Here Come the Gods – Again

       "To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of Him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name.”  Revelation 2:12-13.

       Those are the words of the risen, reigning Jesus Christ to His church in Pergamum in northwest Turkey .  It’s an apt description.  Pergamum was a great center of paganism – from the healing center of the god Asclepius to the great altar to Zeus on the Acropolis.   Pergamum stands as a monument to the incredibly strong grip pagan belief had on the First Century world when the gospel began its spread. 

       No one believes in Hera or Apollo or Poseidon today.  But people then believed the gods not only existed but that they regularly interacted with human beings.  Zeus fall in love with Leda and seduces her in the form of a swan.  The result is Helen of Troy – the woman with the face that launched a thousand ships.  Two goddesses get into a fight about who is the more beautiful.  A young shepherd on Mt. Ida is made the judge and receives Helen as his reward.  The result is the Trojan War.

       Over to the southeast of Pergamum is the small city of Lystra .  Lystra has its own story of a visit by the gods. The Roman poet Ovid tells in Metamorphosis how Zeus and Hermes come to Lystra disguised as mortals.  No one accepts or welcomes them except one couple, Philemon and Baucis.  Zeus sends a flood in retaliation.  Everyone is drowned except Philemon and Bacius. They are made guardians of a spectacular temple to Zeus outside of Lystra.  When they die, they are turned into magnificent trees – which is just about the best thing that can happen to you in a Greek myth..  

      The people of Lystra aren’t about to make the same mistake a second time.  If the gods show up, they’ll do it right. 

       Paul and Barnabas come to Lystra with the good news of God. There is no synagogue so they start preaching about Jesus in the public square.  Some people pay attention.  Some people are moved. 

       One avid hearer is a lame man who is there begging.  This man has gotten a bum deal from God and from society.  He could be sour.  He could be completely pulled inside himself like a snail placed on hot asphalt.  But he’s not.

       He hears Paul tell about a God who actually loves people – loves them enough to come and die for them.  He knows that this God loves him too. Paul sees that this man is responding to the good news.  Paul sees that he has the faith to be made well.  He commands in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet.”  Immediately the man leaps up.  He doesn’t take baby steps. He jumps to his feet and begins to walk.  He takes a leap of faith and is given the faith to leap. 

       The watching crowd goes ape.  It’s not just the healing.  It’s what it means.  It means that the gods have returned.  They decide that Barnabas must be Zeus – maybe because he’s tall and impressive and white haired.  They decide that Paul must be Hermes, the messenger of the gods, because he does most of the talking.  Paul and Barnabas don’t understand what is going on because they crowd is speaking in the local dialect of Lyconia rather than in Greek or Latin.  They shout, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

       Cross language communication is always a risky thing.   When Coca Cola entered China , they transliterated their product name with the Chinese Ke-kou-ke-la.  Unfortunately the Coke company did not discover until after thousand of signs had been printed that the phrase means either “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect.  Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters until they found the phonetic equivalent. Ke-kou-ko-le, which can be loosely translated as “happiness in the mouth.”   In Taiwan , the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.”

        Language brings confusion – not least for Barnabas and Paul.  It is only when the priests of the Temple of Zeus-Before-the-City show up that they begin to understand what is going on.  The priests lead a white ox that has been garlanded with flowers.  They prepare to sacrifice it to these gods right there in the town square.  Paul and Barnabas get their share of flowers as well.

       Most of these people have heard nothing of what Paul has said about Jesus Christ and salvation in His name.  They think they already know what’s going on.  The gods are back and this time they’ll get it right.

       Paul and Barnabas could have used this to their advantage.  In old movies, explorers awe the superstitious natives by predicting a convenient eclipse or by showing them a pocket watch.  When Bruce Campbell is thrust back in time in the classic film “Army of Darkness,” he threatens the medieval warriors with his “Remington 12 gauge, pump action boom-stick.”  Wowing the rubes is a great way to be made Queen of the Pygmies or White Rajah or Wizard of Oz. – whatever you want to be.

        It would also be a great way to bring the gospel.  Paul could have said, “Why yes, we are Zeus and Hermes.  You’ve seen through our disguise.  No flood for you this time. Some day we’ll turn you all into trees just like Philemon and Bacius. But now we want to tell you about a new god named Jesus.  Jesus’ taking over as top god and we want you to worship him from now on.  We’ll accept your sacrifice now as long as you realize that you’re giving it to Jesus.”

        That might have worked.  That’s kind of what the Catholic Church did in early medieval Europe when they grafted the gospel onto pagan religions in order to facilitate groups of people coming into the church.  “Hey, you need a goddess figure in your religion.  Here, try on Mary.”  You’re used to a god who watches over that patch of woods.  We’ll replace that god with St. Figis the martyr.  He can be the patron saint.

        That’s called syncretism.  It’s efficient. It’s effective.  It’s also wrong.  Paul and Barnabas will have nothing to do with it.  They need to honor God, honor the truth and honor their hearers.  They tear their clothes and cry, “Stop this right now!  We aren’t gods.  We’re men, just like you.”

       When Paul spoke in Antioch of Pisadia and in Iconium, he spoke first to the Jews.  There he bases what he says about Jesus on the Old Testament.  When he starts with Jews he starts with the Scriptures – the truth of God they already know.

       But these people in Lystra are pagans.  The Old Testament means nothing to them.  So Paul appropriately starts with what they do know.  He starts with nature. The pagans had a god of water, a god of trees, and a god of the sky.  Even the processes of the body had gods.  There was a god of speech, a god of sex and a god for life.  These god’s, like people, were in competition with each other. 

       Paul says, “You haven’t really seen nature until you see that nature is one.  It all ties together because it has been made by one God who is a living God.  Behind nature there is one loving God – not a host of relatively powerless, desperate and bickering pagan idols or deities.  Paul invites his hearers to turn from these worthless things to the living God.  This God has already shown His love in what He gives.  Now He shows His love in giving His Son.  Paul and Barnabas aren’t gods but they do serve the true God.

      Wow!  Talk about embarrassing!  The priests of Zeus are standing there with their white ox and their flowers and their knife and no god to sacrifice to.  The people feel like idiots.  Everyone forgets about the healing that just happened. 

        Everyone is disappointed.  They’ve been cheated out of a party.  They’ve been cheated out of a chance to be turned into trees.  What is worse, they’ve been cheated out of the wealth that comes to cities that have been visited by gods. Lystra could have become a major pilgrim shrine like Ephesus .  Now that’s not gonna happen. 

        The priests are embarrassed.  The people are steamed.  It is like the hillsides of Southern California in the summer -- dry brush waiting for a spark.

        The spark is not long in coming.  Jews from Iconium and as far away as Pisadian Antioch arrive in Lystra determined to get rid of Paul once and for all.  He is a menace to Judaism. Drive him out of one place and he only shows up someplace else.  There is only one thing to do.  Kill him,” and let the Gentiles do the dirty work. 

        It doesn’t take Paul’s Jewish antagonists long to find out what’s already happened in Lystra.  They touch the raw nerve of the people’s embarrassment and anger.  The miracle is forgotten. The message is forgotten.  All that is left is the belief that Paul is a despiser of other people’s faith – a man not fit to live.

       The crowd in Lystra stones Paul.  They drag his body outside the city and leave him there.  Luke says Paul isn’t dead – but he’s as good as dead.  He has the wounds that he may be referring to when he later writes to these same Galatians in Galatians 6:17, “I bear on my body the marks of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

       But for the moment, Paul seems to be dead.  Barnabas and the others gather around him.  Then Paul’s sits up.  Then he gets up.  He leads them back into the city where he has just been stoned.  That’s courage. 

       Luke has also left a surprise for us.  He writes:  “But when the disciples gathered around Paul, he got up and entered the city. What disciples?

       Apparently Paul’s work in Lystra has born some fruit.  We know that Lois and Eunice were converted during Paul’s visit.  Paul’s beloved son in the faith, Timothy, was converted there too.  There were others as well.  The next verses tell us that Paul later returns to Lystra to strengthen the new believers and appoint elders to serve the new church.

        Now imagine yourself as one of the new believers in a city like Lystra.  Everyone in your church is a new believer – just like you.  No one is mature in the faith.  No one knows their Bible.  The place is entrenched in paganism.  It will not go down without a fight.  Your founding pastor has already been a target of public hatred.  You and your handful of untried friends have been left to reach your whole city. 

        Eventually you succeed. 

        How about us, today, where we live?  How do we reach our city?

        There is plenty of resistance because people are blinded by the gods of this age – the gods of acquisitiveness and materialism.  They suffer from affluenza.  They really do believe that the one who dies with the most toys wins.

        Some portions of the population consider who we are and what we do to be irrelevant to real life.  Some years ago another church in the community did a survey that showed that the biggest felt-need in Moorpark was for a decent public golf course right here in town.  Now we have a golf course.  We have several.  So there are no more needs.  Right?

       Well I believe that God has much more in mind for this east Ventura County than more and better golf-courses.  I believe that God wants peace between himself and our neighbors.  I believe God wants healing in lives and families.  I believe God wants to reach this city through us.

       Why did the early believers in Lystra succeed in reaching their city.

       They succeeded because they believed three things.

       First, they believed that their message is not only important but absolutely essential.   They believe that Jesus isn’t only an optional add on to make life better.  They believe that Jesus is the center of it all, the source of true life for all people.  He’s not one among the gods.  He is God.  He isn’t Lord because we believe in Him.  He is Lord because that’s who He is and that one day every knee in heaven and earth will bow to Him – whether they are Muslim knees, Jewish knees, atheist knees, Hindu knees, Buddhist knees, materialist’s knees, scientist’s knees or our knees.  Some will bow gladly.  Some will bow because they must.  But all will bow. 

       Second, they believed in the lostness of the lost.  They believe that people apart of Jesus aren’t simply inconvenienced.  They are without hope and without God in the world.

       Third, they believed that the Holy Spirit of God was already at work to prepare men and women, boys and girls to hear and receive their message.  Jesus had said, “The fields are ripe for the harvest.”  That included the field of Lystra.  That also includes the field we call Ventura County .

       Over the past seven years, the identifiable percentage of people in Moorpark who attend a Christian Church on a regular basis has increased from 8% to 14% which is the County average.  We are making progress.

       But there is still a lot to do.  There is still a 86% of a city to reach.  And I believe that God has given us as a congregation the resources to make a unique impact.  We can’t do it alone.  We don’t have to.  But we can do our part.  And we need to remember the words of Jesus in Luke 12:48 that God expects much from those He gives much. 

      Each year I draw up a list of goals and objectives for your church personnel committee.  Usually it has about nine items.  For 2007, however, I only had two things on my list. 

      The first is to do my part in helping with the completion of building.

      The second goal is to justify having built it.        

      I don’t mean justify it to you.  I don’t mean justify it the Presbytery.  I don’t mean justify it to the Session.  I don’t mean justify it to myself.  I mean justify it to God. 

       God has given us financial resources.  He has given us a strong staff.  He is giving us a great physical plant for expanded ministry.    He is giving us these things for a reason.   And I believe that God will rightly judge us if we stay the same as we are now – if new people have not come to faith and growing discipleship.

       There are three things I would like to see happen to reach our city.  I’m sure there are many more.  These are just three that come immediately to mind.

       First, I believe that we need to be more intentional and prayerful in personal evangelism.  With the new sanctuary we will be able to easily include more than twice as many people as we do now.  We can include even more if we change our schedule.  I would like to see each person who is part of MPC invite another person into the life of the church.  I’m not talking about people who are part of other congregations.  That’s not evangelism.   It’s just recirculating the saints.  It’s time to start thinking, praying and acting on that today.  “Each one bring one”  is a good goal to keep in mind.

       Second, I believe that we need to become more involved in our community as a congregation.  We need to get involved in local, hands-on mission projects to help our community.  I would see a lot of open doors in our new facility.  We could open a community counseling center with well-equipped and properly supported lay counselors .  We could open an evangelistic coffee house that we could staff with people ready to talk about issues of faith and life.  We could open a tutoring center for youth.  All those would take work and staff and volunteers and money.  And they would all make a difference.

        Third, I believe that it’s time to make a statement to our community about who we are and what we are about.  We haven’t turned out en masse as a congregation in years – not since the early 1990’s when about a hundred of us showed up at a City Council meeting.  That was 17 years ago.  I would love to see every person in this congregation marching together at the Moorpark Country Days Parade next October.  Just imagine the impact of three or four hundred of us marching together down High street as a witness to the community – with our praise teams playing from a flat bed in our midst. 

         Does that sound too out there for us staid people?  Then maybe it’s time to stop being so staid.

        We may not be greeted as gods.  But that’s okay because we’re not gods.  We may get sore feet.  But we’re not going to be stoned.  And we may reach some people we wouldn’t otherwise reach.

        Jesus is the center.

        He wants this city! 

        And He wants to use us to get it!