This service includes a message by guest preacher Adam Kubias.

Acts 13:1-12

Introduction

A few months ago, it was the twenty years ago that I was ordained. It was at Queensway Baptist Church in Brantford, and it took place on mystery  last Sunday there before starting at a new church. It was a meaningful service but it really was one step in a long process of my calling. I felt God calling me while I was attending Central Gospel Temple here in St Catharines and while participating in Brock Christian Fellowship and especially while on a missions trip with Operation Mobilization. There was encouragement by many people that helped me to sense God’s call to pastoral ministry. I am thankful for that call.

However, there is a misconception in churches about the call to ministry. It is common for people to believe that among Christians, God calls only certain people to ministry. These are the people who attend Bible college or seminary and put reverend in front of their name. This has led to a division among Christians between those who are clergy and those who are laypeople. The problem is that this division is not in the New Testament. It is true that there are specific roles mentioned, including bishops and deacons, as well as a few others. But the gap was not as wide as we make it now and in the beginning, there were not even those divisions.

The passage that we read that mentions the setting apart of Saul and Barnabas is one that is sometimes used at an ordination service. That is fine, but I think we will find that it has a much wider application.

Barnabas and Saul

The passage we are looking at is a continuation of the story at Antioch, the place where the disciples were first called Christians. Things were really taking off. Some of the leadership was spending time in prayer, attempting to discern God’s direction for their ministry. As they spent time in God’s presence, the Holy Spirit told them to set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work that he had for them. The first thing we should notice is that they are not called to be a special class of Christian. Nor did they become Rev. Barnabas and Rev. Saul. It is true that they were commissioned, but was a commissioning to take on this particular mission.

This mission brought them to the city of Salamis on the island of Cyprus. They went through preaching in the synagogues. This brought them to the attention of Sergius Paulus, an important Roman official. This was a tremendous opportunity. But it came with some challenges. They faced opposition by a magician. This is another important lesson. There is an assumption among Christians that if something is God’s will, then it must come easy. That is not what the Bible teaches. It was God’s will that Barnabas and Saul have this ministry but they faced direct opposition. They overcame their opposition but they still faced it.

What we see here is that Barnabas and Saul were called by God, not to be professional Christians but to accomplish a specific task. The Holy Spirit was actively involved in leading them and empowering them for their task. They faced opposition and not everything was easy but by God’s power, they accomplished what God had called them.

Individual Calling

What I would like to do is what I have done with a number of these passages in Acts. I would like to look at how this applies to us, first as individuals and second as a congregation.

As I mentioned previously, there is a danger that we would look at this passage and assume that this applies for people who will do formal theological study and then go through an ordination process to become clergy. But if you went back in time and explained that interpretation to Barnabas and Saul, they would have no idea what you were talking about.

There is no reason to believe that God only chooses certain people for ministry. In fact, there is every reason to believe that God calls all of us to a ministry.

What has God called you to do? How would you even know if God was calling you? Part of it is by encouragement from others. Some of it is by opportunities that come your way. Some of it is about how your gifts or interests fit with a particular need. 

For example, I never wonder ion God has called me to be a musician or a singer. That is not on the radar at all. I have never noticed any abilities in that area and neither has anyone else.

When this happens, you have a sense that you are doing the right thing at the right time. You just know that you are doing the right thing. Even if you have doubts, people around you should recognize that you are fulfilling you calling.

I should also note that this calling is not limited to “churchy” things. It may be a gift or a task that is manifested in a worship service or a ministry program. But it may not. One of the most respected gifts in the Bible is that of hospitality. If you thrive on having people over for a coffee or a meal, that is an important role. If you are called to pray, not public prayer in a service, but interceding at your home, that is an important calling.

We should also recognize that God can call for specific tasks that last for a season. You do not have to do the same thing for the rest of your life. I loved doing youth ministry during that chapter of my calling but I am in a different chapter now. Be watching how God is moving you around for his kingdom work.

Church Calling

One of the common but sad misconceptions is that congregations are in competition with each other. How can we as a small congregation compete with that large congregation? But we are not in competition and our calling doesn’t have to look exactly the same.

I once was pastoring at a small church. A young family with a teenager came and visited for a number of weeks. I was not surprised as we had no young people at that time. Then a couple of months later, they returned and informed that they were making us their church home. They assumed their son would want a church with a vibrant youth ministry but instead he preferred the family feel of our small church. It did not mean that we were better than that other church, but rather we had different callings. I preached in their church and their pastor preached in our church. We were on the same team, even though how we fulfilled our calling looked different.

God calls congregations, just as he calls individuals. It may be for a specific task or a particular focus on ministry. The challenging thing is that, like the individual calling, the ministry calling of a congregation can change over time. What ministry looks like for us today is somewhat different from what ministry looked like for this church in 1921, and not just because of technology or fashion. Each generation of this church has to go through that same discernment process for where we are going. There was a moment when this congregation realized we were being called to the downtown poor and newcomers to Canada. We needed to recognize that calling and act on it. Over time we have also recognized our calling to minister with people with disabilities. This has happened, not because I have a particular interest in that area, but because God was already working in this church.

This is exciting. We do not have to be like other congregations. We do not have to copy the programs of other churches. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit and recognize our calling and follow that. That really takes a lot of pressure off us.

Conclusion 

A group of Jesus followers were gathered in prayer, seeking the leading of God. The Holy Spirit led them to set aside Barnabas and Saul. This was not to put them in a different class of Christian, it was for them to accomplish a specific task. The same Holy Spirit that called them, empowered them for ministry.

What about us? I can say with confidence that I am not the only one here who has been called by God. You each have a role. It is your job to discern that and then to respond in obedience and faithfulness. The same is true for us as a congregation. The church is not a machine that you turn on and then let it do its thing. The church is a living organism that is relationship with God and must respond to God’s calling. What ministry looks like today may look different from what it did twenty-five years ago and may look different from what it will twenty-five years from now. We need, as a congregation, to follow the path of Barnabas and Saul, not to Cyprus, but to faithful living out of our call.

Acts 12:20-25

Introduction

I’m going to give you a little bit of insight on how I go about picking passages to preach on. I enjoy preaching a series, preferably on a book of the Bible. I like this because it forces me to get outside my own area of interests and to be challenged by the text. The text says what the texts says, whether any of us like that or not. Having said that, I don’t feel obligated to preach on every single passage in that book. I may just pick one passage per chapter or I might go through and preach on the major passages and leave a few behind. The truth is, despite all of the Bible being inspired, there are certain passages that are more inspiring to us than others.

The passage that was just read for us is one of those strange passages. I will confess that when I first was picking what passages to preach on, this one was not originally making the cut. It is really weird. First of all, it is a bit disgusting. Secondly, it doesn’t mention Jesus, or even any of the apostles, despite being in the Acts of the Apostles.

But just as I was skipping to the next passage, I began thinking. What if? What if this passage, as strange as it is, has something useful to say to us? I took it as a challenge and we will see together if I was right.

Herod and the Worms

As we saw last week, this Herod was the grand son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great may have been great but he was not good. He was actually very bad, despite some impressive accomplishments. When it came to his sons and grandsons, some of them didn’t fall far from the tree. This Herod was one of those rotten apples.

We saw last week that Herod had one of the apostles, James son of Zebedee, killed by the sword all as an attempt to win over a certain segment of the people. When he saw that it pleased them, he decided to provide an encore by arresting Peter. Unfortunately for Herod, an angel of the Lord came and rescued  Peter from jail. Herod was so angry that he had the guards, who had been in charge of Peter, killed.

That brings to our point in the story. What is being described seems to have nothing to do with the church. It is not a trial of an apostle or a discussion of potential persecution. It was a purely political event, one that we wouldn’t normally be interested in. Herod got dressed up for the event and made a public presentation. 

The people saw Herod in all his regalia and shouted “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” So God cursed Herod with worms and he died a painful death. The end.

So what do we get out of this? There are some strange things. It doesn’t say what Herod said after receiving this praise. Was it just a problem of pride? But plenty of people are proud and do not die from worms. Is it just telling us that God has a bad temper and could kill any of us at any time? We need to work through this.

Interestingly, we know this event was historical. It appears also in the writings of Jewish historian Josephus. He too thought it was a story that was worth preserving for future generations.

We need not fear that God is going to curse us with a disease if we slightly step out of line. That is not God’s method. We need to remember that this was a bad Herod from a line of bad Herods. He was a Herod who had killed James and wanted to kill Peter. He was an exceptionally bad person. This was also an important point in the history of the church.

It is not as simple as Herod did not deny that he was god-like. It is more likely that this was an ongoing issue for Herod. He was proud and saw himself as being pretty special, perhaps even divine. This is likely an area of weakness for Herod. There probably was some nonverbal communication as he accepted their praise. Herod, who was very close to the Roma emperors was familiar with the praise they received and perhaps wanted it for himself. He did get sick with worms and died and obviously Luke saw this connected with his actions or lack of action. The issue was not just that he had pride, it was that he longed for godlikeness.

We Are Not God

This has been an ongoing struggle for humanity right from the beginning. What promise did the serpent use to get Adam and Eve to eat the fruit? You shall be like God. Who wouldn’t want to be like a god? What makes someone a god? It is not just power? The Greek and Roman gods were not all powerful. What distinguished gods from non-gods was worship. The Romans had a procedure for voting people, mostly Emperors, to the status of gods. This only meant that even in death, they would receive worship from others.

How does this fit with us? Is there any way that we could fall into Herod’s trap? I’m not suggested that we will be cursed by worms but there may be some way that we could be like Herod. Is there any way that we seek to be god-like?

It is common for people, including people in the church, to overly seek praise. If you think I’m being too critical, then let me say that pastors can be the worst offenders. We want God to be praised but we will take a little of the leftovers. There is a whole culture of celebrity pastors. Where I really see an issue is when one of these pastors does something wrong and is disciplined by their church or organization, they usually do not submit to the organization. These pastors are far too important to be left on the sidelines for the stipulated times and so they start over again immediately, once again putting themselves at the centre.

But this is not something limited to celebrity pastors. There are many laypeople in many churches that want to be recognized for who they are and what they have done. I’m confident that if you visited enough churches, you would find someone who had left their previous church because they did not receive enough recognition. 

So what is the answer? I will tell you what the answer isn’t. It is not to stop encouraging people or receiving encouragement from others. When I began in ministry, I thought the only way to avoid this trap is to reject any compliment that came my way. At the same time I recognized that the Bible tells us to use our words to build people up. So please encourage and receive encouragement. The other wrong response is to always speak ill of yourself. Many people will try and make themselves seem less than worthy or valued. But remember you are created in the image of God and God says you are good.

The real answer, and this is where Herod went astray, is that there is one God and we are not him. A clear vision of God in all of his glory is the antidote for our own god-like tendencies. When we really see how praiseworthy God is, we will not need to seek our own praise, nor will we have to put ourselves down. We will be able to see clearly how we fit into God’s picture.

Conclusion

Do we need to live in fear of God’s curse upon us? Probably not. God didn’t make a habit of killing every person who stepped out of line. Some people, people like Herod, did receive very harsh punishments. This was not make us live in fear but to get our attention. There is one God and we are not him. Herod was not God. Herod’s grandfather was not God. Peter and John and Saul and Barnabas were not God. We are most definitely not God.

There will be moments when we want the praise. Our ego will be hurt when we don’t receive the recognition that we think we deserve. It may be that the people around us are failing at being encouraging enough.

But the point is that it is the one God who deserves all the praise. If the work of God is being done and if we get to participate in that, then that is enough. We can be satisfied that we are part of the kingdom building without being exalted to a place of praise.

Acts 12:1-19

Introduction

It does not take us long before we discover that life is not fair. Children at a young age complain that things are not fair. They sense a disconnect when someone gets something good that they didn’t get or if they get punished and someone else doesn’t. It just isn’t fair!

As we grow older, we do not lose the sense of the unfairness of life. Some people seem to be born with an advantage over others. Even when people are born with the same advantages, sometimes even the randomness of life creates different outcomes that seem unfair.

For people of faith, we have an added complication. It was one thing to say that life is not fair. But what if we believe that there is a God who is both powerful and good. Shouldn’t that provide a consistent prosperity across the board? But again we see different outcomes. Have you ever felt that God is sometimes unfair in the way he answers prayer? Does this mean God loves one person more than an other? Does the person who gets blessed have greater faith? These are hard questions. The Bible does not hid from these questions. The Bible shares the stories of many people, some having happier lives than others. It never seems to work out the same. But it also points us toward some healthy ways of responding to the seeming unfairness of life.

James and Peter

As we think about this, let us reflect upon the twelve apostles. Jesus called twelve to be his close companions. Judas betrayed him and he was replaced. Within the twelve, there were three apostles that were the inner circle. These were Peter and the two sons of Zebedee: James and John. By the way, the fact that Peter’s brother Andrew was not included is another example of something that seemed unfair. Whatever the reasons for that absence, it is obvious that Jesus had a special relationship with Peter, James and John.

Let us fast forward. Jesus has died, been raised and ascended to heaven. The church has been born and has gone through various trials and tribulation. But at least they still have the twelve, that important link to the earthly ministry of Jesus. Until now.

Herod, who was the grandson of Herod the Great, was the Roman-sponsored leader of this area. He wanted to curry favour with the Jews, especially those that were opposing the Jesus followers. So he arrested James and had him killed with the sword. The twelve was broken and we do not read about any replacing of James, unlike what happened with Judas.

Seeing that killing James helped Herod’s popularity, he decided to try it again. This time he arrested Peter. It looked like the church was going to lose another valued member of the twelve. The disciples were of course praying for him. While it doesn’t specify, we can safely assume that prayed just as hard for James. They prayed and prayed. Amazingly, God worked a miracle and freed Peter from jail. This was incredible. Literally, it lacked credibility as even the praying disciples didn’t believe that Peter had been freed.

The problem we have to face is: Why did God rescue Peter and not James? They were both parts of the inner three. The church had been praying for both of them. It feels a bit unfair. I can imagine James’ family thinking about this and feeling that God was not being consistent. Did God love Peter more than James? However, we should also remember that this rescue meant that Peter went through decades of more suffering for Jesus. Also, James died quickly by the sword and when Peter was eventually killed, tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down, which would have been a slow death. Perhaps God loved James more than Peter?

The truth is that the Bible doesn’t give us any answers. However, it does tell us that our level of suffering is not a measure of how much God loves us. That is the message of the book of Job. It is also the message of Jesus. The Father loved no one more than the Son and yet Jesus died before any of the twelve and he died a very painful death. Ultimately, the question is not about God loving Peter more than James. The Bible is much more pragmatic than that. The Bible is more about what we do in the situations we find ourselves. When James was arrested by Herod, he was put into a position where he had to respond to death with faith. When Peter was arrested by Herod, he had to take his path, which led to a couple more decades of ministry until he faced his own death in Rome during the reign of Nero.

Facing Unfairness

When we are talking about James and Peter in the book of Acts, we may be able to accept these principles. But what about when it is our own experience? What about when life, ore even God, seems unfair to us?

I cannot speak for any of you, even though small parts of many of your stories. I will say that my life has not turned out exactly as I expected. If God had given me the power to write my own story, many things would have been different. Don’t get me wrong, I have been blessed in many ways and I have an amazing wife and five wonderful children. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by how blessed I am.

At the same time, there are a few things that seem a bit unfair. I think of my parents who never got a chance to really watch their grandchildren grow up. My dad never met our three youngest and my mom died just before Faith’s first birthday. If life was fair, they would have had time to enjoy their grandchildren and many other grandparents are able to do. That is not fair.

Speaking of my children, it is not fair that I don’t get to see Logan and Abby as often as we would like. Other parents get to be with their children at that age, we are we this far away and why is there a pandemic that limits our visits?

Here is an example from my life that might be closer to the James and Peter story. I have mentioned before that I got a disease called sarcoidosis about seven years ago. Interestingly, one of my fellow students at Acadia Divinity College also came down with the same disease about a year before me. Her had his initial treatment and it knocked the sarcoidosis into remission and soon he was running marathons. That has not been my story. It has never fully gone into remission and I still take medication for it. I still experience flare-ups from time to time. Why did he have a better experience than I did? Is that fair?

The truth is that life is not a competition. My experience with God in this life is not to be compared to someone else’s experience. Why has my life turned out the way it has? I have no idea. The real question is: What will I do with the opportunities and challenges that come my way?

Conclusion

One of my favourite authors is J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings. There is an interesting exchange in that story that is relevant to what we are talking about here.

“Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Was it fair that the ring of power with all of its dangers came to Frodo? Not really. Notice how Gandalf responds. He acknowledges that Frodo’s feelings of frustration are normal. Then he reframes the situation from why to what. What matters here is what Frodo will do with the ring.

Was it fair that James was killed by Herod, while God rescued Peter from jail? From our perspective, not really. We want to know why this happened. But it is not about why, it is about what. What would James do as he faced death? What would Peter do as he faced freedom?

Is your life fair? It probably doesn’t always feel fair. Why did certain things turn out the way they did? We may never find out. We need to decide what we will do with where we find ourselves. It is not our understand that really matters, it is the way we take our next steps.

Acts 11:27-30

Introduction

What is the question that the world is asking about the church? Believe it or not, the main question is not about which church is the true church. People are not lying awake at night wondering of the Anglicans or the Pentecostals or the Baptists have a corner on the truth. That is not to say that truth is not important, but people have a different question about the church.

The question that people are asking is: Does the church have any relevance for today? What is the point having the church? Is it nostalgia for simpler times? Is it to have caretakers for beautiful old buildings? Or is there some relevance for today?

Some Christians get nervous when we speak about relevance. It suggests an adaption that is at best, unnecessary and at worst, dangerous. The church is not supposed to be relevant, the church is supposed to be preaching the unchanging gospel. I will say that even our most traditional view of presenting the gospel was at one point an adaptation to changing circumstances.

But that brings up the question: Is the role of the church simply to proclaim the message of spiritual salvation? Is everything else a distraction? Many people think so.

The problem is that even Jesus spoke on more than just how to get to heaven. Much of what Jesus taught was extremely practical and had much to do with how to be better people right here on earth. And the early church in Acts also saw their role as more than just changing people’s destination on their flight to eternity. That is what we are going to look at today.

One of the phrases that irritates me is “So heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.” I believe that what the Bible actually teaches is that we are “So heavenly minded that we are earthly good.” That’s what we are going to take a look at.

Meeting the Need Then

Last time, we saw how revival broke out in Antioch. The apostles in Jerusalem sent Barnabas and Barnabas sent for Saul. Some amazing things happened. This was causing such a commotion that more people from Jerusalem to see what was happening. This included a prophet named Agabus. You would expect him to prophesy something specifically about the Antioch church. And he did, just not the way we might think. Agabus prophesied that a great famine was coming. But this famine was not centred in Antioch, in fact it is suggested that the greatest need would be in Judea, the area surrounding Jerusalem. What did this have to do with Antioch?

The response to this prophecy is that the disciples in Antioch began to collect money for the believers who were living in Judea. There are some important things to notice here. There was no compulsion about how much each person should give. It was based on their ability to give. If a family did not have much money, they did not have much money. It was all based on their means. Another thing of note is who would receive the money. It was the believers in Judea, including Jerusalem. These were the people who struggled most with the non-Jews directly following Jesus. They were giving money to those who were at least semi-hostile to how they were doing things. Finally, this says something about the general principle of giving in the New Testament. Almost every description of money being collected by churches was to go directly to the poor. There were no church buildings and no pastoral staff to pay for and so the budget had one line item: the poor. That is not to say it is wrong for us to use money in other areas, but it is something to think about.

I want you to see is that two things were happening here. There was a spiritual initiative and a physical response. Agabus prophesied that a famine was coming. The church responded to this by collecting money to care for the victims of the famine that were in Judea. Here we see a church that was relevant to the circumstances but they did by listening to what the Spirit was saying through the prophet.

Meeting the Need Now

I remembering watching a documentary about some of the things churches were doing in Central America. Some churches were actively reaching out to the poor, attempting to relieve their physical suffering. But there was one pastor who was quite critical of that. He saw the church’s role as simply communicating the gospel of salvation. He explained that the church needed to get people saved and once saved, God was free to provide for their physical needs if God wished. I knew that response was wrong, even though I did not know the Bible enough to explain it.

It is true that the church has been entrusted with the message of the gospel. We point people toward Jesus. No debate. But it was never supposed to be an either/or situation when it came to spiritual and physical needs.

We have watched different things happen in Acts as people listened to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they were guided to explain the gospel to some stranger and sometimes it was to collect money for victims of a famine. The point was to respond to the need that we encounter as the Spirit guides us.

Sadly in the early 20th century, there was a split within the church in North America. The split was between the preaching of a spiritual gospel of salvation and the living out of a social gospel of charity. You had to choose one or the other and there was no room for compromise.

When I look at this chapter of the church I shake my head, even though I have been a member of churches on both sides of the debate. The Bible teaches that church is being the church when it does both.

What does that look like for us today? It is interesting that the passage we are looking at is in the context of a widespread disaster, in that case a famine. Here we find ourselves on the tail end of a worldwide pandemic. Does the church have anything to offer to a post-pandemic world?

I believe that we do and that this is the time that we prove our relevance to the world. Once the vaccines have all been given and the masks put away, there will still be great needs. We are seeing a mental health crisis in our world. We are seeing a rise in addictions and broken relationships. Homelessness is rampant. We can’t solve all of these issues but we can begin to partner with organizations that are doing something, joining with them as they make a difference.

On the day I wrote this sermon, I bumped to a person that I knew from our Saturday night services. He began to tell me that this building saved his life. Obviously the building didn’t do it but the life-saving experiences took place in this building. Between the Saturday outreach we offered and Alcoholics Anonymous, which meets in our building, this building represents hope for a desperate situation. He was deeply thankful for this church.

The nuts and bolts of how we make this happen is the same old thing I always preach: time, talent and treasure. By volunteering and by supporting this church financially, you help the church to be the church.

Conclusion

We are beginning to emerge from a long and draining pandemic. Many of us are saying that we are looking forward to getting back to normal. While I understand the sentiment behind that, it would be better for us to long for the church to be the church. I call this series “Being an Acts Church” not because we should duplicate their methods but because we should be inspired by their example.

The early church became aware of a famine that was going to be difficult for many people. The response was to collect money to send to the needy, including the needy that they had a strained relationship with. We as a church are very aware of the needs that have resulted from this pandemic. This is our time. This is the time for the church to be the church. We are a small church. But we have people and we have a budget and we have a building and more than that, we have a great big God. As we seek God’s guidance for where to put our efforts, let’s prepare our time, talents and treasure for the mission ahead of us.

Our guest preacher for this Sunday was Rose Amer.

A message by guest preacher Dr. Daniel Wong.