Where is the Spirit Calling Us?

Acts 16:6-10

Introduction

How many of you like to go on long car rides? This can be especially nice at this time of the year when the leaves are changing and before the snow comes and everyone forgets how to drive.

There are a couple of ways you can choose to do one of these trips. One is to just get in your car and drive. You have no particular destination in mind. You are going just for the drive, making decisions on which way to go as you reach an intersection. This can be quite enjoyable and I do this from time to time. We have some great memories of these types of drives.

The other way you can do it is by having a place to go. There is a destination that you must arrive at and the journey is designed to get you there. That does not mean the drive is not enjoyable. You may choose the scenic route or perhaps driving with a friend or by yourself is enough to bring you joy. I happen to listen to podcasts or music and I can appreciate the journey while I’m looking forward to arriving at the destination. There is room for both of these when it comes to a nice car ride. Go somewhere or go no where. It really does not matter.

But what about when it comes to the journey of a local church? The same principles can apply. A church can focus completely on the journey and not the destination. By that, I mean that we can do our church activity and receive joy from it. We can worship and pray and have fellowship and get a lot out of that. It can be quite satisfying and fulfilling.

Or a church can use the journey to get to a destination. That church may have a mission to accomplish. They have a goal that they want to achieve. They will enjoy the church activities just as much as the other group, but they have a sense that this is bringing them some where. There are churches of both types. There are those churches that just enjoy being the church and those churches that are trying to accomplish something in general.

We are in a time of transition as a congregation. We are in the process of coming out of a pandemic. We have had a break in most of our church activities. We can choose to just try and recapture as much of the past as possible or we can attempt to see if there is a certain destination that we need to be moving toward. And if we are meant to go somewhere, how do we determine our destination? As always, we turn to the Scriptures.

Man of Macedonia

As much as we are in a time of transition, so was the Apostle Paul. Paul had a new team. There was now Silas and Timothy with him, two extremely talented Jesus followers. The church had finally made a decision about what to do with Gentile believers and so at least officially, everyone was on the same page. Now what?

Paul was always able to keep busy. They began going from area to area in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. Paul had some vague ideas about what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go. But in some way, the Holy Spirit prevented him. We are not told what that looked like, only that Paul could understand that doors were closing.

Imagine how frustrating that was for Paul. Paul was a man of action. He lived to preach the gospel and the Holy Spirit was actively stopping from doing that very thing. Try and put yourself in his position. 

Finally Paul had a vision. Visions were an important means of communication by God to the early church, especially had major steps in their growth. It was by a vision that God spoke to Peter when it was time for him to go to Cornelius and to bring the Gentiles into the church. Something momentous was going to happen again.

The vision that Paul had was that of a man from Macedonia calling them to come and preach the gospel. What was the big deal about that? Paul had preached in many places, wasn’t Macedonia just another place to do ministry? What was important about this is that Macedonia was in Europe. So far, all of Paul’s ministry and the majority of Christian ministry in general, had taken place in Asia. That is not to say that there were no Jesus followers in Europe. There probably were some Jewish believers in Rome who had returned after the day of Pentecost. But there had been no systematic or official missionary activity in Europe until this time. People think of Christianity as a European religion and yet it had been Asia and Africa before Europe. 

The Holy Spirit had not been holding back Paul just to frustrate him. Nor did the Holy Spirit want Paul to just travel around at random. Rather, the Spirit had a plan for Paul and that plan was to expand the gospel of Jesus Christ into Europe and Macedonia would just be the start.

What is Our Call?

As I have said, like Paul, we are in a time of transition. The world has changed. Our church has changed. How do we move forward? There are a number of options.

One is to look to the past. We can look at the things that we have done, the things that brought us comfort. In Paul’s terms, we can stay in Asia Minor. There is much that is attractive to the idea of recapturing that snapshot of what we did before. I feel that draw.

But we have to ask, is God giving us a vision? Is there a man or woman of Macedonia that is calling us? Is there an opportunity for us to enter Europe? And how would we know?

It seems as if Paul did not begin with a determination to continue his ministry in Asia Minor and keep the status quo. He was open to going wherever God was leading him, even if it meant a different continent.

Before we even try and hear God’s voice, we better reflect on what we are prepared to do. Are we even open to something new? One of the most common phrases in many churches is: “We’ve never done it that way before.” But what of Paul had told God that?

I am not saying that I know what God has for us and that I am just trying to get you to come along. I am saying that we need to figure out who we are as a church. Are we trying to recapture the past or are we prepared to jump into the future. If God gives us a vision, are we prepared to heed the call? Even if it means something radically different?

Conclusion

If you think of our regular church activities, Sundays and otherwise, what would that look like as a car ride? Are we just out for a drive, enjoying the scenery and focused on the journey? Or are we going somewhere? Do we have a destination that we are trying to get to? Perhaps we don’t know the destination yet, but we are fully prepared to get in the car and to go wherever we are called to go.

Paul didn’t want to just drive around Asia Minor. He wanted to go somewhere, although it took him some time to find out where. He received the call from Macedonia and he and his team entered a whole new chapter of their ministry.

Where are we? We don’t have to know yet what God is calling us to but we do need to know if we are prepared to go when we are called. Making this decision will determine where we go as a church.