Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter Yrs 1 and 2 2025

Title

Human Success is not the Mark of Divine Guidance

Outline

We humans mark success by growth

By this we means growth in numbers, growth in income, growth in honor, or growth in power. This goes for universities, corporations, countries, and even in some respects families.

God marks success by conformity to Jesus and conformity to the divine direction and mission.

Paul follows a mission strategy marked out by divine divine initiative

In Acts ch 13 he and Barnabas are sent and go via Cyprus into Asia Minor, evangelizing the next significant center in an arc. They go to Cyprus because Paul had already evangelized in Tarsus on the land route to Asia Minor, while Barnabas’ home country still needed work. Their strategy in each center was Jews first and then Gentiles.

In Acts ch 16 they are first strengthening their congregations they first planted (Barnabas going through Cyprus and Paul via the land route) and then Paul plans to continue his chain of churches through Asia Minor.

In Lystra Paul, still relatively fresh from the Jerusalem Council, ignores the council’s decision that circumcision was not necessary and circumcises Timothy for the sake of the mission, for an uncircumcised Timothy would have hindered the Jews first Gentiles second strategy God had led him into by putting a second level issue first.

Then in Western Asia Minor Paul discovers the Holy Spirit blocking his continuing the evangelization of Asia Minor, first on the left and then on the right because, they discerned, God wanted the curve to extend through Greece.

Paul is constantly open to discerning divine direction, whether the direction be an exception to the Council ruling Paul had argued for or be a change to his successful mission strategy. God determines what will be success.

Jesus lets us know that the core of success is conformity to him

In this case divine formation leads to human rejection. The world will hate the disciples because God has formed them to be like Jesus and the world hates Jesus.

Notice that it is not that they are hateful or nasty or are rejecting others; they are just different, Jesus-like, for “I have chosen you out of the world.”

Success means rejection: “‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.’” It is rejection because the world does not know Jesus or “the one who sent me.”

And that type of rejection sometimes happens within the Church for the world can creep into the Church.

So let us conform our lives to Jesus and our plans to God’s plans

That can look strange by typical human standards. That can look like failure. That can look like Paul abandoning the principles he fought for or the churches he had planted. That can look like persecution rather than acceptance and accolades. That can look like being run out of town.

But if this is because we are like Jesus or because we are following God’s direction, then so be it. We must follow and look like God rather than the humanity around us if we are to be useful for the salvation of the world.