What does it mean to follow Jesus? The early Christians in the book of Acts identifies themselves as “the way” (Acts 9:2). It sounds kind of mystical—“the way…” They were following “the way” of Jesus, who identified himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Jesus tells us what his way is like:

Luke 9:23 (NIV) Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

The way of Jesus requires us to deny our flesh, passions, and desires, pick up our crosses each day, and follow him (Gal 5:24). To follow him means to trust and obey him no matter what. A man named Stephen is a member of “the way.” He’s one of its leaders tasked with taking care of the Greek-speaking widows. He is daily walking the way of Jesus and it costs him everything. 

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, which is a day we honor the soldiers who have died serving in our military. It’s a solemn day to remember those who gave up their lives on our behalf. Today is a bit of a Memorial Day for our church as we remember the first Christian Soldier to give up his life on our behalf, Stephen. He died unarmed and defenseless but waging a battle between heaven and earth by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Stephen denied himself, picked up his cross, and followed Jesus.

Following Jesus means giving our everything to him.

Stephen becomes the first martyr in the Bible. The word martyr actually comes from the Greek word for “witness” (“martys”). Remember when Jesus told his disciples the plan he had for them? 

Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses (my “martys”) in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It’s here in Stephen’s story that the “witness” begins to turn violent, not by the Christians, never by the Christians, but by the ones who persecute them. 

Acts 6:8-9 (NIV) Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.

God’s grace enables Stephen to persevere when fellow Jews from all over the ancient world begin to oppose him. Can you imagine what that must have felt like? Being opposed and ostracized by your community? Here is performing signs and wonders, doing miracles, and instead of believing they argue with him. Stephen pays a high price to follow Jesus.

1) He sacrifices his social support to follow Jesus.

When he heard the gospel, believed, and began to tell others about Christ, he lost his Jewish community. He lost the entire support system. As a Hellenist, a Greek-speaking Jew, he probably depended on people like the “Synagogue of the Freedmen” for social and economic help. The Synagogue of the Freedmen was made up of Jews who had been taken into captivity and slavery, likely in Rome, managed to get free, and then came back to Jerusalem. They probably spoke Greek like Stephen. The first cost he paid was social.

Back when I worked in DC one of my coworkers who was around my age was a Jewish man. We were talking about our beliefs over lunch and I mentioned that Messianic Jews are Jewish people who believe in Jesus. How he responded has really influenced my understanding of what it means for someone who is Jewish to become Christian. He said something like, “You can’t be a Jew and Christian. You’re not a Jew.” There was simply no room for the concept. As a white American descended from German roots, I don’t understand the social cost many people pay to follow Christ. If they’re born Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or a part of another religious community with strong ties to family, it’s incredibly costly to come to Christ. Your family may ostracize or disown you. You may lose your whole community.

Maybe you’re thinking about believing in Jesus bu

Monica and I have a saying in our home, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” This isn’t a saying we created, but it’s something we like to say. So like when Monica is cooking dinner and I am playing with Elijah we’ll say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Or when I’m doing dishes and Monica is getting Elijah ready for bed, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Or when Monica is scrubbing the floor and I’m playing video games, “Teamwork makes the dream work…”

I like this catch-phrase, “teamwork makes the dream work,” because it’s short, catchy, and has a good message. When we work together, good things happen. If the twelve Apostles had a catchphrase for our passage today, I’d like to think they could appreciate, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” At the start of the church, the Apostles face a challenge. The Greek-speaking believing widows are being overlooked.

Acts 6:1 (NIV) In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

At that time like today Jewish people lived in Jerusalem and Judah, but also in other parts of the world. But when it came time to retire, many Greek-speaking Jewish couples would migrate to Jerusalem so they could be buried there. They would migrate, the husband typically would die first, and then there were all these widows left in Jerusalem. The Hellenistic Jews spoke Greek and likely embraced Greek culture while Hebraic Jews spoke semitic languages, like Hebrew or Arabic, and embraced Jewish culture. So there are cultural and linguistic barriers. When the Christians were making the rounds to care for some of these women, they were not taking them the food they need, potentially because of favoritism. This is the beginning signs of the ethnic tension that would threaten the early church between the Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15). So the question is, “How are the Apostles going to make it work?” 

As a church today we also face challenges. There are a lot of responsibilities and duties that go into running a church. Whose in charge of the church? Who runs youth ministry, children’s ministry, and community groups? Who counts the money? What do we do with the money? What do we do when someone needs something in our church? How about when we see needs in our town? What about discipleship and evangelism? Aren’t we all supposed to do that? Who takes care of what? It can all become overwhelming and lead to burnout as we do too much or the wrong things. Right now our whole normal way of doing church is on pause. Many people are stepping up to fill gaps we never knew we had, but it can still be stressful. How can we handle all God is calling us to? Teamwork makes the dream work. God gifts each of us with a way we can help build up the church body, not just run the church, but really take care of each other and love each other during this time. 

Today, I first want to talk about teamwork. What type of team does the early church give us as an example? Second, I want to talk about the dream. What are we hoping will happen? So first…

1) Teamwork – Based on gifting and calling.

The Apostles, the twelve disciples, solve the problem of the Greek-speaking widows need through teamwork based on gifting and calling. The leaders of the church are specifically gifted by God (that means God gave them certain talents, abilities, and passions) and called by God (that means God has set them aside for a special task) to share God’s word, pray, and empower the team. 

Acts 6:2-4 (NIV) So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

While we don’t have Apostles in o

The ballet Giselle is a love story between a young frail maiden and a nobleman. Giselle lives in a small village with her mother where the villagers are preparing to celebrate the Wine Festival. The local huntsman Hilarion secretly loves her but so does another, Count Albrecht. The Count disguises himself as a peasant and shows her affection and care to win her love. The huntsman Hilarion will have none of it. He interrupts their dance and his suspicion grows that this peasant is more than he seems. 

When the villagers return from harvesting grapes, they all begin to dance, but Giselle’s mother warns her of her frailty. If she dies of a broken heart, in death she will be transformed into a wilis, a restless and vengeful spirit that haunts men caught in the forest late at night. 

When a prince and his daughter join the party, Count Albrecht slips away so as not to be discovered. When the princess discovers both she and Giselle are engaged, she gifts Giselle with a beautiful necklace. The celebration is soon ruined when Hilarion, having discovered Albrecht’s secret, exposes him for an imposter. He is not a peasant but a Count, and it turns out, is engaged to the prince’s daughter. 

Giselle is crushed. She loved the man she thought was a peasant but turns out to be a deceitful nobleman. Her mind escapes her and she dies, her heart in pieces. Act I of the ballet Giselle ends in brokenness, despair, and death. The dance has come to an end and it has not ended in joy. 

The Bible’s story also begins as a love story, one not so different from Giselle. It too starts with a dance, a cosmic dance as the Spirit of God soars over the waters (Gen. 1:1). God beckons the world and beauty into being. He places the very best of humankind, Adam and Eve, in a garden to keep it. God was the lover and we the beloved, but we broke the dance. We danced with the devil instead of our Creator. Like a leaping dancer who tears a tendon, we fell.

The question then, is what will happen in Act II? Will we, like Giselle and Albrecht, dance again? Does God invite us to the dance anew? Though we fell, our God never stopped dancing. He invites us to come and dance the dance of redemption with him.

Our redeemer invites us to come and dance.

Our Creator invites us, yes beckons us, to come and enter into relationship with him. Our relationship with God is like a dance. Will we let him lead us or will we dance to our own tune? The Song of Songs is a poetic dance, a love song between a bride and groom, a husband and wife. Together they discover the rhythm and beauty of love and marriage. The groom comes for his bride leaping like a dance. 

Song of Songs 2:8-9a, 10 (ESV)

The voice of my beloved!

     Behold, he comes,

leaping over the mountains,

     bounding over the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle

     or a young stag…

My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

     and come away,

In the Old Testament God describes his relationship with Israel as one of marriage. Though Israel resists and dances with other partners, her husband extends his hand again and again (Jer. 31:32-33). In the New Testament we find human marriage is but a dance rehearsal of a much greater performance, Christ’s love for the gathering of believers he calls church and bride (Eph. 5:25). We also resist. My heart grows cold. Despite having the best dance partner in the universe we still want to lead at cost to our own beauty.

Classical ballet is a distinct yet precise, light yet graceful, form of dance. They call ballet, “poetry in motion.” A ballerina can perform great feats alone. She is elegant and beautiful. But a man and a woman can perform even greater feats together. The marriage author Gary Thomas writes of ballet dancing in his book Cherish: 

Famed Russian-born ballet choreographer George Balanchine once said, “Ballet is woman.” The best male dancers recognize that their role is all about showcasing the female dancer’s beauty, particularly during pas de deux—

How can we have joy in adversity? How can we experience happiness when we’re also experiencing setbacks or even suffering? I want to read you the last words in our passage.

Acts 5:40b (NIV) …They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles, who are the twelve disciples including Peter and John and all the rest, are arrested by those in power in Jerusalem. They tell the apostles not to talk about Jesus anymore, flog them, which means they whipped them with strips of cowhide as many as 40 times. How would you respond? I’d run away.

Acts 5:41 (NIV) The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

They walk away with their chin up, rejoicing, happy for what they suffered for Christ’s name. Chances are, most of us aren’t going to be thrown in prison for Jesus, but you still face adversity and hardship and it’s tempting to give up on Jesus when that happens. It’s tempting to abandon faith in Jesus when things don’t go our way, when we lose a job, when a loved one dies of covid or cancer, when we lose our retirement. It’s when we’re at our lowest that we need Jesus the most. 

Our passage first teaches us about finding joy in suffering for Jesus, as we’re sharing the gospel, but I also think it teaches us about finding joy in whatever we’re suffering as we’re simply living for Christ. So it gives us encouragement for what we might call “persecution” but also for what we call “hardship.” Jesus can give us joy in any type of adversity, and especially when we experience adversity for him. 

Our passage today gives us hints and clues about how the disciples are able to walk away from suffering rejoicing instead of complaining. Listening to today’s sermon probably won’t give you instantaneous long-lasting joy, but hopefully it will encourage you along your way. Developing joy in adversity is a journey. It takes time. In our passage today we find five things we need to experience joy in adversity:

1. New life in Christ. (v. 20)

The disciples and Peter have experienced a new way of life that makes them willing to suffer for Jesus. They are experiencing success in their mission (Acts 1:8). People are coming to Christ and the high priest and his associates are filled with jealousy. They can’t stand it that someone might take their power. They’re probably worried that this Jewish sect might bring God’s wrath down upon them for wandering away from the Old Testament laws. So they arrest them and throw them in jail, but then an angel shows up. 

Acts 5:19-20 (NIV) 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

When you get pregnant, people want to know three things. When’s the due date? What’s the baby’s gender? And what are you going to name him or her? People keep asking us what we’re going to name our little girl, and that’s fine, we welcome it, but we’re not telling. A name somehow tells us about a person. N.T. Wright was going to name his daughter “Emily” but when she arrived they named her “Rosamund.” She just didn’t look like an Emily. I tried to name Elijah “Lancelot” but he just didn’t look like a Lancelot. 

What do people name this early movement of believers? They become known as “the way” before they become known as “Christians” (Acts 9:2; 11:26). Even before that the angel calls them by a different name right here—“this life—tell the people all about ‘this life’.” What they’re experiencing is so different the angel has to describe it as a new way of life. This new way and life comes from Jesus.

John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If we want to experience joy, we need to have the same “life” the disciples had. We can only have this new life through Jesus Christ,

Today we’re going back to our series in Acts. I actually wrote this sermon before the Coronavirus landed. Today I want us to start to get back into a rhythm. So today I’m preaching the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how their story tells us about the holiness of God. 

When you think of holiness, what do you think of? Maybe you think of a big beautiful cathedral. There’s something sacred and awe-inspiring about a beautiful church or cathedral. When you think of holiness, maybe you think of a cemetery. There’s a sign outside the cemetery by our house that prohibits running. There’s something sacred about the life of a person—that we treat with reverence. When you think of holiness, maybe you think of a monument, something that celebrates our history. 

I agree that all these things are special and worth remembering, but the Bible presents us with a different understanding of holiness. Holiness looks more like this sign, “[Out of state visitors] are urged to self-quarantine for 14 days.” I saw a sign just like this hanging over Route 3. Governor Baker is urging anyone coming from another state to not go out shopping or near anyone for two weeks. He doesn’t want someone who is sick to start spreading the disease. This is a picture of what it means to be holy. 

To be holy means to be set apart, to be distinct, separate. In the Old Testament, we see holiness vividly demonstrated in some of the laws where women and men would have to physically separate themselves from the camp for things like skin disease to become clean again (Lev 13). To be holy was to be pure and untainted by the world’s sickness or sin. 

It’s like there is a massive sign hanging over the highway to heaven that reads, “Perfect spiritual health required. All others self-quarantine for all eternity.” That’s right. To get into heaven you have to be perfectly holy. You can’t have any spiritual sickness or disease. You can’t have sin on your record.

If you were to encounter God in all his holiness right now, it would dismay and overwhelm you. The prophet Isaiah saw God in all his holiness. He had a vision where he saw God set apart on a throne over the temple (Isa 6:1). God is surrounded by Seraphim, a type of angel. Even though these angels are pure beings, much better than us, they cover their faces so they don’t see God’s holiness and their feet, possibly representing a place typical of unholiness and dirt (Exod 3:5; Isa 6:2; John 13:10). They call out:

Isaiah 6:3b-5

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

     the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Do you remember when I preached Acts 4:23-31? When the believers in the early church pray, the place where they are meeting shakes and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah’s vision he sees the temple shake. God’s temple is a holy place set apart for him, and in the New Testament, God’s people become his temple. We become holy through the Holy Spirit. But see how Isaiah reacts to God’s holiness…

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (NIV)

How does God’s holiness affect you? Do you feel like you’re good enough? You’re a good person. You’ve self-quarantined and donated money to the Red Cross. God will let you pass into heaven. You’re wrong, but there’s hope for you. Or maybe you’re on the other end. You know God could never accept you. You’re too dirty, too filthy for God to love you. You’re also wrong and there’s hope for you too. Ananias and Sapphira help us understand God’s holiness the right way. 

We underestimate God’s holiness. (Acts 5:1-6)

Ananias and Sapphira don’t take God’s holiness seriously. We are supposed to worship him with reverence, awe and respect, because he is holy and set apart and on a throne. That’s the exact opposite of what Ananias and Sapphira do. In their wo

Listen or watch this guest sermon on 1 Kings 17:8-24 from Joe Yu entitled “Resurrection vs. Resuscitation.” Joe Yu is a missionary with Ripe for Harvest World Outreach. He has served in different parts of the world including Southeast Asia, India, Europe, and the United States. His main work has been in helping to develop ministry visions for indigenous ministries. By God’s grace he has been able to help develop a Bible College in Myanmar and also to develop a satellite campus in tribal regions involved in orphan care. He has also traveled to remote villages to teach and preach. In some locations, he was the first foreigner ever to visit.  Through this work God has allowed him to make connections with different ministry leaders from around the world.

Discussion Questions:

What feels normal and safe to you and how might God be calling you forward?

What change or transformation is God bringing to our lives as a church body?

As you reflect on yourself, do you see any places God is already transforming?

What fears of transformation do you have that keeps you from embracing God’s will?

How can you stir your imagination for the greater hope that God wants to give?

How did God transform the widow’s faith through tragedy and crisis?

When the widow was eating the miracle bread and oil she likely returned to a sense of normalcy and routine. Why do you think God gave her the extra trial of the death of her son?  What transformation was he working in her life?

God told Elijah that the widow was going to feed him, but God didn’t tell the widow anything. She probably didn’t even know the God of Israel. What does this tell us about God’s ability and character?

We all want to go back to normal. We want to get back to life after COVID-19. But what if God has something greater in store? How does this change how we live today?

If Jesus can resurrect himself and all who trust in him from the dead, what else can he do?

God allowed the widow’s son to die and rise again to bring her to a saving faith in him. God allowed his own Son to die and rise again, Christ Jesus, to bring us to a saving faith in him as well. This is the gospel, the good news. What does this stir in your heart? How does it make you feel and think about God?

Are you hungry for what God can do? Do you want to see his greater power? How might you carry on this conversation with God and your church family?

Thanks for discussing these questions. Take a moment to pray and ask the Lord to apply this sermon to your life our church’s life going forward.

Easter is a happy day. It’s the happiest day in the church calendar. But it didn’t start the way. That first Easter morning Jesus’ followers were grieving and heartbroken because the one they loved died. Our story today starts with a grieving woman, Mary Magdalene, as she stands outside Jesus’ tomb crying. She is mourning his death and that someone has stolen his body. In the gospels this word for “weep” is a bitter, loud, wailing (Matt 26:75; Mark 6:38). I’ve only heard ‘this type’ of weeping once in my life, and it was when a loved one died. Easter is a happy day but the first Easter didn’t start that way.

That’s where we are today. Right now we are going through a global crisis, a pandemic, the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Thousands of people are dying ever week. We’ve reached over 500,000 cases and 20,000 deaths in the US. Statistics are turning into names as people we know and care about are getting sick. Everyone will know someone hurt by this virus. So how can our Easter, celebrated in the midst of sadness, be a happy one?

It’s the same question we ask of the first Easter. What could possibly transform the first Easter—a day marked by sadness and grief—into one billions of people celebrate around the world? What could possibly transform Mary Magdalene’s despair into complete joy?It’s the same thing that can transform our day today. Easter transforms us. Today, I want to talk you four ways Easter transforms us:

1) Easter offers us hope.

Easter takes us in our sadness and offers us hope.

John 20:11-13a (NIV)

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

When she goes to the tomb on Sunday morning instead of finding Jesus’ body she finds the stone rolled away and two angels sitting on the slab where his body should have been. They should have been dressed in black for mourning, but instead they’re dressed in white. They’re not despairing. They know Jesus is alive. They ask her, “Woman, why are you crying?” They’re offering her hope in her despair.

Mary Magdalene really needs hope. If you read Mary’s history in Mark and Luke’s gospel accounts you’ll see that when Mary met Jesus she was at a really bad place. When Jesus first met her she was possessed by seven demons (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). From what we know of demon possession in the rest of the Bible it wasn’t pretty. One demon possessed man lived naked in the tombs and cut himself. (Mark 5:1-20). People possessed by demons often had incredibly strength or could be thrown around by the demons possessing them (Matt 17:14-20; Luke 4:31-37). Demons could cause people to be mute and deaf, so they couldn’t speak or hear (Matt 9:32-33; 12:22). They acted insane. I wonder if Mary is afraid and wondering if she’ll go back to her old ways with Jesus gone, if the spirits will come back. She desperately needs hope.

When the angels ask Mary, “Woman, why are you crying?” they’re comforting her; and gently calling her to remember all that Jesus has done for her. They’re reminder her that she was once almost dead, but Jesus saved her. If Jesus can save her, what makes her think he’s dead now? Easter offers us hope.

Jesus asks us the same question, “Why are you crying? Why are you upset? Why does COVID-19 bother you? Aren’t I alive? Haven’t I risen from the dead? Haven’t I saved you?” All we can say is, “Yes Lord. Help my unbelief. Resurrect hope in me.” 1) Easter transforms us by offering us hope.

2) Easter surprises us with joy.

You ever been having a really bad day when someone you love or a friend surprises you? You’re so mad because the traffic was bad on your commute from your bedroom to your upstairs office, and to cheer you up your husband or wife makes you a really nice breakfast? Bacon, eggs, pancakes, with all the fixins—and it just transforms your day? Or maybe it’s at the end of th

When Monica and I are on vacation we spot a contemporary art museum and I always say, “Hey, we should go check that out!” And then when we do go, I always hate it. I’m like, “What is this?!” So I’m preaching on art and beauty today… Let’s pray.

I was sitting in one of my classes in seminary when a student raised his hand. I didn’t know this student very well. He was hipster; he wore a beanie to class; and I found out later he played the guitar. He was an artist. He raised his hand and when the teacher called on him he asked, “Is ugliness a result of the fall?” I have to confess I rolled my eyes and thought that was the stupidest question I had ever heard. But now… I’m not so sure. I think that was actually a pretty good question. Has the sin of Adam and Eve and all humankind distorted our vision—whether we see something as beautiful or ugly? 

I hope to answer this question today as we talk about art and beauty. Today’s sermon is a break from pure COVID-19 to focus our minds on things that are good and pleasing. 

Art and beauty can calm our fears and lift our spirits.

In the book of Philippians, when teaching the believers how to deal with anxiety, Paul said:

Philippians 4:6a, 8b Do not be anxious about anything… (jumping down to verse 8) …whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)

It says if we’re anxious, we should think on “whatever is lovely”. In the Greek, “think about such things” is an imperative—it’s a command. We’re supposed to intentionally cultivate a habit of thinking about good things, of setting our mind on things that are true, noble, and lovely. Can’t this include art?

David Hockney is a British artist. He paints, draws, takes pictures, creates stage design, and is famous for his pop art. In 2018 he designed a stained-glass window at Westminster Abbey for the queen. He “once turned down the chance to paint The Queen because he was too busy.” He’s stuck at home like the rest of us but to encourage others he has released original paintings. One of daffodils is called “Do Remember They Can’t Cancel the Spring.” It looks simple but it’s rather quite beautiful. He drew this on his iPad. 

If you’re an artist, or you love art, I hope this will encourage you to share your art or music, whatever you love with others. We could share pictures of our art in our church’s Facebook Group to encourage each other. I know we have resident artists… Finley. We’d love to see more of your work.

This should also cause us to pause and think about what we’re focusing on as we’re stuck at home. Right now everything is about, “What are you binge watching? Or “Did you catch the news?” The things we see shape how we’re feeling. Art and beauty can calm our fears and lift our spirits.

Why is that? Why do art and beauty move us in ways that medicine can’t? Because we are tapping into something transcendent, something beyond. When we create we are reflecting our Master Creator. God is the ultimate artist. All beauty and goodness reflect his goodness and beauty (Zech 9:17; James 1:17).

God is the Master Artist.

I read an article about the theology of art this week that sent me back to the very first chapter of the Bible. 

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (NIV)

God is hovering over a massive watery canvas. Onto this canvas he begins to paint time and space, the universe, the stars, the planets, the heavens and the earth. He soars like a bird across the universe splashing galaxies and star clusters like paint. 

God paints “the Tarantula Nebula,” a giant mass of “ionized hydrogen gas” that spits out stars.

God paints “the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation” made of “gas clouds” and “dark cosmic dust.”

God paints “the Sombrero galaxy, Me

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) put out a graph that’s been going around the internet. It’s called “flattening the curve” and it shows two trajectories. The first trajectory shows what will happen when people don’t take protective measures seriously—when we don’t practice social distancing and hand washing and self-quarantine. It shows a high number of cases overloading our healthcare system, which can lead to high loss of life. This curve is steep and sharp. It looks like a looming mountain. 

The second trajectory on the CDC graph shows what will happen if we are successful in our protective measures. There will still be cases, but not as many, and hopefully our healthcare system will be able to keep up with the demand. The goal is to get to that second curve.

I am no medical expert but the CDC is reporting a rapid increase in cases. Whether the increase in cases ends up looking like first curve, the second curve, or somewhere in-between I do not know. Maybe you’re thinking, “Jonathan, I didn’t tune in today to hear more bad news. If I want that I’ll turn on the news.” Next week I’m going to preach on Art and Beauty to give us a break from all things Coronavirus. But this week I still think we need to hear how Jesus calls us to live in our current cultural moment.

Right now we are living in the shadow of a pandemic and it is scary. It’s easy to live in fear. This week as I was working I started feeling sick and I put my hand up to my forehead and it feels warm. Uh oh… I must have the Coronavirus! So I take my temperature and it’s actually less than the normal body temperature. I did that twice this week. We feel like we’re in the shadow and maybe you do too. 

Jesus can sympathize with us. He understands what we’re experiencing. Yet Jesus wants us to know there is grace and goodness in the shadow because he is with us. I believe Jesus has something for us here. First I want to talk about the shadow. Second. I want to talk about the goodness and grace we find in the shadow. And third I want to talk about Jesus walking with us in the shadow. So first, what is…?

The shadow

Today I’m going back to our series in Acts. The book of Acts is the history of the first church. If you look in the New Testament, in comes after the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, then Acts). In the first third of the book we hear about two disciples, Peter and John, and how they told others about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They have the power to heal people and many are putting their faith and trust in Jesus (5,000). Still, it’s not easy. They get arrested, thrown in prison, questioned, and released. There is a looming shadow, a growing threat of persecution and suffering.

Acts 5:12-16 (NIV) The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.

The apostles are those men who knew Jesus, Peter and John and others. They are performing miracles of healing and casting out demons and the people are amazed. You would think everyone would be rushing to join them, but they’re not. Why not? Perhaps they are afraid of Peter’s power, which he just displayed in the story of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to God and died because of it (a scary story!). We are going to come back to that story soon but I think there was another reason the people were afraid to join them.

As I was studying this week I wondered why it mentions “Solomon’s Colonnade.” The colonnade was like a long meeting hall supported by columns (pillars). According to the historian Josephus, “The colonnades were all double, the supporting pillars were 37–1/2 feet high, cut from single blocks of the whitest marble, and the ceiling was paneled with cedar.” It was clearly a beautiful and amazing place.

If you’ve ever been downtown to Quincy Market and seen the massive granite pillars outside of Faneuil Hall you can imagine S

A plague hit Rome from 249 to 262 AD. This plague lasted 13 years. Our pandemic has been a week and a half and we’re already going crazy. Can you imagine what that was like? Historians have studied this plague and it was bad, real bad. I don’t want to describe it to you but if you look up the Plague of Cyprian you can read all the details. It killed about 5,000 people a day. The city of Alexandria Egypt declined from 500,000 to 190,000. Church records say it was like Ebola.

There were Christians but this plague didn’t spare them. The leader of the church at this time, Dionysius, wrote how Christians loved others at steep cost to themselves..

Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.

They loved others so much they died in their place. Why did they do this? What could possibly motivate them to love others self-sacrificially? We have doctors and nurses today. We have modern medical systems with sterile environments and face masks and aprons and toilet paper (or at least we did). We have all sorts of ways to stay safe. They had none of that; but they had Jesus and Jesus had them. This is the key to why they weren’t afraid and we don’t have to be afraid today.

Jesus is over all plagues.

Jesus is reigning and ruling over every pandemic, every disease, every virus, and every plague. These early Christians knew that nothing falls outside of the power and authority of Christ Jesus. Whether they lived or died they were secure in him. I want to show you a chapter of the Bible that highlight Jesus’ power over illness. I’m going to start at the beginning of the chapter in verse one.

Matthew 8:1-3 (NIV)

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 

A leper comes up to Jesus and wants to be healed. He says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” In other words, “Jesus, if you want to heal my horrible skin disease, it will happen.” You know what Jesus did? Jesus willed it! He reached out his hand, touched him, and said, “I am willing, be clean!” It says “Immediately” the man was cleansed. It wasn’t a day or a week or a month. This terrible disease left him immediately. Jesus had power over this man’s leprosy. There’s a lesson for us in this.

Nothing is going to happen outside of Jesus’ will so we don’t need to be afraid.

In a fallen world it’s normal to feel afraid or anxious; it’s normal but it’s not required if you know Jesus. If we understand that nothing happens apart from Jesus’ will, even something we don’t understand like COVID-19, then it gives us hope and confidence that everything is going to be okay. I don’t know why Jesus allows pandemics to happen, but I do know that when Christians have followed the way of Jesus during plagues, and love others at cost to themselves, Christianity has grown and flourished. 

Pandemics have been one of the key ways Christianity has spread. I don’t think you’re going to find this in any church-growth book. 5 Steps to Growing Your Church. “#1. Pray for a pandemic.” It’s confusing but it’s also reassuring that Jesus has everything under control and we can trust he knows what he’s doing. Nothing is going to happen outside of Jesus’ will so we don’t need to be afraid.

I read one blog post from a father posted on Wednesday, March 11th from a rural community in