Church Sermon - May 23, 2004

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Revelation 22:12-20
Gospel Lesson; John 17:20-26
Sermon Text; Acts 16:6-10

Opening Prayer:

As we prayed in our opening prayer this morning, we know that we are between two festivals in the Church year, that of Ascension and that of Pentecost. This last Thursday was Ascension Day, when we remember and celebrate Jesus rising up into Heaven. Next Sunday is Pentecost, when we remember the Holy Spirit coming to the New Testament Church.

With this Sunday of the Church year, between Ascension and Pentecost, the Easter Season comes to a close. As we bring the Easter Season to a close, in our scripture reading, we have seen pictures of the heavenly glory that is to come (the vision in the reading from Revelation of Heaven, and then in our Gospel Lesson for today, too, Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, is a picture or a glimpse of the heavenly glory that is to come).

Well, today as we pause between these two festivals of the Church Year, I want us to see that the Ascended Lord leads us where He needs us. It may not always be where we expect Him to lead us. And yet, He leads us where work awaits us.

I want to tell you about two men this morning. First of all, Missionary Jim Olson. Then, I want to tell you a little bit more about the Apostle Paul, in our text for today.

Some of you, here at Holy Cross, know Missionary Jim Olson. Those of you, who were here at Holy Cross forty years ago, know him, because Missionary Olson was a Victor here at Holy Cross, back in 1964. He was called, by our Foreign Mission Board, to go down to Lima, Peru, to help begin the mission field down in Peru.

Well, in the 1970s, one day, Missionary Olson was at a hardware store. While he was in the hardware store, there was a man who came up to his truck, parked outside. He just stood right by the truck, reading what it said on the side, on the door. It said, Central Christiano (Spanish for the Christian center). That man waited very patiently there, until Missionary Olson came outside. He simply asked Missionary Olson, "I would like to learn more about your Christian Center."

The man stuck out his hand and said, "I am Jose." He went on to say how he had been a former Catholic priest. He had become disinterested and was looking for something better.

In the next few moments, Missionary Olson was able to explain just a little bit of Lutheranism. And, Jose was hooked. He invited Missionary Olson to come over to his house and explain more to him.

In the months to come, Missionary Olson took Jose through Luther’s Small Catechism. (That is what our seventh and eight graders are studying for their confirmation class.) Then, he took him through Luther’s Large Catechism. And, he also took him through the Augsburg Confession. Jose couldn’t get enough.

It was during those months, that Jose began to explain more of who he was. He had been a Catholic priest. After he left the Catholic Church, he married a wonderful woman, named Susanna. They had three beautiful children. And now, he was a professor of Agronomy, at the University of Lima. He even had land across the Andes Mountains, up in the jungle. It was his desire to give a portion of that land, to start a mission in the jungle. Even better than that, he was a licensed pilot, willing to drive (or I should say fly) people over the Andes Mountains, to that piece of land.

Missionary Olson thought that God had answered his prayers. He had been charged by the ELS Foreign Mission Board, to begin a seminary in Lima. He was thinking, "Maybe Jose will be my first student in the seminary."

Well, just when everything seemed perfect, Missionary Olson accepted an invitation to have supper at Jose’s house. They came for supper and an uproar took place. Someone had broken into the house. They had taken a month’s worth of wages from Jose, had left the house, jumped over the wall, and were gone. Jose was distraught. So Missionary Olson gave Jose the little money that he had, promising to give him more.

Well a few days later, Missionary Olson went to visit some people that Jose had introduced him to. (You see, while Jose and Missionary Olson had gotten to know each other, Jose had introduced Missionary Olson to some men at a leper hospital. Missionary Olson was able to begin some Bible studies with them. Jose had also introduced Missionary Olson to a Mother’s Club that was feeding food to malnourished children.)

Missionary Olson went to the leper hospital, a few days later. The director said that Jose had not come through with some gardening tools that he had promised.

A few days later Missionary Olson went to the Mother’s Club. They said that Jose had borrowed some money from them and had not returned it.

A few days later, at a worship service, after the preaching of the sermon, Jose stood up to talk. (It is typical down in Peru, for people to stand up and speak a word, after the sermon.) Jose stood up and said, "God, I thank you that you have educated me and that I am more educated than the people who are sitting here. And, that you have blessed me."

Red flags were going up to Missionary Olson, as he was thinking about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. So he said to himself, "I need to go and talk to Jose, one on one."

He went to the University of Lima, the very next day, to the Agronomy Department. He asked for Professor Jose’s office. They said that there was nobody who worked there with the name Professor Jose.

So, he went to Jose’s home. There, standing in the front room were two men, two peasant men, from the mountains. They were there, desiring to get their wages, for the work that they had done, for Jose.

Jose met Missionary Olson with big smile, and said, "I have two people who are just hungry to hear God’s Word from your lips."

After those words, Jose walked out of Missionary Olson’s life, forever, never to be seen by him again.

Now today, we are reminded that the Ascended Lord leads us where He needs us. It may not always be where we expect Him to lead us, but He always leads us to where work awaits us.

Today we ask the question, "Who was the real Jose?" Come to find out Jose never was a Catholic Priest. He never was a professor of Agronomy at the University of Lima. He never owned a piece of land up in the jungle. And he wasn’t even a licensed pilot.

But look to see where the Ascended Lord led Missionary Olson. He led him to work that was awaiting him. Remember that Mother’s Club in a city named Onyonuavo? They were the ones who were feeding the malnourished children. A church began in Onyounavo, and more recently than that, a school, Jesus Redeemer School, has begun there!

Remember those two men who were standing in Jose’s front room, from up in the mountains? They invited Missionary Olson to come and share Jesus with them. So Missionary Olson took that track up into the mountains. He met many people. One of the couples that he met was Phidel and Dora Converseo. They were a couple that you may have met, here at Holy Cross, only six years ago, in the summer of 1998. They stopped here at Holy Cross. From the ‘70s into the ‘80s Phidel Converseo took seminary classes. He became one of the first national pastors! He now goes on horseback, among the different mountain villages. His two sons are also in the training to become missionaries, as well!

You see, the Ascended Lord led Missionary Olson where He needed him. It may not have been where he expected to go, and yet He led him to where work needed to be done.

The same it is, in our text for today, with the Apostle Paul. The Ascended Lord led him where He needed him. It wasn’t where the Apostle Paul desired to go, if you think about some of those countries and places in our text, for today, where Paul wanted to go. He wanted to go into Phrygia and Galatia. He wanted to go into Asia and Gathina.

And yet Jesus, the Spirit of Jesus, prevented Paul and his companions from going there. That is when they went to Mysia. That is when they went to the city of Troas. It was while Paul was there, that Paul had a vision of man in Macedonia, simply saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

The Ascended Jesus led Paul into what is now Europe. And because of that, we are going to meet people in Heaven, like Lydia, a seller of the dye of purple in fine linen clothes. We are going to meet a person who was a jailer in Philippi and his family, who was about to take his own life, and yet Paul said that they were all there, when the prison doors were opened. He and his whole family came to faith and were baptized. We are going to meet people like Aquallia and Pricilla. We are going to meet Apolos, people from Athens, people from Corinth, and people from Greece, all because the risen Lord led Paul and his companions into Europe, led Paul and his companions where He needed them.

What about us today? Where is the Ascended Lord leading us? We see where He led Missionary Olson. We see where He led the Apostle Paul. What about us? I know that sometimes we have the reaction of not desiring to follow God’s Will, maybe even saying we are too busy or it is too much of a trouble to tell others about our Savior Jesus, to not follow God’s Will and do it our own way, under our own time. And yet, we are so thankful that our Ascended Lord is patient with us, forgiving us of our sins, even our sins of our selfishness, not wanting to do it God’s way.

What can we do, as the Ascended Lord comes to us and asks us to do His Will? We can look for those opportunities that are right before us.

Yes, today we have seen that the Ascended Lord leads us where He needs us. It may not always be where we expect to go, and yet He always leads us to where work needs to be done. May we accept that invitation that Jesus our Savior gives us today, that invitation to take the Water of Life to those people who are thirsty and to share with them the free gift of everlasting life in Heaven, as we ourselves take that Water, so that we are not thirsty, to receive that gift that He has so graciously given to us, as well.

Amen.

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