Archive for

Members of the Body (Sermon January 24, 2016)

1 Corinthians 12:12–31 (NRSV)

One Body with Many Members

(Cp Eph 4:1–16)

¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; ²⁴ whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵ that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

There is an important question that we have contemplated as a church several times, “What’s our salvation for?” This is a very thought provoking question. How we answer it says quite a bit about our faith. As we have considered it mainly in our Wednesday evening meetings, we have come to realize that the point of faith from the most ancient of days in Israel to the present era the answer remains fairly consistent, our salvation is for the world. Jesus came to live, die and raise again so that the world could be redeemed or restored into a friendship with God. We as the church exist to participate in this redemptive work. The question that remains is when does this redemption begin and when is it complete?

Last week we began a discussion about the gifts or companions of the Spirit. Among the various factions of faith there are varying degrees and thoughts about these gifts. And often in the discussion we loss sight as to what the purpose or the point of the gifts. This is why I mentioned that the word we translate as gift could also be used as a companion. It is something that comes with another. There are relational aspects at play. The question what is salvation for and the question of what are the gifts for are very similar. Both deal with the redemption or the common good of world.

I want to focus a bit on the aspect of common good. I want to focus on it because in our contemporary culture this phrase has been politicized to the degree that we fail to hear what the writes mean. We read into the text a 21^st century idea that may be different than that of the 1^st. The phrase was used throughout the Greek speaking world and Paul uses it while writing to the people of Corinth to direct their attention to a reality that is around all people. It means to bear with, to accompany, to serve, or to bring together in unity for mutual benefit. The common good is an attitude that is not focused on individualism but the encouragement of the community as a whole.

The common good, it is interesting that Paul is concerned about this as he writes to these people of ancient times. It is interesting because somewhere along the line this ancient community of believers lost track of what their purpose was. They became distracted from the good news and were being drawn to a form of idolatry. They were jockeying for position within the community, using the gifts they experienced as evidence of greater spirituality and somewhere along the line they failed to bear and accompany the community for mutual benefit and became focused on themselves.

Paul then says too them that we are all one body, with many members. Each member has an importance and without it the entire body or community would suffer. Paul uses a common illustration from the ancient Greek world, the imagery of the human body. Every aspect of our bodies have a function and purpose. Among the ancient Greek philosophies they would use this illustration as a method demonstrate the importance of a hierarchical society. What areas were most important to the human body and they would then pass those images to segments of the population. The problem with this line of thinking is what is the most important part of the body?

We can debate this line of thinking for the rest of the day, dividing up into groups that would say the head is the most important because that is where the brain is and the brain gives the rest of the body the commands so it is clearly the most important. Then another group would chime in saying no it is the heart because the heart pumps blood throughout the body which carries life to the member. Yet another group would say the stomach because without that we would not have nourishment to sustain life. Then a subsection of the stomach group would say no it would have to be the mouth or the hands because without them food would not enter the body. The debate would circulate on and on. And that is why Paul uses this illustration, but not in defense of a hierarchical system but to counter the arguments. Every member is equally important, because without the interconnected members working together for the common good the body would suffer greatly.

The people of Corinth were looking around them and trying to justify which gifts were most important and where to place the people that exhibited those gifts into places of leadership. They then deemed certain gifts as having greater importance within the community. People sought power and influence and before long the common good was thrown out the window and the witness of the church diminished they no longer reflected the life of Christ but instead became a religious expression of the world around them.

What did they find as being the most important gift? It is not too difficult to figure it out because it is the most controversial gift debated even today, the gift of tongues. The people of Corinth saw this one gift as being the most important because without it they could not prove that you were with the Spirit. Those that did not exhibit this gift were not allowed into leadership roles because there was no evidence of their spirituality.

Now before I continue I want us all to know that Paul is a firm believer in the gift of tongues. There is ample evidence in scripture proving his belief. What Paul is saying is that we cannot determine someone’s spiritual value or authenticity by looking at a singular gift. I too am a firm believer in this gift, though I myself have not consciously exhibited it, nor do I even claim to understand how or why it is exhibited in the first place. But I have witnessed it in various forms. But that is not the point, the point is that we cannot and should not use this one expression of the Spirit as a determining factor for someone’s value within the community.

Paul goes as far as placing this one gift at the very bottom of the list, and even fails to mention it in others. Why would he do that? Why would he down play a gift that he himself exhibits? Because in the greater picture the tongue is just a member of the body. It is just a small part of the greater whole. The greater whole is more important, and is the focus of the Spirit. The common good is greater than the individual gift.

This chapter is warning us to not get held up on singular ideas and concepts. Warning us not to become too narrow minded as to miss what is in the peripheral. Too often we as humans begin to develop frameworks around ideas which become central to our belief to such a degree that anything that does not fall within our narrow view of reality cannot be right.

The Friends Church is not immune from this. We have frameworks that we deem as being important. For many years as an immature believer I thought I must quake before I could speak in the Meeting. That I was not a true believer if I did not experience this filling of the Spirit and I neglected membership because I did not even believe I was truly a Christian if I did not quake. Where did I come up with this idea? It was a perversion of interpretation. I heard stories from teacher of people that were so filled with the Spirit that they would quake and would not stop until they spoke the word that was given to them. Although none of my teachers directly said that I must quake I believed it to be true.

Little things, things that may not actually have any bearing on the expansion of the Kingdom of God can distract our focus from the truth. Some of these little things can be very good causes and can begin as a ministry for the common good. A great example of this would be the Women’s Temperance Union. To stand against the abuse of a substance that causes intoxication, addiction, and the degradation of society is a wonderful movement to get involved in, but can we in our quest to rid our communities of sinful activities detract from the gospel of Christ. Little things.

“But strive for the greater gift.” Paul says, “And I will show you a more excellent way.” Paul is telling us that we should not focus on the singular things, but focus on the common good. Seek the Spirit and let the Spirit guide our paths. So maybe you do not speak in tongues seek the Spirit and if the Spirit deems it necessary to allot that gift to you for the common good then bless you. So you do not have the gift of healing seek the Spirit and allow that relationship to guide your ways and as you walk with others the Spirit may grant you that gift because it is for the common good. Seek the Spirit. Seek that spirit not because you desire a particular gift but seek the Spirit because you desire to participate in the ongoing ministry and expansion of the Kingdom of God. Seek the Spirit and become a companion of it so that we might become the gift of grace to someone in need. Seek the Spirit because in the Spirit we each find our place within the body to minister to the common good. Strive and seek the giver of the gifts, pray for apostles to be sent, pray for prophets to speak the word of the Lord, pray for healing to occur, pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven, but as we pray seek that more excellent way. The way of Christ, the rhythm and lifestyle that He demonstrated to us if we seek that fully in our lives every moment of every day we will witness those companions of the Spirit bearing us and those around us along the way.

In the Wake of the Wind (Sermon January 17, 2016)

1 Corinthians 12:1–11 (NRSV)

Spiritual Gifts

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Prior to every major movement or resurgence of the Church there has been a significant cultural shift within the community. During the first great schism around 1000 AD when the Eastern and Western churches became the Orthodox and Catholic churches there was a great deal of internal politics within the Empire. It seems long ago, but the issues that caused that divide are still just as fresh today as they were a thousand years ago. With that being said within the church at that time there were also significant movements that propelled it into the future even though the Empire and the church with it was divided. This time of great trail gave us the great spiritual works of the desert fathers, it gave us the monastic movements, and ultimately it refocused the church on the Spirit where so many were focusing on civics.

Fast forward to the reformation approximately four to five hundred years later there was another massive cultural shift. The Roman Empire had fallen, and the church for centuries was the dominate political force in Europe. The church engaged in war attempting to push back the encroaching Muslim influence, they promoted inquisitions that demanded allegiance to whatever the bishops said was right, and after this occurred for centuries people slowly began to reevaluate their faith. Universities emerged and slowly the secular leaders began to gain greater influence over the people. The church seemed to be at its weakest point and then the Protestant Reformation began. We largely see this only from the eyes of those that left the Roman Church, but even within the Church of Rome reforms occurred, there was a greater focus on our individual place within the greater kingdom. Churches and religious orders emerged throughout and the Kingdom of God continued.

Here we are today approximately one thousand years after the first major divide, and around five hundred years from the second. And all around us we see great cultural pressures that seem to be waging war within the church. We might think the church is at its weakest point that our nations are at the brink of collapse but I have often said that this is just the beginning of something greater. I bring this all up again because I have great faith in our God, I have seen Him do amazing things in the lives of those that seek to follow His ways. I have full confidence that God is not finished yet.

There are cycles within history, cycles within cultures, and cycles within the church. With each generation that passes through the journey of time different issues within the human experience become a focal point and we begin to work and minister through them until the issue seems to be eradicated. We look at our world today and we see chaos but it is much better than it was in ancient times. With each turning of the cycles there is improvement and then a revisiting of seemingly new struggles.

The first letter to the Corinthians is a letter that was written to a church that had been passing through one of those cycles and in many ways we are revisiting some of the same issues today that affected that church of ancient days. I find it comforting to know that those ancient saints struggled with issue of mass litigation, intimacy, and spirituality in ways that are so similar to our timeframe. I find it comforting because the church survived and thrived through the ordeal which gives us great hope for today. The things they dealt with in that church were scandalous, yet Paul did not give up on them, and God did not give up on them.

Today’s passage is one that deals primarily with spirituality, or the inner workings of the church. So often we are lead to believe that the ancient church was united on all things spiritual, but there were just as many if not more divisions and ideals back then as there are today. During the time this letter was penned there was not one central church meeting house that everyone gathered at, but it was a collection of many small groups that met where ever they could. These meeting places might be comfortable like a great estate or down in burial chambers, they would gather where they could because their gatherings were seen as illegal. They met to worship, they prayed, and they ministered and their numbers grew. As their numbers grew they would branch off and form new meeting, and find new places to meet. The church was not a building but it was people, they were one body though they met all across the city. It is important to keep that in mind when we read many scriptural texts. Often we view the texts through our own cultural mindset we look at things then through our own experiences and we get trapped.

This letter that Paul wrote to the people of this city is often seen as a reply to a letter or letters that we written to him. Paul is responding to situations that were mentioned, questions that were asked, and they are seeking advice on how to proceed. The twelfth chapter is a response to the mysteries of the church, the graces and gifts that God entrusted them to use within their community.

The Spirit. We often think of the Holy Spirit as being the personality of the triune God that only came after the day of Pentecost but just as Jesus had a preexistence so did the Spirit. The problem is that prior to the Day of Pentecost the Spirit of God was a fearful thing. It was not something that could be controlled and would often be seen as the angel of death, especially if you were the first born of Egyptian descent. This is why Jesus said that the Spirit was like the wind. Something that is unknowable and untamable. But the Spirit can be observed.

One of the greatest things about Jesus is that He taught us to live in the presence of God. He showed us the Holy Rhythm of life: worship, prayer, and service. This lifestyle allows us to observe the Spirit of God, to chase and to follow what the ancient Celtic Christians described as the wild goose. Paul is telling the people of Corinth about this wind, this wild goose and letting them know just a bit about the personality of the allusive Spirit of God. The first thing he speaks about is that the Spirit is full of grace. “Now concerning spiritual gifts…I do not want you to be uninformed.” Often we can get hung up or bogged down by the terminology: Spiritual Gifts. What we translate as Spiritual Gifts could also be companions of the wind, circumstances, cause, experience, or even followers. I bring this up because we can get our attention drawn to an aspect of this phrase that maybe should not be the focus. The word gift in this verse simply means what comes with the Spirit. The Spirit of God is what we are to be focused on not the gifts.

Paul then proceeds to speak about the life the Corinthian people had before they became followers of Christ. Easily enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. The people of Corinth were focusing on the gift. Paul was concerned that the people of Corinth were getting their attention drawn away from the truth by a show. Just as the ancient Egyptian magicians could mimic the signs of Moses there were some within the church that would put on a show that would mimic the wake brought about by the wind of the Spirit of God. Do you sense the concern that Paul has at this moment? There are wolves prowling around among the sheep. They are gaining authority and influence among the brothers and sisters of the church yet did not know the one whom they are supposed to be following.

Paul then says, “I want you to understand…” I want you to see the truth or the reality of the situation. No one can truly have any of the gifts if they do not truly know Jesus and are observing and following the patterns created by the Spirit.

So let us take a step back and again consider the cyclical nature of the human experience. The pattern of wake of our history which has been cut through time and space since the creation of the world. A pattern, something that can be observed. Something that can be used to gain understanding as we approach the unknown future. This is also something that God can and will use to help us minister to those around us as we participate in the Kingdom of God. Patterns of cultural shifts and progression to something greater. Friends, God is still very much at work in the world around us if we are willing to look.

We look out across our cultural landscape and we make observations that we live among godless people that reject every aspect of Christ. You would be right, but I ask a simple question why do they reject? You can give me all the theological arguments you want but I can answer that with a simple statement: we have been lead away from the truth and what they see is not Christ but a manipulated image of Christ that has been emptied of true power. What we are observing is something that has happened countless times throughout our history, the church is weakened because we have turned our eyes from Christ and have looked instead to the mimics who use illusion to boggle our minds.

Is there real power to be had? Absolutely. There are a variety of gifts but the same Spirit, there are a variety of services but the same Lord, and there are a variety of activities but the same God who activates all of them in everyone. The power is not in us but in God who allows those companions of the wind to dwell with us for the common good. Some have wisdom, some have knowledge, some have faith, some have healing, to some the ability to work miracles, to another prophecy, to another discernment of Spirits, and another various tongues and interpretation of tongues. All of this is all around us available to be used, all of this is here in this room and out on the streets we walk and drive every day. But they are not magic. They are not things we can summon with the right words or ceremonies.

We have all these things when we observe and follow the Spirit. Paul says that all these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Paul wants us to understand something very important. It is not about the gift it is about following the Spirit. No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Do we really know what that means? Jesus is Lord means that we devote everything to Him. Every activity, every possession, every breath is given to Jesus. To be able to say Jesus is Lord we must step back and entrust everything to Him, without holding anything back. We only have the ability to do this if we are observers of the Spirit. That is the gift of faith. What happens after that? To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

If we say Jesus is Lord, everything about us should change, we should become disciples or students of His life and lifestyle. Everything about Jesus was focused on loving God through worship, embracing the Holy Spirit in prayer, and listening to that Spirit and living the love of God with others for the common good. The gifts, the companions, or experience of the Spirit come through that holy rhythm when we personally step back and let Jesus be Lord. When we are brave enough to let go of control and let the Spirit direct our paths as we observe and listen in prayer. When we walk out of this meeting house and allow the Spirit to become active in our lives we will begin to see grace being distributed through us, for the common good.

Friends, we are in one of those cyclical moments of history where the Church is about to explode again in the world around us. An age where God will draw many to Him and His Kingdom will be glorified on Earth as it is in Heaven. But will we see it or will our eyes be diverted from the truth? I have seen God do amazing things. I have also seen mimics. I have seen gifts activated and distributed to people at a moment because there was a need. I have seen much…but you know something more impressive everything that I have seen has been done through people that would not have said they did anything. Most were totally unaware that what they did at that moment had any real value. That is the thing about the gifts they are distributed to those at the right place at the right time, they are activated when the Spirit chooses. Our part is to follow and to be where we need to be.

As we enter this time of open worship and communion as Friends let us each just step back and examine our lives. Consider the people that we encountered along the journey of life that brought us to this point how did God use them? Consider the people we have encountered and our responses to them? And let us truly consider the statement fully of Jesus is Lord and what that means for us and to those around us if we were to believe it completely.

What? (Sermon Janurary 10, 2016)

Acts 8:14–17 (NRSV)

¹⁴ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit ¹⁶ (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). ¹⁷ Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

We live in a very interesting period of time. I would say that it is an exciting time for the church. I have said this on many occasions because I truly believe that just over the horizon God is about to do something amazing in the Church, and particularly among Friends. I say this because we are living in a period of time, an era of history where the Church is vulnerable.

When people are vulnerable our natural instinct is to protect. We often withdraw from the potential dangers and fortify our positions so that we can make a defense when the attack comes. This frequently occurs when there are significant cultural, economic, technological, and natural events causing changes within a community or people group. If we were to remove all political connotations and opinions away from the Syrian refuge issue we would be able to see that this natural instinct to flee danger and protect themselves is at the root of the mass exodus. If we were to just contemplate our own response to the situation if the tables were turned we may even see that we may possibly respond in a very similar manner. And in many cases we are responding in a similar manner, because it is a base instinct that was created within our genetic code.

Many leaders across the nation are teaching those that listen that the end is near, that Christ is about to return. I find this form of teaching repugnant because Scripture clearly teaches that no one not even Jesus Christ knows when that great day will occur. When I mention that to people, they often pull back and say just look at the world around us clearly this is the end. No, I believe that it is the beginning of something great (and yes the Lord’s return would be great.). I agree that there are pressures on the church that have been building for decades that are now causing presenting themselves as significant cultural shifts that cause us to look at what has occurred in the past as being the golden age and the future is only darkness. The problem with that type of thinking is that it depends on the perspective. The “golden age” of the church was also seen as the dark ages of culture in Europe. And the church has remained and thrived for centuries after that golden age.

It would be foolish for me to say that there is not a crisis of faith occurring throughout our land. It would be foolish to say that our culture has not changed significantly over the generations. Science has shown it to us in multiple ways. I mention science because the scientific method of observation and exploration in search of truth is just one of the ways our culture has shifted. Some of the shifts cause us to step back but other aspects of these shifts can make our testimony even greater. Again it is all about perspective. In many ways the dynamic shift within our culture is similar in degree to the greatest movements within church history. The eighth chapter of the Book of Acts is a testimony of just how important these cultural shifts and the response of the faithful can be to the future of the Kingdom of heaven.

The passage today speaks of the people of Samaria becoming believers of the word and being baptized after Phillip teaches them, then Peter and John come to visit and the people are filled with the Holy Spirit and the church grows. This is wonderful but we really need to look deeper to understand just how meaningful this is.

Samaria is in many ways the remnant of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. If we look into the history of the people of Israel we would see that after the reign of Solomon the nation split and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the house of David, all the others gained their independence, united together and named their own king. Fast forwarding through history the leaders of the Northern kingdom, the tribes that rebelled essentially over the high taxes imposed by the house of Solomon, quickly fell away from God and judgement commenced. When we read about this division we often think that all of the nation was opposed to God but that is not reality. The Levites or the priests still had cities of refuge and centers for worship and faith continued. We do not often hear about the faith of the Samaritans because they opposed the temple of Solomon. They opposed this temple because it was linked to political ideology that they did not agree with. So we see the first division of faith based primarily on nationalism, and nothing about religion.

Samaria, we are told fell to the Assyrian Empire, because their leaders opposed God. But there is something interesting about their religion, it still remains. They were a people group that were rebellious and independent and they were free to live as they saw fit, yet through their occupation they still maintained their central place of worship. And just as the people of the southern kingdom they anticipated the coming of the Messiah. Do not hear this incorrectly, I am not saying that the Northern Kingdom was more faithful, it is very clear that many within the northern kingdom opposed God, what I am saying is not all in that kingdom were faithless.

Now let us move forward and speak about Phillip. Phillip was a second tier disciple. This is not to say that he was not important because it is very clear from the book of Acts that he was, but what I mean is that he was not one of the original twelve, he was among the second wave of leaders. Philip along with Steven the first martyr, and five others, were appointed to be deacon by the Apostles. This office was created after a dispute emerged between the Jewish and Hellenistic factions of the church over the use of offerings, in short many believed that the Gentile Christians were being treated unfairly by the Hebrew believers. Each of the seven deacons were chosen by the community of disciples, not the Apostles, they were to be upstanding members of high integrity and the apostles laid hands on the seven chosen without prejudice and the seven were to minister to the needs of the Church. Phillip is a man of faith who emerged from the Hellenistic side of the church, he may have come from a Hebrew family but his family by his very name favored the benefits of the Greek culture. If you were a member of the assembly who came from the Hellenistic side of the church would see Phillip as your guy.

Well not long after the dispute within the church, the persecutions from the Jewish people in Jerusalem began. One reason for the persecutions was because Gentiles were becoming accepted among the followers of Jesus and the traditional religious community feared it would not be long before the Temple would again be desecrated by these Gentiles. So eventually all the non-Hebrew believers were forced out of Jerusalem. Phillip, a believer with a Hellenistic name, left Jerusalem and went to Samaria, and began to continue the work he had been doing among the people around him.

I want to stop there for just a moment because we have two groups of people being discriminated against by the establishment in Jerusalem.  The church was at that moment open and welcoming to all people, accepting both Jew and Greek not only in their assembly but in leadership. There was a cultural shift occurring within the religious community, and many felt that this was unacceptable. Does God really intend for people of all cultures to be followers or does He require that all people submit to the hereditary leaders of the promised people. Accepting Greeks that live in and around Jerusalem is one thing, they lived there, now they hear that there are people in Samaria that have become followers?

I want us to consider this from a different perspective for a moment. Phillip is a member and leader within our Meeting and because of financial reason he is forced to move from our community to work in another nation. It just so happens that the only place he can find work is in the lands occupied by a group we oppose. Let’s just say he was hired by a company that required him to move to Iraq because he is a petroleum engineer and they needed him to work on a new project. Well Phillip is a well-respected member of our Meeting and we will greatly miss him and his family. After a few weeks we get an email saying that he was worshiping among a group of people in Iraq. He sounds very excited about it and goes on and on about the amazing life changing occurrences that are happening while he works among the people of that nation. He then adds even ISIS Militants are coming to faith and are going to start an Evangelical Friends Church with him. We were with him up till then. ISIS is an enemy they cannot be accepted. Why?

This scenario is fictional, but is similar to the situation Phillip had in Samaria. Samaria was the enemy of Judah. They are the enemy of God. They oppose coming to the Temple in the capital city to make sacrifices and leave offerings to provide assistance to the people of the nation. At this moment the Church has a huge problem does God love the people of Samaria and can they be Samaritans and Christian?

The church of Jerusalem quickly met to discuss this unprecedented event, and it is decided that Peter and John will go to meet with Phillip and the Samaritans. They send them because by Luke’s writing we see that they are baptized but do not have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And Peter and John want to know and pray with them to see if they can be accepted into the Church.

Notice that I said accepted into the Church. The reason I say this is because there is a phenomenon occurring. After Pentecost God did not withhold the baptism of the Spirit from believers, even the Gentiles were filled with the Holy Spirit. As they drew close to Christ it became apparent that they were authentic not only in word but in their actions. But there is hesitation when it comes to Samaria. Is God withholding his blessing from those dogs for the long history of rejection of the true faith or is something else going on?

I do not want to get into a debate over what it means to have the baptism of the Spirit. We in the Friends Church are very liberal in this area, it can mean many things but it can always be summed up into one statement: It will be evident in our lives that we are true believers. I want us to consider is what God is doing in the Church at this moment.

Peter and John go. Peter the outspoken person and obvious leader, and John the one whom Jesus loved. Both were members of the Apostolic ranks, both were in the inner circle, the closest of Jesus’ friends. Peter was the one who witnessed the vision and evidence of God’s acceptance of Gentiles into the church but it is very clear that at moments Peter falls back into a very Law focused expression of faith. John is probably the most accepting of outsiders, because of this he almost comes across as being opposed to his own people in his writings. These two were chosen to represent the church as they consider the people of Samaria.

They go because they do not trust Phillip, they do not trust that these Samaritans could be believers if there was no evidence of the Holy Spirit being present. But I ask a simple question: Who was the Spirit hidden from? Phillip obviously saw something because he was reporting that they were believers. But the apostles in Jerusalem were not convinced.

Could it be that even the Saintly Apostles, the first disciples of Jesus, the ones that walked in the very dust behind the greatest teacher and Messiah, could have been blinded by their own flesh? Could it be that they could not see the truth of the Samaritan faith because they were too wrapped up in their own nationalistic religion? I only mention this because Phillip does not have an issue with the ministry that he has among the people, but the Apostles. I do not mean to cast shame or doubt on the heroes of my faith, I only wish to get a glimpse of the truth.

Peter and John go. They do understand that God might be working a great thing among their Samaritan neighbors. They go and they meet with them, they speak with them, they lay hands upon them, and pray with them. The result of this is Samaria is accepted into the Church, the blinders have been removed and all can see that God is at work. There are some lessons we can learn from this short passage, the first is that if we question we should seek to find the answers. And the second is we need each other to become fully aware of the truth surrounding us. This is the great Epiphany of this season, the great revaluation and insight from God. That he is working in ways we do not fully understand among people we do fully know. And he is calling us to meet with them, to speak with them, to encourage them, lay hands of on them and pray with them. He is calling us to know and get to know all people from all over and let them know the Word of God. The Word that they are loved and accepted, they are forgiven and redeemed, they are restored and glorified through the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord and God, Jesus.

As we enter into this time of open worship. Let us reflect on the ministry of Phillip to the people seen as enemies of Israel and God, let us consider our own changing culture and vulnerability that it causes within our church, but let us also consider the great hope and insight that we have received from Jesus. We have a future and a reason to be here. And it is so we can encourage others along their journey with Christ.