Paul's Anger

Why was Paul so angry in Galatians 1? Because he saw the gospel of grace he had preached being corrupted by people who came after him and turned into a rule based religion to control or exclude people. As he said "That's no gospel at all!"

Free to go but called to stay - All Age Talk

Acts 16:16-34 All Age Talk

Introduction

We are going back in time this morning to the year 51AD. Our friend Dr Luke is investigating some strange things which have been happening in the Roman town of Philippi.

Andrew:              What’s the story so far, Dr Luke?

Dr Luke:               Its all very confusing and I’m still trying to piece together what happened. All I know so far is that two of my friends, Paul and Silas, were arrested, beaten up and thrown in jail the other day, even though they had done nothing wrong. Then there was an earthquake which caused a lot of damage to the jail and now lots of new people are queuing up to join the new church here.

Andrew:              How are your friends? Were they injured in the earthquake?

Dr Luke:               No, I don’t think there were any injuries and now my friends have just marched out of the jail in a procession behind the judges. I’ve never seen anything like it!

Andrew:              What are you going to do now?

Dr Luke:               I’m going to try and interview the people involved and see what I can find out.

Andrew:              While Dr Luke carries out his interviews, I’m going to ask the children to act out the story.

(Jacob stands in pulpit to be interviewed. Meanwhile the children are ‘chained up’ with newspaper handcuffs and put in jail.)

Dr Luke:               What’s your name and what can you tell me?

Jacob:                   I’m Jacob, a prisoner in the Philippi jail. Us Jews are always getting locked up for something – they don’t like us around here.

Dr Luke:               So what happened in there? You must have been scared!

Jacob:                   You’re not kidding! It was about midnight, these new guys had been brought in – we heard them being flogged and then chained up. Next thing we knew they were singing to their God … our God too, I guess, but they had a new name for him. A name I hadn’t heard before …

(Paul and Silas start singing ‘Jesus put this song into our hearts’, then the other prisoners and eventually the whole congregation join in. The song ends with a long drum roll followed by a cymbal crash and everyone’s chains are torn open! They all jump up and shout “Alleluia!” Then they sit down again, looking happy)

Dr Luke:               So let me get this straight – they sang to God and then the earthquake came as if it was God answering them – but that must have put you in more danger, right?

Jacob:                   We were afraid that we’d be buried alive – but not a single person was harmed, then all our chains fell off and the doors swung open!

Dr Luke:               So you were free to escape …

Jacob:                   But that’s the strange thing –nobody moved. Normally the one thing you want when you’re in jail is to get out, but suddenly everyone could have escaped – and we didn’t.

Dr Luke:               Why on earth not?

Jacob:                   I don’t really know. We all just knew at the same time that the right thing was to stay put. I was watching those two guys, the singers, to see what they’d say or do next; and they weren’t going anywhere.

Dr Luke:               What happened next?

Jacob:                   Just then, through the dust, we saw that big fool of a  Roman jailer standing in the open doorway of the jail. He had his sword in his hand and looked like he was about to kill himself; he must have thought he’d lost all his prisoners. But one of the singers, Paul, that’s his name -  shouted “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

Dr Luke:               So the jailer didn’t kill himself?

Jacob:                   No! He ran back inside and fell on his knees in front of those guys, asking them what he had to do to be saved – he even cleaned up their wounds from the beating they’d had earlier. We all felt the same way. Whatever those two guys had – we all needed it. They had torn up the rule book and shown us a better way to live. We all wanted to be like them. It just seemed right.

Dr Luke:               Thanks Jacob, I hope you find the new life you are looking for. And I think I know who I need to speak to next – the jailer.

                               (Clement the jailer takes Jacob’s place in the pulpit)

 Why are you so happy, sir?

Clement:             I’m alive in a completely new way. Its like I’ve been born again.

Dr Luke:               How can this be? Can a man go back inside his mother’s womb and be born again?

Clement:             Actually that’s the wrong Bible passage J

… So let me put it another way.  I’m an experienced soldier, not easily frightened or impressed. But in all my years and battles I have never seen such strength and courage … and peace as I saw in these men. I couldn’t believe they were still in their cells after the earthquake. I called out for light and when I saw what they had done for me, it was like the brightest light I’d ever seen.

Dr Luke:               So you were able to see things differently, more clearly?

Clement:             Yes, that’s exactly right! I always thought the gods sent earthquakes to kill or punish people they were angry with - but their God sent this earthquake to save my life – and all my household.

I thought I was an expert at keeping people locked up, but I realised someone more powerful than me is in the business of setting people free, all people, everybody.

And I want to be part of what that God is doing, for the rest of my life.

Dr Luke:               Wow Clement, that’s a great testimony. You should write a book about it.

Clement:             No, I think you should write the book, Dr Luke.

Dr Luke:               Perhaps I will.

Andrew:              As the children hand out some cards to help us remember this great story, let’s bow our heads in prayer and ask God to help us apply what he is teaching us today:

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the freedom you have given us,

through the liberating work of your beloved Son.

Thank you that we are truly free;     not just to escape

but often to stay and be a light in the darkness and a fountain of grace.

Help us to trust you completely, even in the darkest and most frightening situations.

Help us to experience the power of your Holy Spirit and to grow

in patience, courage, vision which sees beyond the obvious

and true, unselfish love for all our neighbours,

including those who hate us.

We ask this in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Called to stay

Reflecting on Acts 16.28
Followers of Jesus are free to go but their call is often to stay in the darkness as a light and to be a fountain of love and grace for their neighbours including their persecutors. Thinking how to make this thought "all age" accessible for Sunday's service ...

Where is Lydia? Acts 16.9-15

Acts 16:9-15

On Mothers’ Day, the Día de Madre, its appropriate that our Bible reading is about a famous woman from the New Testament. Acts 16 has three conversion stories, examples of a larger number of converts in Philippi. As well as Lydia, the trader in purple cloth, we meet the slave girl and the jailer. It is a diverse group of characters, which in itself shows how God breaks down barriers and unites people in Christ. But why focus our attention on Lydia, who is only mentioned in three verses in the Bible?

·         She is the first recorded convert to Christianity in the first church to be planted in Europe.

·         She was the hostess and perhaps the leader of that church.

·         Her journey to faith may give clues which will help us reach the Lydias of today with the good news of Jesus.

I’d like us to think about Finding Lydia, Saving Lydia and Including Lydia.

Finding Lydia

You may remember that St Paul had sailed to the region of Macedonia in response to a vision of a man pleading with him to “Come and help us”. Now when Paul and his fellow missionaries arrived in a new place, his usual plan was to start at the local synagogue and try to convince the Jewish people about Jesus. That doesn’t seem to have happened in Philippi, and one theory is that there was no synagogue because there weren’t enough Jewish men in the town to have one.

So, having stayed there a few days looking around, Paul goes outside the city walls, on the Sabbath day, to a place by the river where it is rumoured that women gather to pray. There he meets Lydia’s group and joins in conversation with them. It is probably a very mixed group including Jews and non-Jews, with various levels of belief and interest in God, at least some inclination to pray, at least some courage to join in with this subversive activity, but as yet no knowledge about Jesus.

We notice then how in answering God’s call, following the Holy Spirit’s leading, Paul steps outside his comfort zone, looks for these people, meets them on their familiar ground and talks to them about Jesus.

My first question for us is simply this; Where do today’s Lydias gather, and how good are we at getting alongside them and gossiping the gospel?

Coming to church services may not be a priority for most people, but I believe there are many women and men in our society who have an interest in spiritual matters, who sometimes have an urge to pray but no idea who to pray to. Where are they? In the bars, shopping malls (the new cathedrals!), at the gym, on the beach, looking for work or cheap food and clothing, chatting online with strangers.

Think about this for yourself – where is Lydia? And who is doing something about finding her and helping her discover the Lord who longs to meet her? Is this your job, or mine, or somebody else’s? Can we become a church which is good at finding and contacting Lydia?

One thing is certain: God wants Lydia to be found.

Saving Lydia

Verse 14 tells us that one of the women listening to what Paul, Silas and Luke were saying was Lydia, a dealer in expensive cloth, from Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message and she and her whole household were baptised.

Now we’d all love to know what Paul’s words were – the wonderful persuasive words which immediately convinced this woman and others about Jesus. But his words are not recorded, even though Luke, the writer of Acts, was an eyewitness. This is frustrating!

Which reminds me of when I was a shy and awkward teenager, discovering the attraction of girls but having no success at all in getting to know any. I always believed that my more confident and successful friends had some amazing ‘chat up lines’, guaranteed to win the affection of the loveliest girl. If only I could discover these magic words, this formula, I too would enjoy romantic success with girls!

Of course there is no catchall formula for romance, nor indeed for evangelism. We know from our Bibles that Paul, like Jesus himself, treated each person as an individual, with respect for their culture and their circumstances. He knew that he owed his life to the undeserved grace of God, and he never treated others as conquests to be gained.

What is interesting is how God works with Paul in a kind of partnership. It is Paul who speaks, his voice that is heard by Lydia, yet it is God who opens her heart to listen eagerly and enables her to understand and receive Jesus. God is the one who initiates the contact. Paul obeys and seeks, finds and speaks to Lydia, and God reaches her through Paul’s words.

I think we sometimes forget that God always operates in this way, working in partnership with obedient people who will take his love and the good news of Jesus to others.

Question: Do we speak to others about Jesus? And do we believe that when we speak about Jesus God will open people’s hearts to believe? Or are we too polite or too shy to do this? Do we think it is best to stay quiet about our faith and not take the risk? Are we a church that is good at finding Lydia but not so good at helping her find salvation?

Another thing to notice is God’s priority to reach outsiders, people who are different from us. Lydia was an outsider in a number of ways – a female head of household in a very male dominated society, she was also a successful businesswoman and an immigrant from Asia making her way in Europe.

Question: Who will be God’s mission partner in reaching female heads of household, Asian immigrants, business people? What about homeless people, drug users, mentally and physically handicapped people, prisoners and other minority groups? Who will reach them and how?

God seeks mission partners to reach all kinds of people because he wants the Lydias to be found and to be saved.

Including Lydia

The baptism of Lydia – and noticeably of her whole household is a sacramental act confirming their acceptance and inclusion in Christ and in the church. Equally important is the way in which Lydia opens her house, in response to God opening her heart, and her hospitality and generosity are accepted by Paul and his companions, after some persuasion.

Lydia’s gifts and abilities are recognised, affirmed and included by Paul and these qualities of hospitality and generosity become characterisic of the Philippian church (see Phil 4:15-17). The final verse of Acts 16 shows that Lydia’s home became the meeting place of the church and hints that she was its first leader. Being host or leader was a brave thing to do in a place that could be suspicious and hostile towards new religious ideas.

Question: How good are we at fully including those who have been found and saved in the life of the church? How good are we are at making space for them to use their gifts, especially in the case of people who don’t fit the usual pattern or type?

From my own experience and from talking to other church leaders I would say that many of the Lydias ‘out there’ are people who have been part of churches but have become disillusioned and fallen away. They were found and saved but never really felt included. Many others keep on coming in hope or out of loyalty, but actually feel unvalued, unloved, unrecognised and excluded. If that sounds like you, come and see me!

Conclusion

Finding Lydia, Saving Lydia and Including Lydia were all vital steps in the founding of the Philippian church and the spread of Christianity into Europe. God wants today’s Lydias to be found and saved and included in his church and he calls Christians to be his mission partners in finding and saving and including them. Who will answer God’s call?

Homosexuality and the Church as Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12.12-end

Paul’s letters to the Church at Corinth can be a frustrating part of scripture to read, because we only have one side of the correspondence and we may not even have all of Paul’s side of it. Reading between the lines, together with what we know of the history and culture of Corinth, we can appreciate some of the problems Paul was writing to address:

·         Membership was divided, with different loyalties splitting the church and so reducing its health and effectiveness.

·         Some members felt shame and inadequacy, that they weren’t good enough to be part of the church.

·         Others felt proud of who they were in the church and looked down on other, inferior members. They rejected some others from church membership altogether, saying “I don’t need you”.

In today’s passage he addresses both these kinds of people within this lively but chaotic and divided church. Each person, each member is part of a body, the body of Christ and needs to be functioning healthily in order for the whole body to be healthy.

If you prevent a body part functioning healthily, it will function inadequately or unhealthily, affecting the health of the whole body. For example, there is nothing in the Bible against smoking. But if I choose to fill my lungs with tobacco smoke ten or twenty times a day, my lungs will be unhealthy – and not just my lungs; my whole body will be unhealthy as a result. Or I might decide to wear a patch over one eye all the time, as some sort of fashion statement. It will not only be that eye which can’t function normally, my whole body’s judgement of distance and speed will be impaired. If I wear this patch long term, the sight of that eye may eventually be lost. The eye will become incapable of functioning as a healthy eye.

First (v14-20) Paul addresses those who felt INFERIORITY, SHAME, JEALOUSY vis-a-vis others in the church. “Because I am only a foot and not a hand I don’t really belong here. I am not part of this.” Paul insists that they do not cease to be part of the body just because of their feelings of inferiority. God put them there for a purpose and they need to be living healthily, to their full potential, if the body of Christ is to be healthy.

Then (v21-26) he addresses those who felt SUPERIORITY, PRIDE, SELF-IMPORTANCE vis-a-vis others in the church. He tells them firmly that they cannot say “I don’t need you” to others in the church, without losing something essential to the healthy life of the church, the body of Christ (NB not just some-body or any-body, but the body of Christ).

(V25-26) In a healthy body, all the parts serve and support and value each other. When one suffers, all suffer; when one rejoices, all rejoice. Neither shame nor pride are healthy and the body of Christ needs to be healthy if it is to fulfil its purpose in the world.

Now I’d like to relate this teaching to a controversial issue, which is the position of homosexual people in the church. This was in the news last week because of high profile Baptist Church Minister Steve Chalke’s article in Christianity magazine and interviews he has done.

(Here is a link  to Steve Chalke’s article in Christianity magazine and here is a response from Steve Clifford of the Evangelical Alliance, defending the traditional view.)

Many other evangelicals, myself included, have reached same conclusions as Steve, briefly that the Church should bless and affirm gay and lesbian people who wish to live in faithful, stable partnerships. It is not a matter of throwing away the Bible and just deciding to be nice and liberal and inclusive. This change of viewpoint has been reached through seeking to understand the experiences of gay and lesbian christians and a re-evaluation of what the Bible actually teaches about homosexuality. It is not a subject that Jesus said anything about at all and although there are a few Old Testament and New Testament passages which appear to prohibit homosexual relationships, it is likely that the former refer to temple prostitution and the latter to the sexual abuse of vulnerable people such as slaves. It is extremely unlikely that faithful, stable partnerships between people of the same gender are the target of any of these Bible texts.

Personally I agree with Chalke that there is a strong case for revising the Church’s view of the subject and whilst you don’t have to agree, it should at least give us all pause for thought. Especially when we relate this controversy to the Bible passage we are looking at today. If homosexuality is not an aberration or something that needs to be repented or healed of, but intentional and part of the diversity God has created, it follows that the body of Christ as a whole will not function healthily unless homosexual people can live healthily within the Church. The Church of England’s official teaching currently allows homosexual members to live in partnerships but does not allow blessing services for these partnerships. If one of the partners is a priest, the relationship must also be celibate.  Is forcing people to stay single, celibate or silent about their orientation healthy? Celibacy is a very specific and demanding vocation and not something which should be forced on anybody because of their sexual orientation. Wouldn’t it be healthier for individuals and for the whole body of Christ  to encourage, bless and support faithful, stable partnerships, including same gender partnerships?

The Anglican Communion is deeply divided on this issue, with homosexual partnerships already allowed and blessed in the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopalian church of the USA, but firmly rejected by many other Anglican Churches.For the time being, many of us may have to agree to differ on this emotive issue and I pray that we may be able to do so with respect and compassion and that we may avoid our natural pitfalls of shame and pride.