Creekside Church Sermon of May 17, 1998 "Orientation is Everything" Acts 16:9-15	Rev. David Bibbee
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Orientation is everything. Just ask the guy Harry Emerson Fosdick told about years ago, who boarded a bus with the intention of going to Detroit. But when he arrived at his destination, he wasn't in Detroit, but in Kansas City. He caught the wrong bus. At first he was convinced he was in Detroit. "Where is Woodward Ave?" "There is no Woodward Ave., " he was told. He was angered by the failure of those he asked for directions. It took quite some time for him to realize, despite his desires and intentions, that Kansas City was not Detroit.

I know the feeling. Driving all night on a fishing trip to Wisconsin, I was getting sleepy, and woke my friend to take over the driving. I said, "When the interstate splits, follow the sign to St. Paul, not LaCROSSE, and wake me up when we get to EauClair. Two hours later he shook me from my sleep. "We're here." But as I wiped the sleep from my eyes, the surroundings weren't familiar. "What part of EauClair are we in?" Just then we passed a sign welcoming us to...LaCrosse, 100 miles from EauClair.

Orientation is everything, otherwise you don't end up where you want to be. To arrive at your destination you've got to be on the right bus. You've got to follow directions. It's the same for getting where you need to be, or in the bigger scheme, where God wants you to be doing what God wants you to do.

In our passage from Acts 16, we find Paul in the midst of his second missionary journey. It was a follow up tour to churches he had established on his first journey, but even more, his route was planned to take the Christian message east into Asia. Paul and Timothy took off on their Orient Express to spread the gospel, but the Express ground to a halt. The text says the Holy Spirit forbid them. They tried to get to Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus didn't allow them.

We don't know exactly why. Maybe it was because of Jewish opposition or some other adverse circumstances. Whatever the reason, Paul took it as divine intervention. The mission seemed at a standstill. "In the irons", is the nautical expression for it. The sails are full of wind and the boat slices through the waves, but suddenly the wind shifts, the sail goes slack and the boat is dead in the water. We've all been there. Life couldn't be better, you're at the height of your career, everything feels good and right, when the winds of adversity hit you in the face and things that worked before don't work now. A church experiences the deep presence of God and ministry flourishes; enthusiasm permeates every phase of its life. But the church grows accustomed to the feeling and stays like it is, even though God summons it to new territory, and as a result, blessings turn to blahhhhhs.

There is an old poem that goes, "Ships sail east, ships sail west while the self same breezes blow. It's the set of the sail, and not the gale that determines which way they go." The wind of God's spirit is always present, and if you're in the irons, you must reorient the sail to go where the wind goes. Paul headed east to Asia and was in the irons. But the spirit shifted to the west, toward Europe and the beginnings of western Christianity. Paul did not stay put and pout. It wasn't his mission, after all, it was God's, so he kept moving.

It is such a little insight, but such an important one. We've got to keep moving. Before most of us will change course in life, we want all the details worked out in advance. Gather all the information, nail everything down, THEN we'll make the move. But Paul didn't have much information to go on...just a dream of a man saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." That was it. Most of the time this is all we get-a hint. An insight through prayer. A nudge that disturbs our comfort. Someone said, "Maybe we need to get up and start doing what we think is God's will now and trust that God will tell us what to do on the way." It is going without knowing.

You may remember the prayer by Thomas Merton I have shared before: "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going...and the fact that I think I am doing your will doesn't mean I am actually doing so. But I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road..." It is a tall order to know in fine detail where God may be leading you. Details may be desirable, but we don't need them. We need the desire to please God and serve him. We need to move upon what we think God's will is as opposed to sitting still and speculating. Keep moving...do something, and if the course needs correcting, we will know it.

I heard a music instructor tell his students, "It is better to play the wrong note with the right emotion, than all the right notes with no emotion." Paul was passionate about the message entrusted to him, but Asia wasn't to be his destination. It was Macedonia. So Paul boarded a ship in Troas and with favorable winds was in Philippi in just two days. Well, if God's heart was in Macedonia, it would be reasonable to expect Paul could pick grand and glorious opportunities like bouquets from a flower garden. Certainly he would find a large group of receptive hearers if this is where God wanted him to be.

Paul usually began his mission in the Synagogue, but ten men were required to form a Synagogue, and Philippi didn't have enough male Jews. So on the Sabbath, Paul went down to the river where he spoke with the only audience he had...a little group of ladies who had gathered for a prayer meeting. Paul had made a big, bold move on the basis of a guy in a dream, and there weren't even any guys there. Do you suppose he expected more?

The disparity between vision and reality is often stark. A fired up pastor fresh out of seminary and ready to respond to a world in need lands in a church that is always behind budget, where the order of worship hasn't changed in forty years, and the church is fighting over the color of the sanctuary carpet. If God is leading us to where we are needed, you would think there would be a firm place to land. "Okay Lord, we are spreading Jesus' message that is going to overtake the Roman Empire," Paul said. "And you have sent us to the Ladies Sabbath Prayer Circle?" Such a big vision and such a little beginning. No wonder orientation toward God, sustained by trust and desire and prayer is everything. If we don't have this sustaining link, we are on the wrong bus.

Once there lived a young man who had a great aunt he hadn't seen in years. When she died, he learned she had left him something in her will. She was far more generous than rich, but maybe she had more wealth than anyone knew. He went to the lawyer's office and was given a key and a note his great aunt had left him. The note said the key was to her apartment. Before a certain date he could come to the apartment and take what was in it...if he wanted. He found the apartment, went in and found a little table, a white pitcher, and another note that read:

In this pitcher is the gold of God. You may empty it once a day,
and it will always be full the next.
But take care for there is only one vessel which will hold this
gold long enough for it to be of any use to you.

He was disappointed. The gold of God? Was it a joke? There was a gold-looking substance in the pitcher, but nothing to pour it into, so he took it home. When he arrived he poured the gold into a glass, then suddenly it began to disappear as though the glass had a hole in it. He went back and reread the note. It must mean what it says. So he waited until the next day and it was full again. This time he poured it into a metal pan with the same result. Over the next weeks he tried every vessel imaginable, but the result was always the same.

Time went on and he became obsessed with the gold of God. Then one day while pouring it into an exotic vase, he accidentally spilled some on his hand. It startled him, but before he could wipe it off, it disappeared, leaving a warm sensation on his skin. Once again he got the note and read it. What did she mean? That night he woke from a deep sleep and knew what he must do. The thought should have terrified him, but it didn't. In the morning he took the pitcher, pressed it to his lips, and drank it.

Many years later when he died his old friends remarked how his life had changed shortly after his great aunt died. Others said his life shined and that he lifted their faith on more than one occasion. Others called him a saint. His great niece hadn't seen him in years, and she wondered what could be the meaning of the note and key he left to her in his short will.

What at first had been dismissed as insignificant and confusing turned into a treasure. The gold of God became his orientation. Paul was frustrated in his efforts to go to Asia. A dream told him to go to Macedonia, but the "Oh wow!" of the dream became "Oh my!" when he saw what he had to work with. But through the frustrations and doubts he situated his soul toward God. If God had called him, God would provide for him. In that little group of women down by the river was a woman named Lydia, a well to do, influential business woman and God worshipper who responded to the gospel and was baptized along with all her household, and the church was on its way in Europe.

Changing course is never easy, and this is what is being asked of you. I can assure you that in pursuing what we think God's direction is for us, we will need some course correction. It's all a part of following God. We made a big decision. Others are still waiting to be made. But the future does not hinge on the big issues.

Bill Cosby describes this scene in a high school locker room just before the biggest football game of the year. The coach gives an impassioned speech to fire up his players. "Alright guys, this is the biggest game of your life. Let me hear you scream, 'Win!'" "Win!" "Let me hear you scream, 'Fight!'" "Fight!" "Let me hear you scream, 'Stomp 'Em!'" "Stomp 'Em!" The players are worked up in a frenzy, butting their heads against lockers and frothing at the mouth when the coach screams, "Alright guys, go get 'em!" And they thunder toward the field...and the door is locked.

If we think that working toward relocation, as important as it is, is the primary focus of our energy, the door to the future will be locked. If you think it is in hiring a second staff, the door will be locked. If we think that doing a better job of looking after our own will do it, the door to the future will be locked.

Jesus didn't tell us to simply manage the store. He told us to situate ourselves toward his spirit. He told us to make disciples, grow the church, and go where the needs are. Orientation is everything. Being God oriented means being other oriented. Having details may be desireable when a change of course is necessary. But more important is desire, trust, and prayer.

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