5th Sunday of Easter: The Light and His Callings

TranscriptioN

Well, good morning. My name is Chip Webb, and I'm a member here at Corpus Christi Anglican Church. Before I begin, let us briefly pray. 

“O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all your people's hearts be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.”

Well, we're now in the season, as Fr. Morgan mentioned, when we have the joy of having our youth and our younger kids with us during the service. And so let me ask them, adults, don't help them out.

Let me ask them what season of the church calendar this is. Yes, Easter. Thank you.

And this is the fifth Sunday of Easter. Now, what do we focus on during the Easter season? Christ's resurrection. Yes, that is primarily what we focus on, the resurrection and its implications for our lives.

And we focus on that in all of our service, our homilies, etc. Now, what do we do during the Easter season? Do we fast like we do in Lent? OK, I'm seeing no. And the answer is no, because we don't fast.

We feast. Yes. Now, watch it, kids.

That doesn't mean that you get to continually ask your parents for your favorite food because we don't want to be gluttonous. But we do want to feast in the sense of spiritually and or literally because we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We had 40 days of repenting for our sins and sometimes fasting during Lent.

But then with Easter, we have 50 days of feasting. And this year, one of our electionary passages each week is taking us through the Book of Acts. And more specifically, portions of the life and ministry of St. Paul.

We're seeing how his life was changed. Two weeks ago, we saw Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. That direct encounter with the risen Christ that turned Paul's life upside down.

Let me ask our youth and kids one more question. How did Paul change? How is he different? Anyone? OK, well, he went from persecuting, from hurting Christians to being a Christian and telling people of the good news of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. And also his name changed from Saul to Paul.

So we saw that we saw that two weeks ago. Then last Sunday on Good Shepherd Sunday, we looked at one of Paul's early sermons on his first missionary journey, taking the good news of Jesus around the Roman Empire. So we moved from looking at the change that Paul experienced two weeks ago to some of the contents of his faith last week 

And this week we are looking at Paul's calling and how it changed in response to the providential circumstances of life. Now, in today's reading from the Book of Acts, chapter 13, we pick up just one week after the sermon Paul gave that was covered in our reading last week. And right before where our reading began today in verse 42, we see the reaction of evidently the majority of the crowd to Paul's sermon in Pisidian Antioch.

They were enthused and they asked Paul to repeat his sermon or at least expand on it, repeat its points, what have you. And so one week later, they must have invited a ton of their friends because we read in verse 44 that the whole city came to the synagogue to hear Paul's sermon. Isn't that amazing? Here's Paul on his first missionary journey, reaching large, interested crowds with the good news of Jesus' resurrection.

Nothing could be better, right? Well, just one verse later, the bottom drops out. A number of Jews from later references, it appears that they were mostly the educated religious people, not only do not accept his message, but work to counter it. That's a pretty darn quick turnaround.

One week, people mostly or maybe even totally accepted his message or at least were open to it. Then the next week, at least a sizable percentage of the congregation opposed it, motivated, we are told, by jealousy. Now, we're not told exactly what the jealousy was over.

Some commentators, such as the Anglican theologian John Stott, believed that it was due to the crowd size or some would say that it's due to the fact, this would be associated with that, that he is in danger of taking over the position of authority that the regular teachers had. So either one's possible. We don't know for absolutely sure.

But whatever the reasons, Paul was experiencing a rapid change of fortunes in the city in Antioch. Now, I think that at least in general, most of us can relate to what Paul went through. Have you ever shared with others about Jesus? And you seem to for a short time or a long time be making a connection with them.

And then something just changes. And sometimes you're not even sure what. And they're no longer responsive.

I would say that that's sort of like what Paul experienced. Or, take something different. Have you been following God to the best of your ability and seemingly going down life thinking that you are following God exactly as he wants you to? And then all of a sudden you find your way blocked. 

I know this type of situation very well. And in general, that seems to be what happened to Paul here. His way was blocked to an extent.

Or, maybe you've started out in a generally, or maybe even very good period of life, and then suddenly without warning, everything collapses. Maybe it's your jobs. Maybe it's your health. 

It could be any one of a million of things. Many of us have experienced such traumatic circumstances. I dare say most of us.

And we will, the longer that we live, run into those. Any or all of those scenarios, make no mistake, are very difficult. And regarding those that involve our callings, it is never easy to have our direction from God, or seeming direction from God, frustrated.

Such situations can raise all sorts of questions in our head about what God is doing, and why he would either cause or allow, depending upon your particular theological bent, this to happen to you. And, you know, just this last Thursday, I personally celebrated, by reflecting on it, a spiritual birthday. It was the 40th anniversary of when I had committed my life to Christ's Lordship, and when I had become a serious disciple of Jesus Christ.

And now, when I did that, I didn't do it fully knowing what I was doing. I may have thought I had a pretty good idea. And I will say, earlier in that evening, I was a little bit reluctant still to do it, until the campus minister convinced me otherwise.

And the next few years after that were marked by quite a few struggles over what God wanted me to do in my life. You know, finally, over time, those struggles seemed to resolve. And I finally thought I had a good grasp, I mean, not a perfect grasp by any means, but I thought I had a good grasp of what God wanted me to do, and how my life was going to go.

And I had gone into English education to teach high school students. Things were great in terms of the academics, things were wonderful. And then I ran into the real-life training ground of student teaching.

And what I found was that all my somewhat clever lesson plans did not compensate for an inability to discipline students. And things were so bad enough that neither my cooperating teacher nor my professors involved with me would recommend me to go on. And so then I was stuck.

What do I do now with my life? And I have to say, I was incredibly perplexed, and that's an incredible understatement. Now in Paul's case, the blockage related to his ministry. We see in Acts that Paul and Barnabas, following the example of Jesus, went to the Jewish synagogues in the towns that they visited along their missionary journey.

In doing so, they were following the example of Jesus, who said that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. And undoubtedly, this was also an expression of Paul's calling. He was the Hebrew of Hebrews, the Pharisee of Pharisees.

His heart was for his fellow Jews. And in Acts, Paul is shown to be fervently attempting to persuade fellow Jews that Jesus is Messiah soon after his Damascus Road experience. We are not given any insight into how Paul reacted emotionally to this blockage once it came, but we do see in verses 46 and 47 that he re-evaluated his mission.

And in that re-evaluation, an ancient passage from chapter 49 of the book of Isaiah, from one of the four servant songs in that book, formed the nucleus of a new direction for him. Quote, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Unquote.

And for me, at least, perhaps the most interesting thing about Paul's citation of the quotation there in verse 47 is that he calls it a command. The Old Testament prophets, including Isaiah, frequently depicted Israel as a nation that was intended to be a light to other nations. In other words, to the Gentiles.

While the New Testament sees the depiction of a servant in those four Isaiah servant songs as ultimately fulfilled in Christ. So when Paul cites being a light to the Gentiles as a command, he is both taking up the role intended by God for the nation of Israel, and, on the other hand, he is also imitating the Lord Jesus Christ, who is faithful to God in precisely all of the different points where Israel was unfaithful to God throughout its history. In other words, the command that Paul now announces that he will obey, it's not particular to him. 

It is one that was given to Israel as far back as Abraham. The original Abrahamic call was for Abraham and his descendants to be a blessing not just to his family and kinfolk, but to the nations. And the command is one that is only perfectly obeyed and only perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

But what about the Jews? God's chosen people and the group that seemingly, judging from Paul's other writings, still was most on Paul's heart. Well, it's important to remember first that, as I mentioned earlier, many of them responded positively to Paul's message, enough that they asked him back to the synagogue and invited their friends. But concerning the Jews who oppose Paul's message, interestingly, Paul asserts in verse 46 that they have judged themselves to be unworthy of eternal life by their opposition to the message of the resurrected Jesus.

In other words, their own actions have consequences and condemn them. Now, are we talking about a permanent condemnation here? No, not necessarily, because there is room for repentance still. But, nonetheless, their actions have had consequences and in a sense have condemned them.

The rest of chapter 13 details the results of these actions and Paul's re-evaluation of his mission. The Gentiles rejoice, while the Jews who oppose Paul, they harden in their opposition and they get other Jews to agree with them and to create such a situation that Paul, Barnabas, and company leave Pisidian Antioch. And so Paul, indeed, he became an apostle to the Gentiles, as he is commonly called. 

But with his new focus on the Gentiles, did Paul give up on the Jewish people? No. If we jump into chapter 14, to the start of it, we see that in the next town, Iconium, he is there at first with Barnabas in the Jewish synagogues. So, even though his mission was changing, his heart for the Jewish people and his outreach to the Jewish people did not change.

It may have changed to some degree, but it never changed totally. And so in Acts 13, we see that as a result of one blocked calling, a new one emerges that serves as a foundation for the Church. On Friday, my wife Sharon and I attended the consecration of a newly opened building, the Trofimus Center, which is a new event center for Trinity Anglican Seminary in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

Well, it is the one holy Catholic and apostolic church that has been made of the stones of both Jews and Gentiles down through the centuries on the foundations of the apostles. The church, which was initially viewed by the Romans as a Jewish sect rather than a separate religion, by reaching out to and incorporating Gentiles became the light to the world that Israel was intended to be. Paul, in obeying the command to be a light to the Gentiles, serves as a prototype and as an example for the Church.

And we, at Corpus Christi Anglican Church, we are one local expression of this emphasis centuries later. We are a common people using common prayer and undergoing uncommon transformation because others in the Church prior to us have carried the torch from Paul. And one overarching goal of our uncommon transformation is to be a light to the nations like the Christians who have gone on before us.

But then what about our personal callings or seeming personal callings that are or at least seem to be from God but are blocked? Well, there are five applications that we can take from them, that we can take, excuse me, concerning them from our scripture readings today and or the life of the Apostle Paul. Number one, we should view our callings within the context of the Church. We are all called as part of the Church, Christ's body, to be a light to the world around us and to be a blessing to the nations.

In doing so, we imitate Christ. Recall the words of the Charles Wesley hymn, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. 

Think about that. Jesus brings light wherever he goes and with it he brings life and healing. In the picture we get of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, the leaves of the tree of life are for what? The healing of the nations.

And that comes after the marriage supper of the Lamb that we heard about today earlier in Revelation 19. We are also to be a light as one of our high priorities with the other high priorities being other aspects of our obedience to Christ. As we do so, by God's grace, we bring his life and healing with us into the world.

Any additional godly personal callings are subservient to this greater calling. Conversely, anything that we pursue that might prohibit us from being a light cannot be our calling. It's just not in our definition.

So, let us discern whether our callings are valid in the light of God's intentions for the church as revealed in Scripture. Number two, our heart should be for all people. You know, when you think about the New Testament, we almost have a biblical mathematical model.

Jew plus Gentile equals everyone. Everyone. Psalm 145 reminded us today in verse 9 that God has mercy upon all.

There is no one beyond the reach of his love. As much as possible, given our human limitations, and we have our own in many, so it should be with us. Our gospel reading today stressed the importance of loving one another.

Even when people seem far from God, we are to always hope for them. Think of the example of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans when he expressed how much he held out hope for the Jews even though he was grieved over them. Remember, everyone, everyone is created in the image of God.

So, number one, we should view our callings within the context of the church. Number two, our heart should be for all people. Number three, recognize that our callings do not necessarily end when they are blocked.

They might just be modified. Opposition to Paul's message did not end Paul's heart for the Jewish people. A blocked career path does not have to mean that your gifts go unused.

It just means that they might be used in a different career or outside of a career. Be open to how God might use your callings in lesser or greater ways than you anticipate. Number four, take a proper view regarding callings.

Remember that God is not so much interested in what we do as who we are. That is, he is most interested in the development of our characters so that we become more and more and more like Jesus with each passing day, ideally. We can only be a light of the world as we become more like Jesus.

We can only share Christ's life and healing with people as we become more like Jesus. So, let us also resist any temptations to view our callings as ones of self-actualization. It's our American culture, not the Christian faith, that places so much stress upon individualism.

And number five, wrestle with God regarding callings when necessary. We don't see Paul wrestling with God about the situation in Acts 13, but we do see him wrestling in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 over a thorn in his flesh that undoubtedly inhibited his callings. Wrestle with God.

Wrestle, wrestle, wrestle with him. It is in wrestling with God, in being honest with him and about our uncertainty with him, about how he is leading us, etc., that we learn more of what God is like and we learn more how to love him. And realize that being confused about how God leads us and works in our lives is pretty darn normal. 

There might well be times when we might say, with the late songwriter Rich Mullins, I can't see how you're leading me unless you've led me here, to where I'm lost enough to let myself be led. That is okay. It is fine not to understand what God is allowing or doing in our lives, or where or how he is leading us.

Jesus is still our good shepherd, as we saw emphasized last Sunday. Wrestle with God in all of his mystery That might never be resolved to your satisfaction in this lifetime or the next one. Our Acts passage ends with the comment that the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit in verse 42.

Similarly, the consecration of the Trochmas Center on Friday was an occasion for much joy, as well as the presence of the Holy Spirit. Two sections of two different hymns that we sang stand out to be related to these topics. With the elect from every nation mentioned in the church's one foundation, let us rejoice in the light in our darkness that Jesus brings, according to the hymn, Only Begotten Word of God Eternal.

And may by God's grace, individually, we be that light to others, and may the church collectively be that light to everyone. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Edited by the Vicar.