Spiritual Story… Then And Now

WED., JUNE 3, 1998, 1:50 PM
FARM, STUDY

You have some doubts about the value of restudying this Book, the Acts of the Apostles. It is in a different time, place, and culture. The events are a strange combination of the natural and the supernatural, with little relationship to your daily life. Why, then, do I push for such study?

Part of it is discipline, that necessary to be a good Christian. This is an “historic” religion, and each devotee should want to and should know who the main characters in the story are… and what they said and did. Of course the “bridge” between these original Scriptures and present-day life (including these Teachings of Mine to you) gets more and more “stretched out” and harder to relate, directly. Discipline keeps you returning, relearning, and reconsidering the meaning behind the events in the story.

I also recommend the study because of the diversity I have created and continue to encourage. The present world is made up of much more than Jews, Greeks, Romans… One portion of Scripture may speak directly to one person, while seeming to mean nothing much to others. Yet at another time of study the passage of little consequence can be “opened” for much spiritual good.

In the time of the Acts there was no Christian Church, only a few charismatic apostles that gathered groups and nurtured them with the simple, but dramatic story of Christ, his Mission, His Sacrifice (for them), and the salvation that accrues from that sacrificial death… and the resurrection and the ascension as a symbol of life in the spirit. Now the Christian Church is dominant and has been a part of your life since childhood. You have heard and re-heard, read and re-read the basic story. Where does it lead?

Dr. Leigh’s thrust is that this is all there need be. Presumably this is the only necessary bedrock for a life of service to Me and to your fellow men. True for some. Not for others. I expect a range of responses, and I need a range of servants. Paul was a great evangelical servant, but he did turn some away from Me… with the manner and style that attracted others.

Your sons left their Presbyterian heritage behind for inclusion in Anglican, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches, with liturgies that seem unnecessary to you. For Bob and Michael, being true to the tenets of their religion makes it difficult to impossible to accept what We do together as good and true. And, of course, if you were open and affirming to your fellow Presbyterians, you would expect some skepticism and even some rejections. Hence, in today’s world when you claim even a minor “miracle”, as compared with these described in the Acts story, you would be suspect, particularly by those who hold most strongly to Scriptural words and stories. It happened then… but this is now.

The passage in this morning’s portion did include one of your favorite accounts, and one quite as relevant today as then. Called “Everyone Needs a Barnabas”, it is the tale of Barnabas standing up for young John Mark, who had messed up in an earlier missionary trip. Paul was being conservative, afraid for the life of a church just commencing. His principles were strong, and he was standing by them. But what about forgiveness and “another chance”. Barnabas showed that forth, and John Mark came through.

“Choices between goods” is with you today. Your church has just voted to “protect the Church” by being righteous like Paul in relation to homosexual Christians. Yet Barnabas is still needed… with forgiveness, even when such is “dangerous”.

And your church is in the midst of a Campaign to restructure and improve your church building. One spiritual “good” is that you’re sacrificing now for a generation ahead… as those did some years back, for you. Another “good” is that you could give much more to those who are in more obvious need, now, eschewing the temptation to spend excessively on “yourself”.

Capital Campaigns for building improvement were not a part of the Acts story. Being beaten for casting out demons is not part of your American Christian story. There is a range in the stories of Christians today. For everything (really!) there is a season. Nothing has continued success. The rhythm of life, personal and “together”.

So it is
2:52 PM
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