Jonah 1 Can You Run from God

At 17 I left home because I felt I didn’t fit in, but really, I was running from God and church because I thought God was unfair. It took a navy chaplain to call me back to God and the church. Jonah seems like a pretty simple story, and at its heart, it is: God calls Jonah, Jonah hates the Ninevites so much he runs away, God makes Jonah go to Nineveh anyway and the Ninevites repent while Jonah has a hissy fit. God’s plan happens even though Jonah resists. But there are many layers in this story about Jonah and us, about God and his relationship to all people, and how Jesus is revealed over and over again.

There’s a lot of crazy stuff in this story of Jonah, beginning with the Lord coming to Jonah and telling him to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Jonah’s the only prophet ever called to go outside of Israel to the capital city of one of the cruelest empires ever. Assyria was extremely vicious and gory, cruel and obscene to their enemies. Israel’s one of their conquered nations and the Assyrians demanded heavy tribute payments that kept Israel poor and hurting. Even God says its wickedness has come up before me; the Bible’s way of saying that the people were being cruelly oppressed and crying for mercy and relief. God responds to such cries because he’s a compassionate God. The prophet Nahum also prophesied that God was going to destroy Nineveh, so why send Jonah?

Why not simply punish Nineveh? It doesn’t make sense to send Jonah. Jonah’s a Jewish patriot. In 2 Kings 14 Jonah supported King Jeroboam’s military campaign to extend Israel’s borders, “Jeroboam was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.” Going to Nineveh feels like a betrayal to his country, so Jonah heads in the opposite direction, heading west instead of east to Nineveh. This is huge because the sea is a place of chaos to the Jews, a place to be feared. Nineveh probably won’t listen to a Jewish prophet anyway and it could cost him his life. The sea isn’t any greater threat than Israel’s enemies. Why send a prophet unless God’s open to giving them a chance to repent and willing to forgive them? It’s crazy to give God’s people’s greatest oppressor an opportunity to escape punishment for the pain and suffering they’re causing.

Haven’t we often wondered why God doesn’t punish people who do wrong? Tim Keller writes, “Jonah doubts the goodness, wisdom and justice of God,” because Jonah senses that by sending him, God is opening the door to grace and mercy for the Ninevites, and that’s just not right or just in Jonah’s eyes. When we face painful times, don’t we sometimes doubt what God is doing, doubt that God knows best and can make good happen out of bad, as Paul writes in Romans 8. How often do we trust our own wisdom over God’s, believing God is holding out on us, like Adam and Eve did eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Can God really be merciful and still be just and faithful? These are hard questions and often we can’t understand why God does what he does, it takes faith and deep trust because these are theological and heart problems.

Jonah runs, but you can’t escape God. The Lord sends a great storm, a word-play on Nineveh being a great city. Both are dangerous places for Jonah. As Tim Keller says, our actions have consequences, sin has storms attached to it. Sometimes God acts and punishes directly, other times he allows the natural consequences of sin play out. Not all out storms are a direct result of our sin; for the sailors, the storm is a result of Jonah’s sin; God acting directly in the storm. The lots they cast to figure out who’s to blame for this God-strength storm point straight to Jonah.

Jonah cares nothing for the sailors’ safety, putting them at risk of God’s anger by getting on their ship, and yet here they are, doing everything they can to save his life. They turn to their gods to help them while Jonah is silent before God. The sailors are open to Jonah’s God even though Jonah is silent. Jonah refuses to use his faith for the common good even though they’re all in the same boat, all created in the image of God. A private faith has no public good; that’s still true today.

Life storms can be times when faith is grown, when trust, hope, patience, humility and other spiritual fruit can be developed in ways that times of calmness and peace can’t. In the storm, the sailors turn to Jonah’s God. Jonah refuses to go to pagans with God’s message, and here God uses even Jonah’s stubborn disobedience to lead pagans to himself. In this storm, even Jonah’s heart is transformed as he recognizes them as men together with him in the same situation instead of just gentiles. Jonah begins to take responsibility for the storm they’re in, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” It’s the same with us, when we start to see the people around us as people with stories and lives so similar to our own, we begin to connect deeper to them and our hearts become more open to being transformed by the Holy Spirit to care about them and wanting them to know Jesus because Jesus is the only way to God.

Jonah acts to save the sailors, telling them to cast him overboard and God will save them. Jonah’s a small reflection of Jesus who entered into the storm of sin to save us. In the darkness of sin’s storm, Jesus goes to the cross. He enters the darkness of sin into a time of tragedy, loss, and injustice to satisfy God’s justice, to pay the price and take the punishment for our sin on himself so that we can be right with God again. In the middle of that storm of sin, that time of darkness and despair, God’s mercy is at work, offering us forgiveness and pardon, satisfying the justice and faithfulness God demands because of our sin. In Jesus, justice and mercy come together.

The sailors finally throw Jonah overboard, but only after doing everything they could to save him. They sacrifice the one for the many, just like the high priest advises the Sanhedrin to do with Jesus hundreds of years later. Jesus uses what the sailors do to Jonah to respond to the religious leader who are asking for a miraculous sign from him, Matthew 12, “He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.”

Jesus points ahead to his death on the cross for our sin, using Jonah as an image of what death feels like. Jesus comes and preaches a message of repentance, offering an invitation to come back to God. Jesus gives up his life so that we can experience forgiveness and new life that is shaped by the grace and love of Jesus, a life that is dedicated to helping others come to know Jesus and his grace and forgiveness, the power that comes from the Holy Spirit to change the places we live to look more like the kingdom of heaven where people flourish, becoming the people God has created us to be, a kingdom where everyone is welcomed in, where friends and enemies sit together at Jesus’ table.  

Jonah is thrown overboard, the sea grows calm, the anger of God seen in the storm is turned aside. God provides a large fish to swallow Jonah. The pagan sailors sacrifice to Jonah’s God in fear and trembling. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” These pagan sailors have been shown who God is, the very thing Jonah is called to be doing to Nineveh, and he does God’s will anyway, even against though he was running away from it. God, in his grace, continues to draw people to him, even in our resistance. What is preventing you from telling others who you believe in, from inviting them to come to Bethel with you? The people of Lacombe are waiting for your invitation to come to get to know Jesus with you? Why would you be afraid to invite them?

Acts 2:1-21 What Does This Mean?

What do you think of when you think of Pentecost? Is it as special to you as Christmas or Easter, does it touch your heart like Good Friday services do? We often overlook Pentecost and yet Pentecost is the most exciting day of the year, it’s God coming close to us, sending his Spirit to live right inside each of us to keep us focused on Jesus and remind us of everything he taught and to reassure that we are blessed loved children of God. How more special can a day be?

It’s Pentecost today, 50 days after Easter and 10 days after Jesus returned to heaven, and today is the day the Holy Spirit was poured out into the world onto those who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Pentecost has been around for a lot longer than we realize. In Leviticus, the people of Israel are called to celebrate Pentecost, also called the Feast of Weeks. It comes 50 days after the Passover. It’s a harvest festival, celebrating God’s blessings on his people. On Pentecost, you bring 2 loaves of bread made from the first fruits of the wheat harvest and offer it to the Lord. It’s also a time to remember the gift of the giving of the 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai to the people to shape them into who God wants them to be as his people.

The time of waiting is over, the gift Jesus promised of his Spirit arrives in the blowing of a violent wind, with tongues of fire and the ability to speak in other languages. For the disciples and thousands of others there, it’s an echo of God’s presence at Mount Sinai where God meets his people after saving them from slavery and death by leading them through the waters of the Red Sea and destroying those who wanted to keep them in slavery. Exodus 19:16–18, ^“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.”

Pentecost has often been a day for doing baptism when we remember how God has saved us through Jesus, washing away our sins and leading us into new life in him from the things that we’ve become slaves to; how God comes close to meet us. This is why it’s so special to be able to celebrate Nicole’s baptism this morning. Pentecost in the New Testament brings in a new chapter in God’s work of saving his people and creation.

The apostles are touched by flames from heaven, filled with the Holy Spirit and they rush out into the streets. Words telling about Jesus flow out of their mouths like streams of living water, telling everyone around them about how God has sent his son Jesus to earth to bring us back to God the Father because our sin has built this barrier between us and God, a barrier that we can’t bring down ourselves because of our sin. The apostles remind the people how Jesus died on the cross, cursed for us so that our sins are paid for, washed away through the blood of Jesus and how Jesus rose from the grave and is now in heaven and now is pouring his Spirit on us to bring this good news to all people.

The covenant, that promise of a close relationship with God made at Mount Sinai, is renewed in our hearts as Jeremiah tells us in Jeremiah 31 is coming, “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

The people listening to the apostles are perplexed and amazed at what they’re hearing, especially since it doesn’t matter where they’re from, they’re hearing the apostles speak in their own languages. “What does this mean?” they ask. Now there are always mockers and they laugh, “They’ve had too much wine.” Peter turns to the crowd to explain what’s happening, he reminds them of what the prophet Joel said, “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

God’s Spirit is poured out into the world and it’s a life changing Spirit. It causes our sons and daughters to prophesy, to speak out what God is doing in our world, to see visions of what God is doing and how God is working in the world, building his kingdom here. I really appreciate how over the years it’s the young people and young adults who keep inspiring me through their dreams of what can be. You see only possibilities, something many people lose as they get older. Older people dream again, finding hope again, seeing the world with renewed eyes, seeing the potential in our world again, renewing their energy and passion again for God’s plans. God’s coming close to his people, revealing his presence in the world, reminding us that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, words of reassurance and grace.

What an exciting picture of the church! It’s not about committees and groups and meetings that make sure everything runs just so, it’s about dreaming, about training our eyes, ears and hearts to see where God is working and then dreaming how we can join him in reaching others, about coming alongside people and helping them to dream with the Holy Spirit, dream of full lives, of changed lives, of healthy communities that know Jesus and are helping each other reach for their potential, building each other up, being an encouraging community that lives well, forgives well, laughs and lives life well together in our day to day activities and work and study and play.

The picture is of the Holy Spirit flowing into the world like a river, pouring out of heaven and filling the earth. It’s a river we are part of, sometimes it’s an exciting white-water river ride, other times it’s a lazy river where people are refreshed and renewed, but either way, we’re in it! Dreaming and visions are not about the future, they’re about seeing right here where Jesus is at work around us and then dreaming of how we can join him, dreaming of what Jesus is making possible. Martin Luther King Jr dreamed of a time where all people would be seen as equal, where slave and free men could sit together and his children would be treated according to their character instead of their skin. It took hard work and great sacrifice, but it was a dream that was possible based on a changing culture.

Dreaming frees our imaginations so that we can see past “this is the way it is,’ to sense and see how God is pouring out his Spirit onto all people, including us. Dreaming helps us see how events and circumstances connect to God’s desires. We look backwards on Pentecost to Joel in order to see where God is found today. In Joel’s time, the people were drifting away from God, sound familiar, yet Joel comes to them with the news that God still wants a close relationship with them through his Spirit. Joel encourages, instead of condemns. Today, people still need encouragement rather than someone beating over the head because they’re not following God properly. Pentecost is about encouragement and excitement as God comes close to us through his Spirit, helping us to speak Jesus into peoples’ lives.

The pouring out of the Spirit, dreaming and vision making is not about making more church work, creating more programs or ministries, or getting busier. Pentecost is about learning to see what Jesus is already doing in your life and the lives of the people around you, helping them see Jesus. Backyard bbqs with friends or neighbours who are not connected to Jesus yet, ball games with your kids’ teams, relaxing on the beach with friends are all times where the Spirit can flow through you onto others. Dreams help us to see how this is possible, to see the opportunities that are here. Dream this summer, have visions about how Jesus can work here in our community, and allow the Spirit to use you to speak Jesus encouragingly into one person’s life this summer.

Acts 16:16-34 An Unexpected Convert

This morning we’re continuing the story we began looking at last week when Paul makes his way to Philippi in response to a vision where he meets Lydia who accepts Jesus. A bit of time has passed and Paul’s continuing to preach the good news of Jesus and inviting people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. One morning, as they’re heading to the place of prayer, they’re met by a female slave who has a spirit inside her that helps her predict the future. This means she and her owners are probably connected to the Temple of Apollo, the Olympian god of prophecy.

The slave girl follows Paul and the rest of his group, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most-High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” The spirit in the slave girl recognizes that they’re followers of Jesus, that their God is more powerful than the god she represents. This is what’s Ascension Day about; that Jesus returned to heaven and is now sitting on the throne beside his Father with all authority in heaven and earth given to him. You would think that Paul would appreciate the slave girl’s testimony, the affirmation from someone possessed by the spirit of one god affirming that your God is the greatest, but Paul gets annoyed with her, turns around and says to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately the spirit leaves the slave girl, she’s saved from the spirit through the power of Jesus. This is a god-level battle and Jesus wins hands down.

In this story though, there’s a sense that it’s not finished, there’s stuff left undone. I’ve so many questions still. Why doesn’t Paul free the slave girl from her masters, what happens to her, why doesn’t anyone seem to care about her afterwards? The slave girl’s freed from the spirit in her, but she’s still a slave girl and is worse off now than when she had the spirit in her. Her value’s much less now. We see this in how her owners act, they get ticked off at Paul and Silas; get them thrown in jail for “advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” There’s no mention of the slave girl, no concern for her knowing Jesus, for her soul, she was a nuisance now gone away. Heart and soul freedom are always connected to Jesus. So often, when we find relief from some struggle, we believe we’ve made it and yet many times there’s soul healing we forget to work on. The spirit may be gone, but the slave girl still needs soul healing but she’s overlooked, forgotten.

Paul and Silas get thrown into prison, placed in an inner cell with no windows or fresh air, and their feet placed in stocks so they can’t move around. Their freedom’s taken away. Justice isn’t the concern here. Rome has established the great Roman peace, the Pax Romana, but it’s a peace that’s simply an absence of conflict and they used brutal ways to keep the peace. Rome was a brutal master at times. Paul and Silas are stripped and beaten with rods; a punishment designed to intimidate them into silence. Just as Jesus was unjustly condemned and crucified because Pilate put justice aside for peace, now Paul and Silas are thrown in prison unjustly because the magistrates prefer peace over justice.

How would you react to such injustice? How do you react to any injustice against you today? Do you react in anger, do you whine and complain that life’s not fair and expect someone to step in and make things right, do you fight back? Paul and Silas go in a completely different direction, they pray and sing hymns to God while the other prisoners listen to them. This blows my mind! It’s probably not how I would react. While Paul and Silas sing and pray, the other prisoners listen to them, unlike the prisoners on the cross with Jesus who mock him instead, adding to Jesus’ pain as he suffers there for our sins to make things right between us in God. Rather than responding in gratitude, as we’re called to do, the prisoners on the cross add to Jesus’ suffering. Yet Jesus doesn’t fight back and this changes the heart of one of the prisoners, leading him to ask Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus reassures him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” An amazing response! How we react to injustice is noticed by the people around us. The cross changes things in a big way, it changes us and how we respond to the things of life, it frees us from lots of anger, bitterness and hatred that can wrap us in heavy chains.

Then the Lord steps in, there’s an earthquake that shakes the foundations of the prison and opens the prison doors. The prisoners have freedom staring them in the face, all they have to do is grab hold of it. The jailer wakes up, sees the prison doors open and knows he’s in deep trouble. Rome is an unforgiving master; the jailer knows this is going to cost him dearly and is about to kill himself to escape the harshness of the punishment that waits for him. The jailer is a slave to his fear, to the oppression that makes up the peace of Rome. What a difference from our master and Lord who offers freedom from fear, freedom to mess up and know that our master’s love is unconditional and his grace and peace is freely given. Before the jailer can take his own life, Paul shouts out, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!”

Paul and Silas’ response to injustice, their worship even while in chains has captivated the other prisoners so deeply that none of them flee even though the prison doors are open and they have the opportunity to flee. The jailer rushes in and falls trembling before Paul and Silas. He can’t believe what he sees and brings them out of the cell and asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” I wonder if he even knows what he’s asking for here. All he knows is that Paul and Silas have something that he needs, something that allows them to know peace in the middle of injustice, a peace very different from the peace of Rome. The jailer turns to the ones who, as the slave girl told everyone, “are servants of the Most-High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”

Paul and Silas talk to the jailer about this Jesus who is able to free the jailer from his fears, about what freedom looks like when you’re free from your sin, when your relationship with the Most-High God is made right again and you’re adopted as a child of God, so much better than being a child of Rome. Paul and Silas challenge the jailer to believe in Jesus as Lord over Caesar and trust in the peace and freedom of Jesus over the peace and freedom of Rome. The jailor takes them and washes their wounds, and then realizing that he can be freed from the fear he lives with under Rome, freedom from the guilt of the injustice he was so often a part of, he and his household are baptized, washed clean by the Holy Spirit and an unexpected convert is added to the growing church in Macedonia.

What’s keeping you from being completely free, what do you need to be saved from? The simple answer is sin, the more complex answer is recognizing the things that wrap us in chains, the things weight us down, the things we turn to for meaning, purpose, security other than Jesus. Many people today are slaves to anxiety and fear. Guilt wraps many in heavy chains. We’ve been told over and over that Jesus forgives us yet so many people never accept his forgiveness and guilt wraps them in its chains. Addictions to things like power, lust, drugs, alcohol, and pleasure wrap us tightly in chains while making us believe that we’re experiencing the best that life has to offer. But in the dark of night, our hearts know better.

Salvation is about so much more than forgiveness of our sin, it’s about freedom from fear and oppression, freedom to flourish and develop the potential within each of us. It’s about being able to live in shalom, the Jewish word for peace, in healthy relationships with God, each other, ourselves and creation. This is why Jesus returned to heaven after dying on the cross and being raised from the dead to wash away our sins, so that he could send the Holy Spirit to bring hope, peace, and transformation into our hearts in a personal and intimate way and save us from the anxieties, fears and soul oppression so many of us struggle with today.

Acts 16:6-15 Open to a New Direction

Do you know where Jesus is leading you, what his plans are for you for right now or in the future? How can you be sure that your plans for your life are Jesus’ plans for your life? As a church, we went through the Church Renewal journey for 2 years and a big part of church renewal is listening to God, to each other and to the community to figure out where Jesus is leading us. What did you hear and where are you praying for Jesus to lead Bethel or your own life? Jesus often leads us through our passions; the things that get our hearts and souls going and yet it’s also important to make sure that it’s Jesus we are following rather than us leading Jesus where we want to go.

Paul’s living out of his passion for Jesus. He’s travelling through Asia Minor, sharing the gospel and good news of Jesus everywhere he goes. The places Paul’s going to are places where he’s most comfortable because of his background and culture. He was raised as a Jew but, in his training, he was also influenced by Greek philosophical and rhetorical training. Paul wants to head to the northeast of Antioch into Asia, but is stopped by the Holy Spirit from going there. He heads to Troas on the coast and is then prompted by the Holy Spirit in a vision to go to Macedonia, into Europe, which is a different culture and place than Paul was planning on. Paul is being called to go in a new direction different from his plans.

I wonder sometimes what went through Paul’s head when he gets a vision to head to Macedonia? “God, I’m not ready to go there, I don’t really want to head there, what’s wrong with my plans? Do I have another choice, do I have to?” A question I keep asking myself is, “How open am I to changing direction and focus, both personally and as a pastor?” How open are we as Bethel to changing our focus and direction if Jesus leads us somewhere different from where we want to go? I love country music and one song that keeps challenging me is Carrie Underwood’s song, Jesus Take the Wheel. In the song, Carrie cries out to Jesus to take the wheel of her life after her life falls into chaos. Does Jesus have the wheel to Bethel’s car or have we placed Jesus in the passenger seat, offering directions but with no control over where we are heading?

Jesus creates opportunities for us to partner with him, has ways of opening doors and calling us to join him and do unexpected things for him and our community, to become a church and people that we might never have thought we could be. It begins with listening to Jesus and examining our passions for Bethel and for our community, looking at what the things that get our hearts beating faster because we can’t stand the way things are because they can be so much better, looking at ways of being a blessing that brings tears to our eyes because there are so many people around who are crying out for someone to see them, to hear their heart cries, to come alongside them to bring hope and relief.

Are we asking Jesus to create a passion in us for what he wants, for a desire to follow where he’s leading us? When we do, it often becomes clearer where Jesus is leading us. Yet, even if we’re not exactly sure where Jesus is leading us, we continue doing the work of blessing, of growing deeper in our faith, learning about Jesus and inviting others to join us in following Jesus as we continue the ministry we’re already doing.

As Paul listens for where Jesus is leading him, he keeps sharing the gospel wherever he is. Paul, with his friends and companions, head to the city of Samothrace and then to Neapolis and finally they end up in Philippi. Philippi’s an important city on a major trade route, meaning people from all over the empire could be found here. It was made a Roman colony by Augustus and given Roman rights and status, a huge honour. Here in Philippi, the Roman Empire was powerful and popular, a little bit of Rome in Macedonia. In this area, there are few Jewish people to be found, which meant Paul’s normal starting place for preaching the gospel, which was the synagogue, isn’t going to work here because there wasn’t one.

Paul waits until the Sabbath, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he makes his way to the river where he hopes to find a few Jewish people worshipping God and instead he finds a group of women. Again, imagine what Paul must be thinking, the vision he had was of a man from Macedonia and instead he finds a group of women. Among the women is Lydia, a follower of God and a dealer in purple dye from the city of Thyatira, a city from the area Paul has just come from in Asia. Paul has got to be confused, wondering if he understood the vision properly, but Paul trusts Jesus and shares the gospel with these women and the Lord opens Lydia’s heart to respond to Paul’s message. Here’s an echo back to the resurrection of Jesus where it’s the women who first meet Jesus and who then take the message to the rest of the disciples.

Paul’s expectations may be messed up, but the reality is that God often works in mysterious unexpected ways, using people and situations we would never think of to accomplish his plans. The Lord opens Lydia’s heart.  This is not a story of the first church in Europe, though Lydia’s home becomes the first church in Europe, but this is another story of how the Holy Spirit is crossing cultures and social boundaries to grow the church and God’s kingdom. It’s not about what we’re doing, it’s about what Jesus is doing.

Brian Peterson writes, “This text stresses that it is God who is in charge of the mission, God who sets the direction, and God who determines its results... Social and cultural barriers crumble, and this corner of the empire is beginning to be changed by God’s grace.” God’s mission moved forward because his followers listened to his moving and were willing to put God’s mission first over their own plans and desires. I don’t know yet what Jesus’ particular plan is for Bethel. There are many churches in Lacombe and the greater area, and there is a divine plan for each of us. How willing are we to take the time and put in the energy to listen to God in prayer, in taking a deep look at the passions that live in our hearts, souls and lives for Bethel and the people of Lacombe. We need to listen to each other, we need to listen to our community to hear the needs within our community so we’re able to bless them with acts of service and then offer invitations to join us, invitations based in shown love and concern for them. Eric Barreto writes, “learn to find opportunities to do God’s work in unexpected places.”

Jesus is all about people, he has placed us here to reach people. Jesus went to the cross, taking our sin, the sin we each do each day, to the cross to wash it away in his death. Jesus did this for people, not church projects, in order to draw us back to our heavenly father who loves us unconditionally and wants the world to know this. This love shapes our lives as we respond in love to God and offer our neighbours the greatest love we can give them, the love of Jesus.

Bill Hybel talks about a holy discontent, a discontent that lives inside because we can see that there are things that just shouldn’t be in. For Hybels it was the church’s lack of caring for the souls of those in his community, he couldn’t stand seeing churches meeting every Sunday and not caring enough for those who don’t yet know Jesus and taking the chance of rejection and inviting them to join them in their journey of following Jesus. He couldn’t stand seeing churches put more energy and passion into the colour of carpet for the sanctuary, or what brand of coffee for fellowship time after church than for their neighbours who desperately need to know Jesus.

Our main mission is to show the world who Jesus is and it begins with the people we already know. Who is Jesus leading us to, who are the people Jesus has placed in your life who need to see Jesus’ impact on your life, how he has transformed your life and who you are, who need to feel Jesus’ love through you, who need to hear an invitation to follow Jesus with you as you go through life and see how God’s story, your story and their stories are all intertwined in Jesus.

Acts 11:1-18 Who is In, Who is Out

Have you ever met someone really different from you and thought there’s no way you could ever have anything in common and then later discovered how wrong you were? We were in downtown Boston on a multi-church mission trip, walking through the parks and alleys offering food, personal hygiene products for the women, clean socks and underwear to the people living on the streets. The youth were encouraged to talk to the people they gave stuff to, introduce themselves, and ask them a few questions. We did this so the youth would recognize that these are real people, not just a project to get done, to see that homeless people have names and lives and families, and people who love them and are likely praying for them.

Suddenly one of the young men from another church came running up to me. I felt the adrenaline start pumping and I immediately looked where he had come from to see if I could see what the problem was. The young man excitedly called out, “Hey Pastor Jake, there’s a Christian here who’s on the street and he wants to meet you.” He led me to a young couple and their dog. It was pretty obvious that they’d been on the street for a while. What you first noticed was the tats that covered them, and that the man had been drinking or doing drugs. As we came up to them, the man got to his feet and grabbed me in a big smelly bear hug. Then he completely surprised me by praying a blessing over me for bringing our youth downtown and teaching them that the homeless people are real people and not just a good deed waiting to happen.

The couple believed in Jesus, but hadn’t been to church for a while. They mentioned the dirty looks they got when they went and never felt accepted or wanted. The young lady pulled out a small Bible from her backpack and said they read from it everyday and loved the stories about Jesus the most. They prayed for their friends on the street everyday. Later that evening, the mission team were all surprised that Christians could live on the streets and have drug or alcohol problems.

This is the same surprise the early Jewish believers experienced when they heard about Peter going into a Gentile’s house, eating with him and then baptizing him and his whole household! He’s not a Jew! How can Gentles be believers, it just can’t be, they’re not God’s chosen people. This is actually pretty common; it comes down to ‘them and us’ ways of thinking. Ever since Adam and Eve hid from God and put on clothes to hide their bodies from each other, we have created barriers between ourselves and others. Even Jesus faced this kind of thinking from Jewish leaders in Luke 5, “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Are there people in our city and area that deep down you think don’t really belong in church, that they can’t really become followers of Jesus because of how they live or because their values are different? We don’t want to say these things out loud, but these thoughts often float around in our heads.

Peter shares with them the story on how it all happened, how he had a vision from the Lord where a sheet came down from heaven filled with all kinds of animals, clean and unclean, meaning that the animals were now all unclean and unfit to eat. Peter’s horrified to hear a voice tell him to kill and eat and Peter replies in shock, “Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” This is a horrifying thought because this will make him unclean to God. The voice then tells Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This vision happens 2 more times. Then three men show up and Peter is told to go with them and they all end up in the house of a Gentile. Gentiles ate unclean food and while they might believe in Israel’s God, they were always kept at an arm’s length because they didn’t really belong because they weren’t one of God’s chosen special people. At best, they were second class followers of God.

The Lord’s words echo back to creation where God looks at everything he has made and it’s ‘good’ and even ‘very good.’ When we look at people with ‘them and us’ eyes, we stop seeing them as beloved of God, we stop seeing them as created in God’s image and it makes it harder to accept them with love because they’re not ‘us.’ Think about this a moment, God creates a creature in his own image, that reflects him, that gives creation a glimpse of who he is. There’s no human being on earth whom God doesn’t care for, whom God hasn’t invested himself in. What shocks the circumcised believers is not only that Peter ate with these Gentiles, but that Peter baptizes them. This means that they’re now ‘us’ and this isn’t the way things work. The Lord’s words, “Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean,” is how to look at people. Jesus cares so much for people, he dies for everyone, even though not everyone accepts his gift of grace, but Jesus still loves them deeply, as should we. That’s what drives us to invite others to join us in following Jesus and see people through the eyes of Jesus and the lens of grace.

The Lord’s words point to the cross and what Jesus has done for people everywhere. Jesus’ death was not just for the Jewish people, his shed blood washes all those who believe in him clean from their sins, bringing life transformation to all of us. John 3:16 is not just about Jewish people, but the invitation is to people from all nations. Paul reminds us in his first letter to Timothy that “the Lord desires that no one is lost and for all to be saved.” We see this is the life of Jesus. Jesus is all about people over status and issues. Think of the people Jesus reached out to, a Samaritan woman on the fringes of her village’s life, touching an unclean leper everyone else ran from, a woman caught in adultery, a thieving tax collector, among others. Let’s take a look at a video called The Mission of the Church.

When I was getting to know Bethel through the search process, I was touched by how you have embraced serving the people of Lacombe. I listened to many of you talk about those who come to Circle of Friends, your love for the youth and how our youth ministry reaches out to so many young people, I heard a desire to go deeper but were uncertain on how to take the next steps. Your hearts for people drew me and my family here, and I believe this is Jesus’ heart in you. Before the service began, we saw a video by Casting Crowns of a girl searching for belonging, for hope, after the service there will be a video by Tenille Townes called Somebody’s Daughter, encouraging us to see the people around us.

Tenille Townes wrote, “This song was inspired by a drive I took with my mom in Nashville. As we exited off the interstate, we saw a young girl holding a cardboard sign with shaky hands. We started having a conversation about her, about what her story might have looked like and all the steps and disappointing turns that could have led her to standing right there looking for change. I think there's a lot we can learn from a kid at a lemonade stand... and from thinking about the beginning of what everybody's story looks like. I don't know that we take time often enough to think about what could be going on in the people's lives around us or what their past might have looked like, but when we do, we realize we are all more alike than we know.”

Jesus’ mission is all about people, about going deeper in us, helping us through the Holy Spirit to become more and more who we’re created to be, but also to bring hope, compassion, forgiveness, grace, acceptance and hope into a world that desperately needs Jesus, even though many don’t even realize this. It begins by praying for people in your life right now who need Jesus and his family, who need us; asking for eyes to see them and ears to hear their needs, and hearts of compassion, putting aside our own wants and looking at them through the eyes of Jesus. Pray for opportunities to bless them, to get to know them and opportunities to invite them to join us in our own journey of following Jesus, remembering that they don’t have to do it alone, we do it together.

Acts 9:36-43 Death is Overcome

Last Sunday we had 3 men who are going  through the Teen Challenge program come to our church and share how Jesus and the faith based program for those committed to changing their lives after living in drug and alcohol addiction. A common theme in their stories was extreme loss and darkness in their lives before looking for new life. This is why I decided to reflect on the story of Tabitha's resurrection, a story based in community and faith in Jesus.

This morning we’ve had the privilege of hearing stories of life transformation in these men who have shared their stories of finding healing that is rooted in the power of Jesus. It’s easy to focus on the stories and on how the young men made their way through darkness and are now walking with hope and have really found new life. These men found healing, not because they were special, not because God has huge plans for them, but because Jesus entered their lives and the Holy Spirit is working in them. The power of their stories is how they point to Jesus who brings new life.

Tabitha is not healed because she’s a good person loved by lots of people. Plenty of good people die every day who do good and help others. Our temptation is to look at the person who’s healed and given life instead of who brings life and healing. The apostles are becoming known for their power, for having the same power to heal and do miracles that Jesus had. Now there’s a huge difference between healing someone and bringing them back from the dead, but the people care so deeply for Tabitha, that when she dies, they figure they’ve got nothing to lose by calling Peter and praying that just maybe, he can do something. They urge Peter, “Please come at once!” and Peter does.

Peter arrives and he’s taken upstairs and shown the robes and clothing that Tabitha had made. It’s like they’re trying to convince him that Tabitha’s worthy of a special miracle. Even her name, which means gazelle and refers to loveliness, seems to suggest that she’s special enough for such a miracle. Yet, as children of God, we’re all precious to him, all princesses and princes in his kingdom and worthy of healing and new life.

Peter sends everyone out of the room and gets down on his knees and prays in humility. He knows that he doesn’t have the power to heal or raise Tabitha from the dead in his own power, this can only come from Jesus who defeated death on the cross where he washed away our sin and claims victory over Satan and death, bringing new life to all those who believe in him. When Peter goes to his knees and prays for life for Tabitha, we hear echoes back to the Old Testament and Elisha raising a widow’s son from death into life in 2 Kings 4 through prayer. Elisha, like Peter, knows that the power of life comes from God, not from himself. Peter turns to the dead woman and says, “Tabitha, get up” and she does! It echoes back to Jesus’ raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead with the simple words, “My child, get up.” There’s no need for elaborate rituals or secret words or formulas, life comes from Jesus who is the Word of life.

Tabitha’s story comes as part of several new life stories that come all in a row: Saul’s conversion, Aeneas’ healing, Tabitha’s rising from the dead, and then Cornelius’ conversion. These all point us to different aspects of what new life in Jesus looks like and point us to what the kingdom of heaven’s all about. Tabitha’s new life is a glimpse of the resurrection life found in Jesus and what’s waiting for us after our death; resurrection life with Jesus. Tabitha’s resurrection was temporary; she died again as did Lazarus and others raised from the dead in Scripture, but we’re already experiencing resurrection life in Jesus that death cannot take away from us because death is now simply a doorway into eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. This is why we live with hope and in the new life found in Jesus.

Acts 9:1-19 Jesus Acts First

When did you become a follower of Jesus, or are you still trying to decide if you really want to commit yourself to him? Before you came into church, did you know Jesus or were you searching for something to help you get through life and just kind of found your way here? Who was a part of your making a decision for Jesus, what is it that caused you to start searching and led you here and to Jesus?

One thing we learn in Saul’s story is that Jesus begins working in our lives and hearts way before we make a decision to follow him and he leads us to the point where we choose him. Choosing Jesus is a real choice, but it doesn’t start with us, it starts with Jesus. Some of your stories are spectacular encounters with Jesus, but many of our stories are about a long journey of faith and obedience within a supportive family and church community who helped us get to know Jesus as young children. This is a blessing.

If you have a spectacular story of meeting Jesus, that often means that there was hurt and confusion in your life, perhaps loneliness as well. Some of you, you may even have grown up in the church, you pushed back against God, you may even be pushing back right now, but Jesus doesn’t give up and keeps coming after you even while he gives you room to figure things out. Many people don’t meet Jesus until later in life, there’s no age limit on meeting Jesus. Some of you may still be journeying towards making a commitment to following Jesus, but know that Jesus is always there.

Saul has a sudden meeting with Jesus, an unexpected meeting that changes Saul and leads him to accepting Jesus as his Lord. Even those who don’t follow Jesus use Saul’s life changing encounter with Jesus as an expression of a personal life changing moment; they call it a Damascus Road moment. Saul’s a Jesus hater, a passionate Jesus hater. His goal is to destroy Jesus’ followers. Saul admits it later in Acts 22, ^“I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,” and in Acts 26, “Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.”

Hatred’s a powerful emotion and Satan is able to use it to hurt and even destroy others. Hatred and fear often go hand in hand. Deep inside, many people fear Jesus and so react with anger against his followers. The church is also not immune to feeling hatred and fear, but our fear is often against those who believe differently than us. This is why Jesus sums up the law as “Love God with everything you are and have and love your neighbour as yourself.” After-all, we’re all created in the image of God, even those we don’t like, those we hate.

Jesus has plans for Saul, and so while Saul is travelling to Damascus to hunt down more followers of Jesus, Jesus sets up a meeting just outside of town. Here’s how Luke tells it, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Imagine what’s going on in Saul’s head, something weird is happening and he’s not sure what, but because Saul’s a well-educated Pharisee, a man who’s studied the Scriptures deeply, he realizes that this is a God moment. So, he asks, “Who are you, Lord?” Now imagine Saul’s shock and horror when he hears, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” Fear must be flooding into his heart and Saul doesn’t dare not do what Jesus says, but when he stands up to go into the city, Saul discovers he’s blind. He had been blind to who Jesus is, and now Saul’s blind to the world around him.

As Saul stumbles his way into the city and finds a place to stay, Jesus goes to meet someone else who’s going to impact Saul’s life. “In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Ananias isn’t all that excited about what Jesus has called him to do, but he’s obedient and goes and places his hands onto Saul’s eyes, and through the power of Jesus, heals Saul. He tells Saul who it is that he met outside Damascus, “Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Right away Saul can see again, and because he can see, we know that he is filled with the Holy Spirit, all because Jesus arranged a meeting on a dusty road outside of Damascus, a foreign city, an unexpected place. I’m guessing the only thing that gives Ananias any satisfaction in healing Saul is Jesus’ promise that Saul is going to suffer for Jesus’ name. I’m also guessing that Ananias must be wondering why Jesus would choose murderous Saul to be his chosen instrument.

Saul becomes a Jesus follower; he’s changes his mission in life from getting rid of all the Jesus followers and becomes one of the very people he hated so deeply. Saul’s a completely different person all because Jesus reaches out to him first. If Jesus would have waited for Saul to reach out to him, it would never have happened. There’s comfort and hope in knowing that Jesus reaches out to us first and that when we choose him, we’re responding to what he’s already doing in our hearts and lives. It means that we don’t have to worry about whether or not we can drift so far from God that we can lose our relationship with Jesus. Ephesians 1 reminds us that Jesus chose us already before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight, chose us to belong to him!

This is why the Canons of Dordt and our confessions are so important because they keep reminding us that God chooses us first and he will never let go of us. He may let us wander away for a while, but he draws us back again, the good shepherd comes after his wandering sheep. I know that because I was one of those sheep who had wandered away, but in the middle of the ocean God came to meet me again through the person of a ship’s chaplain.

This is more than head knowledge. When you’re crying into your pillow at night because one of your kids is a wandering sheep, we trust that Jesus will meet our kids and draw them back. Things like election and perseverance of the saints are doctrines of comfort and hope. Every time we see a baptism, we’re reminded that Jesus reaches down through the veil between heaven and earth and places his seal and claim on our children. It means that if you’re wondering if God could ever forgive you for the rotten things you’ve done, if he could ever love you in your addictions and brokenness, you can find hope and comfort in the knowledge that Jesus has already made the first step in coming after you and he’ll use the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and people who follow him to draw you to him, or back to him.

This is the message of the cross, that our sin is not enough to separate us from Jesus’ love, that his love and sacrifice washes away our sin and brings new life. Our circumstances may not change, by following Jesus we may even have to suffer for it, but Jesus will use even that to help others get to know him. Following Jesus, we gain a new family, new hope and new goals and a new identity: beloved children of God called to invite others to join us in following Jesus.