I’d like you to imagine this is some years hence and you are considering candidates for a new vicar. You have looked at the profiles of several promising candidates when a new folder lands on your desk.
You open it to find, first of all, a physical
description of your potential new minister. I quote: “He has a small and
contracted body, crooked and bow legged. He has a little head and strange eyes;
his eyebrows join together; his hook nose is bent and somewhat long; his beard is
thick and he has a sprinkling of grey hairs on his otherwise bald head. His
face is pale and looks rather old.”
But not to be swayed by what are after all
superficial matters, you read down his CV and it includes the following facts. “He
rarely stays more than twelve months in one place, usually upsets people every
time he opens his mouth, is often hard to understand, is known to be publicly
argumentative with colleagues, has often found himself in trouble with the
police, is frequently in court, has spent several terms in prison, apparently hears
voices, is by his own admission an unimpressive public speaker and earns a bit
of money by making camping equipment.”
I wouldn’t blame you if you replied to that
particular applicant “We’ll let you know.”
But you’d be turning down the Apostle Paul.
The physical description is the earliest we have and dates from the second
century.
The biography on the CV is all taken from the
Bible. He was perhaps the least promising candidate imaginable for ordained
ministry (as we call it) but he was one of the greatest missionaries that has
ever lived.
If ever there was a perfect demonstration of
the truth that man looks at outward appearances but God looks at the heart, the
Apostle Paul is surely it.
Today’s reading from Acts describes how that
all started. He didn’t wake up one morning and decide on a career move. He was
sent out with the blessing of his church after it had been made clear to them
that he was called to the work.
His sending church was in Antioch, a city quite
some distance north of the Holy Land. Up to this point, believers in Jesus were
just considered to be eccentric Jews. But in this church, most of the believers
were not Jews but Gentiles. So the question arose, what should we call these
people? It was, in fact, the locals who gave them the nickname ‘Christians’ and
it’s obvious why.
As J. John once said, “If you take ‘Christ’
out of ‘Christian’ you’re left with ‘Ian’. And Ian isn’t going to get you to
heaven!”
It’s clear from the descriptions in the first
few verses that there was a diversity of religious background, country of
origin, background culture, ethnicity, and professional training in that church
in Antioch.
These verses also tell us about the diversity
of their spirituality. Four features of it are mentioned; two of which are instantly
recognisable in today’s church and two of which have rather fallen into disuse.
Their services had a mixture of teaching and prophecy.
Teaching is the proclamation of eternal truths applicable at all times and in
all places. That’s what I’m doing now. But prophecy is inspired words from God
for local situations and specific times. We see less of that today perhaps but
we need both ministries if the church is to be healthy.
We’re also told they prayed and fasted. Prayer
needs no explanation. Fasting is a denial of the physical appetite in order to
sharpen our spiritual hunger. If I’m wondering if I left the gas on while I
pray, it’s distracting. Fasting clears the decks to pray with focus. Like
prophecy, fasting is somewhat neglected in the contemporary church. But again,
we need to both pray and fast if we are going to see the kind of spiritual
dynamism they had in the Acts of the Apostles.
So Paul was sent out with his co-leader Barnabas
and they went to Cyprus, where Barnabas was from, and they travelled the length
of the island.
They started with those who were nearest to
God. They went to the synagogues and explained what the Old Testament says about
Jesus.
They started with people who believe in God
but don’t know Christ. These are the best people to share faith with in our
country.
And it is in fact most people. A 2007 YouGov poll on attitudes
to faith in this country showed the following:
I believe in God - 28%
I believe in “something” but am not sure what - 26%
I am an Atheist - 16%
I am Agnostic (no one can know if there is a God) - 9%
I would like to believe and envy those who do but can’t -5%
I haven’t given it much thought - 10%
I don’t know - 3%
Other - 3%
If you take away those who say there is no God
and those who say it’s impossible to say, there are still about 75% of people with
whom you can have a proper discussion about your faith.
Put it another way. Judy Hirst from our diocese was telling the
MDT on Thursday night that society is, broadly speaking divided into 5
categories.
10% are churchgoers – at least once a month.
That’s us.
A further 10% are the what she called the fringe. That’s those who
come occasionally, or who attend Little Ted or the Drop-in. It's unbelieving spouses of members here. It's those who we have contact with through weddings and funerals. They are on the
edge of church life but can’t really be considered as members.
A further 20% used to come to church but don’t
any more. Maybe they got too busy. Maybe they moved and didn't settle in a new
church. Maybe children came along and there was nothing really for them. They
would be open to coming back – but just haven’t got round to it.
A further 20% also used to come to church but
don’t any more. However, these ones are closed about the idea of coming back.
They’ve had a bad experience. Someone upset them. The vicar got their mum’s
name wrong at a funeral. The church committed the unforgivable sin of getting rid of the pews. They took offence and are
determined to never come back.
And the final 40% are unchurched. Apart from the odd wedding of a distant relative or Auntie Flo's funeral, they have
never been inside a church. They have no idea what the church is like, what it stands for and
what it does. It just does not feature in their world at all.
Which do you think are the most strategic
groups for sharing our faith? I think it's groups 2 and 3, and then 5. By that estimation it's still 70%.
That’s the equivalent of where Paul and Barnabas started out in their world. Eventually, their greatest opportunity arrived
when they were invited to Governor’s Palace.
Billy Graham was relatively unknown in Britain when he
first came. Then was invited to Windsor Castle to meet the Queen – and his
ministry took off. The same happened with Paul and Barnabas only this time it
was the Roman Governor.
The Romans were notoriously superstitious.
They put a lot of energy into interpreting dreams, astrology, horoscopes and
the occult. They hired soothsayers and personal clairvoyants. One of them was a
lapsed Jew called Elymas.
The good news of Jesus and the bad news of dark world of
occult arts never mix. It’s like a warm front colliding with a cold front – the
only possible outcome is a thunderstorm.
Tom Wright says that “there is no advance for
the gospel without opposition… It’s only when an apparent disaster threatens or
when the church is suddenly up against confrontation and has to pray its way
through, that you can be quite sure you’re on the right track.”
When Paul and Barnabas met spiritual
resistance there was a threat to the success of their ministry. But they had a
praying and fasting church behind them. There was plenty of spiritual capital
in their heavenly bank account. I believe it’s because there was a covering of
prayer that when difficulty came, instead of stalling, they were filled with
the Holy Spirit and equipped to deal with the problem before them.
We know about the miracles of opening the eyes
of the blind. But there is also the miracle of closing the eyes of the seeing.
It happened to Paul, then called Saul, you’ll remember in chapter 9.
The Venerable Bede, commenting on this
incident, said 900 years ago, “Paul, remembering his own case, knew that by the
darkening of the eyes the mind’s darkness might be restored to light.”
The result is that the Governor came to Christ. That was a big fish. Pray that men and women of position and influence in our town come to faith in
Jesus. Pray for your MP, for the Mayor, for the Town Council, for the Police
Commissioner, for captains of industry and business leaders.
Verse 12 says “When the governor saw what had happened he believed.”
So seeing is believing. When Long Newton and Teesside can see the results of what we say, faith will come.
Our town will not believe until it sees Jesus in the lives of ordinary
Christians, feeding the poor, healing the sick and loving the unlovable.
Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 26th October 2014.
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