Refusal, Restoration, and Riots
“Refusal, Restoration, and Riots” – October 1st, 2023 (Acts 19)
In 1997 when we moved into our home, we already had three lively young sons, and precious Cascade was born just ten days later. Almost four years after that, we brought our precious youngest daughters home from Eastern Europe. We’d already begun home schooling and needed more room. So, shortly after 9/11, Paul began renovating the basement to make a fabulous school room that was spacious enough for each of us to have a large desk, with built-in wall-to-wall shelves to house our many books and other learning resources. Paul went on to renovate another large room down there which was dubbed the Math Club room, where I taught dozens and dozens of students in the Newtonians, Euclideans, and Fibonaccians for several years. Family, friends, neighbors, mentees, students, and parents came and went in our basement. The Math Club room even became a five-man man cave for an entire summer when teen sons of dear Russian friends lived with us. As our kids began the cycle of launching out and returning home, each cycle was inevitably accompanied by the stashing of a few more things in our basement. All this to say, by the beginning of this year, our basement was in serious need of decluttering! During the pandemic I transformed one area down there into a comfy and welcoming guest space. But the clutter had gotten so bad that I started avoiding the Math Club room. I was stuck.
The catalyst for change came earlier this year when our son-in-love Robby remarked that when the lights were out, the silhouette of the conglomeration of clutter could have been mistaken for piles of corpses. More significantly, two hard deadlines were approaching, Karis and Robby’s move-in date and Peter and Alex’s extended visit arrival date. Paul and I rolled up our sleeves and got going, cheered on by Jonathan, Aditi, Karis, and Robby, all of whom have gone above and beyond in helping in every way, hauling out piles of donations and trash, and hauling in wood, sheetrock, and all manner of building supplies. As Paul has been wiring, plumbing, building, tiling, sanding, etc., I’ve been resetting the school room as a place of exploration, creativity, and learning for all ages. What restoration and transformation has occurred in our basement! It has been therapeutic to let go of things we no longer needed. It has been hugely emotional sifting through things that stirred up so many memories. It has been rewarding to restore spaces that had fallen into disrepair and disuse that have now become sanctuaries of refreshment, recharging, and rest.
Today we’re going to continue our journey through the book of Acts and hopefully notice places in our community and in our lives that are in need of restoration and transformation, as we remember that the Good News of Jesus Christ is to restore and transform all people and all of creation. And we get to join God’s mission as bearers of and participants in this good news!
Refusal
Acts 19:1-10 (NRSV) – “While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They replied, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ Then he said, ‘Into what, then, were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied, altogether there were about twelve of them. He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.”
In every place and in every time, wherever the kingdom of God is proclaimed, there will be opposition. Why? Because the nature of the kingdom of God and the nature of the good news means that we are required to change. Sometimes we refuse to believe and we refuse to change because we are stubborn. Change is rarely convenient and never easy. Old habits die hard.
C. S. Lewis shares a helpful parable related to this in “Mere Christianity” (he borrowed this parable from George MacDonald): “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
A refusal to believe goes far beyond a once-for-all statement of belief. It’s more than do you believe in God or not. A refusal to believe can happen where the rubber hits the road in an everyday kind of way, every single time God asks us to make a change. Each day God invites us to believe when the Lord asks us to give up something we cherish, or when the Lord asks us to start doing something we don’t want to do, or when the Lord asks us to step out of our comfort zones into a situation where we feel clueless or out of place. May we each remember to keep soft and open hearts, resist the temptation to grow cold or to get entrenched in our habits and ways. May we have courage and be ready to say “yes” to the Lord in every invitation to change, to give up something we cherish, to do something we don’t want to do, to step out of our comfort zones, to believe.
Sometimes it’s easier to spot a refusal to believe in someone else and harder to admit to unbelief in ourselves. We need to guard ourselves against the temptation to think better of ourselves than someone else. The important thing is to do regular pulse checks on ourselves and to allow others to ask us the hard questions on a regular basis. For example, “What cherished person, possession, or practice is God asking me to surrender to him?” “What is God inviting me to begin doing?” “How is God directing me to step out of my comfort zone?”
Restoration
Acts 19:11-13a (NRSV) – “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits . . .”
Throughout his two books, Luke and Acts, Luke is very intentional in showing us the connection between miracles and God’s mission of the restoration and transformation of all people and all of creation. Fevers are broken, diseases are cured, demons are rebuked, skin diseases are cleansed, crowds are healed, the sick are restored. In every case, Jesus or a follower of Jesus was present to the one in need of restoration or their advocate. In every case, Jesus or a follower of Jesus engaged the person relationally, treating them with respect and dignity. And in every case, there was human touch.
Jesus treated each precious person as an image-bearer of God, not as an object. Relationships with individuals are important in the kingdom of God. We relate to one another, not as cogs in a machine, but as relational creatures who can engage with one another through consolation, understanding, and love. God did not create us as disembodied souls but as persons with bodies as well as minds. Presence matters to God. Relationship matters to God. Touch matters to God.
Notice what the itinerant exorcists were trying to do. They wanted the miracles without being present with others, without engaging people relationally, without appropriate human touch. They basically wanted some kind of magic trick they could perform for personal gain.
We live in the information age, the age of technology. As beneficial as technology can be, it is good to be aware of the dangers of overuse. Medical News Today warns us that overusing technology can lead to issues with addictions, anger, attention, creativity, emotions, health, language, performance, relationships, and sleep.
As we care for others and pray for others, there will be miracles, but when and how those happen are up to the Lord. God calls us to be faithful to care and to pray, and then leave the results with him! In our encounters with others in this world, let us remember to not just seek miracles, but to be present to others, to engage people relationally, and to offer appropriate human touch. It’s not about formulas but friendships. It’s not about wizardry but warmth. It’s not about results but relationships. We will do well to live according to Edward Mote’s hymn that he penned in 1834: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.” No matter how great our techniques, how experienced we are in our practices, or how gifted we are, none of these will bring us closer to God, even if we say “in Jesus’ name!” Rather, as we lay all these things down at the feet of Christ Jesus, as we surrender our expectations, our rights, our ways, as we place our hope and trust on Christ and Christ alone, we will then be as the wise person whom Jesus described in Matthew 7:24-25 (NRSV) – “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock.” Remember Peter’s speech back in Acts 3:19-21 (NRSV) – “Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.” As we hear and do the word of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are participating with God in his mission of the restoration and transformation of all things. We can ask ourselves questions like, “How can I be more present to people in my life?” “With which person can I engage more relationally?” “Who in my life is in need of appropriate physical touch?”
Riots
Acts 19:20-23, 40 (NRSV) – “So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, ‘After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.’ So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia. About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way . . . For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.’”
Don’t you love the understated way in which Luke described what happened on this day? Verse 23 says, “About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.” The town clerk put it more bluntly in verse 40: “we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” To proclaim and demonstrate the good news of Jesus Christ is to shift the status quo, induce an interruption, hatch a hullabaloo. In today’s text, a riot broke out! I put it to you that if everything around us is calm, controlled, and conflict-free all the time, then maybe we need to reevaluate what we’re doing.
The New Testament and all of church history tell us story after story of disturbances breaking out whenever people follow Jesus. New followers of Jesus arise. New churches are formed. Lives and families and communities change! Spiritual fruit abounds – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. But there are also persecutions, punishments, discriminations, dispersals, accusations, arrests, massacres, and even martyrdom. These things all follow the proclamation and demonstration of the good news of Jesus.
I’ve always been fascinated by explanations and models of plate tectonics. The Earth’s lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates which have been slowly moving for a really long time. Whenever two of these plates bump into each other, something significant happens. Ocean basins may be formed or closed, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions may occur, new islands or mountain ranges may rise. No matter what the outcome, one thing is guaranteed – things do not continue as they were before. Something always changes! That’s how it is with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God always clashes with the kingdoms of the world, because they have different powers, different priorities, different ends, different extents, different kings, different conflicts, different rules, different rewards, different visibility, different values. The kingdoms of this world’s are focused on self and the attainment of power or pleasure. The Kingdom of God focuses on God and God’s mission to restore and transform all things, including every person and every part of creation! The Bible tells us the end of the story – every single one of these kingdoms must bow to the Kingdom of God because Jesus is Lord of all!
In the Vineyard we root our theology in Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God, embracing what is called an ‘inaugurated eschatology.’ This is the already / not-yet reality in which God’s beautiful future is breaking into our present experience. This is why we partner with the Holy Spirit as we pray for the sick, confront injustice, and seek to hear the voice of God on behalf of others. It’s why we experience and worship God every time we gather together. It’s why we seek to reconcile people with God and to the entire creation as a community of healing, reconciliation, and hope. It’s why we engage in compassionate ministry, leaning towards the lost, the poor, outcast, and the outsider. And it’s why we pursue culturally relevant mission in the world, aiming to bring the Gospel of the kingdom to every nook and cranny of creation. We are a people of the Kingdom of God. This informs how we decide how to invest our time, energy, and resources as a church, on Sundays and throughout the week. These, by the way, are what we call our Vineyard Values, and they inform everything we do around here!
Just to be clear, I’m not saying we should try to start a riot! But when we follow Jesus, disturbances will happen as the kingdom of God bumps up against the kingdoms of the world. And that’s ok. We can ask ourselves questions like, “Is fear of conflict holding me back from saying or doing what the Lord would have me say or do?” “In what way is God directing me to shift the status quo?” “What could happen if I simply followed Jesus and left the outcome to him?”
Let’s close with a prayer from our 12th century brother in Christ, Francis of Assisi: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
