Diverse Leadership in the Early Church

The level of racial tension in the U.S. right now is very high.  And I am afraid that even Christians have not become immune to this deadly virus.  We can so easily respond by cocooning in our own ethnic environment.  But this is certainly not the Lord’s will and destructive to our mission and calling in the world.  The Lord has taught us how very important collaboration is between different ethnic groups by revealing to us the ethnic make-up of the leadership in the church in Antioch.  The disciples were very intentional about keeping a multi-ethnic church together in the face of Jew and Gentile tensions.  They were not willing to let each ethnic group start their own separate church.  If you look at the leadership of the church in Antioch you will see the face, or faces, of integration.

Acts 13:1 says, “In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.”  The names that are given here actually tell us a lot about the people who formed the leadership and teaching team of the church in Antioch.

Barnabas is really quite well known.  We are introduced to him in Acts 4:36, 37.  His name was Joseph and he was a Levite from Cyprus.  The apostles called him Barnabas which means “son of Encouragement,” or simply an encourager.  Being from Cyprus we was a Hellenistic Jew which meant his principle language was Greek and he was immersed in the Greek culture.  If I would put a face on Barnabas it would be this one: 

The next leader of the church mentioned in this passage is Simeon called Niger.  Because there were probably other men named Simeon they distinguished him by calling him by a Latin name, Niger, which means black.  Now to call somebody black in a location and place where most everybody had a darker skin tone, probably means he had very dark complexion.  So Niger was a black man most likely from Africa.   If I would put a face on Niger he would look like the portrait to the left.

The third person listed on the leadership council of the church in Antioch is Lucius of Cyrene.  Once again the name Lucius was common in the Roman world so they added where he was from in order to distinguish him.  He was from Cyrene.  This is a place in North Africa close to where Libya is today.  Before the Arab invasion of North Africa in the 600’s almost all of the inhabitants would be from African descent.  So I think the picture to the right would look at lot like Lucius:

Next we read about Manaen.  The explanation that the text gives is that he “had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch.”  Literally this means that he shared the same wet nurse as Herod the Tetrarch.  As was often the case in wealthy families, mothers did not nurse their own children but got a servant to do that.  In any case, Manaen was very close to a very wealthy family and a close personal friend of Herod the Tetrarch, the person who had John the Baptist beheaded.  Yet Manaen went down another path as God called him into leadership of the church in Antioch.  Manaen would have been ethnically similar to the Palestinians today.  He might have looked like the picture on the left.

Finally we come to Paul.  Paul was a Hebraic Jew, born in Tarsus and raised in Jerusalem under the tutelage of Rabbi Gamaliel.  Paul was a Jew of Jews, being extremely well-versed in the teachings of the Law.  I would imagine Paul looking something like this:

Now, if you put these five faces together as the leadership of the church in Antioch, you can see how diverse the leadership actually was.  But this diverse leadership was exactly what was needed for a multiethnic church and a mission to all the ethnic groups in the Roman Empire.  Jerusalem, on the other hand, was still largely Jewish in its outlook and, in fact, sent envoys to Antioch trying to make them become more Jewish and not simply be followers of Christ in their own ethnic way.  I believe this is exactly why God used the church in Antioch to be the missionary church to the entire world. You might say that because of Antioch’s diversity, they were well equipped to be able to bring the Gospel to a diverse world.  They were able to let Jews be Jews, Romans be Romans, Greeks be Greeks, and Cyprians be Cyprians, all being transformed by the Spirit of Christ.

It is my strong belief that what the church of Jesus Christ needs today are diverse congregations that, because of their diversity, are more easily able to bring the Gospel to every nation, race and ethnic group in the world.  May God bless us with more and more churches of diversity.

Between an In-law and an Outlaw

I love camping.  We have a great tent, sleeping bags, and cooking equipment.  But what I love the most is the opportunity to find some solitude and be outdoors for several days at a time.  Having grown up in a camping family, I have been pleasantly surprised as my wife Laura’s family has gotten into camping.  In fact, they now have a family camping trip every summer in Vermont, where they are from. 

This past summer we tried a new campground on a beautiful lake.  We pulled into our campsite just after noon on Thursday and got our tent, tarp and outdoor kitchen all set up.  It was a great place under some majestic white pine trees.

 

Later that afternoon Laura’s family began to set up camp just to the south and west of our campsite.  Fifty-three of them arrived in all.  It was good to see her family again after about a year had elapsed.  Interestingly, the campers to our east and north started arriving about the same time.  First one Harley, then another, and another, and then some trucks until there were about fifty-five members of the Devil’s Desciples (spelled wrong intentionally) motorcycle club from Boston, MA, occupying the rest of the campground.  For four days our little campsite was surrounded on one side by fifty-three in-laws, and on the other side by fifty-five outlaws.  In fact the Devil’s Desciples consider themselves one of the 1% of motorcycle clubs that pride themselves on not being so law abiding.  They did their share of drinking, fixing their Harleys, and smoking pot.  In Vermont, possession of an ounce or less is not a criminal offence and, I guess, once you smoke the first ounce you can possess a second ounce…and so on.  Anyway, needless to say, we got to smell our share of second hand pot smoke for four days.

Now you might think that being a tent sandwich between so many in-laws and so many outlaws could ruin a vacation.  We certainly did not plan this.  However, our son Jesse resurrected the weekend by showing hospitality to everybody all weekend long.  He was very comfortable to be with his cousins by our campfire and to be with the Devil’s Desciples at their picnic table.  In fact, he was so accepting of the Devil’s Disciples, that when we were about to leave, they gave him an honorary member’s t-shirt: a black T with an ugly white skull and bright red letters saying, “Devil’s Desciples.”  There was no giving it back.  They even threw in a black neoprene beer cooler with the same skull on it to show how much they loved Jesse’s hospitality.

I wish I could be so hospitable.  Oh, maybe you could simply chalk it up as being Jesse’s Down Syndrome that makes him so accepting of others.  But if is it Down Syndrome, I think I would like a little of it!  I often ask, “How can I be as attractive to and accepting of others as Jesus Christ was?”  I think the first step is seeing people as Jesus sees them, not as enemies, or outlaws, but people created in the image of our Heavenly Father and for whom Jesus came to earth.  

If the outlaws, or the in-laws for that matter, got a glimpse of Jesus Christ that weekend, it was not through me, unfortunately, but through my son, Jesse Ryan, a man after God’s own heart.

The Big Bad Book

I can remember getting quite worried over what was going to be revealed when I stood before the judgement seat of God and all the books were opened and every sinful thing I had ever done would be read off for the entire world to hear.   I could only think about how terrible this would be and I wished that I might be able to skip out on this.   I was often told that you cannot skip out on this exercise, but that everybody had to go through it.  I thought about how embarrassing this would be to have my mother, who I knew was going to be there, listen to everything I had so carefully concealed from her.  That was scary!   In fact, the whole reason that eternity was going to be eternal was to give enough time to read everybody’s list – that is how long eternity will have to be.  I am sure it would take several weeks just to get through mine!

Lately I have been looking at the book of Revelation anew.  I came to that passage that says, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened.” Then it says that the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.  I have spent some time thinking about this.  Something that helped me understand this is an exercise called blackout poetry. 

Blackout poetry is when a person takes a newspaper or a book and, using just one page, blacks out all the words that they do not want to be in the poem.  The result is a poem consisting of only the words that the person has left uncovered.  I have a good idea that this might be what will happen to everything that we have done wrong.  It will be blacked out by the grace of Christ.  Or, you might say, that his blood will completely “red” out the sin and leave only three simple words. 

I decided I would try this.  So I got the book East of Eden, by John Steinbeck.  I took that book because it really examines sin as it takes root in a family relationship, something that happened after the fall of Adam and Eve when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden to the east.  Well this is the blackout poem that I made from page 42 of the book East of Eden, and that I believe Jesus creates in our books: 

Everything is gone except the most powerful three words in the world: “I love you.”  That made so much sense to me.  I recall the great words from Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  Another beautiful passage that comes to mind which gives me such great assurance is I Corinthians 13:5, which says that love “keeps no record of wrongs.”  If the Lord is instructing us to demonstrate this kind of love, you can be sure that he is modeling this kind of love for us every day.

I have greater comfort now that when the books are opened at the last judgment, what each of us who have found forgiveness in Christ will see is a blackout poem with nothing but the wonderful words, “I love you,” –Jesus.

Palm Power

Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.  Martin Luther King (1958)

We live in an ever-increasingly violent society.  It seems that violence has a price tag and people are making their living off violence.  From electronic video games and YouTube clips that display violence, to the weather reporters who try to make every storm violent, and ultimately to groups like ISIS who film terrible atrocities, we are surrounded by violence.  Even when you read the Bible there are some times when you run into a great deal of violence.  People are beheaded, taken as slaves, and maimed.  Children are mercilessly killed, even sacrificed over the fire.

And then Jesus comes on the scene.  In a world of darkness and violence, here comes light and peace.  He absolutely refuses to fight fire with fire or violence with violence.  When he was about to be pushed over a cliff after his first sermon, he just walked away and never raised a fist.  He encouraged his followers not to resist an evil man; and even if somebody might require something from them, offer that person more than their unreasonable request.

But the power of peace was fully realized when Jesus defeated his longtime nemesis, Satan.  When Jesus was taken to the cross he did not resist for one minute.  He was, as Isaiah says, a “Lamb led to the slaughter.”  At a time when anyone else would have clenched his fists, Jesus opened his palms and let them drive the nails through his hands.  It was in this most unexpected way that the most powerful dark force in the universe was defeated.  It was Palm Power which broke the Devil and set the prisoner free.  In a day when we are told that the only way to defeat a bad man with a gun is to find a good man with a bigger gun, I really wonder what Jesus would do.  Perhaps we should reflect on our preferential strategy of defeating evil with overwhelming force.   Jesus defeated overwhelming evil with love.

As I have been reading and studying the book of Revelation this winter I have often thought about the amount of violence that is recorded there in the vision of John.  One thing I know is that since Jesus has already defeated Satan with Palm Power, there is no reason for him to have to now resort to violence to finish him off.  It seems like an insult to the power of the cross to say that Jesus could deal Satan a mortal blow by Palm Power, yet then have to pick up a sword to finish him off.  What John sees in the book of Revelation is simply the rebellion of a defeated foe.  When all the power Satan can muster faces off against Christ, Christ only has to show up and the evil armies will simply crumble when he speaks the Word.  Why would Christ, who called the world into existence with his Word, have to use a sword to defend himself?  It is beneath his dignity.  The sword which comes from his mouth is simply his Word, which is so powerful that he was able to call the stars into existence and give life to man.  He would never use man’s weapons to do God’s job. 

So it is Palm Power which conquered Satan and it is Palm Power which brings his ultimate destruction.   Jesus met the forces of hate and conquered them with love.  We can too.

The River of Life

“We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.” ― David Brower

Genesis 2:10 says that “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.” God was the source of the river which gave life to all of creation.

Revelation 22:1 reads, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.  On each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.  And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”  The Bible concludes with a picture of another river flowing from God, who is its source, down the middle of the community and which gives life and healing to all.

And in between the first book and the last book of the Bible there are numerous other references to rivers and water. In Psalm 46:4 we read of a river whose streams make glad the city of God.  In Isaiah 41:18 God speaks of making rivers to flow on barren heights and of turning deserts into pools of water.  In Ezekiel 47 we get a very beautiful and detailed description of a great and mighty river flowing from the Temple of God that contains swarms of fish and other living creatures and that provides a sanctuary for fruit trees of all kinds to grow -- fruit trees which provide a continual  source of fruit for food and of leaves for healing. The references to rivers and water is perhaps climaxed in the words of Jesus Christ when he says to the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Living water is generally  understood to be running water because it is clear and clean and drinkable, while stagnant water is stale, dirty and impure. Clear, running water is a symbol of life --  life for our bodies and our souls.

Water has always fascinated and inspired me and I would love to be able to really explore in-depth the importance of rivers as a source of life -- life for our local ecosystems, health for our environment, and renewed life for us as stewards of God’s creation. Particularly important to me is understanding and even participating in the cycle of life that is found in rivers and streams. The Trinity Stream Team's work in Rush Creek these past several years has already taught me a lot about how the life cycle of a stream works.  I know that a healthy stream must have a good population of invertebrates. Invertebrates affect the nutrients of a stream by consuming and transforming various organic matter. They also are a food source for fish that inhabit the stream.  One thing the invertebrates are dependent upon is plant life in and around the stream. So a stream that is polluted and full of chemicals that kill or diminish plant life will not support a healthy invertebrate population and thus will also not be a good habitat for fish. This in turn means the stream will not be a good habitat for animals and other wildlife that are looking for fish to eat. 

I have already hinted at the negative role that man can play in the life cycle of a stream as a prime polluter; yet people can, of course, be part of the cycle in positive ways too.  But in order to do so, I believe they will have to spend some time in rivers observing the beauty of the life cycle and really understanding how it all works.  One of the best ways to do this, I think, is by fly fishing. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I speak of this from a whole lot of personal experience (something I hope to change in the near future), but from what I do know, fly fishing puts you right in the water with the fish and other river life and forces you to take to time to observe what is going on around you while you quietly wait for the fish to grab your fly.  And then when the fish finally does jump through the air and grab your fly, you realize that you yourself have become part of the life cycle of the river too, and it is a beautiful experience!

I believe spending time on rivers and seeing how life flourishes in the running water is something that would give me renewed life. In fact, I am thinking about how I might be able to spend several months exploring rivers as part of a pastoral sabbatical -- a sabbatical by which I, and also members of Trinity Church, can ourselves become better rivers of living water, for the benefit of all those we come in contact with in our cycle of life.

Little Woman, Huge Faith

We all live up to our beliefs.  Truly, we live according to what we believe to be true.  However, that which we profess to believe we rarely live up to.  There is a huge difference in what we actually believe and that which we profess to believe.

In the story about the woman from Syrophoenicia recorded in Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus is addressing the true beliefs of his disciples regarding women and Gentiles.  Though they might have been honest enough to confess their prejudices, Jesus is using a powerful teaching moment to expose their sinful attitudes.  Let’s look carefully at how he does it.

I have often struggled with this passage because in it Jesus seems to be so harsh and cruel to a minority single mom who needs help for her daughter.  You would think that Jesus would be very kind and compassionate to her, as he has been to others in the past.  He healed the servant of a Centurion.  He healed a demoniac on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  He raised the synagogue ruler’s daughter who had died.  He had just said, “Come until me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  And then a single mom with a terribly sick daughter comes to him and he says and does nothing.  This is not the Jesus I know.  Why?

As I mentioned, Jesus is exposing the sexism and racism of his disciples.  These ran deep in the culture in those days.  There was a prayer which men often said which went like this: “Blessed are you Lord God for not making me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.”  This prayer was said every morning by devout men in Israel.  Paul addresses this very prayer in his letter to Galatians when he says in 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Even the order of the groups mentioned is exactly the same in the Jewish prayer and in Paul’s teaching against this statement.

Sexism was so rampant in Israel at the time of Jesus that a Rabbi would not speak to a woman in public, not even to his own family members.  So when Jesus did not reply to this Syrophoenician woman it was out of his character to remain silent, but it would be the norm of how a rabbi would treat the situation.  And unfortunately the disciples seem ok with that.  In fact the disciples tell Jesus to send her away because she is annoying them.

Jesus then affirms their belief by saying that he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.  But he has already healed Gentiles and their children.  Why now does he say this?  Well, he is engaging in something called reductio ad adserdem.  This is when a person takes a position and shows its logical conclusion.  This is something people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King were very good at doing.

But this woman is very insistent.  She comes to Jesus again on her knees and begs him to help her.

Then, amazingly, Jesus replies with the most insensitive saying imaginable.  He says that it is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the little dogs.  Now this is hard for me to listen to from the mouth of Jesus.  Dogs were just a bit above pigs.  They were despised.  They were not domesticated or house pets.  Jesus is using the term little dogs, but I don’t know if this is any better.

Hopefully the disciples at this time are hearing what their own views about women and Gentiles actually sound like.  Jesus is illustrating in a graphic way what their own racism and sexism really look and sound like.  He was using this special moment and his gift of teaching to rid them of their prejudices.

Jesus also used this special moment to heal the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter.  Jesus blessed her because of her great faith.

Jesus had a great appreciation for the faith of women and elevated them whenever he could.  He allowed a sinful woman to anoint his feet.  He allowed Mary to hug him after his resurrection.  He allowed Mary to sit at his feet and he taught her right along with the rest of his disciples.  He was revolutionary when it came to his positive dealings with women, even those who were not Jewish.

The faith of this single minority mom was huge, and her daughter was healed.  The disciples, on the other hand, learned an important lesson about how to treat women and minorities.  This is a lesson we all need to learn.

The Spirit Guides

The beauty of the Bible is that is always challenges us to look very carefully at what God is teaching us. During the months of January and February I have been learning a lot about the early church and how the church should function. The Spirit-filled church of Acts has so much to teach us in how we go about doing church. One area in which I am growing is in the area of understanding how the Holy Spirit leads us.

Ever since I went to a seminar on listening prayer at the beginning of January, I have been studying the book of Acts trying to find out how the Holy Spirit guided the early church and its leaders. I have combed through the entire book of Acts and looked at every instance of where individuals or groups have received divine guidance to see what principles and patterns I could find.

Overall, I found four predominant ways that the early church was guided to make decisions. The first way was in putting forth a proposal and discussing it together. The church leaders used this proposal and discussion method in at least three instances: in Acts 1, when they were looking for a replacement for Judas; in Acts 6, when they were choosing the seven men who would oversee the distribution of food to widows; and in Acts 15, where they were resolving differences over Gentile believers coming into the church.

The second frequently occurring way of finding guidance was through a vision. In Acts 9, Saul had a vision of Christ at his conversion and was instructed in what to do next. In Acts 10, both Cornelius, a God-fearing gentile, and the apostle Peter received complimentary instructions through visions. In Acts 16, Paul had his vision of the man calling for help from Macedonia. And then in Acts 18, Paul received a vision encouraging him to keep teaching in Corinth.

Thirdly, we find that angels were often sent to give guidance and protection to apostles in difficult or uncertain circumstances, such as imprisonment, storms at sea, and even Philip’s being sent to teach the Ethiopian eunuch. You can find these stories in Acts 5, 8, 12 and 27.

The fourth commonly occurring form of guidance was by the voice of the Holy Spirit being manifested in some way. This very often occurred when someone was to be sent to a new place or to do something new. For example, in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were sent on their missionary journey by the word of the Spirit. In Acts 20, Paul was compelled to go to Jerusalem by the Spirit. Then in Acts 21, Paul received a prophecy from the prophet Agabus, which was given by the Spirit. Peter also received a word from the Spirit, along with the vision, in Acts 10.

Having discovered all this, I can only come to one sure set of conclusions and that is this: the Holy Spirit guided the early church in a variety of ways depending on the people and the circumstances involved. The Spirit guided the early church even at times when it does not appear that they were looking for guidance. He guided by a certain method in one instance and in the next instance he lead in another way. Each person and each circumstance was different and the Holy Spirit knew what was needed.

We have to be careful that we do not put the Holy Spirit in a box and try to control the way that he speaks to us. However, it is so very important that we seek to have the mind of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 Paul concludes a discussion about knowing God’s will by saying, “But we have the mind of Christ.” Again in Romans 12:2 Paul teaches us, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Growing so close to Christ that we know his mind is so very helpful in knowing the will of God in situations that we encounter. To me it is like that old game show on TV called “The Newlyweds.” Remember how one of the couple was in a back room and they asked questions to the other spouse to see if they knew how the hidden spouse would answer. Then they got them back together and found out how close they might have come to knowing the mind of their spouses. Some couples knew each other so well that they almost always knew what the other one was thinking.
​
When we really mature in Christ and get to know the mind of Christ, we know what his will would be in more and more of the situations that we are faced with in life. Finding God’s will does not have to be a difficult thing as we begin to simply know the will of the Lord because we understand the mind of Christ. This is what we should all be seeking in our lives -- renewing our minds to know the will of God.