Challenging the Faithful
David C. Myers
May 17, 2009
Easter 5th
Acts 1:6 - 8 and Acts 10:34 - 48
John 15:9 -17
Text: (Peter said) "who can refuse the water of baptism to these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" . . . Acts 10:47
We all know that the Book of Acts is the story of the deeds and the works of the early apostles and the early church. The author is Luke, the same Luke who penned the Gospel. But maybe we have forgotten that the central issue that is addressed in this book is the question that the disciples ask Jesus just before Jesus' ascension into heaven, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore Israel?" It is laid out in the very second paragraph of the first chapter of Acts.
Israel was a nation under Roman oppression and domination, so it was on everybody's mind. But it was also on their mind because they loved their church and they wanted it to grow, to be like it was . . . well in the good ole days - even if the good ole days was 700 or so years ago. The Hebrew people had a long and collective memory!
The disciples asked a good question, but with our approximately 1950 years of hindsight, we now understand that it was not the right question. While the early Christian church saw their task as purifying the Jewish faith, restoring it to its former glory, probably when David was King, Jesus in essence says to them, "You're asking the wrong question." Jesus says to them, "It is not for you to know the times or the periods that God has set by God's own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you." (Acts 1:7-8a)
In other words, Jesus is telling folks that while their desire to restore the church to its former glory days is understandable; none-the-less it is God Who will determine the course of history and it is God Who will impart God's will. While it might have been God's will to have Israel great and glorious under the reign of King David times are different now; and therefore God's Will is going to unfold differently.
This is not unlike the concern that many churches have now - especially churches in the midst of major building concerns or beginning to think ahead to what might be our vision and mission: "Lord, is now the time that You will restore us to our former glory years?" And Jesus answers, "It is not for you to know the times or the periods that God has set by God's own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you."
It's important for us to remember the answer of Jesus, for the story that unfolds in the following chapters of Acts is not the story of the restoration of Israel, but it is the story of what happens when the spirit comes to this new church and gives them power. In other words, this is a story of transformation, not one of restoration!
The issue of restoring verses transforming is an issue churches face all the time. The question comes in many forms. Does this sound familiar?
• "All this church needs is more people to balance the budget."
• "We need more people so we can have people only having one position in the church."
• "We need more voices in the choir (or praise band)."
• Or, even in our darkest moments, "We need more people so that I, as one of the faithful, don't have to work as hard at being a disciple."
"O Lord, is it now, that You will restore us?"
"It is not for you to know the times or the periods that God has set by God's own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you."
As I studied all the the Scripture passages this week, I took solace. The selection in Acts 10 is the story of a people who are suddenly challenged not only about the difference between restoration and transformation, but also about redefining the boundaries of their faith. While we want more people, the Lord wants faithful people, people responsive to His call and choosing! Listen again to the word of the Lord: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you."
The passage opens with a large group of followers meeting at the Roman centurion Cornelius' house at Caesarea by the Sea. And this, in and of itself is unusual. Cornelius is a Roman soldier who wants to become a part of the new Christian movement. But, he's a Roman soldier - in other words, he's a pagan. He is outside both the Hebrew faith and the Hebrew race. So for Peter even being at Cornelius' house is astonishing. And then we are told that as Peter began to preach to the crowd, the Holy Spirit fell on everybody; not just the Hebrews but also the Gentiles! And thus begins most of the tough lessons that the church had to learn . . . and learn over and over again.
The Gentiles, to the typical Hebrew way of thinking, were pagan heathens; no more, no less. Yes, they could become religious people, but only if they repented, got circumcised and followed all of the traditional rituals and laws of the Hebrews. But the Gentiles respected none of the ritual laws the Jews professed as sacred: Sabbath law, worship ritual, dietary law, the ritual of circumcision, and strict regulations governing table fellowship. How could God's Spirit fall on them if they didn't observe the sacred rituals of the faith?
To the Hebrews it was a most unsettling day at Cornelius' house. The sacred petitions were removed as quickly as they had been painfully developed over many generations of Hebrew history. To these circumcised believers, something seemed very wrong. Worse yet, Peter - their faithful leader - seemed to have been swept away with the emotion of the moment, when he said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have."
It was shocking. "Is there no boundary between the chosen of God and those outside the divine choice?" What Peter was telling the faithful Jews at Cornelius' house well, . . . would it not be something akin to have Pope Benedict the 16th issuing a decree in the next few weeks allowing for women priests and married priests?
I mentioned earlier that the lesson that happened at Cornelius house is one that the church has had to learn over and over again.
• Just in the last fifty years has the United Methodist Church ordained women. And where would this church be without the vision and leadership of the many women who have served this church well - including Carol Armstrong-Moore?
• It took a Civil Rights movement in this country for many people in the church to understand the lesson that the Holy Spirit is open to all people no matter their color.
But that's God's Spirit for you! No respect for boundaries, privilege, tradition, language, culture, or institution. By the time the Spirit gets through with those Gentiles, there is no difference between "them" and "us"; it's all us!!!
The Spirit teaches an important lesson here, no person can limit the extending of God's grace. But look carefully at who has to learn this lesson! It's not the Gentiles who get challenged! No, now they are the chosen! Rather, it is the faithful who are being challenged by God. Those who see themselves as the gatekeepers for the true faith find themselves challenged by the unexpected workings of God's Spirit.
It is an important truth. It is also a painful one. The church, even today, struggles with opening the grace of God to all people. We church folk are fond of saying the invitation to Christ is open to all people. That is, until particular types of people suddenly heed the inviting word and come forward becoming part of Christ's church. The old hackneyed phrase still has truth, "I love humanity. It's the people I can't stand."
For many people what happened at Cornelius' house is grace run amuck. All can attest to instances in our own church experience when someone we would not have chosen, often dramatically, comes forward becoming a member of Christ's community. People's economic standing, or politics, or even cultural origin, or sexual orientation causes us to think long and hard about out faith - who's in and who's out - especially those who think they are privileged believers.
It really all about choice - but what we need to remember is that it is God's choice, not ours! There is an abundance of Scriptural evidence that establishes that God chooses us! In this morning's Gospel lesson Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, but I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit; . . ." (John 15:16a) From humanity's point of view, this is the scandal of faith! We don't choose, God does the choosing!
It is indeed, a disturbing thought. Those we would not be caught dead praying with, singing with, or worshipping with are suddenly welcomed into the presence of "our" Christ.
As David Mosser said in commenting on this passage in Acts, "Luke continues to remind us, as he did those first Christians, we do not set the limits of Christ's community. God sets those limits."
And we are right back where we started. We, people that we are shaped and influenced by the culture we live in, we want restoration. We want more people in worship, we want more money in the offering plate. But God is telling us; "You are not choosing Me, I am choosing you, and you will bear fruit - whenever you call upon Me." It's not about the worldly view of restoration - that's for buildings; the challenge to the faithful people of Chevy Chase United Methodist Church is this: God's will is about transformation and being faithful and open to the changes transformation brings about.
"It is not for you to know the times or the periods that God has set by God's own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you."
Let our prayer be that we can be faithful to where God's power will lead us!