To Waive or Stand? - Acts 16.22-41 (Sermon)

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and the Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

These are the first two, albeit long, sentences of the Declaration of Independence, passed unanimously by the 13 United States of America on July 4^th, 1776. Since that time, we have had good people lay down their lives to secure these rights and freedoms that we truly enjoy. On this Memorial Day, 2013, we should remember those sacrifices that have been made on our behalf. These brave men and women have followed the ultimate example set forth by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Since that time, we, as a nation, have been pursuing the last, Happiness. We’ve tended to forget that we were not promised by the Founding Fathers of this once great nation to actually achieve happiness here. We have the right to pursue it. Perhaps some will obtain it, perhaps some will not. We fight with one another in social media, the public arena and in the courts what it means to have our rights. We forget that our rights are conditional, that we are free to pursue them until they trample another’s rights. For example, I am free to play my music as loud as I want until I rob my neighbors the right to peace and quiet. My neighbor has a right to landscape his yard anyway he wants until he starts violating my right to my property because he’s planting beyond his yard.

Then of course we have those who want to pursue choices and we re-label them to make them seem like the same right. If you disagree with those beliefs and refuse to see them as nothing more than bad choices, you are labeled a hate monger, or bigot. Same gender marriage is one such example. I do not support it, and I will never vote yes. Now am I being judgmental about this? Not at all. I know that Paul tells the Church in 1 Cor. 5 that we aren’t to judge those who don’t know better. It’s only with those claiming to follow Jesus and are embracing their sins that I have a problem with.

Yet in our ever loving battle for our personal rights, there is a tough question that we must ask regularly. When should I waive my rights and when should I stand up and fight for my rights? What makes this a hard question is that we are Americans. We have always fought to have our rights, and even fought so others could have their freedoms and rights. So this idea of potentially waiving our rights is completely foreign to us.

But we are Christians first and foremost so let us consider Paul. We are in Acts 16.19. To catch us up, they’ve come to Philippi and are currently staying with one their first converts in the city, a lady by the name of Lydia. And now it gets interesting in this city. Paul and Silas were daily going to the people to proclaim Jesus and His saving grace, but they had a girl following them being their herald. Yet she wasn’t just any girl. She was a possessed fortune telling girl. Her owners made a living from her. Which is better? To have people of good repute, people whose lives have been changed by the Gospel, telling others of who you are, or someone like her, whose life wasn’t changed by the good news? Her witness was vexing to Paul, a thorn in the side. She would be a thorn to anyone today preaching. So Paul took care of her cast the demon away. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, as the axiom goes. That’s where we pick up our text in verse 22. Let’s read the text.

Paul and Silas are citizens of Rome. As I’ve stated before, citizenship has its privileges. He could have a fair trial and then just sentence that was not public or humiliating. Being stripped and then caned was both. But they waived this right at this time. There is another time, Acts 22, where Paul was about to be flogged at that time. He stood up for his rights then. What was the difference? Why did he allow himself to be caned in Philippi, but didn’t allow himself to be flogged, or whipped, in Jerusalem?

It is the ends here. The caning was a means to preaching to more people, those who were sitting in the Philippi prison. The flogging would not. Instead the Centurion was using the whip to derive the “truth” from Paul. Paul would have gladly given the truth without the pain. There wasn’t a prison cell waiting for Paul in Jerusalem. He knew that town well, and he knew what to expect. But in Philippi, he allowed it. God blessed him for it.

Of course I might be asked if Paul truly had the chance to waive his right to trial. The passage suggests that this happened quite quickly. It is a valid point. And then I think to the passage Paul wrote to the Romans in 8.28: God will work all things to the good of those who love Him and are called to His purpose. Paul, then at least is showing faith in not struggling to retain his rights as a Roman Citizen. He was always looking to share the Good News. Philippi seemed to offer the opportunities to do just that whereas Jerusalem did not.

So what does this mean for us this morning? Waiving our rights and taking a stand for our faith is of the hardest challenges that we face on a regular basis. Too often it is too easy not to take a stand, to enjoy the camaraderie of our non-Christian family and friends. Paul instead sets the bar high for us so that we can rise to the challenge, especially when the world around us seems to be ever lowering the bar of what is acceptable.

So how do we know when to stand and when to waive? First I want to remind you that each of us should be about the mission before us. Noah was the example Peter refers to as having bore witness for God for 120 years. Are we bearing witness where we are in our own lives? We live among some pretty hurting people. Divorces and bad relationships are all around us. Kids are rebelling, being even more wild than their parents were as youth. Twisters are devastating places not too far from home. People lose their homes all the time, but not always to disasters. Perhaps their losses come from financial turmoil which can be as ever devastating. This doesn’t even include the myriad of other sources of woe and pain. Bottom line is that they need hope that can only come from Christ Jesus. But how can they believe unless they hear? How can they hear unless someone tells them? How will someone tell them unless someone goes? You are that person. Or in other words, you must ask yourself: Do you have a concern for the loss?

Having a concern is more than just a passing thought about the loss. It is like when I’ve been cooking, frying up sausages in the kitchen. Then as I move to another task I see my daughter start reaching for the pan of hot oil, I am well motivated to forcibly grab her away from the danger. But then she is my daughter. So start small. Start with your dearest friends and family. Are they walking with the Lord? If not, have you earnestly told them why they need to?

Perhaps this question could have preceded the first question. This question to ask that helps us know when to waive is: Do you have the faith required? Paul gave a pretty powerful promise that all things will work to the good of those who love God. It isn’t easy, I know. I’ve been dealing with taking a stand for the faith. I’ve had some unexpected support, but then I’ve also been hit hard from where I’ve least expected. But I know that my family will be the better for it.

Besides, walking in faith is not like you are by yourself. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us if we but listen. You also have me, as I have you, as we have one another to encourage each other in the faith. We are a family. A book I am reading right now had an anecdote that I thought sums up the American Church today. In it, as the character was idling at a red light as he recalled the old stone church that had once stood on the now vacant lot for sale. At one time, there was a group of people doing life right, living together in the faith. We are a family. That’s one of the reasons I look forward to Sundays, to see each of you.

Now the final question that can be answered with ease after these previous two: Is this choice I am making going to advance or hinder the spreading of the Good News, the spreading of God’s love and grace? There are times that you, as an American, will want to say, “Stop!” Here is the hard part about it: There are no fast rules about when it’s a time to say, “Hey wait!” Sometimes we will not be able to clearly see the road and know that the Gospel will be advanced by taking a particular avenue. But faith comes in at that point. 

Leading of the Spirit - Acts 16.6-12 (Sermon)

49 days ago, we celebrated Easter. Today is the day of Pentecost. This day, about 1980 years ago, give or take, the church was born. The people who had come or stayed in Jerusalem from the Passover were now witnesses to this great and monumental event.  It started with the rushing wind, though there was no wind. Then the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, as tongues of flame. He then enabled them to communicate the Gospel message to everyone listening in his or her native language.

Can you imagine what that would have been like? 3,000 people came to know the Lord that day. 3,000 people repenting of their sins and being clothed into Christ Jesus. No church plant can claim such success! 3,000 that day, with the Scriptures telling us that the Lord was daily, DAILY, adding to those being saved!

I did get ahead a little bit. They heard the initial good news, the masses, after being led by God to where the Apostles were. But not all of them were amazed. They thought that this was a neat parlor trick brought about by too much wine. They scoffed. So Peter then stood up and gave account to what it all meant. He showed them how Jesus was the long awaited Savior of Israel. And that this is the same Jesus that the crowd had 50 days prior, called to be crucified. But the good news is that Jesus did die and was buried, but he conquered death to pay our sin debt to God, our Heavenly Father. He continued that in order to become right with God, they would need to do two things: Repent and be immersed into Christ for not only the forgiveness of our sins, but also to receive the Holy Spirit.

We forget that last part, too often. Oh, we know in our heads that when we are immersed, we receive the Holy Spirit, but do we allow that knowledge to affect our hearts and our actions? Or do we tend to continue on with our daily lives paying mind only when we hear or read about the Spirit?

As we continue our journey through the book of Acts, Acts 16 this morning, verses 6-12, we find that Paul is continuing on in his journey having added Timothy, and a few verses later, Luke, our book’s author. Here, we see the Holy Spirit working actively, in a way that hasn’t been seen since Acts 2. Let’s read the text: [Read]

Here we see that Paul has a plan, but the Spirit directs him differently. Then Paul adjusted his plan, only to be denied once again. Finally, the Holy Spirit gives Paul a vision to follow. There are a few lessons here that we should take to heart about the Spirit.

As we know, He is already part of our lives, if we’ve been baptized into Christ Jesus. But are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit? That is something that comes from spending time. Paul, as he is traveling, preaching Christ, has been a Christian to this point perhaps as many as 10 years now. We know that he spoke of going to Arabia for 3 years before going to Jerusalem to meet the Apostles. We also get the sense that he was in Antioch for a number of years. We can’t be sure how much time has passed, but we do know that to this point, Paul is not a new believer. He has developed a spiritual life that allows him to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

We can as well. Paul went into study, spending time with the Lord in prayer, meditation and the Word. I suspect that he looked at the Old Testament with new eyes in his time preparing to meet the Apostles in Jerusalem. We know that he fasted the first days waiting to be healed, he did so again before going out on the first missionary journey with Barnabas and again when he appointed elders in each of the churches they planted. And he fellowshipped with the believers. They became family to him.

Just as Paul did, do we spend time in the Word? We need to spend time in the Word so that by it, we might grow. This was one of the most common problems that Paul dealt with, immature Christians who refused to consider the Word. But looking at the word for understanding isn’t enough. We also need to be able to gather together to encourage one another with the Word. Past few weeks, it seems that through our time of fellowship on Wednesdays has refocused how I viewed passages. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Now I am going to step on some toes here, including my own. Praying to God doesn’t seem to be a problem. I’ve adopted Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians, to have a constant attitude of prayer. But here is where I am weak: the other half is fasting. Its been said that God has never told us to fast as Christians. This is true. There are no commands about it. Paul, Peter, James and John never wrote about this exercise. But what of precedent? We after all meet on Sundays, the first day of the week, because the early church met on the first day of the week, because Christ arose on the first day of the week. If we follow that precedent, then why not the precedent of fasting, especially when we have a monumental decision to make, such as a direction for the church, or installing a elder or preacher. And this is hard to say because I know that there is lunch waiting for us when I finish the message here.

So let’s move on to the next lesson about the Holy Spirit. When He guides us, it is to help us in our mission. Remember, we were all called to be witnesses of all that Christ has done and taught. It isn’t just a select few who are to carry this out. Now how was Paul’s guidance a help to the mission? We know that from Peter’s writing, where Paul wanted to travel with the Good News, Peter would instead travel. There is that side of the coin. Another side is that Paul was uniquely qualified to take the message west unlike any of the other Apostles. Paul was a Roman citizen. There would be no way that Caesar would grant audience to any of the other Apostles. But as a citizen, Paul had that right. So the Holy Spirit helped him move towards Rome.

Now about us. By listening to the Holy Spirit, we are able to make choices that are between good and better. Next week, we will see Paul make such a choice. His choice was to stand up for his rights as a citizen, or to trust God to advance the Good News. These are the choices that we need to make. Is what I am doing advancing the Gospel message? As a parent, am I making sure that what my children are exposed to pro-Jesus? Now I have children, but you have grandkids or nieces and nephews. They are needing to be influenced as much by you as you possibly can.

Often, I’ve seen my parents do this, to allow my nieces and nephews to carry on as they would at their own homes. Do you know I get ribbed for not allowing Sponge Bob or even Dora the Explorer in my home? This is on top of my attitude about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. But I believe that I need to make sure that I am teaching them to follow Jesus as much as I can. When there is a show that is questionable, then we sit and talk about it. Ricky loves picking apart these evolution shows such as “Walking with the Dinosaurs” or even “Meer Cat Manor”.  My point is, make sure that we are making the choices that best helps you to further your witness to those around you. This is done when we listen, when we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Now there is a final lesson here. Paul was not mandated to go the Macedonia. God may prohibit us from doing something. But God will not force us to do something. For example, Paul received a vision of a Macedonian. He was not told he had to go that direction. He was free to go another direction.

Jonah and the fish doesn’t count. The fish was God’s punishment for Jonah disobeying God in the first place. Going to Nineveh was Jonah’s acceptance of God’s will, to carry the message, to a people God wanted to reach. Jonah repented of his disobedience. Now mind you, Jonah is a bit different in that he signed up to be a prophet of the Lord. When a person accepts that responsibility there is a surrender of free will to a great extent.

Come to think of it, there is a surrender of free will when we come to Christ. The Word is always challenging us to live a higher standard. We can see how the world around us lives. People who don’t know Jesus, who are not truly clothed in Christ, live a truly selfish life. We who are in Christ are encouraged, not forced, but encouraged to live a selfless life. Even then, God, by the power of the Spirit, the same power, Paul wrote, that raised Jesus from the dead.

We have this same Spirit who gives us this same power so that we can live a life different from those around us. So let this day of Pentecost be the day that we decide that we are going to be more sensitive to the leading of the Spirit, that we will be more open to sharing God’s love with those who are hard to love, that we will be the witnesses of the message. Then perhaps once again, we can see God add to those being saved.

Reaching the Hurting - A Mother's Day Message (Sermon)

This day 99 years ago, Anna Jarvis successfully changed our society by having the 2^nd Sunday of May forever known as Mother’s Day, a day in which we celebrate the women who are important in our lives, who have raised us, guided us, mended our wounded knees and our wounded hearts. And as we are commended by Paul, we should indeed honor our mothers. This is the day that moms will receive cards and flowers and calls from children who’ve moved away. Some will arise to find their family serving breakfast in bed. Some might even be blessed enough to see their children cleaning without being told, or at least trying their best to behave and to be quieter than normal so that mom can have the illusion of rest. Some moms might even attend church with their families, or perhaps I should say that their families will attend church with their moms, though not as many will attend church for MD as they would be for Easter and Christmas. But nevertheless, they join mom in church because they will take mom out for a special lunch. 

But for those who would come out on MD, we preachers have tried to be on the ball to prepare, to honor as a body, our moms in the congregations. So we will seek the messages of motherhood from a character such as Mary, the mother of Jesus, or Sarah, or Timothy’s mom and grandma, or some other mom mentioned in the Bible. I’ve even used Mrs. Job for a Mother’s Day message. Some will not look at one mom, but look instead to Proverbs 31.

We will hold up the beacon of motherhood and praise them. Some churches will give the moms in attendance a flower of sort. I used to give a rose to each mom. Some would give a bigger gift for the mom with the most children, the oldest mom, and the newest mom. We would have all the moms in the room stand so that everyone might cheer their sacrificial work raising the children. In our honoring, we assume motherhood through rose-colored glasses, whereas on Father’s Day, we will blast the man who isn’t pulling his weight as a father. It is as if we are saying that if you are not a mom, then you are not a whole woman. We can even site Scripture such as 1 Timothy to that effect, that women are saved through having babies, lots of babies.

Now not all women are able to have kids. So when the church is showing so much love and adoration on moms, these women are hearing that message. They hear the church saying you are not a fulfilled woman unless you have children. Or you are not a whole woman. We don’t mean it, but our actions too often betray our message.  So these women, be that they don’t have children, have lost their children, or have been abandoned by their children will skip church in May, since we prepare the week before and reflect the week after. And this disenfranchised group is ever growing. Joining them are moms who feel so overwhelmed that they really see themselves as failures. They hear praise and think to themselves, “It’s a facade. You wouldn't say that if you saw these brats a couple of hours ago!”

It’s led me to look at their point of view and reconsider how we should handle MD. As you might have guessed, I am not going to have a MD message in the traditional sense. Rather, I want us to see, to be aware of the opportunities that surround us, and not just with women who fit the mentioned segment, but to expand our view to others as well, for I am ever the student of humanity.  I can sit at a mall and just watch people and not be bored. But since I've moved from the city life, I am not able to readily enjoy watching people. But we do have the internet and there are forums I do look at. And it is interesting that as I read their profiles, their user names are telling. There is one user name that is “ashleysmom” or another “dadcoach” because he has 6 boys. Some of the names are descriptive of what the person does, “gusbusdriver”. Of course my favorite name that I’ve seen is “forlorncubbie”. Now that is someone who loves the Chicago Cubs but knows they will be destined to be forever one of the worst teams in pro baseball. Marlins are the worst presently.

The lesson here is that often people find fulfillment where they can. They are really seeking purpose, meaning and belonging in a world that is otherwise cold and rejecting. Solomon said of all the things that man can pursue in life, nothing will fill that emptiness that people have. Well almost nothing he concludes. At one point, he said that life apart from the Lord is a waste, meaningless.

In this time we have the answer to speak into the lives of those around us. We have found our purpose and can therefore share it with others who need the hope. How do we do this?

1 Corinthians 5.11-13 Paul is encouraging the church in how the body deals with people. Did you know one of the biggest complaints against the church is the “hypocritical judging”? This is a valid complaint. Here’s what I mean: we tend to expect Christian behavior from non-Christians. Then we tend it ignore non-Christian behavior committed by Christians. For example the context of the passage is that Paul a man is with his father’s wife and the church is not batting an eye. Paul then tells them that this shouldn't  be so. We shouldn't put up with godlessness within the body. This doesn't apply just to the sexually impure, as this man was, but continues with the drunkards, the thieves, the abusive, and the greedy as well. Those who do these and claim to be a believer in Christ put them away. Don’t even eat lunch. But the part of the verse I want to focus on is last part of 12. Since we judge those with us, we must allow God to take care of the outsiders, or the non-believers. Why should the non-Christian come when he sees no difference between God’s children and his drinking pals? We must be sure that we do not however expect Christian behavior from non-Christians. We have radio ministries who are doing just that. Corporations that didn't claim to be Christian corporations are being bullied into complying? There we are lacking grace that allows us to speak into a person’s life.

Another passage that tells us how to speak into the life of someone hurting is Colossians 4.5-6. Paul tells us here that we need to make the most of our time that we have with the outsiders, making sure that we are gracious in our speech so that we can answer each person’s questions. I sometimes like listening to debates. Ken Ham is one. But every once in a while, he will lose his cool with his debate opponent and be a little less than gracious, unlike his radio bites. I am not criticizing him. This is where his fallible humanity shines through. He tends to lose it with “experts” who are refusing to listen.

Finally there is Titus 3.3. We must remember that when we are dealing with those seeking a sense of belonging, we were also once just like that outsider. This is why we need to be gracious in our speech and in our conduct. We must be patient as they struggle with the faith, coming to terms, accepting it on their timetable, and not ours.

This is what we are called to do as Christians. This is how we witness and carry out the Great Commission to the world around us Monday through Saturday and even some on Sunday. The world is hurting and lost. Let us therefore be God’s instruments of grace and love.

In Conflict, Grace (Sermon)

It is interesting that just a couple of days ago, a news article hit the net in a near viral moment. I saw friends reposting that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was holding an informal work meeting with his city comptroller at a pizzeria. When he asked for a second slice, he was denied by the owner in protest to the mayor’s law banning the sale of larger sodas. You can buy smaller fountain drinks. You can buy smaller bottles, or the 2 liters, but the 1 liter and larger than 16 ounce mugs or bottles, nope. That’s against the law which the pizzeria owner was protesting. The report says that the mayor lost his cool using even vulgarity with the owner. He finally left and went to another pizzeria. Later in the day, the pizzeria’s website had so many visits that the site crashed for a 24 hour period of time. Of course, this added more to the fuel to the fire with people claiming that the mayor was so incensed that he had the pizzeria’s website and probably even wifi turned off.

Then on Friday, it was revealed that the mainstream press that picked up on this story, along with all of us net stream users, were duped by a site called “Daily Currant”.  Of course, most news sites were all saying, “we knew it was a hoax from the start.” Talk about trying to save face.

Oh the soda law is real, just not the pizzeria visit. I don’t know that the mayor would be brave enough to enter an establishment that is being forced to reduce the amount of soda it can serve or sell. And though it was a funny article, it revealed how silly some conflicts that you or I might get caught up in can be.

I can’t imagine being told, “Sir, I must cut you off because you have had your limit.” But that is just one area in which we can find conflict. There are other areas. The latest conflict on the news feed is that of Israel and Syria. Which country should Iran fear more? Syria admitted that early Friday morning, Israel launched an air strike against a military weapons factory. I thought that was awful nice of them to admit. Some countries in the past have claimed what was believed to have been such a place was really an aspirin factory. “Yeah, Israel, you got us. We admit it.” But I digress.

Topic this morning is conflict. Not just political conflict, but conflict that is more personal, that hits home. Sometimes we are blessed that conflict happens only at work, or perhaps when one fishing line crosses another. It is a blessing when the church is without that conflict. I appreciate that even now that we don’t seem to have conflict within our family here at Central.

In fact, of my 20 years now of serving churches, this is the first time that I have had the pleasure of being part of a body free of current inner turmoil and conflict. The issues of conflict are in the past, which is a good place for them. And yet, as we are together, as we seek to be about the mission of sharing God’s news to those around us, conflicts will arise. And when we do, our true character will shine through.

So the question we must ask ourselves is what is our character as a body, as a family? In a single word, I suggest that our character we commit to is grace. It is easy to love when everything seems good or even when life is ok. But when life is not so rosy, the ability to love others, or even each other, can only happen if we are a people of grace.

Until recently, I don’t think I was as much a person of grace as I thought I was. I mean, sure, I give grace where I can, and more often than I should, so I have been told. But as we were studying this morning’s passage, I learned that I have been perhaps short of grace to the Apostle Paul.

Acts 15.36 is the start of a conflict, the first conflict within a ministry team. Paul and Barnabas are fighting over giving John Mark a second chance. Then the team, being unable to reconcile, split apart. Let’s read the passage:

The focus this morning is verse 40, that they were commended to the grace of the Lord. Most scholars say that the church sided with Paul in the conflict. But Wednesday evening, it was suggested that perhaps I have fallen into the trap of seeing verse markers as thought segments. I mean that verse 40 was its own thought and verse 39 was a different thought, or event. And he was right. I was. And because so, I have short changed the grace that I should have given Paul.

With every conflict, there are two parties, unfortunately, sometimes there are more. There are two rights, and there are two wrongs. Jesus commended us that we should appear united with our brothers of the faith, at least be reconciled with them. And here they both were, arguing. Paul did not want to rely on someone who lacked the strength, perhaps. Barnabas, being that his was his nephew, being that Mark was a young man, could see that Mark was full of potential if he had the right guiding. And so the church of Antioch didn’t take a side, but commended both to the grace of the Lord. The “them” of verse 40 refers to not only Paul and Silas, but also to Barnabas and Mark. Both men, Paul and Barnabas, needed grace.

They both needed grace because when conflict comes, it can kill a spirit. It can kill a ministry. Grace, on the other hand, heals. We see later that Paul must have reconciled with Barnabas because Paul refers to him as a partner in the ministry. He wrote this to the church of Corinth, so they somehow came together in that the church knew both men. And then John Mark is mentioned as a dear partner in the ministry in a couple of Paul’s letters.

Finally, the brethren of Antioch teach us about grace is that by grace, God is glorified. Consider what we do know about this passage. Barnabas takes one team and heads out. Unfortunately, we don’t know where he’s gone other than to perhaps the churches of the first mission trip and of course to Corinth. Paul takes another team out, for he picks up Timothy in the next chapter as well as Luke not too much farther down the road. So here are two teams spreading the news of Jesus’ love and sacrifice. More people are therefore hearing the Gospel message. More people are therefore accepting this message, which means more people being saved.

Let’s further speculate in Corinth since we know that this church knew them both. How much more powerful did Paul’s message become when Barnabas came sharing the exact same message? Or how much more receptive were the people of Corinth to Barnabas because Paul had already laid the groundwork?

Now let me bring this home. We will not always avoid conflict, be it here in the body, or especially not in our daily lives. Yet what we have seen and thought about grace with Paul and Barnabas also applies to us. How much more receptive will the defying brother, the one who knows all your buttons to push, will be when he sees you respond to him with the grace of the Lord? What about with the pesky neighbor, or the overbearing boss? In every area of life, let us commend ourselves; let us commend one another to the grace of the Lord so that we might be better Christians for the world to see. 

Play Ball (Sermon)

It was a warm April day that I walked in. I was late picking up my baseball gear for the team that I would be coaching. I was late because until the night before, this team had no coach and I seem to have a problem with the word, “no”. I don’t like to hear it, and some would swear I don’t even know how to say it. My gear for the team included 9 shirts, hats and socks, 3 balls, 3 helmets, 1 catcher’s helmet and chest pad, and 1 book titled, “US Little League handbook”. That is a misleading title if ever one was made. 

First, the size was about the same as our pew bibles. The pages were as many and the print size was a bit smaller. It is a condensed version of the NBL’s rulebook, which is the size of my concordance. One rule I remember reading was a violation of any rule could result in forfeiture of the game upon league review. The best news, opening day was in 5 days, and my team hadn’t met. We were the only ones who hadn’t, and finding a field to use was impossible. We practiced during the game. Oh the fun that was!!

Yet that does have me thinking about rules. We tend to be odd ducks that way. It seems that we love our rules. We love them because they define what we can and cannot do. They become a boundary that as long as we stay within, we will be ok.  If you will, rules become a cage that we willingly enter, closing the doors often ourselves. If we don’t see the rules immediately, we might become creative and make up the rules where none exist. Music can only be made with the voice since there is no mention of instruments in the New Testament.

For others, these same rules are not about what I can or cannot do, but in what I can have you do or not do. It becomes a source of control over another person. “You must do what I say or you will be committing the unpardonable sin: blaspheming the Holy Spirit.”  Now that sounds pretty serious. Most would bow under such a command.

But here are the problems with rules. Because they limit us, put us in the cage, our mentality changes. We cease being what God wants for us, cease striving for the blessings that God has. It affects the attitude. It affects the desire. For example, have you ever had an opportunity to see whales in the wild or at someplace like Sea World? They are beautiful creatures. My favorite isn’t really a whale, but a porpoise called an ‘orca’, or whale killer, thus killer whales. In the wild, their dorsal fin is straight, strong and tall. But at Sea World, look at the orcas there. Their dorsal fins are bent in half, curling in. There is a tremendous difference that all porpoises or dolphins tend to display. Captivity breaks the spirit. Rules, today, break ours. Because our spirits are broken then we tend to feel guilt, especially when we break a rule again, and again. Broken people tend to be easy to control, by the way.

And maybe that is why these false teachers went to Antioch. They wanted to break people. These new teachings were so contrary to what the church had been taught by Paul that they had to ask for clarity. So the elders and Apostles came to discuss this matter. Peter concluded that life in Christ is not about following a check list, but living by grace. It is grace that saves, but if one must have rules, then here are 3 simple rules. (Read the Text)

Did you catch those rules? Stay away from idolatry, or worshiping anyone or thing than God. Stay away from blood, and food with its blood still present. Stay sexually pure. Paul and the Apostles of course through their other writings have expanded on these three rules, mainly the first and last.

Where rules confine, grace in Christ liberates, frees us. Life in Christ is not about following a bunch of rules that limit, but living abundantly, freely. But unlike rules that are easy to read with clear boundaries, grace allows each to soar for Christ. How do we love our God? One of the ways that shows is by how we love our brother. Matthew 6, Jesus says another tell of our love for God is by where or what our treasures are. James would say that our love is shown through our works of faith; taking care of those needs we have the ability to meet, not to ignore genuine distress. Notice, these are not lists of must dos, but examples of what may do.

And yet, I wonder. Though we have no boundaries to worry, save three, how serious do we take these three? Some say that we keep away from blood foods. Well mostly. Some do not realize that by not consuming the blood of what is hunted, and then we are showing more respect than those who do the opposite. But let’s move further away from the obvious and look to the ramifications. Do we stay away from blood when we are as a nation ok with abortion? MMR vaccinations are incubated in human embryonic tissue. Do we respect the blood, or life, when we have such practices?

We surely do not eat at feasts dedicated to Buddha or Allah? Do we accept, however, Hanukah dinner invitations? That’s the obvious, so let’s go deeper here. When we say we believe we worship God alone, can we still claim this belief as long as we see church as something we do once in a while, rather than seeing that worships isn’t going to church but part of our lives, that church is our dearest family, that we are a faith community?

OK there’s the last one, to stay sexually pure. Sex is a wonderful event given to us by God to be enjoyed in the confines of a marriage. This seems to be the easiest to keep, maybe, maybe not. Jesus tells us that sexual purity begins with the mind. “I tell you if you if you lust after a woman, you’ve already committed [sexual impurity] with her.” Sure, it can be said that sex has been kept between a husband and his wife. But do we? 

How many Christians live with their boyfriend/girlfriend? How are we about the issue of redefining? Here is a shocker: I believe God defined marriage between one man and one woman, Adam and Eve. But even the Bible is full of examples of man redefining marriage. Abraham and Jacob each had more than one wife. David had 7 at one time and a divorce. Not to be outdone by his dad, Solomon had 700. We can see the mess this type of redefining brought. This doesn’t begin to touch the problems that come from divorce and all other issues.

Now for all of these, sure, we have kept these three rules, even to the extensions that I’ve taken them. Let me ask you though. In Corinth, the church celebrated a man who had a relationship with his hopefully step mom. Paul tells us further in that letter that we need to be aware that bad company corrupts good character. That is why we are told to be careful in how we deal with people and their sins, lest we be found guilty of them ourselves. Rather, when we are told that there are unrepentant brothers, such as Matthew 18, then we are to have nothing to do with them. I have friends like that. I have family like that. And I haven’t shunned them. Maybe that’s why they are still where they are. What about yourselves? Do you?

3 rules. The Law of Moses offered a cage. The grace of Christ gives us freedom. Just to help, we had received 3 simple rules. But here’s the good news. When we get a proper perspective of living for Christ, living a life of grace, the brothers, it records, were gladdened by the Word. They sent the delegation with a blessing of peace. This is why we come here together, to encourage one another. Yes we meet around the Lord’s Table and worship God, but that worship is secondary, since worship is a reflection of our own personal, daily worship of God. Primary is that we meet to encourage one another with the Word, with songs and spiritual hymns and psalms.

This is the message that we need to share. We have a wonderful freedom, full of grace for when we blow it, which we do more than any of us care to admit it. Let’s get out of the cage and play some ball.