Sermon from John 6:1-15 for March 11

So…

If you want to make a difference in this world, being filled with the spirit is essential.

Did you get that?

If you want to make a difference in this world, being filled with the spirit is essential.

So, are you filled with the spirit? How do you know?

What are you doing that is evidence of the spirit working in your life?

And what is the evidence of the spirit working in the life of this church?

You remember, I assume, the Pentecost story: the disciples in the upper room, the  sudden arrival of the spirit, flames on the heads of the disciples, all of them, and then all of them headed out into the streets of Jerusalem speaking in different languages, telling the gospel story to folks visiting Jerusalem from all over the world!

It energized and enervated the church. The disciples were no longer shy, scared, unwilling, defeated. They were sent, empowered, directed, ready to take on the world.

And the community took off, both in terms of growth in numbers, thousands of new followers of Jesus were added to the church, as well as in growth of ministry!

So how do you know the church is filled with the spirit? It is growing, both in those who have been touched by the good news, and in those who have experienced God’s love through energized disciples!

Are you an energized disciple?

Being part of that early church was electric. Folks were joining at an astounding rate. The church was out making a difference! But with that came challenges!

Widows and orphans in particular had become part of the church because the church and its people were willing to love and care for them, but with them came the challenges of poverty. In the culture of the day, either situation could mean you had no viable way of financial support. No social security. No public assistance. No food stamps. No hot meals for seniors.

The church, in love, responded to their many needs, including their economic struggles, by trying to make sure that they at least got regular meals, as well as friendship, and a community of deep caring. Food was collected and shared with the widows initially by the Apostles. But it was both a growing blessing as well as a growing burden.

While the Apostles wanted to focus on preaching and teaching and prayer, they were increasingly tied down doing what is often called pastoral care; that is seeing that the new disciples not only had the spiritual food they needed, but also the practical necessities of life: food, shelter, and a community that accepted and respected them.

Then a new problem emerged in Jerusalem, a cultural one.

We often mistakenly assume that cultural clashes are a new problem for the church. That’s not even a little true. There have always been cultural clashes between what is established as the “practice” of the church, and what has emerged when the church has encountered a new and different culture than the one it was formally in: old vs. new

We are aware of the clash between Jewish believers and the new Gentile mission because Paul speaks about it in his letters and it is recorded in the book of Acts. It led to what is called the Jerusalem council recorded in Acts 15.

And some of us are aware of the cultural clashes between the new German independent principalities in the 1500’s and the Holy Roman empire, recorded in what we call the Reformation, a battle inadvertently waged by Martin Luther.

Some of us are even vaguely aware of the church and culture clashing over American independence!

Just so you know, Presbyterians were for it, because Presbyterians have always been for a separation between church and state! And that is because we have never, ever, trusted government, even elected government, though we like that much better, because we believe in total depravity.

Total depravity is a theological concept born of bible teaching that says that sin is everywhere, and so believe that government rarely has our best interests at heart, and so must always be watched with a jaundiced eye, suspicious of all promises made by people hoping to get elected and pad their own pockets!

What we forget, is the earliest cultural clash in the church, recorded right here in chapter 6, where Jewish widows who were born and raised in the Greek culture of the day (established by Alexander the Great’s conquests 300 years before) and who spoke Greek, felt that they were being treated less fairly in the food distribution than Aramaic widows, who had been born and raised in the established cultural of this part of the Middle east, and who spoke Aramaic.

Lest we miss the point, where in today’s world do we find the church straddling two cultures?

And what was the Apostle’s solution? A lengthy two or three-year study? A committee of people who really don’t understand the issue and so feel no compulsion to solve the problem? Nope.

Their solution was to get a group of amazingly talented, high capacity disciples together, who loved God, who loved the church and its mission, and who loved the widows and orphans, and…

Who all had Greek names and who all spoke Greek…

And put them in charge of making the church thrive in this particular area of ministry, to the glory of God!

Do you see it?

Do you see our opportunity to be God’s people as we straddle new cultures?

So, again…

Where in today’s world do we find the church straddling two cultures?

And who among us should be looking for ways to take the good news of Jesus across the cultural divide in order to make the church of Jesus Christ amazing?

Is God calling you? Are your ears open? Are you willing to say yes?

Amen.