You are invited to be a part of a great story (Acts 16:6-15)

 

You are invited to be a part of a great story (Acts 16:6-15)

‘You can do anything you want, so long as you set your heart on it.’

‘You can achieve anything you put your mind to.’

As a famous poem declares, ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’

Has anyone ever said such things to you?  If they have you need to realize that they are utter rubbish.  They’re a big fat lie!  There are tons of things you can’t do no matter how hard you try.  In fact, we have far more limitations than abilities.

Think about it:

‘You can do anything you want to do, so long as you set your heart on it’.  Try running faster than the speed of light.

            ‘You can achieve anything you put your mind to.’  Try turning yourself invisible.

But just because we have loads of limitations doesn’t mean that we are destined to live small, meaningless lives.  In fact, God invites us into a bigger story than simply living for hook-ups and hangovers.  It’s a better than any lived on or through a screen.  This morning you are being invited into this God’s story.

1.      We make our plans, but God directs our actions (6-10)

There is a great guy called James Healy-Hutchinson, who teaches the Bible in a college in France.  On one occasion he was giving an update of his work to a church in Dublin, and explained, in his lovely polite accent, that ‘it may please the Lord to frustrate my plans.’  The book of Proverbs tells us that while we make our plans, it is God who directs our actions (Proverbs 16:9).  You are not the master of your fate and you are not the captain of your soul.

At the beginning of our passage God chooses to frustrate the plans of the apostle Paul and his companions.  The Holy Spirit kept them from peaching in the Roman province of Asia and would not allow them go to Bithynia.  In terms of gospel ministry, it was an issue of not yet rather than never for we know that the gospel was later preached in these places (1 Peter 1:1).

How did the Holy Spirit frustrate their plans?  We are not told.  Maybe they were given a word of prophecy; they might have received a strong sense of prompting in their hearts; or, it could be that circumstances didn’t allow it—that doors closed.  God changed their plans and God did this because He knows what is best.

My wife, Caroline, studied Russian in college.  She had planned to study German, but she didn’t get the points.  ‘It pleased God to frustrate her plans.’  When I first met her, I thought ‘why would someone study Russian?’  Little did I know!  Russian has changed Caroline’s life.  It enabled her to her to serve for three years in Belarus setting up Christian student societies.  It has connected her with all sorts of people.  It still helps her, even now, as she gets alongside Ukrainian refugees.

God will bless you as much with the doors He closes as with those He opens.  You might have your heart set on a certain friendship or relationship, that simply doesn’t work out.  But God still knows what is best!  Things might not work out in your family the way you wish.  But God never forsakes His children.  I think that He has shaped me more through the things that He has allowed me fail in than in those areas where He has allowed me succeed.

Next something unusual happens in our passage.  During the might Paul had a vision in which a man was begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’  What help was this man looking for?  They wanted to hear about Jesus.  There is nothing that people need more than Him!

This vision reminds me of what happened with our national saint, Patrick.  He had been captured from his homeland in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland.  That was certainly not Patrick’s plan, but it was here that he remembered his parents’ faith and came into relationship with Christ.  God later enabled him to get home.  But when Patrick was at home he had a vision in which he heard the words, ‘O holy boy, we beg you to come again and walk among us.’  Patrick returned to the land of his slavery to speak about the one who rescued him from his slavery to guilt and the fear of death.

Just a small observation before we move on to our next point.  In verse ten we read that ‘we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia.’  The ‘we’ here implies that the writer of the book of Acts is now with them.  Doctor Luke, who wrote one of the four gospels and this follow up book of Acts joined the team in Troas.  If God had allowed Paul and his companions to take their planned route would Luke have ever joined them, and would we have the book of Acts?  God knows what He is at when he frustrates our plans!

2.      God’s plans involve precious people (11-17)

There is another thing you can’t do: you can’t open your own or other people’s hearts to the good news about Jesus.  No matter how clever you are, you cannot persuade people to give their life to Christ.  It is Jesus who opens people’s hearts to accept His good news.   

A Jewish meeting place—a synagogue—needed ten Jewish men in order to be formed.  It seems that in the city of Philippi there were not ten such men to do this.  But there were a group of women who went down to the river to pray.  One of those was a business woman called Lydia.  She was from the city of Thyatira, which was famous for luxury purple goods, and she was a dealer in purple cloth.  ‘The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.’

She had been a worshipper of God, but had not yet become a Christian.  You see, becoming a Christian is more than being religious.  Maybe you love coming to events like this.  You love singing the songs.  You love the atmosphere.  You love the people.  But have you thought deeply about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?  Jesus lived the perfect, God-pleasing life that we cannot live and died the death our guilt deserves so that we could enjoy God now and forever.  If that is not yet a reality for you, ask the Lord to open your heart.

Note that it is Jesus who opened Lydia’s heart to accept the good news.  No one comes into a living relationship with Jesus without the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is not that Jesus wouldn’t accept people if they came to Him on their own steam, it is just that left to ourselves no one would ever choose Him.  It is in our nature to resist the message of the cross.

We see this in John’s gospel, where we read ‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes into the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God’ (John 3:19-21).  Everyone runs from the light.  But God can change us so that we gladly embrace His truth. 

Knowing that people will only accept Jesus if the Holy Sprit softens their hearts should cause of to be praying for people.  For God responds to His people’s prayers.  Knowing the true faith comes from God will mean that we want to speak about Jesus because the message of the cross and resurrection brings God’s life-transforming power.  We can gather a crowd by creating a cool community, we can score points with clever arguments, but it is only the good news of Jesus that opens hearts.  We should also pray confidently knowing that God is not reluctant to rescue people, but delights to show mercy (Micah 7:18).

3.      God opened ours heart, and we open our lives (18)

After Lydia and the members of her household—which would have included servants—were baptized, she invited Paul and his companions to stay at her home.  ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house’ (18).  What we see here is evidence that God really has opened her heart to Jesus.

She goes public with her faith in her baptism.  If you want to know that Jesus really has changed you, start being open with people about your love for Him.  When I was your age I would come to events like this and travel along in a Christian bubble, and then go back to school and keep my head down as a Christian.  You don’t see much life like that.  You see life when you stand for Jesus and realize that He is standing with you.

She invited other Christians into her home.  In that culture having a meal with someone was a sign of accepting them—which is why Jesus endured so much criticism for eating with people that everyone looked down on.  Lydia is accepting her new family in Christ.  I remember one of the first times I prayed with another Christian my age.  It felt so intimate.  We experience more of the Holy Spirit as we develop deep relationships with other Christians.

I also think that she invited Paul and his companions to stay with her because she wanted to learn more about this Jesus who was transforming her life.  One of the evidences that we love Jesus is that we want to know more about Him.  Make it your goal to have a life-long growing encounter with the Spirit of truth.

Conclusion

You can’t do whatever you set you mind on.  You have loads of limits.  But that does not mean that you are limited to living in a small story.  God wants to save us from a life confined to screens, hangovers and hook-ups.  I invite you to be a part of God’s big story.

In this story God will frustrate many of your plans.  Sometimes He will bring you through dark valleys.  You might wish that you had the gifts and roles given to others in His family.  But this plan is personal.  There is a God who wants you to experience His life-transforming power, who has given us an infinitely better story to share, and who will direct us into His plans for us.

Let me finish with a favorite verse of mine:

‘For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do’ (Ephesians 2:10).

I invite to be a part of this great story!

Acts 10: A Saviour for all

 

I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and an expert was speaking about group dynamics. He explained that people readily place themselves in tribes and that these tribes can be very arbitrary. For example he took a group of people and asked them about favourite colours. He then observed that in the following discussions people sided with those who agreed with them about colours. He even divided people into tribes on the basis of whether they thought a bundle contained more or less than a hundred matches. People are tribal. It is a part of the problem with humanity. I have no doubt that the troubles in the north had little to do with real religion. It was about people despising those who were not a part of their group. Tribalism, shows itself in racism, sectarianism, the snobbery of the rich, the inverted snobbery of the poor and ageism. The problem is not loving those who have things in common with us but hating those who are different. The Jews of the first century were deeply tribal. Prejudice was raw and unashamed. The apostles lived among a people who had a morbid dislike of those who were not Jews (Gentiles). Some rabbis forbade Jews from helping a Gentile mother in childbirth because that act would bring another Gentile into the world. There was a local proverb that taught that Gentiles only existed to fuel the fires of hell. Such attitudes are so far removed from what their faith actually taught. Israel had been elected to be a light to the nations. Amongst her heroes were a Canaanite like Rahab and a Moabite like Ruth. Their major prophets looked forward to a day when people from all over the world would come into a living relationship with God. Yet the Jews had become narrow and sectarian, and were out of touch with the heartbeat of the God they claimed to know. 1. Everyone needs a Saviour Our passage begins with a very noble Gentile. Cornelius is a man of some influence, a centurion. While those who worked for the occupying forces were hated this roman soldier was actually respected. He is what the Jews would have referred to as a god-fearer: he had not undergone the Jewish rites of passage but he had an allegiance to their God. He is conscientious with his household, generous towards the poor and he prays continually. However, this devoutly religious man needs to be forgiven. We know this because earlier in Acts the apostle Peter spoke of the name of Jesus, by which all people need to be saved. Then near the end of this passage we see Peter explain to Cornelius that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness through his name. Good people like Cornelius need to be rescued from their sin. A man wrote to the Church of England newspaper, the Church Times. He explained: ‘Dear Sir, I am a country solicitor and was, at the time of my conversion some 18 months ago a churchwarden. I had been a churchgoer for most of my ... in theory at least, I appeared to have all the right qualifications for calling myself a Christian; but I have to say that I have serious doubts as to whether I truly was one ... Now by the grace of God I have joy and peace when before they were lacking. Why? Because I have been "born again".’ God is kind: he restrains our evil so that no-one is bad as they could be. God is no fool: he sees that even our best actions are tainted with self-centredness and pride. God is holy: he warns people of what our sins deserve. God is love: he sends his Son to die for a guilty world. God is merciful: he desires that all people would be rescued from condemnation. Everyone needs a saviour and that saviour is to be offered to all types of people. 2. The Saviour is for everyone Cornelius was not the only person who gets converted in this story. Peter is converted too. God deals with Peter's prejudices against the Gentiles. You see God sent an angel to Cornelius but the angel did not share the gospel with him; it was Peter who got to share the gospel with him. God could have had Peter arrange for the gospel to be sent in a message via Cornelius' servants but God wanted Peter there in person. You see God knew that Peter had to witness this conversion. Peter had to learn that God does not have cultural and ethnic favourites but accepts everyone who fears him. For Peter it began with a vision. He is praying on the flat roof of the house in which he is staying. It is midday, the day after Cornelius met the angel. The vision is of a sheet descending with all sorts of animals on it. 'Rise Peter, kill and eat.' Peter protests, these foods are unclean, but the voice responded, 'What God has made clean, do not call unclean.' You may know that Jews don't eat pork. Actually the Old Testament forbade eating many sorts of meat. The purpose of these food laws was to distinguish God's people as being different. But since the Day of Pentecost all of God's people have the Holy Spirit. Now what marks God's people as separate, or holy, is not what we eat but what is in our heart. The Holy Spirit produces his fruit in our lives. He enables us to be truthful, gentle, self-controlled and kind. He makes us think and behave more like Jesus. He makes us different, which is what it means to be holy. The animals on that sheet pointed Peter to people he considered unclean. He had failed to see that God had a plan for such people. These were people his culture had taught him to despise. Who might we be tempted to dislike? Who would we rather that God had nothing to do with? What would be on the sheet if he was calling us to share the gospel with those we call unclean? Would the sheet contain the rainbow flag of the gay and lesbian community? Maybe our attitudes towards gay people has less to do with defending the Biblical view of sex and marriage and more to do with our instinctive fear of those who can appear effeminate, loud and assertive. Would the sheet contain chocolate or peaches reminding us of those with brown skin or those called white? Would the sheet contain the caravan of a traveller, a boat for migrants, the needle of an addict, the bottle of a drunk or the burka of a Muslim? We are called to go to all these people groups with the gospel. The gospel is good news for all. We are to be a people rich in love and devoid of prejudice. When people from different backgrounds become Christians we are to welcome them into our church and homes as brothers and sisters. We are to delight in diversity for we are on our way to a heaven filled with people from every nation, tribe and tongue. One of the ministers of All Souls Church in London claimed that if we are not mixing with people of different cultures it is a denial of the gospel. 3. The Saviour died that we might live Cornelius gathers his family circle and close friends to hear what Peter has to say. It is our desire that our loved ones would be exposed to the message about Jesus. Peter reminds them of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. He tells them that we can either have Jesus as our judge or our saviour. He points then to the offer of forgiveness and life. The Saviour of the world died that we might have life. Notice that Peter speaks of Jesus dying on a tree. That is a strange way to talk about the crucifixion, especially to a Roman soldier. The Romans had developed crucifixion into an art form. Cornelius knew Jesus died on a cross. So why talk of a tree rather than a cross? Because Peter knows that Cornelius is a God-fearer who has studied the Scriptures. The cross could be thought of as a tree. The book of Deuteronomy said 'cursed is anyone hung on a tree.' Peter is teaching Cornelius that Jesus bore God's curse for our sin. Jesus died as a substitute in our place. He was counted guilty so that a holy God could punish our sin in him. As the apostle Paul later puts it, 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the rightness of God.' As Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit fell on those who listened and the began to speak in strange tongues. This is not a description of what normally happens when people come to faith. This is an echo of what Peter and his Jewish friends had experienced on the Day of Pentecost. They are being taught that there won't be two types of Christian. There won't be one experience for the Jews who come to faith and another for Gentile believers. The same gospel speaks of the same Jesus who as risen Saviour gives the Holy Spirit to all his children. Conclusion The gospel message is humbling. It tells generous and devout people like Cornelius that they are actually in desperate need of forgiveness. It tells us that our sin is so serious that nothing less than the death of God's own Son could deal with it, and that is exactly what he has done for us. But racism, bigotry, sexism and ageism are arrogant and proud. They say, 'I am better than other people because of the group I belong to.' God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Therefore bigotry is anti-God. The book of Acts centres on a command of the risen Jesus to take the good news from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts finishes with the apostle Paul in Rome, the centre of their world at that time. For those Jewish apostles they needed to overcome their prejudices if they were to be faithful to Christ's commission. We should honestly evaluate what prejudices we might be tempted to harbour and ensure that they never get in the way if sharing the good news of Jesus with all people

Acts 9:10-19 ‘Results of conversion’

Sadhu Sundar Singh lived at the turn of the twentieth century.  His conversion was remarkably similar to that of Saul.  He too was a young man who vehemently opposed Christianity until he had a vision of Christ that transformed his life.  When his family members, who were Sikhs, realised that his claim to be a Christian was not just a passing fancy, they poisoned him and sent him away from home.  He landed at the doorstep of a pastor, desperately ill.  The doctor who saw him gave up hope that he would recover.  But as he lay there, he received a profound belief that God would not call him out of the darkness to die without witnessing to his faith in Christ.  So he began to pray with all his remaining powers.  He recovered and launched into a life of witness.  Donning the garb of an Indian holy man, he travelled the length and breath of India barefoot, preaching the gospel.  This earned him the name ‘the apostle of the bleeding feet.’  For his feet, unprotected from the hostile elements, sometimes bleed.  When it latter came to his death his realisation was that he had been saved to tell others the gospel. 

Of course the conversion of the apostle Paul was in some senses unique.  People often speak of how they were brought to faith and say, ‘I didn’t have a Damascus Road experience.’  But there is a number of ways in which it is typical.  In every conversion it is God who takes the initiative; in every conversion the spiritual blind are given sight; and in every conversion a hostile mind is turned to Christ.  As we continue to look at this chapter we also see that every person is saved for service—as Sadhu Sundar Singh realised when he looked back on his life as a Christian and realised that that he had been saved to tell others the gospel.

As we continue to look at Acts 9 I want us to realise that conversion transforms our relationship towards Christ’s people and conversion is surrender to the supreme authority of Jesus.

Conversion transforms our relationship with Christ’s people

For those who missed our last look at Acts we saw that a man called Saul, backed by the religious establishment of his day, was filled with hatred of Christians and was on his way to Damascus to take them and bring them back as prisoners to Jerusalem.  But along the way a light from heaven flashed around him and Jesus addressed him personally.  Following this encounter the blinded Saul was brought to Damascus where he fasted for three days and three nights.  This was probably an intense kind of fast, without eating or drinking.  People engaged in such a fast if they were repenting or seeking God’s face.  Both are appropriate to Saul’s situation.  Saul is earnest—he is not going to rest until what began on the Damascus Road is completed! 

Meanwhile, in Damascus, the Lord spoke to a believer named Ananias.  ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Troas named Saul, for he is praying.  In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’  Ananias has heard about Saul and all the harm he did to the believers in Jerusalem and knows that he was coming to town to arrest Christians.  But the Lord tells Ananias to go to him.

Look at the first words Ananias speaks to Saul: Brother Saul.  The archenemy of the church, the dreaded fanatic, is now welcomed into the family.  Here is Ananias laying hands on someone who had approached this city hoping to arrest people like him.  Saul receives his sight and is baptised—a sign of being incorporated into the body of Christ.

Is it right to welcome former enemies in the name of Christ?  Is it right that someone like Saul should be accepted into the church?  Is it fair to expect Ananias to think of this man as his brother?  Grace says it is!  Barriers are broken down amongst God’s people when we realise the grace which saved us and the mercy the God keeps showing us.  Saul had no right to expect God’s forgiveness, but then neither does any of us.  Saul would later write, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).  By nature all of us were enemies towards God but through the cross we have been reconciled with him (2 Cor. 5:18) and with his people.

Young people, if you don’t get on with your brother or sister it is not just them that you will hurt—it will sadden your parents too.  Parents when your heart is saddened because you children are squabbling just remember that if you don’t get on with other Christians you heavenly Father is grieved.   It’s the same in God’s family.  He cares for each of us and is saddened when we refuse to love one another.  Maybe we don’t think they deserve our love—is our place in the Christian family based on what we deserved?  Maybe they have a habit of doing things that annoy us—don’t we realise that Christ accepts us even though we continue to fail him?  Maybe they have character traits that they really need to work on—have any of us reached perfection yet?  Next time you are about to complain about someone in the church think about how patient God is with you and see if that transforms you attitude towards them.  Grace transforms community.  Like Ananias we are called to accept former enemies as brothers or sisters.        

Conversion is a surrender to the supreme authority of Jesus

We are saved for service.  It is our great privilege that God has given us gifts to use and has things for us to do.  Before sending Ananias to Saul, Jesus explains to him that Saul ‘is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’  Sri Lankan Bible commentator Ajith Fernando writes, ‘While Saul encountered more suffering than many other obedient Christians, we must remember that suffering for Christ is a normal part of Christianity and it should come into standard introductions to Christianity for new believers.’ ‘Not to present the need for total surrender to Christ is to present the gospel without a key aspect of Christianity’ (Fernando).  German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, “When Christ calls a person he bids him or her, die”.

Since the summer I have been trying to underline this theme of sacrifice.  Part of the reason is because in our culture we are constantly being tempted towards half-heartedness.  The Christian in school is being told that if you want to be happy then you must fit in, so the temptation is to keep your head down and not tell anyone that you belong to Jesus.  The Christian student is being told (sometimes by Christian parents) that the key to fulfilment is achievement of grades, so study becomes everything, and so there is no good time for church or fellowship or Christian service because they are stuck in the books.  The Christian in the office or factory sees the next wrung up the career ladder and believes that will bring satisfaction, so they become a workaholic who ignores their Christian duty towards their home.  The Christian single is being bombarded with messages that say you need to have a partner to be happy, so if there is no suitable Christian to go out with they are tempted to go out with someone who is not a believer.  The Christian shopper sees the advertisement and the glitz and is fooled into thinking that they need that next purchase.  Then add the temptations to gluttony (whether that is to spend all our time in the fridge or in front of the TV), selfishness and laziness.  Our search for joy is so often misdirected.

But then there are the complimentary themes of God’s glory and our joy.  Everything that we are being told is that we will have joy if we put ourselves at the centre of our world.  God calls us to put him at the centre of our world.  God’s glory is to be our chief aim.  But, as John Piper says, ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.’  So when I speak of sacrifice I am not trying to rob you of joy.  I am trying to help us realise the place to find our greatest joy.  I am trying to show us the fullness of life that we were saved for.  Half-heartedness will steal the joy that is on offer.  When Saul set out on a life in which he would suffer for Christ’s name he was not been given second best, he was not to be pitied, he did not have reason to regret being confronted by Christ.  Let’s not deny ourselves the joy that is to be found only in wholehearted service of Christ.  At the end of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s life, as he looked back and realised that he had been saved to tell others the gospel, I am sure he did not think ‘oh if only I could have had a comfortable home, a few foreign holidays, and a nice car, then life would have been a delight.’  I am sure he looked back on his life of sacrifice and thought ‘what joy!’  Add to that the heavenly reward for his service.

Conclusion

Ajith Fernando writes, ‘the fact that the worst of sinners could be converted is a sign that the least likely people can be saved.  Such realities should encourage us to dream about, pray for, and work toward the conversion of resistant people and enemies of the gospel.’  I want to finish with the story on another hostile person who was converted—I read about this guy in a sermon.

Peter was a student in one of the best universities in the England.  He was studying law and was extremely bright.  He had everything going for him.  In fact he thought he was the bee’s knees.  He was also very good at arguing.  He was able to argue against anything his Christian friends could throw at him.  He wasn’t the sort that people expected to become a Christian.  He was too set in his ways and too arrogant.  Well one day, after Peter had had several long discussions with friends about Christianity he sat down and read a book about Jesus.  He read all that night.  At the end of that night he gave his life to Jesus.  That might not be a Damascus Road conversion but it is also amazing.  Jesus had met with him and turned him around.  He rescued this bright young law student who thought he was too clever for Jesus.  Now he is a beautiful Christian who seeks to live for Jesus Christ in his office in London.

Thank God that he is still recuing people today.  Thank God that he rescues some of the least likely people.  Thank God that he rescued us—which is amazing, for by nature we were spiritually dead, blind and hostile to God.  Thank God that as his rescued people he has a great desire to use us in his service.

Copyright note:

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission.

Acts 9:1-9 ‘What happens when we truly encounter Jesus?’

This is Christopher Hitchens.  He is an outspoken opponent of all forms of religion.  He is not content to simply call himself an ‘atheist’ but wants to get the term ‘anti-theist’ into circulation.  He explains that you ‘could be an atheist and wish that belief in god were correct’, but an anti-theist ‘is someone who is relieved that there’s no evidence for such an assertion.’  His most famous book is entitled, ‘God is not great.’  Last June, Hitchens was diagnosed with cancer.  He says that his smoking and heavy drinking made him a candidate for the disease and that he would be a very lucky person to live another five years.  As far as I know he has asked that people would not pray for his recovery, for he would not like God to get the credit if the cancer was healed.  He has also asked that people ignore any rumours that might be circulated that he turned to God during his illness.

God could display his glory by allowing Hitchens to carry on in his rebellion and then judge him for all his sin on the day of Judgement.  God could also display his glory by intervening in Hitchens’s life and bringing him to repentance and faith.  We can be sure God will do what is best.  But before we write off the possibility of God converting Hitchens we should remember all the amazing testimonies of faith that there have been through the centuries, including that of Saul of Tarsus.  Indeed, this morning, I want us to realise how amazing our own conversion was (or if you have not yet turned to Christ, how miraculous it would be if you would respond to his gracious invitation).

This was a typical conversion

When it comes to a passage like this—a narrative that focuses on a central character—preachers often ask, ‘what would this person look like if he was around today?’  That’s a complicated question in the case of Saul of Tarsus.  Here was a man in favour with the religious establishment in a society where that religious establishment carried some influence.  He actually believed that he was doing the right thing—he was sure that Jesus was dead and that this new movement of Christ-followers was a danger to his religion.  But behind any outer respectability was a callous heart, as can be seen in the fact that he had stood by giving approval to Stephen’s death and now is breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. 

Saul of Tarsus was blind to the truth of Jesus.  His hatred of Christians revealed that he was actually hostile towards God.  He would have been happy to say that he despised the person of Christ.  So it is going to take a miracle to convert him.  However, the truth is it takes that miracle to convert anyone.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit this man would latter write that the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4); he would explain that the sinful mind is hostile to God (Romans 8:7); and declared that before we were converted we were dead in their transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  Of course the blinding light, and heavenly voice, of these events on the Damascus Road were not typical, however Saul’s conversion is typical in the fact that what happens to him is what has happened anyone who has come to faith.

What hope do we have of seeing people come to faith when they are spiritually blind, hostile and dead?  By ourselves we have as little chance of producing spiritual life as someone who goes into a graveyard and tells those who have been buried to get up and live.  It takes an act of God to bring someone from the darkness into the light.  If we want to see people ‘born again’ then we need to be depending on God.  We need to pray for people; we need to ask God to take his life-giving message and open their eyes to see its truth; and we need to obey his instructions to be both a holy and loving community of redeemed people that he can use to display his presence.  These are generally the means that God uses as he brings people to life.

Conversion brings a new attitude towards Christ’s people

Saul had gone to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, which was about a week’s journey away.  He had gotten permission to take any Christians he found there as prisoners to Jerusalem.  He had set off on his journey.  But as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Notice the connection between Jesus and his people.  It wasn’t Jesus himself that Saul had been going about arresting and imprisoning.  It’s was Jesus’ people.  But Jesus asks, ‘why do you persecute me?’, and declares “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”  To persecute them is to persecute him!

How is our love for Christ demonstrated in our love for his people?  If we refuse to love his people then it is unlikely that we actually love Jesus.  What does it say about our love for Christ if we refuse to forgive people who belong to him?  What does it say about our love for Jesus if we are selective about whom we will be seen with?  What does it say about our love for Jesus if we belittle his people because they don’t sing the songs we like or worship the way we do?  Surely these words put to bed the myth that you can be a follower of Jesus but not desire to be a part of a fellowship of Christians! 

Paul would go from being someone who hunted followers of the Way, to being someone who would call Christians his brothers and sisters, who wrestled in prayer for their spiritual well-being, who went out of his way not to be a burden to them, who gave of himself for their benefit, who shed tears over them, and who cried at times when he was being parted from them.  Encountering Jesus, enables the spiritually dead people to live, the spiritually blind see, changes our attitude towards those who follow him, and finally, transforms our lives for good!

Conversion transforms our lives

“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what to do.”  So marks the beginning of a new journey for Saul.  He would live to face opposition, imprisonment, beatings and eventually execution but he would also experience a joy, peace and hope that would surpass them all.  As one person has said, his life would now be infinitely harder, but infinitely richer. 

I fear that many of us think that inviting Jesus into our lives will leave us on the same path, only now we will have a heavenly friend to walk our way; whereas actually we are put on a new road.  Saul’s life was transformed by encountering Jesus!  Do our lives show that we have been brought on to a different road?  Do we set the agenda or does Jesus?  Are we living to promote ourselves or seek his glory?  Have our priorities and passions been changed?  Do we let him tell us what is right and wrong and then respond in obedience?  Are we following his command to love all our brothers and sisters in the Lord?  If our lives are shaped the same way as they would be if we were not followers of Christ then we have some serious questions to ask ourselves.

My final thought is especially for those who are becoming aware that Christ is trying to get your attention—although it is equally relevant for those of us who are tempted to hold back in our walk with Jesus (which is all of us).  Imagine that we were to visit Saul on the last day of his earthly life.  He is just hours away from execution.  You ask him about those events on the Damascus Road and all that has happened since.  Was it easy being a follower of the way?  No!  Do you regret how you life was changed?  Definitely not!  If you were to do it again would you do it with less passion?  Absolutely not! 

Christ invites us on a path that is tougher, but infinitely richer.  He demands that he sets the agenda.  He commands us to give us sins that we cherish.  He orders us to stand by him when the crowd is going in the other direction.  Remember his words, deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me.  But though the life he is calling us to may be tough it is infinitely better.  So don’t cheat yourself out of the joy of a life lived for Christ!

 

 

Copyright note:

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission.

Acts 8:26-40 ‘The hidden hand of God works for the joy of people

One thing that convinces me that Christianity is true is seeing the various ways that God brings people to himself.  Now you might look at me and say, ‘well, you only became a Christian because you grew up in a Christian home.’  Yes, God often uses the witness of parents to bring people into a living faith.  But I also know of people who God brought to faith through different circumstances.  For example, Mucky came to faith in a remand centre where he turned to the Bible and read of Paul in prison; Neil was influenced by the love of a godly teacher; and in London I met a man from Pakistan whose interest in Christianity was aroused when he read that the Bible teaches that we are to love our enemies, and he pondered on how this was different than anything he had read in the Qur’an.

Every Christian has there story to tell.  Whatever the circumstances surrounding your conversion I hope you can see the hand of God at work.  The seventeenth century preacher, John Flavel, said, ‘In nothing does Providence shine forth more graciously in this world than in ordering the occasions, instruments and means of conversion of the people of God.’  Before you acknowledged him he was at work in the circumstances of your life, ordering events, and moving people to act and speak, that you would come to the place where you would receive his saving love.  The poet Francis Thompson spoke of the ‘Hound of Heaven’ who graciously pursues us.  John Stott writes:

Looking back over my life, I have often asked myself what it was that brought me to Christ.  As I have said already, it was neither my parental upbringing nor my own independent choice; it was Christ himself knocking at the door, drawing attention to his presence outside … Did I open the door, or did he? Truly I did, but only because by his persistent knocking he had made it possible, even inevitable. 

Realising that God is at work in bringing people to himself should affect how we go about telling people about Jesus.  We should know that if it all depended on us then the task would be hopeless.  But as we look at this passage we see that as people step out to offer Christ to others God goes before us.  I also hope that some here will see that the hound of heaven is pursing them and that they will stop running from him.

The individual means God uses to save people (26-29)

Notice the length God goes to meet this one individual, an Ethiopian eunuch.  Philip was in Samaria telling people of the good news of Jesus and amazing thinks were happening.  It might have seemed best that he should stay there God has another plan.  Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaze.”  At that time the Ethiopian is passing in his chariot—God is setting up a divine encounter.  The Holy Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.  “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip said.  This man’s encounter with God did not begin when he met Philip.  God had already being working in the situation.  This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship—it would seem that God had created an apatite for spiritual reality.  He is in his chariot reading from Isaiah.  The passage happens to be open at one of the clearest Old Testament prophesies of Christ.  God was the one who set up their meeting.  Philip simply stepped into the situation that God orchestrated and played his part.

God often uses a variety influences and people in bringing people to himself.  You may be aware of a praying grandmother, the witness of a father, the example of a Christian friend, the content of a book and the message of a meeting.  Orchestrating the whole thing is the hand of God.

A young pastor was used to lead a hardened criminal in a county jail to Christ.  This man told that preacher, ‘Now preacher, don’t get the big head because I accepted Christ.  You are just the twenty-fifth man.’  On asking what he meant, the pastor was told that at least twenty-four others had witnessed to him about Christ and that his conversation was the effect of all these together. 

God was at work before the pastor came on the scene.  We may be the first in a line of people or events that God uses to share the good news with someone or the ‘twenty-fifth man’ who witnesses the birth of new life.  Don’t be discouraged if you are never there at the birth stage, you had a role to play.  Whatever our role in that process let’s not forget that true spiritual life is a work of God!

The privilege he gives his people

If we were to turn to the twenty-first chapter of Acts we would see Luke describe Philip as an evangelist.  God gives some people a certain gifting in the area of the sharing the good news.  I often feel that churches don’t put enough effort into finding who God may have gifted in this way and are slow to give evangelists the resources to free them up for this task.  However it is not only those who are gifted as evangelists who are to undertake the task of sharing their faith.  All God’s people have a role.  At the beginning of this chapter we see that, after Stephen was martyred, all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria … Those who were scattered preached the word wherever they went (8:1-4).  Speaking about Jesus is something for the whole church to do!

But, we might say, ‘I don’t have that sort of confident outgoing personality.’  I am not the salesperson type.  Someone responsible for sales once explained, ‘I’ve got these guys working for me who think they’re great salesmen, because they are fast-talking, ambitious ‘sales’ guys.  But they’re actually not the best salesmen.  The girl who’s bringing in the most business is much more laid back, but she’s genuine.  She communicates real concern and sincerity.  She gets next to people, understands and listens to them, and then works really hard to help them get what they want.  She’s brining in the business, but if you asked her, she wouldn’t say she’s a natural salesperson.  It’s really about whether you love the product, and know it well, and whether you actually care for people and want to see them satisfied.  If you really believe in it, then you’ll sell it.’

A Christian writer explains, ‘… although we have different gifts and abilities, the most important factor is how much we love the message of God, and how much we love the people all around us who need to hear it.  You may not be the person who is going to preach to crowds, or lead Bible study groups, but if you really long to see other people become disciples of Jesus, then you will find ways of doing that within the gifts God has given you …’

What we do need is obedience!  Philip responded to the instruction to go to the desert road; he responded to the direction to stay near the chariot; he took the opportunity to answer the eunuch’s question; and he told him the good news about Jesus. 

Sri Lankan Bible-commentator Ajith Fernando writes, ‘When an opportunity comes to talk to someone about Christ, we must pray for guidance, be aware of our shortcomings, and launch out into loving witness about our Saviour … We often miss out on opportunities to witness simply because we do not take the first step to turn a conversation into a witnessing situation … I can think of several situations where I talked about many things with an individual and missed opportunities along the way to make the conversation into a witnessing situation.  I recognise too that the basic problem was my disobedience to the prompting of the Spirit.  But I also know of other situations where I did use the opportunities—and how joyous was the result, for there are few things as thrilling in life as talking to someone about the Saviour.’

‘… there are few things as thrilling in life as talking to someone about the Saviour.’  When we keep the message to ourselves we not only rob our potential hearers of the opportunity to hear the message of life, we also rob ourselves of the joy of being a part of God’s purposes in the world.  But I want to finish by pointing to the joy for those who respond to the message.

God offers you joy

John Piper says that ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.’  He says that the first line of the Westminster Confession of Faith should read, ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever.’  God wants our joy!  He doesn’t promise us comfort, immunity from sickness and sorrow, or freedom from opposition and hardships.  But there is joy!  There is the joy of knowing that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.   There is the joy of knowing that our shepherd carries us close to his heart.  There is the joy of living for his pleasure.  There is the joy of the sure hope of the life to come!

The eunuch hears the message about Jesus, foretold by Isaiah hundreds of years before.  He listens to Philip share the good news.  He identifies Christ in baptism.  Then when Philip was taken away from him he went on his way rejoicing.

I want to finish by challenging two sorts of fools. 

The first is those of you who sit in this room, hear the message but hold back from responding.  Somehow you believe that you will have more joy apart from God rather than in the grip of his grace.  Maybe you think that the challenges he will bring are too much.  But remember Jesus’ words, whoever wants to save his live will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it. 

The second fool is the person who claims that they are a Christian but who persistently compromises with sin.  We all have been there!  The problem is you are looking in the wrong place for joy.  Paul wrote of Demas who because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.  Demas’s problem was not that he sought joy, but that he sought joy in the wrong place.  He sought the shallow joy of worldly pleasures rather than the eternal joy of serving Christ.  Like someone playing with the wrapping paper rather than seeing how great the gift is.  If you are walking at a distance from God because some compromise is too precious for you to give up then you are a fool who is choosing to miss out on the joy of living a life that pleases God.  What’s more your persistent disregard for the challenge of God’s word might suggest that you are not yet been ‘born again’.

If you are a Christian look back on how you came to faith and recognise the hand of God.  If the hound of heaven is perusing you why not give in and let him embrace you in his love.  Let’s all seek the joy of being a part of God eternal purposes in the world.

 

Copyright note:

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission.

Acts 4:36-5:11 ‘The Good, the Bad and the Godly’

There are a number of terms we can use to describe ourselves as Christians.  We could say that we are ‘committed Christians’, although I don’t like this term because it gives the impression that the only difference between ourselves and other people is that we put in a bit of effort into our Christian faith.  Some people call Christians ‘good living’—which on one hand might give the impression that Christians are simply moral people who take things a bit seriously, but on the other hand might point to the change that Christ does bring in his people’s lives.  I like the term ‘born again’ because being born is something that you don’t contribute to—we have been given new life in Christ.  What about ‘saint’?  A ‘saint’ in the New Testament is not a special dead Christian it is every Christian (although you will probably be considered a bit arrogant if you start calling you self ‘Saint Eddie’).

 

A term that used to be used to describe Christians was to say ‘those are God-fearing folks.’  To be called a God-fearing person was seen as a good thing.  Now we should know that there is a type of fearing God that a Christian should not feel.  Those who are born again should not fear being condemned on the last day—Christ has dealt with our sin and we have been declared righteous in him.  But there is a type of fear that every Christian should have.  We should be people of awe and reverence towards God.  There is a balance to be found between familiarity with God and revenant fear towards him.  Someone who heard Martin Luther pray said, ‘It was with so much reverence, as if he were speaking to God, yet with so much confidence as if he were speaking with a friend.’ 

 

At the end of this morning’s passage we read that all those who heard of what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, even those in the church, were filled with fear.  This is ‘a fear of displeasing God that comes from a knowledge of his holiness and the consequences of our sin’ (Fernando).  It is a fear we all should have.

 

1. The Good—Barnabas

We have a contrast in our reading.  Barnabas’s actions are compared with those of Ananias and Sapphira.  Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at his disciples feet. 

 

Giving in the early church was voluntary and was designed to meet the needs of others and later to fund the ministry.  This giving was often radical.  Don’t imagine that it was easy for Barnabas to give in the way he did.  This was a part of his financial security that he was selling, in a time with no social welfare.  Perhaps this was his inheritance that he was handing over.  I’ll be the first to put up my hand and say that my giving tends to be safe and not sacrificial.  We give in a way that doesn’t affect the type of car we drive, won’t change our holiday plans or wouldn’t put at risk our ability to treat the kids to whatever indulgence they want.  Here’s a challenge: we are approaching the most materialist and opulent holiday of the year, Christmas; would we be willing to tell even one of our family members not to buy us a gift but to give the money to a Christian charity like Fields of Life or Tearfund?

 

In Forgotten God Francis Chan writes

A few months ago I was speaking at a summer camp, and I was speaking to one of the organisations there that sponsors children.  This volunteer told me about a sixteen-year-old girl there at the camp who sponsors fourteen children, on her own.  I was astonished by this.  Fourteen children (at about thirty dollars a month for each child) is a lot of money for a high school student to come up with.  I talked to this girl and asked her how she did it.  She told me that se works year-round and she works three jobs in the summertime to pay for the child support.  While other teenagers are saving for a car, she is saving lives!  Instead of spending her hard-earned money on herself and her future, she gives it to these fourteen children because she believes God loves them just as much as He loves her.

 

The Bad—Ananias and Sapphira

Presumably Ananias and Sapphira saw what Barnabas did and how it was approved of by the apostles.  They were jealous and decided that they would seek the adulation Barnabas received.  Where Barnabas had given out of a desire to please God they were going to give in order to win praise.

 

When Ananias brings the gift to the apostles Peter sees his deceit.  How did he know about the lie?  Presumably the Holy Spirit gave him insight.  I came across something similar with regards the nineteenth-century London preacher Charles Spurgeon:

‘While preaching at Exeter Hall, [Spurgeon] once broke off his sermon and pointed in a certain direction, declaring: “Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for: you have stolen them from your employer.”  After the service, an obviously pale and agitated young man approached Spurgeon and begged to speak with him privately.  He placed a pair of gloves on the table and said, “It’s the first time I have robbed my master, and I will not do it again.  You won’t expose me, sir, will you?  It would kill my mother if she heard that I had become a thief”’ (Sam Storms).

 

No one had been forcing Ananias and Sapphira to give.  When Peter addresses Ananias he says: ‘Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold?  And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?’  The problem was not that they hadn’t given all that they received from the sale of the property; the problem was that they pretended that they had—they sought to lie to the church.  ‘How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit…?’  Satan is the ‘father of lies’, the deceiver—don’t let him get a foothold in your thinking!  Let us always seek to be people of transparency and honesty.  Let us never put on a show to impress and deceive others.

 

Apparently the Greek word translated ‘kept back’, in verse 2, is the same word that is used of Achan’s sin in Joshua 7 in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX).  Luke wants us to see the parallel.  In both accounts the sin is met with a severe punishment.  God cares when there is hypocrisy and deceit in the camp.  God takes the purity in the community of his people seriously.  As Bible commentator Ajith Fernando writes, ‘today when Christians sin against the body, they lose their peace, the body loses its power, and the blessing of God is withheld.’  You may feel that how you behave is only your business; but if you are claiming to be a Christian and this is your fellowship then what you do affects the health and witness of this church.

The Godly—Do we have a godly attitude towards sin?

If we were to read on we would see that this story about Ananias and Sapphira is followed by an account of the church being blessed by God (5:12 -16).  The apostles were unwilling to compromise with hypocrisy and deceit, and the church was better for it.  We need to realise that church discipline is essential to church health.  Ajith Fernando writes that ‘we must confront sin when it appears in the body … today when Christians sin against the body, they lose their peace, the body loses its power, and the blessing of God is withheld.’ 

 

Do we have the godly fear of displeasing God that comes from the knowledge of his holiness and the consequences of our sin?  What about deceit?  Do those who know us best see the same person at home as they do when we are at church?  What about honesty?  One of the things that impacted me about my parents’ faith was I always knew that they told the truth!  If we are married are we committed to our spouse for better or for worse, as we promised we would be?  Are we living for our glory or God’s glory?  Remember that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble!  What about sacrifice?  Does obeying God mean more to us than our reputation, bank accounts and homes?  What about purity?  Do we battle with temptation seeking the help of the Holy Spirit or have we given up the battle and settled for a life of compromise?  What about living under God’s word?  If we are a single Christian are we committed to only entering into relationships with those who are born again? 

 

What about our church?  Do we realise that our actions are actually the church’s business?  Is discipline one of the features of this congregation?  We should welcome the non-Christian with a non-judgemental attitude, but demand that those who are our members seek to walk in obedience!  Are we so concerned that everyone would be pleased with us that we are unwilling to speak hard words to those whose actions are compromising the church’s witness?  Are we setting an example for our young people in love and truth?  Are we willing, in love, to rebuke and correct those whose actions are contrary to the Bible’s teaching in the hope that such people will not make a ship-wreck of the faith they claim to have?

May we be God-fearing folks who have ‘a fear of displeasing God that comes from a knowledge of his holiness and the consequences of our sin’