Are We Growing In The Sometimes Painful Truth Of A Relationship With God?
Good Morning,
With Jesus, the job can get done instantaneously and without Jesus it can be a long hard slog. This is especially important when activities are increasing, and more people are involved. It is important in the storms of life and while we are waiting for God’s provision. The whole shipboard experience can be good, or it can be bad. After all, the very nature of today’s topic tends to be uncomfortable especially in our labor in the choppy seas of relationships. But, Are We Growing In The Sometimes Painful Truth Of A Relationship With God?
Scripture: But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!” Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it. The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.
Acts 5:1-11 (NRSV)
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 6:1-7 (NRSV)
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
John 6:16-21 (NRSV)
Message: Not being a lying hypocrite is important for the members of the early church and the church of today. People smell the difference. For it is a slippery slope if we lie about our sins thinking we must show a face of perfection to be saved. What is immediately evident in the reality of the early church as well as our relationships today is that during times of conflict people will go through some growing pains. We have two options- let the conflict overwhelm us, fall on our collective behinds, and the world will move on or we can press on for God and those who are watching. Now some will complain, and others will be angry about growing. Some will serve despite the suffering. Now there is a saying that goes, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” But this is not always true. Some things are emotional and can impact us for a very long time. And that is why we need Jesus. You see, the universal church has also experienced growing pains over the centuries since the beginning of Pentecost. And maybe that is why there are so many denominations. The thing is that we are to suffer through the growing. Why? Because really it is the only way. The world is made up of individual human beings, each with their own ideas of how to go about doing things. It is not that the ideas are necessarily right or wrong or even one being better than another. There are a lot of ways to engineer things all with different challenges. And then, there is the difficulty of communication. The better way might not always win out. Such is the good news and bad news of growing pains. The early church had them and so will we. Unfortunately, the problem is that we can take things for granted. We can get distracted. To solve the problem the early church selected leaders to focus on the challenges of growth and the assignments to be made. Unfortunately, sometimes people were not matched with an assignment to their liking. Too often if disagreements continue division and splits can result. Today’s passages from Acts are great example of how to make it through the growing pains and John’s passage shows us the importance of trusting the leadership of Jesus in the storms of life.
And So, telling the truth all the time is a rather frightening prospect. But today’s message is not really about that as much as the problem of lying to God. You see God wants us to see who is walking on the water and who is really in charge. The problem is when we try to control things it can get messy limping in the muddy shallows. It is sad that, after all the church has come through, the devil is so often able to wreak havoc through internal divisions. Where persecution has failed, and moral subversion has been prevented, there is so often a clash of personalities or of interests. But if we stick to God’s plan good things can happen. The early church members expressed love for one another in acts of sacrificial giving which have rarely been equaled. People sold their goods to help meet the needs of others. Without giving up their right to private property, they shared everything they had. From time to time they would sell lands or houses and bring the proceeds to the Apostles for distribution to those with more immediate needs. There was no compulsion. The whole transaction was voluntary. But some gave for the wrong reasons as a lie to the Holy Spirit. Their motivation was more of fear than of love. Friends, there is no love without giving, but we must be loving the right things. Most of us have tried to stop sinning but have found it impossible to achieve. Some have given up realizing that they will always fall short. And some think that if they can get a pass with people it is good enough for God too. And therein lies the problem. Sure, we cannot walk on water unless it is frozen, an organizational framework is needed to deal with the challenge of society, but a bureaucracy can kill us too. Subsidiarity is the best approach. We need to be moved individually and collectively by the power of God. So, if we listen to Jesus and not neglect the Word, as we serve, hopefully we will not be so fearful and hopefully a little more upright and not undermine what God is doing.
Pray we expect a miracle. Pray we not undermine what God is doing. Pray we recognize the work of Jesus in the world. Pray we not be bullied into unfaithfulness. Pray we not be bewitched into insincerity. Pray we not be beguiled into disunity. Pray we not be waylaid by external persecution. Pray we not fall to internal hypocrisy. Pray we not be distracted from God’s work of forming relationships with God. Pray we face our fears and especially our fear of the unknown. Pray we not let fear rob us of the joy of life. Pray we have faith enough not to lie. Pray we learn to love joining with the Holy Spirit to share what is most needed. Pray we realize that we are not perfect. Pray we make our time with God the most important part of the day. Pray we feed our mind the spiritual truth, so we might be transformed. Pray that we grow together. Pray people are drawn to Christ in the process. Pray we properly evaluate our progress. Pray we follow God’s lead. Pray we never grow tired of Jesus being our Captain. Pray He keeps us off the rocks and reefs. Pray we sail in the love of God’s creation knowing that everyone and everything has been made by God. Pray we trust God to protect us and get us to our destination. Pray we believe that no boat is too small for God to watch over. Pray we realize that no boat is safe when we are running away from God. Pray when Jesus calls we leave everything behind. Pray we realize that Jesus can always provide more than enough. Pray we realize that God’s message is made possible by people who travel to other shores. Pray we believe that God’s power can prevail even when the ships sink. Pray we be thankful.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 