Wonders

Yes ... I am still talking about the traits of the early Church depicted in Acts 2.  The subject is fertile ground for growing in the faith.  And the traits are the things we should cultivate in the Church of 2019.  One of these traits is the wonder of God's work in and through His people.

The subject of wonders is like a three-legged stool.  Here are the three legs.

Awareness -  Jesus said that we should be wary of signs and wonders and the way they can draw us in to the wrong frame of mind.  Matthew 12:39 says, "Only an evil and adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign."  Jesus is reminding us of how we equate the things that impress us with the power of God.  An orator with charisma and volume is followed by many ... we fail to sift the things being said.  A clever spokesperson uses the smoke and mirrors of speech to deceive us ... and we are impressed.  In Jesus' day He healed many, calmed storms, restored sight to the blind and raised the dead ... and He was crucified.  We should be cautious and discerning about signs and wonders.

Attribution - People often attribute signs and wonders to the person or group.  That is not the Biblical model.  Jesus, in John 14:13, tells His disciples that when He acts on their prayers it is His action and for the glory of the Father in Heaven.  Jesus repeatedly prays before performing miracles, attributing the end result to the Father ... seeking the glory of the Father.  Peter performs miracles in Acts but he is clear that this does not happen in his own power ... it is God's action through him.  So, a church that says 'holy water' can be applied to achieve healing ... another that says a ritual will result in answered prayer ... another who has a charismatic leader that professes the ability to heal on queue ... all need to be looked-at through the lens of Scripture.  Signs and wonders that are described in the early Church are from God, for God's glory and have the ultimate purpose of pointing to God's power.

Astonishment - When God works in our midst, I wonder if we make one of several mistakes.  One is, we miss it entirely.  Carolyn Arends writes (in There You Are) "I was hoping you would write to me, a message in the stars, as if the stars themselves were not enough."  Isaiah 40 says,  "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens.  Who created all of these?"  We look at stars, sunsets, trees, animals and even people as things ... not as part of the creation of a mighty God.  The second is we see it as less that it really is. We give thanks for healing but fail to be awed by the majesty of the one who heals.  The council in Jerusalem calls Peter on the carpet for preaching and performing signs and wonders and says "Stop!"  rather than thinking through to the source of those miracles.  The third is that we have lost our sense of awe and are, shockingly, awed at all the wrong things.  We should be astonished at God every day!  Arends writes in another line, "I was waiting for a miracle and looking for a sign, as if each breath I take is not enough."  We should be astounded at the magnitude and the microscopic attention of God.  We look up, and God is there.  We look into the smallest particle of life ... and God is there too.  The tag line of Arends song might be the biggest miracle of all ... "There You are, loving me like crazy!"  God sees all of our flaws and failures and looks past them to the possibilities of the great things He can accomplish with our obedience.  Pretty amazing!

In Acts 2:43 it says ... "A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders."  In a society impressed with football, actors, swag and stuff, maybe the people called Christians should have a different, Biblical and better standard!  Randy

Appropriate

This week will be one of appropriateness.  It will be appropriate for our message Sunday to come from one of our Certified Lay Servants (Jane Brown) who will bring us greetings, inspiration and information from the Celebrate Recovery Summit.  Nineteen of our leaders will be making the trip to Hendersonville, Tennessee to learn and grow so they can serve better than ever here in Abbeville.

There will be another appropriate thing happening too.  Lee and I will be in North Carolina to place grave markers on her mother and father's graves.  There is a very appropriate caption on both ... "loved always."  It is an interesting two words because it can be taken in two appropriate ways.

The first way "loved always" can be taken is our view toward Roy and Maria Lineberger.  We will always love them.  We knew their nuances, quirks, flaws and talents.  We knew their moods, their joys and their struggles.  We knew their brokenness and their blessedness.  Both because of and in spite of these things, we loved them.  They will be loved always.

You could also read "loved always" as Roy and Maria's view of life.  They loved always.  They knew our nuances, quirks, flaws and talents.  They knew our moods, our joys and our struggles.  They knew our brokenness and our blessedness.  Both because of and in spite of these things, they loved us well.

I mention these because 1 Corinthians 13 describes this kind of love.  It is the 'agape' love that is our best description of how God loves us.  Agape love is persistent, profound, palpable and perfect.  Agape love is struggle, steadfast, strident and strong.  God's love sees us like we are and still seeks the best for us.  Roy and Maria loved us this way.  Their earthly love lacked the perfection that God's love exhibits, but I think it is as close as we get.  And it is a beautiful love that is expressed in our love for them and in how they loved us.

There is a passage in Scripture about markers.  1 Peter 2:5 says "like living stones, you are being built ... "  I love that!  Living stones, built by God, say that something profound and beautiful happened here.  In Roy and Maria ... in our Celebrate Recovery leaders ... in agape love ... God has 'happened.'  May God's love happen in your day today, to you and through you!  Randy

Conversation

I love the thought of prayer as a conversation with God.  Does it inform you that God is all about relationship?  'Love God with all you got and your neighbor as yourself' ... this is the greatest commandment.  And the Acts 2 church was doing all they could to nurture, develop and grow their relationship with God and with one another.  Prayer is a foundation for this intentional relational tool.  Why?

One reason is that when we pray for each other we become connected.  Our life and the life of the person we are praying for become closer and more meaningful.  We, as Galatians 2 says, 'carry' each other's burdens.  And when we do that our relational connection becomes more evident and more meaningful.  Our life and the life of the other person overlap and in that overlap I believe God can work wonders.  The early Church prayed for one another.

Another reason prayer is relational is that prayer is often a means of thanksgiving.  When I pray for a person having surgery I pray for the person, the procedure and for God's healing.  But I also pray a prayer of thanksgiving for the skill of the doctor, the gift of medicine and God's amazing ability to do far more than any medical procedure ever could.  When we share in a spirit of thanksgiving, God is close by!

A third reason prayer is relational is it connects to God's image.  Biblically God is compassionate.  Jesus wept for Jerusalem and for His friend Lazarus.  God expresses hurt for the people He created and even in the midst of our sin God is already offering a way of forgiveness.  Maybe the most compassionate statement in the Bible is when Jesus says, "Forgive them for they know not what they do!"  Jesus, on the cross, is already speaking on our behalf for our forgiveness and re-connection to God.

Finally, that conversational thing again.  If we love ...  if we care ... if we are involved in life with someone, we converse with them.  How would it work if you treated a friend like you treat God?  What if every time I went to my friend I gave him a list of things I needed him to do?  How would that work?  But what if you had a 2-way conversation with that friend.  You just talked about stuff, life and dreams.  Might that work a little better?

I hope these ramblings stir you to do what the early Church did ... interact with each other and with God.  I think it might do what one person said when they said that prayer doesn't change God but it changes us.  Good advice!  Randy

Without

In a generation that has mostly had everything given to it free of charge there is little connection to this term 'without.'  There are few examples or concept that connect us to the idea of sacrifice ... doing without ... giving from either scarceness or even abundance.  Yet this little term is found throughout the faith we call Christianity.  We are forgiven because God's plan was the sacrifice of His one and only Son for the atonement/forgiveness/washing of our sins.  That truth is vital, foundational and wonderful!

There is a word used to describe the early Church in Acts 2 (specifically verse 46).  The people enjoyed fellowship with 'sincere hearts'.  What does that mean?  The Biblical idea of sincerity is rooted in a phrase John Riley has used and I will attempt to convey.  It is a very practical term flowing from the practice of selling marble and marble sculptures.  In the old days when a marble sculpture was sold it was to be sold 'without wax' (the root concept for sincerity). When marble was carved there were often imperfections.  If a sculpture had an imperfection it would bring less money and might even be too defaced to sell.  So dishonest merchants would melt wax and fill in the imperfections with wax.  When it got hot (maybe if the sculpture were placed in the sun) the wax would melt and the owner would realize he/she had been cheated.  So sincere means without (sin) wax (cera).  Hopefully you get the point!

A trait of the early Church was this sincerity.  They lived life openly.  They shared meals and shared hurts, victories, pain and pretty much everything.  They shared their possessions and were willing to pitch in when needs were identified.  I believe, in those early days, there was an honesty and sincerity.  And this is a trait we should strive for.  No scheming, undercurrents or hidden agendas for us!  Because we are to be those people who are the same on Sunday, Monday and every other day.

I sometimes struggle with this.  I rationalize ... "If they knew, they wouldn't like me!" ... "If they were aware of my plans they would be against me!"  ... "If they knew my doubts they wouldn't believe or follow me!"  All of these statements have 2 things in common.  Did you see the word 'they'?  As I scheme, cover up, obfuscate, inveigle, evade and generally cover my true self with wax, the purpose isn't noble.  It is totally self-centered.  That brings us to the 2nd word ... 'me.'  Insincerity is all about me and it divides me from the other people I call they.  It breeds divisiveness, hate, dishonesty and all manners of bad things.  It should not be in the lexicon of the Church!

The early Church couldn't be self-centered and Christ-centered.  Our country's founding couldn't have been self-centered and successful.  Many people had to debate, disagree, compromise and cooperate in a setting where there was trust and focused purpose.  No wax.  "Lord ... keep our hearts sincere, open, transparent and 'without wax.'  Thank you!"  AMEN

Front Porch

What do those words bring to mind?  Front porch.  Rocking chairs ... dialogue ... quiet ... laughter ... rest ... resetting ... you can add what you will.  Joy Williams of The Civil Wars (a singing group) has named her solo album Front Porch.  In an interview she reflects ... "looking at my life, I actually have begun enjoying the little things a lot more than I had in the past. I think I always used to be racing ahead to the next big thing and now I’m more interested in watching my daughter discover what her hand looks like in the shadow."  She continues ... "Oh yeah, my face is starting to change a little bit." But I remember my mom telling me that it’s good for your face to tell a story, and so my laugh lines are getting deeper and my forehead is starting to show more signs of how much I’m squinting and thinking and, you know, chasing after my kids or reading a book at night. Those are good signs of life. Vanity would say otherwise, but I think reality might be a little bit more important than my vanity."  Where do we stop ... rest ... listen ... interact ... and live on the front porch?

The Acts 2 Church had a front porch ... places and times where interaction takes place among the believers.  We have a front porch too.  Last night, as I waited in the sound booth in the Family Life Center, I heard front porch discussions among adults and children as they sat down to a nutritious hot dog dinner.  They all stopped ... ate ... enjoyed the real things in life.  They looked at each other differently.  Non-confrontive and non-judgmental was on the menu.  Laughter was frequent.  I listened to the sounds of life.  In Acts 2:42-47 the passage twice mentions eating together and 'sharing their meals with great joy.'  The Church is doing something that has value, meaning and worth by living life together.  What a concept!

For the early Church there were difficult challenges.  Shrill, angry voices came from the Jewish church leaders calling them heretical.  Mistrust and enmity came from the Romans who saw this group as a threat.  The People of the Way (the early Church) responded by doing life, focusing on the good and real things and being 'in the world' but not 'of the world.'  

Maybe we can learn something from this.  I have heard shrill/angry voices and mistrust/enmity from people I know in the North Carolina church.  They are upset about how sexual offenders are being treated.  Other people in Atlanta are upset over the abortion debate, worried that actors and performers will boycott their state or local area.  As I read that God added to the Acts 2 church 'every day,' I see my friends in Atlanta and the Research Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) in North Carolina on a list of the top 100 Post-Christian cities in America.  I wonder ... is the 'cause' of Christ, the nurture of our souls, the reality of the spiritual and life in the Spirit important in our reactionary world?  Are we willing to sit on the front porch and dialogue with each other?  Are we more worried about our vanity, our swag, our devices, our stuff and our outward appearance than we are about living life 'in Christ?'  Can we recapture the joy of children eating the best food ever at Vacation Bible School, sitting on their 'front porch' and gathering to praise a God who has overcome this world?  Do we love Jesus more than our causes?  When we 'go everywhere' do we go to the front porch with our neighbor and share our meals with 'great joy?'

Acting Like The Church

Our Vacation Bible School (VBS) begins next weekend (June 16, 17, 18 from 5:30 pm till 8:30 pm).  As we pray with each other about how God will show up to help us teach, lead, sing, praise and love, I can't help think about the Bible book I read from Sunday.  The book is Acts.  It is all about how God continues, after Jesus' life, to move into this neighborhood called 'the world.'  For God said, in John 3:16 (one of our VBS Scriptures), that He loved the world (people) so much that He gave His son so that whoever (that's all of the folks in that world) believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.  Those people who choose to believe in Jesus are called something we fail to perceive as sacred ... but it IS sacred.  It is called THE Church.  And that book (Acts) is all about the early Church.  It describes how we should act.  It gives us some examples of things not to do.  And offers us a picture of the flawed, broken Church somehow, with the Holy Spirit, moves into the known world with the message of the Gospel.  Pretty cool!

Over the remainder of the Summer that is where we will journey.  I hope you will jump into the boat with all of the messed-up Church folks who are friends, fellow travelers, companions and Christians.  Acts will be our source material.  Let's see what we can learn and how we can become more like the Church God envisioned when he told the disciples "You will be My witnesses everywhere" (another VBS Scripture from Acts 1:8).

Our first step in the journey through Acts will look at the pattern of the early Church.  It is expressed in Acts 2:42-47.  Here are the 10 things we see as the early Church starts the ministry led by the Holy Spirit.  1) devotion to being taught, 2) communion/sacraments, 3) wonders/signs, 4) shared stuff, 5) generosity, 6) meeting in the temple, 7) eating together, 8) sincerity, 9) praise of God, 10) the encouragement of shared favor.  That's a lot ... it may take us a few weeks just to get through these, so bear with me as I try to unpack this beautiful and challenging passage.  But that is what happens when we journey together and are led by a God of mystery and grace ... we just don't know where God will send us.  I hope you will join the journey and find joy in our journey together.  Thanks ... Randy

Flipped

For all of the football fans in my midst there is a term you might know.  It can be applied when a turnover (fumble, interception) happens.  It can be applied when one team punts and drives the other team backwards.  It is called "flipping the field."

As we enter Acts 2 and Pentecost Sunday I want us to think about flipping the field.  When the disciples wait for the realization of God's promise of the Holy Spirit they look out on a broken society, a broken church and lots of broken people.  Add to this the chaos of many people from many nations in Jerusalem for the Pentecost holiday.  Then it happened ... the field got flipped.

As I thought about this event, which signifies for many the birth of the Church as we read about in the book of Acts, I can't help but reflect on what this flipping represents.

From the perspective of the Jewish leaders and the 'church' institution, they might have felt that their world was turned upside down.  These upstarts actually believed that the Messiah had come and had proclaimed release to the captives, sight to the blind, healing for the sick and light to those living in darkness.  But from the standpoint of God and for those who were lost, the field was flipped right side up.  In the midst of turmoil and chaos Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, turned everything right.

From the perspective of the Christians, they 'flipped' from waiting to going.  These uneducated fishermen, hated tax collectors and ne'er-do-wells barged out of that upper room and began to preach, proclaim and boldly become missionaries in a world where the 'church' said all was just fine.  That day the Church began a spread that continues today.

Don't believe these things still happen?  At Annual Conference we heard from a Tanzanian missionary who professed that they had started a church 'accidentally.'  The began a children's worship in an orphanage and the people from the town were curious and started to come.  The people began to ask how to join this group and before a few months had passed 45 people were baptized.  No training ... no plan ... no intentionality ... no direction from the institutional church.  Just people meeting and telling the Good News of the gospel to children.  I believe the Holy Spirit flipped the field.

On June 16th Vacation Bible School will begin.  We have lots of good people and even have some plans.  But I, for one, feel ill-equipped for this task that hasn't happened at AUMC in many years.  But, when I heard this story from Tanzania, I became encouraged.  What if God's Holy Spirit came like tongues of fire upon us at VBS?  What if the mighty river of God's power rushed out and took our inadequacies, our fears, our brokenness and our failings and infused His power into them?  What if God flips the field in Abbeville through the many ways we leave our upper rooms and stop waiting and start going?  What if Acts 2 becomes real in our time and in our presence?  Come, Holy Spirit, come ... we invite your presence and power!  Randy