It’s always tricky to preach a sermon on a sermon. Recently, I had the honour of preaching a sermon on the Apostle Paul’s first sermon in Acts 13. After the sermon was read aloud, all one really wants to say is ‘Yeah, what Paul said.’
Paul’s sermon is quite puzzling. The more one reads it, the more intricate and complex it appears to be. It looks like there’s quite a lot of irony going on. Paul refers to the Hebrews in Egypt but doesn’t mention their slavery.
The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt (Acts 13:17)
Sure. Apart from the bit where they’re enslaved. But the audience in the synagogue would have known that all too well.
Likewise, Paul is very diplomatic in describing the conduct of the Israelites in the wilderness.
for about forty years [God] endured their conduct in the wilderness (Acts 13:18)
The people in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch might be looking at their sandals at this point. ‘Conduct’ is a very polite way of putting complaining, whining, worshipping a golden calf and wanting to go back to slavery in Egypt so they could at least eat onions – rather than all of that miraculous bread that appears on the ground every morning. God’s mercies are new every morning, but how quickly we take them for granted!
But God is patient with us. You would think we would be glad about God’s patience. But we’re not. God is too slow for us. How do you react when you read the next part of Paul’s sermon?
For about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. All this took about 450 years.
After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.
Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. (Acts 13:17-21)
God uses forty-year periods. And 450-year periods. Saul was a lousy king – and God allowed him to rule for forty years, while a much better king was waiting in the wings. Yes. Let’s pass over the fact the Israelites wanted a king prematurely, and were advised against it by Samuel. (This king would tax them at an unthinkable rate: 10%. Pure tyranny!) Again, Paul spares their blushes on the fact that the king was Israel’s insistence because they could not wait any longer.
In his sermon, Paul talks about 40 year-periods and 450 years periods. But our hearts say that whatever God is doing, he is taking too long. We want everything now. We don’t want to wait. We don’t like God’s patience. Why not?
Instant Culture and a Bombardment of Questions
Our culture is wildly impatient and getting more so. Before the internet, it might take you years to track down a particular book that is now out of print. You can now find it immediately on Amazon via a reseller and can’t believe they won’t deliver it the very next day.
But once we’ve received the book, we are bombarded with messages. How did we do? How was the book? We don’t know. Having insisted we get it straight away, it lies unopened in the hallway and might not be read for weeks, or months. Or maybe we never read it.
It’s the same with any product. We are bombarded with questions about it. Why does the seller pester us for information? Because they want a relationship with us. They want to know us. To know about us. That lack of relationship triggers the stream of questions.
How Long Oh Lord?
And maybe that’s why we bombard God with questions, challenging his patience and apparent inactivity. We ask: Why aren’t you doing anything, God? Why did you allow this? Why don’t I have enough money this month? Why was I sick all that time? Why did I get made redundant? Why did that person die?
We bombard God with questions because we don’t know him. We don’t understand him. It’s okay. David asks all kinds of questions in his Psalms, but he always directs them to God.
And so my sermon application was the same as most evangelical sermons: Read your Bible. And not just in tiny little slivers. Read several chapters at a time. Re-read them. Read books about those chapters. And then read the chapters again. I’m currently doing that with Mark’s gospel for something I’ll be writing about in the future. It is thrilling!
How else are we going to get to know God? He’s given us over a thousand pages of stories, sayings, poems and songs. He even gives us his Spirit to help us understand his word and change us to be more like the Son, Jesus Christ, who relates perfectly to his Father. Don’t we want to be those who say ‘Thy will be done’, rather than ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ or ‘It’s about time.’
Anyway, if you want to see the sermon I preached, it’s here.
Come on, Barbie, let’s go party
If you’re looking for a hot take on the new Barbie movie, my friend Nate Morgan-Locke is always interesting and funny. Laying a strong claim to the title Reformed Mythologist, he even uses the word ‘Meta-Modern’. Yup. He went there: