On the Way to Wonder

Acts 9:1-9

Have you ever been “dead wrong?”  In the 1600s “dead” was used to mean completely or absolutely and by the1800s the idiom was common way of saying completely wrong.  I was totally convinced my Ipad was stolen while I was at the grocery store yesterday.  I searched.  My friends lent their eyes.  We pulled the trash apart.  It was nowhere to be found.  After dinner I took my husband’s walker to him and just happened to lift the lid on the seat.  There was the Ipad.  I was wrong.  It was not stolen but in his dementia, he had forgotten he had picked it up to bring to me.  Whew, a small mistake but a big scare. I was dead wrong in my thinking.

         At the end of chapter 7 of Acts, Luke tells us that Saul, an ambitious Pharisee oversaw the stoning of deacon Stephen and was committed to rooting out this misinformation being spread by early believers.  He was so committed and angry we learn today that he had gotten letters to drag women, children and whole families from their homes to send them to jail for follow Jesus. Saul was angry enough to kill.  Saul was out of control.  Unfortunately we have weekly stories now of people who are so angry they are willing to ruin people’s lives.  Anger can drive a person to be out of control.  Saul was angry enough to go to other cities to root out the lie.  And so the web of hatred spreads!

         Not only is Saul out of control, the victims of his hatred must feel like life is spiraling out of control.  They have not committed a “big sin” but found faith and now they are being persecuted and hunted like animals.  We hear those comments by victims of war like Ukrainians.  Accidents feel just wrong.  Disease is never welcome.  Somedays we feel like life is out of control and makes no sense.

         How can someone be stopped when another is so blinded by hatred or so convinced our understanding of reality is wrong?  The person cannot be reasoned with.  Some of us know this from loved ones lost in addiction who are beyond our love. We know the hopelessness of being on the receiving end of hate.  This scenario feels hopeless but we shall see that it is not beyond God.  The next verse tells us, “as he neared” his destination, God stepped in.

         Perhaps we do not feel out of control right now but we can certainly pray for those caught in war, in refugee camps, in prisons, or in hospitals.  Read Psalm 23 and pray each verse for yourself or someone else.  God sees and God cares and he can step in to confront evil.

Acts 8: 25-29

Luke continues his report on the formation of early believers and the early church.  Deacon Philip who was preaching in Samaria now has the definite feeling he should go to a certain road.  Luke calls it an angel speaking to Philip but we may well be able to identify times in our life when we have felt compelled to do something and in hindsight we say, “God led me.”    A woman called me and gave me the sales pitch about going to a retreat that cost $200 that I did not have.  She finally agreed to pay half if I paid the other.  I caved and agreed.  I put down the phone and walked to the mail box.  There was a check for $200 from an anonymous person in my home church, states away.  That never happened before or after.  We remember those times.

         Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch who is returning home from worshiping in Jerusalem.  Now that is weird.  Philip, a Jewish believer, in Samaria, meets an Ethiopian probably not-Jew reading Scripture.  Eunuch’s were not welcome in Judaism but somehow this man had gone to Jerusalem, possibly on business for the Queen of Ethiopia, found a scripture writing and did not understand what he was reading.  Enter Philip.  Do we call this coincidence or do we call it the hand of God interfacing with the events of our everyday lives, placing us in the presence of others.  Philip who shared with Jews in Jerusalem, who is forced to go to Samaria and shares with watered down Jews, is now sharing with a non-Jew from Ethiopia.  The story is spreading but Philip is growing too as he gets further and further from his comfort zone.

         How do we experience God working in our lives?  Of course through Scripture reading, Bible studies, music and other normal “devotional ways” we feed our souls but sometimes the unexpected compels us into situations that challenge us.  I would like us to consider that those are times that God is nudging us in our growth and perhaps helping another, “an Ethiopian,” to grow.  Being alert to the workings of the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the events of our lives is a very real way we grow and help each other to grow.  Lord, open my eyes and ears and heart that I may recognize you working in my life and help me grab those moments to see coincidence as blessings from you. 

         Philip simply asked a question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” and offered to chat.  Open s serendipidous conversation today, Lord!

Acts 8:9-25

Faith is spreading.  New believers are scattered because of persecution and go outside Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and start sharing the news of what has happened to them.  Today we encounter an interesting question that is often asked by youth.  Do the ends justify the means?  As long as good is accomplished it does not matter if the power used is white magic, power from Satan, or black magic or power from God, does it? 

         Simon, a sorcerer is performing miracles in Samaria and accepted as a representative of God.  Good things happen and he basks in that identity.  Non-Christians are not necessarily bad people.  People do not have to be Christians to do good or to do miracles.  The question is their source of power.  Philip arrives and Simon realizes that there is an even greater power than what he has known and used.   He believes and is baptized.  He has taken baby steps of faith but he is now going to meet a challenge. 

         Peter and John arrive from Jerusalem and lay hands on the Samaritan converts who then have spiritual experiences like speaking in tongues.  Simon is awed and wants power and offers to buy that power from Peter and John.  Simon is not looking for relationship with God.  He is looking for power and implied is to impress people.  Peter confronts Simon about the shallowness of his faith and Simon repents.

         It is possible for us to believe and still be very immature in our faith.  We call it baby Christians or milk Christians.  Age nor years of faith guarantees growth in faith and maturity.  Before we are too hard on Simon, though, who had no Bible and no upbringing in Christianity, let us reflect on how many times we bargain with God for approval or power.  We ask God for a job and promise to tithe.  We ask God for health and promise to serve.  We subtly think that if only we could act in such and such a way, God will love us more.  For sure the pastor can tell the story of faith better than ourselves!  By grace we are saved and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God — according to James 2:8,9.  Easy to say but so hard to believe.  God loves us just the way we are.  Our testimony comes from our love and appreciation for all he has done for us in Christ and is not a power game.  Father, help me to not try and buy or earn your love but live in gratitude for all you do for me.  Thank you.

Acts 8:4-8

We have been watching a progression.  Anger and jealousy led to murder and persecution.  The persecution scattered people around Judah and Samaria.  People who have been going to the Temple to pray and worship and then gather in groups on the porch to discuss the “issue of the day” are now “preaching the word wherever they went.”  In terms of spiritual growth, it seems there is a faith step happening.  Talking about the sermon with family and friends is very different than sharing with a neighbor or stranger who is not familiar with our faith and may speak a different faith language.  The early believers are learning to share their faith. 

         Luke gives the example of Phillip going to a city in Samaria.  Remember that the Samaritans are not necessarily considered the good guys, and certainly suspect spiritually.  Phillip is sharing in an uncomfortable situation but the people listen.  It reminds me of the woman at the well.  She was a Samaritan.  Phillip preaches and as he speaks, demons shriek, healings occur and people are amazed.  That was a genuine tent meeting.

         When we share we are not usually given miracles to show the truth of our words but perhaps the miracle is that we gather the courage to share.  Putting into words that which is holy in our hearts is challenging.  Let us spend some time pondering before God if he would place someone in our path today that we can share hope with.  It does not necessarily mean that they become Christians, though they might, but the exercise of sharing is important to our growth.  Ponder now if there is something about your faith that you could share.  Maybe it is only a smile with a stranger.  Maybe it is  an appreciation for nature or a song.  But maybe it is sharing about an experience of God blessing you.   Lord, open a window of opportunity to share about your blessings in my life with someone who needs encouragement today.

Acts 8:1-3

“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church.”  On what day?  On the day Stephen testified on his behalf before the Sanhedrin and essentially accused them of idolatry.  People were furious and stoned Stephen.  Watching all this was Saul who started “going house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”  Being angry enough to kill and persecute is being angry in the extreme.  Anger can be a motivating emotion, for good but far too often it motivates for destruction.

         An elder once gave me a verse from the story of Cain and Abel, the first murder scenario in the Bible.  These brothers brought their offerings to God.  God preferred Abel’s and Cain was furious and killed his brother.  God speaks to Cain, “

Why are you angry?  Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:6,7)

We are told in Ephesians 4:26, ” Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Psalms has many verses written by King David pleading God not to respond to him in anger for his sins but also asking God to deal with evil.  In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Jesus says that hate is really murder in our heart.  The mass shootings in our culture today also cause me to reflect on our cultural ways for dealing with anger.  Shooting is one way.  We follow wars around the world. Mass public trials that ruin all people involved is another.  Some of us resort by eating, alcohol or other addictions.  Whatever our “gun of choice” it seems to me that anger is taking judgment into our own hands and out of God’s. 

         We can look at culture but ultimately we must look at ourselves.  Saul was driven by anger to destroy others, thinking he could wipe out the evil misinformation.  It did not.  Christianity spread.  So what are we angry about today?  Are we angry enough to kill…ok, hate?  Let us take a moment and ask God to shine the light of truth in our heart and reveal any unresolved anger that we need to deal with before the sun goes down.  Sometimes we need God’s help to face the truth and then to help us figure out a way to master the problem and resolve it.  This is hard stuff we read today.  Lord, help.  Have mercy on us and on those suffering from the anger of others!

Acts 8:1

“On that day a great persecution broke out

against the church in Jerusalem,

and all except the apostles were scattered

throughout Judea and Samaria.”

Last week we looked at the testimony of Stephen before the Sanhedrin.  Stephen essentially accused the leaders of idolatry, of worshipping the Temple and Mosaic Law similar to the Golden Calf.  That was it.  The people stoned Stephan.  Watching the event was a man called Saul who would later be known as Paul.  With that event, life changed for our early believers.  The believers no longer met as a subgroup of Judaism, meeting in a patio of the Temple, but through persecution were scattered.  A Jerusalem dynamic becomes a Judea and Samaria dynamic and ordinary people, not the apostles, became the carriers of the new faith.

      Today our history is defined by a similar event.  The Separatists, a subgroup of the Church of England became more and more suspect.  They fled to Holland and eventually to the New World that was to become the United States of America.

         We have codified our response to persecution for our personal beliefs in the first amendment of our constitution.

         “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,         or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of       speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to         assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of       grievances.”

Even today we are clarifying what these words mean and debating to what extent government and religion must be separated and what that means.  Whew!  The battle for freedom of religion continues.

         What does freedom of religion mean to you today?  Let us reflect by making an accrostic of the word “faith.”  Write an adjective or thought next to each letter.

         F

         A

         I

         T

         H

Now spend a moment praying about each letter, thaking God for the freedom we have today to even pray, to read Scripture of choice in our language, and for all the beautiful music we have.  We are blessed.

Acts 7:48-59

This week we broke down Stephen’s defense as he stood before the Sanhedrin accused of misinformation and dishonoring the Temple and Mosaic Law.  It is so easy to skim over his response.  As a Jew, for Christianity had not separated off yet, Stephen started with Abraham, the father of the faith and traced its development through the patriarchs to the Egyptian exile.  Moses led the people through the desert to the Promised Land.  Stephen argues that even as people then resisted Moses’ leadership and turned to idols, the Golden Calf, the same thing was happening now.  In the desert they made a Golden Calf.  Now the Jews had made an idol of the Temple and were worshipping it rather than the God it represented.

         “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. (v.48)”  Stephen called the Sanhedrin “stiff-necked people.  Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.”  Stephen looked up and saw a vision of Jesus at the right hand of God as the people drag him away to stone him.  That was intense!

         Last Sunday I watched a DVD called “The Love of God is Indescribable” that told how Frederick M. Lehman, father and pastor, with a family of 8 children, struggles to write the hymn “The Love of God”.  The children all go on a quest to help him figure out the third verse so they can have it published in 1898 and have money to pay their rent.  Charming.  Stephen too was trying to say to the Jews that God’s love is greater than the Temple, greater than the Mosaic Law, and in-fact is greater than all our divisions today.

1 The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
it goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.The wandering child is reconciled by God’s beloved Son.
The aching soul again made whole, and priceless pardon won.

Refrain:  O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—the saints’ and angels’ song.

2 When ancient time shall pass away, and human thrones and kingdoms fall;
when those who here refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call;God’s love so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
grace will resound the whole earth round— the saints’ and angels’ song. [Refrain]

3 Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and everyone a scribe by trade;To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. [Refrain]

Acts 7:35-53

We have been following how Stephen, one of the first deacons, formed his faith statement as one of the early followers of Jesus.  He was recognized as being full of wisdom and the Spirit of God so was chosen to help in the fair distribution of food for the widows.  False charges against him bring him to trial at the Sanhedrin, the top Jewish body.  He is accused of not honoring the Temple and the Mosaic Law.  Perhaps it was seen as similar to the charges of misinformation and instigation of riots that many feel threatens the base of democracy today.  Many people were very irate at Stephen even as we are upset with violence today.

      Stephen presents a faith statement that we often let our eyes slide over as it all seems like ancient history.  Stephen starts with Abraham, called by God to leave his country of birth, to birth a new nation, the people of Israel.  We thought of our own “conversion stories.” Through generations from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph and eventually Moses, the nation grows.  Even as God told Abraham, the family went into captivity in Egypt for 400 years and eventually were led to the Promised Land through Moses.  Stephen has told the story accurately, highlighting historical facts known to all.  Today Stephen’s speech comes to the point.

         Moses went up Mt. Sinai to received the Mosaic Law but the people waiting at the base of the mountain, create a gold calf, an idol.  Idolatry is the breaking of the first and most important commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.  We know the second is like it, to love our neighbor as ourselves.  The people turned to a golden calf, an idol, and could not wait for God to reveal his plan.  Not only that but in the wilderness Moses was given the plans for the Tabernacle, the mobile worship center that went with the people until the permanent Temple was built under David and Solomon in Jerusalem.  Stephen is saying that the present Jewish leaders have taken  the Temple and objectified it and made it into idol.  The Temple has become a Golden Calf.  That’s it folks.  His fate is determined and the crowd will stone him.

         The question for us as we reflect on our faith history is to ponder if we have taken any aspect of our faith tradition and made it into an idol.  On the larger scale we can clearly see all the denominational divisions and points of identity that we cling to and that divide people.  On the personal level, it is good to periodically sit before the Lord in prayer and ask if there are ways we have made practice more important than presence? Have we created idols in our life that rival our love for God and demand devotion that robs the devotion of our souls for God?  As we draw near to July 4^th and rejoice at our freedoms that we are arguing about so much now, I might ask God if my values of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” have compromised my willingness to submit to his will.  “Lord, if there are any idols in my heart, reveal them to me that I may repent and draw closer to thee.  Forgive any ways that I may have become sloppy in my devotion to you.  Thank you for forgiveness.”  Blessings.