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What normal looks like | Acts 14:8-28 | Charlie Skrine · Chapel Talks

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I chose this reading because it was a passage
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I had to speak on recently. I won't go into all
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the reasons why, but I had lunch with the new
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vicar of a church and I told him that his church
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was the only one I'd ever been banned from preaching
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in. And he said, well, we could fix that. So
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I ended up choraling a song at St Bartholomew
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the Great. in the city of london with this passage
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chosen and also a far less weird passage about
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sort of handover from one king to another which
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you could have you know made relevant for any
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boardroom in the city so i chose to speak on
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this one on the passage with the miracles and
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the religious mania and the attempted murder
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and i told them i had chosen to speak on this
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passage because that was the one the author presented
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to us as typical for our christian lives not
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necessarily in you know all the crazy details
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but in the shape that is here so first heading
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this is what normal looks like Look down, look
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back at it. It certainly doesn't look normal,
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does it? There's a man who was lame from birth
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and had never walked. Paul commands him to stand
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up and he jumps up and he walks. No rehab, no
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physio, no muscle and bone regrowth, which has
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the impact you'd expect. A well -known local
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figure, dependent on the community maybe for,
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what, 30 years? Now jumping and walking. So they
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go wild for Paul and Barnabas. And the obvious
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conclusion in a religious Greek city is they
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must be gods. Paul is Hermes because he's the
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chatty one, and Barnabas is Zeus. And they want
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to worship them, temples and priests and sacrificial
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animals and roots. So Paul has to work out what
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to say. And did they? What did they not train?
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Did they train you here what to say on the occasion
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of the youth group thinking you are gods? They
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told me, use the summer to write your first wedding
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sermon and your first funeral sermon. But if
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you need it, these verses, it's there. That's
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what you say when they think you're a God. And
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Paul, he gets quite upset, doesn't he? This is
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one more way that you can tell Jesus he really
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did think he was God. Because anyone else in
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monotheism would react the way that Paul does
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here. Abraham, Moses, Paul, Muhammad, it's the
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same. He tears his clothes, rushes out and shouts,
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we're only human, there's only one God, turn
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to him, stop sacrificing to us. So you'd think,
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phew, crisis averted, we're all going to be okay
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now, but no. Weird week is not yet over. Some
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of Paul's fellow countrymen from the last city
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on the tour, they show up. And the crowd that
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had loved Paul so much they wanted to worship
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him on Thursday is suddenly so angry with Paul
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they want him dead on Friday. It's quite a rollercoaster.
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They stone him to death, or they try to. They
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only stop because they thought he was dead. And
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he crawls away injured and bleeding to Derby.
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And all of that... The author presents to us
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as if it was here to teach us what normal looks
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like. It's the same pattern as Peter's first
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miracle and sermon in Acts 3, not first, first
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miracle in Acts 3 and 4. It's the same as the
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range of reactions through the whole book. And
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Paul tells us in verse 22, look down at verse
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22. What does Paul want to tell all the Christians
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in the region? Does he want to say, look, I'm
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sorry. Sorry I offended everybody. I hope it
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all settled down for you. Normally, it's not
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like this normally. Does he want to say that?
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Verse 22. We must go through many hardships to
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reach the kingdom of God. This is normal. And
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I hope from two rows. I hope this is kind of
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miserably encouraging for you in October. I think
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if we'd said this to you in June, that would
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just have been miserable. But three, four months
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in now, many hardships. That is normal in the
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life that you have chosen. You should expect
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wild swings of approval and disapproval. And
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some may even want to worship you. And then the
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same people, they may want to kill you. That
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is what normal looks like. Okay, but more than
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that, second, this is what success looks like.
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So look ahead to verse 26. Verse 26, they return
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to base back to Antioch, which is the place they
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were sent out from. And it says, verse 27, they
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gather the whole church. For a report. What would
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you have told them about in the reports? Yeah,
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that people of Pisidia, they're mad, aren't they?
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One week it's the bulls and the sacrifices and
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the next week it's the rocks and the murdering.
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We've had a horrible time. It's really dangerous.
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I never want to go there again. That's what I
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would have told them. Look down at verse 27.
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They reported all that God had done through them.
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and how he had opened a door of faith to the
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Gentiles. And this is what success looks like.
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He says, you committed us to the grace of God
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before you sent us. Verse 26, they do that here
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at Oak Hill. Pray for you before you went out
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to be women's workers and children's workers
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and assistant pastors. God's grace be with you.
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Paul says it worked. And God worked what God
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did through us. And what he had experienced with
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the wild rollercoaster of positive and negative
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reactions, what we saw happening really was a
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wide open door for Gentile people to have faith.
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In Acts, this is the first time they've deliberately
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gone out to offer the Christian rescue to every
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kind of people. Gentiles have been becoming Christians
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for a bit, but this is missionary journey number
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one. Let's see if God really meant it when he
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said that anyone at all could call on the name
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of Jesus and be forgiven and be rescued from
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death and live forever. Just as a reminder to
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family here, of why your daughter, your brother,
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your dad has launched themselves on this unusual
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journey of college and then service in a church.
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It is because they are convinced that the door
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is wide open and that Jesus, he will welcome
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anyone who walks through it and that they can
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give the rest of their lives, they want to, to
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helping people find their way in there. And the
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message here actually is no matter how miserable
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they are and their service is, if you were to
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say to them that you want to talk about Jesus
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and find out if it's worth believing in him,
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they would come back full of joy and tell us,
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look what God has done. The door is open, even
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for my sister, for my mum. So this is what success
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looks like. That's point two. It is not whether
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they like you in wherever you've been sent since
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leaving here. It isn't whether things go to plan.
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I wonder this morning, have there been some stories
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swapped? You'll never guess what my church did
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in the summer when the vicar went on holiday
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and I was on my own for the first Sunday. It
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was just me. No, success is people walking through
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that open door, receiving forgiveness from Jesus,
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and starting to walk through many hardships to
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enter the kingdom of God. Okay, so this is what
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normal looks like, and this is what success looks
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like. And third point, this is also what ministry
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looks like. And there is so much in Acts on what
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ministry looks like. You should really have a
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course on Acts, I feel, here at Oak Hill. What
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you should do and what you should expect. I just
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want to show you some possibly surprising things
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from verses 21 to 25. So in your head for this,
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you need to pull up in your mind the map of the
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Mediterranean. So they had left big Antioch,
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which is kind of in the armpit. of Turkey. So
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this is Turkey. Antioch is in the armpit of Turkey.
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And they went on to Cyprus, and then they went
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to another town called Antioch. That's annoying
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and confusing, isn't it? Little Antioch, kind
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of halfway along the arm. And then they worked
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their way inland. Iconium, Lystra, Derby, is
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that what Greeks pun, my saying? The key thing
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you need to know about Derby is that Derby means
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nearly home for Paul. In fact, not just nearly
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back at Antioch. There is a direct route from
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Derby to Granny for Paul. Paul is from Tarsus,
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so assume with me that Paul's granny still lives
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in Tarsus. Certainly his old workmates and his
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friends do. There's a direct route there. He
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uses it often later in the book. It's no distance.
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Just go and see Granny. You've had a rough few
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weeks, Paul, haven't you? There's bruises all
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over your body. Go and see Granny. But whatever
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you do, don't go back. Don't go back to the places
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that mistreated you. Look at verse 21. Preached
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in that city in Derby won a large number of disciples.
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The door's still open. Then they returned to
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Lystra. You're going the wrong way for Iconium
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and Antioch. He does the whole journey in reverse
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again. Isn't that a shock? And I never knew that
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until somebody pointed out, my childhood at school,
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I had to draw Paul's missionary journeys, maps
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of them. Nobody ever told me this. He was not
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all about the sort of big fly -in evangelistic
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meeting, happy to see new converts and then move
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on. That is not Paul at all. He is desperate
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to go back, verse 22, to strengthen and encourage
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them. It's the same, isn't it, in all of his
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letters. So worried about you, desperate to see
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you, to strengthen your faith. Now I really live
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because I've heard you are still following Jesus.
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Ministry looks like going back. Did you see even
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the city of Stoneham today got up and he went
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back for one more day. I don't know how difficult
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things have been for you since the course finished
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this summer. Probably. alongside the stories
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you did tell, there are ones that you don't want
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to tell. And frankly, the last year for me has
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been the hardest year of my ministry, perhaps
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of my life. The things that happen in churches
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and in normal local towns like Iconium and Lystra
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and Derby. And do you know in 2 Timothy 3, when
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Paul says that all who want to live a godly life
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in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, and you think,
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yeah, except me. when he says that. Do you remember
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the chapter begins with a list of place names?
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Do you remember that? You know all about what
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happened to me in three named places. And I always
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assumed those were the three worst places that
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he ever went to. The three best examples. The
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places that really hated me. Three towns. Do
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you know which three he picks? Antioch, Iconium,
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and Lystra. It's just the first three places.
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he ever went on the first missionary journey
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normal successful ministry um is that what you
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signed up for normal successful ministry and
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just briefly look at what he does when he goes
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back maybe this will remind you um and uh you
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know from this chapter you'll get another three
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months or another three years or 30 years from
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this chapter And they go back because ministry,
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it is all about strengthening disciples. It's
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about growing mature believers. Our church, where
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we are in Central London, we love a good event.
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Sometimes they're huge. We had 14 ,000 people
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at our carol services last year. The Sun newspaper
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this week began advertising our carol services
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by name. We have a marketing genius on my staff
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team. But for the last four and a half years
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I've been there. I've spent most time trying
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to get everyone to see that, you know, people
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at an event is nice, but it's not the goal. Each
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person through the open door with Jesus needs
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to be strengthened and to grow into a mature
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disciple, whether she is seven years old in your
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children's group or 97 years old in your local
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care home. And the strengthening, it happens
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when you tell them the truth. So look at the
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rest of verse 22. Would you say this is an encouraging
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message? Give us some encouragement, Vicar. We
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must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom
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of God. Going through the open door, it is wonderful
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because Jesus is wonderful. And all our guilt
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is taken from us and a never -ending future with
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Jesus after death is placed in front of us. But
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the journey there is we must. not may, and many,
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not some, hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
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Paul wants them all to know that how they treated
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him was normal. And he wants them strong enough
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to stand up in it, convinced Jesus is worth all
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of the normal hardships that come with following
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him. And I do actually think you get toward this.
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A colleague of mine has been in Matthew Sleeman's
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course on the book of Acts and says this verse
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apparently the beta course, is that right, of
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every church. So just ask three months in or
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nearly 30 years in, is this still what I am teaching
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people? And if not, am I really helping them
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to finish the journey? Do you remember when Paul
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writes to Thessalonica? maybe only been with
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them for three weeks, been run out of time again,
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he's able to say, remember, you remember how
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I kept telling you that we were destined for
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persecution, maybe not even the beta course,
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in the first three weeks. You'd get this again
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and again from Paul. And look at verse 23, you
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go back and you strengthen, you tell them about
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the hardships, and you set up churches. You put
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in place the people, people like those graduating
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today. who, like verse 23, we pray over and fast
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over and commit to the Lord, who we trust in
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them as they trust in the Lord for the work they
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have to do. Go and build a church in the place
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of the crazy, wild worship pool and stone to
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death place. Go and do that there and everywhere.
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Because this model of eldership, it is the support
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framework of the open door of faith for anyone
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and everyone. It's the way the strengthening
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happens and the church survives, what you've
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given yourself to. So normal, successful ministry.
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You still up for that? I want to give you two
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final thoughts. They're both a bit Anglican,
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I'm afraid. I know not everyone in the row in
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front of me is Anglican. I hope that's okay.
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The first one comes from somebody else's sermon.
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It was the first time I was involved in a sort
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of rebellious ordination. And the previous principal
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of Oak Hill, Mike Obey, came and preached at
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St Helens. And to be honest, I didn't listen
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to the whole sermon because the Bishop of London
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had just said he couldn't be bothered to do the
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litany. So I was for the first time ever doing
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the whole litany in BCP English on no notice.
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So I was a little bit distracted and stressed
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at the time. But I do remember he said this.
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Mike said, your generation must do better than
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we did. And again, I didn't listen to every word,
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but he meant the Acts 14 package by that. He
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meant take this seriously. Tell people about
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the hardships. Go back when things are difficult.
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Teach doctrine, probably, he meant, knowing Mike,
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because they need to understand what it really
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is like. Your generation must do better than
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we did. And then the Bishop of London, the previous,
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previous one, not the one who's about to be an
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Archbishop, the Bishop of London, he said that
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was a Victorian sermon, which meant he liked
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it. The only thing better from him would have
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been a Cappadocian sermon. So this is serious,
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what you have begun. Thank you, and please do
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better than we have done. And then the final
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thought I want to give you is from Archbishop
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Cramer 500 years ago from the BCP. When I was
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a DDO, I used to read all this with all my ordinands.
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Well, now it's long enough ago, there's no ordinand
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of mine left at Oak Hill. The exhortation in
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the BCP ordination service. I'm going to translate
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into modern English for the sake of time. It's
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talking about the job that you've now started.
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And he says, it is so important and so hard that
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it can only be done by prayer. and studied the
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scriptures and in the life that matches. So if
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it was easy, well, you could do it however you
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wanted. You could leave out the beta course material
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if you didn't like it. People wouldn't need strengthening
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or eldership. You wouldn't need to go back. And
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if it was unimportant, well, you wouldn't need
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to do it at all. You wouldn't need to put yourself
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through all the pain if it was not important.
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Was it nice being back in college this morning?
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Maybe you're thinking of staying. It's great
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to hear about the MA in Christian Leadership,
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and please do it, but not just because things
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have been difficult in your first three months.
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If the first three months have been harder than
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your three years here, four years here, and it's
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weird being back even because of what you've
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been through, that might be because what you've
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been doing is so important. and so hard at the
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same time. So praise God that Paul went back
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to normal successful ministry. Thank you for
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giving your lives to that and pray that you and
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I would keep going through the hardships until
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we see Jesus in the kingdom of God.