Texts:
1 Samuel 5
Isaiah 56
Joel 2
Acts 10
Sermon
A few weeks ago, a smiling young woman
met me at the door after church with a wonderful story. When she was
a child she knew she was special because God talked with her. She had
frequent, prolonged conversations with God. To her this was
incontrovertible evidence of “specialness.” Other kids might have
imaginary friends. She did not need such childish props because she
had an actual friendship with God.
Her remarks reminded me of stories told
by others here at Green Lake Church, people who have direct
experience with hearing God speak.
I was also reminded of a passage in the
autobiography of George Fox. Three hundred years ago, he wrote,
On a certain time,
as I was walking in the fields, the Lord said unto me, “Thy name is
written in the Lamb's book of life, which was before the foundation
of the world” and as the Lord spoke it, I believed, and saw in it
the new birth.
Another time:
As I walked
towards the jail [to visit some people who were imprisoned for their
religious beliefs] the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “My
love was always to thee, and thou art in my love.” And I was
ravished with the sense of the love of God, and greatly strengthened
in my inward man.
George Fox heard God speak. He taught
others to pay attention and seek to hear God for themselves. It was
not enough to be an expert on the words of the Bible. Fox insisted
that genuine religion consisted in a direct, personal engagement with
God. God spoke to the apostles and prophets in Bible times. And he
still speaks. George Fox went on to found the Religious Society of
Friends or Quakers as they are commonly called.
Puritans and other Protestants were
fiercely critical of the Quakers. Real Christianity, they argued,
consisted of studying and obeying the Bible. If you start imagining
God talks to you directly, you'll end up with all sorts of problems
and craziness.
Maybe, but consider the fruit of George
Fox's work.
Quakers were the first Christians to
insist that all people were created equal. Not just all educated,
wealthy White males, which is what Thomas Jefferson meant when he
wrote the opening of the Declaration of Independence. Quakers
believed all people were created equal. Americans and Nicaraguans.
Russians and Chechnyans. Palestinians and Israelis. People with fine
clothes and impressive titles and nobodies. Quakers were perhaps the
first group of people to see that a person on trial was no less
worthy of respect than the lawyers and judges of the court.
Quakers—in stark contrast to the
ancient Puritans (and their modern descendants like Mark Driscoll and
Sam Pippim) believed that every person—male and female—was
animated by God and could be called by God into public ministry.
Quakers were the only American
religious group with significant membership in the South to abolish
slavery among themselves before the Civil War.
Quakers led the way toward the humane
treatment of the mentally ill and criminals.
For three hundred years Quakers have
maintained a testimony against war as a tool of foreign policy.
Quakers could and did cite Bible verses
in support of every one of these advanced moral perspectives. But
they did not come to these exalted moral perspectives from reading
the Bible. After all those who argued in favor of the exalted status
and privileges of the aristocracy, those who defended slavery and
advocated the subjugation of women, brutal treatment of the insane,
torture for criminals, and war all based their arguments on the words
of the Bible. Words on the page were not and are not enough to
inspire a bold, new moral vision.
Quakers, following the example and
teaching of George Fox, practiced listening for God's voice. And the
entire world has benefited from their listening.
Dramatic moves forward among the people
of God come as a result of hearing a new word from God. It is when we
hear God for ourselves that we receive the wisdom and the courage to
act.
We see the same thing in the Bible
stories themselves.
In Caesarea there
lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the
Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone
in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly
to God. 3 One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in
which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the
angel said.
4 Cornelius stared
at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel.
The angel replied,
“Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an
offering! 5 Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon
Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the
seashore.”
7 As soon as the
angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a
devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. 8 He told them what
had happened and sent them off to Joppa.
The description of Cornelius as a
“devout and God-fearing man” means he had embraced Jewish
theology with its central vision of a single deity who was
fundamentally good. This, in stark contrast to the other views common
at that time which imagined a supernatural realm populated by
competing, amoral gods. Cornelius was a good man, that is he was
moral. He was devout, that is he worshiped the God of Judaism. But he
had not officially converted. He was not a proper Jew. So there was
an impenetrable wall between him and Jewish people, including Jews
who were devotees of Jesus.
So God takes action to destroy that
wall.
The next day as
Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the
flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10 and he was hungry. But while
a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the sky
open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four
corners. 12 In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and
birds. 13 Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat
them.”
14 “No, Lord,”
Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws
have declared impure and unclean.”
15 But the voice
spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it
clean.” 16 The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet
was suddenly pulled up to heaven.
17 Peter was very
perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by
Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, 18 they
asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.
19 Meanwhile, as
Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him,
“Three men have come looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and
go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent
them.”
21 So Peter went
down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you
come?”
22 They said, “We
were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and
God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel
instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your
message.”
Going into a Gentiles house was
forbidden. Especially eating there. The voice of God is directing
Peter to violate well-established religious rules. Peter would have
never done it without direct guidance from heaven. So God gave him
direct guidance.
23 Peter invited
the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them,
accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
24 They arrived in
Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had
called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered
his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter
pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like
you!”
27 So they talked
together and went inside, where many others were assembled. 28 Peter
told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to
enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God
has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or
unclean. 29 So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for.
Now tell me why you sent for me.”
30 Cornelius
replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same
time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling
clothes was standing in front of me. 31 He told me, ‘Cornelius,
your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been
noticed by God! 32 Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man
named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who
lives near the seashore.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and it was
good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear
the message the Lord has given you.”
Peter replied, “I
see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he
accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the
message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace
with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what
happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began
preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus
went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with him. 39 “And we apostles are witnesses of
all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death
by hanging him on a cross,fn 40 but God raised him to life on the
third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general
public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses.
We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus
is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and
the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying
that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven
through his name.”
This sermon could have never happened
if Peter had not heard God speak. Peter could not have gotten this
sermon out of the Hebrew Bible. There are passages in the Hebrew
scriptures that can be adduced in support of what Peter preached. But
no one understood them the way Peter preached it that day. Peter
himself would have never believed God included the Gentiles in the
promises of God apart from the personal words of God to him and to
Cornelius.
Acts 10 goes on to report further
validation of Peter's sermon.
Even as Peter was
saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening
to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were
amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the
Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and
praising God.
Then Peter asked,
47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have
received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48 So he gave orders for
them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius
asked him to stay with them for several days.
Classic Christian orthodoxy imagines
that God did his best work 2000 years ago then went silent. God had
nothing more to say. Our only access to God is through studying the
words in the Bible.
Classic Adventist orthodoxy agrees that
after the New Testament was written God went silent. God had nothing
more to say. But then in the middle 1800s God finally spoke again.
This time God spoke through the words of the Adventist prophet, Ellen
White. But once Ellen White died, God again went silent. We are left
with only words on pages.
I disagree.
Yes, God spoke. Through the ancient
prophets and the scribes who wrote the Bible. Supremely through the
words and example of Jesus. Through the words of the apostles.
Through the words of Ellen White. Yes. Yes.
And God still speaks. And it is our
privilege and responsibility to listen. To hear.
We do not all have the same gift of
hearing. Prophets are unusual people. Reformers and visionaries are
not ordinary people. They have special gifts. George Fox was not an
ordinary person, not as a kid, not as an adult.
We cannot all hear in the same way. So
as I have mentioned before, again today, I challenge you: If you have
a gift for hearing God's voice, listen carefully. Share with us what
you hear.
Ask God what vision he might have for
Green Lake Church. Given our resources—a beautiful building, a
highly visible location, a theology that is not contaminated with the
horror of eternal hell fire, a belief in the radical commitment of
God to human well-being, a varied congregation with all sorts of
abilities and connections—Given our resources and our privileges,
what is God calling us to do?
When someone says they have heard from
God, how do we know if it really was God?
The Bible offers some guidance on this.
First: God's highest principles are mercy and peace. When people
imagine they are hearing God and they call us to be active in
condemning and attacking, we do well to reject their claims.
One of the more troubling bits of
sociological research in recent years is the finding that
conservative Christians are more likely to approve of torture and war
than even the general public. How tragic. They clearly are NOT
hearing God's voice.
Peter and Cornelius opened the way for
the inclusion of all humanity in happy purposes of God. George Fox
heard God's voice and created a movement that has elevated humanity
in all sorts of ways. Ellen White heard God's voice and led our
church toward a deep appreciation of the human body and an emphatic
rejection of the monstrous ideas of predestination and eternal hell
fire.
What now? What is the new thing that
God would like to do through us here in this place, in this time? If
you have a history of hearing God, would you spend some time
specifically inviting God to speak to you again and give you a vision
that is worthy of the best energy of the Green Lake Community?
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