Sermon for June 12th, 2016
Acts 16:9-15
9During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. 11We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
First Church: Come Over and Help Us
The story is told of a lady who was rather old fashioned, always quite delicate and elegant, especially in her language. After years of persuasion, her less-than-elegant husband finally convinced her to accompany him on a camping trip, so she wrote an email to the campground where they would be staying, asking for a reservation. She wanted to make sure the campground was equipped with what you and I would call a "Porta-Potty." However, she just couldn't bring herself to write the word "potty" in her letter. After much deliberation, she finally came up with the more refined sounding "Portable Commode," but when she wrote that down, she thought even that was too much. So she started all over again, rewrote the entire letter and this time referred to the portable commode merely as the "PC". "Does the campground have a nearby PC?" is what she actually wrote.
Well, the campground owner wasn't old-fashioned at all and when he got the email, he just couldn't figure out what the woman was talking about. That "PC" business really stumped him. After worrying about it for awhile he showed the email to several campers, but they couldn't figure out what the lady meant either. So the campground owner finally came to the conclusion that this obviously refined lady must be asking about the local Presbyterian Church. He sat down and replied to her email as follows...
"Dear Madam, I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take great pleasure in informing you that a PC is located nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away, if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it.
They usually arrive early and stay late. It is such a beautiful facility and the acoustics are marvelous; even the faintest sounds can be heard throughout the facility. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. I would like to say it pains me very much not being able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks (remember, this is a very friendly community)."
Going strange new places and meeting new people with strange customs is certainly a theme in today's scripture passage.
In our story of the very first church in the first century, last week our hero, the Apostle Paul, split up with his mentor and long-time partner Barnabas, and struck out in a new direction. Things immediately get worse. Listen to the two verses right before today's reading:
"6They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas."
There are several places in the Bible where we see phrases like "their hearts were hardened," or in this case, "they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit" or "the Spirit did not allow them to go." That's usually shorthand for "They got rejected." Or, "No one wanted to hear what they had to say."
Paul is at a low point in his ministry. In Antioch, things were easy. There were crowds of people eager to hear the gospel, ready to be taught. But here, now, every place he turns doors are closing. I wonder sometimes if Paul, after all these rejections, was on the verge of giving up.
All of the places mentioned in these verses are in modern day Turkey. Paul's home city of Tarsus is also in Turkey; for that matter, so is Antioch. Turkey is familiar territory...but at this point it's also kind of a dead end.
Turkey is roughly shaped like a big rectangular box. And that's Paul's problem. He's run out of cities and options. He's boxed in. Speaking of boxes, a few days ago at our Presbytery meeting in Seminole, Texas, Rev. Mike Murray led a group of pastors and elders in the following exercise:
So how does Paul get outside his box? Well, he has a little help from God. We read in verse 9: "During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us."
Where is Macedonia? It's outside the box. Turkey is in West Asia, or the Near East. Macedonia is in modern day Greece. In other words, it's in Europe, an entirely different continent, an entirely different box. And what a different box it is. Macedonia in the 1st century was a wealthy Greek city located on one of the most prosperous trade routes of its day. Its people were highly educated, well-employed, and loyal to the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods. Basically, we know that Paul is having a dream or a vision, because "Come over and help us" are precisely the last words any real Macedonian man would ever say. If anything, it should be the other way around.
Nevertheless, we read in verse 10 that, "When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them." Notice the shift in pronouns here: "we" tried to cross, God had called "us"to proclaim. Before this in Acts, it's always "they" and "them." At some point, therefore, we can presume that the author of the book of Acts has joined Paul on his travels.
This has to be a vision, by the
- Direction often comes in our darkest hour.
- Flexibility and openness to where God is leading us. Paul would have remained in Turkey.
- Verse 10: They becomes we.
- No Jewish synagogue in the city -- when the "familiar" doesn't work, we are forced to truly launch into the unknown.
- Come over and help us...something no macedonian man would ever say.
- Lydia, first convert in Europe.
