“He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30-31).
The Book of Acts seems to end on a whimper. In a book where we’ve seen Jesus ascend, the Holy Spirit rush about like the sound of a violent wind, Peter’s conversion in seeing all things made clean, and Paul’s conversion from Pharisee to most influential Christian theologian the world has ever known…you might expect more from an ending of a Book so monumental to our faith. You might expect Peter on the mountaintop seeing the Promised Land, or the Chariots of Fire coming down to bring Paul to heaven, but that’s not what we have. It’s more the ending of Seinfeld than the ending of MASH. Paul is under house arrest in Rome and “He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”He welcomed all, proclaimed the Kingdom of God, and shared Jesus. Lord, could it be that simple?
Now, some of you are “on to” the grand metaphor that we’ve been walking through over the last few weeks. Offering a worship series on the Book of Acts, a book where the church is trying to figure itself out by the power of the Holy Spirit was absolutely on purpose, not that a sermon series is ever by accident, but it was important to read the birth of the church in such a time as this. Many of you know that The United Methodist Church is having a special General Conference next week in St. Louis, which will be a global gathering of the largest Protestant denomination on the planet to discuss the church’s understanding of human sexuality. The church has been wrestling with this gift of God for a long time, and news not only from our denomination but others as well reveal that we haven’t yet figured things out. So in the spirit of “tell it to me plain, preacher,” I’ll firm up the metaphor this morning.
Next week in St. Louis the church will gather to hear a report on the Commission on the Way Forward, and their official report offers what’s called The One Church Plan and the Connectional Conference Plan. There are two other comprehensive plans that may be presented in some way, shape, or form, namely The Modified Traditional Plan, and the Simple Plan, along with a smattering of other legislative items. The reason I haven’t talked about the plans specifically from the pulpit is because the plans may be amended or combined or thrown out, or nothing may happen at all. What I thought was more appropriate is to spend time looking at scripture and diving into our example of what it looks like for the church to figure itself out by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is what the Book of Acts is.
In the first week we talked about Rabbi Gamaliel and his interpretation of what one might do when there is tension. He said, “If this is not of God then it will die, and if it is of God you will not be able to overthrow it.” As a member of the delegation the first question I often receive from all over the place is, “How will this effect my church?” which is another way of asking, “how will this effect me?” It is an important question, but it shouldn’t be our first. The first question is “Is this of God, or is this not of God.” If we can wrestle with the first question, the second question begins to answer itself.
Next we heard about how God’s grace keeps outdoing itself when Philip baptized a Samaritan, and then Philip baptizes a eunuch, and then Saul, the great persecutor of the church, is converted when his enemy laid hands on him and healed him. In other words, God grace is radical and surprising. My prayer is that we will all be surprised for all of the right reasons. The human brain is amazing, but God’s grace is magnificent. It is the power of God to reconcile sisters and brothers, welcome the outcast, and lead enemies to heal one another. That is my prayer.
Then we talked about the Jerusalem Council and Paul’s response and interpretation of the Jerusalem Council. I lifted this up because we hear a ruling from an authoritative body, and we also have the blessing of having a story of Paul, in Paul’s own words, responding to it in a local church, so to speak. This is quite a gift if you stop to consider it. Of course, Paul doesn’t make it any easier on us. When there was a controversy of whether or not the people could eat meat polluted by idols. Paul says, in essence, yes you can, unless you shouldn’t. Those who are abstaining are weak in faith, but instead of telling them to get with the program, humble yourself and do not cause your brother to stumble. How is your faith journey lifting others up instead of tearing them down? The answers may be easy to hear, but living into them takes a lifetime. Paul seems to be less concerned about rules as he is how rules affect one’s neighbor. I lifted up this story because we will have lots of pronouncements coming from St. Louis next week, and what is more important than the pronouncements is our reaction to it, and I pray that our Christian activity is always rooted in love of God and love of neighbor, if you want to be Methodist about it.
Then we discussed the Ephesian riot where Demetrius, out of fear to what Paul would do with his financial bottom line, stoked a fearful frenzy, but because there was confusion, some were saying one thing and others another, the people had forgotten why they had gathered in the first place. There are many across the board that are using fear to rile people up. The “fill in the blank” plan is going to cause us to lose members, cause us to lose money, cause us to divide the church…etc.” Sharing information is important, but scaring people by misrepresenting something, is never the way.
Which brings us to today. Now it may seem that the Books of Acts ends with a whimper. It’s certainly not as dramatic as we might have thought, especially when we began with Jesus ascending and the Holy Spirit rushing about and tongues of fire resting on the heads of the apostles. But this relative ending offers great wisdom. At the end of it all Paul welcomed all, proclaimed the Kingdom of God and shared the teachings of Jesus. Or to put it another way, at the end of it all Paul was about bringing hope, building faith, and reaching out in love…which is our Asbury mission. This is our mission. This is our goal. After the votes are taken and petitions finalized I pray that we continue to be the church that calls Mr. Coleman to see how we might equip his vision for his students at Bossier Elementary. I pray that we continue to be the church that celebrates First Baptist’s new Emily Build, which continues Asbury’s Katy Build story. I pray that we continue to be the church that goes to Cuba to help equip the vision that God has placed on the hearts of Christians in a small town called Falla. I pray that we continue to be the church that says, “Hey, we’re building a wheel chair ramp this weekend. Who’s with me?” I pray that we continue to be the church with the most beautiful prayer garden that honors God’s amazing gift of creation. I pray that we continue to welcome all, proclaim God’s kingdom and share the teachings of Jesus, or in other words, I pray that we continue to bring hope, build faith, and reach out with love. Could it really be that simple? In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Loved this Matt ! Thanks for sharing. !