“With the Risen Jesus, There Are No Dead-Ends” (Acts 16:9-15)
You and I often run into all kinds of obstacles and
roadblocks in our lives. You set a goal,
and it seems like no matter what you do to try to achieve it, something or
someone always gets in the way. We make
plans. Our plans are thwarted. Disappointment reigns. Despair looms. Every one of the paths we wish to take seems
like a dead-end.
But with the Risen Jesus, there are no such things as
dead ends. In his book To the Ends of the Earth, Al Barry
wrote: “Although at times Satan would have us believe otherwise, with God at
our helm, we can remain confident that with the risen Lord, there is no such
thing as a dead-end. What a blessed
assurance this is as we proceed day by day through eternal life with Him.”[i]
There are no dead-ends with the Risen Jesus ruling and
reigning for you. God may have other
plans for you … other directions in which he leads you. Or he may keep you where you are and by his
grace enable you to continue serving wherever he has placed you. Either way, the Lord carries out his gracious
will, his saving purposes … sometimes in surprising ways. He even finds ways to open hearts that are
seemingly closed off to his forgiving, life-giving Gospel message.
God changed Paul’s plans.
In today’s reading from Acts chapter 16, Paul was on his second
missionary journey through Asia Minor, where the nation of Turkey is today. The verses before our text tell us that Paul
and his companions had traveled through the middle of the huge peninsula. But then, they hit what appeared to be a dead
end. Verse 6 says they were “forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia,” the province to the west.
Next, they went further northwest and planned to head
east. But again, another roadblock of
sorts. Verse 7 says, “the Spirit of
Jesus did not allow them.” Instead, they
went down to Troas, a port city which was the gateway to Greece and points
westward.
We’re not told what the Holy Spirit did to stop Paul and
his fellow travelers. Whatever it was,
it appeared to be a dead end. An
obstacle. A roadblock. But whatever it was that caused them to end
up in Troas, it served God’s greater purposes.
This is where our text picks up.
In a vision, Paul sees a man from Macedonia saying, “Come
over to Macedonia and help us.”
Macedonia was on the other side of the sea to the west, in the northern
part of what is Greece today. Paul heeds
the vision, hires a boat, and sets off for Macedonia, ending up in the city of Philippi. This is actually more significant than it
might appear at first glance. This was
the first missionary journey into the continent of Europe. This is why God gave Paul what appeared to be
a couple of “dead-ends” back in Asia Minor.
He wanted the Gospel preached here, too.
And soon we hear about the first documented Christian convert in Europe
… a Gentile woman named Lydia. We’ll
talk about her in a few moments.
God sometimes changes our plans. He may put roadblocks in our way … what
appears to be a dead-end. But in spite
of what appears to be a dead-end, God promises that his will will be done. Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.” In Isaiah
46:10, the Lord says, “My counsel shall stand, and I shall accomplish all my
purpose.” In fact, as God’s chosen,
baptized, redeemed one, his gracious, saving will is always accomplished in
your life. “For this is the will of my
Father,” Jesus said, “that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him
should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John
6:40). What happens to you is never
outside of this good and gracious will of your Heavenly Father. Here you recall that oft-quoted verse: “We
know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). And Jesus invites us to pray “Thy will be
done,” which the Small Catechism says is done even without our prayer. In the Large Catechism, Luther writes: “As [God's]
name must be hallowed and His kingdom must come whether we pray or not, so also
his will must be done and succeed. This
is true even thought the devil and all his followers raise a great riot, are
angry and rage against, and try to exterminate the Gospel completely. But for our own sakes we must pray that, even
against their fury, His will be done without hindrance among us also. We pray so that they may not be able to accomplish
anything and that we may be firm against all violence and persecution and
submit to God’s will” (Large Catechism III.68).
The devil
rages against the Gospel and the Lord’s Church in our country today. Christianity seems to be dying a slow death
in our nation. The Church is facing what
appears to be roadblocks, obstacles, dead-ends.
Earlier in the week,
there was a news report which stated that Soldiers who promote their faith can
be prosecuted under military law, according to a statement from the Pentagon. [ii]
Evidently they’ve backed off of this a
bit. But there seems to still be some
confusion what you can or can’t say as a Christian in the military.[iii]
Then you have the Health and Human Services mandate which
demands that all insurance companies include abortion-inducing drugs in their
coverage. Christian institutions and
business owners are finding themselves at odds with this and are faced with
paralyzing fines if they don’t comply.
Churches are noticing the increasing disassociation of
teens and young adults from congregation life.
The faith of our young people – and I suppose us older folks, too – is challenged
by evolutionist and secularist worldviews.
Many walk away from the Lord in their college years and do not return.
Nevertheless, the Gospel still marches forward. The Gospel marches forward, smashing through
what seems to be massive brick walls. It
happens in big ways, like on the day of Pentecost, when three thousand received
the Word of the Lord and were baptized into Christ (Acts 2:41). More often, it happens in small ways, one
person at a time.
It happened to Lydia.
She was evidently a woman of some means.
She was a seller of expensive purple dyed fabric. She also owned a large residence, enough to
house Paul and his travelling party.
There’s no mention of a husband.
Perhaps she was a widow. Not
likely, though. In the ancient world,
most successful women were also attached to a husband … not normally a romantic
arrangement but instead for status and for descendants.
By the standards of the day, Lydia “had it all.” Yet there was something missing in her
life. She was searching for something
more. The text says that she was a
“worshiper of God.” Lydia evidently was
someone who revered the God of the Jews and would gather with other women to
hear the Word of the Lord and to pray on the Sabbath Day. This must have been a small gathering. You needed at least ten men to form a
synagogue in a city. Any less than that,
and you found a place to gather outside, such as by a river. That’s why Paul knew to look by the
riverside. Paul brought the message of
the Risen Jesus to Lydia, and the text simply yet beautifully states, “The Lord
opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” She was baptized along with her whole
household.
The message of the Risen Jesus still powerfully works
today … simply and beautifully, one person at a time. I recently heard the story of an unlikely
convert whose heart the Lord opened. In
fact, the title of her book is The Secret
Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.
Rosaria Butterfield is a married homemaker and mother of
four. 15 years ago, her life was
completely different. She was an English
professor at Syracuse University in New York.
She wanted nothing to do with Christianity and thought it was damaging
to society. Butterfield was a radical
feminist and was also involved in a type of relationship forbidden in
Scripture. I’ll let you draw the
conclusions there.
In 1997, she wrote an article in a local newspaper
refuting the Christian view of traditional marriage and families. Many responses, both hateful and supportive,
arrived in her inbox. One, however,
caught her off guard. It was from Ken
Smith, a Presbyterian pastor in Syracuse.
Butterfield initially threw it away, but later fished it out of the
garbage. Smith’s words tugged on her
heart and conscience.
“I had seen my share of Bible verses on placards at [marches I attended],”
she explained. “That Christians who mocked me … were happy that I and everyone
I loved was going to Hell was clear as blue sky. That is not what Ken did. He did not mock. He engaged. So when his letter invited me to get together
for dinner, I accepted.”
Butterfield then became friends with Smith and his wife, and began to
take a genuine interest in the Scriptures.
“I tried to toss the Bible and all of its teachings in the trash — I
really tried,” she said. After reading
it through for the fourth time, something gripped her. “[T]he Bible got to be
bigger inside me than I. It overflowed into my world.”
Later, Butterfield felt compelled to attend services at Smith’s church.
“I fought with everything I had,” she admitted, explaining her mindset
as she sat in the pews. “I did not want this. I did not ask for this. I counted the costs. And I did not like the math on the other side
of the equal sign.”
But one day, she gave up fighting against God. “I was a broken mess,” Butterfield said.
“Conversion was a train wreck.” She goes
on to describe how her life and her lifestyle was completely turned upside down
by the Holy Spirit bringing her to faith in the Christ who died on the cross
for her sin. It was traumatic for her. It radically changed her life and her
lifestyle. But Jesus did say something
about denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following him. He didn’t promise it was going to be easy. It’s a narrow path. But it is the path of life and salvation.[iv]
God still opens hearts today. Dead-end hearts. Stony, hardened hearts. The same Holy Spirit who put up roadblocks
for Paul is also the one who breaks through the sinful barriers in our hearts
and gives us faith in Christ.
The stone-cold body of Jesus was laid in the tomb. A stone was placed in front of the
entrance. It sure seemed like a dead-end
for him and his followers. But Jesus
made a way for each and every one of us when that stone was rolled away. He made a way for us out of our life of
bondage to sin, death, and the devil.
Rising from the dead, he proved his victory over those enemies that constantly
seek to put roadblocks in walk of faith, tempting us to unbelief and despair. “In the world you will have tribulation,”
Jesus said, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has made a way
for you through all your dead-ends. He
has broken down the barrier between you and God by forgiving your sins. He guides you through your life and
accomplishes his saving will for you. He
will bring you through your own death.
He will call you from the grave on the Last Day. And he will shine his glorious light upon you
in eternity.
With the Risen Jesus, there are no such things as dead-ends.
Amen.
[i]
A.L. Barry, To the Ends of the Earth, (CPH
1997), p. 143.
[iv]
Based on the news article found here: http://christiannews.net/2013/02/20/former-lesbian-turned-christian-tells-the-world-about-the-secret-thoughts-of-an-unlikely-convert/
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