Just before we join the story, Paul and the others travel through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. They attempt to go into Bithynia but the

Transcription

1 Discerning Divine Intent and Acting upon It Acts 16:9-15 Dr. Christopher C. F. Chapman First Baptist Church, Raleigh May 1, 2016 It is a common set of questions for any pastor to receive. What should I do? What is God calling me to do? And how do I know? The issue may involve a parenting concern, a job or school decision, or a question about whether or not to intercede in some problematic situation, but whatever the concern, people ask for help in choosing the right path. I often begin with a bit of levity, referencing a plaque my motherin-law gave me. It reads, Rate Schedule: answers - $1.00; answers which require thought - $2.00; correct answers - $4.00; dumb looks are still free! I like to manage expectations... Sometimes I add that one of my favorite counseling books is entitled If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him. It doesn t mean for the reader to kill anyone literally. It s a way of saying that anyone who poses as a guru with all the answers should be avoided. Each of us must find our own answers. A good counselor helps us do that. But while no one can tell us what to do or what God wants us to do, and while there isn t a magic formula for discerning divine intent, there are some basics principles that can help us. Talking to trusted friends is wise. Seeking out professional counsel can help. And prayer is always a good idea. But in addition to these basics, it can be helpful to examine certain biblical stories where the characters are trying to discern divine intent. Today s reading from Acts 16 is one such story. Paul, Silas and some others are about the work of spreading the Gospel and they are being led by the Spirit every step of the way. Now they seek to discern where the Spirit wants them to go next and how they do this offers guidance for how we discern divine intent and act upon it. Just before we join the story, Paul and the others travel through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. They attempt to go into Bithynia but the 1

2 Spirit does not allow them. Finally, as we join the story, Paul has a vision or dream. We don t know exactly how this works, just that it is an image Paul views to be coming from God. In the vision, Paul sees a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Believing that God is speaking through this dream, Paul convinces the group to go to Macedonia where he finds Lydia and her prayer group, shares the Good News and baptizes Lydia and her household. Paul discerns his path. It seems so easy. Paul has a vision that makes God s desire known. We might recall that Paul has been helped by a vision before. He is on the road to Damascus when a light shines and a voice speaks, and ultimately Saul, the persecutor of Christians, becomes Paul, the Christian missionary and theologian. It seems so easy or at least clear. And there are people to this day who sense God guiding them through visions and dreams, but there are many other ways to discern divine intent. The message is not that we should all pay more attention to our dreams, though perhaps we should, but that some form of discernment, some form of learning to listen for God s voice, is critical. Episcopal priest Morton Kelsey writes about his experience with dreams including one in which he enters a church to lead a service, but can t find his vestments. Then, he can t find his sermon notes nor can he find his place in the prayer book. Finally, he sees that a dead tree has fallen through the nave of the church and he wonders how the ushers will take up the collection through the branches of the tree (Reaching, p. 24). A Jungian analyst helps him makes sense of this dream. He has been trying to do it all on his own and thus has a tremendous amount of anxiety. God is speaking to him through this dream, offering help. But while Kelsey describes the critical role dreams play in his discernment, he says that his wife finds no help in dreams. Her discernment works through traditional practices of prayer, journaling and contemplation wherein she observes something closely, asks God to be with her, and then senses the nearness of God (Reaching, pp ). There are many ways to discern divine intent, many spiritual practices that can help us, like lectio divina, walking the labyrinth, centering prayer. The key is that we find some practice that helps. 2

3 But discerning divine intent through a dream is not all Paul does in this story. He also acts upon what he believes God is calling him to do. As soon as Paul has his vision, he finds a boat and crosses the Aegean Sea, leaving Troas, heading over to Samothrace and finally going up to Neapolis. From there he travels by land to Philippi, a leading city in Macedonia and a Roman colony. After several days, on the Sabbath, he goes to a place of prayer outside the gate by the river. There he meets Lydia, who is called a worshipper of God, a term somewhat akin to one used to describe Cornelius in Acts 10. Lydia is a Gentile who believes in God, but hasn t been exposed to the Gospel. So, Paul shares his faith with her, the Lord opens her heart, and she and her household are baptized. There is a lot happening in a few verses here, but the bottom line is this once Paul has an understanding of what God wants him to do, he gets up and does it. He doesn t soak in the message, reflect on it and stay where he is. He acts on what he understands the divine intent to be. The message for us seems clear. Whether we are seeking clarity for some decision, guidance for how we might grow in faith or help of any other kind, the key lies in not simply discerning God s will, but acting upon it. Usually this involves change of some kind. We can t hope for a different outcome unless we are willing to try something different. We can t expect to feel the deep sense of fulfillment greater faithfulness brings unless we are willing to step out in faith. I think of the man beside the pool of Beth-zatha, as described in John 5, who has been there for thirty-eight years. Jesus asks him if he wants to be made well. It sounds like a harsh question, but he has been there for thirty-eight years and never been able to get in the healing waters. He makes a few excuses, but Jesus doesn t buy them. Stand up, take up your mat and walk, Jesus tells him, and he does! All this time he couldn t crawl. Now he gets up and walks! What is the difference? Jesus heals him, but how? Is it a miraculous medical event or an empowerment of the will? Who knows? But the man cannot experience something different until he is willing to act. So it often goes for us not only in our individual lives, but in the church as well. It is wonderful to seek God s guidance for any 3

4 challenge, including our most recent visioning process, but sensing God s vision for us is not enough. We have to be willing to act upon that vision, for example, not just agree that we need to get into the community more, but actually get into the community more. We are called to discern divine intent and then act upon that discernment. But there is one other thing Paul does in this story. He remains open to God s leadership even as he acts upon his understanding of God s will. We have read the story, and I have retold it, but let me underscore a few details that are shocking to early hearers. Once he is in Philippi, Paul goes to an unauthorized worship space by the river. He has left the establishment, both Roman and Jewish. He interacts primarily with a woman who seems to be the leader of the group. We know she is a businesswoman, a dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira, and the head of her household. Thus, she is a key person to convert, and she believes in God, but she is, well a woman, a female head of household, business and prayer group, all of which is irregular! Paul could be put off by any part of this, but he is not. God is guiding him into new waters. So what if these new waters really are new?! The Spirit is at work. The Gospel is the same, but everything else is negotiable. Lydia and her household are converted and baptized, but only because Paul is open to the new thing God is doing. Again, the message for us seems clear. We need practices through which to discern divine intent, we need the courage to act upon our calling, and then we need to remain open to the possibility of that calling taking us somewhere we might never have gone to a kind of work we hadn t considered, to a kind of service in missions or congregational care we hadn t envisioned, to a group of people we previously avoided. Openness is critical in following in the leadership of the Spirit. There is an old Hassidic tale about a poor rabbi named Eisik, son of Jekel, who lived in the medieval village of Cracow. He had a dream in which he was told to go to Prague, many days journey, because underneath a bridge that led to a castle he would find a treasure trove of gold (The Art of Pilgrimage, pp ). At first, he shrugged it off, and 4

5 when he had the dream a second time, he still didn t believe it, but when he had it a third time, he decided to make the journey. Several nights later when he arrived in Prague, he was discouraged to find the bridge guarded by soldiers. He couldn t start digging. So, he lingered for a while, even when it started raining. Finally, a guard asked him if he had lost something. Eisik told the guard about the dream whereupon he replied in ridicule, Gold! What reasonable man takes dreams seriously? As a matter of fact, I heard a voice call out in an absurd dream just a few nights ago, urging me to take the long journey to Cracow and visit a rabbi, Eisik, son of Jekel. The voice told me to look in the recess behind his stove where I would find a gold treasure. The guard shook his head and warned the rabbi about the sin of gullibility. Eisik hurried home, searched behind his stove and found the treasure which ended his poverty and changed his life. We may not find gold behind our stove. In fact, I shudder to think about what might be behind ours. But if we are willing to pay attention to our dreams or at least practice some form of discernment, get up and go somewhere different, and keep an open mind about where God might be leading us, we will find treasure of some kind, indeed a treasure far better than gold God s intent for our lives. 5