Pastor Dave Daye

So it’s 11:30pm on Monday night and I’m finally getting around to writing my reflection on the sermon yesterday!  We leave tomorrow for a brief three day family trip so today was pretty busy as I tried to get stuff done that I normally do on Tuesday through Thursday.

I have come to love Acts chapter 15 and the account of the Jerusalem Council.  I love it because I think it shows us a picture of church leadership in action in a powerful way on a very important issue.  The gospel was being threatened by people who said that believing in Jesus was not enough and were saying that people had to do certain good works in order to be saved.  By the end of the council’s meeting, the church has affirmed that salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone and has protected the unity of the church around the central truth of the gospel.

I called this sermon “Systems Check” because the early church had to check it’s way of thinking and doing things against the Word of God.  We all have “systems” or ways that we normally think or act.  Our systems are usually based around the highest priority in our lives.  It could be money, power, what people think of us.  It could be tradition or change, fear or self-doubt.  When we face a difficult situation we grab the handle attached to that central gear of our system and we turn the crank.  The system goes into production and out comes a response.  Oh sure, we have the ability to make different choices, but we have to at least admit that those choices are largely determined by our greatest priorities around which we have built our systems.

The early church could have given a quick answer.  They could have grabbed the handle attached to their greatest priority and turned it and then responded accordingly.  For some churches the greatest priority is tradition – doing things the way it’s always been done.  For some it is change – purposely doing things differently than it’s always been done.  Both represent systems based around a central priority and both can be drastically out of line with the mission of the gospel.

But the early church didn’t just respond out of their “system.”  They took the harder route to judge how they thought against God’s Word.  In fact, it isn’t just what the council decides that is so important – it’s how they decide it.  They start by listening to everyone that they can.  Paul and Barnabas tell their stories of what God has done on their first missionary journey.  The believers from the Pharisee group tell how they think the Gentiles must keep the Law of Moses.  Others must have been given the chance to speak as well because verse 7 says, “after much discussion…”  At several points in the narrative we are shown that there was a rather large crowd.  At the beginning of the meeting, the entire church of Jerusalem seems to be involved (verse 4 says they were welcomed by “the church” – not just the leaders).  Verse 6 tells us that the “apostles and elders met to consider this question” but they either did this with the rest of the church present or greatly involved the rest of the church throughout the process because verse 12 calls the group “the whole assembly” (which would be an odd way of referring to just the leadership) and verse 22 says that after James makes his recommendation for what they should do that “the apostles and elders with the whole church” come up with a plan to carry it out.

As they are listening and involving the people (which turns a crisis into a discipleship opportunity!) they are also weighing everything against God’s Word.  Peter tells about what Christ has taught him in regards to the Gentiles being accepted through Christ and not through the Old Testament Law.  James cites passages from the Old Testament that show that it was always God’s will to accept the Gentiles.   They take this information and use it, instead of their own “systems” to weigh the current situation and the conflict that is being caused by a challenge to the core of the gospel.

This is true leadership in action.  Not only are the leaders not just pushing their own agenda, they are purposely taking the time to check their agenda against the word of God.  No top down authoritarianism.  They are involving the people by first listening to them, letting them see how the decision is reached, and then involving them again in carrying out the solution.

The main “gear” of our “systems” needs to be the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and God’s Word must be the standard against which our systems must measure up.  This is true in the church and in our individual lives.  If we truly believe that we are sinners saved only by God’s grace, then why would we want to try to figure things out and do them our way?  We will instead want to do them God’s way as we check everything against His Word.  This is the role of leadership in the church and it should also be evident in the lives of Christians as we seek to be led by Christ on this gospel mission.

Disclaimer:  any typos or blatant heresy in this post is due to the fact that the author should probably be sleeping…

photo by Flickr user bluebus

I blame the time change this past weekend for why I’m a day off on posting my reflection on Sunday’s sermon.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

This past Sunday at Orchard Community Church we looked at Acts 11:19 – 14:28.  It was a LOT of information to cover.  In these chapters we get to know the church at Antioch and then read about how they send Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey.  Chapter 14 ends with Paul and Barnabas returning to Antioch and telling the church about the amazing things God has done.

On the surface these chapters seem to be about a lot of action.  There is a lot of travel, a lot of people coming to know Christ, and a lot of churches being started.  What struck me was what was behind this action.  In the church at Antioch and in the churches that Paul and Barnabas start there is an emphasis on being rooted or grounded rather than just doing.

We see this first in Antioch before the missionary journey even begins.  In Acts 11:19-21 we see that God has done a great work among the Gentiles in Antioch and a church is growing.  The Christians in Jerusalem hear about this and send Barnabas to check it out and to help.  (Just as a quick side note, I absolutely love this idea of one church helping another and working together for the Gospel Mission!)  Barnabas arrives and sees “evidence of the grace of God” (Acts 11:23).  Another possible translation is that he saw “evidence of what the grace of God had done.”  Barnabas knows immediately that what is happening at Antioch is God’s doing, not just their own efforts.  This view shapes his ministry there.  He doesn’t challenge them to do more or to work harder, he encourages them “to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”  If what was happening was God’s doing, then the way to keep it going was to keep the people focused on God.  The evangelistic and missionary activity of the church at Antioch came from their being grounded or rooted in God so that it was God working in and through them and not just their own clever ideas.

The ministry at Antioch is growing so Barnabas travels all the way to Tarsus (over 100 miles each way!) to get Paul.  From earlier in Acts we know that when Paul first meets the risen Christ he is told that he will be sent to take the gospel to the Gentile world.  For several years Paul  has waited for God’s timing for this huge mission to begin.  I think Barnabas saw something going on in Antioch that resonated with the mission Christ had given to Paul and so he brings Paul there to see what God does.  For a whole year they work together in the church at Antioch.

Acts 12 is a snapshot of some things that were happening in Jerusalem around this time.  The apostle James is put to death.  Peter is arrested and by a miracle of God he escapes from prison.  King Herod is getting a bit full of himself and some people start saying that he is a god to be worshiped.  Herod doesn’t stop them and give glory to God so he is struck down and dies (see Acts 12:23).

Chapter 13 starts back in Antioch.  There are “prophets and teachers” (which are probably leaders in the church since Barnabas and Paul are included in this list and these gifts/functions are listed in Ephesians 4:11-12 as people given to the church to “prepare God’s people for works of service”) who are “worshiping the Lord and fasting” (Acts 13:2)  As I read this, this means that these leaders were not sitting around discussing strategies and programs.  They were focusing on who God is (worshiping the Lord) and what He wants them to do (often associated with fasting).  They knew what Christ had called Paul to do.  They could have been making charts and maps and filling three ring binders with ministry plans, but instead they were seeking God and waiting on Him!  It is this groundedness in the gospel and in God that leads to the incredible missionary work found in the rest of Acts.

As Paul and Barnabas travel, share the gospel, and see churches start in various cities, they also encounter lots of opposition.  They are chased out of cities.  They are under threat of death.  In one city, Paul is stoned and left for dead.  This is no easy or comfortable mission.  The gospel life to which we are called is difficult.  This is why, when Paul and Barnabas start their return trip to Antioch, they go back to these baby churches and do two things.  First, they challenge and encourage them to “remain true to the faith” (Acts 14:22) – stay grounded, rooted, in Christ.  Paul and Barnabas knew that any effectiveness for the Gospel Mission in these cities would be the fruit of a strong and growing faith.  The second thing Paul and Barnabas do is to appoint elders (Acts 14:23).  In order for these churches to stay grounded in their faith, they need leadership that saw this ministry as their highest priority.  It is no accident that one of the words often used in Scripture for godly leadership is “shepherds.”  These churches were going to face difficulty from both inside and outside of the church and they needed godly leaders who led the church in such a way as to care for the people by helping them to continue being grounded and growing in their relationship with Christ.

I truly believe that churches and followers of Christ today are way too focused on DOING.  We have lost a sense of being grounded, rooted, and completely dependent on God.  All too often we see our relationship with Christ like being a rechargeable battery.  We plug in for a short time each week or maybe even each day and then we go out and do our work (taking time along the way to ask for God’s blessing) and over time our “charge” starts running down.  We come back to church, do our daily devotions, or go to a conference to recharge our batteries so that we can go out and do more for God again.

Leadership in churches reflects this understanding.  Leaders set direction, make the decisions, and lay out strategies.  In so many churches, the model of church leadership has slipped into the idea that the leaders “drive the bus” –  do what they think is right – and the people can either get on board or get out (I have actually heard this!).  Leaders push, pull, and even even hurt people all in the name of trying to get them to do the things that the leaders think they should be doing for God.

But God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him.  This idea that we do things for God betrays the fact that we have too small of an idea of who God is!  It is God who is at work.  It is God who is moving and doing ministry.  It is God who has all the power and all the grace.  We need to quit trying to do things for God and focus instead on living lives rooted in what God is doing.  Jesus says this so poignantly in John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  We are not batteries that have some capacity to store up God’s power for ourselves and let it out at our choosing.  We are branches that are constantly and totally dependent on the vine for nourishment and it is the health of the vine that works through us to create  the fruit.  Since this is true, leadership in the church is not a matter of getting people to do the right things, but shepherding people to be more grounded and rooted in Jesus Christ so that God can do great things in and through them.

This is true for how we each “lead” ourselves as well.  We often seek tips and techniques to make our lives better.  We want the latest book or fad to tell us the secret of life.  We want to do things that will make us feel better when it is the frantic doing that is keeping us from the One who created us to find our joy in Him.

OK, this is getting really long so if anyone is still reading at this point let me finish with two other observations from this missionary journey.

1. Difficulties are natural and should be expected on the Gospel Mission.  This is all the more reason to focus on being grounded in the gospel and in relationship with God through Christ.  If we are only focused on doing things then when difficulty comes we can easily think we must be doing something wrong.  But if we are instead focused on staying grounded in God’s grace then the difficulties become an opportunity to see God at work.

2. Watch out for Pride.  As Paul and Barnabas traveled and shared the gospel, it was the people who thought they had it all right that were the most resistant to the gospel.  I believe this is just as true for those “inside” the church as those who are outside the church.  When we focus on “doing” for Christ we will feed the pride in who we are and what we can accomplish.  If instead we focus on being grounded and rooted in Christ then any effectiveness, any growth, is what God is doing in and through us and He gets the glory.  The way to fight pride is to keep our focus on Christ and the gospel that says we are dead in our sins and risen to new life only in and through Jesus Christ.  All our plans and strategies are filthy rags that amount to nothing, but God’s work is His glorious grace on display through us that can change people’s lives.