The people at The First U.P. Church of Crafton Heights are spending much of our time in 2023-2024 looking at the story of God’s people as recorded in the New Testament book of Acts. We engage in this series of messages convinced of the fact that God’s power changes apparently small and nondescript groups of people into a force that will change the world in ways that are reflective of the love and justice of Jesus. On June 16, we heard Paul invite the community in which he served to follow him, if they could see him better than they could see Jesus. You can check it out for yourself by reading Acts 20:13-36.
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Last week, we were with Paul and a contingent of his friends and acquaintances in the little town of Troas, where Paul preached an all-nighter and nearly put an end to poor young Eutychus in the process. In today’s reading, we find the Apostle hop-scotching along the Turkish coastline as he continues to make his way back to Jerusalem.
Let’s pause a moment to remember why he’s heading in this direction. You may remember from earlier readings in Acts that as the group of Christ-followers grew, there was some real tension between the Jewish believers and those who were Gentile believers. As Paul worked with and moved among members of the latter group in Asia and Europe, he encourages the Gentile Christians to demonstrate solidarity with the Body in Jerusalem by contributing toward an offering to help these folks recover from a famine that struck Palestine at that time. Now, after having toured through much of what is now Turkey and Greece, Paul is returning to Jerusalem and he’s got money to share.
As the size of the offering grew, so did Paul’s entourage. Let’s remember that the monetary gifts would have been in coins, so any significant relief would be quite heavy. The group now includes those names with which Becky did so well last week: Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus, Trophimus, and Luke – at least.
Paul’s had a sense of foreboding about this trip – he knows that some of his former colleagues in Jerusalem are none too eager to see him, but he keeps moving, eager to deliver the relief to those who are suffering.
Yet when he finds himself in Miletus, he’s torn. He’s got some really, really good friends who live in Ephesus – just 35 miles away. While he’s not keen to leave the ship and delay his journey, he’d love to spend a little time with these folks, and so he asks if they can meet.
Maybe you’ve done something like this. Sharon and I did just a couple of weeks ago – we were obliged to be in Western New York for a family funeral, and we asked our old friends Barbara and David if they’d be willing to drive an hour or so to meet us for dinner. It was a lovely privilege.
Paul Leaves the Ephesians (Woodcutting) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872)
The community in Ephesus was important to Paul. He’d lived and worked there for three years or so, during which time he’d met Apollos and preached alongside of Priscilla and Aquila. It was in Ephesus that Paul had that run-in with Demetrius, the silversmith who made and sold those shiny little statues of Artemis. He’d been through so much with those folks, and he loved them. It’s natural that he sought to make time with them.
When they are together, he gives an impassioned defense of his ministry. Again, sensing some possible opposition in Jerusalem, Paul reminds the folks from Ephesus that he’d always been on the up and up with them. He recounts his ministry as a preacher, and points out that he never took any money from them; he had supported himself and his colleagues as a tentmaker.
Paul closes his brief remarks with a charge for his friends to be alert, to be constant in following Jesus, and to take care of others. He concludes by saying that he is an example for them, and now they can be examples for others. It’s similar to what he said to his friends in Corinth, to whom he wrote “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” (I Corinthians 11:1)
Now, I don’t know how you heard that, but at first blush, that can sound like a person who’s pretty full of themselves. “Follow me – it’s just like following Jesus!” As if Jesus and I are twins, and people find it hard to tell us apart because I’m so much like him!
That is clearly not Paul’s intent. Over and over he’s shared his shortcomings and failures.
Yet that invitation can also be a little bit intimidating. It could be that some of his hearers thought, “Be like you, Paul? As if! That’s impossible for someone like me…” Some folks on the internet who have more time than I do have created some pretty funny images about following Paul who follows Jesus…
I am convinced that in this earnest plea to his beloved friends in Ephesus, Paul is seeking to be invitational. He’s inviting them to follow him not because he’s the same as Jesus or because he’s as good as Jesus, but simply because right now, they can see Paul better than they can see Jesus.
This is a core truth of our lives in Christ: we learn by observing first, and then doing. Of course, it’s not just in our lives of faith that this is true. Think about any practice in which you’ve ever engaged – didn’t it start with watching someone? Tying your shoes. Baking a pie. Catching a fish. Nobody wakes up one morning and just does these things without having watched it modeled and demonstrated. It is the same in our life of faith.
In the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul is on a series of journeys, and every single step of the way he is trying to follow Jesus. Early in the story, he has a close eye on others in the community – men like Barnabas and Peter, who have been there longer than he. As he matures in his faith, he begins to intentionally model faithful living for others, like Timothy or Apollos.
Looking at the life of faith as a journey or as a practice can help us to understand that the Christian life is not simply saying “yes” to a series of ideas or intellectual propositions. Virgin birth? Check! Jesus forgives? Check! Sin is bad? Check!
The earliest followers of Jesus, before they became known as “Christians”, referred to themselves as “People of the Way.” Framing it like that reminds us that Christianity is not a system of thought, but a way of life.
Scholar G. K. Beal puts it this way
The name “the Way” indicates that one could begin to participate in this restoration journey by believing in Christ and joining others who already believed and were walking on “the Way,” progressing in their new-exodus journey. Consequently, “the Way” described both those first joining it and those who had belonged to it for some time, so that the name included reference to a manner of ongoing Christian living as part of a restoration journey.[1]
Let’s think of it like this: suppose Emily invited you to go with her on one of her outdoor adventures. Perhaps she would give you some books and some websites indicating how wonderful hiking is and even suggested some great trails for your group to consider. Those things are helpful, because you’d know what you’re signing up for. I’ve been glad to have those things in the past.
Yet as I have ventured into the wilderness, I have been intensely grateful not only for the person who wrote the guide book about hiking, but also for the people who are a couple of steps ahead of me on the trail. Those are the people who, when we are crossing a stream, will turn around and say, “Put your foot on this rock – I found that it was quite solid for me.” We don’t only need people talking about ideas – we need folks who are with us in the world, walking alongside of us on the trail, helping us to know what might work in our own situations.
As we participate in the Way of Jesus today, let me ask you who some of your guides are. To whom are you looking to help you make sense of things when they feel a little wonky? Who is challenging you to be your best self? Who has shown you new vistas and new viewpoints along the journey? In other words, Paul had Barnabas to spur him to growth. Who do you have? Who is your Barnabas?
I’m going to invite you to think about that for a moment, and then to turn to the person who is next to you and say a name. Tell that person the name of someone who has helped you come this far on the journey of faith.
That’s fantastic. Now, I wonder, who is walking with you in the Way. To whom do you look at and say, “You know what? I’m glad we’re in this together! Thank you for helping me to make sense of this, and for sharing the road with me!”? Again, Paul had Priscilla and Aquila. Who has God given you to share the road with? As you reflect on that, I’m going to invite you to send a text, or perhaps to write a brief note or email to someone later today. Share with that person the encouragement you have felt from them simply because they have chosen to share this Way with you.
And lastly, I wonder: to whom are you offering invitation and encouragement? Who gets to watch you live your life, and hears the stories of your joys and your struggles? Who are you challenging and teaching? Who is your Timothy on this Way?
This week, I’m going to invite you to search for a way to connect with someone who is a couple of steps behind you on this journey of faith, and to seek to be an encouraging presence in that person’s life. Reach out, and help someone else along the path.
I realize that nobody in this room is on their way to Jerusalem, carrying hundreds of pounds of coins for famine relief. Yet I will assert that every single one of us is on a journey. We all started somewhere, and we are each doing our best to get to the next stop on the road.
Who are you following? And who are you helping? How does your life enable others to see, experience, and most importantly to practice the love and reconciliation we have seen in the Jesus who called to each of us? If someone had never heard of Jesus, would that person know something about how to follow him, to act like him, to love him – by watching you?
Thanks be to God for the Way of Jesus, for those who have come before us, and for those who are following after us. Amen.
[1] G.K. Beale, New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New, pp. 856-858
Cast Your Net 