DISTURBING DISCIPLESHIP

In this passage which I have just read from the Book of Acts we encounter examples of disturbing discipleship through Paul and Silas’. Their discipleship was disturbing to the world around them because they were willing to enact their belief in the power of God through tangible actions.

A large portion of the Book of Acts recounts Paul’s missionary journeys, and as we pick up the account of Paul’s second missionary journey here in Acts 16, Paul and Silas have arrived in the city of Philippi located in Macedonia. Paul went to Philippi because he had seen a vision of man standing in Macedonia inviting him to cross over the Aegean Sea onto European soil and for the first time bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the European continent.

Apparently, once Paul and Silas arrived in Philippi, they simply set about the tasks of daily life and to settle into their new community. We know this because in chapter 16, as we are introduced to this slave-girl possessed by a spirit of divination, Luke tells us that Paul and Silas were on their way to the synagogue to pray.

For Jews, attending daily prayer at the synagogue was a communal event. So, when Luke tells us that Paul and Silas were headed to daily prayer, he is letting us know that they were settling into the daily life of the community.

According to the text, one day this slave-girl began to harangue Paul and Silas as they walked to worship. She then continued day after day; she would follow them screaming that Paul and Silas were slaves of “the God most High”. Eventually, Paul became annoyed by this girl’s actions, so one day he turned to her, and in the name of Jesus Christ, called out of her the spirit of divination. By seeking to heal her, he was faithfully trusting that in Jesus’ name all things were possible.

Now, when he did this, Paul certainly thought he was doing something nice for the girl, little did he know this was going to cause himself such a problem. For it seems that the girl’s master had derived an income from this girl’s spirit. Once she was healed, the income source was gone. The master was furious at Paul for meddling. In turn, then, Paul and Silas were brought before the authorities and thrown into jail for causing a public disturbance.

As it turned out, Paul’s actions and commitment to discipleship caused quite a disturbance in the world. It got them jailed!

Then, once he and Silas were in jail, they continued to demonstrate and embody a faithful discipleship. Even though they had been jailed, and by all rights should have been depressed, Paul and Silas began to pray and sing joyful hymns of praise.

Their prayers and hymns caused such a disturbance that through the power of an earthquake, God caused the cell doors on their prison to swing wide open. Yet Paul and Silas and the other prisoners did not walk out. Rather they simply sat in their cells and waited. Soon their jailer, awakened by the earthquake, checked on the jail. Surprisingly, the prisoners had not disappeared, but remained in place. Upon seeing this, the jailer was so disturbed by their actions that it caused him to want to know from where the prisoners drew such strength and trust that they would remain sitting in prison cells, even with the doors wide open.

Paul’s response to the jailer’s inquiry in verse 31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” revealed the very foundation of Paul’s disturbing discipleship. For Paul believed that with Jesus all things were possible. The power of Paul’s discipleship was so disturbing to the jailer, that he wanted to know how he to could have such a life. You see, Paul and Silas’ actions so disturbed the jailer that he opened himself to the power of God. He then received baptism and sought out the presence of Christ in his life.

In this account before us today, Paul and Silas’ discipleship was so disruptive, so jolting, so disturbing to the world around them that it; disrupted commerce, it caused them to be jailed, it brought about an earthquake - opening the prison doors. Moreover, the fact that they stayed put created such a disturbance within the jailer that it opened in him a profession of faith and a desire to know the Lord Jesus. Their discipleship was such a powerful witness that it caused the jailer to want what they had: A baptismal identity in Jesus Christ.

Today, we have claimed that same baptismal identity for Abby Nicole. Through the promises of baptism, we know that God has faithfully promised to wash Abby of her sin and to strengthen her throughout her life for a journey of discipleship. This is what God has done.

Yet in the sacrament of baptism as we understand it, God is not the only one who has taken action and made a promise this morning, we too, as her church family have made a promise to nurture Abby Nicole in the ways of the Lord.

So, then, in light of this text from Acts, the question we face is, “As Abby grows and matures, will our discipleship be so “disturbing”, that is to say so evident and so appealing to Abby that she will one day, just as the jailer in our text this morning did long ago, she will want to claim for herself her baptismal identity?”

It is our calling, as ones who follow in the footsteps of Paul and Silas today, to live out a “disturbing discipleship”. We may not be comfortable with this fact, but we are called to live differently than from the world around us. Through our baptismal identity we are called to live in such a way that we disturb the world around us. If we indeed embody such a discipleship, then Abby and others will be drawn to claim for themselves the promises of God: The promises of forgiveness and new life. The promises we have claimed for her today.

As we consider Paul and Silas’s disturbing discipleship it raises for us the question of whether we are in fact living lives of “disturbing discipleship”? Does the manner in which we move through the world give evidence of our professed faith and trust in the gospel of our Lord Jesus? Does our discipleship cause a disturbance?

For example, do we really live reflecting our belief that God created and loves all people? Or, do we see some people as more deserving of God’s love (and our own) than others?

Do the ethical decisions we make everyday actually reflect our belief that there is an absolute standard by which we are judged? Or, are we willing to settle for some type of self-interested situational ethics pliable to our peculiar needs?

Do the choices we make in regard to how we spend our time and where we spend our energies in life tangibly reflect our belief that God calls us to manifest self-sacrifice in favor of the needs of another? Or, do we succumb to the way of the world which tells us to grab what we can when we can, without regard to others needs?

When we are faced with dire circumstances in our lives, such as being thrown into a dark damp jail, do we react with prayers of praise and hymns of glory to the God who loves us so much that he was willing to die for you and for me? Or, do we retreat into the isolation and self-absorption of self-pity?

If we are honest with ourselves, the easiest way in life is to not make waves, to cause no disturbances. Yet, when we are faithful, our lives will cause a disturbance around us. As this text from Acts reveals, when confronted by a disturbing discipleship, people and relationships will be healed, the doors of our self-made and often self-imposed prisons will swing wide open, and those around us will become open to trusting in the Lord Jesus.

In the days weeks, and years to come, for Abby’s sake, and for the sake of all that we meet in this life, and even for ourselves, let us live a life of disturbing discipleship. May God so empower us that our words and our deeds reflect the reality that we follow the words of the Apostle Paul and “believe on the Lord Jesus”.

So may it be for us. Amen.

Reverend Marc V. Mason

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 20, 2007

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Travelers Rest, SC