Mission Unstoppable: “Encouragement for Faithful Ministers” (Acts 18:1-17)

Encouragement for Faithful Ministers

Acts 18:1-17

Introduction

This morning’s message is for anyone who has ever been wearied, depressed, or exhausted. Especially from serving in Christian ministry. You know the Scriptures teach that as Christians all of us are called to serve as ministers.

Some are called in a unique way – the way we typically think of those with the title or position of “minister.” But a minister is simply one who exercises ministry or service. And over and over again, the Scripture are clear that every believer is to engage in basic ministry.

So in Ephesians 4, Paul can say, “[Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (4:11-12).

But the act of doing ministry can be exhausting. Ministry requires time and resources. It requires energy – mental, physical, emotion energy. And so ministry can take a toll on you. That’s why many people in the church either don’t do a lot of ministry. They either see how it affects others, or they themselves have gotten burnt-out serving God and simply don’t want to do it anymore.

As one who uniquely serves in ministry, I can sympathize with you. I understand what you’ve been through and how you feel. Nevertheless, God never calls us to stop serving him in ministry. Some of us may take on too much and need to back off of some things – it’s always better to do a couple of things really well than several things only okay. God expects our best and he deserves it.

But I suspect for many of us the opposite will be true. For many of us, the call is not to back off, but to ask ourselves, ‘why don’t I serve more?’ Why don’t I do more to fulfill the ministry God has gifted me for and called me to? It’s easy to make excuses about business of life and difficult circumstances. But the truth is, if we’re too busy to minister in God’s church, then we need to drop some things in our life. Our priorities are out of joint.

Because here is one area where we can always say we know with certainly God’s will for our lives – he desires us to serve him in some kind of ministry in the church. It might be small things, it might be big things. But no one is exempt from that calling.

But now we’re back where we began – weariness in ministry! This morning, as we look to our text, I want us to see God’s encouragement for faithful ministers. I want us to see that for those who commit to serve God in ministry, God will minister to them and help them remain encouraged in their service to him.

Our passage picks up where we left off last week at the end of Acts 17. In the last few chapters of Acts – which means the last few weeks of Paul’s life – things have been a mixed bag. He’s been seeing people come to Christ and planting churches, but it’s come with great opposition.

In Philippi, Paul was able to plant a church that was growing, but he was also beaten, jailed and thrown out of town. Then in Thessalonica, amidst reception to the gospel, opposition forced him to leave the city by night. Then in Berea, people listened intently to his message and studied the Scriptures with him. Many believed, but then the same people who caused Trouble in Thessalonica forced to leave again, this time to Athens. There the philosophers scoffed at his message and cut off his speech before he could finish. Though some believed, his message was largely met with indifference. And from experience I can tell you, nothing is more draining spiritually than indifference. Opposition can keep you fired up and on course, but with you present a passionate message and invest your fully in gospel ministry and all you get is ‘eh?’ as a response, it’s very easy to get depressed and discouraged.

So here where Paul stands as we begin chapter 18 – he been beaten, jailed, mocked, driven out of town several times. And to add insult to injury, he is without money and alone. He’s used up all that was given to him to support his mission and he’s had to leave his partners behind to help encourage the churches.

Indeed, everywhere he goes Paul starts churches. And everywhere he goes, he may be beaten, stoned, jailed, mocked, and driven out of town. With all of this weighing on him, he goes into Corinth. And there confronts another source of discouragement – the raw immorality and pride of the Corinthians people.

Corinth was a very large, powerful city full of wealth people. They were famous for holding the isthmian games (their equivalent of the Olympics) and were notorious for their immorality. In fact, in Paul’s day there was a word that people used to use all the time – korinthiazomai. The word was slang term meaning to practice immorality, based on the city’s name, Corinth. In fact, another word for prostitute was korinthiastes.

All of this came in part because of the large temple to the goddess Aphrodite which sat atop the mountain overlooking the city. Aphrodite or Venus was of course the goddess of love. And how better to worship a goddess of love than by having sex? Thus, over a thousand temple slaves used to roam the city at night as prostitutes. Not exactly an encouraging site for Paul.

And so, it’s no wonder that this was an especially low period in Paul’s life. In his later letters he describes arriving at Corinth. He says, he came there “in distress and affliction” [and] “in weakness and in fear and much trembling” (1 Thess 3:7; 1 Cor 2:1-3).

Here was a man wearied and beat down. He was suffering physically, financially, and spiritually. But he never gave up his calling to ministry and God never left him. In fact, this passage, what we see more than anything is God’s goodness and to Paul. We see time after time, God bringing encouragement to Paul’s life, encouraging him to continue on in a life of ministry.

From this passage of God’s encouragement to Paul, I want us to also see how God will likewise encourage us as we seek to be faithful in serve to him.

[18:1] After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. [2] And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, [3] and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. [4] And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

[5] When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. [6] And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” [7] And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. [8] Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. [9] And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, [10] for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” [11] And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

[12] But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, [13] saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” [14] But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. [15] But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” [16] And he drove them from the tribunal. [17] And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

From this passage, I want us to see four means God uses to encourage us as Christians seeking to be faithful in ministry.

1. We Are Encouraged by Biblical Community (18:1-4)

Paul comes into Corinth wearied, worn, and penniless. But he is committed to his calling as an apostle and seeks to find work to support his ministry. The one thing we know Paul knew how to do was make and mend tents. So, he starts looking for work.

And in the providence of God, Paul comes across two Jewish believers – Priscilla and Aquila. I say in the providence of God because we know from Luke that they originally lived in Rome. But Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome in 51 A.D. The ancient historian Suetonius says, they were expelled because of riots caused by Chrestus – a slightly garbled, Latin form of the name “Christ.”

But what Claudius meant for evil, God meant for good. Aquila and Priscilla were in place to minister to Paul during this difficult time. Think about how great this would have been for Paul. Look at what Luke says – “because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.”

These two are also tentmakers. Perhaps they employed Paul in their business? All we know is that they immediately saw a way to serve God by serving Paul and allowed him to stay with them. God provided Christian fellowship and friendship – biblical community. Their friendship must have meant a great deal to Paul for just before he was to be executed, Paul asks Timothy to send them his greetings – they had become lifelong friends (2 Tim 4:19).

One thing we have to understand is that when God saved us, he did not simply save us as individuals, but he called us out of our sin into his Church. He called us into fellowship with a biblical community. That is, a community that is founded on and sustained by God’s teaching from the Bible.

This isn’t an optional extra you can take or leave like a sunroof or spoiler when ordering your care. This is essential to our life of faith in Christ. That’s why so often in the New Testament there are constant reminders that as Christians we live together with other Christians as the body of Christ.

And why the author of Hebrews can say, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, [25] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:24-25).

You see one of the ways God encourages us is through the community of the church. Look around this room and you should see your best friends and your closest family. If that’s not true, then something is wrong with your walk with God. In 1 John God says if you don’t love your brothers and sisters in Christ, then you really don’t love God.

It’s so mysterious to me why when Christians struggle they stop coming to church. God calls us to do the opposite – go more! Don’t you see, God wants the church to be a source of encouragement to you?

I was so encouraged to hear the testimony of one of our former pastor’s wives who spoke about how her small group at church got her through the death of her husband. We can sit and wonder about that, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be folks. Biblical community – deep friendship and meaningful fellowship – is one of the primary ways God sustains in our walk with him.

2. We Are Encouraged by Gospel Growth (18:5-8)

After Paul has been in Corinth for a while, Luke says, “Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia.” Again, Paul’s letters help us know more of what’s going on here. They come back with a report of the churches in the Thessalonian region of Macedonia. They’re growing! The gospel is spreading and the church is thriving!

Paul is excited and encouraged and immediately writes a letter to them. It’s in the Bible – 1 Thessalonians, and it’s written right around this time while Paul is in Corinth.

Meanwhile, Paul is continuing his own ministry of proclaiming the gospel. Luke says, “Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.” But for these Jews, such a claim was nothing less than blasphemy. And the result is hostility towards Paul. Luke says, they “opposed and reviled him.”

And Paul “shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’” And he leaves the synagogue to focus his work on the Gentiles.

But notice where he goes – this is absolutely fabulous. I mean, you can’t read this without smiling; it’s great! How far does Paul go away form the synagogue? He goes next door! Luke says, “And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue” (18:7).

This man’s house now becomes Paul’s center of operations. So every day, people are being brought to see Paul or Paul may be standing in front of the house proclaiming the gospel. And you can imagine the Jews going to the synagogue next door, hearing Paul’s preaching. And what’s the result?

“Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household” (18:8). The most respect Jewish man in Corinth comes to faith in Christ, along with many other Corinthians. Spurgeon says, “When I see one conversion, I do not envy Gabriel his throne or angels their harps.”

To a man who is dejected, to a man who comes to Corinth in trembling and fear and much weakness, in need of the Lord’s grace, what better encouragement could there ever be than the sight of a sinner coming to Christ and confessing Jesus as Lord? What better therapy for Paul’s dejected spirit than the ruler of the synagogue professing faith in Jesus Christ?

The same is true for us – even if feel beaten down and wearied – if we are faithful to serve God, to proclaiming Christ, God will encourage us by letting us see the fruit of God’s grace in the conversion of sinners.

3. We Are Encouraged by God’s Assuring Presence (18:9-11)

It’s interesting that even on the heels of successful ministry, Paul is still tempted to despair. We know this because soon after Crispus comes to faith, the Lord comes to him in a vision at night and says to him –

“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, [10] for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

You know Paul had already had the 39 lashes. And if any one of us would have experiences that we certainly would not have wanted to go through it again. And with the salvation of the synagogue’s leader, perhaps Paul feared that the Jews would break out against him in a violent mob again.

But God assures him that that will not happen to him while he is Corinth. It’s happened before and will likely happen again. But for now, here in Corinth, he gets some relief as it were. More importantly, though, God assures Paul that he is with him.

When my kids are scared, no amount of reasoning is going to cut it. I can’t simply talk them out of being scared. They want their mommy or daddy. They don’t even need us to necessarily talk; they just want our presence, they want us to be with them.

All the more so with God. He has promised, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ But what does that mean? It means the One who is sovereign over all things, the One who is all-powerful, and all-knowing, the One who gives life and takes it away at his pleasure, the One is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness – He is with you.

And so he can say, ‘Do not be afraid.’ But Lord I’m fearful for my life, I can’t see how this will all turn out! “Do not be afraid for I am with you.” God tells Paul, continue to do what I’ve called you to do – preach the gospel.

God tells Paul ‘Do not to leave Corinth “for I have many in this city who are my people.”’ God had chosen to save many people in that city and so wanted Paul to remain faithful in proclaiming the only message by which men can be saved – the message of Christ.

So what was Paul’s response? Luke says, “And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them” (18:11).

It’s no wonder that Nehemiah could say ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength’ (Neh 8:10). When the weariness sets in, when the fear wells up within you, when the future looks bleak and you’re ready to pack it in, remember who is with you. Ask God to give you an assurance of his presence in your life by his Spirit and feel the fear-killing joy of God being with you.

4. We Are Encouraged by God’s Divine Protection (18:12-17)

Almost immediately, God’s promise is put to the test. As a result of Paul’s preaching and God using it to call people to faith in Christ, Luke tells us “when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, [13] saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”

Like most things in Acts, Luke is summarizing the Jewish leaders’ argument here. Nevertheless, Paul would have been called to stand upon a raised dais before the proconsul as the charge was made and as he gave a defense of his actions. This is something Paul was prepared to do, but Luke tells that,

when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. [15] But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” [16] And he drove them from the tribunal.

Gallio would simply have nothing of the charge. He says, I’m not going to be bothered by all this. This seems like a lot of nothing over names and Jewish law. As a Roman, what do I care about such things? Get out and take care of it yourself, he says.

Of course, Gallio is wrong. It’s an extremely important issue not just for the Jews, but for all humanity. It’s about the one man – Christ Jesus – who came in fulfillment of God’s promises for a Messiah. It’s about Christ who died as a sacrifice of atonement, taking upon himself God’s wrath against sinners. It’s the most important issue in the world!

Nevertheless, his unwillingness or inability to see the relevance of the issue is surely the result of God’s actions, and Paul escapes any injury or legal injunction. Just as God said he would. But poor Sosthenes didn’t fair so well!

Paul’s already led one Synagogue leader to Christ, Crispus. Now they have a new one – Sosthenes. But apparently the Jewish leaders feel he’s bungled the case against Paul and they take out all of their frustration on him beating him in the court room itself.

But do you want to know the amazing thing. Years from now when Paul has left Corinth he writes back to them. He writes to the Christians in Corinth and in the very first verse tells them the letter is from “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes.” Isn’t that amazing! It’s that glorious!

God not only protects Paul in fulfillment of his word, but also shows mercy on poor Sosthenes and calls him to faith in Christ, gloriously saving him.

Remember, God didn’t always keep Paul from harm. But he promises to be faithful to keep you, and not let you be tempted beyond your ability (1 Cor 10:13). God knows that Paul needs protecting, he needs a rest from the pressures of ministry and in his mercy and love, God gives Paul what he needs.

Conclusion

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). Friends, that’s not just for salvation, that’s for life. Even now, brothers and sisters, Jesus offers himself to you.

Go to him and find rest from sin. Go to him and find rest from the burden of trying to keep everything just right so we are happy at all times. Go to him and find rest in the midst of weariness and despondency.

And remember how he longs to encourage you – through living as part of the church community, by allowing you to see the fruit of the gospel, by assuring you of his presence in your life, and protecting you from the storms that would threaten to do you in.

Therefore, embrace this community of faith, pour yourself out in gospel ministry, cultivate a life of devotion with God (through prayer and word, seeking a supernatural awareness of his presence), and live in faith that he will protect you.

Mission Unstoppable: “Life on Mars (Hill)”

Life on Mars (Hill)

Acts 17:16-34

Introduction

Have you ever been a fish out of water? Have you ever been to a new school or a new job or a new city and totally felt out of place? Like you had landed on an other planet or something?

That’s probably how Paul felt in our passage this morning. Though this certainty was his world, this was also not his world. This was his work in that this was part of the culture in which he lived. He had never been to Athens before, but he surely knew something of it. Much like I’ve never been to Moscow before, but know something of it.

Nevertheless, when he arrives and sees what’s going on and how people are living, he probably felt like he was on another planet. The cultural worldview – the way that people understood and interacted with their world, their way of seeing life, was totally foreign to Paul.

And yet, he doesn’t throw his hands up and leave, he doesn’t hide in a whole – no instead he sees in this new world, as it were, an opportunity for the gospel to be proclaimed.

In some ways the Athenian culture of the first century is very similar to our own in his religious plurality. So we look are Paul’s ministry in Athens from our passage this morning, we should be looking at it as an example of how we should engage our own culture.

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. [17] So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. [18] Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. [19] And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? [20] For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” [21] Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

[22] So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. [23] For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. [24] The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, [25] nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. [26] And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, [27] that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, [28] for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

[29] Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. [30] The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, [31] because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

[32] Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” [33] So Paul went out from their midst. [34] But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

From this passage, I want us to see the motivation and the message

1. The Concern of Our Motivation (17:16-21)

Paul has come to Athens for the first time. And if you go to Athens today you will truly amazing ruins of the once great city. You see things like the Acropolis and the Parthenon; marvels of architecture and art. But remember, Paul didn’t see the ruins, he saw the real deal in the height of its glory – and so much more!

Paul would have seen a city of gleaming marble – absolutely beautiful. But the amazing thing, Paul seems to take no notice of it. For sure, Luke is not giving us a full account of what is going on, but I think it’s significant that none of the wonders of the city are mentioned. Instead, Luke gives us Paul’s response to what he sees there –

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

It’s the architecture that grabs his attention, it’s the idolatry. It’s the vast array of temples and pillars and idols – all dedicated to pagan, empty, powerless, non-existent gods. In fact, Luke says, his spirit was provoked within him.

What does this mean? Is Paul just in a bad mood and loses his temper? Does he have a kind of Jonah-experience where he’s about to go sit up on a mountain and wait for God to blast them to cinders? Maybe it’s more godly than that? Maybe it’s a frustration because of their sins? May be pities them for the judgment that awaits them?

I think that Luke tells what Paul’s impassioned response is about – the idolatry of the people. They are failing to give the One, true and living God the worship that is due his name. In this way, Paul’s emotions are much like that of God himself.

You know the in Old Testament there are all those passages where the Lord says he is a jealous God. And when I was little that always confused me. After all, wasn’t jealousy a bad thing? I wasn’t allowed to be jealous, why was God?

If you notice those passages are all about the people of God turning away from him to worship false gods. The jealousy then that the Scripture speaks about as coming from God is the kind of legitimate emotion that comes when a person would betray his or her spouse.

One time I had a particularly dreadful dream of this very thing – Melinda with another guy. And I was absolutely incensed in my dream. And the as often happens, I woke up in the morning in the middle of the dream so I woke up with all of those emotions running in my head. Now, I knew it was just a dream, it didn’t really happen, but those feelings linger for more than an hour! They were strong, deep feelings of legitimate jealousy over the love of my life.

And those are the same kind of emotions that are running through Paul. You see it’s great to be passionate about missions and evangelism out of a concern to see people saved. To see them experience the forgiveness of sins that only Christ can bring. Paul even shows this in Romans 10.

But the deeper, the more foundational motivation for his ministry was about the glory of God. As one who had experienced the grace and mercy of God; one who had come to understand the sweetness and the glory of Christ, it should simply crushed Paul to see that glory that Christ deserves go to some pile of wood or statue of stone. The sheer idolatry of sinners provoked his spirit more than anything else.

When missionary Henry Martyn heard of a Muslim talking of Jesus being at feet of Mohammed pulling at his robes asking permission to act, it deeply received him. The man telling him the story asked what was wrong and Henry replied, “I could not endure existence if Jesus was not glorified; it would be hell to me, if he were to be always thus dishonored.”

The Muslim man was astonished at this and asked, ‘why?’ Henry replied, “There is no saying why you feel pain; it is feeling. It is because I am one with Christ that I am thus dreadfully wounded.”

May that be true of us as well. May our love for Christ be motivation to see him made much of among all the peoples of this city and the world.

2. The Content of Our Message (17:22-31)

Paul’s motivation for the glory of God, sparked the idolatry of the Athenians led him to his normal course of action and preach in the synagogues as well as in the market place, where ideas were traded more than good for sale.

All of this led some to bring Paul to a place called the Areopogus, or Mars Hill where Luke says the people “would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” They were confused by what Paul as saying and asked him to tell them more.

Paul had before him a totally pagan people. People who knew nothing of the Hebrews Scriptures, nothing of the covenant promises of God, or the Messiah, Jesus. Thus, he adapts his message to the audience. He doesn’t start with the promises about Christ, instead he builds on the people’s own ideas and attempts to show them the truth.

So what does he says? His message has three main points –

2.1. God Is Creator and Sustainer of Life (17:22-25)

Paul begins by saying “I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” And speaks of all the idols and temple he saw. He says he even saw one “altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”

Paul is not advocating polytheism here in the sense of validating their worship. Some argue that these days. For instance, a man named Brian Mclaren, who claims to be a Christian, writes in one of his books to say that Christians should join hands with co-religionists. That we should join hands with people of other faiths like Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus without trying to convert one another because we all have some truth in what we believe.

Well that’s non-sense according to Paul. He is hitting the philosophers in Athens head-on by saying, you worship all of these gods, and even have an altar to the ‘unknown god’ in case you missed one, but I want to tell you, you’ve missed the only true God!’

And he begins by saying, this God that you have somehow missed is the one who created you and even now sustains your life. Paul says, “[I proclaim] the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Paul starts with the very basics. If you were to ask someone ‘who is God?’ today, you might get all kinds of answers – he’s, she’s, it’s, energies, you name it! It was similar back then, so Paul begins with first principles. In his day, some believed that the gods existed in particles so small that they lived in complete calmness in the spaces between worlds.

Paul says, God’s not like that. The true God is the one who made everything. As the Creator, the creation belongs to him. He is the sovereign Lord over all things.

More than that, he keeps things going. All that we need for life and breath is provided by this Creator God. As a result, you cannot think that he can kept in some small chest or room in a temple somewhere. He doesn’t need us, we need him.

2.2. God Is the Father of all Humanity (17:26-28)

[26] And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, [27] that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, [28] for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Many, many years ago Blaise Pascal – a Christian mathematician – wrote his famous words which have been summarized and quoted for years. He says, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.”

We take this eloquent words and simply say, ‘there’s a God-shaped hole in our souls that can only be filled by God himself.’

And Paul is saying that very thing here. Don’t get confused about what Paul is saying. As Christians, we often immediately think of the fatherhood of God in terms of spiritual adoption. God saving us and adopting us as sons as Paul talks about in Galatians 4 through our faith in Christ.

That’s true, but it’s not what Paul is getting at here. The fatherhood he is speaking of is much more generic. God is the father of all people in the sense that Luke can end his genealogy of Jesus by calling Adam the son of God. My children are my children because they came from me. Similarly, humanity was created by God; we came from him.

Pastor Vaughn Roberts was on a trip to Bali, Indian. Remembering that trip, he says he got into a taxi with this friend and saw an object hanging down on the dash board. “My friend asked him what the object was. He said, ‘that’s my god.’ So he said, ‘Does your god speak to you?’ and how the taxi driver laughed! It was highly laughable to think this ‘god’ of his could possibly speak; of course he didn’t speak to him! Human religion so often bares the same relationship to god that bill boards do to coca cola; it promotes the thirst without quenching it. That was his god, always reminding him that there is something beyond this world so he keeps the thirst, but he can’t quench it. ‘Of course my god doesn’t speak to me’. There is no relationship with this object that you have made, of course there isn’t! Much talk about God and religion and spirituality in our society, isn’t there? But no peace of mind, no assurance of forgiveness, no relationship.”

But what does Paul say? God created us to find him. God is not playing hard to get. He longs that we should find him. Paul says God “is actually not far from each one of us” and that He hopes “that [we] might feel [our] way toward him and find him.” He has placed a spiritual hunger within all our hearts, a longing that will only be truly satisfied when we turn to him.

And yet what do we do? We still turn away from the living God. We try and satisfy that spiritual hunger with other things: money, success, sex and relationships, pleasure. These are the idols we worship. But we deceive ourselves and think they will satisfy.

We think, “if I can only get a higher bank balance; if I can only get that first; if I can get a husband or wife; if I can only get a different husband or a different wife; if I can get a bigger house, then I will be happy.” But those things never satisfy. They never fill the void Pascal talks about.

Some people even try religion and spirituality, something beyond the material world, but it is still on our terms. We hop from religion to religion, church to church, trying to find something that fulfills me but doesn’t ask me to really change anything or give anything up.

So in the end, we think we are worshipping god, but it’s not the real God. It is some human invention. And there’s no intimacy, no relationship, no joy, no satisfaction. And in the end we will find that . . .

2.3. God Is the Judge of Sin (17:29-31)

Paul ends where he began with the ignorance of the Athenians about God. Though they were ignorant of God, Paul says they are responsible for that ignorance. It’s not as if they’re innocent; that it was all just a mistake; that they didn’t know any better.

No, Paul says, “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. [30] The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, [31] because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Paul says in the past only Israel received God’s special revelation of himself. Yes, occasionally some non-Israelites came into contact with the living God. But for the most part, God let the nations find him through general revelation – through the evidence of creation before their eyes.

And Paul says God overlooked their sin in refusing to seek him. Not that he ignored or excused it. No, in his mercy, God simply waited to hand out the judgment that their sin deserved. But that’s not the case anymore. Now, he has fixed a day for judgment.

Paul says, those times of ignorance are over because now Christ has come. He has become the perfect mediator between God and man, dying for our sins in his perfect humanity and being raised back to life as our Lord and Savior. Because of this, he has been given authority to judge all things.

And so, we must repent. Not just he Jewish people turning to a Jewish Messiah, but now all people everywhere are to repent? Repent of what? Of their idolatry. Of trying to make god into their own image, refusing to worship the one true and living God who has made himself plain to them.

Conclusion

Like the rest of the Bible, Paul presents us with only two responses – reject or believe.

God has created us, and built evidence for that right into the fabric of the universe itself. He’s built it into us. God sustains our lives – giving us life and breath each day. God makes himself easy to find. He’s not hiding, but encouraging us to enter into relationship with him. And Paul is quoting from the Athenians’ own philosophers saying, on some level you must get this. But ultimately, you’ve still chosen to reject Him.

Mission Unstoppable: “How to Listen to a Sermon” (Acts 17:10-15)

How to Listen to a Sermon

Acts 17:10-15

Introduction

We want to pause and back up and spend some more time on v. 10-15, looking at the Bereans.

Luke says, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica”

Why does Luke say that? What does he mean that the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians?

In the end, they were noble because of how they treated God’s word. And so this morning, we want to see them as an example of how we should respond to the word today.

[10] The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. [12] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. [13] But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. [14] Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. [15] Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

1. Receive the Word Eagerly

Paul had been forced to leave Thessalonica because of some Jews who were upset at the message he preached about Christ. He was forced to leave by night and travel about 50 miles on foot to get to Berea.

When he got there, he did what he normally did and went first to the synagogue – the weekly meeting place of the Jewish people. There, they would have sung the Psalms, heard teaching from the Old Testament and prayed – a lot.

And when Paul gets up to speak, what does Luke say about them? Verse 11 – they received the word with all eagerness.

Remember why Paul is there. He and his team are there to spread the gospel. They’ve come to share the message of God’s salvation from sin. That message can only be found in the Scriptures and that is what Paul preaches – God’s word.

They are not excited because Paul has come. The Beareans had come to the synagogue eager to hear the rabbi open up the Scriptures for them. For them, worshipping God and hearing a message from his Word wasn’t routine. It wasn’t something they just did because they were religious.

No, what made them more noble, according to Luke was that they loved to hear someone preach from God’s word. They came with a sense of expectation and excitement.

Isn’t it amazing all of the things we get excited about? Whenever I get wind of a good movie coming out, I will always go online and get information about it. I’ll read interviews with the director and scripture writer. Read spoilers about the plot. Sometimes, depending on what kind of movie it is, I’ll read about how the movie will be different from the book or other movies in the series.

For some of you, it’s sports. The game can be a week off and that’s all you’re talking about. You’re planning what you’re going to have to eat that day, what other things you’re shuffling around to not miss the game. You may even be reading up on the players and reviewing old scores from the season as the excitement builds.

It’s amazing we get excited about those kinds of things, but we hardly ever get excited about hearing a sermon, do we? Some might, if they enjoy the specific speaker they are going to hear, but you know until Paul stood up in the synagogue, the Bereans didn’t know he was coming. They didn’t know him by reputation. It was the word itself they were eager for.

So, why aren’t we that way? If you’re a Christian there’s every possible reason in the world to be excited about it; to eagerly anticipate it.

In Psalm 19, David is meditating on the God’s word and says, “The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

As a believer, how can you not look forward with eagerness to encountering that each and every week in a sermon? More than just a sermon though – you’ve got immediate access to God’s word whenever you want. You’re probably holding a copy right now?

What stops from getting up every morning, looking over God’s word with eager delight and what we will find while we eat our cornflakes? Of course, this the digital age – why don’t we look forward to our morning commute, knowing we can pop in a cd of the Bible being read or some a sermon from some great preacher we can download online?

The truth is, such an excitement doesn’t come naturally, we have to ask god for it. We have to train ourselves for it. We have to develop a taste for spiritual things.

Going to a Christian college that had chapel five days a week spoiled me in college. I heard all kinds of incredible preaching. But I would go home on the weekends, or visit other churches and it might be bad preaching. For a while, I would just sit in critic mode, looking at everything the speaker did wrong. But I had to learn that even in the worst of sermons, you can usually find something good. You have to train yourself to rejoice at the preaching of God’s word.

The quickest way to do that is begin guarding your Saturday nights. In our culture, Saturday night is a party night, a fun night. For Christians, it should be a get caught up on sleep night. Why? Because the next morning, we have an encounter with the living God who not only gives us life and breath each day, but gave us his Son even when we only deserved eternal damnation.

Now, I’m not saying you have to be legalistic about it. There are special occasions. But if you don’t come eagerly expecting to hear from God on Sunday mornings, you’d better at least begin making Saturday nights a priority.

But then, pray. Ask God to give you a hunger for his word. Ask him to create within you a desire – a longing to hear the Scriptures proclaimed.

Pray Psalm 199:36, “Incline my heart to your testimonies”

Pray 1 Peter 2:2, Like a newborn infant, help me to long for the pure spiritual milk

Pray to have an eager craving for God’s word. Because at the end of the day, to long after God’s word is really to long after God. To care nothing about hearing a sermon from God’s word, is to care nothing about hearing from God himself.

2. Examine the Word Daily

The Bereans came, eagerly anticipating the sermon – the proclamation of God’s word. And the message they heard from Paul was just that, but it was also something unexpected. Because, just like he did in Thessalonica, Paul would have “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ” (17:2).

Here were a people longing for the coming of the long-promised Christ – the Messiah – and Paul is there telling them that he has come and it was Jesus. And he shows, chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse that God had revealed his Messiah would suffer and die and be raised again so that his people might be saved from their sins.

Paul might have started in Genesis 3 and showed the very first promise of Messiah – the one who would destroy the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve to sin and forever end his ability to tempt humanity again. But how would he defeat him? He might have then taken them to places like Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53 where God shows that the Messiah would suffer and die, not for his own sins, but for the sins of God’s people.

And Paul would go on and on in passage after passage, showing how on the cross Jesus suffered God’s wrath against sin. How he stood in our place and took upon himself the judgment we deserve from God. How Christ didn’t stay dead, but was vindicated by God who raised him back to life and made him to rule over all things. And how by trusting in Christ as our Savior, we can receive forgiveness from our sins and be made right with God.

It would have been an amazing message, that the Messiah had come! But was Paul right? Did he understand the Scriptures correctly? Or was he preaching non-sense?

Luke says, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

They said, what this man Paul says excites us, but we need to be sure he’s right – so let’s study the Scriptures, let’s examine them to see if his message holds up.

However, these Bereans were not as fortunate as you or I. We can find a copy of the Bible just about anywhere. These days, even Wal-Mart carries three or four different translations. Bt that wasn’t the case for these people. The printing press was still well over a thousand year off in the future. If they wanted a copy of the Scriptures, they would have had to buy scrolls and hand copy the whole thing. Or pay to have someone else do it. So, only the wealthiest people usually had personal copies of the Bible.

So what did they do? When work was over, or perhaps early in the morning, a huge number of them all gathered together, had the synagogue leader open the place up and together they went over Paul’s sermon.

When I was in high school, a cable station used to show reruns of the old show Quincy. Anyone remember that show? It was about a medical examiner in the 1970’s. Today you’ve programs like CSI that are basically the same thing. As Pastor Voddie Baucham says “CSI is just Quincy on crack.” So, if you’ve seen CSI, de-crackify it and you’ve got Quincy.

He would get a case and he wouldn’t let it go until the situation was resolved. His boss was always threatening to fire him. But he would search out every clue, every detail – do interviews, look at every fiber and bloodstain until he knew exactly what happened to the person and the case was closed.

That’s very much the impression you get reading about these Bereans. They were pouring over the Scriptures, looking to the passages Paul had preached on, looking up other passages that talked about the Messiah they remembered from memory. Luke says they were doing this everyday. They just were not going to be satisfied until they arrived at a conclusion of the matter – was Paul right or was he wrong?

Luke says, this is part of their nobility. This kind of meticulous care about the integrity of God’s word and knowing the truth that’s there. It’s a wonderful example for us isn’t?

You know one of the mistakes we can make is to simply accept everything that we hear. We can fall into the trap of just going on auto-pilot when we hear a sermon. We can either assume because the man is a Christian he will tell the truth. Or because he’s published a lot of books and has a large following that he is going to be right. Or perhaps the person simply says what we want to hear and so we think that make him right.

But the Scriptures call for more care than that. Part of the reason we try to have kind of sermon note page every week is because I want you to study for yourself. Don’t just take me word for it – I’m just a man, I might get it wrong. Jot down notes, go back over the passage later, look at other parts of the Bible, does the message match up?

Do you know how ignorant the modern church is about the Bible? One of the latest Barna reports says that 82% of those who call themselves evangelical believe that the Bible teaches that God helps those that help themselves [that was Benjamin Franklin!]. 63% could not name the four gospels. 58% could not name half of The Ten Commandments. 58% could not say that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. 52% did not know there was a book in the Bible called Jonah. 48% did not know that there wasn’t a book in the Bible called the Gospel of Thomas.

Folks, we’ve got to do better than that. That’s dishonoring to God. Study his word. And don’t just do that once in a while, do it daily. Be like these Bereans and daily spend time in the word. To learn from God’s word is to learn from God himself. So spend time with God; soak yourself in his word. Not to simply learn from facts and be able to quote some famous passages. Study the Word of God so that your life can be transformed by it.

3. Believe the Word Fully

The Bereans had heard the message Paul had proclaimed to them. They had heard the truths of the work of Messiah who gave his life as an offering for sin. They heard that Jesus is the Messiah and they must put their faith in him for salvation.

Then they had sought to verify what Paul said. Daily they were gathering at the synagogue, going over the scrolls of sacred Scripture to see if what Paul had said was true. Passage after passage they sought to know whether or no Jesus was the Christ.

Luke says the result is that, “Many of them therefore believed.” Notice that therefore. What’s happened? They have been confronted with the teachings of Scripture. And God’s Spirit has come upon them and opened their hearts to see the truthfulness of what Paul was teaching.

They were convinced of its truthfulness, not because of the cleverness of the preacher, not because they lacked discernment and were gullible – no, they believed the message about Christ because ultimately, they came to understand that it was God’s message. God had said it, so they had to be believe it.

Earlier I said that we can make the mistake of just accepting whatever we hear someone say without engaging our minds and using a spirit of discernment. We can be duped as it were. I know people like this – not just with Scripture, but with just about anything. They’re like ping-pong balls going back and forth believing this and that just because they’ve great a passionate presentation.

But the other mistake we can make – and in some ways it’s a more serious mistake – is to not believe what we hear. We can hear the truth of God’s word proclaimed but not believe it. We can decide to ignore it or think the teacher has it wrong. We can resist the convicting work of the Spirit and willfully choose to suppress the truth. That’s what Paul says in Romans 1.

This is especially true when it comes to sin. Last year, I was listening to a sermon and heard someone say that we become most irrational when it comes to sin. What did he mean by that? Well, he meant we will use the most twisted logic and all kinds of bizarre rationales to excuse our sin, or sometimes even the sin of our loved ones.

If it were happening to someone else, we would see it immediately for what it is and think, ‘What’s the matter with them? Can’t they see that’s wrong?’ But it’s us – it’s our own lives and like our sin, so we excuse it. And often this happens in sermons.

We hear a message that is calling to believe something about God or about ourselves. But if we embrace that truth, if we actually believe it, then our lives will have to change.

This is why James will say, “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (1:22-25).

Believing the Word of God involves action. It requires you to have your mind changed, your heart impassioned, and your will to engage upon the action that is required by your belief.

For the Bereans, this wasn’t easy. Luke says, “Many of them therefore believed . . . But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.  Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.”

They trusted in Christ as Savior. That belief meant that Paul was their brother, not just according to the flesh, not just according to ethnic identity. But now more profoundly as a brother in Christ. His well-being rested on their shoulders. And so at great risk to themselves, they acted on their beliefs and worked to save Paul from injury, imprisonment, or even death.

Thus, there is not only a spirit of discernment needed before God’s word, but also a spirit of humility.

Conclusion

Mission Unstoppable: “Turning the World Upside Down” (Acts 17:1-5)

Turing the World Upside Down

Acts 17:1-15

Introduction

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. [2] And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, [3]explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” [4] And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. [5] But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. [6] And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, [7] and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” [8] And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. [9] And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

[10] The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. [12] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. [13] But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. [14] Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. [15] Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Do you want people to say someday of you, “They have turned the world upside down”? I think that if in 50 years someone looks back on my time as pastor of this church, I would love for them to say, ‘Bangor Baptist Church helped turn the world upside down!’

. . . If that is going to be the case – if we have any hope of ever turning the world upside down for God – then four things have to be present in our lives. Both in our lives as individuals and in our life together as a church family. That’s what our passage shows us today and that’s what we want to see as we walk through it.

1. Gospel-Driven Courage

Last week we didn’t get a chance to look at the last few verses of chapter 16. This is a good time to pick them up because they segues us right into our text this morning.

Acts 16:35-40 – “But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ [36] And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.’ [37] But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.’ [38] The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. [39] So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. [40] So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.”

How easy would it have been for Paul is simply say, ‘thanks for letting us go’ and got out of there. But he didn’t do that. He knew that it was possible that the Christians in that town might suffer after he left and he didn’t want to leave them vulnerable.

And so with great courage, Paul demands that the authorities come and escort them out. He says, ‘We’re not going to sneak out of here to cover up what you’ve done. We’ll leave when the magistrates walk us out. Again, it wasn’t because of any wounded pride; that’s not Paul.

I’m sure it was to vindicate his Gospel and also to make sure that those early Christians in Philippi would be protected. Amazing, Paul is getting the Roman state – in some sense – to acknowledge that they were wrong to persecute those Christians.

And now, we come to Acts 17 and see great courage again being displayed by Paul. He and his team have walked around 100 miles to go from Philippi to where they are at now in Thessalonica. He was imprisoned in Philippi for preaching the gospel, and now we see that because of his preaching, “[some unbelieving Jews] formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.”

Paul’s own people get furious at his proclamation of the gospel and storm the place where he was staying – with this man Jason. Jason – the innkeeper, as it were – is only released after there is some kind of legal injunction against Paul coming back there. When he later writes to the Thessalonians he speaks of this ban and being unable to see the believers, though he longs to encourage them face-to-face. But the situation at this time is so dire that Luke says, “[10] The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.”

Lesser men might try a different approach. They might not go straight to the synagogue and begin preaching Christ. But what does Paul do? Look at the rest of v. 10 – “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.”

How is it that Paul can be so courageous? It’s not because he’s such a macho guy, who never gets scared of anything. It’s because of the gospel. It’s because God has spoken into his heart and awakened to the grace of Christ, calling him to take the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth.

And so everyday – even in the midst of terrible difficulty – he can remember and cling to passages like Psalm 27:1 – “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

2. Gospel-Filled Conversation

What does Paul do in these cities? He talks about Christ – he shares the gospel. He shows from the that Bible that it was “necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”

Paul showed these people from the Scriptures that the Messiah God promised to send, the Christ has not some political king who would establish an earthly kingdom. Instead, his mission would be one of sacrifice. The Christ would offer up his life for his people; he would die for sinners so that they might not suffer under God’s wrath and perish forever.

Instead, he died to satisfy God wrath so that all that look to him for salvation, all that say I cannot save myself – I need him, they would experience God’s forgiveness and receive eternal life with him. And Paul says you don’t have to keep looking for that kind of Christ, he’s already come. It was Jesus. That’s what his death on the cross was all about.

Often we hear others speak and see all the books on defending the Christian faith and think we have to know all the answers to all the objections. Don’t get me wrong, it’s helpful to be able to provide some kind of quick answer to common objections. But it’s not essential. Because you can’t argue people into heaven.

Don’t think, I have to convince them that God exists, the Bible is true, that evolution is wrong, this that or the other, then they will get saved. Don’t think that way. Just do what Paul did – preach Christ. Be willing to sit down with someone and show them who Christ is from the Bible.

I have heard countless testimonies of people who would have never even believed in God or the authority of the Bible. And someone has just sat down and opened up Scriptures and told them of Christ and just as we saw last week with Lydia, God opened their heart to believe.

Perhaps my favorite such story is the testimony of a great leader in the church today. His best friend had moved away for college and had come back to visit. This man – C. J. Mahaney – assumed his friend was coming back to smoke hash with him like they used to. So he had already started when his friend got there. But his friend didn’t want to smoke, he wanted to talk about Christ.

And so as clouds of this illegal substance hovered in the air, the gospel was proclaimed, God moved, and the Spirit birthed spiritual life and faith in C. J. Hours before, he didn’t care anything about God, had never read the Bible, and yet the Word of God did its life-giving, life-transforming work; God used the gospel to bring him to faith.

Luke says that Paul “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”

Pastor Derek Thomas Prime says, “the words are suggesting a reasoning process, a process of deduction, a logical process of argumentation involving premises and conclusions, gathering evidence, marshaling arguments, answering all kinds of counter questions, proclaiming as an ambassador, as a messenger, as an angel from God the word of truth in a variety of ways, all designed to bring the word of God home to the consciences and hearts and souls and minds of his hearers, and address the culture in a counter-cultural way… [to] engage in apologetics with the foundation stone of the written word of God.”

And there is a sense of urgency to it – as it was said of Robert Murray M’Cheyne so many years ago, we are to preach Christ “as a dying man to dying men.”

If we want to the turn the world upside for God, this is the example we are to follow. We have to be willing to sit down with people, or groups of people with the Bible, having the gospel on our lips, permeating our conversation – reasoning, explaining, and proving that Christ is the savior of the world.

If we have gospel-filled conversation like Paul, then we should also expect . . .

3. Gospel-Fueled Conflict

Things go well in Thessalonica. Luke says in verse 4 that “some of [the Jews] were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.”

But then we also told that, “[some of the other] Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. [6] And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities,”

The situation is no different in Berea. In fact, the same people who caused all the trouble in Thessalonica follow the Paul’s team and cause trouble in Berea – “But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.”

In fact, things get so bad for Paul in Berea that Luke says, “the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea . . . [and] conducted . . . him as far as Athens,” (17:14-15). The conflict was so bad that the Bereans thought there was no place safe in Macedonia for Paul and sent him off to the sea to sail to Athens.

We have to be careful here. Just because you’re stirring up trouble, doesn’t mean that you are doing and saying what is pleasing to God. You understand what I’m saying? There is a whole group of people who call themselves Christians – emerging Christians, red-letter Christians, and they are stirring up all kind of trouble and conflict within the church.

Mainly because they deny certain essentials beliefs of the Christians faith, like the virgin birth of Christ, the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, the belief that the Bible is the word of God and so is without error. That’s not pleasing to God.

At the same time, there are others who call themselves Christians create conflict because of their un-Christian-like lives. Instead of proclaiming the truth in love, they declare war on unbelievers and treat them like garbage. That’s creates conflict, but not the kind God wants.

Notice, this is gospel-fueled conflict. It is sparked by Christians living out and proclaiming the message of the gospel. “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also . . . and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

This is what is comes down to – Jesus as king. That’s what creates conflict. In Paul’s day it created conflict because if Jesus was king it meant that Caesar wasn’t king. You see the Caesars were notoriously given to conspiracy theories. They were unstable characters, especially Claudius. And apparently they had banned all talk and prophecy of take-over’s and demise. And so here is Paul going around proclaiming that Jesus was Lord. He’s undermining sovereign rule of the Roman government.

I was reading the other day from another pastor who had been reading some denominational magazines, specifically the want ads. Churches advertising for ministers. And he says, these are kinds of things churches had put in there: “They’re looking for men who are innovative; progressive; church-initiating; team building; a coach; a man’s man; someone women respect; a people developer, with strong organizational skills; relates well to fast-track commuters; design and build infrastructure; envision and create ministry delivery teams [I have no idea what that means]; approachable; dynamic; able to lead worship through drama, audio-visual, banners and dance [and on and one].

I find it incredibly telling and sad, frankly, that the one thing that’s missing from what all of these churches are looking for, is the one thing that stands at the center of Paul’s ministry – preaching Jesus.

That’s the example he leaves for ministers, but not just ministers – for all Christians. That’s what our lives are to be about. Living as if Jesus is the Lord, the King of our lives. And proclaiming that reality – the salvation that comes to those who make Christ their King.

And wherever the gospel is proclaimed, conflict will result. But the gloriously thing is that where the gospel is proclaimed you will also see people coming to faith in Christ.

4. Gospel-Loving Converts

In Thessalonica, he spent three weeks doing what? Preaching Christ; patiently, lovingly showing who Christ was from the Scriptures.

He showed that Christ came in fulfillment of the promises of God. He showed that it was God’s plan for Christ – God the Son – to take on flesh and offer his life as an offering for the sins of his people. He showed that Christ willingly went to the cross according to his Father’s plan, to die in place of sinners.

He showed that on the cross, the wrath that should have fallen on sinners, instead fell on Christ. He showed that more than just dying for sinners, Christ was raised back to life as Lord of all things.

And Paul showed that all who turned away from their life of sin, all who stopped trusting in religion or a good life to get them to heaven, and looked to Christ’s sacrifice to make them right with God, would receive forgiveness and life. Paul preached the gospel.

The same gospel – the same offer that we extend to some of you this morning, who do not know God and do not have forgiveness for your sins. Just like Paul almost 2000 years ago, this morning we call you this morning to trust in Christ as your Savior.

Paul preached the gospel and what was the result? Verse 4 – “And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.”

Then they’re run out of town and go to Berea. And Luke says, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. [12] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.”

How exactly can we turn the world upside down? This is crucial for us to understand, because it’s possible to have all of these things in our life and still miss the point.

We are not called to turn the world upside by endorsing the right politician, or exercising power or prestige in culture and society, or even by having huge ministries. That’s not what God us to do. Jesus said, ‘the first shall be last and last shall be first’ (Matt 20:16).

Greatness in the world is about being the first and being the best. But greatness in the God’s kingdom is about being a servant. God calls us to a life of humble, joyful obedience in him. A life that shows knowing God to be the most satisfying, joy-producing imaginable, combined with telling others about how to know God in Christ changes the world.

The world is turned upside when one-by-one, peoples lives are changed by the gospel. Thus, if we are living a life that is having an impact on the world, it will be evidenced by seeing gospel-loving converts showing up all around us. By God using our faithfulness to share the gospel to produce Christians.

Conclusion

Some of you are here this morning and what we’ve seen from Acts 17 describes your life. This is the way you live. Let me encourage to keep going; to press on and make these thing even more a part of your life.

Others of you have never shared your faith in Christ. The Bible shows that the life-cycle of a Christian is hearing the gospel, then believing the gospel, then sharing the gospel, and living the gospel. And unfortunately, some of you are stunted in your growth. You have trusted in Christ, you even try to live a good life that would please him but you never tell anyone else about him. You’ve become stunted in your growth as a Christian.

Regardless of where we are at, if we want to turn the world upside down, if we want to see men, women, and children from all over the world receive Christ, then we must focus our lives on the gospel – living it and proclaiming it.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

“I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The descision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.

I’m finished and done with low living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.

I won’t give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He comes, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”

Mission Unstoppable: “A Narrative of Surprising Conversions” (Acts 16:6-40)

A Narrative of Surprising Conversions

Acts 16:6-40

Introduction

The famous Baptist pastor from a by-gone age, C. H. Spurgeon, once related his visit to Amsterdam. There he said he visited the shop of a diamond cutter. He said there he saw many large wheels and lots of powerful machinery at work.

He says, “I must confess that it seemed very odd that all that great array of apparatus should be brought to bear upon a tiny bit of crystal, which looked like a fragment of glass. Was that diamond worth so much that a whole factory should be set to work to cut its facets, and cause it to sparkle?”

And he says, at least the diamond-cutter believed it was worth it. Spurgeon continues to meditate on this and says the great work of that diamond-cutter on such a seemingly small object is very much like God’s work in redemption.

“Now, when I look abroad upon providence, it seems preposterous to believe that kingdoms, dynasties, and great events should all be co-operating and working together for the accomplishment of the diving purpose in the salvation of God’s people. But they are so working. It might have seemed preposterous, but it was not so, that these great wheels should all be working for the cutting of a single diamond; and it is not preposterous, however it may seem so, to say that all the events of providence are being ordered by God to effect the salvation of his own people, the perfecting of the precious jewels which are to adorn the crown of Christ for ever and ever.”

What Spurgeon marveled about is what we find in our passage this morning. From direct intervention to broad strokes of providence, God is working to bring individuals to faith in Christ and begin am arm of his church in the city of Philippi – a church that will be one of the most encouraging to Paul and larger Church around the world.

In seeing this magnificent working of God, we can see some encouragements for us today as we seek to be faithful to God’s call on our lives to spread the gospel at home and around the world.

1. Expect Divine Guidance in the Midst of Faithful Living (16:6-10)

[6] And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7] And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. [8] So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. [9] And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” [10] And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul and his team intend to head south-west to minister in Asia (not the continent, but a small country called Asia. But Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit in some way prevented them from going there as they planned. With that route closed, they then decided to head north to Bithynia. But again, the Spirit would not allow them to go that way. They got as far as the border of Mysia when they were stopped at the city of Troas.

Then and only then was Paul given a vision of a man from Macedonia. Who was this man? Some of the commentators love to speculate; some in all manner of crazy ways about who this is. The simple truth is, we don’t know because we’re not told.

What’s important is what the man in this vision says, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Having received several roadblocks and negative directions, God gives them a positive direction – he says ‘come here’ and preach the gospel.

Many of us would love to have this kind of direction in our life. I here people all the time saying that they are praying or hoping for some kind of a sign about all manner of things – what kind of job to take, who to marry, where to live.

And I love giving the same advice that Augustine gave over 1700 years ago. You see those are not new questions. People have been asking them for a long time. And Augustine’s advice was simple. He basically said, “don’t sin and do whatever you want.”

You see he understand passage like Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” And passages like this here in Acts 16.

What was Paul doing when God began to direct him? Was he sitting around moping with an Eyore complex? ‘Whoa is me. What am I going to do?’ No, he was doing what he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was God’s will for his life. He was living like Christ and seeking to proclaim Christ.

And it was in the midst of that faithfulness that God’s direction came to his life. William Larkin rightly says, The Lord may use prophecy, closed and opened doors, Scripture, or prayer. But “specific guidance [especially comes] to those who are already on the road, living in… obedience to the Great Commission.”

It seems that Paul would have been content with lesser things until the Lord overruled. But he was walking faithfully, so he was easy to direct. He was submitting to his brothers in the church, carrying the message of the gospel.

So he was close to the right road – all he needed was a slight correction. That should be our aspiration too. Yes, we will lose our way at times, but God in his good and sovereign providence will direct us if we are seeking him.

2. Expect Divine Grace in the Midst of Human Weakness (16:11-15)

Luke goes on to say, “setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, [12] and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. [13] And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. [14] One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. [15] And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us.”

Let’s be honest for a second – well, at least I’ll be honest. If I were Paul and God had been closing door after door until I was where he wanted me; if God had shown me a vision of a man saying ‘come here and help us!’; Then I would have been ready for something big!

Now I have no idea what Paul was actually expecting, but Luke tells us what he found in Macedonia and it didn’t look too promising. He went looking for a synagogue and didn’t find one. History tells is that ten men were required for the formation of a synagogue. If you didn’t have that then the few religious Jews would form what was essentially a regular prayer group.

Paul gets there and what does he find? Not nine men, not 8 or 7 or even 1 – no men! In all of Philippi, there were no Jewish men interested enough in spiritual things to gather on the Sabbath and pray. Instead, Paul finds a group of women.

Let me pause here and say that I am no way attempting to disparage these women or women today. My point is simply this, in God’s plan for the family and the church, the men – the husbands and fathers are to the spiritual leaders. They are to take the initiative in leading their families as well as the church in worship and the pursuit of God. And here there none.

Other people might have walked away. They might have went on to a different city. After all, God only said Macedonia, Paul was the one who went to Philippi. But Paul didn’t move one – he stayed and by divine appointment found one of God’s greatest blessings to the church – a woman named Lydia.

Lydia was a business woman, Lydia. She sells clothes that were dyed purple; apparently an expensive thing to have. She was a distributor, perhaps even the maker of designer clothes in the first century. And she is a religious woman who is living like a Jews, though not becoming a full proselyte.

And Luke says that Paul begins to tell her about Christ and when he does, God opens her heart – he overcomes the sinfulness of her heart – and enables to hear the gospel with faith. She believes the message she hears from Paul.

And it’s immediately evident that she is saved, because she immediately begins sharing her faith – to her entire household; her family and servants. And begins offer what she has in service to the gospel. She persuades Paul to not rent rooms somewhere else, or sleep out in the open, but bring her team to her house and let her show them hospitality. To let her serve them as they serve Christ.

William Carey was a cobbler; he made and repaired shoes. He wasn’t much in the eyes of the world, but he went on to be the father of modern missions.

Very often when we look with the eyes of the world, we cannot see anything great coming from the common things of the world. But God delights to take what is common in the world’s eyes and make them great in his kingdom.

Perhaps other synagogues and Jewish communities had looked down on Philippi for its lack of devout believers. But Paul knows that God’s grace is powerful and can bring about great things from thing that look weak to human eyes.

Perhaps you’re like me this morning. You look at what you’ve got – average brain, average gifting – and it’s easy to see that you are not much in the world’s eyes. But don’t despair – from the midst of human weakness, there is divine grace at work to build a great people for himself through the proclamation of the gospel.

3. Expect Divine Power in the Midst of Demonic Resistance (16:16-18)

Paul and his team are moving around the city, meeting people, sharing the gospel, penetrating the city with the grace of Christ. And don’t think for a minute that Satan was happy about it. Luke tells us,

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. [17] She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” [18] And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

Here’s this slave girl – she owns nothing, but is doubly owned. She is not only a slave girl, owned by someone, but Luke says she was possessed by a spirit of divination. She was not her own, but owned by this demonic influence.

Now, don’t dismiss this as some primitive, pre-scientific, delusional talk. Don’t just assume that what Luke calls spirit-possession that she was really just mentally ill or something. Don’t just assume that these people who trusted in her predictions were just superstitious.

No, the Scriptures are clear – this is a supernatural world. Just as there is a living God who exists as Spirit, so there are also other spiritual being that God has created. Angelic and demonic beings. And while I think books like those Frank Perretti write put far too much emphasis on this unseen part of reality, we need to take it seriously.

And here in our passage is this young girl and she’s following Paul’s team around, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation!” At first, we might think, ‘What’s the big deal? She right after all, isn’t she?’

Yes, she certainly is right. James tells us that even the demons have right theology. They know who God is; they even recognized who Christ was during his incarnation. And Jesus was always having to cast them out of people and silence from announcing who he was.

So, why would a demon proclaim the truth? And why would the Lord Jesus, and here Paul, want to resist the demon proclaiming the truth? I think it was unhelpful for at least two reasons. First, it would have been a huge pain to try and share Christ with this girl following you around grabbing people and yelling, ‘This is the man that’s going to tell you how to be saved!’ It would scare people off.

Secondly, some might have associated her practices of divination and fortune-telling. Paul did not want to be associated with practicing and making money with occultic practices. In the minds of the people, there would be no distinction between the benevolent spiritual power of God and the evil spiritual power that had taken over this woman. Furthermore, people might think Paul was peddling the gospel – teaching to get rich.

So, Paul has enough and in an attitude of humble but confident dependence on God, calls for this demon to come out of the girl. And God answers his appeal – Luke says, “that very hour” the demon came out of this young slave girl. She was freed by the power of Christ.

Anytime we are faithful to the gospel – faithful to not only live lives of holiness in honor of God, but faithful to share the glorious good news of what Christ has done for sinners on the cross – we will encounter spiritual resistance.

It may not look like demon-possessed people jumping out from behind bushes (though it might), it be could something like Job went through. But the comfort we have is that Satan is a defeated foe. And the power of Christ will always triumph over him

George Whitefield was a great evangelist in the early 1700 hundreds in this county and in Great Britain. And he has this great quote where he essentially says, “We are indestructible so long as God has something for us to do.”

Even in the midst of demonic resistance, we can expect to experience the divine power of the risen Christ. Power that will enable us to preserve in proclaiming the gospel.

4. Expect Divine Joy in the Midst of Hopeless Circumstances (16:19-40)

But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. [20] And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. [21] They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” [22] The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. [23] And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. [24] Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Luke gives us a great play on words between verses 18 and 19. We could render the text something like this: “and the spirit left her that very hour, and when her owners saw that their hope of gain had left them, they seized Paul and Silas.”

The owners of this poor girl were enraged because now she was nothing to them. She was just an ordinary girl and there profit margin from her demonic abilities was zero. So, they take out their anger on the men who took away their income – Paul and Silas.

These men play the race card and appeal to the popular anti-Semitism of the Romans, claiming, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. [21] They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

The city’s magistrates are interested in maintain law and order more than an kind of civil right or sense of justice and so allow Paul and Silas to be beaten and then thrown in prison.

This kind of thing happens all the time. In the early days of the Salvation Army in the East End of London as the missionaries went around preaching and people were converted, alcohol sales started going down dramatically and the alcohol sellers were furious. And much like these people in our text, they organized opposition to the Christians. In 1889 alone, 669 members of the Salvation Army were assaulted, some were killed many were maimed. That’s the opposition of those blinded by money and materialism.

But then Luke tells us the most amazing thing – amazing for several reasons:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. [27] When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. [28] But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” [29] And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. [30] Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” [31] And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” [32] And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. [33] And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. [34] Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

Here are some people who appear to be at the end of their rope. You got the apostles who are beaten and imprisoned. And instead of cursing, bitterness, and despair they are singing and giving praise to God.

Could you do that? I want to tell you that it has nothing to be do with being courageous or having nerves of steel. It has everything to do with loving God and delighting in him. It was Nehemiah who told the people of Israel “the joy of the Lord is my strength” (8:10).

And so, even today, you have people like Richard Wurmbrand who founded the Voice of the Martyrs ministry. He was imprisoned by the communists for 14 years, 3 of those years in solitary confinement. And yet this is what he writes: “The communists believe that happiness comes from material satisfaction but alone in my cell, cold, hungry and in rags, I danced for joy every night. Sometimes I was so filled with you that I thought I would burst if I didn’t give it expression.”

When you have a deep, lasting joy – the kind of joy that only comes from deep communion with God – then you will have the kind of strength that people like Wurmbrand, and Paul and Silas exhibit.

Then there’s the jailer. He was responsible for the prisoners. If they escaped, he was good as dead. For him, there appears to be nothing left to live for. But then Paul calls out to him and says, ‘Don’t do it – we haven’t left!’

And this guard who has heard the singing – probably the psalms of a God who saves – says, ‘How can I get what you’ve got? What must I do to be saved?’ And the answer that Paul gives is the same answer that we give today: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

And this the message that brought joy to this man’s heart and ultimately the heart of his entire household. The truth that salvation does not come by anything that we can do. God says, not of your good works are worthy of the salvation I offer. Of the forgiveness of sins that only I can give, and the lasting happiness of my presence forever.

No, you must only believe that I have provided in full for your salvation. That when Christ died on the cross for sinners, he fully satisfied God’s wrath against their sins. And it is on the basis of Christ’s death as an atoning sacrifice that we are made right with God. That’s the message of the gospel. that’s the message we preach and the message that jailer believed that allowed him to experience the joy of the Lord.

Conclusion

Mission Unstoppable: “But God Meant it for Good” (Acts 15:36-6:10)

But God Meant it for Good

Acts 15:36-6:10

Introduction

If you recall, the last time we are in Acts 15, we saw the Jerusalem Council. There the apostles affirmed the Apostle Paul’s contention that the Gentiles could be saved as Gentiles, apart from keeping the Law of Moses.

Now, Paul has returned to Antioch along with Barnabas, and two other disciples, Judas and Silas. They’ve come back to explain the Jerusalem decree. They’ve come to explain that circumcision is no longer required of Gentiles because it would be a violation of the gospel.

It would be a violation of justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Paul had won this great and important victory for the gospel. It was made clear that works have no place in justification – our being made right with God. It’s an important point, and Paul will make a great deal of it. He’s already made a great deal of it as he’d written a letter to the Galatians, who are equally troubled about this issue.

And now a year has gone by, maybe more than that. Verse 36 says, “After some days….” Its likely that the winter 48 AD has come and gone and now it’s the spring of 49 AD. And spring is the time people usually traveled. So it’s been about 14-15 months since Paul and Barnabas were in Galatia.

A lot can happen in a year, and Paul is worried about the churches in Galatia. They had had these false teachers come through and confuse them about the nature of the gospel. He’s written to them, tried to encourage them. But now he’s worried about some of the other churches as well. What’s happened to them? Are they growing, are they doing well?

And so Luke tells us,

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” [37] Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. [38] But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. [39] And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, [40] but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. [41] And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

[16:1] Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. [2] He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. [3] Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. [4] As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. [5] So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 15:36-16:5)

As we look at this passage, we want to think about this conflict that rises up between these two servants of God and see how in his sovereignty and goodness, God works to further gospel and encourage his people.

1. God Uses Sinful Servants

Things start off well, don’t they? Luke says, And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” (15:36)

As John MacArthur says, they have the right passion and the right priorities – they want to exercise care for God’s people.

The problem in comes in how they are going to do it. Luke says, Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. [38] But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. [39] And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other.

It’s something of a tense moment. Here are these two great leaders of the church – Paul and Barnabas – and something that seems almost trivial has them at odds with each other. Luke calls it a sharp disagreement. This isn’t some polite conversation; they men are having words with each other. Tempers are flaring, voices are raised and both men are insisting that they know what is best.

All of this over one man – John Mark. So what’s the big deal? Why is Paul so unwilling to have him on the team? Well if you remember back when we looked at chapter 13, we saw the Holy Spirit directing the church at Antioch to set apart and send Paul and Barnabas as missionaries to the Gentiles.

And the first place they set for was the island of Cyprus, where Barnabas is from. There Luke tells us they pick up a young man named, John Mark. This was actually Barnabas’ cousin. Mark’s mother, Mary, was Barnabas’ aunt. He seemed okay to Paul then and he was brought onto the team.

From the island of Cyprus then they pay for passage on a ship and sail to the city of Perga in Pamphylia. And that’s the when the problem started. We don’t know why – it could have been the rigors of missionary life, it could have been a spoiled upbringing, it could have been fear, it could have been any number of things – but whatever the problem was, it caused Mark to say ‘I’m out of here.’ Again in chapter 13, Luke tells us John [Mark] left them and returned to Jerusalem.

That’s the issue herein chapter 15. Barnabas is saying, let’s give Mark another chance. Let’s take him with us again. And Paul is saying forget it! Are you crazy? There’s no way I’m taking that deserter with me on another trip. And, frankly, the most difficult thing in this passage is that Luke doesn’t tell us who is right in the argument.

Some think that these two leaders are arguing is a problem. It’s not a problem, it’s actually a help! It helps show that Luke isn’t making up all of this. He’s showing us real people. Furthermore, he isn’t white-washing these men either. He’s not hiding their faults from us. Luke says these guys were just like anyone else – sinners saved by God’s grace. And sometimes they still sinned.

The reason I think Luke doesn’t show who was right is because neither of them is really right. Think about Barnabas position for a minute. Let’s give him another chance. Look, Mark was young and inexperienced; he got scared. But he’s sorry he left us and things will be different. But surely, some of this is driven by family isn’t it? I mean we’re reading into this a little here, but I don’t think wrongly so. This is Barnabas’ cousin and no one likes to speak bad about family. Barnabas is likely making too littler of what happened.

And Paul knows it. After all you can hear him say, this isn’t some holiday. This is taking the gospel to the Gentiles. This is a mission that requires dedication, long-suffering, and endurance. Mark has already shown he’s not reliable. What happens if things go south and we really need him, but he runs home again? I can see Paul’s point. In fact, personal experience has taught me this the hard way! And yet, perhaps Paul is being too stubborn. Perhaps he’s being a little hot-headed and unforgiving in this world situation.

You see, there’s no clear answer. Both Barnabas and Paul have good points, but they are also making decisions with some sinfulness as well. If nothing else, can you being a Christian in Antioch looking at these two great men – men who led you to the faith, fighting and angry at one another? Can you imagine being Mark? I can almost see him standing off in the corner, red-faced with embarrassment knowing he’s caused this great rift between these two men.

As we read this, I think we should keep two things in mind. First, even the best of Christians are still sinners and are open to falling into such a situation. Now I know here at BBC, we would never act like this – this is the kind of problem other churches have, right? We should be wary of getting caught up into making decision based on our sinful and selfish reasonings. Kingdom-interest should guide our thinking, not self-interest.

At the same time, however, we shouldn’t think that our sin and our failures derail God’s plans. It’s not as if God saw Paul and Barnabas going at it and fell off his throne in heaven from shock.

Do you remember the story of Joseph? Out of jealousy, his brothers faked his death and sold him in slavery. Joseph suffers one hardship after another bouncing around from master to master until he eventually becomes vice-regent under the king of Egypt. In that position he is able to provide food for his family in the midst of the famine and sustain the people that would eventually become the nation of Israel.

And eventually Joseph’s brothers come to beg his forgiveness and do you remember what Joseph tells them? “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20).

In the mystery of God’s providence, even the wicked actions of sinful men are woven into the tapestry of God’s plan and used to bring about good. We see it Joseph’s life, we see it all through the Bible, and in Barnabas and Paul’s life as well.

What happens as a result of this disagreement? Now there is not one missionary team going out, there’s two. Instead there being only one gospel witness planting churches among the Gentiles, now there are two. God has a way of taking even the worst of man’s sin and turning into good for his purposes.

More than that, though, we also need to see that . . .

2. God Gives Second Chances

When I was younger, a local radio station used to play these little 5 minutes vignettes from a guy named Paul Harvey. He would always tell some true story and then at the end he would show how it tied into a famous person or event. He would always end by saying, ‘and now you know the rest of the story.”

Well, I would like us to take minute and see the rest of the story about Mark this morning. Mark wasn’t just any old disciples. You see it was Mark’s mother who supplied Jesus and his disciples with the upper room for their last supper.

Furthermore, after the supper, Mark went with Jesus and the other disciples to Gethsemane where Jesus spent the night praying. And when the soldiers came to capture Jesus, he fled along with the other disciples.

Later as Paul and Barnabas had set out on their first mission trip, Mark would have talked with his cousin, Barnabas and said ‘let me go with you.’ And he went with as far as the city of Perga, and then he left them.

You can imagine then, then, the kind of reason Mark has for wanting to prove himself now. He wants to go with them again so that he can show he is a reliable disciple; that he is committed to the task of taking the gospel of Christ to whole world.

But Paul has said no – it must have been a hammer bow to Mark. In all likelihood, Mark probably looked up to Paul – saw him as a spiritual hero. And now that hero was saying he was too immature to be of any use to him. It must have been difficult.

But how does it all turn out in the end? What happens to Mark? Was Barnabas right to take him with him? Well, we don’t know what happened with Mark on that mission trip. As he and Barnabas leave, the walk right out of the pages of Acts – we hear nothing else about them.

But what happened to John Mark? The next time we read about him is in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. That letter was written around AD 60, so it’s been around 10-11 years from now. Paul is in Rome John Mark is with him. In fact he says, “if he comes to you, welcome him . . . [he is] among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and [has] been a comfort to me.”

Then we read about Mark in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. That letter is Paul’s last; it’s his final words as he is waiting to be executed by the Romans. He is writing to tell Timothy to come and see him soon because he about to die. And he says “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.”

Paul and Mark have not only been reconciled, but Mark has shown himself to be a faithful servant for the work of the gospel. It’s amazing that after such a heated disagreement with Paul saying, ‘he’s not going with me again’, the two are working together side-by-side with Paul now saying, “He’s very useful to me.”

But there’s more than that even. You know one time in seminary, we were in Sunday School and someone said, ‘I wonder why Peter never wrote a gospel.’ And I wanted to say, ‘he did, it’s just called Mark.’

You see, Mark wasn’t just useful to Paul, he actually get taken under Peter’s wing and is discipled by him. So much so that in 1 Peter 5, Peter calls Mark his son in the faith. And what is probably his greatest accomplishment is his writing of the Gospel of Mark – it’s the same Mark. He’s sat at the feet of Peter, worked alongside him, asked him about his time with Christ and writes his gospel account.

It’s amazing! Here’s a man who was a failure, a deserter, a quitter; a man who deserted Jesus and Paul in the hour of need. And that’s the man God chooses to pour out his grace upon. That is the man who God doesn’t give up on, but allows his to be strengthened and built up as a faithful servant for the gospel. This is the man God chooses to write The Gospel of Mark.

Some of you out there may feel like a deserter. You may feel like a quitter. Perhaps it’s some big sin that’s put you on the sidelines. Perhaps it’s been a series of small sins that has led you away from a close walk with God. Perhaps the cares of the world have become a priority in your life instead of the things of God.

Whatever the circumstances, you are kind of hanging back wondering, ‘what good am I to the kingdom of God?’ Maybe you’re hanging back asking yourself, ‘Can God use me? Can God use a failure like me?’

And of course, the answer is yes! The Bible says, God gives grace. That there is forgiveness with God. The promise is given to us, ‘draw near to God and he will draw near to you’ (Jas 4:8).

The God of the Bible is a God of second chances. Seconds and thirds and fourths and fifths. You cannot out sin the grace of God. So, if you find yourself like Mark did so many years ago, repent of your sin and turn back to God.

God delights to forgive the humble. He delights to take what appears to be useless and make it great in his kingdom. So this morning, turn to God and ask him for the chance to be useful again for the good of his church and the glory of his name.

3. God Provides for Ministry Success

Beginning at verse 40 Luke says, Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. [41] And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Luke says that while Barnabas and Mark went back to Cyprus view the sea, Paul choose to take Silas with him and cross over the land through Syria and Cilicia.

If you remember from several week ago, when we looked at the first part of chapter 15, you will know that Silas was one of the men sent from Jerusalem to accompany Paul and the letter giving the judgment about Gentiles keeping the Jewish law. We are told that Silas was one of the best and the brightest and did much to encourage the church at Antioch with his teaching.

So Paul would have been very happy to have him along. But more than likely this trip was originally planned with three men in mind – Paul, Barnabas, and a third man. Perhaps Silas was Paul’s choice in the first place, because now they off with only two.

But then, look at what Luke writes in chapter 16, Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. [2] He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. [3] Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. [4] As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. [5] So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

God provides the third man. In fact, it seems to be someone Paul could not have better picked himself. Young Timothy we know from Paul’s letters to him was raised with the Scriptures. Specifically, his mother and grandmother were constantly teaching him the things of God. More than that though, they taught him about Christ.

Luke says Timothy is a disciple – he’s already a Christian. His mother and grandmother have not just taught him some moral ways of living, they have taught him of Jesus Christ, the Messiah that was promised and came to save sinners.

They would have showed him how the Scriptures foretold of how Christ would come and be the mediator needed between sinful man and a holy God. How Jesus Christ came as God in the flesh. How he died as a sacrifice to appease God’s wrath against his people’s sins. How by looking to Christ in faith, trusting him to make us right with God, would bring forgiveness and life.

Young Timothy has believed, he’s made Christ the savior of his life.

More than that though, he is half Jewish and half Gentile. In Timothy, Paul has found someone who will help bridge these two cultures as the gospel is preached. Paul says, ‘I want this guy with me!’ Timothy agrees to go with Paul.

And because he is half-Jewish, Paul has him circumcised so that he will not be a stumbling block to the other Jews he will encounter. He doesn’t do it out of pressure from them saying that Timothy isn’t saved. No because later he refused to circumcise Titus who is a Gentile. No, he does it so that Timothy will be able to have fellowship with the other Jews who would have considered him Jewish.

The last time Paul was in Lystra he was stoned and dumped out of the city like a piece of trash. This time, God has used the sinfulness of an argument to bring him back here and connect him with a godly young man who become Paul’s dearest friend and partner in ministry.

In his sovereign goodness, God provides exactly what Paul needs for his ministry. In fact, he provides it in ways that even couldn’t have predicted. God uses the sinful disunity between Barnabas and Paul to bring about a greater good.

And what was the result of this new team? Luke says “So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Not only were the churches themselves encouraged, but they were growing. The gospel was being proclaimed and people were getting saved.

Conclusion

When I went to my first Promise Keepers conference back in high school, I went with my church youth and music ministers and a deacon and we stayed in a couple’s home who lived near the where the conference was being held.

The husband was a very kind Christian man, not unpleasant, but had a very serious undercurrent to him. Later, I heard his testimony of how he came to faith. Years before he had been a drunkard. He didn’t drink out of depression or anxiety over life, he drank because he enjoyed it. He loved to party. And no matter how hard his family worked on him, he never would sober up.

Until one day he had come home drunk and turned around and was about to leave drunk. He got into his car turned the key and began to back down the driveway when he hit something. The man got out of the car to see what he’d hit and he saw his little 4-year old girl crushed under his car.

More than anything else in life, he loved his little girl and he had just ran over her in his drunkenness. He yelled for his wife to call 911, and picked up his daughter held her in his arms. As her life was quickly slipping away, she looked up and ‘Don’t be sad, Daddy, I forgive you.” Then she died.

That man was absolutely devastated. Up to this point, every argument, every conversation, every reason given to him to stop drinking he simply shrugged off. But this turned his life around. God used this terrible tragedy to crush his heart and bring him to faith in Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, even in the worst of situations, God can bring about good. Knowing that gives us the confidence to press forward in the calling God has placed on our lives. Knowing that allows us to go to him in repentance, to endure hardship, and to share Christ with boldness and love.

Christians & the Law 2 (Matthew 5:17-20)

The Fulfillment of the Law in Christ

Matthew 5:17-20

Introduction

It is important that this morning we begin where we ended two weeks ago. Some of you weren’t here others of you have forgotten, myself included. So let’s remind ourselves what we saw from Hebrews 8

Matt 5:17-20

[17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. [19] Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

1. The Intended Fulfillment of the Law in Christ

Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” What does it mean that Jesus has fulfilled the Law? Well it depends on how we understand the word ‘fulfill.’

This word is has been understood in all kinds of ways. Some think Jesus fulfills the law by confirming or establishing it. Others think that he fulfills it by bringing the fuller, intended meaning to the law. Still yet, there are those that think Jesus reduces the law to its simplest form.

There is something of a grain a truth to some of those things, but all of those things understandings also have problems when we look to the bigger picture of Jesus’ teaching. The best way to find out what Jesus means when he says he fulfills the law is to look in other places where the word fulfilled is used and see what it means.

When you look at Matthew especially, you see that this word almost always means to fulfill a prediction or prophecy. In the past, God said he would do something, and then he fulfills his word and does it.

Those listening to Jesus teach would have heard him say things that clearly overturned what the law said. And so Jesus is saying ‘Be careful in how you understand my teaching. I am not seeking to abolish the Law or the Prophets. Instead – in my teaching, in my life, I am bringing to pass all that the Law looked forward to.’

Thus Jesus did not come to keep, preserve, or intensify the Law, but to fulfill it. He is not coming to simply maintain the tradition, or to destroy it. All of God’s previous revelation – all of the Old Testament has pointed to him, and now he is here. He brings all of its expectations to pass.

If you’re studying for a degree in Engineering or Education. You are preparing for a specific task – to be an engineer or to be a teacher. You go to school, you take classes on all kinds of diverse subject related to your field. You have life experiences and internships that help your education along, making concepts more clear to you.

Then, you graduate and get a job in your field. Suddenly everything that you have been working towards becomes reality. You weren’t just going to school for the sake of getting a degree. The school was a means to an end, a goal. Now the education is over and the goal has been met. That doesn’t mean that you forget everything you learned. It means that now all of your education is put to its proper use.

The Law’s relationship to Christ is very similar. Everything in the Old Testament is pointing forward to Christ. Every story, every passage, every proverb, every law, every list of dimensions for the Ark, and every genealogy – all of them were inspired by God and wrote down by men in anticipation of Christ.

And now what was anticipated has come. Christ has come and brought fulfillment to the Law. Why should we treasure the fulfillment of the law by Christ? Because it means that we are no longer under the old covenant that existed between Israel and God. Now, as Christians, we are part of the new covenant in Christ.

So what does that mean for how we are to relate to the Old Testament Law?

2. The Abiding Relevance of the Law in Christ

Jesus says, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Jesus has come to fulfill the law and he says that until the plan of God in Christ is complete, the entirety of the law has lasting value. Now, there are traditionally two ways to explain how Law still has value for the Christian. (Actually, there are more than two, but only two that really make any sense).

First, some want to say that there are three parts of the Mosaic Law – the ceremonial, the civil, and the moral. The ceremonial is the part that deals with the worship of Israel – everything related to the Temple, the sacrifices, and the priesthood. Then there’s the civil – all of the laws that deal with the larger social life of Israel, the kingship, military service, etc. Then there is the moral law – everything that spoke to what God had declared was right and wrong. It was epitomized by the Ten Commandments.

And some will say that in fulfilling the in the Law, Christ does away with the ceremonial and civil parts, but upholds the moral part of the Law. So even as Christians we are obligated to keep the moral laws of the Old Testament.

But there are some problems with that. First, no where in the Bible is that distinction every made. No biblical writer ever breaks the Law up that way.

More importantly though, because God gave the law – all of it is moral. If you didn’t keep any part of the law, whether it dealt with the priesthood or public sanitation, it was sin; a moral offense against God.

Finally, Jesus himself seems to bring to an end certain laws that appear to be moral in nature, like keeping the Sabbath. It’s hard to say we should keep the Ten Commandments when Jesus himself says, no you don’t need to.

This option just doesn’t seem to work.

The second option says this – just as Jesus says, the Old Testament Law is not Old Testament be abandoned. However, because it pointed to him, and find fulfillment in him, the Law must now be interpreted in light of Christ.

In other words, we understand that the Old Testament Law was just that – rules and regulations that served the life and worship of a very specific people, the nation of Israel. Those things were good and helpful but now that Christ has come, there purpose has come to an end.

This is why Paul says to the Galatians “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,” (3:24-25).

Those laws no longer stand as the ultimate standard of conduct for God’s people. Now, it is the teachings of Christ that act as the standard for God’s people.

Furthermore, Christ and his teachings are the lens by which the Law is to be understood and obeyed by Christians. This is why the New Testament writers can talk about the something called the ‘Law of Christ.’

The most helpful passage on this is from Paul in 1 Corinthians 9. There he is talking about adapting his way of life in non-sinful ways so that he associate with people and share the gospel with them. So, he says, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. [23] I do it all for the sake of the gospel,” (22-23).

So how is Paul going to relate to Jewish people who live according to the Old Testament, Jewish Law? He says, – “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. [20] To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.

He says, although I am not under the Law, bound to keep it in any way, I will gladly live according to the Law in order to have fellowship with my Jewish brothers so that I can tell them about their Messiah, Jesus.

But then, what does he do when he is around Gentiles? Paul says, “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law” (9:19-21).

What does he say? Around Gentiles, I don’t keep the Law. But notice what he says. He says, just because I don’t keep the Old Testament Law, that doesn’t mean I don’t keep God’s law – that doesn’t mean I live an immoral life, doing whatever I want. No, as one who believe in Christ, I am under God’s law – specifically, the law of Christ.

This then is the new covenant believer’s relationship to the old covenant Law. The Law is not our Law – it is not our final standard of conduct like it was for Israel. Rather, it is the law of Christ – his teachings that serve as the final authority in our life.

However, the Law has an abiding relevance to us if we read it, understand it, and apply it through the lens of Christ. Because he is the goal of the law, Christ determines in what sense the law continues, what its true direction is, and how it is to be obeyed.

3. The Radical Righteousness of the Law of Christ

In verse 19, Jesus says, “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

In Jesus’ day, if you were to get Zogby or someone to poll the people ask them who were the most righteous people living, the answer would have come back, ‘The Pharisees.’ They seemed to keep meticulous care of the Law, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s.

But Jesus say, look my disciples will have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. When the people heard that they would have been thinking, ‘How is that possible?’

The truth is it would have been easier than that they thought. Because the Pharisees’ righteousness was not a real righteousness. They claimed to care about the Law, but they really trashed it. They had reduced the Law to a series of do’s and don’ts and lost any sense of the Law’s calling to a life of radical holiness in all areas of life.

More than that though, they were depending on their obedience to the law to make them right with God and bring God’s blessing on their lives. It was deadly mix of grace and works. The Pharisees thought that God’s grace got them – they were born as Jews. But then their works kept them in the covenant; their works saved them.

But what does Jesus say? That kind of thinking, that way of pursuing righteousness just won’t cut it. [20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

How can our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees? By seeking to live by the Spirit and not according to a set of rules. If we look to the Gospel and not the Law for encouragement to holiness.

Let me explain what I mean. As Christians we should not try to look at the Old Testament Law and be motivated to godliness. The Law wasn’t intended for that. The Law says ‘do this and live.’ God said keep these commands according to the covenant promise you made and it will go well with you in the land I have given you.

But we’re not under that covenant anymore. So what do we do? We not look for another law, even the law of Christ. Instead, we look to the Gospel and hear Christ say, “Live! Now do.”

The law of Christ is helpful to us because our minds are not yet fully transformed by God’s Spirit. So, it helps give us guidance as to how we are to pursue holiness. But we never treat it as law in the sense of keeping something to make God happy with me.

The gospel says, ‘God gives us grace, gives us spiritual life, forgives our sins, and then says live in a way that pleases me.’ We aren’t trying to be holy so that God will accept us. Instead, we are living holy lives because we love Christ so much for saving us!

I hear all the time about people who have marriage problems. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a perfect marriage, but it’s a good one. Because I’ve learned the secret of a good marriage: don’t be selfish.

When I’m selfish, the marriage is bad. When I’m not selfish the marriage is good. The more I give and sacrifice and show love towards Melinda, the more she displays her love for me. If I strut around the house like the boss, there’s going to be friction. But if try to serve her with humility, and be a leader and not a bully, she gladly follows and love me all the more for it.

The principle holds for all relationships. When you show love, you’re going to be shown love. It’s as easy as that. And the same is true when it comes to pursuing holiness.

Romans 1-11 is all theology, and then chapter 12 begins Paul’s shift into exhorting the Roman Christians to live holy lives. Do you know what kind of theology Romans 1-11 contains? It’s basically all the gospel.

So when it gets to chapter 12, Paul can say ‘offer your lives as a sacrifice to God – living, holy, and acceptable to God. Why should I do that Paul? He says, because of the mercies of God. Because God looked at the sinfulness of your heart and saw a person who only deserved the just sentence of eternal punishment you deserve.

But instead of punishing you, he sent his own Son to die in your place. And that son, Christ, went willingly out of love for his Father and love for sinners who would one day be called his people.
And when you come to grips with that, when you believe it, and trust Christ as your savior by faith, then the pursuit of holiness completely changes.

Conclusion

One pastor puts it like this:

“We are blood-bought servants of Christ. He loved us and gave himself for us. He died that we might be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. Jesus Christ, the incarnate, crucified and exalted Son of God — he is our Lord, our Master, our Husband. We love him because he first loved us. We desire to listen to his voice, to obey his sweet commands, to place ourselves under his light yoke. We long to please him, to receive his “well-done, good and faithful servant” at the last day. We do not obey because it is required under threat of judgment. We obey because we have already been judged in forensic union with Christ and have come out the other side to walk in newness of resurrection life, the life of Christ beating in us and through us by his Spirit.

We do not obey in order to enhance our assurance of God’s favor. We obey because we have already received the ultimate, definitive verdict, pronounced in the cross and resurrection, that we are perfectly, irrevocably righteous in God’s sight and entitled to enter heaven on the basis of the perfect righteousness and merit of Christ. The gavel has come down, the sentence has rung out throughout the universe:  You are mine! No one can snatch you out of my hand! You are my blood-bought servant, a brand snatched from the burning! No angel, no demon, no sin can take you out of the favor of being accepted in the Beloved!

And so, in reliance on that immense grace, I strive to obey everything that Jesus, lover of my soul, commands me. I cannot bear to look at the . . . law of God . . . without immediately being struck with terror and wilting under its crushing weight. But when I gaze upon my Savior’s face, when I see the wounds in his hands and feet and side, when I see his gracious eyes of love, knowing that I am his and he is mine, then I am ready and willing to leap up in joy to serve him at his every beck and call. Lord Jesus, I am ready. Command me! I will follow. I long to do your will. I will not do it perfectly. I will fall on my face. But you will uphold me and set me back on my feet. You will reassure me that I belong to you even when I stumble and sin. And you will enable me, by your Spirit, to begin, in some small measure, to put to death the misdeeds of the body and to bring forth the fruit of righteousness to the glory of your name.”

Christian brothers and sisters, do not look to the Law for salvation or as a rule to live be. Look to Christ. Look to his love for you and joyfully obey him by the power of his Spirit.

Christians & the Law 1 (Hebrews 7:11-28)

The Law Was a Shadow of Spiritual Realities

Hebrews 7:11-28

Introduction

John Newton who wrote the great hymn Amazing Grace once wrote in a letter to a friend that ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of the most of our religious mistakes.

What law was he talking about? Not the laws of this country or any laws in general. No, he was speaking of the law given to Israel by God. If you read the book of Exodus, you will see God rescuing Israel out of bondage to slavery in Egypt.

Then God enters into covenant with the people of Israel. He commits to be their God – to bless them, protect them, provide for them, to give them joy. Israel commits to be God’s people – to worship and serve him alone, to find their joy in him alone.

And in order to show them how to live and serve a holy God, to not live like the pagan peoples around them, God gave them a law through Moses. This was composed of 613 laws that regulated everything from what the people to eat to how they should handle community sanitation to how they should worship the one, true and living God.

The law ordered their daily lives. Keeping the law was an expression of faith in God. Keeping the law did not save Israel. They were not saved by their works – they were saved by faith in God, just as Christians are saved today. But they kept the law as an expression of their faith in God. If they loved God, they demonstrated that love by obeying his commands. God in turn, promised blessing for his covenant people if they keep the law and curses if they did not.

Living by that law or not living by that law dominated the life of Israel for thousands of years. But then when Christ came, Israel was not exclusively the people of God. Whereas before, Gentiles could be part of God’s people by living under the law – by becoming Jewish – now, the offer of life was extended to Gentiles as Gentiles.

Anyone could experience life with God without having to become Jews. And last week we saw from Acts 15, that the apostles and the elders of the church of Jerusalem said that Gentiles should not be expected to keep the Law of Moses.

But confusion about the law persisted, and still persists even to this day. Newton was right. Unfortunately, most Christians even today are confused on what place that law has in our lives. After all, we are used to hearing what Paul say things like Rom 6:13 – “you are not under law but under grace.”

And yet at the same time, Paul will speak of the entire Old Testament, including the law and say things like 2 Tim 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Many Christians believe that while they shouldn’t keep the part of the law of Moses that involves offering animal sacrifice for the remission of sins, they should keep the Ten Commandments. So how do we decide what we’re supposed to do and what we shouldn’t do?

For the next two or three week, we want to look at this issue. What is a Christian’s relationship to the law of Moses? Do we keep it? Do we not keep? If not, what do we do with the Old Testament?

Let me say from the outset that I believe the New Testament teaches that since Christ has come, there has been a fundamental shift in regards to the Law. In fact, I plan to show from the Bible that as Christians, we should try to keep the law.

That doesn’t mean that we should stop reading the Old Testament or the law. That doesn’t even mean that the law is not profitable for us as Christians. However, we have to read and apply the law through the person and work of Christ.

Today, we want to begin looking at this by seeing that even in the Old Testament, God revealed that there would be a change regarding the law. Specifically, that the law was given as a foreshadowing of what would come in Christ.

We want to look at the Hebrews 8. To give you some idea of what is going on here, let me remind you that the book of Hebrews is written – oddly enough – to a group of Hebrews! That is, a group of Jewish Christians. And as persecution is rising there is a strong temptation to go back to Judaism.

You see, their Jewish friends and family, their community is ridiculing them, making life difficult for them because they now worship Christ. And so now they are thinking, you know we can still worship Christ, but we can live like Jews again – we can live according to the law, offer sacrifices and the pressure will let up.

And the author of Hebrews is writing to say, ‘look you really don’t want to do that!’ His entire argument is that Christ is better. Christ is better than everything Israel had previously because what they had previously pointed to him. Christ comes with better teaching, Christ offers a better sacrifice, Christ is a better high priest, Christ is a better leader for God’s people – in every way, Christ is better.

Hebrews 8:1-13

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, [2] a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. [3] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. [4] Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. [5] They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” [6] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

[8] For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [9] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. [10] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [11] And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. [12] For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

[13] In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

1. The Better Priest of Our Salvation (8:1-5)

In v. 5, Hebrews writes, “[The things of the old covenant] serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’”

That last sentence is a quote from Exodus 25:40. There God is speaking to Moses, and the point Hebrews is making is that everything in the Old Testament tabernacle – the priestly garments, the furniture, the sacrifices themselves – were copies and shadows; symbols and pointers to a heavenly reality.

When God gave Moses a pattern for the priestly, sacrificial system, he didn’t just make it up. He didn’t just say, this would look cool. No, he gives Moses a glimpse of the glory of heaven and says this is the pattern for what I want you to make. This is the reality that cast a shadow onto Mount Sinai.

And the point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has not just come to fit into the earthly system of priestly ministry as the best and final human priest, but he has come to fulfill, and put an end to, that system. He’s the reality, the substance that the shadows of the old system points back to.

And Hebrews is saying, why are going back to the shadows – look to the real thing! So how is Christ the better priest? How is he superior to the priests of the old covenant?

1.1. Served in the better temple

Where did the priest of Israel, the priests of the old covenant serve? In a tabernacle – a tent that was packed up and carried around for a couple hundred years. Then in the temple, the permanent tabernacle that was set up in Jerusalem. It was a structure made with human hands.

But where does Jesus serve as high priest? Hebrews says, “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.”

This is not shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats. This is final, ultimate reality: God and his Son interacting in love and holiness for our eternal salvation.

Jesus deals directly with God the Father. He has a place of honor beside God. He is loved and respected infinitely by God. He is constantly with God in the heavenly temple. No Old Testament priest could ever say that!

1.2. Offered the better sacrifice

“For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. [4] Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

Hebrews reminds us that the very essence of the function of the priesthood is mediation. The priest offered up sacrifices for sins of God’s people unto God, standing in between and offering up prayers and supplications and intercessions and sacrifices to God, asking him to deal graciously and mercifully to His people.  That’s the essence of priesthood, to offer that sacrifice, to intercede, to mediate.  The author of Hebrews is saying, Jesus didn’t walk up and offer up some animal on the altar.

Later in Hebrews 10, we’re told, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. [5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

Jesus offers himself as the sacrifice. And it was the perfect sacrifice. The other priests went in year after year after year, offering animal sacrifices. And Jesus came and put an end to it all. He offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. And while the other priests’ offerings could never take away sin, Jesus’ did. His sacrifice fully satisfied the wrath of God against the sins of his people.

2. The Better Covenant of Our Salvation (8:6-13)

Hebrews says, “Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.”

He says, why are you going back to an old covenant that? It served its purpose, but now its purpose is over. Now, we have a better covenant that stands on better promises. How is it better?

2.1. Creates a faithful people

[8] For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [9] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

Here’s the biggest problem with the old covenant, as a whole, Israel couldn’t keep it! Notice what he says – “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Dr. Christian Barnard, the first surgeon ever to do a heart transplant, impulsively asked one of his patients, Dr. Philip Blaiberg, “Would you like to see your old heart?” Later that week at 8 P.M. the men stood in a room of the Groote Schuur Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Barnard went up to a cupboard, took down a glass container and handed it to Dr. Blaiberg. Inside that container was Blaiberg’s old heart. For a moment he stood there stunned into silence-the first man in history every to hold his own heart in his hands. Finally he spoke and for ten minutes plied Dr. Barnard with technical questions.

Then he turned to take a final look at the contents of the glass container, and said, ‘So this is my old heart that caused me so much trouble.’ He handed it back, turned away, and left it forever.

God’s problem isn’t with the covenant, it’s with the people who couldn’t keep it! So he says he will create a new people, a faithful people with this new covenant.

Why will they be faithful? Because the law will be different. It will not simply be some external code that they are trying to live up to but never can. Instead, God will give his people new hearts. Hearts that have the law of God etched right in.

As Christians we can look back to our life and say this is what caused so much pain – my sinful heart. But thanks be to God who, because of the work of our great high priest, Jesus Christ, he has given us a new heart. He has given us his Spirit which causes our heart to long for God. A heart that beats with passion for him and a life that lives according to his ways.

2.2. Accomplishes lasting salvation

Hebrews continues to quote from Jeremiah and the Lord says, “they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Under the old covenant, you had believers and non-believers. That is, the old covenant was made with the entire nation. But just because you were born into the nation of the Israel and a part of the covenant, you were no necessarily a believer.

But now, Hebrews says the promise of the new covenant has come in Christ. And now what the Lord had foretold has come true. And part of the glory of the new covenant is this – though it spans more then just Israel, though it stretches forth across the entire world, everyone who is a part of the new covenant will be a believer.

So when the Lord says those in the new covenant will not teach, he doesn’t mean teach the Bible or teach about Christ. He means teach them about God in such a way as to draw them into faith in God for salvation. We don’t try to save other Christians. By definition, we are already saved. In the language of this passage, we know the Lord.

And what does it mean to know the Lord? In part it means this, God looks at us and says, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” It means lasting, permanent forgiveness! This new covenant was ratified by the shedding of the blood of Christ – the sacrifice that ended all others sacrifices and brought full salvation.

Conclusion

In the end then, this is the conclusion Hebrews reaches – “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

The great and overarching point of this passage is that we have a great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who came into the world as the Son of God, lived a sinless life, offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of his people, rose to everlasting life at the right hand of the majesty of God, and there loves us and prays for us and bids us draw near to God through him.

Christ did not come to fit into the old system of priestly sacrifices. He came to fulfill them and end them. He is the reality; they were the shadow and the copy of the reality. When the Reality comes, the shadow passes away.