God is doing a work in us and among these messy, forgotten people on the sidewalk

Now after five weeks recovering from open heart surgery* . . .

Felt better. Stronger. More able to keep a good pace at this morning’s sidewalk breakfast and church. Not as shaky as last week (my first time back at it). While I am still not lifting anything more than 8 lbs, I felt good at moving about and talking to folks. I had good energy for the church service and the preaching.

​God is good.

The message, the sermon, was from Acts 15:11-19 this morning:



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“But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

“‘After this I will return,
     and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
     I will rebuild its ruins,
     and I will restore it,
that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
    and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
    says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’

Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

This is not an easy text—and how can it be relevant to those who do church on the sidewalk? In short, of course, the simple gospel of faith in Jesus is all that is needed to be saved and part of God’s family (v. 11). But there is more: It was--it is—the acceptance of others into this family of the saved that also matters. Who are . . . who can be the sons of God?

People who are different, culturally different, race different (yes, I even brought that up right here on the sidewalk)—what we add to our faith that others have to deal with so “I’d” accept then into God’s family, so they can be a part of the saved community? This is the question that is presented to us from this text on the sidewalk right here in the Hill.

I briefly explained the Jew-Gentile thing happening in the background of the text—explained how the Jewish believer had to give up circumcision as the defining marker that set the Jew apart from the Gentile; and, the Gentile also had to give up something, namely the defining mark of being a Gentile, namely an idol-worshipper (vv. 19-20). That’s the text.

I pointed out some of the modern idols we have and then explained how having such idols in our lives not only keeps us from fulling loving and serving God as we should, but also how such idols and all the habits that go with these idols keep us from loving our neighbors (our wives, family, those children, those on the other side of town, and those around us, especially those very different from “me”); and, this also keeps them from knowing all it takes to be saved is simple faith in Jesus Christ. Our idols have added to who is and who isn’t saved. Our idols tend to make us think others need to adopt a certain form or some measure of life that looks like “mine” in order to be saved and a full member of God’s family. Our idols make us add to faith so that we’d be comfortable with them and they’d be acceptable to us. We can keep people away, even causing them to stay away and not seek Jesus or even desire being a part of God’s family.

It was incredible how these good folks identified with this reading of the text—some to be sure, is how they’ve felt and have stayed away from church, away from Jesus; some even recognizing their not very accepting of those different from them. We all need to abstain from idol-worship.

After the service, I prayed with one of the street guys, whose cancer has returned. Talked to a few guys whose close friend had relapsed back into drug abuse and had stolen from them. During my sermon, when I used an example of a married couple that the man wasn’t loving his wife as he should because of an idol or idols in his life, one of the men (I could see this right in front of me) reached out and took his wife’s hand. After the service, he came up to me, shook my hand and said “thank you.”

God is, indeed doing some amazing work in the lives of these forgotten, marginalized, strange, seemingly hopeless, messy folks.

It was a good morning. And, yes, I am a bit tired. But better than last week for sure.

Getting better. Slowly my energy is coming back.

God is good!

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*Five weeks ago I had open heart surgery to repair and replace a calcified aortic bicuspid value. Been recuperating and gaining my strength back.