, “If you say so.” The high priests let loose a barrage of accusations.
Pilate asked again, “Aren’t you going to answer anything? That’s quite a list of accusations.” Still, he said nothing. Pilate was impressed, really impressed.
It was a custom at the Feast to release a prisoner, anyone the people asked for. There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. As the crowd came up and began to present its petition for him to release a prisoner, Pilate anticipated them: “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” Pilate knew by this time that it was through sheer spite that the high priests had turned Jesus over to him.
But the high priests by then had worked up the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. Pilate came back, “So what do I do with this man you call King of the Jews?”
They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”
Pilate objected, “But for what crime?”
But they yelled all the louder, “Nail him to a cross!”
Pilate gave the crowd what it wanted, set Barabbas free and turned Jesus over for whipping and crucifixion.
The soldiers took Jesus into the palace (called Praetorium) and called together the entire brigade. They dressed him up in purple and put a crown plaited from a thornbush on his head. Then they began their mockery: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” They banged on his head with a club, spit on him, and knelt down in mock worship. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they marched out to nail him to the cross.

Denial

[Prayer]
We have gone another year and things are doing well.
We can still wake up, most of our loved ones are still alive.
We can make it to work, we can earn our money and buy our things.
We can save for our future, our retirement and our dreams.
We know what needs to be done, and we are motivated enough to do it.
We have a sense of our worth and our capacity to perform.
We are feeling fine.

We care about our children, and their futures and their success.
We get them into good schools and help them with their homework.
We get pregnant and eat the right foods, do the right exercises and take the right classes.
We enjoy our successes with small parties and quick vacations and nights out
We attend church gatherings downtown when we are up to it.
We read our bible when we can make time.
We say prayers with our kids before they go to sleep.
We are feeling fine.

We have got a handle on our brokenness.
We don’t lavish it around, we keep it private, almost hidden.
We have stopped from most ways of destruction – at least the obvious ones
We are smiling, we are successful and our futures are bright.
We are doing way better than most.
We are feeling fine.

[Reading]
As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”

[Song: Chariot]
Swing, like a chariot
At the trumpet call
When we’re all unsaved,
Swing like a wrecking ball
Like the heart of god
What a mystery
Filled with the wedding feast
For the snakes and bees
With the angel teeth, swing
Come and carry us
Come and marry us
To the blushing circus king
And dance like elephants as he comes to us
Through a fiery golden ring

With a violin and a song to sing
As he brings for us our wings
Now he’s one of us
Plays the tambourine
Breaks the bread for us
And sings
Will you wait for us
Will you stay for us
Will you grace us everything
You’re a wrecking ball
With a heart of gold
People wait for it, swing
Like a chariot
Swing it low for us
Come and carry us away

So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending

Fire come and carry us
Make us shine or make us rust
Tell us that you care for us
We need to hear a word for us
Let your body stand with us
Or let our rags be turned to dust
Chariot you swing for us
We think that you can carry all of us

So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending

Anger

[Reading - John 18: 1-11]
Jesus, having prayed this prayer, left with his disciples and crossed over the brook Kidron at a place where there was a garden. He and his disciples entered it.
Judas, his betrayer, knew the place because Jesus and his disciples went there often. So Judas led the way to the garden, and the Roman soldiers and police sent by the high priests and Pharisees followed. They arrived there with lanterns and torches and swords. Jesus, knowing by now everything that was coming down on him, went out and met them. He said, “Who are you after?”
They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
He said, “That’s me.” The soldiers recoiled, totally taken aback. Judas, his betrayer, stood out like a sore thumb.
Jesus asked again, “Who are you after?”
They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
“I told you,” said Jesus, “that’s me. I’m the one. So if it’s me you’re after, let these others go.” (This validated the words in his prayer, “I didn’t lose one of those you gave.”)
Just then Simon Peter, who was carrying a sword, pulled it from its sheath and struck the Chief Priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. Malchus was the servant’s name.
Jesus ordered Peter, “Put back your sword. Do you think for a minute I’m not going to drink this cup the Father gave me?”

[Video]

[Prayer]
This really is all your fault.
We were following you, remember? You ended up on the cross, not us.
You storm into the temple, flip tables, lip off the powerful ones, it was inevitable.
There was multiple attempts to try and disagree with you, but you were unconvinced.
Death, Beatings, Mocked – You had it coming.

Now you tell us to follow you into that kind of death?
Are you kidding me. No way. I don’t want to die. Remember what we just said?
We like our lives, things are fine, we are content, our children are happy.
We are successful, we have enough money and we are happy going after more.
Give it all away, look like those poor unmotivated people in the world?
No thanks. I’d rather stick to your words about responsibility and your blessings.

No wonder Peter grabbed his sword out, he was just worried about his own skin.
No wonder he denied you, he doesn’t want the same fate as you.
We are in the same boat, and it’s upsetting that you would even ask us to do the same.
We don’t want to join, because you lost, you died and we don’t want to lose.
This direction isn’t good for us, it’s going to turn our children into outright losers.
So no, we won’t follow you there, it’s too upsetting.
We aren’t choosing failure.

[Response - Song - What is not to love]
What looks like failure is success
And what looks like poverty is riches
When what is true looks more like a knife
It looks like you’re killing me
But you’re saving my life

But I give myself to what looks like love
And I sell myself for what feels like love
And I pay to get what is not love
And all just because I see things upside down

What looks like weakness can do anything
And what looks like foolishness is understanding
When what is powerful has not come to fight
It looks like you’re going to war
But you lay down your life

What looks like torture is a time to rejoice
What sounds like thunder is a comforting voice
When what is beautiful looks broken and crushed
And I say I don’t know you
But you say it’s finished
When what is beautiful looks broken and crushed
And I say I don’t know you
But you say it’s finished

Bargaining

[Prayer]
Here’s an idea.
How about instead of all this death stuff, we live good lives.
We will show up to church, have bible studies and pray daily.
We will give 11% to the church, stop swearing and won’t drink much
We won’t be ashamed of your gospel, we will tell people at the right times
We will raise our kids in Sunday school and be nice to the smelly kids
We will follow the Bible as our moral codebook, guiding our paths straight
We will work on being loving, graceful and forgiving

We just want to live by the basic rules.
We reap what we sow right?
So we’ll just sew some good seed.
We’ll clean up all the bad things that we do, so bad things won’t happen to us.
We’ll keep our end of the bargain, if you keep yours.
Deal?

[Reading - A Good Man is Hard To Find]

Alone with The Misfit, the grandmother found that she had lost her voice. There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun. There was nothing around her but woods. She wanted to tell him that he must pray. She opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out. Finally she found herself saying, “Jesus. Jesus,” meaning, Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing.
“Yes’m, The Misfit said as if he agreed. “Jesus shown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had the papers on me. Of course,” he said, “they never shown me my papers. That’s why I sign myself now. I said long ago, you get you a signature and sign everything you do and keep a copy of it. Then you’ll know what you done and you can hold up the crime to the punishment and see do they match and in the end you’ll have something to prove you ain’t been treated right. I call myself The Misfit,” he said, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.”
There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report. “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?”
“Jesus!” the old lady cried. “You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!”
“Lady,” The Misfit said, looking beyond her far into the woods, “there never was a body that give the undertaker a tip.”
There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, “Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!” as if her heart would break.
“Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,” The Misfit continued, “and He shouldn’t have done it. He shown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,” he said and his voice had become almost a snarl.
“Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,” the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.
“I wasn’t there so I can’t say He didn’t,” The Misfit said. “I wisht I had of been there,” he said, hitting the ground with his fist. “It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady,” he said in a high voice, “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.” His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children !” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest. Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them.
Hiram and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky.
Without his glasses, The Misfit’s eyes were red-rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking. “Take her off and thow her where you thown the others,” he said, picking up the cat that was rubbing itself against his leg.
“She was a talker, wasn’t she?” Bobby Lee said, sliding down the ditch with a yodel.
“She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”
“Some fun!” Bobby Lee said.
“Shut up, Bobby Lee,” The Misfit said. “It’s no real pleasure in life.”

[Reading Mark 12: 41-44]
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

[Song: Mumblin Word]

They led him to Pilate’s bar
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They led him to Pilate’s bar
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They led him to Pilate’s bar
But he never said a mumblin’ word
Not a word, not a word, not a word

They all cried, “Crucify!”
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They all cried, “Crucify!”
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They all cried, “Crucify!”
But he never said a mumblin’ word
Not a word, not a word, not a word

We nailed him on to a tree
Not a word, not a word, not a word
We nailed him on to a tree
Not a word, not a word, not a word
We nailed him on to a tree
But he never said a mumblin’ word
Not a word, not a word, not a word

Depression

[Prayer]
It didn’t work.
The bargain didn’t play out.
We were good and bad things happened.
They were bad and good things happened.
It’s almost as if you take pleasure in blessing the wicked.
They don’t love you, and yet it seems like you favour them.
How does that make any sense?

We probably won’t make a big deal out of it.
Just wish you would have done what we thought.
We held up our end.
It’s a little unsettling to know that this is all unpredictable
We don’t like that there isn’t a formula to follow
or a simple cause and effect
We suck.
We don’t deserve any of this. Why are we here anyway?
Life isn’t worth it. There is no way to make any sense of what’s happening.
So we might as well give up.
It’s like you’ve abandoned everything, and left us to our own confused wanderings
Why? Why God? Why is life like this? Why are you like this?
It’s enough to put someone over the edge.

[Reading - Psalm 41:1-11]
A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
“Where is this God of yours?”

These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?

Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
“Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
“Where is this God of yours?”

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?

[Song - Were you there?]

Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree

Were you there when they pierced him in his side
Were you there when they pierced him in his side
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they pierced him in his side

Were you there when the sun refused to shine
Were you there when the sun refused to shine
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when the sun refused to shine

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb

Acceptance

[Prayer]
God, Look upon us with mercy.
Our Lord was content to be hung on the cross for us
Our Lord was beaten in the hands of wicked men
Our Lord was silent in the face of mockers
Our Lord was hanging there, for us, for them, for me, for everyone
Have mercy on us Lord

You created us.
You sustain us even now.
Your sacrifice was for us.
Your mystery engages us
Your love baffles us
Your grace empowers us
Your mercy reminds us
that you are God, and we are your creation

This was never about us
This was never about what we could do, or how we could be successful
This wasn’t about us getting it right, or believing the right things
Somehow you dying became all about us
And all about what we could get and where we could go
This was about you all along, your love and who you are.
Forgive us for not seeing that
Or Living it

We are only starting to understand what you did on that day 2000 years ago
We don’t even know what that means for us now
Our efforts are lost and empty and have gotten us nowhere
But the story of you dying is still there, timeless, haunting
We see it, we believe it, but that’s all we know to do

You died, but we need you here, with us.
Come back, come soon.
We acknowledge your dreadful absence and insist on your presence
Come back, come soon, come here.

[Isaiah 53:4-10]
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

[Response - Silence]

[Communion - Good Wine]

People were invited to come up to the front with rocks they were given at the beginning of the service.  They were to put their rocks at the foot of the cross in the middle of the room representing their sins that were responsible for Jesus’ death.

At this point, following the elements and Eucharist readings as the wine was poured into the glass he dumped the glass all over the rocks in the middle of the room and proceeded to dump the expensive bottle of wine all over the rocks.

[Reading - End of Crucifixion Story]

There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.
The soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning “Skull Hill.” They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn’t take it. And they nailed him to the cross. They divided up his clothes and threw dice to see who would get them.
They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was printed on a poster. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
The high priests, along with the religion scholars, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—but he can’t save himself! Messiah, is he? King of Israel? Then let him climb down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then!” Even the men crucified alongside him joined in the mockery.
At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard him said, “Listen, he’s calling for Elijah.” Someone ran off, soaked a sponge in sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
But Jesus, with a loud cry, gave his last breath. At that moment the Temple curtain ripped right down the middle. When the Roman captain standing guard in front of him saw that he had quit breathing, he said, “This has to be the Son of God!”

Go in the uneasy peace of this Good Friday

Related posts:

1. Good Friday
2. Stages of Faith
3. Christmas Eve Liturgy

There is a plethora of reasons as to why we don’t change.  It ranges from apathy to ignorance to arrogance to rebellion.  We don’t like it.  We don’t create spaces in our lives so change happens.  We strive passionately for the mundane and familiar as if our sanity rests in them.

While preparing my message on Saul on the Road to Damascus this weekend I began to see the story in an entirely new way.  Saul does nothing.  In fact, he was doing the opposite of good.  Saul didn’t change.  He saw Jesus and then he didn’t really have a choice to start living differently.

The problem is, with stories like this, is that they are so opposite to how we actually see the world.  We think that a good sermon (and trust me I give great sermons) will change people.  We think that when people recognize the destructive ways of their actions they will change.  We think that we can manipulate people into changing.  We think that a persuasive argument will change people.  We think that when someone has a child it will change them.  We think that we can just decide to change when we want.  It’s just not true.  This rarely happens.

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I’ve been going to the local Anglican church on Sunday mornings before theStory service.  They do an ancient liturgy that has lots of call and response, no songs, a short sermon and then ends in Eucharist.   One Sunday this older couple was late, as they forgot about the time change.  When they got there the priest reassured them that there was still time for them to partake in the Eucharist.  He then stopped the liturgy and then distributed the sacrament to them.  Then we continued on with the last part of the liturgy.

In any of my past churches, the minister would have been upset that the couple missed his sermon.

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People don’t change.  I do think however that people can be formed.  We can be formed through disciplines, rituals, repetition and traditions over time.  This is part of the reason I like what the Anglicans do on a Sunday morning.  It’s almost as if they have this recognition and understanding that they aren’t going to change because of a convincing sermon.  Rather, they realize that they are formed through these rituals and through the body and blood of Christ by doing it over and over again week after week, year after year.

This is why I’m becoming less and less inclined to try to write convincing sermons in order to cast vision or spark change within our community.  Sermons don’t change people.  It just doesn’t work.   I feel like sermons rather just create a guise of change.  Just talking about change somehow makes people feel like they have changed.

The sermon as part of a larger liturgy makes sense.  The sermon as the central role for forming and shaping a community needs to stop.  So maybe we should stop putting all our eggs into the sermon basket?  Imagine if we spent half the time writing liturgies as we did writing sermons?  I think it would be annoying at first, and probably wouldn’t notice much different.  I think however, in the long run, we would start to see communities reordering their lives to better participate in the Mission of God.

Related posts:

1. Using Prezi for Sermons
2. Attacking Systems, Not People
3. Truth or People?

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.

The story begins with Philip getting some instructions from an angel. He is told to go south, down a desert road. Now Gaza was destroyed over a hundred years earlier. So this is a strange direction for him to head, but he does it anyway. So on his way, he didn’t even make it to the road, he runs into an unlikely character. This is probably one of the more interesting characters we will run into in Acts. He is a wealthy Ethiopian eunuch. We can assume right away that because he is Ethiopian, that he is black. Luke’s audience would be fascinated with this Ethiopian. It is a culture that they don’t know very well and that brings a sense of awe when they think of them. Why? Well, the odyssey speaks of the “far-off Ethiopians…the furthermost of men.” Ethiopians are people from an exotic land, the edge of the world. They are people that are from the very ends of the earth. Does this kind of description remind you of anything? Remember, last week, we talked about how Jesus’ words are creating a structure for Luke to tell his story. He is showing Jesus’ words come true.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

We are here now. The ends of the earth. You can almost taste the story going in this direction now. And to top it all off, this guy wasn’t just from the ends of the earth. He was also a eunuch. This means his private parts had been cut off. Why is this important? Well Judaism had a specific view on eunuchs, and a lot of it was inspired by a verse in Deuteronomy 23.

No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.

So not only did this guy represent people that were at the ends of the earth and all the types of people that they couldn’t even comprehend. He also represents the very people that have been ostracized and kept away from God because of their very identity. Not only would they have been kept out of the temple, but they also couldn’t participate in the very tradition that made someone a Jew, a follower of God. Anyone think of what that is? That’s right. Circumcision. You can’t get circumcised if there is nothing to circumcise. And to top it all off, this guy was powerful. He was an important official in charge of money for the Queen of Ethopia. So here we have a powerful guy from the ends of the earth, who under any normal circumstances could not be part of the people of God. Then, if who he was wasn’t weird enough, what he was doing was even stranger. He was coming back from Jerusalem where he was worshipping. So we know he wouldn’t have worshiped like the Jews would have had normally, because he wouldn’t have been allowed into the temple. He may have been allowed in the outer courts where the Gentiles were. But that’s about it. And he was reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. So again it’s emphasized that he is wealthy because he can read.

So this is probably the strangest of strange characters that we could be running into right now. But really it all fits perfectly into where we know this story is going. Luke has set it up beautifully. He shows us literally the most unlikely of characters to show up on the road at this time reading from Isaiah. So as we read, keep in mind all the qualities about him.

The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

So we have prodding again here telling Philip what to do and where to go. Philip runs to the chariot. I like that. He runs. He hears the eunuch reading. This means of course that he was reading out loud, like you would back in these days. And we find out exactly what he is reading. It’s Isaiah 53 and he needed help understanding what he was reading. The eunuch already had an understanding of the Jewish story of God and his people but he didn’t understand what this was about. This gives us a brief look into how people would have been reading the prophets at this time. They would have read Isaiah very differently that we read it now. You see we read Isaiah as a book of prophecy, a book that was telling the Jews that their messiah was coming and was going to save the world. We don’t understand most of it still, but we see it as this book of weird poetry that is pointing to Jesus. Rather people in this time didn’t read it exactly like that. N.T. Wright puts it like this.

“Rather, he was meditating deeply on the fate of Israel in exile, and on the promises and purposes of God which remained constant despite Israel’s failure to be the light to the nations, or even to walk in the light herself. Gradually a picture took shape in his praying, meditating mind: the figure of a Servant, one who would complete Israel’s task, who would come to where Israel was, to do for Israel and the whole world what neither could do for themselves, to bear in his own body the shame and reproach for the nations and of God’s people, and to die under the weight of the world’s wickedness. Only so, he perceived, could the promises be fulfilled. Isaiah was writing a kind of job description: This is what we want! A Servant who will accomplish God’s will, and rescue Israel and the world!”

- N.T. Wright.

The eunuch by reading Isaiah was entering into this narrative and desiring the same things. He thought, maybe that Isaiah was that prophet, or maybe that this prophet had already come? So who is he talking about? Philip has this wonderful opportunity to use the exact passage that he was reading to show him how the longings of Israel find their fulfillment in the story of Jesus. So he tells them the good news.

I wonder if this is weird for us to hear stories like this? Do we even have stories anymore of people like this? Can we translate this into our context at all anymore? I’m not sure if we can. After all, how often is it the case that we run into someone asking questions about the fulfillment they are asking for, and we know the answer is Jesus, does that even happen anymore?

Q: Do you have a story where this was the case for you? Where you were able to tell the good news of Jesus to someone who was already seeking?

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This is an interesting moment in this story. Remember that as a eunuch, the ritual to become part of the Jewish faith was impossible for him, there was all sorts of things that came in the way of him belonging to the family of God. So when he starts to hear the story of Jesus and he sees some water, he jumps at the opportunity. What could possibly stop him? No wonder he was so excited. Joining into a faith that he once was excluded from he is now embraced with open arms. No wonder he was so excited. Imagine feeling like your purpose was tied up into a religion or a life that you could never actually be part of.

All right, so this is the end of this story. The story is short, so I wanted to go through the story and at least lay out for you some basic things so that we can understand the context better and what is happening. Generally when speaking about a passage, I have a dozen books that I go through to better understand what is happening. All of them pointed to the greater story in which this story is a part and how it symbolizes something greater. However, this week, some of the readings I found online pointed towards the idea that this passage is a great lesson in evangelism. So I thought we would spend some time in the idea of evangelism this morning, if this story has anything helpful to add to out thoughts on it and where to go from there. I started getting the idea that some people use this verse or section of verses to teach about how to evangelise to people. Which got me thinking more about this story a bit more and what is happening here.

I think one of the key characteristics about this story is a lesson in evangelism, but probably not the way we would expect. Constantly what this story seems to point out and allude to is how God is prodding Philip to do one thing after another. Philip only asks one question in the entire story, and God is telling him everything else. Where to go, when to go, what to do. It is the angel that tells him to go down that road, then he is told to go to the carriage. It is almost as if Luke needs to continually remind us that it isn’t Philip here that is causing all this to happen, but it is God. God’s plan is going forward whether Philip likes it or not, and Philip is given the opportunity to join in.

This is where I struggle quite a bit with understanding my upbringing, reading the scriptures and now how I see the world. You see. Sometimes I start to think evangelism is this weird made up thing that Christians have done to somehow motivate them to do the right thing or care about people. It is this forced habit that you just have to talk to people about the “Lord” and make sure that they get saved so that they don’t go to hell.

How this story talks about evangelism is God needing to get this good news out to the whole world and so he starts spreading it and using people that want to join in on the fun to do it.

How we see evangelism now is that all our friends are going to go to hell unless we tell them to say a prayer and accept Jesus into their hearts.

Lately I wonder if evangelism starts to look different as time goes on from Acts and as we start to understand our faith differently. We don’t live in a world now where evangelism like Philip and the Ethiopian went through is a normal occurrence, or even close to that experience. Besides, Luke was trying to show us something by placing that story in that time. So to use this as a step by step evangelism tool, might not be the wisest way to look at this story. But people do it anyway. I found this article entitled Lesson in Personal Evangelism: Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8, and it gives us four steps to successful personal evangelism. 1. Listen to the Holy Spirit, 2. Move out of your Comfort Zone, 3. Be prepared to evangelize, 4. Positive Results. The desire to see this as lessons in evangelism is there, but I think they might be taking out the wrong lessons. For the last year or so, almost every Friday night, there is a few people that setup on the corner less than a block away to “evangelise.” They yell about God’s judgment and wrath and where the world is going if they don’t repent and follow Jesus. He hands out tracts, argues people on the street and he is relentless in his desire to save the masses. And somehow, hearing stories about salvation, and stories like this, gives them the drive they need to go on the streets and make converts. But I’m not sure if it is about evangelism, I’m not even sure many of us, if any, “evangelize” in the regular sense of the word anymore.

Q: Is this story a story of evangelism? Do you evangelize? Why? Why not?

So if this is a lesson,I wonder what that teaches us about it? I’d like to suggest that maybe we think along the lines of this parable in Mark

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

I wonder if this is a better way to see evangelism, that God is up to a whole lot in the world and we have the option to join in with him when the time is right. This whole story with Philip was dictated by the moves of God and he was just available, present and ready to move when the time is right. Maybe instead of gearing ourselves up and then constantly failing and feeling bad about it because we aren’t “saving people” we spend that energy to be the kind of person who God uses to share his good news through.

“Luke plants this story at the heart of the moment when the gospel is starting to go out into the wider world, to make it abundantly clear that wherever yo go, whatever culture you come to, whatever situation of human need, sin, exclusion, or oppression you may find, the message of Jesus as the one in whom all the promises of God find their “yes” is there to meet that need.”

So unfortunately, I am not going to extract a four step process out of this story so we can all be sent out of here as better Philips in the world, ready to evangelise and save all your friends. However, I do hope we see this story for what it is. A story that shows that God is up to a plan that is way bigger than we can wrap our heads around. A story that symbolizes God’s salvation reaching to the very ends of the earth and to the very people who were once kept outside of his story. God’s story reaches them. It reaches everyone and it will reach everyone and you have the opportunity to join in. You don’t need to convert people to believing your set of beliefs, you need to live as if your beliefs are real. Live the kind of life that is sharing the good news around you through the actions in your life. This is the ultimate form of evangelism, and it is through that life that God’s good news will continue to go forward.

I’ll end with a quote about Saint Patrick, since yesterday was his day, and what he discovered in his church planting and evangelism efforts.

The supreme key to reaching the West again is the key that Patrick discovered – involuntarily but providentially. The gulf between church people and unchurched people is vast, but if we pay the price to understand them, we will usually know what to say and what to do; if they know and feel we understand them, by the tens of millions they will risk opening their hearts to the God who understands them. – George Hunter III

Related posts:

1. God Speaks Through Difference: A Sermon on Acts 6:8-8:3 (The Sermon and Stoning of Stephen)
2. Good News in The Last Place You’d Expect to Find It: A Sermon on Acts 8:4-8:25
3. What Are We Becoming? A Sermon on Acts 11