Sermon – Acts 12:1-11, 2 Timothy
Bad Influences
Pr. Paul Cannon
Grace and peace Bethany Lutheran Church, from God our creator and
our Lord Jesus Christ,
Today, I want to talk to you all about bad influences. And so naturally, the first thing that that
came to mind when I was thinking about the subject this week is Pastors. Of course, the line between being a good and
a bad influence can be a fine one at times.
But before we get into that, I need to back up a little and tell
you all about my week.
As many of you know, I was up at Lutherdale Bible Camp in Elkhorn,
WI with 14 kids from Confirmation, and it went about how you might expect it to
go.
Kids swam in the lake, they climbed on the high ropes course, they
worshipped, had bible studies, sang songs and played games – about what you’d
expect from a week of camp.
But what you might not know, is that a week at Lutherdale isn’t just
a week of camp for the kids, it’s also a week of camp for the pastors. You see, we get to do all the fun stuff at
camp as well, but we don’t actually have to stay in the same cabin with the
kids. It’s the best of both worlds!
That’s not to say it isn’t exhausting though. We run around with our students, do Bible
Studies, lead worships and still have to get our work for the week done.
It’s a tiring week. One day in particular, I was exhausted after
chasing kids around the camp, when one of the pastors, who I’ll call Pr. Bob,
approached me and a few others and asked us if we wanted to go lay out in the
field to do some stargazing.
I looked at him and I looked at my watch, thinking about how early
I needed to wake up in the morning, and how much work I had to do the next day,
and it just seemed like a bad idea. I really needed my rest.
And I said to him, “You know Bob, you’re a really bad influence on
me.” And then I grabbed a blanket and a
pillow and headed out to the ball field to join the other pastors.
The group of us who went out counted four or five shooting stars
that night. It really was a tremendous
night to stargaze.
The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed, crawled towards the
dining hall and sat down for breakfast with some of the other pastors. Pr. Bob looked at me and said, “You know Paul,
I think you had it wrong last night.
We’re not bad influences, we’re the good ones.”
Thinking back on the shooting stars in the calm nighttime sky, I
just responded, “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
The line between being a bad influence and a good one can be fine
at times. The most responsible choice
was probably to get to bed to rest up for another long day at camp. And yet, I can’t help but think it was the
right choice to make.
I bring this up, because I think it’s a similar line that the first
Christians all had to walk. At some
point, they all had to make the choice between the reasonable/responsible
option, and the life-giving option.
Imagine yourself in first century Rome for a moment. People from
all over the world were traveling to Rome and living there. There are plenty of religions to choose from. There are plenty of gods that you could
freely to worship.
Except for one. And that of
course was Christianity. Scholars think
that Jesus probably died about the year 33 AD and for the first few decades,
Christianity was able to spread in relative peace without facing widespread
persecution.
Things began to change for the worse in the year 54 AD when a new
emperor, named Nero succeeded the throne.
It was during that time that Christianity began to be persecuted on a
much wider scale.
While it really wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about it in
detail, suffice it to say that many Christians were being executed in very
public and gruesome ways.
So I ask you again to imagine yourself living in that time. Maybe you had a neighbor who told you that
you just had to go listen to this guy
named Paul speak. And maybe you admire
the way the Christians lived their lives – sharing with one another, taking
care of their neighbors, treating their servants and slaves with dignity – as
equals.
Not to mention that there’s something enticing about the man they
called Jesus who was executed by the Roman government in Jerusalem. His message of love and forgiveness and
grace, seems exotically counter-cultural to the way the world works.
But you’ve also heard of these executions. Our reading from Acts today said this,
“About that
time, King Herod laid violent hands
upon some who belonged to the church. He
had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded to arrest Peter also.
Anybody here want to sign up?
As Christianity spread across the empire, I’m sure many Roman
citizens whispered among themselves that it was better to stay far away from
the Christians. They were a bad
influence. They could get you in trouble.
The Christians were proclaiming a Savior other than the
emperor. They were saying that the true
Prince of Peace – a title that was often proclaimed for Ceasar – was really a
man named Jesus. They were rabble
rousers, and trouble makers.
It was an easy choice if you think about it: keep worshipping your
old gods and live in peace, or follow Jesus and face persecution and possibly
death. The persecutions under Emperor
Nero and many successive emperors should have effectively killed the Christian
movement.
Except it didn’t. People
continued to be drawn into this movement of Christ followers by their message
of love, grace and forgiveness. People
continued to be drawn towards this Jewish rabbi named Jesus.
To the world, the growth of Christianity must have seemed
perplexing, but as followers of Christ it makes a certain sense.
You see, faith in Christ
proved to be far more reliable than faith in the emperor, or the government any
human institution. The hope of the
resurrection proved to be more powerful the fear of death. The love of Christ proved to be stronger
than the strength of the Roman Empire – stronger than the sword.
Christians were a bad
influence on decent law-abiding citizens of Rome in the sense that the
discipleship of Christ came with a high price tag. Many Christians paid for it with their lives
in the first few centuries of our history and some are still doing so today. And yet, in the end, faith, hope and love
have always proved to be far more influential than fear, violence and
death. (let me say that again…)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, some of you might have heard it
said that faith in God is for the weak minded, but our history tells us, that
it is the source of our strength.
I want to leave you today, with the words we heard from Paul in 2
Timothy, and I want you to listen for the faith, hope and love that spring out
of these words. Paul, who writes from
prison before he is executed for his belief in Christ says this,
As for me, I am already being
poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith. From
now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all
who have longed for his appearing. But
the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the
Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued
from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue
me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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