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Acts 13:1-5 3Epi Sermon Covid 2021 Now In Acts 13:1-5 3Epi Sermon COViD 2021 Now in the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas; Simeon, who was called Niger; Lucius of Cyrene; Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch; and Saul. 2While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3Then, after they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them off. 4So they were sent out by the Holy Spirit and went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant. Acts 13:1-5 3Epi Sermon COViD 2021 Follow me – further In our lesson from Acts 13 God is reaching his call out to believers whom he calls to serve him specifically. Listen to the many ‘blips’ of information about these different people serving different places under different circumstances with each other. Does faith mean that every member of our church will be our bestest friend (BFF) ? No, but faith means that we serve and respect each other for our differences and patiently put the best construction on what we do not know or need to know. Again, listen for the ‘blips’ of information that further describe believers who are called to reach. (Read Acts 13:1-5) One blip was Simeon and possibly the description of his complexion or race. One blip was Lucius foreign hometown. One blip was Manaen and his possible royal upbringing. Barnabas and Saul don’t have much designation because they will be followed in further detail soon enough. Did you catch the “blip” reference to John in verse 5? The “assistant” John is the same writer of the gospel of “Mark” as his name was interchangeable as John/Mark. Is it so strange that a Holy Gospel writer is but a blip? Is it so strange that he will soon abandon his call as assistant for which Paul is not so quick to forgive him? Is it so strange that this list of fragile, frail and faulty people, who may have nothing in common with each other, are people who are called to serve? Is it so strange that people who are worlds apart by education or lack of, rich and poor, and maybe racially polar opposites – are still called to reach and teach? God’s Word still prevails through not-so-perfect people to be shared in not-so-perfect ways – albeit – forgiven by grace and shared by grace. We are called to even assist. Assistant. Does that sound too far below your pay-grade? That same word in a different context would mean an ‘under-rower’ on a Trireme battleship. I can only imagine what Mike Rowe would say about that kind of “assistant” as a teaser introduction to his Discovery® channel show “Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe.” There are three important titles given to people who are called to serve the church in this lesson. Assistant is only one of them but no less important. Each serves a purpose as no greater or lesser in any degree in relation to sharing the gospel. All work together, all walk in grace, all are made equal in God’s eyes. Peter calls all believers a ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Pe 2:9) which means we all have work to do in the ways we reach by sharing the gospel. I recently heard of a pilot program from synod called, “Everyone Outreach.” By faith we are all in the same boat with John-Mark – we benefit from the gospel and are called by God to assist in sharing the gospel. The fact that God has not taken us to heaven means that we have more reaching, more assisting, more work that he calls us to do. Reaching the gospel out may mean we need to work with others with whom we don’t have much in common… except the command from Jesus to, “Follow me.” Barnabas did. Paul did. We do too. Reach. It means to stretch. It means to care. It means to love. God by his grace did some loving, caring, stretching, reaching out to us from the cross of Jesus where he was stretched out to pay what we owe. The HS by Word in sacrament reaches what Jesus did at the cross to our hearts today. In order to reach the gospel someone needs to share, someone needs to care, someone needs to dare to speak-up and take a risk with a reach. And yes, reaching can get messy – but that is ok. The gospel can be messy – and that is ok. Every soul is called to assist and reach with the church in ways that might seem strange. Elisha gave up something good. The fishermen disciples gave up something good. Sometimes God’s call to serve requires some kind of sacrifice – maybe even a sacrifice of something good. That does not mean that a husband and father should abandon his wife and family to become a monk and go into seclusion – in Martin Luther’s day that shameful lack of responsibility would happen. Being called to serve means being responsible to whom God has blessed us with so far and yet finding ways to assist and serve the church within the ‘reach’ that God allows us to stretch. God’s call to serve Antioch had been given to 5 men. Five men from five very different backgrounds and locations. Five men who really have nothing naturally in common except that their blood-line was Jewish descent. They were already prophets and teachers in Antioch serving the souls that God had called them to serve. Paul had possibly been serving in Antioch for around six years – Now the Holy Spirit has chosen to send him and Barnabas out for a different kind of work and yet the same. They were to reach out further. Last Sunday Jesus said to Phillip, “follow me” now he speaks that same call to fishermen and former disciples of John the Baptist in the gospel lesson. What kind of differences do we have, today? In what kind of ways do we get along or not get along with each other? What may have happened that keeps us from leading and/or following Christ’s command. Can you hear the call of the Holy Spirit to you from these words. God is reaching his grace to be freely given to you so that you work with others to share his gospel. What kind of weakness, what kind of argument, what kind of selfishness have we had that interfered with the ways that God calls us to serve, calls us to assist, calls us to be involved with the ‘reach’ of this church? Don’t feel like a ‘blip’ in the membership records of this church, that’s not how Jesus sees you! Don’t think that you are not qualified to share the Bible because you don’t have the whole thing memorized… neither do I! Don’t be tempted to excuse your call to use your gifts of which God gives you time to reach out to others to encourage and build them up with the gospel, too. Feelings of inadequacy need the adequacy of God’s Word from Acts 13. The power to reach the gospel comes from God’s call… not just to public teachers and prophets but also to assist. Everyone has a place, everyone has grace, everyone has Jesus who says, ‘follow me’ to important souls he came to save. We can be happy as a footnote on God’s page of church. We can be happy to serve in ‘behind the scenes’ kind of ways. Even that is ok. What is not ok is doing nothing to assist, nothing to love, nothing to care, and nothing to reach and teach. God has elected to set us apart for heaven – he is responsible to save us all. We are responsible to ‘follow him’ and his call to serve, his call to assist, and inside that special call and gift of grace God also expects believers to assist in sharing the gospel. Even assistance might need forgiveness. John/Mark deserted his job and Paul the ‘go getter’ could not yet forget his failure. Maybe I’ve been like John/Mark? Maybe I’ve failed in some sort of way to reach, preach and teach? Maybe I haven’t always worked well with others? God still has big plans to reach his grace to forgive me, to reflect his grace that picks me up when I am down. God still has big plans to accomplish his call in sending us to assist in proclaiming the gospel. Everyone is called to follow. Included in that call is that everyone is called to share and reach the truth of Jesus to more. Sometimes that call means we give up something bad, sometimes that call means we give up something good. Regardless of what: we always give up in repentance… we give up our pride, give up our selfishness, give up our greed, and God gives faith to turn back and trust in him. The comfort of the gospel can help us step out of our comfort zones. The peace of the gospel can help us deal with some tough situations. The grace of the gospel can help us find ways to let go of so much that does not matter in this world and hold on ever more tightly to more important matters of faith, grace and mercy as gifts already given by Christ Jesus.
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