Obeying Orders
Acts 10:34-43
01/13/2008
This has been the season of the great flag waving, as candidates on both sides of the aisle square off trying to win the nomination. Have you picked yours yet? They are throwing barbs at one another, they are crying, they are debating. All of them seem to be saying that they are the ones who can get things done in the government. Really?Have you ever tried to get anything done in the government, only to find yourself entangled in a mass of regulations? You try to follow them, but nothing seems to budge. I read recently about people who had tried to get welfare help. These sentences were taken from actual letters to a Welfare Department inapplications for financial support. 1. I am forwarding a marriage certificate and six children. I have seven, one died, which are baptized on a half sheet of paper. 2. I am writing the Welfare Department to say that my baby was born two years old. When do I get the money? 3. Mrs. Jones has had no clothes for a year and has been visited regularly by the preacher. 4. I cannot get sick pay. I have six children. Can you tell me why? 8. I am very annoyed to find out that you have branded my son illiterate. This is a dirty lie as I was married a week before he was born. 9. In answer to your letter, I have given birth to a boy weighing 10 pounds. I hope this is satisfactory. 11. Unless I get my husband's money pretty soon I will be forced to lead an immortal life. 12. You have changed my little boy to a girl. Will this make a difference? 14. In accordance with your instructions, I have given birth to twins in the enclosed envelope.
Following orders can be a very confusing ordeal, can it not? Might it also be that way in our spiritual lives, as well? The apostle Peter certainly went through some very confusing times, as he tried to follow the instructions of the Holy Spirit. The first Christians were primarily Jews, and the earliest church was considered a new sect. But through the scriptures we get hints that this is not what God would ultimately be doing. In fact, the Book of Acts opens by saying that the disciples would be witnesses to every part of the world. That certainly put them in a dilemma. When we get to chapter 10 we see the story of an Italian soldier, a very devout man. This guy knew how to obey orders and in response to angelic instructions in a vision he sent for Peter. Now Peter himself had been going through some very unusual times as well. His own vision told Him to do things which were not Jewish. I don’t have time to go into the whole story, but I hope you will read chapter 10 for yourself. As a result of obeying these seemingly strange orders, Peter goes and has an opportunity to preach to a bunch of Gentiles. And Peter told them the story of Jesus Christ, about how it all started the day Jesus was baptized, and about the miracles He did, and how Jesus was put to death, but how God raised Him up and how many had seen Him since that time. And then came the most important part of his message:[42-43]Peter tells this soldier that he has his orders, too, which are to preach or to proclaim this good news about forgiveness found in Jesus Christ. Order are orders. And as He obeyed his orders, the Holy Spirit fell on those who believed and everyone was amazed!I hear people sometimes speak of the mystical will of God, as if finding it was something out of the realm of human possibility. While I will admit that it is sometimes difficult when we need direction, I also know that most of the time God’s orders for our lives are so simple that either we don’t want to accept them, or we don’t bother to read the instruction book and learn them. I believe that all Christians have this same direct order from God Almighty. This is one which has never gone out of effect: Proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ.Does that mean that you have to go to seminary and learn to be a preacher? NO! Often I think we have too many preachers anyway. But hear me. Since the early recorded days of the prophets Jesus has been proclaimed. After Jesus was here on earth His followers have continued that tradition. At this point in history, in this place, the job now falls to you and to me. Will we do it?
We are ordered to be His witnesses. How do we obey? I believe that the key to obedience lies in our willingness to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit through prayer. This whole thing started with both Cornelius and Peter in prayer. And God honored those prayers by revealing the love of Jesus Christ. When you begin your day, how many of you pray for God to use the opportunities set before you as occasions for Christ to be known? I have a prayer I begin each day with which goes through freeing us from certain things and filling us with others. Part of that prayer says: Do thou this day free me from all failure before opportunity. It ends with: Be thou with me for another day, and use me as Thou wilt.Day after day as I pray that, I begin to find that it is a part of me, and I begin to look for ways God is going to use me during the course of the day. And I have been finding unexpected times of ministry. I have had people come to me in stores in cities where I knew no one, people on the phone, people in restaurants, people online, all of them looking for the good news of Christ. And really it has had very little to do with the fact that I am a pastor. I think this should be all of our story. I hear people say, “God never uses me.” If so, have you ever asked?I have seen growth in so many of you in the last year as we have learned to show Christ’s compassion to those less fortunate. We have done more these past two years to help others, families, those in college or in prison, hurricane victims, children in foreign lands, and many others, than in any recent years. I don’t say that so you will get a big head, for I believe we have a way to go still. But I want to encourage you! God has given us opportunities right here and right now to be good news.
Will we follow orders and proclaim Christ? You may never have a chance to stand before others and be the preacher. But your life is a sermon. I like the saying, “Life is fragile: handle with prayer!” There are so many ways we can share the good news. My prayer for us as a church is that we would prayerfully learn to see those we meet at work, those at home, those at school, those we just come into contact with, as those in need of the love of Christ.Jesus was the Son of God. He was murdered for our sins. He was delivered up for you and me. And He rose victorious over the powers of sin and death. And He has given us our orders: By your life, proclaim the good news! We need not make it complicated. It does not involve red tape. Simply look prayerfully for your opportunities.
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