Category: News

Acts 16:6-15
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; ⁸so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 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.

Driving in the city is challenging enough, but then when the water company starts digging up streets to replace the lines and connections, driving becomes impossible.  Day after day it seems, a new detour springs up taking you the long way around or a new closed road sign forces you to have to find a new route around.  If I didn’t have an application on my phone that would give me directions to where I wanted to go, I would have even more difficulty trying to get to work or school.

Just as it is with road construction signs, so too is it with the direction of the Holy Spirit.  In the book of Acts, Paul and company are directed where to go by the Holy Spirit.  But, like the detours, they were forbidden to enter Asia and Bithynia.  The Holy Spirit was steering them to a specific time and place and that meant a do not enter command to those places which were not.  What if the Holy Spirit is steering us to specific places and people?  What if we are being directed to a conversation or interaction under the purpose and plan of God?

The Apostles must have been discouraged because they literally ran out of road.  After coming to Troas, they could not go anywhere.  The only place was across the see.  But that was always the plan and after a vision, the Apostles become convinced this was the direction to go.  Have we ever had a dead end on our journey?  Have we been told not to go here or there, and we are facing a cul-de-sac with no way to move forward?  Even when we cannot see the way forward, the Spirit of Jesus Christ still has a journey in mind, just as Paul was told the way forward and he went.

The results of following the steering of the Holy Spirit is the interaction of Paul and Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth and the founding of the first church in Europe and the one dearest to Paul’s heart.  This was the plan, but Paul was never shown it until he obeyed and followed.  What if it’s the same with us?  What if we are only shown the plan in stages and the stage right in front of us?  We might be kept in the dark as to the whole process and result until we follow and obey, and then the purpose of God is made known.  What if the plan of God is hidden from us until we follow in faith?

Friends, might God be steering us through the Holy Spirit?  Avoid here.  Go there.  Tell Lydia.  Plant a Church.  Speak the Gospel to them.  Like the Apostles the Spirit is still leading and guiding us, keeping us from going there, but steering us to go here.  But the Spirit is also hiding the entire plan and process from us as a test of our faith.  Will we follow in faith instead of seeing the results?  Are we yet like Paul with the faith to trust the lead of the Spirit, and to follow the signs trusting God knows the way and the path and the result?  Maybe we need to entrust our roads and our journeys more into the hands of God and just follow wherever we are led.  Amen. 

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ² He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. ³ Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” ⁶ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” ¹² I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

As a boy, one of my chores this time of year was the harvesting of the garden and the various trees in the back yard.  When my parents felt the produce was ripe, I was sent out with baskets to collect and harvest everything I was told to harvest.  I dug up the potatoes and put them in a crock.  I picked the apples and the tomatoes and put them in bushel baskets.  I broke off the pea pods and placed them in a metal colander.  When the time came to harvest, I was sent out with an empty container and told to get everything I could, while the time was right and the produce ripe.

Just as I was sent out to harvest by my parents, so too are we sent out to harvest by God.  But while I was sent for vegetables and fruit, the Lord of the harvest sends out laborers into all his creation.  Just as I was the only child at home to do the enormous task of harvesting a large garden and orchard, so too is God’s harvest plentiful but the laborers are few.  God sends us out not for the corn, but sends us out for lost children of God.

Are we all to go out or only some whose specific purpose is to do so?  While this may or may not be the question on many Christian’s hearts and minds, I wish not to answer it, but ask maybe a different question.  Did Jesus go out for us all?  Then why don’t we all go out for Jesus?  Jesus’ obedience was not just to obey the will of his Father to go out, but Jesus’ love was that he went out for everyone.  Instead of some obnoxious rule of what is right or wrong for all Christians when it comes to mission, let us replace it with a knowledge of God who is mission incarnate in Christ Jesus.  Since he came for us all, then let us all go out for him.

Are we to go out into our community or some other one?  While this may or may not be yet another question on many hearts and minds, I again wish not to answer it, but ask maybe a different question.  Did Jesus go only to Nazareth?  Then why don’t we go everywhere for Jesus?  Jesus didn’t just stay in his home town, he went to others as well.  Instead of some rule of what is right or wrong for all Christians when it comes to their mission field, (if we have one at all), let us replace it with a knowledge of God whose field to harvest is all of creation.  Since Jesus went into all creation, let us all go everywhere for him.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, while I share with you all no small amount of trepidation or anxiety when it comes to mission work, we all share the common purpose given to us in Jesus Christ, to be laborers sent out into the harvest field to collect the Lord of the Harvest’s bounty.  While I might want to hide behind the readymade excuse of “I am not called to go out,” in Christ Jesus we see God coming to us all, so that we all might go out.  While I might want to take shelter in the pretext of “I am not called to go there,” in Christ Jesus we see God going every place we are, so that we might go everywhere he is.   Therefore, let us not dwell in our apprehensions and hesitations about being sent out and being sent out where we do not want to go, let us dwell in Christ Jesus through faith and we will find ourselves being Children of God having already gone out.