Seeing the Vision
Acts 16:6-15[1]
Many of us find
as we take our journey through life that we have “growing points” at various
stages. At times it may be job-related; at other times it may involve our
personal lives. The way life changes and challenges us means that very few of
us will manage the journey without facing some kind of “growing points.” For
me, it was learning to live by myself. I had never really done it. I went from
living at home, to living with a roommate at college, to being married. When I
found myself single again 7 years ago, I had to learn to become comfortable
living by myself. It wasn’t particularly easy. Some of you may have faced a
similar experience. I would say most of us have had to deal with some kind of
“growing point” at some time.
One of the real
challenges with this kind of experience is that it typically takes us outside
of our “comfort zones.” Sometimes way outside! We may have to re-evaluate some
or all of what we have held onto in order to define our identity. We may have
to learn completely new ways of finding meaning and joy in life. We may have to
re-define the “dream” that inspires us. We may have to see anew the “vision”
that guides us. “Growing points” aren’t particularly welcome. But if we are
willing to learn from them, we can emerge from the experience healthier,
stronger, and perhaps even happier with our lives.
I think that our
scripture lesson from the book of Acts for today may contain a “growing point”
for the Apostle Paul. It’s not obvious, especially because we are used to
thinking of Paul as the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” So when we hear of Paul’s
vision of a “man of Macedonia,” a part of what we would have called Greece, it
makes perfect sense that they were “convinced that God had called us to
proclaim the good news to them” (Acts 16:10). After all, in describing his
initial encounter with the risen Christ, Paul himself said that it took place
“so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles” (Gal. 1:16). So it would seem
that this was a perfectly natural “next step” in Paul’s journey as an Apostle
and preacher of the Gospel to the Gentiles.
But if you pay
attention to the story of Paul’s career in the book of Acts, you find an
interesting detail: whenever Paul and his companions entered a new city, they
started their ministry in the Jewish synagogue. In fact, it would not be an
overstatement to say was their primary “mission strategy.” When they came to a
new city, they went straight to the synagogue. In fact the book of Acts says it
was his “custom” to attend the local synagogue on the Sabbath day wherever he
went (Acts 17:2). It was a logical place where Paul could find people who might
have an interest in the Gospel. Perhaps it was also “familiar territory.”
But when Paul
first “crossed over” into what was essentially new territory, and came to the
city of Philippi, apparently there was no Jewish synagogue there. The Scripture
lesson says that at first “they remained in the city for some days” (Acts
16:12). Then on the Sabbath day they went outside the city by the river “where
we supposed there was a place of prayer” (Acts 16:13). And indeed, there they
met a group of women gathered for prayer and shared the gospel with them. They
planted a church in the house of a wealthy businesswoman named Lydia. And the
church at Philippi flourished.
For Paul and his
companions, this was a different strategy. They were in new territory, since
they had “crossed over” from the Middle East into Greek lands. I wonder what
they were doing “for some days” in Philippi. I wonder if they were dealing with
culture shock. I wonder whether they were unsure as to how to proceed, since
there wasn’t a Jewish synagogue where they could begin their work of preaching
the gospel. I get the feeling they were “improvising” a bit. But what they had
was a vision and a conviction: Paul’s vision of “helping” the Greeks, and the
conviction that God had called them to proclaim the gospel to people who
worshiped pagan gods and lived very differently. So they found a way to carry
out their conviction in the midst of uncertainty and they improvised!
I’ve had this
experience myself living overseas. It was my family’s custom to find a church
home wherever we lived. When we lived in Germany, we initially planned on going
to the local German language church. But then culture shock got the best of us.
My wife didn’t really know German, and we had a toddler and a newborn. So
instead, we wound up at MacDonald’s. We didn’t much like MacDonald’s, but it
felt like home. While we were there we ran into another American family who
told us about an English-speaking church not far away. That became the church
we attended while we lived in Germany. We followed our conviction to find a
church home and so we were able to deal with the uncertainty of an unfamiliar situation.
I’ve said many
times that our church is in “unfamiliar territory.” I think that’s true for
almost all churches in our culture these days. Just about every church is
trying new and different strategies for reaching people. Some of them have
decided to jettison their traditions regarding worship and even what they
believe in order to get more people in the pews. I would prefer to do as Paul
and his friends did: holding fast to our vision and our conviction. But in
order to do that, we have to know what our vision for ministry is. We say that
our vision is to serve. But what do we hope to accomplish through that service?
I think we also have to have an idea what we’re “convinced” God has called us
to do. I think we might start by exploring the idea of following Christ in
order to lead others to follow him. That’s a vision that can lead us to find
new ways of serving others in this changing and challenging time. It’s a vision
that can help us to improvise and innovate, while still holding firmly to our
convictions.
[1] ©
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 5/26/2019 at Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
