Tides and Currents don't Determine Destination

September 6, 1998
8:45 & 11 o'clock services
Wollaston Church of the Nazarene

A PLEA FOR USEFUL
-Philemon 10-

If you fish or sail in salt water you need to know at least
something about tides and currents and channels. When I first went
fishing on my own for flounder - you can ask my sons John and Steve -
I nearly got stranded on shoal. But I'm a fast learner, and soon I
learned a little about reading tide charts and watching weather fronts
and seasons of the moon. It was all new and wonderful for a
mid-westerner like me.

For years I owned a little boat. (I named it Conference.
That way the office people could say that the pastor was in Conference
for the rest of the afternoon.) I found that TIDES AND CURRENTS DO
NOT DETERMINE DESTINATIONS. That is what rudders and engines and sails
are for. While you don't dare ignore the tides and currents, you also
never get anywhere if you let them dictate where you go and how you
fish. When you can, you make them serve you. When you can't go with or
against them, you cut across as best you can with your destination in
mind.

[When one nor'easter threatened my boat at mooring at Squantum
Yacht Club, I took the launch out to the mooring, and slipped the
cable and started around Moon Island for the boat ramp at Boston Gas
ramp in Dorchester. Just as I started from the mooring I saw a man
waving his arms at me back at the Yacht Club dock, and maneuvered back
to pick up John Stark. John has forgotten more about salt water and
boats and fishing than I will ever know, and he wanted to go along for
the fun of the roller coaster ride into the nor'easter. Just as we
were about to go out of sight around Moon island one of the club
members said to Jim Stark, who was watching his dad and me through
binoculars, "Look at those two fools out there!" Jim said, "That is
my pastor and my father!" We respected the elements, but were willing
to take the risk for the safety of the boat and because we really
enjoyed the ride!]

THE TIDES AND CURRENTS OF LIFE CANNOT DETERMINE OUR ULTIMATE
DESTINATIONS. WE CAN GO WHERE GOD INTENDS FOR US TO GO!

IN THE TINY BOOK OF THE BIBLE, PHILEMON, which is actually a personal
letter from the first century, we have the story of how two men were
challenged to take a voyage across the strong currents of their day.
Behind this personal and private letter is the story of Onesimus and
Philemon and the course they felt they had to take across the tides
and currents of their culture.

TO THE CITY OF COLOSSE in western Asia Minor THE GOSPEL OF
JESUS CHRIST CAME ONE DAY in the message of Paul the apostle. A
church was established Among the households affected was that of a
wealthy man named Philemon.

In that day when a man converted so did his whole household,
his wife, children, servants, and relatives. Among the servants
slaves, really- was Onesimus. Whatever his real name had been, he has
been named "Useful."

"Useful" may have been officially baptized, but he watched his
chance and one day he escaped, and took with him a sum of his master's
money. He made his way into Europe, to Rome a thousand miles from
Colosse. In that huge city slaves could melt into the population and
be free forever. But there in Rome Onesimus, Useful, just happened to
meet again the very preacher who had baptized him back in Colosse.

It is impossible for me, or for you or anyone to know what the
tides and currents of culture were really like back then. We don't
know, either, how Onesimus decided he needed to go the thousand miles
back to the east to face Philemon. The Bible does not condone slavery
in any form. But evidently Jesus was making demands on Philemon that
seemed hard if not impossible. Onesimus knew he had to make good what
he had stolen. And so Paul wrote this letter. And Onesimus set off
to deliver it himself.

Think of the cost these men had to pay to face the tides and
currents! The cost to Onesimus is obvious. He risked his freedom and
his life. But the cost to Philemon was great as well. He would be
branded as a slave-coddler. He would be vilified by other wealthy
people in his society. He might even encourage slave-revolt.

Jesus made demands on both these men because he knew they
could make the destination he set for them. The letter doesn't tell
us what happened next. But tradition tells us that not only was
Onesimus received and forgiven, but that he became the pastor in
Colosse. Onesimus was one of the early bishops in Asia Minor.

JESUS HAS A WAY OF CHALLENGING EVERY ONE OF US to cut across the
popular currents and tides of our times. The strong tides today tell
us it is fine to be religious, but that we don't need to get carried
away by our faith. It is not the central thing around which to build
our lives.

The strong currents today say that morality is relative and
comparative. "I may not be perfectly honest in my dealings, but I am
not nearly as bad as my neighbors."

The accepted channels even in evangelical circles tell us that if we
have the proper views on abortion and say the right words about family
values then we are spiritual, and good Christians. Jesus challenges us
to dare to be honest with ourselves and with Him, and with one
another! Our faith must move beyond "experience" into the realm of
relationship. He asks us to dare to follow Him no matter which way the
tides are running and the wind is blowing.

(CONCLUSION)

It only makes common sense if you are fishing or sailing in
salt water to know something about the tides and currents. It only
makes good sense if you are living for Jesus in a secular, pluralistic
world to understand a little bit about the way the winds blow. You
may have to run for cover some times. You may have to wait while a
northeaster blows over. But the winds and tides do not determine your
final destination.

WHEN WE WERE BUILDING THIS SANCTUARY eighteen years ago (thirty years as this is copied into Facebook)we had quite a
discussion over just how the steeple would be. We all agreed this
building should be a testimony in itself to the worship of God and the
fellowship of the church. It is Georgian Colonial in architecture
inside and out and (except for the elevator and wall-to-wall
carpeting) as authentic as some gifted members of our building
committee could make it.

That committee thought a nice weather vane on the steeple
would add a great authentic touch to a New England house of
worship. Protestant churches in colonial times did not have crosses on
their steeples. But in my stubborn way I insisted I did not want a
church that seemed to say to the neighborhood "This is the way the
winds are blowing just now!"

A church is not primarily to tell people which way the wind is
blowing, but which way it is to heaven. So without any visible hard
feelings the steeple went up without a weather vane and without a
cross. I confess I may have hidden some pain! And the steeple really
looked "bare" up there 100 feet in the air!

But then Wesley Angell, a great member of our board who knew
more about building than anyone, noticed that the steeple was not
perfectly straight. Sure enough, it had been damaged in the
installation, and no one had seen it but Wesley. The steeple had to
come down for repairs. And in the meantime the committee got back
together. They inquired how much a cross would cost. And you can see
what happened!

Since that day when a crane carried the cross 104 feet to the
top of the steeple more than 6,500 days and nights have passed. There
have been hurricanes and blizzards and foggy nights and blistering hot
days. The wind has blown from every point of the compass and with
every intensity from dead calm to full hurricane. But the cross
stands there reminding us that there is a Way to heaven, and that if
we will follow Jesus nothing can ultimately defeat us from the
destination He has for us here in this life, and in the one to come.