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Subtle Sin Sows Seeds of Spiritual Decay — Judges 1:1-21
[Image from www.ChristArt.com]
We embark this morning on a new adventure. Leaving the record of the victorious spread of the gospel recorded in the book of Acts, we turn our attention to the book of Judges and the struggles of the tribes of Israel as they seek to fully possess the promised land. Never have a people been promised so much by God and yet failed to appropriate the blessings because of their disobedience and lack of faith. We are going to witness a sad tale of people that just refuse to learn from their failures and continue to commit the same sins repeatedly over and over and over again. It is no surprise that the consequences of idolatry and rebellion and friendship with the world and spiritual apathy remain consistently painful and severe.
Dramatic Farewell Message to Elders at Ephesus — Acts 20:33-38 — Part 3
PREFERENCE FOR SELF SUPPORT IN CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
[Caveat: In certain circumstances]
This will be our final message on the book of Acts. The remaining chapters detail Paul’s journey to Jerusalem, the various trials which cause him to defend himself, and then his final voyage to Rome after being shipwrecked on the island of Malta. These stories are mainly historical narrative without a lot of additional doctrinal insight. But as we conclude our study of the Book of Acts today, we come to a truly revolutionary passage in terms of modern day Christian thinking. You won’t hear this message from the lips of too many pastors and teachers. You can take courses at the best seminaries in the country and you won’t find many professors advocating for this position. That means that I must be extremely careful and guarded in what I say today. We all struggle to be objective when we come to the Word of God and not be overly influenced by our own upbringing and circumstances. We also must be balanced in giving full weight to the impact of the short paragraph in front of us while at the same time being honest about how this integrates with the rest of Scripture – this is the very difficult discipline of Systematic Theology.
Dramatic Farewell Message to Elders at Ephesus — Acts 20:28-32 — Part 2
WATCHING OUT FOR WOLVES
We covered three areas last week of the Apostolic Pattern for Pastoral Ministry:
I. (:17-21) PASTORAL TRACK RECORD OF A CONSISTENT, HUMBLE, CARING, PERSEVERING, PROFITABLE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD
II. (:22-24) PASTORAL COMMITMENT TO FINISH THE COURSE OF MINISTRY WHATEVER THE PERSONAL COST IN A MANNER HIGHLIGHTING THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD
III. (:25-27) PASTORAL TESTIMONY OF A CLEAR CONSCIENCE IN MINISTRY DUE TO FAITHFULLY COMMUNICATING THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD
Final two points each deserve full treatment on their own.
Dramatic Farewell Message to Elders at Ephesus — Acts 20:17-38 — Part 1
Bible conferences can be a special time for believers. I remember the privilege of taking in one of the Shepherds Conferences hosted by Dr John MacArthur out in California – a wonderful lineup of distinguished speakers who had much to offer the assembled group of pastors. Now imagine cranking that experience up to an unbelievably higher level and you have the type of unique pastors’ conference that the Apostle Paul hosted for the elders from Ephesus as he gathered them to himself at the port city of Miletus.
These were men that Paul had discipled for a period of three years and then appointed to care for God’s precious flock. Paul had poured his life into these leaders as well as his doctrine. He had great expectations for their future ministry. Now Paul is on his farewell tour and has one last opportunity to communicate to them face to face. His insights and reminders and warnings and exhortations in this context should guide our pastoral ministry today.
Our own emphasis on plurality of elder church government has highlighted many of the same principles featured here. This passage is close to my heart because of how deep my convictions run in these areas. We have had a lot of teaching in these same areas from our studies in 1 Thessalonians and in the Book of Nehemiah – both books focusing on a variety of leadership issues. So hopefully much of this will be review for us … but remember that what is believed in evangelical church circles today about these principles still needs to be faithfully practiced.
“Top Ten” — Reasons Hotels Provide Such Poor Lighting in Their Rooms
No matter the quality of the hotel, one thing you can count on is poor lighting in your room for the night. I guess hotels figure that everybody must stagger back to their rooms in some type of drunken stupor where any type of normal lighting would be too stark and abrasive. It is annoying enough that you have to spend time figuring out where all the switches are and what they control. But after you successfully hit the “On” switch you would like to be rewarded with some form of appropriate lighting.
So I offer my Top Ten Reasons Hotels Provide Such Poor Lighting:
10) They are trying to save money on their utility bill [Maybe that really is the only reason]
9) They did not realize that there were any Americans left who could still read
8) Their interior color scheme looks better muted
7) They don’t want you to see the stains on the carpet or linens [OK, that was gross]
6) They want to challenge guests with using their creativity to rearrange the furniture and lamps to come up with a reading position that works
5) They don’t want you to be able to read the fine print detailing all of the extra charges and taxes on your bill
4) Prevents glare on the TV which they figure you will have on all evening
3) If you are only in the room to sleep, what’s the difference?
2) Hotel rooms are notorious for a lot of shady activities [Let's not go there]
1) They thought the acronym byob meant “bring your own bulb” [Which, by the way, I have heard that many people do!]
“God Has Never Made a Mistake” — Ray Lewis
It mystifies me how people around the country view Ray Lewis as some type of thug or evil person. I understand his serious incident with the law way back at the start of his career when he made the mistake of covering up for a friend who had stabbed someone to death rather than coming clean to the authorities immediately. But he was not the perpetrator of that attack. He was definitely hanging with the wrong crowd. All he has done in his 16 seasons with the Ravens has been to exemplify leadership and praiseworthy character. His sound bytes might not always have a logical flow, but they exude passion and emotion and inspiration and a positive spirit.
You learn a lot about a person in times of adversity. Just look at how he responded to the Ravens heartwrenching departure from the playoffs in the last seconds against the Patriots. For all of his competitiveness and hard play between the lines (you never see Ray involved in any chippy or dirty cheap shotting tactics), when the final whistle blows he is the first one to accept the outcome and move on with a positive outlook on life. He appreciates the privilege of playing in the NFL but keeps things in perspective — recognizing that it is only a game. In the locker room afterwards he emphasized that “God has never made a mistake.” The team achieved their intended destiny in that sense. No one person or one play was at fault. Every one should hold their head high and remember that they gave 100% towards the team goal. There is no sulking with Ray and no excuses. There is only the joy of living life from the perspective that God is ultimately in control. How is that a “thug mentality”?
Look at how he is respected by his peers. Probably no leader of his stature in the NFL spends more time trying to nurture and encourage other players who are not on his team. He is truly a unique leader and it is time the media focuses on that profile so that people outside of Ravens nation understand the overall contributions Ray makes to the spirit of competition.
Super Bowl Shot Slips Out of Ravens Grasp — 23-20
This loss against the Patriots is too painful for much comment. [However, I need to moderate the strident initial tone here as I edit this after a day's cooling off period!] As always the play calling was too conservative and Cam did not let Joe Flacco compete until it was too late. Instead of starting the game strong, we called running plays on first down on the initial three drives. But to Cam’s credit, he did finally get Flacco out of the pocket with some rollouts that were effective. He also took some shots downfield that were wide open. The defense kept us in the game, but we did not have time to recover from last second miscues. That is what happens when your tendency is to allow for so little margin of error.
In keeping with my penchant for alliterative outlines, I will sum up the game in this agonizing three point picture portrait:
I. OOPS — Evans has the winning TD stripped from his hands in the end zone. But I was glad to see him get a chance to shine in this game after his one-handed grab against the Texans. He has been dying for a chance to contribute to this season and has had such a frustrating time of it with his injuries. I agreed with the decision to target him in the end zone and you have to give Joe all the credit in the world for bringing the team back to what should have been a win. But as Ray Lewis points out with such a mature perspective — it is either God’s time for you or it is not. Evans stood in front of the reporters in the locker room afterwards and took the heat for what was a lucky swipe by the rookie db.
Eutychus — A Divine Object Lesson Regarding Resurrection
You all remember the classic children’s nursery rhyme:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
In our story from Acts this morning we have a divine object lesson to reinforce the power of the resurrection message which the Apostle Paul was proclaiming. We find the story of Eutychus who falls to his death and is brought back to life in miraculous fashion. What all the king’s horses and all the king’s men are unable to do, God easily accomplishes through His servant Paul. The story reminds us of the incident of Christ raising up Lazarus – providing the setting for those famous words of comfort and assurance:
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and
everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
We find the Apostle revisiting churches in various cities on what amounts to a farewell tour before he ends up at Jerusalem and ultimately at Rome. His goal is to encourage and strengthen the saints and reinforce the message of new life in Jesus Christ. He wants the disciples to remain strong in the faith and continue to advance the kingdom of God. He wants to warn them about temptations and difficulties that could throw them off track. He wants to reinforce his personal love and commitment to them in the fellowship of the gospel. He has a lot to say to the saints gathered together in this upper room in the city of Troas.
Quieting the Opposition to Christianity — Acts 19:21-41
What must it be like to be in the midst of a riot?? Especially when the frenzy of the crowd is directed against you? Paul’s traveling companions in Ephesus found themselves in just such a predicament. We will look at how they got there and how God in His Providence extricated them from that mad mob. The closest we come is watching on TV some political demonstration in another country where the crowd is burning the American flag and cursing our country – not a place where we would want to be.
We have talked many times about how conflict will inevitably arise wherever the gospel is faithfully preached. The point of today’s narrative from the city of Ephesus seems to be that
OPPOSITION TO CHRISTIANITY STRUGGLES TO FIND ANY LEGITIMATE AVENUE OF ATTACK
There should really be no legitimate legal recourse against the gospel message since we are not advocating the advance of the kingdom of heaven by the overthrow of existing political regimes. We are counting on God to change the hearts of individuals and for social reform to then occur as people walk in the light and renounce their former sinful practices.
Jesus Christ — The Same Yesterday and Today and Forever — Heb. 13:8
Instability in the world is all around us. As we enter a new year, we face uncertainty about the ramifications of the change in leadership in North Korea – a regime that is developing nuclear weapon capability. We face uncertainty about what our country’s leadership will look like after the next presidential elections. We face uncertainty about the world’s economic crisis. We face uncertainty about how to pay for rising costs in healthcare and energy.
Our New Year’s message for today brings us a word of confidence and assurance. It is taken from one of the shortest verses in Scripture: Hebrews 13:8 — “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Theologians title this topic: the Immutability of God – because they like to use long, complicated sounding terminology. You know what a mutation is = some type of change. When it comes to the character of God, we have the assurance that God never mutates, He never changes.
Wayne Grudem: God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises . . .
Since God is perfect in His wisdom, His love, His mercy – you can never add anything to God and you can never take anything away from the person of God. He continues to be who He is from all eternity.