(This sermon on Acts 14 was preached on March 1, 2009. The audio will be posted at this link.)
There is more suffering in the true Christian life than you ever thought you could handle.
There is more joy in the true Christian life than you ever thought possible.
Those are the two main points of Acts 14. We'll come back to them. But now: Suppose you knew you were about to die. What would you say to those remaining behind?
When the Apostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he knew he was about to die by execution. Recall that Timothy grew up in Lystra (Acts 16); Paul met him there for the first time in the visit recorded in today's passage (Acts 14). Near the end of his life, he wrote:
You . . . know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings-- what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:10-17
Paul says "Timothy: Follow me as I follow Christ - and following Christ means suffering. Everyone who lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And you know very well what happened to me in your hometown."
As described in today's text, Paul suffered horribly in Lystra - and he had the scars to prove it. Timothy too will suffer if he continues in the faith.
But Timothy is not to respond to this prediction of future suffering with fear! Instead, Timothy is to take encouragement from Paul's own suffering. Paul says: 'You will suffer - like I have suffered. So you must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus! - like I was strong in His grace. You must continue - because you know me and my faith (and the faith of your Mom and grandmother), and you know the Word - this Word that makes you wise to salvation, and thoroughly equips you to suffer and endure."
As we saw last week: We must continue in the WORD - we must learn it, lean on it, love it. THIS is God's revelation to us - and we will never get through times of suffering without it
But 2 Timothy is a letter neither of sorrow in suffering, nor of simply endurance through suffering. Paul shows himself to be full of joy in suffering. He goes on to say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day."
Suffering - yet joy.
Just so in Acts 14: Tremendous suffering. And tremendous joy.
(This sermon on Acts 4:1-22 was preached on 11/2/2008. The audio is available here.)
Can a person be saved apart from calling on the Name of Jesus?
Last week we looked at Acts 3. Peter and John go to the temple to pray. There they encounter a lame man, a beggar asking for money. God heals him through Peter. This man is more than 40 years old; he has been begging for a long time, and thus is well known at the temple. The people are astonished.
Peter takes the occasion to proclaim the Gospel, saying,
And on the basis of faith in Jesus' name, his very name has made this man- whom you see and know- strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. Acts 3:16 NET
Peter makes four things clear: 1) Jesus is the fulfillment of God's covenant promises 2) His listeners are in the covenant! 3) They are murderers: They deserve to be cut off from God's covenant people 4) They have a choice: If they call on the Name of Jesus, they will be saved. So Peter is saying that this man was healed by the Name of Jesus, that this healing is a picture of spiritual salvation, and that there is spiritual salvation in that Name. But could there be salvation through any other name or in any other way? While Peter doesn't directly answer that question in chapter 3, he does provide us with hints:- He calls Jesus the author of life in verse 15. Could there be another author?
- He calls Jesus the promised Christ, the promised Messiah.
- He says Jesus is the descendant of Abraham through whom all nations are to be blessed
- He says Jesus is the prophesied Prophet like Moses - and that those who don't listen to Him must be cut off from God's people.
(This sermon on Acts 4:23-31was preached 11/9/08. The audio is available here.)
Imagine that you are engaged in a personal ministry. You are confident that you are following God, and it seems that you are having some success. Then, suddenly, there’s a huge obstacle in your path,
- It might be a failure on your part,
- It might be a rejection or betrayal by former colleagues,
- It might be a financial barrier,
- It might be opposition, or threats from others.
How do you respond?
In Acts 4, that’s the situation Peter and John and all the apostles find themselves in.
Jesus was killed just a few months ago. That itself had seemed to be the end of their hopes. But God raised Him from dead. Jesus opened their eyes to Scripture and to His own prophecies to see that the crucifixion had to happen, to see the role of Christ’s suffering in God’s plan. The apostles now know that Jesus is living, active, still at work.
He then sent the Holy Spirit on them with power at Pentecost, baptizing them and filling them for their special task. These apostles saw three thousand saved that day – and they themselves baptized every one. They’ve seen more come to faith day by day.
Then God worked through Peter and John to heal a man who was lame from birth. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached; once again, thousands more were saved.
It would be understandable if, at this point, the apostles thought, “Wow! Look at God work! What success! Everything is just going to get better and better!”
But things didn’t get better and better.
As we saw last week, the Jewish authorities arrest Peter and John. They threaten them, warning them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Peter speaks boldly in their presence, saying there is no other name by which men must be saved, saying that they cannot but speak about what they have seen and heard, saying they must obey God rather than men. But the Jewish authorities just threaten all the more. They release Peter and John, but make their point absolutely clear: “If you continue to speak in the name of Jesus, watch out. We’re here. You know what happened to Jesus. If you love your families, if you want to see your children grow up, you had better keep quiet.”
This is the first serious challenge to the young church.
Put yourself in their shoes: These are not supermen. They have families, worries, and cares. If they are put to death, there are no food stamps, there is no welfare, there is no social security for their children. They must be facing a strong temptation to be quiet. Satan undoubtedly tempted them in these terms: “Think about how many are already saved! Let’s just teach them. Let’s just live together and enjoy each other, be family to each other. We can stop this proselytizing. For it’s this speaking in public that will get us in trouble. Indeed, maybe this is a sign from God –we’ve been spreading the Gospel, and we’ve had our success. Now maybe we’re supposed to stop and focus on deepening our joy in Christ.”
Imagine what would have happened if apostles had done that. That would have been the end of the church. Or, possibly, the church would have been a tiny enclave, a minor sect within Judaism. In other words, that would have been disastrous.
So how do the apostles fight this temptation? How can we, facing our own obstacles, fight the temptation to quit, to change, to adapt in ways that destroy our ministry?
Peter and John fight in four ways that are applicable to us:
- Acknowledge your weakness
- Know the truth
- Trust the truth
- Ask for God’s enabling
This sermon on Acts 1:6-26 was preached 9/14/2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.)
Do you ever dream that you're in school, sitting down to take a test, and realize, "I never studied! I never even went to class!"
Or perhaps you dream that you are about to begin an athletic event - and realize you never practiced.
How do those dreams make you feel? Do you feel that way when you are called upon to be a witness to Jesus? Do you think, "I don't know enough! I need years of study to properly witness! I can't possibly make these people listen!"
Last week we began our series in the book of Acts. We saw that this book is not really the Acts of the Apostles. Only two apostles are prominent, but it is not a synopsis of their lives either. Instead, Luke opens by saying that his first volume, his gospel "dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach." Acts then deals with what Jesus continued to do. Acts tells of the continuing work of Jesus.
(This sermon on Acts 1:1-5 was preached 9/7/2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.)
Think of an important historical figure. What was his or her greatest accomplishment?
- For Thomas Jefferson, perhaps authoring the Declaration of Independence.
- For Abraham Lincoln, keeping our country together.
- For Martin Luther, taking his stand on the Word of God, and returning much of the church to biblical authority.
We had some recording problems with the August 17 sermon, "Work Hard Yet Relax During the Race of Faith," but thanks to Michael Black and Matthew Pinckney we now have…