Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5; John 14:23-29
As many of you know, I am a nerd, and I love Star Trek – all of the various Star Trek series. I’ve seen every Star Trek movie and every Star Trek episode, even including the animated series.
One of the features of the later Star Trek series was a device called a holodeck. On the holodeck, a three-dimensional story would happen – and you’d become one of the characters in the story. You and your friend could be Sherlock Holmes and Watson investigating a mystery, or perhaps Jane Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, living in an old English manor house and waiting on Mr Darcy. You could be Alice in Wonderland, ready to dive down a rabbit hole and meet the Mad Hatter. Or you could be Dorothy Gale, walking around the Emerald City.And the holodeck would make the other characters become real around you. Inspector Lestrade, Doctor Moriarty, Mycroft Holmes would all join you in your adventure as the characters became real. Mr Darcy would meet you at his house. The Cheshire Cat would look down at you from a tree as you walked by. The Cowardly Lion might meet you in the woods.
I read the other day where Facebook is working very hard to develop similar technology, called virtual reality, where you could look around you and actually feel like you are walking in nineteenth century London, or feel like you are actually on the side of Mount Everest, or perhaps you are taking a boat ride on the Amazon River. The characters of the holodeck are still far in the future, but we can hope, we can hope. Perhaps we could have a chance to meet some of the people the Apostles met, far back in time, and get to know them a bit better.
Of course, when you follow a television show or reread a book over and over, you fall in love with the characters. How many people here have a good idea who Archie Bunker from All in the Family would support in this year’s presidential election and who Michael Stivick, his son-in-law would support? How many people could tell me whether Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory would prefer to play a video game or go deer hunting? How many people could tell me if Daryl from the Walking Dead would prefer a crossbow or a pistol? Who could tell me if Iron Man would rather drive a pick up truck or a fancy sports car? Who could tell me if Aslan the Lion would ever tell a lie?
As we come to know and love a character, the character becomes alive. We know how they will act, we know what they’ll say, we know what they like and we know what they hate. And so it is with the characters – the very real people we find in the pages of the Bible.
About 15 years or so after the Resurrection, the Apostle Paul traveled with his friend and fellow missionary Silas from Antioch, which is located in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea. They walked west across what is today central Turkey, picking up a young man named Timothy about half-way across the country. Paul’s idea was to visit the churches that he and Barnabas had established over five years before, and see if he could strengthen them, and to start new churches where he could. Eventually, the three of them arrived in the town of Troas – Troy – at the far northwest corner of Turkey, where the narrow waterways flow between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. That night, Paul had a vision, a dream sent by God.
In the dream, there was a man from Macedonia standing and begging him to come to Macedonia and help “us”. Paul, who trusted God completely and knew how to listen to the Holy Spirit, told his friends the next morning, and immediately they made plans to cross the narrow waterway and go to Macedonia to spread the Gospel. And they had picked up a new friend – It is at this point that the author, Luke, changes from talking about “Paul and his companions” to “We made plans to leave”. Luke had just joined the expedition.
So Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke and perhaps others got on a ship which sailed across the Aegean to Samothrace, then Neapolis, then Philippi, which was a Roman colony, founded by retired Roman soldiers. There, they went outside the city, down by the river to a place where the Jews prayed. And they spoke to the women who were gathered there. One of the women was a special lady, a woman name Lydia. Lydia was rather wealthy – she sold purple cloth, very expensive and rare cloth. By today’s standards, she owned the best clothing store in town.
Lydia already worshipped God, but today, God opened her heart to the message that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that He had died for her sins as a sacrifice, and that He had risen from the dead to prove that He was the Son of God, God Himself walking upon the earth. And so she was baptized, along with members of her household, probably children and servants. And so, Lydia wanted to find out more about Jesus. What better way than to invite these wise visitors to the town to spend time at her home? Lydia invited the four men to stay with her at her large house, which the missionaries did until they were driven out of town a while later.
Can you imagine sitting in on the discussions? Every morning at breakfast, every evening at dinner and afterwards, Paul explained his understanding of Christ to Lydia and her household and to you. Every morning and every evening, the Scriptures are discussed and the prophecies about Christ are opened up. And every morning and every evening, the Holy Spirit flows through Lydia’s house – and heart - and through your heart. Is it any wonder that the people of Philippi learned enough about Christ, that they learned about Jesus, that they learned about God enough that Paul would later write them a letter – the Letter to the Philippians – a letter which is still included in our Bibles today?
Years earlier, on the night that He was arrested, Jesus had His Last Supper with the Disciples. During and after that supper, Jesus spoke to the disciples in a long talk that John recorded in his Gospel, beginning in the Gospel of John, Chapter 13. It is a fantastic talk – theologians call it the Upper Room Discourse – and it is filled with deep ideas.
In Chapter 14, beginning in verse 23, 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
This is fascinating. If you love Jesus, you will obey His teaching. Do you love Jesus? Do you really, really love Jesus, or is Jesus just a nice idea to you, sort of like a good luck charm, a rabbit’s foot, a ritual where you pray when you are worried or sitting down to eat? Or is Jesus as real person to you? Have you read enough about Jesus that He has become real like a character in Star Trek’s holodeck? Is Jesus as real to you as the characters in your favorite television show?
If Jesus is not real to you, is it because you have not read enough about Him to know what He’d say or do? Perhaps you need more than just a Sunday morning sermon to understand Him. Perhaps you need to take the Gospels from the beginning of the New Testament – the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and sit down and read those key stories until you know and understand Jesus as well as you understand Archie Bunker, Sheldon Cooper, Daryl, or Iron Man.
So if you love Jesus, you will obey His teaching. What are his teachings? They’re also in the Gospel books.
And what happens when you love Jesus and obey Jesus’ teaching? God the Father loves you and will come and make Their home with you. God and Jesus will move into your home, they will move into your life, they will be with you. And what does that mean? We know how much Lydia learned when Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke spent time at her house – we each have the opportunity for Jesus and God the Father to live with us! Talk about welcome house guests!
Have you ever known someone who is mature and good to move into a household and not help out? Good people, good adults carry their share of the load. And if God the Father and Jesus Christ are living with you, they will protect you, they will help out, they will do great things for you. Wonderful things will happen. Can you imagine coming home and Jesus says, “Hey! We decided to help out a bit around the house.” Can you imagine what God might do?
I knew a woman who’s daughter needed long-term treatment in Morgantown and she lived half the state away. She was renting, and she had found a new place in Morgantown, but it was just her and her daughter, and the daughter was unable to help. But this woman was involved with a local church. She loved Jesus, so Jesus lived with her, and God lived with her, and one Saturday morning about 30 people from the church showed up, packed up her house, cleaned it from top to bottom, drove her and her stuff to Morgantown, unloaded everything, set up her furniture and beds, and unpacked half of everything else. That’s what Jesus can do when He lives with you.
That night at the Last Supper, Jesus continued to speak. He said:
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Perhaps there are times you are frightened. Can you imagine the peace that would come onto you if Jesus and God the Father were living in your house? Nobody will mess with you.
Some friends of ours are missionaries. They told us the story of some friends, a couple who were posted with their children in the 1970's to Papua New Guinea. They were the first people to make contact with a particular tribe, a group of people who were known to be hostile to outsiders. They were known to burn down homes. One night, a group of men came to the missionaries home with lit torches. Amazingly enough, the men arrived outside, but stayed at a distance the entire night. The next morning they were gone, and the village became very friendly. A few months later, after making some good friends, the missionaries brought up the frightening night and the lit torches. The new friends replied, “Yes, the plan was to burn your house down that night so you would leave, but we could not do it.” “Why not?” the missionaries asked. “It was because of the strong men who stayed on your rooftop all night.” And then the missionary couple remembered that they had asked for angels of protection that long scary night. When Jesus and God the Father live in your household, you never need to be afraid.
The next time you are frightened of anything, it is my prayer that you will hear the Holy Spirit which Jesus has sent to you saying, “Remember, remember what Jesus said. Do not be afraid. Be at peace. Jesus and God the Father are living with you.”
Do you want peace? Read about Jesus, let Him become real to you, learn to love Him, and obey His teachings, and then God the Father and Jesus will make their home with you, they will abide with you in your house. And the Holy Spirit will come to you, and you will have peace.
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