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TSP 5th Sunday of Easter
31 Plays26 days ago
Pastors Brandt and Hardaway discuss Stephen, the church's first martyr, from the Acts account.
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Transcript
Introduction and Prayer
00:00:00
Speaker
Greetings and welcome to this week's episode of this Sunday podcast where Dr. Phil Brandt and I, Pastor Matthew Arnaway, Pastor Dr. Phil Brandt and i Pastor Matthew Arnaway, take a look at the upcoming Sunday's readings as ah a way for us to help both the flock and the devotional life prepare for what they're getting ready to to hear and and learn from on Sunday morning, and then also for our fellow pastors to maybe have a chance to wrestle a little bit with the text. We are going to be looking at the readings, specifically the the reading of Acts from the fifth Sunday and of Easter before Phil takes over with giving us that reading. I'll open us up with the call it of the day for that Sunday.
00:00:52
Speaker
We pray. O God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will. Grant that we may love what you have commanded and desire what you promise, that among the many changes of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found.
00:01:08
Speaker
Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Amen.
Desiring God's Promises in a Mismatched World
00:01:18
Speaker
you
00:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, that that prayer has always intrigued me a little bit. I've i've always wondered, you know, ah how, what, we pray that we may desire what God promises.
00:01:33
Speaker
and And on one hand, that that seems rather obvious. But I really think that as we we cast ourselves out into the world, you know, as we look around the world around us, we cast our eyes out there and look, I i think there's a lot of people who aren't really all that excited about at least the way Christians have portrayed um, going to heaven, salvation, things like that. Is that even desirable for, for some people, you know, that, that, that, that sometimes God's vision for us is so at odds with our sinful reality that, you know, certainly the old sinner in us doesn't desire it. But, but I wonder if sometimes we don't need God's real help to even have our, our desire for heaven, our, our desire for his blessings.
00:02:21
Speaker
Um, uh, reoriented in a way so that we actually end up desiring those things instead of, instead of you know, maybe desiring.
00:02:32
Speaker
and And I think sometimes we we really sell God short and we we have small expectations of him, you know, that that we want we want a little salvation,
00:02:43
Speaker
Not the full deal. but Right. Well, it's Matthew 16, Jesus says, if anyone should follow after me, he should pick up his cross yeah along the way.
00:02:55
Speaker
and And when you get to that part of somebody learning about Christ, learning about living the Christian faith, wait a second, wait a second, no.
Perceptions of Heaven and Spiritual Blessings
00:03:04
Speaker
Take up a cross? Right. right but i I get that. I get that that people would not necessarily want to do the take up a cross in my and follow me bit. But I'm talking about you know God promises eternal life or God promises you know a sinless ah you know to freedom from sin. And I'm not so sure some people, you know i i I remember a a Gary Larson Farsight from many years ago when he portrayed this guy who was sitting on a cloud.
00:03:37
Speaker
You know you saw a harp laying there beside him, and and and he had his halo and his his set of angel wings, and and he and he's just sitting there saying, man, I really wish I had brought a magazine. but um yeah that that the what we put What we think of, you know that that going to heaven is going to church all time.
00:03:57
Speaker
Right. Well, John's Revelation. Yeah. Everybody standing at the throne of God singing. right that i That's it. A lot of people really struggle to desire with what what the promise there is talking about, at least the way they're perceiving it.
00:04:13
Speaker
Well, correct, correct. and But I mean, even for me, and this is someone with a ah choral music background in directing, like, that almost sounds boring. really ah Wait, wait, wait, that's all? Like, nothing else?
00:04:28
Speaker
Well, yeah, yeah. And and and i I think some of it is is our own failures to imagine and and and and apprehend what what it is that God is really saying. But but I think, too, um you know we've become so inculturated, and we've kind of turned sin into the fun that that I think a lot of people really do struggle to desire what it is that God is promising us, because God is promising us a life free from that. Now, think we we can we can easily talk about, well, yeah, sin means that you know no more hurt, no more pain, all that. That sounds good, but yet
00:05:03
Speaker
for a lot of people, there's also this sense that I don't know that that's really what what I want.
Acts 6-7: Stephen's Faith and Martyrdom
00:05:09
Speaker
Yes.
00:05:11
Speaker
Let's get into the text for this Sunday. worry enough Sounds good. We're in Acts chapter 6 and 7. um And it starts off with the ah the account of what's going on in this early church. And and here, after several chapters of of the of the disciples being persecuted a little bit, the ah the the people of... um The people of, a ah you know, the the the Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin, are sometimes beating them. They're imprisoning them. You've some things like that. But you you you always get this sense that the church itself is is one thing. It's with one voice.
00:05:54
Speaker
In chapter 6, Luke introduces us to the idea that there are there are tensions and dissensions inside the body itself. and and But what's interesting is how they resolve.
00:06:07
Speaker
and and how they deal with that. um Jesus hasn't stopped collecting sinners, ah and and what do you know? They're there. there In those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
00:06:28
Speaker
And the 12 summoned the full number of the disciples and said, it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
00:06:45
Speaker
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. What they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch,
00:07:06
Speaker
These they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands upon them. And the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests because became obedient to the faith.
00:07:24
Speaker
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
00:07:32
Speaker
Right here, Our text takes a little break for us. We skip over a few things. um And we learn in the intervening verses that that some people have problems with what Stephen is doing.
00:07:47
Speaker
um And they they raise up a ah mob against him and they they haul him in front of the Sanhedrin. Our text picks up within with Stephen's defense or Stephen's proclamation to the people in the Sanhedrin and to this group of of of Jewish people from these various synagogues who have come and and and seized him.
00:08:09
Speaker
And he says, brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. And he goes on then to tell this long history of the ah of the of the of the people of Israel and God's relationship to them and of God's kind of continuing frustration with them and how they have for a long time been in a problematic relationship with God.
00:08:41
Speaker
And that goes on. That is actually the longest speech in the entire book of Acts. Acts has a lot of little speeches by various people, sermons, ah This is the biggest one. And it goes to this long catalog of of how the people of God, or how the people of Israel have been unfaithful and how God has been faithful throughout it.
00:09:07
Speaker
um But then we come to the end of this this piece. And I'm going to back up just a little bit here and give us a little more of it because I think this is kind of really kind of important.
00:09:20
Speaker
Our fathers had the tent of witness. And I'm going i'm starting here ah at at verse 44. Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers, in turn, thought it brought brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before the naep our fathers.
00:09:41
Speaker
So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked for a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what place of my rest?
00:10:03
Speaker
do not does not Did not my hand make all these things? You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.
00:10:16
Speaker
As your fathers did, so do you. which the prophets did your fathers which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
00:10:39
Speaker
Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged.
00:10:45
Speaker
And they ground their teeth at him, But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Presence of Jesus in Triumph and Suffering
00:11:01
Speaker
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
00:11:15
Speaker
And as they were stoning Stephen, and he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
00:11:27
Speaker
And when he had said this, he fell asleep and saw the fruit of his execution.
00:11:38
Speaker
Seems like a strange story for Easter, doesn't it? I mean, in one sense.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah, you've got...
00:11:51
Speaker
we we We're not that far removed from rejoicing that he is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Yes.
00:12:01
Speaker
And it's like, okay, jesus Jesus defeated death. God has destroyed our enemy. And yet here we see this faithful servant of Christ.
00:12:11
Speaker
um you know Jesus is standing there at the right hand of the throne of God. Why doesn't he do something of And poor Stephen is seized by this mob. He's dragged out. It's a lynch mob, really. He's seized by a lynch mob of people. He's dragged out of the city.
00:12:29
Speaker
and And he is brutally murdered. And you're going, Jesus, where are you in this? but why why Why aren't you showing up for us here?
00:12:42
Speaker
And I think, you know, Luke... Luke almost never talks directly to the to the reader. mean, after that first few verses at the beginning of the book of Acts, he never talks directly to the reader. He really narrates this narrative this story, this narration of the of the events, and and he kind of expects you to make some conclusions out of this.
00:13:07
Speaker
he He actually has a fairly, i think, of a high regard for, um a high expectation of his readers. and and And here I think he's making a high expectation of us a little bit. and And sometimes it would be easy for us to kind of miss it.
00:13:23
Speaker
but But I think what he's saying is, you know, he's answering that question, where's Jesus? and and and his And his answer to it really is that Jesus is in Stephen.
00:13:37
Speaker
Because at the end of it, Stephen dies with Jesus' words on his lips. he He dies saying the same things Jesus did when Jesus died.
00:13:49
Speaker
Receive my spirit. Father, forgive them. Those are right from the cross. Those are the very words hes he said at the cross. And so I think i think that that one of the things that that Luke is doing with this text for us is he's saying, you know, if if you want to see Jesus, yes, as Stephen did, you you get a vision. Jesus is in heaven.
00:14:14
Speaker
Jesus is at the right hand of the throne of God. That means he's got all the power, all the authority. he's He holds that that place. But the other place to look for Jesus is also in the very people you see around you who are doing the Jesus thing.
00:14:33
Speaker
and in this case, it's Stephen dying at the hands of the very same people who killed Jesus and dying with the very same words,
00:14:44
Speaker
on on his lips that Jesus had. And so I think it's it's really, you get this really interesting juxtaposition of these two visions of Jesus, and that is that that he is he is there and he's right here.
00:15:04
Speaker
it's It's not an either or. It really is a both and. and that that that Christ our Lord holds all this authority and power and all of those things, and yet he is still in his people and even and and not always in the you know the the outpoured Holy Spirit on Pentecost with Peter as he's preaching these these amazing words or as he's standing up to the Sanhedrin as we've seen in some of the past weeks here or or as he has been preaching.
00:15:38
Speaker
but also in the dying and in the suffering and and the like. And yeah if if you keep reading for just a few more chapters, you you get the the to his confrontation with Saul on the road to Damascus. And he says, you know, not why are you persecuting my people? But again, why are you persecuting me? And and there's Jesus. Jesus is found in his suffering people and in his his his courageous, brave, and successful people, like Peter baptizing 3,000 people that very first day um that that we had we had just a couple weeks ago.
00:16:26
Speaker
Our promise is an eternity with Christ, And God the Father, obviously, Holy Spirit, but that that eternity without sin, without pain, without suffering, all too often we
00:16:51
Speaker
I think we we, I know we naturally hope that we'll get to experience at least a little bit of life before we die. Mm-hmm. And that's not necessarily ever promised. If anything, it's it's what it's that while you are going through the suffering in life, Jesus is there.
00:17:13
Speaker
You aren't alone, even in those midst of times where you feel like you're alone. i promise I'm going to be here. and And life, I do firmly believe is better the more that we get to live it in the faith.
00:17:30
Speaker
no Forgiveness is, okay, that's huge to be able to experience that and share that. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to suffer.
00:17:40
Speaker
a
00:17:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i mean that the that that ah ah when when Christ says he comes and lives among us, he's he's He's bringing the whole package.
00:17:58
Speaker
Yes. And yes, this is the Jesus who healed the sick and raised the dead and calmed the storm, but it's also the Jesus who suffered and who died.
00:18:10
Speaker
And ah ah when when we experience the the presence of Christ, that's the Christ we experience. And, you know, and and so when When God promises us, I will be with you. When Jesus promises us, I will be with you.
Christianity and Suffering: A Unique Perspective
00:18:26
Speaker
It can be hard to, know, I'd like to be able to pick and choose the parts of Jesus that I get to experience. I would like to have them. But we don't get to.
00:18:40
Speaker
We don't get to. And so i think here's one of those places where we we need God to help us sometimes to desire this Jesus to be with us. Yes.
00:18:52
Speaker
At the same time, many other worldviews that, you know, different faiths, different religions, speaking are you what they actually are on another podcast another day.
00:19:08
Speaker
But for so many of them, the, the focal point of the believer's life and where they're placing or shape who they're or what they're shaking the world be around is someone that is distant and far off, has already attained this this level of perfection or or deity is um deism that they're promised thing that you would be able to get, but they they don't with you. Mm-hmm.
00:19:37
Speaker
they don't live with you that they're not there with you. it is you are far away from me because you are imperfect. And once you become perfect, then you may evening come and be in my presence.
00:19:52
Speaker
and So Jesus is not that is the the exact opposite. great I came here to experience what you experience.
00:20:03
Speaker
Well, and not only to experience it, but I think to take that, that, that, that experience which which because of sin involves suffering and to actually turn that into the redemptive method.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yes. um that That salvation doesn't come by God by god removing suffering.
00:20:27
Speaker
No. Salvation came on the day Jesus died on a cross, horribly, ah painfully, excruciatingly crucified. that and and and I mean, you you bring up this this question of a little bit of comparative religions with this, and and and that's a very interesting question to ask about that because and because ah yeah if if you look at the other major world religions, one way to differentiate between them all is is on this whole question of suffering.
00:20:58
Speaker
mean, if if you if you um ask a Hindu, all right, and who who believes in the in reincarnation and dharma and all of these things. It it believes there is sort of a cosmic justice system and that um And that the the person who is who leads a good life may not experience the bennies in this life, but in the next go around will.
00:21:21
Speaker
And conversely, the person who is leading the unjust evil life now in the next life will will experience justice. And so they they their their idea is that that in this in this world, if I'm suffering, that's probably got something to do with with justice.
00:21:40
Speaker
that That suffering is always connected. And and by having this sort of this endless cycle of of living, that one that that that the justice system works out.
00:21:51
Speaker
And it is just in in that worldview. That's how they see that. um Buddhism, on the other hand, says that, you know, the fact that I'm suffering simply means I've not distanced myself adequately from my affections, my my my desires.
00:22:06
Speaker
And so when I achieve that perfect state where I'm no longer... bothered by any of this suffering. I achieved kind of a nirvana sort of state. um Islam simply says, well, it's God's will.
00:22:21
Speaker
and And you just got that. and and ah and And it's really Christianity takes a very different take on that. And and then it says a suffering that god doesn't God doesn't, you're right, sit up in heaven looking down and do something about suffering. God enters into and enters into the suffering itself.
00:22:40
Speaker
And he he he makes suffering redemptive in that sense.
Narrative-Driven Discussions and Spiritual Reflection
00:22:45
Speaker
And he and he and he changes he changes our whole attitude toward it. Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings.
00:22:53
Speaker
um And that that becomes kind of the hard sell once in a while in terms of, God, help me like what you desire or desire what you promise. Help me desire that.
00:23:05
Speaker
um Because that can be hard. Let's just be honest. That's a hard thing to do. but At the same time, you can talk to many a ah health professional.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah. I'll be even more specific. um Hospice nurses. Yeah. And doctors that walk individuals through those last stages of life. And and this is anecdotal evidence. ah um I'm not quoting anybody. and I don't have data to prove it.
00:23:34
Speaker
But The number of times where they can tell that someone who they were able to see living out their Christian faith, the process going so much more smoother and more relaxed compared to somebody who did not have that faith.
00:23:53
Speaker
And it's like hands down, the only way only thing that can be is that Jesus is with them. Yep. In the midst of of the worst suffering that you know all of us most likely will face or experience,
00:24:10
Speaker
hundred we don't want to, but we're going to. And we had the promise that Jesus is going to be with us. And he continues to be with us.
00:24:22
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. got And and that and that that that this suffering doesn't mean God hates me. This suffering isn't punishment. This suffering isn't isn't simply and merely the consequence of of what of of this sinful, broken world of which I participate. I'm a part of it. My sin is part of that, and I'm i'm partially responsible for it. Sometimes I'm not. Sometimes it's somebody else's sin coming down on me. All of that gets just kind of taken out. it it It doesn't that it's completely removed from all of those equations. Consequences are still real. But now that suffering has been incorporated together,
00:25:00
Speaker
into Christ himself. and and And I think that's what this this final scene, which is so powerful of Stephen's martyrdom, is is what is what Luke is trying to communicate to us. He's narrativized it. He's put it into the story. He doesn't turn to us at that point and say, see, this is what this means.
00:25:24
Speaker
he He, I think, is is an absolute genius in that he wants, you know, He wants the two of us to be having this conversation 22,000 years later because because he knows that the that the story is going to be that kind of potent and be able to um elicit these kinds of these kind of kinds of conversations among Christian people to this day and that that's really what
Learning from Early Church Practices
00:25:47
Speaker
he's after. If you would have just told us what it meant, we would have said, okay, check that box off, we're done.
00:25:53
Speaker
But but the the very act of of having the conversation and and needing to kind of wrestle our way to it is, is, is, has value in and of itself is is valuable by all by itself.
00:26:07
Speaker
So I want to go back a little bit and look at the first part of it, because I think Luke narrative is another thing uh, to talk about here. um you know, and we we get this We get these words, you like at the end of Galatians, and we get it in Romans, and we get it other places in in the in the epistles where where the where the writer enjoins us you know to maintain the bond of peace, you know to to to work hard at at keeping the bond of of the fellowship together.
00:26:43
Speaker
And and what what I really love about the first part of this reading is that we watched that happen.
00:26:51
Speaker
we watch We watch the early community acknowledge. we we're we're not always We're not always coming together and yeah and and singing Kumbaya, but but what were're that sometimes we had disagreements.
00:27:08
Speaker
and And yet what you have modeled here is a solution, is is a way forward, is the are people who are striving to maintain the bond of peace.
00:27:21
Speaker
and and And to do that means you are you're working at it. And so what what I thought was really interesting is is that that, again, Luke doesn't tell you this is what he's trying to say, but I think this is what he's trying to say, is that that we that that that there's a way to do this. And so you've got these these two groups of people that that are there's ah there's a dissension arising.
00:27:46
Speaker
um We think that these are not actually a Greek versus Jewish widows. These are probably Greek-speaking widows versus Hebrew-speaking widows.
00:27:59
Speaker
We think they're all Jewish. okay they're all They're all still first-generation Jewish Christians in in Jerusalem. But we know that at this time, there were a fair number of of Jewish people that had been in the diaspora throughout the Mediterranean basin, a lot of them in Egypt, some of them up in up in Asia Minor, as far away as Rome, that um had come back two the come back to Jerusalem. They had come back probably for religious reasons. These are probably kind of religiously charged people.
00:28:38
Speaker
They are probably people who are very devout. And it appears that the early Christians were drawing from both the native Jewish people that would have been speaking Hebrew, Aramaic, and from these returnees from the Jewish diaspora.
00:29:02
Speaker
And that they were perceiving that there was some inequity between the distribution of food to the poor widows of the between the the Hebrew speaking and the Greek speaking community. And and they said, hey, that's not fair.
00:29:20
Speaker
they were raising They were raising an issue. um
00:29:30
Speaker
Congregations sometimes have disagreements. but See, it's the part that they they try to to teach you in seminary, but you can't. Can't really do it until you actually speak. Exactly. You can't do it until you're in the church. yeah and and the and And always the issue then becomes, well, how are we going to solve it? I mean, if again, if you go just looking at you know Paul, you he talks about appears that the people in Corinth were trying to solve problems by suing each other in in civil courts.
00:30:00
Speaker
which was the Roman way to solve the problem. You brought your case before an arbiter, that arbiter solved ah that arbiter rendered a decision. um And it is one way to solve the problem.
00:30:13
Speaker
But Paul said, no, I think we do this differently. And and I think what you're seeing here is is you're seeing Luke narrativize, put into a story form, that theology of here's how we do it different.
00:30:28
Speaker
And that that and And you'll notice, what what do they do with this? Well, they they first of all, they don't really pull an authority card. it sounds a little like they do, but they don't.
00:30:40
Speaker
um The disciples come together and they say, well, this is bigger than what we really ought to be this is different than what we really ought to be doing. um I think a lot of times we hear that, you know, it wouldn't be good for us to neglect the preaching of the word and the ministry of the word for the wait on tables as if this is beneath them.
00:30:58
Speaker
I don't think that's quite when you when you read that carefully. I don't think that's really what they're what they're seeing. um I think what they're really saying is that that we need help.
00:31:10
Speaker
And so ah choose from among yourselves. Notice the apostles don't do the choosing. The apostles come to the community and they say, choose from among yourselves. find seven people Find some people who you deem to be filled with the Spirit, have the aptitude, have the gifts. You choose some people.
00:31:32
Speaker
right We will confirm that. And let's let them take care of this. Notice... that this isn't some hierarchical message from above that's that's coming down and saying, well, here's the here's the solution to the widow problem. They don't have the solution to the widow problem.
00:31:50
Speaker
They don't know what it is. And they're asking the community to appoint people to solve the problem. and The pastor's not supposed to have the answers to everything.
00:32:01
Speaker
Well, not only the pastor, but the, you know, that synod the synod. Well, right. Right. the the district president, the certain visitor, or or a bishop, or whatever it is you want to call it, you know, that that that what what you had was, and and and think about what it takes to make that work.
00:32:20
Speaker
You've got to have people coming together of goodwill. and You have to have people coming who want to solve the problem. You know, it doesn't work if you have people who want to fight.
00:32:32
Speaker
If you have people who want to fight, they're just simply going to take the fight now into the into the new process. but But when you have people who want to solve the problem, but people who are who are of a goodwill, who are are coming with with ah honest and genuine intent to say, i want to i want to, we need to feed these widows. We want to need to do this equitably. We need to make sure everybody's getting what they, you know, what what what what what we have to give, that we're not favoring some over another.
00:33:03
Speaker
Yeah, you have a way to solve the problem this way. and and and And it's really to me amazing that the that the leadership of the of the early Christian church from the very beginning is is kind of doing this quite...
00:33:19
Speaker
I don't want to say democratically because I don't think that's quite the the right way to say it. But I think they're doing this in ah in consensually, maybe it would be a way to think about it. They're doing it with a consensus model. um they're certainly They're certainly empowering the people to be able to be a part of solving this problem.
00:33:41
Speaker
and And they're kind of looking around the room and saying, I'll bet you the Holy Spirit has called somebody here who can Who can do this? And that somebody isn't necessarily me.
00:33:54
Speaker
you know they're They're looking for the
00:33:59
Speaker
spirit-driven solution, and they're looking out into the people of God, and they're saying, God, that that Holy Spirit is poured out here too. and And I think that's actually really important um for for for Christians to remember that this is this that that that this is the way the early church did this. Now, it's not the only way to solve a problem.
00:34:25
Speaker
and and And the text of Acts isn't given to us to be a sort of paradigmatic or a a a prescriptive way. This is the only way to do it. Because we're going to notice that in other places, different solutions come through different mechanisms.
00:34:43
Speaker
But I think it's really important that that in this first instance, that Luke raises up the issue the the possibility that you have a ah community of people who are who are, you know, have a dissension, that they have they have disagreement among them, that that they actually end up solving this problem by asking who the spirit has been given to and, and and taking people who they recognize, they, they discern the the presence of the spirit among them. They discern leadership and all of those things. And they say, here, these guys.
00:35:24
Speaker
And, and it is very interesting that the list of names that they give are In fact, one of them, in fact, is ah is a proselyte from Antioch. but But the names are all largely kind of Greek names.
00:35:38
Speaker
Not all of them, but they're they're largely Greek in know origin. and And that suggests that they were part of that that diaspora community coming back. that the That the prejudice, if you will, that the that the people were but raising, that the the issue of prejudice, that they they seem to have they seem to have actually not allowed that external that external social reality inside this decision-making process.
00:36:09
Speaker
and And I think that's one of the great challenges for Christianity today, is that we are being pressured by our world around us, as we have been in every generation, we're being pressured by the world around us to to take the problem-solving techniques of the world and migrate them right into the community of faith.
00:36:34
Speaker
And, you know, whether that is whether that is the yeah you know the the power ah domination model that you have, whether it is an arbitration model that might be floating around out there, might be some other means to solve problems. um and And, I mean, I think maybe early Missouri Synod kind of did democracy as a problem solver.
00:36:58
Speaker
And it's not that any of the problems by in and of themselves ken are are always a problem, or the solution the mechanisms, but that but that that what what you what I think I read in this text is that they were they were saying, we're going to solve this spirit first.
00:37:17
Speaker
We're going to solve this as brothers and sisters in Christ first. That's how we're going to do this. um You know, I mean, i i think a lot of times...
00:37:30
Speaker
you know ah we we forget that that you know congregational constitutions and even synodical constitutions and bylaws are really designed for like 1% of the time.
00:37:47
Speaker
And that the other 98, 99% of the time is really to be driven by the mutual love and the Holy Spirit and the and the and the realities of of what Christ has done for us.
00:38:01
Speaker
um and and And I think too often we we really allow the world into our into our fellowship by by really resorting to these power-driven and consequence-driven solutions that make sense contractually, that make sense in a bylaw sense.
00:38:26
Speaker
But how do you you cannot legislate and you cannot really write into a bylaw, you know, the love that Christ has poured into a person's heart.
00:38:39
Speaker
So you're saying that in some of our divine services, we have a moment where we share the peace of Christ.
00:38:51
Speaker
You're saying we should also do that before council meetings and voters meetings? Yeah. Yeah. yeah I actually think it might be more prudent to do it there than in the middle of church.
00:39:03
Speaker
who I mean, I'm not opposed to doing it church, but a if you have a complaint against your brother, the middle of worship service probably isn't the best time to start hashing it out. Probably not.
00:39:18
Speaker
Probably not. and yeah And depending on on how serious the the problem is or or the hurts are potentially between the two sides, they're going to avoid each other, even if they're sitting right next to each other in the same pew.
00:39:33
Speaker
Okay, I'm actually going to get out of my pew and go share the peace of Christ with my buddy every year. But if we did it, maybe I'll just do it but I had that mindset.
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah. no No matter what your your church governance looks like. If you you have every time you have one of those types of meetings or gatherings, build that in as a practice.
00:39:58
Speaker
Yep. Yep. I've got, can you tell I've got church council tonight? I, one, one of the, uh, one, one of my, my favorite memories of pastoral ministry was with one of my prior parents, we were, uh, approached by our neighbor and, with a rather complicated arrangement regarding a parking lot.
00:40:21
Speaker
All right. They wanted to use it. They were going to buy part of it. They were going to sell us another parcel of land. We were going to do it kind of a land swap so that they could, they would take, it it was really complicated. and ah ah And, and there were lots of people who had kind of strong feelings on either side, whether we should trust this guy, whether we should not trust him, whether we should retain this. And ah ah they ended up actually not doing it.
00:40:47
Speaker
um but but I said, listen, my job as the pastor in this whole situation is not to make this decision. That's yours as a congregation to make. that's that's you're the The congregation itself is the owner of this piece of property. My job here is to is to remind you time and again throughout this conversation, it's only a parking lot.
Faith in Community and Gratitude
00:41:13
Speaker
and And so I had this little litany that I would I would at certain points when this conversation started getting really hot, I would stand up and I'd have my little sign and I'd hold it up and and they would all have to repeat after me. It's only parking lot.
00:41:28
Speaker
Right. And no one is going to heaven or hell over a parking lot. and and and and and And to take that conversation and put it into kind of its own,
00:41:41
Speaker
context a little bit to take make it to because you know when you get when you're talking about money and things that are important to people they can get really really hot about it yeah and and to say yeah this isn't actually as big as the love that Christ has for that person sitting over there that's a forgiven brother and sister in Christ um that this whole room is full of them and I'm not going to lose sight of that it's only a part but and that i part but we
00:42:13
Speaker
but buts a while works yeah no but But yeah, I thought that this this this first little part of it, you know, where where where they they chose these deacons to serve in this role, and ah ah and that that that that worked. And and i think Luke kind of affirms it in that very next verse there where he says, and the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly.
00:42:43
Speaker
You know, that that here you had this, this that that here were these people who solved a problem, and that that actually resulted in people hearing that, you know, people the the growth of the Word of God.
00:42:57
Speaker
and Right. and and that a great And I love it, that a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Yes. and And for me, this is key to...
00:43:11
Speaker
going back to when the 12 disciples realized, you know, the church still needs the word of God. yeah And this is early on in the Christian church. We're still trying to figure some of this stuff out. sure And if we start, we need to be doing this so that when this problem or this concern or this issue gets taken care of, people still have the word of God to come back to.
00:43:40
Speaker
the And they came back to it because like the the the word of God continued to increase, which means it wasn't just that, hey, this is the place where we love each other and we give everybody, everything's in common with one another. and oh, look, we had this little tiff and we fixed it and and life's just grand. And and that's why we increased.
00:44:07
Speaker
Almost the feel good church. No, no, it increased because they were they were listening to and devoting themselves to the word of God and to prayer. It's a living in the peace that Christ gives.
00:44:20
Speaker
Then responding to the conflict inside of that and then going back to where they really needed to continue to be focused. ah oh man there's so many so many different times i mean personally or or just in different parishes that I've served in where the issue and issue can get so big or or so consume so much of what's going on inside my head you forget to stay stay studying the word of God right but
00:44:55
Speaker
absolutely and and I you're right and I i think that that we we have this this real penchant for for just getting distracted by this. And I think what Luke is really trying to do here is keep us focused, stay where we are.
00:45:11
Speaker
Thank you, Luke. So mean I think this text has as has really amazing, has two different big things going on in here. um you One of them is this this thing about about the the the community that's there. And then the other one, of course, is this amazing vision that that that Stephen has at the end and in in his his faithful his faithful ah vision of Christ and and his faith to Christ to have those words of Christ on his lips as he dies. you know
00:45:42
Speaker
and and And I think what's what i what I love about it is that this text brings, this this reading brings both of these things together. And notice is that Christ is present in his people.
00:45:54
Speaker
Christ was present in that community that was solving its problems. And Christ was present in that Stephen was dying for his witness.
00:46:07
Speaker
And and that that both of them are places where we find Jesus and we see Jesus at work. um And so, you know, it's Easter time.
00:46:22
Speaker
Christ is risen from the dead. Jesus, he is risen. Hallelujah. Yeah, what's doing? Where is he right now? What's he up to these days? um and And I think what Acts is really good about doing is she he's still there. He's he's he's in a among, he's in those council meetings, those those ah those voters meetings when when people are solving hard problems. Jesus is right there.
00:46:45
Speaker
He's with them. um he's He's with us every day and he's even in those places of extreme conflict where where people are are picking up stones and they are slaying the people of God for their witness. Yet Jesus is there too.
00:47:00
Speaker
Jesus never, you know, he's keeping that promise he made at the end of of Matthew. I am with you always to the very end of this earth that you will never go anywhere.
00:47:11
Speaker
You won't find me right there with you. And And I think this is a really cool text for these two different things You have this kind of mundane problem of of, okay, how are we going to how are we going to distribute the how we going to sweet the food offering, you know, the the food painting?
00:47:29
Speaker
and And what's going to happen when they when they when the mob grabs him and hauls him out of town and kills him? um One is this super dramatic martyrdom. And the other one is this rather mundane, everyday sort of problem.
00:47:44
Speaker
They both involve the presence of Christ. Right. Sermon title, Jesus in the mundane and in the mob.
00:47:56
Speaker
english Depending on what region of the country you live in with the mob. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could go either way. Yeah.
00:48:09
Speaker
Awesome. Well, thank you, Phil. This has been amazing. as As every week has been. I've enjoyed it immensely. These are these know wonderful conversations.
00:48:21
Speaker
Thank you very much, Matthew. you're You're more than welcome. And until next time. Yeah. God bless everybody.