What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
All the great religious leaders of history have one thing in common: they are dead. Only one man has risen from a grave never again to taste death. Jesus Christ died, was buried, remained in the grave for 3 days, then was raised to life again.
Jesus is unique. He is the only one proven to be the Son of God because God validated His Kingship and accepted His payment for our sins all with one incredible stroke: He raised Jesus from the dead!
Paul opens his letter to the Romans with this evidence about who Jesus is:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 1:1-4
Because Jesus Christ is very much alive, five things are true right now that wouldn’t be true if He were just another dead religious leader like Confucius, Mohammed or Buddha.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive…Prayers are answered, We can talk to Jesus 24/7
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So around 40 AD, he simply issued an edict and said all the Jews got to leave Rome. Get out. And they could just do that. And so, if you were a Christian who happened to be ethnically Jewish, you just got caught up in this, because Claudius is like, "I don't care whether you're a Jew-Jew or a Christian Jew. I just want all the Jews out. Get out."
And that was his thing. And so, they had to leave. The couple we're introduced to in verse two, Aquila and Priscilla, had been living in Rome, they had become Christians, and then they had been forced to leave by the decree of Claudius because Aquila was ethnically Jewish, they had settled in Corinth and had been living there for a few years. When they meet Paul, it says, that Paul came to them, Priscilla and Aquila, and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. So, the scene is that Paul is likely looking for some Jews that he can stay within the city of Corinth.
He's asking around and he comes across. He's led by the Lord to this couple who are followers of Jesus. They open their home to Paul. They invite him to stay with them indefinitely and work in their shop, giving Paul access to their tools and giving him the means to earn an income while he's with them. Remember, Paul is alone at this time in Athens.
He has no assistance with him. And the money provided to him by the churches in Macedonia had apparently run out. It was customary for all Jewish boys, even those on track, to become rabbis, to learn their father's trade. So, we can assume that Paul's father had been a tent maker and that's how Paul had learned how to work with leather. It says in verse four, he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.
So, Paul's working full time in the week with Aquila and Priscilla, and then every Sabbath he's going to the synagogue to get into conversations with the Jews and the Gentile God fears there after the service. In the world of church planting, a world I'm very familiar with, some hold up Paul's situation in Corinth as a model, and they'll say this is what all church planners should do. They should just work a full-time job and then do ministry on the side. Such a thing is not forbidden. But to such notions, I would offer just a few observations...
Remember, Paul didn't have a wife, he didn't have children, he didn't have a marriage to maintain or children to disciple.
So, it always rubs me a little bit the wrong way when somebody says, have you just considered working a full-time job and then doing your full-time church job as well? I mean, if you would just be an absentee husband and father, I think you could make it work for a few years before you inevitably have a nervous breakdown. I mean, that sounds like an amazing model. I don't know why I've never thought of it before.
The third observation would be there was no church in Corinth while Paul was working a full-time job. Scripture is clear in its call for Christians to give faithfully to their church and support their pastors. But Paul at this point is not involved with any church yet in Corinth. And then the last observation, Paul was not running a full-time ministry while he was working. He was doing the equivalent of working a full-time job in the week and then going to church on Sunday and talking with people for a couple of hours after the service.
Paul's morale coming into Corinth would have been almost certainly extremely low. His ministry in Athens had not been productive to the level it had been almost everywhere else he administered. When he arrived in Athens, he must have been thinking, if God has been moving powerfully in these smaller cities and towns, I mean, imagine what's going to happen in Athens. Thousands are going to turn to the Lord. And when he was summoned to speak before the Areopagus, he must have been thinking, what a miraculous opportunity.
The plan is right on schedule. The most important people in the city are going to turn to Christ. And then he speaks and the crowd is with him. But when he gets to the resurrection, they turn against him and begin to ridicule him. A few believe, and Paul certainly invests in them during the rest of his time in the city.
But there's no great gospel work that takes root in Athens during Paul's visit. No church was founded in Athens because of Paul's ministry there. That would happen, to Peter, but it would have nothing to do with Paul. Pretty much everywhere else Paul goes, he plants a church wherever he ministers. But not in Athens, that great large, influential city.
And one of the secrets of pastoring and full-time ministry is that the discouragement can be profound. You empty yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in the hopes of building people up in the faith and bringing people to Christ. And when you go through seasons where there seems to be no return from that there seems to be nothing loving back from that emptying. It can be profoundly discouraging. I can only liken it to parenting in the sense of loving your children, wanting the best for them, pouring your life into them, and then the pain when they say, "I'm going to make a different decision."
I'm going to go in this direction against all of your counsel. That grief and that discouragement and that concern and that sadness is a type of what it is like to care for people spiritually as a pastor in discouraging seasons, the highs are as high as parenting. The lows are as low as parenting all the time. And Sunday is always coming. And as Paul deals with this discouragement, he's mostly alone.
He travels to Corinth alone where he finds himself not among the intellectual elite affecting the philosophy of the city but among manual laborers, humble craftsmen. Additionally, Paul's health is probably not great. His body had endured a lot in these past few years. I suspect Paul was in a very, very low place. But we know Paul.
Is Paul going to stop? Is he going to take some time to rest and recover? Of course, he's not. This is Paul we're talking about. He's relentless.
He needs to rest and recover. He needs to be ministered, too, for a little bit. But Paul was never going to recognize that about himself. Not as long as there were people who needed to hear the gospel. Remember what David wrote in Psalm 23 where he describes the Lord as a shepherd and says, he lets me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life. That's the CSB. But it doesn't get it quite right. The King James version does.
King James Version says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my Soul. He maketh me lie down. The original Hebrew word is clear.
It means he causes me to lie down. It doesn't mean he asks me if I would like to lie down. It means he makes me lie down. He makes the call that I need to rest and be refreshed. And then he makes it happen.
And when Paul's assistance arrived, so did Paul's funding. The Lord knows solo ministry is not healthy. That's why Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs. Verse five. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, so Timothy brought news from the church at Thessalonica the church at Jason's house, the church being persecuted by the Jews in their city.
And that news caused Paul to write the letter called First Thessalonians in our Bibles. Let's just read 1 Thessalonians three together real quick to get the flavor of what's going on at this time in the early church. You can turn there in your Bibles if you'd like. This is a good sword drill. It's a smaller epistle.
No shame in turning to the index. And so, I want you to notice Paul's heart and Paul's affection for his brethren. In Thessalonica First Thessalonians three, Paul gets news that they're going through it. They're being persecuted. Their faith is being tested.
Listen to his heart here. He says, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. And we sent Timothy, our brother, and God's, coworker in the Gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are, as Christians, appointed to this. In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction.
And as you know, it happened. For this reason, I could no longer stand it. I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the Tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing. He's worried they were getting discouraged by this persecution. But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love.
He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction. We are encouraged about you through your faith. For now, we live. If you stand firm in the Lord, how can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you, as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?
Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. May the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the loving of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.
And there the Lord ministers to Paul again, having Silas and Timothy bring news they're doing great in Thessalonica. They're standing firm in the faith. You would be so proud, Paul. And this just brings even more life to Paul that he desperately needed. And then in his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul goes on and addresses other concerns that they had.
They were concerned that those who had died since Paul had left them would not be in heaven because they had missed the rapture. They were confused about their end times, theology, their eschatology, and Paul helped set them straight. In the rest of that letter, they would write Paul back, and he would respond by writing 2 Thessalonians, also while ministering in Corinth. And in 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes even more about the end times to clear up some of their confusion.
So, it says, that when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word. Silas and Timothy bring with them financial love offerings for Paul from the church at Philippi, where the church met in Ladia's house. Those gifts enabled Paul to stop making tents and devote himself exclusively to evangelism, teaching, and disciple-making. And Paul talks about the generosity of the Philippian Church in Philippians, chapter four. Then it says and Paul testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.
When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, your blood is on your own heads. I am innocent. Overall, the Jews in Corinth rejected the message of Jesus as Messiah, going as far as to blaspheme him as the Jews in Jerusalem did to Jesus's face during his earthly ministry. Shaking out one's clothes was a cultural gesture, meaning the same thing as shaking the dust off one's feet. It meant that you wanted nothing to do with the place that you were leaving or the people who were there.
It showed that Paul abhorred their rejection of Jesus and their blasphemy of Christ. And it. Meant that. And because it was a Jewish gesture, they would have found it infuriating that Paul was doing it to them. They were like, this is what Jews do to Gentiles.
Jews don't do this to other Jews. So, they would have been really ticked off. When Paul says, your blood is on your own heads, I am innocent, he's referencing the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel, to whom God said, and it's on your outlines. Son of Man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me.
If I say to the wicked person, you will surely die, but you do not warn him. You don't speak out to warn Him about his wicked way in order to save his life, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself. Now, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and acts unjustly, and I put a stumbling block in front of him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he would die because of his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered.
Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live, because he listened to your warning, and you will have rescued yourself. Paul's point was that he had done as the Lord had called Ezekiel to do. Paul had been faithful to warn them of the danger of not turning to Christ. And if they were rejecting his message, Paul's hands were clean.
Their blood was on their own heads. They were responsible for their own destruction. And then Paul says, from now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And from that point on, Paul stops trying to reach the Jews of Corinth, and he shifts his focus exclusively to the Gentiles. Verse seven.
So, he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshipper of God's house. This is so funny to me, was next door to the synagogue. And the picture is so funny in my mind because I just imagined Paul saying, "Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on, I go to the Gentiles!" And then he storms out of the synagogue. But he only walks like 10 feet down the road to the house that's right next door. And Eustace was a gentile. He was a Roman Christian who had been attending the synagogue as a God-fearer exploring the Hebrew faith. It seems that he responded to Paul's preaching and happened to live right next door to the synagogue.
They must have lost their minds when this happened. They're like, can you believe that? Paul? And Crispus is like actually, yeah, I can. And but meaning to tell you, I follow. Yeshua. Now, like, what? They would have absolutely lost it. And the way it's written implies that Crispus became a Christian. After Paul took up residence in Eustace's house, he had likely heard Paul preach in the synagogue.
He had gone away as the Bereans did, studied the Scriptures, wrestled with them, and concluded that Paul was correct. Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And this is the pattern we see in the early church. Most Jews reject the Gospel, but the few who sincerely desire truth and sincerely seek the Lord find him, and they become Christians. Such was the case with Christian, who would have lost his job, his social standing, his community, his friends, and everything upon turning to Christ.
When Paul later writes his first letter to the church in Corinth, he mentions that he baptized Crispus himself. Then it says this underline the word many in your Bibles, many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed, and were baptized. In the original Greek, the continuous tense is used multiple times in this sentence, which tells us this was the ongoing pattern of response throughout the whole time Paul ministered in Corinth. Lots of people were coming to Christ among the Gentiles. We're going to look back at one thing today before we wrap up Paul's Areopagus address.
The speech he gave in Athens that we studied last time in Acts 17 is scrutinized and studied across the world to this day in many seminaries and church planning organizations. It is held up as the gold standard of cultural communications, using the language and icons of culture to build a bridge to share the Gospel. It's considered a masterpiece of rhetoric, but there's also a counterargument to that view. I shared earlier how Athens was the only major city Paul ministered in where no church was planted because of his ministry. Most in the Areopagus who heard Paul's brilliant speech responded with derision.
The ministry response Paul received in Athens was not what he experienced almost everywhere else. He ministered and those who view his speech differently will argue that Paul leaned too heavily on worldly and cultural wisdom and his academic and oratory gifts. In other words, they'll argue that Paul relied on his own brilliance more than the simple power of the Gospel. So, which is it? Is Paul's Areopagus address a model of evangelism?
Or is it a rare misstep in his ministry? We know that Paul got out of Athens and moved on ASAP, but he spent a year and a half in Corinth. In Acts 17/34, we were given the results of Paul's ministry in Athens. I'll read it one more time. It says some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
So, turn with me, if you would, to First Corinthians, chapter one, verse 17. 1 Corinthians, chapter one, verse 17. I'd love you to be able to follow along in your Bibles, and I just want us to read a good chunk of this text together, keeping in mind this is the key context. Paul had just come from Athens. Remember what happened in Athens?
Remember what the ministry was like in Athens. That's the key. And then see if you can pick up how his experience at the Areopagus and in Athens seems to have affected the approach that Paul took when he began ministering to the Gentiles in Corinth. Going to pick it up. In One Corinthians 117, Paul writes, for Christ did not send me to Baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.
We read this next part a couple of weeks ago. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law, the scholar?
Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish? For since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, the Greeks. Yet to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, consider your calling. Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world, what is viewed as nothing, to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.
So that no. 1 may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us, our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Let's keep reading into chapter two. When I came to you, brothers and sisters, when I came to you in Corinth announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech, our wisdom.
I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom, but on God's power. We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.
So, Lord, what can we say to a God like that?
You're too good for words.
You're too kind for words. And we love you for who you are and for being who you are yesterday, today, and forever. Not changing with our unpredictable and inconsistent levels of faithfulness but being the same. Being the rock, the firm foundation upon which our lives can safely rest. Thank you for being our constant Jesus', we love you, Lord.
We're so grateful for you. We pray that we will receive anything and everything you want to do in us because we know you're only ever good. But also because we want you to be glorified to the highest possible degree in our lives during our time here on earth. And so, we pray that You would bring glory to your name through every day of our lives, Jesus, bring glory to your name so that the one who boasts in you and what you have done for us. Jesus, we love you so much.
Lord, in Your name we pray amen. Amen.
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Despite things going well in Corinth, Paul begins to see a familiar pattern emerging that usually ends with him being beaten within an inch of his life or thrown in prison, and having to flee persecution before he is murdered. But the Lord comes to Paul as he sleeps, speaks encouragement, and intervenes to change the course of events.
You. We are going to be picking things up right where we left off last week with Paul in the present day Greek city of Corinth. In Acts 18, verse nine, it says the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent fill in, for I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city. The Lord's words to Paul tell us that we need to adjust our perspective on where Paul was at emotionally, mentally and spiritually in this moment. Let me explain.
It would be reasonable to think that Paul would be doing great. I mean, after all, he's had that wonderful season of rest we learned about last time working with Priscilla and Aquila, who have become some of his dearest friends in the world. He's been strengthened by the arrival of his assistants, Silas and Timothy. Funds have arrived to allow Paul to devote all his time to ministry. Even the leader of the synagogue in Corinth, Crispus, has become a believer along with his entire household.
And now Paul is ministering our of the larger house of Titus Eustace, where the church in Corinth is meeting. And it's right next door to the synagogue that rejected Paul's gospel preaching. Not only that, but many are turning to the Lord. So it would be reasonable to assume that Paul must be flying high. But the text tells us something different.
For the Lord would not come to Paul as he is sleeping and tell him don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent. Unless Paul was battling fear and discouragement. So what are we missing? What necessitated this visit from the Lord in this moment in Corinth? I suspect that Paul was doing well.
I suspect he was excited. I expect he was energized. But then he started thinking, people are turning to the Lord. I've ticked off the Jews in the city with my preaching, as usual. And I've seen this movie before.
I know what comes next. The other shoe is about to drop. I'm about to be beaten within an inch of my life or have to flee for my life. And then this young church, full of believers that I love, is going to be left alone to face brutal persecution. Anytime there's fruit, Paul must flee.
Such thoughts would have been understandable on Paul's part, given his history of ministering around the region. And such thoughts would make anyone afraid, filled with dread, bummed out, the Lord tells Paul I'm with you and no one will lay a hand on you. Which raises the logical question well, why wasn't the Lord with Paul in Lustra, where he was stoned and left for dead? Or why wasn't the Lord with Paul in Philippi, where he was beaten and thrown in prison? But what happened to Paul as he lay on the ground, appearing to be dead after being stoned in Lystra.
Do you remember? He went to heaven. He saw glorious things that he says. The Lord forbid him to tell anyone else about what happened to Paul in prison in Philippi. The Lord sent an earthquake and freed him, miraculously leading to the conversion of the jailer and his whole household.
What's the lesson? Whether the Lord delivers us from the trial or leads us through the trial, the Lord is with us. And either way, he will be working good in us and for us, for his glory. Whether the Lord delivers you from your trial or whether he meets you in your trial, as he did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fires of Babylon, know this the Lord is with you either way, so do not be afraid. Would you write this down?
Because Paul is human. He's human. Yeah, Jeff, I know. God meets us in the fire, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, Jeff, I know.
It's when we're in prison that God sets us free.
You don't know my situation.
I know God is faithful, but this time is different. Has God ever come through amazingly in your life? Has God been faithful to you in your life? Does that mean that you no longer battle thoughts of fear anxiety or depression? Does knowing the truth up here, knowing it with certainty, make you completely immune to experiencing negative emotions or being tempted to think negative doubt-filled thoughts?
No. We know what is true. But have you noticed that our emotions and thoughts can be very uncooperative at times? And we find ourselves instead praying things like, lord, I know I'm blessed when I'm in the fire, but maybe you could bless somebody else for a while. And it's why Paul counseled us to take every thought captive, to obey Christ, to not simply let every thought that comes into our head have free rein and have total control over us, but to say, no, I'm not following that train of thought.
I refuse to believe that. I refuse to meditate on that, taking the thought and making it bow down to Christ and what His Word says. And Paul would do that. But he was battling fear. He was battling discouragement because he was human.
But the Lord loved him, and so he came to Paul with a timely word of encouragement, and the Lord loves you too. And so he's given you His Word, and in it you will find an inexhaustible supply of timely encouragement from the Lord. You need only pick it up, open it, and receive it. And Paul also gets this wonderful promise from the Lord that we read I have many people in this city, the Lord Jesus himself tells Paul, there are many people in this city who are going to be saved. And what an encouragement that must have been.
Paul was far from the only Christian who had ever felt this way. If you genuinely love the Lord and are serious about obeying and serving Him, then you've likely felt a measure of the type of discouragement Paul was experiencing Pergamos at your place of work, perhaps in your extended family, you felt like you're the only one there who really loves Jesus, who is serious about obeying his commands. And in some of those contexts, you might be. But we have millions of brothers and sisters. Would the world who love and lay down their lives for Jesus every day in their homes, in their place of work, in their extended family, in their school, you name it, millions?
And if you get connected to this church family in a deep and meaningful way, you'll discover brothers and sisters right here who love Jesus and are laying down their lives for him every day. And just knowing that you're not alone in following Jesus makes all the difference in the world. Praise God for brothers and sisters who love Jesus. The Lord's encouragement of Paul brings to mind one of the great Old Testament accounts of the prophet Elijah, and I'd like us to read through it together. So stick our bulletin in Acts chapter 18 and see how fast you can find First Kings, chapter 18.
He replied, I've not ruined Israel, but you and your father's family have, because you've abandoned the Lord's commands and followed the balls. Now summon all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. Then Elijah approached all the people. There's a huge, huge crowd there.
And he said, how loving will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Bal, follow him. And the people didn't answer him a word. It's like when your mom would catch you when you were a kid and ask you a question and you just knew I should not answer this question because no answer is going to be right.
So I'm just going to stay quiet. Then Elijah said to the people underline this I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord. I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men, and so the text will later clarify that Elijah believes he's the only one left serving God in Israel. I'm the only one.
Let two bulls be given to us. They are to choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces and place it on the wood, but not light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood, but not light the fire. Then you call on the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord, the God who answers with fire. He is God.
And all the people answered that's fine. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, since you are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first. Then call on the name of your God, but don't light the fire. So they took the bull that he gave them, prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying Baal, answer us. But there was no sound, no one answered.
Then they danced around the altar they had made. They're basically in a pagan ritualistic frenzy. Someone's like beating a drum and their eyes are rolling back in their head and they're probably on substances of some kind. At noon Elijah mocked them. He said shout loudly, for he's a god.
Maybe he's thinking it over. Maybe he's wandered away, or maybe he's on the road. Perhaps he's sleeping and will wake up. And in the original language it makes it clear that one of the things Elijah is saying is maybe he's relieving himself. Maybe he's in the bathroom, he can't hear you.
They shouted loudly and cut themselves with knives and spears according to their custom, until blood gushed over them. So they're like, Maybe this will get his attention. All afternoon they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no sound. No one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, come near me. So all the people approached him. Then he repaired the Lord's altar that had been torn down on Mount Carmel. Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying Israel will be your name. And he built an altar with the stones in the name of the Lord.
So the water ran all around the altar. He even filled the trench with water at the time to offer the evening sacrifice. The prophet Elijah approached the altar and said lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel today let it be known that you are God in Israel and I am your servant and that at your word I have done all these things. Answer me Lord, answer me so that these people will know that you, the Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back. Then the Lord's fire fell and consumed the offering, those wood, the stones, and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
When all the people saw it, they fell face down and said the Lord, he is God. The Lord. He is God. Then Elijah ordered them, to seize the prophets of Baal. Do not let even one of them escape.
So they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishan and slaughtered them there. Now let's jump to verse one of the next chapter. It says Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying may the gods punish me and do so severely if I don't make your life like the life of one of them. By this time tomorrow, Elijah's just come off the highest of highs.
God performed a mighty miracle and glorified his name before the people of Israel humiliated Baal and his prophets. And in the end, it wasn't the prophets of Yahweh being killed but the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah. But then Elijah gets this message from Jezebel and he thinks oh no, here we go again. After all that I'm still running for my life while Jezebel hunts me down and she's going to catch me eventually. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
What's the point? It says then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba which belonged to Judah, he left his servant there. But he went on a day's journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die.
He said I've had enough, lord take my life for I'm no better than my ancestors. And he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly an angel touched him. The angel told him to Get up and eat. Then he looked and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones and a jug of water.
So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, Get up and eat the journey will be too much for you. So he got up, ate, and drank. Then, on the strength from that food, he walked 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb the mountain of God.
He entered a cave there and spent the night. And I love that the Lord ministers to Elijah through this angel by first having him eat some food and sleep for a while. That's the first thing he does. He's like, you need some warm bread and have a nap before they talk about any details. God knows you just need to rest a little bit, take a nap, eat some food.
You're angry. You're not in your right mind. Why? Because Elijah was a human being in a frail, fallen human body. Then it says suddenly the word of the Lord came to him.
And he said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? And he replied in Hebrew his heart is here. I've been very zealous for the Lord of Armies but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they're looking for me to take my life. Lord, lord, I'm done.
At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And suddenly a voice came to him and said what are you doing here, Elijah? I've been very zealous for the Lord of Armies. He replied, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.
I alone am left, and they're looking for me to take my life. Then the Lord said to him, Go and return. By the way, you came to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. You are to Anoint Jehu, son of Nimshe, as king over Israel and Elisha, son of Shephat from Abel Mahola as prophet in your place.
Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael. And Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jesus. But I will leave 7000 in Israel every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed Him. So the Lord says, I'm sending you to appoint a new king over Israel. I'm about to deal severely with all the wickedness in the land, and I'm about to appoint your successor.
Elijah, you're almost at the end of your journey, but know this you've never been alone. You've never been the only one still serving me faithfully. Even now, there are 7000 people in the Northern Kingdom who have refused to worship Baal and risked their lives to stay faithful to me. And when we are facing discouragement or depression brought about by real circumstances, there are a few observations that I just want to make here. They're quick and this is not a conclusive list, but they're just a few observations from the story.
What we need to do when we're facing discouragement and depression brought about by very real circumstances. The first thing write down is we need to hear from the Lord. We need to hear from the Lord. We need to open his word. We need to pray, we need to seek Him.
We need Him to speak to us when we're just in that place of the Lord, what is going on? This doesn't look good. What is loving on? Go to the One who has answers or who can give you the peace to make it through without getting the answers yet. Secondly, really, practically, you need to eat healthy and get enough rest.
You're a human being in a frail human body. It's not going to help anything. When you're like, maybe I'll just stay up late watching Netflix and eating ice cream. This should help. No, it won't.
Now, you'll be depressed for two reasons. You'll be depressed because of the circumstances and depressed because you start gaining weight really fast and feel horrible about yourself. So eat healthy, and get enough rest, even God ordains this, okay? And he did this for Elijah. He's like, before we even talk, Elijah, eat some bread, get some sleep.
Thirdly, remember that we're not alone. We're not alone. The Lord is with you. But you're also part of a global church. Hopefully, you're part of a local church that loves Jesus as well.
You're never the only one going through something difficult. You're never the only one who has been through something difficult. Now, the enemy wants to make you believe you are. And the enemy wants to tell you you're the only one. So much so that if you told anyone about it, if you invited anyone into this, they'd just be appalled.
God encourages and refreshes us because he has work for us to do. Would you write that down? He has work for us to do. I have news for you. God is not coming to refresh and encourage you so that you can get back to living a self-centered life.
He's not coming to refresh and encourage you so that you can get back to all your favorite recreational activities. He's coming to bring rest and refreshments because he has work for you to do. What did the angel say to Elijah after providing the food? After having him rest? He says, Eat, or the journey will be too much for you.
In other words, Elijah, you got to rest up. You got to calm down, you got to take in some good food and get your strength up because God's got work for you to do. And so I share that because it is a mindset difference. Because when we're going through times of discouragement or depression that are brought about by circumstances, I know it seems counterintuitive but it's very, very easy to become self-centered. It's very easy because you begin to believe that the only thing that matters is this pain and this difficulty being alleviated in your life.
And the whole goal becomes getting this to stop that's. All that matters is that my life is relieved of this pain, this discomfort, this anxiety, this depression, whatever it is. But that's an incomplete perspective. The full perspective is I want to be healed of this. I want to have God speak into my life or if it's his will to teach me and sustain me in this so that I can have daily victory over this.
So that my energy and focus can be on serving Jesus and bringing glory to his name. That's the whole perspective. We're saved to bring glory to Jesus. We're delivered from trials to bring glory to Jesus. We're carried through trials to bring glory to Jesus.
This is hard for many Christians to wrap their head around that God's foremost concern is not our comfort, it's just not. Now let's head back to Acts chapter 18, verse eleven. Let's head back to Acts chapter 18, verse eleven. So after being visited and encouraged by the Lord also in his sleep, we read this about Paul. He stayed there in Corinth underlying a year and a half teaching the word of God among them.
I love this because the Lord promised Paul no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you. And so Paul's like, well then I'm going to stay here for a while. I'm going to get comfortable. And he stayed another year and a half far longer than he had stayed anywhere else on any of his missionary travels that far. Now note that it says Paul devoted himself to teaching the word of God among them.
Paul did what he felt was the most pressing work fill in the Great Commission, the command of Jesus to make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. That was the most pressing work. It wasn't social justice, it wasn't ending slavery, which was rampant at the time. It wasn't feeding the hungry or housing the homes. It wasn't penetrating the halls of political power.
It wasn't starting a church-building project. None of those things are wrong. Many of them are good, but none were the most posting work, making disciples who honor Christ and obey Him. And Jesus has given us the same message, the same mission. That's why we teach the word here at Gospel City.
That's why we love the Word. That's why we have a culture of studying the Word. Those who love Christ desire to obey Christ and His Word tells us how we can obey Him, walk with Him, and experience fellowship with Him. So write this down. Teaching the Word of God was Paul's most pressing work in Corinth.
His most pressing work. Then we read in verses twelve. While Galio was pro-consul of ACA, so Galio was the governor of the region of ACA. He was the brother of the philosopher and author Seleucia, who tutored Nero in Rome, and described his brother Galio as an intelligent person who hated flattery and was blessed with an unaffectedly, pleasant personality. I feel like that last part is how I would describe BJ.
He's blessed with an unaffectedly, pleasant personality all the time. All the time. Such a wonderful contrast to myself.
Galio had just taken over the leadership of Achaia, and so the Jews wanted to see if he could be persuaded to side with them against Christianity. So we read the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. This man, they said, is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law. They mean the law of Moses, the Hebrew law. Now, Paul, of course, was not speaking against the law, but was preaching Christ as the fulfillment of the law.
But this was a common tactic of Jews who rejected Christ, trying to get Christians in trouble with the Romans. Remember what they said when they dragged Jason and the brothers in front of the city's leaders in Philippi? They said they were all acting contrary to Caesar's decrees, saying there was another king, Jesus. Remember how they accused Jesus before Pilate, claiming he was opposing payment of taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king? And when Pilate tried to release Jesus, they shouted, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.
Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. And here they are again, using the same tactic to try and get Paul in trouble with Galio, the pro-consul of Achaia. And it seems they were hoping to have Paul banned from Proselytizing. In other words, they were hoping to have Paul be forbidden from trying to convert any Jews to Christianity in the city. Verse 14.
Underline as Paul was about to open his mouth, as Paul was about to open his mouth. And I had you underline that because you might want to write a little note next to it that says verse ten, because as Paul is about to defend himself, Galio will start speaking, and we will see the Lord working to keep the promise he made to Paul back in verse ten. And so before Paul can say a word, Galio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. But if these are questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.
In other words, if a serious crime had been committed, it would be right for me to get involved. But that's not the case here. You're wasting my time with a Jews religious argument that has nothing to do with me. Go settle it yourselves. The ruling was a bigger deal than we realized, and it was a ruling.
It established the precedent that Paul was free to preach the Gospel anywhere in the Roman Empire because Galio had ruled that the Gospel message was not a matter that concerned him, meaning it did not concern the Empire, meaning it did not concern Caesar. Galio's ruling clarified that at this time, Rome viewed Christianity as a sect of Judaism, not a separate religion.
So he, Galio, drove them, the Jews and Paul, from the tribunal, and they all seized Sosthenes the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But none of these things mattered to Galio. The other Greeks present at the tribunal grabbed Sosthenes, the man who replaced Crispus as leader of the synagogue of Corinth, and beat him to send the message, never wasting our time again. While some of your Bibles might say it was the Jews who beat Sasthenes for various and very boring academic reasons, I'm not going to get into the right translation is that it was the Greek Gentiles present who beat him, and it's translated that way in some newer translations. When Paul writes his first letter to the church at Corinth, one Christian in the very first verse where he identifies himself saying, this letter is coming from me, he includes another name saying, this letter is also coming from somebody else.
It's on your outlines. One corinthians one/ one. Paul called. As an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will.
And Sosthenes our brother, you see, like Crispus, Sosthenes would later become a Christian too. Can you imagine how that must have infuriated the Jews in Corinth who had rejected the Gospel when their last two synagogue leaders both turned to Christ and followed him as the Messiah? It must have taken profound restraint from Paul when he passed any of them in the street, not to say something like, who's the new synagogue leader? I just want to know who's getting saved next. That would be good to know.
Well, we're going to end there for today, and I'm going to invite the worship team to come up. And I'm just going to close with one more reminder to anyone among us who might be battling fear or discouragement or depression brought about by difficult circumstances. I want to remind you again that the Lord is with you. He's with you, and He Romans you to not be afraid. He doesn't recommend it.
He Romans you to not be afraid. And he's justified in doing so because he has made the remedy for fear available to us. And it is Christ himself. It is his presence. It is his spirit in us.
It is His Word given to us, and it is his church to whom we are called to belong. If you have need of encouragement or comfort, ask the Lord. Ask Him. You have a good and loving heavenly Father who hears you and who cares about you about the smallest details of your life. And then ask a brother or sister to pray with you before you leave today.
BJ and I will be up here available to pray after the service if you'd like that. And then seek the Lord in his word. Choose to believe what he says in his word. Do not buy the ridiculous idea that you are the one exception to the promises of God. You're not.
He's only ever faithful stand on His Word and then get up and serve Jesus and bring Him glory with your life. Let's pray. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Jesus. Thank you for your word.
And thank you that all the way back in the Old Testament with Elijah, all the way to the New Testament. And our brother Paul, we see that you care about your people experiencing discouragement, fear, anxiety, and depression, and you desire to meet with us and remind us who you are, and more than anything, that you are with us. And so, Lord, we know and we recognize, and we thank you that whether you deliver us from the trial or carry us through the trial, you're with us and you're enough. We love you for that. Jesus, thank you for never leaving us, for never forsaking us, for being with us to the end of the age
So he, Galio, drove them, the Jews and Paul, from the tribunal, and they all seized Sosthenes the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But none of these things mattered to Galio. The other Greeks present at the tribunal grabbed Sosthenes, the man who replaced Crispus as leader of the synagogue of Corinth, and beat him to send the message, never wasting our time again. While some of your Bibles might say it was the Jews who beat Sasthenes for various and very boring academic reasons, I'm not going to get into the right translation that it was the Greek Gentiles present who beat him, and it's translated that way in some newer translations. When Paul writes his first letter to the church at Corinth, one Christian in the very first verse where he identifies himself saying, this letter is coming from me, he includes another name saying, this letter is also coming from somebody else.
Check it out. on your outlines. One Corinthians 1/1. Paul called. As an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will.
And Sosthenes our brother, you see, like Crispus, Sosthenes would later become a Christian too. Can you imagine how that must have infuriated the Jews in Corinth who had rejected the Gospel when their last two synagogue leaders both turned to Christ and followed him as the Messiah? It must have taken profound restraint from Paul when he passed any of them in the street, not to say something like, who's the new synagogue leader? I just want to know who's getting saved next. That would be good to know.
Well, we're going to end there for today, and I'm going to invite the worship team to come up. And I'm just going to close with one more reminder to anyone among us who might be battling fear, discouragement, or depression brought about by difficult circumstances. I want to remind you again that the Lord is with you. He's with you, and He Romans you to not be afraid. He doesn't recommend it.
He Romans you to not be afraid. And he's justified in doing so because he has made the remedy for fear available to us. And it is Christ himself. It is his presence. It is his spirit in us.
It is His Word given to us, and it is his church to whom we are called to belong. If you have need of encouragement or comfort, ask the Lord. Ask Him. You have a good and loving heavenly Father who hears you and who cares about you about the smallest details of your life. And then ask a brother or sister to pray with you before you leave today.
BJ and I will be up here available to pray after the service if you'd like that. And then seek the Lord in his word. Choose to believe what he says in his word. Do not buy the ridiculous idea that you are the one exception to the promises of God. You're not.
He's only ever faithful stand on His Word and then get up and serve Jesus and bring Him glory with your life. Let's pray. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Jesus. Thank you for your word.
And thank you that all the way back in the Old Testament with Elijah, all the way to the New Testament. And our brother Paul, we see that you care about your people experiencing discouragement, fear, anxiety, and depression, and you desire to meet with us and remind us who you are, and more than anything, that you are with us. And so, Lord, we know and we recognize, and we thank you that whether you deliver us from the trial or carry us through the trial, you're with us and you're enough. And we love you for that. Jesus, thank you for never leaving us, for never forsaking us, for being with us to the end of the age.
We thank you for that. And our prayer is that our lives would bring you glory. And that if any of our brothers and sisters are weighed down by any burden today, that they would find relief and comfort in you and in Your presence. That their energies and their thoughts and their whole lives might be directed to pointing you glory, Jesus, that your name would be exalted and lifted up. We love you, Jesus.
And we pray that you'd be glorified in our pray, Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.
Passage: Acts 14:1-1....................Speaker: Jeff Thompson
After being expelled from Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas head into the countryside and preach the Gospel in the provincial town of Lystra. After healing a lame man, the city responds by declaring them to be gods! We'll learn the Gospel always creates division, and we'll see how godly men respond to unhealthy amounts of praise and adoration.
We are going to be in Acts Chapter 14 today, so you can turn there in your Bibles. Let's take a look at our map and refresh our memory as to where we are in our study. Through the Book of Acts, we're accompanying Barnabas and Paul on the first major missionary journey in church history. Their home base was the church in Antioch in present-day Syria.
God commanded the elders of that church to send out Paul and Barnabas on this missionary journey. They started by traveling to the nearby island of Cyprus, ministered across the length of it, and then departed for Perga, which is in present-day Turkey. They traveled north into the region known as Pisidian, Antioch Ministered in the principal city there, which was also called Antioch. In last week's study, we saw God move mightily through Paul's preaching among the Gentiles, with many of them turning to the Lord. However, the Jewish religious leaders became jealous and stirred up trouble against Paul and Barnabas, leading to them being expelled, and kicked out of the region by the civic authorities.
So, they made the 80-mile, roughly 129-kilometer journey southeast to the cosmopolitan city of Iconium. And that's where we pick up our study today in Acts Chapter 14. And we read in verse one in Iconium, that they entered the Jewish synagogue as usual and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they stayed there a long time and now underline this, and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders.
Many turned to the Lord in Iconium, both Jews and Gentiles. But once again, the Jews who refused to believe stirred up trouble and opposed the preaching of the Gospel. They turned the opinion of the unbelieving Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch. They had been expelled from the region, and forcibly removed by the civic authorities.
There was no option to continue, but that wasn't the case in Iconium. You see there they had run up against trouble and opposition, but they hadn't been forcibly removed, which is why we read they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord. I just love that juxtaposition. They have trouble stirred up against them. So how do they respond?
So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord. They didn't just stay, they didn't just speak. It says they spoke boldly for the Lord. Would you make a note of this on your outlines? Nothing significant can be accomplished for the Gospel apart from boldness.
I'll say it again, nothing significant can be accomplished for the Gospel apart from boldness. It is the essential quality that enables believers to willingly risk rejection and persecution. When the Sanhedrin demanded they stop preaching in the name of Jesus, Peter and John answered them whether it's right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. When they reported the threats of the Sanhedrin to the rest of the Church, the church responded by coming together to collectively pray for even greater boldness.
If we are waiting for someone to give us a method to share the Gospel that does not require boldness, we will be waiting forever. If we are waiting for someone to give us a method for sharing the Gospel that does not risk rejection and persecution, we will be waiting forever. The only solution is to, as the early church did, pray for boldness. And then we must in faith be bold with the Gospel. The only way evangelism happens is with boldness given to us by the Holy Spirit, but still the faith to step out in that boldness, risking rejection and persecution.
And as Paul and Barnabas preached boldly in Iconium, the Lord empowered them to perform signs and wonders, miracles, healings, to testify to the authenticity and power of the Gospel they were preaching. In verse four, we read, but the people of the city were divided underline that word divided. Some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles. We're going to talk about it a little bit more in just a couple of minutes in this message. But for now I wanted you to underline that word divided because that's what the true Gospel does.
Everywhere it goes, the true Gospel divides because the Gospel is a line in the sand, it is binary. The Gospel shatters any notion that goodness and spirituality and righteousness exist on some sort of spectrum and the Gospel creates division. It's this line in the sand you are on this side with the kingdom of light or this side with the kingdom of darkness. And as I said, we'll talk more about that in just a minute. It says apostles, plural, meaning that Barnabas was also considered an apostle.
There were uppercase-A apostles Paul and the members of the Twelve and there are lowercase-a apostles. The defining difference is that the uppercase-A apostles were appointed directly and personally by the Lord Jesus, while uppercase-A apostles were and are appointed by a church who affirms the gifts that God has placed in them and commissions them to go out and plant churches. The original Greek word for apostles simply means sent one - "apostolos." Lowercase-a apostles don't plant one church. So someone who goes and plants a church is not necessarily a lowercase-a apostle, a uppercase-A apostle, and they do still exist today, goes out and plants multiple churches, appoints elders over that churches, and then continues to provide. Guidance and accountability and prayer support over the elders of those churches.
Not exercising necessarily total authority, but sort of being a father to those collective group of churches. So, while Paul was also an uppercase-A apostle because he was appointed directly by the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, both he and Barnabas had been sent out by their home church in Syrian Antioch as lowercase-a apostles - "apostolos," sent ones. Verse five. When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and stone them, they found out about it and fled to the Lyconian towns of Lustra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside. Realizing that Paul and Barnabas were not going to be easily intimidated, they didn't care what people said about them on social media.
The tragic truth is that most of the opposition the Gospel experienced during the first three decades of the church came from the Jewish people. John the Apostle wrote plainly about how they collectively responded to Jesus. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. In Jerusalem, persecution came from the Jewish religious leaders. In Samaria.
The opposition came from Simon the magician who was Jewish. Likewise, it was the Jews who opposed Paul. In Damascus, Herod murdered James and imprisoned Peter with the intention of murdering him as well because it pleased the elite class of Jews. In the city of Jerusalem on Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas were opposed by Elmyas, the Jewish sorcerer. They conspired to have Paul and Barnabas expelled from Pisidian, Antioch, and we see them here plotting to kill them both.
And the trend will only continue through the Book of Acts. The greatest tragedy of redemptive history is that the chosen people of God collectively have rejected their Messiah. The Bible teaches that there are two Israelis, and this is a concept that will really help you understand so much of the Bible of the New and Old Testaments, the New and Old Covenants. The Bible teaches there are two Israels, ethnic Israel and spiritual Israel. Ethnic Israel is just that.
It includes everyone who is ethnically Jewish. Spiritual Israel includes everyone who follows Jesus as the Messiah, as their lord and savior. As Paul wrote in Romans Nine, not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. In other words, Paul was saying, not everyone who's ethnically Jewish is part of spiritual Israel. The ethnic Jews who followed Jesus, such as the apostles, such as the 120 who were in the upper room in Acts chapter two on the Day of Pentecost, are part of true Israel, spiritual Israel.
And if you follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are part of spiritual Israel. The Jews who opposed the Gospel were not part of spiritual Israel, only ethnic Israel. And I share that, lest anyone be tempted to fall into antisemitism, always remember our Messiah, our Savior, was and is Jewish. The apostles were Jews. The twelve were all Jewish.
The Church was founded on the foundation of Jews. So there are brothers if they follow Jesus as Messiah, and there are, thankfully, many who do, but far, far more who sadly don't. The Gospel divided the population of Iconium. People turned to the Lord, or they opposed Paul and Barnabas. Nobody seemed to be neutral in the city.
And that is what is happening in our world today before our very eyes. And most Christians are incapable or unwilling to recognize it. They are incapable because they don't know what the Bible actually teaches. They are unwilling because they do not want to accept the possibility that Christianity may bring persecution into their lives. How desperately we need to be reminded that from the earliest days and years of the Church, the Gospel has always brought division.
Its content has offended people to the point where they wanted to stone to death the men preaching it. From the earliest decades of the Church. As Jesus told Nicodemus, this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it so that his deeds may not be exposed.
We want to believe we're just amazing, beautiful souls with limitless potential.
We're pretty great and incredible. But what the Gospel does is, it Paul's pullback the curtain and exposes all of our true motivations, all of our innermost thoughts, all of our sin and our wickedness and our hidden perversions.
And Jesus said, because that's what the Gospel does. Those who love their sin will inevitably hate the light, and those who hate their sin and are desperate to be freed from it will seek the light. Write this down. The true Gospel creates a division between those who love and hate their sin. The true Gospel creates a division between those whose love and those who hate their sin.
This is why the seasons of history where Christians live peacefully beside non-Christians are aberrations. They are exceptions to the general rule because everyone who seeks the light sorry, because everyone either seeks the light, our hates the light, and those who hate the light sooner or later will inevitably seek to extinguish it. So if you've had the fortune of living in a time when Christians and non-Christians live peacefully side by side, be thankful that is not normal. Because sooner or later those who love their sin hate the light and seek to extinguish it. That's what was happening in the days of the early church and it's what is happening in our world right now and we're headed there increasingly.
And Christian, you must understand this reality. You must be prepared for the persecution that is only going to increase because the darkness will hate the light. There's so much foolishness bandied about in terms and concepts like winsomeness. It's this ludicrous idea that if Christians are just loving and nice to everyone, then we will win people over to the Gospel by being nice and embracing. This idea inevitably leads to the belief that if your faith offends someone, then you must not be loving enough.
You must not be nice enough, because if you were, they wouldn't be offended by you or what you're sharing with them. Now, there are two glaring problems with this approach. Firstly, who gets to define what love is? When we talk about being loving, when someone says I'm just going to be loving, by whose definition? Who gets to define what loving means?
The vast majority of Christians today allow the person on the receiving end to define love. Meaning that if the person doesn't feel loved by how you're sharing with them or how you're treating them, then you must not be loving. It places the Christian in the position of saying to the other person you just tell me what you consider to be loving and I'll do my best to loves you in that way. The problem is that Christianity are supposed to derive their definition of love from God and from his word. The Bible says God is love and therefore only he is qualified to define what love is.
And he has. He has in One Corinthians 13 where he writes about the love of God. And I have to say this because of course, every time you read First Corinthians 13 it triggers memories of weddings for people. And you might have even had this read at your wedding. It's so popular because it's such a beautiful description of love.
But when we read it at a wedding we just show how absolutely delusional we are because this is a description of the love of God. None of us, if we were homes for just a second, can naturally of ourselves love another person like this. It is adorable, but completely delusional that any of us would think so. This is not how we can love on our own. This is a description of the love of God.
That's how the Lord loves you. And that's the love of God that he wants to put in us, to pour our to other people. It can only come from God because as I said, none of us can love another person like that in our own strength. We need the love of God to flow through us to others. And it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that the love of God is not self-seeking.
When a Christian allows the recipient to define love and then works to love them in the way they want to be loved instead of by God's definition of love, that Christian is being self-seeking. Now, why do I say that? Because their ultimate concern is not what is best for the other person. They are not foremost concerned with that person's good. They are concerned with themselves.
They want to be liked. They want to be thought of as being loving. And they are unwilling to be disliked for standing for the truth and what is actually in the other person's best interests. That's what the love of God does. It says I'm going to love you the way that God loves you, because that's what's best for you.
And if that upsets you, I'm sorry, but I love you so much that I will even put up with you, disliking me rather than lie to you and support you going in a direction that is not best for you. That's what a love that is not self-seeking looks like. The men of Iconium conspired to stone Paul and Barnabas to death, not because they were unloving, but because they were loving. They were telling them the gospel truth. The love of God finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
Who defines unrighteousness? Who defines truth? It's Jesus, the one who is the way, the truth and the life. True love, the love of God cannot affirm that which is not true. True love cannot call that which is sin good.
It cannot affirm evil and wickedness. True love cannot endorse that which God opposes. That's why when a Christian or a non-Christian asks us to affirm their sin, we can't, because we are called to truly love them, even if they say it'll make me feel more loved if you would just affirm me and agree with me in this and support me in this. We can't because we're called to truly love them. We cannot share in someone's temporary happiness when it is acquired by sinning against God.
We must love them. And we know that sin always produces destruction and death in every area of life. This is also why we rejoice when we see believers choose the truth and choose to follow and obey Jesus in every area of their life. Love rejoices in the truth. Make a note of this.
When we allow others to define love, we place them above God. When we allow others to define love, we place them above God. Because we say your definition of love is more important than God's definition of love. And we put them above God. We're called to honor God and loves people with the love of God.
The second major problem with the I'm just going to be loving and nice approach is that they killed Jesus, they killed Paul, they killed all the members of the Twelve save John, and not for lack of trying. They killed over 6 million believers during the first 250 years of the church and they've killed millions since. Let me be really blunt here. Those who say I'm just going to love people where they're at in the way they want to be loved, and I think that's the most effective way to share Jesus with people. And if people feel loved, then everything will work out and they'll come to know God.
Jesus the apostle and the millions martyred over the past two millennia of the church age were not murdered for not being nice enough. They were not murdered because they weren't being loving. They were murdered because those who hate the light will inevitably seek to extinguish it. You and I are not going to do a better job of loving people than Jesus did. So write this down.
When we define love, we place ourselves above God. When we define love, we place ourselves above God. We say God. I see first Corinthians 13 and that's nice, that's a good start, but I've got some ideas for improving it. Maybe if you had loved people like I love people, Jesus, they wouldn't have killed you now, please hear me on this.
Stick with me, because I'm about to say something that's hard to hear. Unlike my fluffy sermon up to this point, this is an unbiblical belief held by far too many Christians. And the reality is this hear me on this. If your faith in Jesus is not causing any tension in any of your relationships, then you're almost certainly not actually loving anybody. I'll say that again, if your faith in Jesus is not causing any tension in any of your relationships, then you're almost certainly not actually loving anybody.
Because the gospel divides Scripture is explicit on this issue. Jesus spoke plainly, saying therefore everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven. Don't assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. The one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn't take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it.
And anyone who loves his life because of me will find it. Jesus is clear the true Gospel will bring division. It will destroy some relationships. And if you love those relationships more than you love Jesus, then you are not worthy of Him. Why?
That last verse tells us because Jesus is offering us nothing less than life. He is offering us eternal life. And he's offering to bring our dead spirit to life here and now. He is offering to save us from death and bring us into his family. To give us the gift of abundant life, love and joy and peace and homes like we've never had before.
And that is only found in Him. Jesus is worth it. What is it? Whatever it costs to follow Him. Whatever it costs, he's worth it.
That's why Jesus never apologizes for any of the difficulties following Him may bring. He never says, hey guys, sorry about the persecution that following me might bring. You know why he doesn't apologize? Because he is worth so much more than whatever it costs to follow Him. He's worth more.
And they may have been saved during this visit to their town by Paul and Barnabas. Verse seven. There they continued preaching the Gospel. As was the case when the Gospel moved out from Jerusalem, persecution merely spread the Good News into new regions, causing the church to multiply and more people to come into the family of God. Verse eight in Lystra.
I can't help saying those names correctly, sorry, it's like an OCD thing. In Lystra, a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth. Now, that doesn't mean that he had, like, never been cool in his life or that he had been uncool from the time he was born. When it says he had been lame from birth, it means he had never been able to walk. His legs didn't work.
He listened as Paul spoke. So Paul would have been preaching in Greek. He would have likely been in the marketplace because apparently there was no synagogue in Lystra, which means that the Jewish population in that town would have been really, really small. So Paul goes into the marketplace, begins speaking in Greek, the common language of the empire, and Paul would have been preaching a very, very different gospel from how he preached in synagogues. He wouldn't be appealing to the shared history of the Jewish people because that would have meant nothing to this gentile audience.
So Paul is preaching very, very differently. And then in the middle of his message, we read that after looking directly at him. So the Holy Spirit causes this layman to catch Paul's eye in the middle of Paul's sermon, it says in Paul seeing that he had faith to be healed. So the Holy Spirit tells Paul that that guy can be healed. Right now, Paul said in a loud voice, stand up on your feet.
And he jumped up and began to walk around. In an instant, this man is healed. And for the first time in his life, he walks in front of everyone in the packed marketplace in the town square. And what's interesting to me is that it says this lame man had faith to be healed. He was listening to Paul preach the Gospel.
And here's what that means. He was believing it. He was believing what he heard. We don't know that exact moment, but salvation comes at that moment of belief. It doesn't necessarily happen at the moment of an altar call or raise your hand or come forward.
There's this moment of belief that only the Lord specifically knows when it happens. And this man had apparently already reached that moment. He is placing his faith in God and in Jesus. And the Lord was able to use that little bit of faith to work a miracle in this situation and do something incredible by healing this man through Paul. Now, those raises the obvious question about what the connection is between our faith and God doing a miracle in our life.
And all I can tell you, if I'm going to be honest, is that the relationship between those two things, our faith and God doing a miracle in our lives, the relationship between those two things is complicated. It's complicated. I don't know how else to say it. In Matthew 13, we read this about Jesus. He went to his hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom in these miraculous powers?
Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas and his sisters? Aren't they all with us? So where does he get all these things? And they were offended by him.
And they actually get offended. They're like, how? How dare you be different from what we expect? How dare you be exceptional when you come from among us? And so Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.
I love that Hebrew proverb, that a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household. Here's the idea. This might surprise you, but you know what? When I come home from church or when my kids see me in the morning, never do they go, Dad, you're just so You know so much about the Word.
You've been studying it for years. Teach us, father. Teach us to walk in the ways of the Lord. Just dispense some of your wisdom to us. Please enlighten our Saul.
It never, ever happens. Never happens. It's just oh, what do you mean I have to clean my room?
Because a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household. Every pastor knows this. A pastor can tell those churches week in and week out, hey, guys, we really got to start doing this thing. We really got to start doing this thing. Nobody will do anything.
He can bring in a guest speaker, and that guest speaker can say the exact same thing. You guys need to start doing this thing, and everyone will go, wow, oh, my gosh. I have never heard anything like this message. Where did this guy get this from? And the pastor is just in the back pulling his hair out because he's like, I've been telling you this for years, and you just wouldn't listen to me.
What is that dynamic? A prophet is not without. Honor except in his hometown and in his household. And Jesus was saying, that's the case right here. I'm here among my people.
I'm here where I grew up, and so I get no honor Hebrew because this is my hometown and I'm a real prophet. But then it says, that he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Isn't that interesting? And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Our brother James writes about the same concept concerning wisdom.
Now, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord being double-minded and unstable in all his ways. So we can see it plainly according to the Scriptures, sometimes God desires to do something in our lives, but he will not do it unless we have faith that he can do it.
That's clear. I know that makes cessationists uncomfortable, but it's clear in Scripture. But we also see examples in the word of people being miraculously healed when they brought no faith to the table. I think of the crippled man in the pool of Bethesda. At the pool of Bethesda in John chapter five.
He had no idea who Jesus even was. And Jesus just walked up to him and said, do you want to get well? The man had no faith, yet Jesus said, Get up, pick up your mat, and walk. And Jesus gave him the faith to stand up, and he did it, and he was healed. We also see examples in Scripture of people desiring healing, having faith, and yet receiving the answer of no from the Lord.
I think of the famous example of Paul himself, who, after receiving an amazing revelation of heaven, wrote therefore so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me.
That would be ludicrous. Of course, Paul had enough faith. So why didn't he get healed? Because God was loving something else in Paul's life through that issue. So in light of all of these different possibilities, I think the best we can do to be consistent with Scripture is to say that there are some times when God wants to heal a believer, and that person's faith plays a large rose in whether or not the healing takes place.
Other times Jesus might just do it and heal someone, and other times he might say no because he's doing something else. God is the only one who knows why he chooses to do one of those three things when a person is sick, only God knows. So here's what I would say. We should have faith. We absolutely should have faith.
We should have faith in the power of God and in his ability to heal. We should have faith that our Heavenly Father loves us and cares about us. So we should have faith in the character of God and in the character of his goodness. So, therefore, we should ask for healing, believing that God cares about us. We should ask for healing in faith and then trust that whatever God decides to do, he's God.
He's good and he's doing what is good for us. I always tell people this if you're sick or someone you love is sick, should you pray for healing in faith? Absolutely. And here's why. Because if you don't exercise faith, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what could have happened if you had.
And if you exercise faith but they don't get healed, then you can absolutely trust that the will of God was done and you can have peace in that. So absolutely have faith in God, trust God, and pray in faith for healing. And then trust in the goodness of God. Whatever the outcome, he's only ever good. Always.
And let me just say this too. Any pastor, preacher or teachers who don't acknowledge the different possible outcomes that I just described to you, the different possible outcomes we see in the scriptures, any pastor, preacher or teacher who doesn't acknowledge those possibilities is a false teacher. People like Bill Johnson and Bethel, who peddle the prosperity gospel and teach aberrant Pentecostal theology, and anyone who teaches that your faith is basically the only determining factor in whether or not you get a miracle. Such people are false teachers because they are not sharing the whole counsel of God's word. As Paul would say, mark those people and avoid them.
In this brief interaction between Paul and the lame man, we see a beautiful picture of God's grace, god's sovereignty, and our free will. Let me explain it to you. I love this. This man was lame. He was unable to walk, completely incapable of healing that which was broken in himself.
The grace of God came to him through Paul. He didn't look for God. The grace of God came and found him where he was at because he couldn't even walk anywhere to look for the grace of God. But the grace of God came to him through Paul preaching the gospel, the good news of Jesus. The man heard it.
He believed it. And then he heard a voice commanding him to stand up. On your feet. This man had done nothing to earn his healing. God's grace came to him and god's grace called him to stand to his feet.
You weren't looking for it, it came to you. And God is the one who has given you the faith to obey His Word. But you have to choose to exercise that faith. You have to make the choice to obey and to respond to the call that God is giving you. And so if that's you, and you want to respond to the grace of God that has come to you, we want to invite you even just to go to our website.
To learn more about what Jesus has done for you, go to GospelCity.com/Gospel or just click the Gospel button on our homepage and let me just explain the incredible ways in which God loves you and we'll give you some next step there. So go and do that immediately after this message if you want to exercise this faith that God is giving you. And you realize you've never really given your life to Jesus, you've never really placed your faith in Him and chosen to follow Him as your Lord, as your Master, and as your Savior. Verse eleven. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us in human form.
Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul comes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended with the crowds, to offer sacrifice. So this scene is absolute chaos. Paul is in the middle of a sermon when the Holy Spirit directs him to heal this lame man. And the crowd present responds by freaking out and thinking that Paul and Barnabas are gods.
The crowd is in an absolute frenzy and word quickly reaches the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, and he shows up with some bulls ready to sacrifice them to Paul and Barnabas. And all of this is happening in the native language, which Paul and Barnabas don't understand. They don't know what is going on. Now if you're wondering why these folks had such an extreme reaction to this miracle, the reasons are twofold. First, as I mentioned earlier, these are provincial, smaller towns.
The populace would have been far less educated and therefore far more superstitious and ignorant than those living in the larger cities. These were not the brightest folks. But secondly, the Romans. Poet David, who died in 17 Ad, recorded a tradition in Lustra that told of a time when Zeus and Hermes had visited Lystra incognito disguised as humans. When they showed up in town and asked for food and lodging, everyone refused them except a peasant named Philemon and his wife Bacchus.
In response, the two gods drowned the entire town in a flood. But they transformed the humble home of Philemon and Bacchus into a magnificent temple where they served the gods and were turned into two stately trees following their deaths. So when Paul does this miracle, their paradigm of the spiritual world told them these must be gods. Specifically, it must be Zeus and Hermes visiting us once again, and they freak out because they're determined not to repeat the mistake of their ancestors. So they're going to shower the god this time with worship and affection and sacrifices and food and adulation.
They decide Barnabas must be Zeus, which means Barnabas likely was the more physically imposing of the two. And they call. Paul comes. Hermes was the messenger of Zeus, and so they likely refer to Paul as Hermes because he was the primary speaker of the two, the messenger. When the priest at the nearby temple of Zeus heard about this, he also scrambled to make a good impression.
And for anyone who loves Jesus, being worshipped is blasphemous, because we believe all honor belongs to Jesus. And so in their minds, I mean, poor Paul and Barnabas. This is the worst thing that could have happened. They got up that morning with the goal of leading people to worship God, and instead the people are worshipping them. They're like, this is the first day of ministry ever.
This is literally the opposite of what we sought out to do. Then we read Paul and Barnabas rushed into the crowd shouting, people, why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you that you turn from these worthless things to the loving God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea and everything in them. Paul would later write to the Romans that since the creation of the world, god's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. You see, people understand there must be a power behind creation.
God has built us to recognize, design and order in creation and to recognize that a god must have created this. And Paul's a people. Paul's appeal to the people of Lystra is to turn from baseless myths and legends and idols made by their own hands to the God who is the power behind the glory of the universe. Anyone who's searching for the truth of reality, anyone, must answer several key questions. And the first question you have to answer if you're going to be a serious seeker of truth, is why is there something instead of nothing?
Why does anything exist? Why is anything here? And you'll find that if you begin to dig into and think and critique the answers that you were taught in public school or college, they are woefully inadequate for any explanation that has something coming from nothing without the involvement of any creator is, quite frankly, nonsense. It's nonsensical. Consciousness cannot come from unconsciousness.
Order cannot come from disorder. You cannot have code in creation without a coder. The universe is in entropy. Creation requires the exact opposite to take place. Everyone is worshipping something.
And the call of the gospel is to turn from those worthless things to the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them, because none of those worthless things can save you. None of them can give you peace. Nothing else but God can give you a joy that transcends your circumstances. None of those worthless things can cleanse you of your sins and free you from your guilt and shame. And none of those lesser things can bring you into the family of God, give you a new identity in Christ, turn from those worthless things and worship the loving God.
Paul and Barnabas realize in this moment that they've got to get way, way more basic in their gospel presentation. And so for this audience, the good news is not that the long-prophesied Hebrew Messiah has come. The good news is that they can know the true and living God, who is the ultimate power behind all things and the creator of the universe. They can know the God of gods. And instead of worshipping meaningless idols made by human hands, they can worship the living God.
I also noticed that the reaction of Paul and Barnabas to the crowd shatters the misguided notion that if more Christians could just get a platform in the culture, then we'd be able to influence the culture for gospel purposes. There are many Christians who believe that we need to just acquire influence in the culture by gaining a platform in the music industry, the film industry, and fashion culture on social media and in the mainstream media. Because if we can get a following we can gain influence, then we can leverage it for the gospel. On a more common level, you and I can think, well, I'll just work on being relatable, really likable, and agreeable. I'll just learn how to gain influence over people by never offending anybody and learning how to fit in with them.
And then when I've succeeded in doing that, I'll share the gospel with them. But what always ends up happening when we do that? As Paul told the Corinthians, do not be deceived bad company, corrupts good morals. Hear me on this. When we try to win over the world by becoming like the world, all that happens is we end up becoming like the world.
They don't become more like Jesus, and neither do we. We're called to be like Jesus, to speak like him, to live like him, to love like him, not like the world, like Jesus. And if there was ever a cultural platform to be strategically exploited for gospel purposes, this was it. Do you think that you might have the culture's attention when they think you're gods? You better believe it.
Think how tempting it would have been for Paul and Barnabas to just say to the other, okay, hang on, let's not be too hasty here. I mean, they're hanging on every word we say. I mean, why don't we just roll with it for a couple of days, use our influence to share the gospel, people are going to listen to everything we say, and then in a couple of days we can set them straight and tell them we're not gods. What do you think? Would have been easy to do, right?
But how did Paul but how did Barnabas react? They tore their clothes. They told the people, we're just men like you. And they urged them to not worship them but to turn and worship the true and living God. They were horrified that they were receiving any glory instead of Jesus.
Paul tells the crowd in past generations, that God allowed all the nations to go their own way. That's why there are problems in our world. God allows us individually and collectively to choose who we serve and submit to. The world collectively has rejected God, and as a result, the nations are ruled by wicked and evil men. What Josephus Dd Mestra wrote in 1811 is still true every nation gets the government it deserves.
And what an indictment that is on our nation. Verse 17 although he God, did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good underline good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy. Here's the idea everything good comes from God. Anything genuinely good that is experienced by a believer or a non-believer comes from God. Rain, the harvest, good food, the ability to feel joy, to share laughter, music, art, beauty.
If it's truly God, it comes from God. He is the only source of goodness in the universe. As our brother James put it, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. Paul tells this crowd that anything good they've experienced was given to them by God as a witness to his reality, that even when men are evil and reject Him, God is still good, because that's just who he is. Indeed, God's grace toward the unbeliever during their earthly life is incredible.
We're not the ones who send rains on your crops or fill your heart with joy. God does that, so give Him the glory. And then the last verse we'll read for today, verse 18. It says even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them. If you're not a believer and you want to respond to the grace of God that has come to you today, please go to the website and watch the Gospel video.
Fill out the form and let us know that you've begun your journey of faith with the Lord. And we want to make sure you get connected with a good local church and begin your walk with Jesus. Take that step of faith and do that if you're not a believer yet. If you've placed God I'm sorry if you've placed others above God by allowing them to define love and repent. If you've placed yourself above God by allowing yourself to define love repent.
We're going to pray for God to fill us with His Spirit so that we are full of his love because nobody in our loves needs our definition of love. They need God's love poured out on them as he pours it into us and we pour it out on them. People need the love of God, not our love. And we cannot conjure up within ourselves the love of God. It comes from him.
So we're going to ask Him to fill us with His Spirit, so that his love might flow through us to those he's put in our lives. And then we're also going to pray to be filled with the Spirit, that we might be bold with the Gospel, and we might listen when the Holy Spirit calls us to step out in faith and be bold.
And we're going to ask that the Lord would help any of us who haven't done so to accept the reality that the Gospel brings division. And if we're waiting for a method that won't bring division when we share the Gospel, we will be waiting forever. And we can't do that because there are people who need to know the Lord. So let's pray together. Would you bow your head and close your eyes?
Lord, thank you so much for Your Word, for the wisdom and the loving confrontation in Your Word. And thank you for servants like Paul and Barnabas, and for everyone who truly loves you and seeks to serve you today. Thank you for the gifts that they are to the Church. Jesus, Father, I pray for any of us who have allowed someone else to define love or allowed ourselves to define love. Lord, please forgive us for doing that.
We want to repent of that. We want to look to Your Word to see how you define love, and then we want to love people like that in a way that is pleasing to you. And so in order to do that, Lord, we need to be filled with Your Spirit, because we can't stir this up within ourselves. It's a gift from you. So fill us with Your spirit.
Fill us with Your love that it might be poured out through us, onto those in our lives. Jesus, fill us with Your Spirit so that we can be bold with the Gospel. And Lord, help us to exercise faith, that even where there is fear, we would choose to exercise faith, believing that you will give us the words to say and the boldness. We need to share you with others and then help us to be okay with whatever the outcome is because you're the Lord of the harvest. You're the One Who decides how people respond.
And so help us to be faithful, to share the good news, because that's what You've called us to do, and then to leave the results up to You, because You alone are God. We love you, Lord. We bless you. We're so thankful for all Your goodness and justice. Lord, we just thank you for every little good thing we experience in our lives.
You've pour out so much goodness into our lives, and it all comes from you. So we glorify you for it, we praise you for it, and we can't wait to experience the ultimate good, which is going to be spending eternity in Your presence. We love you so much, we can't wait to see you. In your name we pray. Amen.
Share with a friend
YOUR BURDENS ALON
................................
You've done well at hiding
the pain in your life
You've hidden the sorrow
that haunts you each night
But if there is something
That you need to share
I want you to know someone cares.
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone
You've got a friend,
You're not on your own
So just take my hand
and we'll find help at the throne
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone.
.
At times life seems unfair
and so hard to stand
You reach out for someone
Just to hold to your hand
Remember the words
of our Savior are true
His promise: "I will never leave you"
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone
You've got a friend
you're not on your own
So just take my hand
and we'll find help at the throne
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone.
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone
You've got a friend
you're not on your own,
So just take my hand
and we'll find help at the throne
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone.
No, You don't have to
bear your burdens...
You don't have to bear
your burdens...
You don't have to bear
your burdens alone.
No, You don't have to be alone.
...............................
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Series: Special Messages...........................Speaker: Jeff Thompson
How are Christians today supposed to view the issue of financial giving to the Church? Is there a difference between the old covenant commands given to Israel and the instructions given to the Church by Jesus and the Apostles? We’ll tackle these controversial questions by (as always) looking at Scripture and seeing what the Lord has to say to His church
Well, last week we looked at the shocking tale of Ananias and Sapphire in Acts chapter five one through eleven. Their deaths occurred because they were motivated to lie and deceive by their love of money. And while we didn't have time to dig further into the subject, I believe it would be profitable for us to do so today. So I'm going to share a brief overview of the issue of believers and money under the Old Covenant, and then we're going to look at the same issue under the new coveting. When Jesus summed up the law into just two commands, he explained the greatest command was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
And the second greatest was to love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, God's specific commandments to his people regarding money naturally reflect those two great commands coveting God above all else and coveting your neighbor as yourself. To help his people live out the greatest commandment, the Lord instructed them to give Him the first of everything. The first male born from every livestock was to be sacrificed to the Lord. The first son of every Israelite belonged to the Lord and had to be redeemed with a financial offering at the Tabernacle and later the temple.
The first of the harvest from every field and the first of the gathering at the end of the harvest season from every field was to be given to the Lord. And there are other examples. The idea behind giving God the first was placing God in the position of priority. It was about coveting a pattern of living wherein honoring God became the first thought rather than an afterthought. In all things, god was to have priority, and God was to be given the best, not the leftovers.
You didn't go through your harvest and pick out the smallest of each fruit that you could and then give that to God. You gave God the first of your harvest period. And so that's the first thing I'm going to have us write down. God commanded his people to honor Him as their first priority. He wanted to be their first priority and to help them know how much they should give.
God implemented the Tie, the word that means 10th. And so when it came to income or anything you had harvested, god was to be given a tithe, the first 10%. And the genius of the tithe is that it's proportional. It's not a fixed amount. You have less, the amount will be less, you have more, the amount will be more.
God explained the point of tithing to his people in Deuteronomy 14/23, which the Living Bible renders this way. It's on your outlines. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives. Under the law, God's people were called to actually bring multiple tithes to the Tabernacle and later the temple. For any income they acquired during the year, for anything they harvested, for every livestock, animal, and more.
Additionally, they were called to bring offerings to the Tabernacle on the feasts and later to the temple multiple times each year. God didn't allow each person to determine where their tithes and offerings went. They didn't get to pick a charity of their choice. His command was to bring it to the Lord's house. And that's because their tithes and offerings were used to cover three main expenses that I've listed in your outlines.
That was God's command for society, so there wouldn't have been any other taxes or fees or anything like that in the country. Additionally, God's instructions to Israel came with amazing, amazing promises and guarantees. God promised them that if they honored the Sabbath day, he would make sure they were more productive in six days than all the surrounding cultures were in seven days. And he promised them that whatever they gave to Him in tides and offerings, he would give back to them even more. Not figuratively, not spiritually, but literally.
Whatever the amount of your harvest was that you gave to the Lord, he promised that he would move supernaturally to not only make up for it, but to give you back even more. But here's the crazy part. Israel would still fall away and stop obeying God over and over again, even though they had and would experience the blessings of God's promises. They had lived it, they had seen it. But familiarity breeds contempt, and after a while, they just took it for granted.
But when they obeyed God with their tithes and offerings, they would be blessed in the same way they gave. Their land would be supernaturally blessed and absurdly productive. You could put someone like me in charge of growing fruit and vegetables and it would work. This is the sort of stuff that was happening when they disobeyed God and refused to honor them with their tithes and offerings. Their land would be supernaturally cursed and unproductive.
Didn't matter what they did. Now, you would think they would figure out the pattern, right? But instead they talk among themselves during those rough times and say, hey, do you think maybe we're starving and agriculturally unproductive because we're not honoring the Lord with what we're producing? I only ask because I remember God saying specifically that this is what would happen if we didn't honor Him with what we were producing. And then the other guy would be like, Nah.
And then the other guy would be like, yeah, that makes sense. And that's what God is talking about when he speaks to Israel in Malachi, chapter three, verses seven through twelve. And that's how the Old Testament era ends, with 400 years of God's people refusing to put Him first and refusing to honor Him rightly in their lives, including in their finances. Jesus lived a perfect life in our place. He died for our sins on the cross, and then he rose from the grave in victory over death, making it possible for us to share in his victory over death.
The incarnational work of Jesus ushered in the new covenant. Nobody could live up to the standard of God's law, therefore nobody could be saved under the law. So Jesus lived a perfect life and fulfilled the law on our behalf. Under the New Covenant, we are saved by faith in what Jesus has done, rather than our inevitably inadequate attempt to keep God's law perfectly. The old Covenant was salvation through law keeping, which was impossible.
Writing Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Wrestling with this for years and growing in my grasp and understanding of what this truly means has resulted in me concluding that believers cannot be under the monetary commands of the law. Almost every pastor teaches from Malachi, chapter three, when they teach on giving and tithing. I have two many times. The problem is that God was speaking to his covenant people, Israel, regarding their failure to keep the law and the covenant that he had given them and made with them.
The church is not under the law and is not party to the covenants that God made with Israel. According to Malachi, chapter three, if I tithe, God will give me back more money than I gave. But that's not true. That's not what happens. I know because I've been tithing since I was a child, and pastor will try and explain it away by saying, well, God can give you back more in many ways.
Maybe he'll make you rich with friends, or maybe he will make your car not break down. There's lots of ways God can do this, but that's playing games with the text, because that's not what God says. In Malachi, chapter three, the clear concept, the clear covenant, the clear offer God is making to Israel is honor me tithe, give the first of your income to me, your money, and I will give you back more money than you give to me. The reason we don't see that principle work today is because that offer is not for us. It was for Israel under the law, under the Old Covenant.
Another favorite that I've wrongly taught before is when Jesus is correcting the wrong motivations of the religious leaders. I know that's not very specific in Matthew 23 23, and he says to them, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites. You pay a 10th of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.
What Jesus is saying there is you guys are so focused on keeping the details of the law that you literally tied out of your spice rack. Let me get 10% out of my pepper shaker here. But you guys are completely missing the heart behind the Law. You don't love God. You don't love your neighbor.
You should be honoring God with your tithes, but you should also practice the heart of the law justice, mercy, and faithfulness. And so pastor will say, well, here is Jesus clearly endorsing tithing. And that's true. But Jesus hadn't yet died and risen from the dead. Jesus'ministry, before his death, was under the Old Covenant because Jesus was still fulfilling the Law on our behalf.
After the resurrection of Jesus. There is no mention in Scripture of believers tithing or giving because of any Old Testament commandment. If me or any other pastor wants to teach tithing as a Biblical command, I must explain how believers can be free from the Law, but still under the Law's command to tithe. I have to explain that theologically. So write this down.
Don't say amen. You're going to look stupid in a minute. Okay, write this down.
The reason I said don't amen that too loud is that you need to know that Jesus had a lot to say about money during his earthly ministry. In fact, around one third of all of Jesus'teachings and parables are about money and material possessions. Jesus said things like, no one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and money. And Jesus repeatedly reinforced the heart of the Law in his teachings. Love God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself. It's not like when the New Covenant arrived, jesus said, I no longer care about you loving me above all else, and I no longer care about you loving your neighbor as yourself because you're not under the law. That's not what happened.
The New Covenant changed two major things. Firstly, we are saved by faith in the finished work of Jesus and not by our works. And secondly, the Holy Spirit gives us the power we need to obey Jesus and live lives that please Him. So even under the New Covenant, obviously God still wants us to love Him above all else. Obviously he still wants us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, including in the area of finances.
Earlier, I shared that God commanded his people to give their tithes and offerings to the tabernacle and later the temple, because God wanted to use them to cover three main expenses the maintenance of the Lord's house, the salaries of those who work in the Lord's house, and to meet the practical needs represented within the people of God. When Jesus instituted the New Covenant, he didn't give Peter and the apostles American Express black cards with an unlimited balance and say, these are to cover all the expenses of the church. Just pass them on through the centuries. Nobody needs to give anymore. Jesus didn't supernaturally incline the heart of every business owner to give churches whatever they needed for free, like the tabernacle and the temple, the church still has practical expenses like rent, mortgages, supplies, vehicles, computers, office supplies, all kinds of things.
The church also has, like the tabernacle and temple fulltime and parttime workers and the New Covenant. New Testament scriptures teach this in Galatians six six let the one who has taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. That's referring to practical, material things like money. It's not referring to good vibes. Okay, paul wrote to Timothy in his first letter to him the elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
For the Scripture says, do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and the worker is worthy of his wages. Paul's point is that the church body has an obligation to financially provide for those who work at the church. And he uses the term double honor because he's saying that the church body should value the work that their elders do more than they value other common services they receive. The church body shouldn't say, oh, I value what the pastor do as much as I value what my automotive mechanic does. Paul is saying there should be a difference in how you value what you receive from those two people.
And Paul wasn't happy about it. So he writes this in One Corinthians, chapter nine. Take a look at it. Beginning in verse three, he says my defense to those who examine me is this don't we have the right to even drink? Don't we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas?
That's Peter. In other words, he's saying, when we travel and minister, shouldn't our churches provide enough financial compensation that we can bring our wives with us when we travel somewhere to preach the Gospel? Verse six or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? In other words, do we just have to have side hustles forever because you guys don't want to give? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit, or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?
Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn't the Law also say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen? Isn't he really saying it for our sake?
Yes, this is written for our sake. Because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threses should thresh in hope of sharing the crop. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? If others have the right to receive benefits from you, don't we even more? Nevertheless, we've not made use of this right.
Instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the Gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the Gospel should earn their living by the Gospel. I just want to share with you some stuff that most people don't ever know. While most people are starting their careers, climbing the ladder in whatever your career is starting businesses, most people who end up being elders and pastors are working for nothing, working in poverty.
And then, as soon as things start to get going, many of them go plant a church and push the reset button right back down to zero. And so what happens to people like Paul and Barnabas? Many pastors get to middle age, they have, like, almost nothing. And people think, well, no, you have something. When I say nothing, I mean zero saved for retirement, zero savings.
Been living on faith for like, two decades because they devoted themselves to the work of the Kingdom of God and were not motivated by money at all. Because God is a coveting father, his plan is not that the church body that he gives to those elders would look on and say, that's great, you're going to be so rich in heaven. Because God is a loving father. He specifically, in His Word, tells churches, to take care of their elders, and take care of your pastors. They're worthy of double honor.
And that's what we're doing right here, and that is what it says. Paul is clear that just as the Lord provided for the Levitical priests in the tabernacle and temple through the giving of his people, his plan is to provide for the elders of his church through the giving of his people. Thirdly, just two weeks ago, we did an entire study on how the church has a mandate today to meet the practical needs of the brethren. God's plan for the church is for the people of God to give in such a way that the practical costs of running the church can be met, the salaries of the church staff can be paid, and the practical needs of the brethren can be met. So are New Covenant believers free from tithing?
Absolutely.
There is no prescribed amount we are required to give under the New Covenant. But if we love Jesus, we will covet his church. If we love Jesus, we will not allow his bride to be financially neglected or destitute. If we love Jesus, we will not provide building our kingdom over building the kingdom of God. And if we love Jesus, then we will love and care for the people he has given us as shepherds.
And practically all of that means that if we love Jesus, we will give to the church in a way that allows the church to meet the expenses of running the church, paying the staff, and meeting the practical needs of the brethren. So write this down. God's plan is still to fund his work through his people. His plan is still to fund his work through his people. As New Covenant believers, we're still called to put God first in everything.
We're still called to make Him the priority in every area of our lives. And I wish I didn't have to, but I need to be really clear and practical on what this means in the area of money. It means that we give to God first as our financial priority. Now, I know the government is in rebellion against God by placing themselves upstream and putting their hand in your pocket before you can even put your hand in your pocket. But as best you can, God is to be your priority.
The first thing that we honor with our money is because we love Jesus, we love his church. We're called to give to the Lord as our priority and sacrificially. That means we care more. This is going to be a paradigm shift for some of you. We care more about honoring God with our money than we do about our creature comforts.
I'm going to be really frank here. Streaming TV services are a luxury. They're not a need. Many of us buy way more clothes than we need. For many of us, in reality, even cars are luxuries.
Eating out is a luxury. And I could go on and on. But for many of us, what we do is we meet all of our wants first, not our needs. We meet all of our wants first and then see what's left over. God gets a 20.
Here you go. God is all that was left over. And that's not giving God priority. That's not giving sacrificially, that's not honoring God. Now, please understand this.
I know that for some, $20 is a massive sacrifice because that's all you have to spend on your wants. And if that's you, man, God is honored. He's honored, but he's not honored when we take care of all our wants first and then throw something at Him out of whatever's left over. I hope you understand what I'm saying. The issue is not the dollar amount.
The issue is honoring God first. Honoring God sacrificially and honoring Him ahead of our own wants. The New Covenant believer doesn't view God as owning a percentage of his income. That's not how the New Covenant believer thinks. The New Covenant believer views the Lord as owning all of it.
All of it. Let me say that again. The New Covenant believer doesn't view God as owning a percentage of his wealth. He views the Lord as owning all of it. And so, the question the New Covenant believer asks is not what does the law require me to give it?
What are you calling me to give, Lord? At any time, with no limitations, new Covenant believers have been regenerated. God's given us a new heart. When it comes to money, the evidence of our new heart is a desire to give, a desire to be generous, a desire to honor God, and a desire to trust Him. We don't do it because we have to.
We do it because we love Jesus, and we love his church. I tithe not because I'm under the law, but because I want to have a plan. I want to have a plan that produces a baseline for me to give sacrificially and consistently in my life. I make a plan because that's what we do when something is important to us. If meeting with someone is important to us, we don't just say, yeah, next Thursday at seven, and then walk away and go, hope I remember that.
We write it down somewhere. We put it in our phone, in our calendar. I put a reminder in there an hour before the appointment so that when I forget, I have an hour to panic before I go have the appointment. Thinking ahead, we plan for the things that are important. So, I tithe because I want to have a plan to give sacrificially and consistently.
I know other believers who do similar things. They have a percentage that they give every month. But I view everything I have as belonging to God, and he can call me to give whatever he wants much more than that. And sometimes he does because it's all his. When the New Testament writers speak about giving under the New Covenant, they always speak about it as being Spirit-led.
But none of them were ever under the impression that being led by the Spirit would cause a believer to give less than they gave under the Law. There's nothing of that thinking in the New Testament because being led by the Spirit always produces greater faith, not lesser faith. And I really don't want any of us to be confused. SpiritLed giving does not mean that you ask yourself the question, what am I comfortable giving? Spirit-led giving means you ask the question, what are you calling me to give, Lord?
And we know the Lord's answer will involve faith. And so if it involves faith, it's going to be sacrificial, because faith is not generally convenient. If it's not inconvenient and it's not a sacrifice, it's not faith. What do you need faith for?
Scripture says without faith, it is impossible to please God. We don't have the promise of Malachi, chapter three. God doesn't promise you and me that if we give Him money, give me 100, I'll shoot you back 130. He doesn't say, that be pretty fun, right? Instead, we get a far better offer.
Far better offer. In Matthew six, Jesus told his disciples, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus tells us that as we lay down our lives for Him, as we serve Him and give as he leads us, including in the area of finances, we store up treasure in heaven. And Jesus exhorts us, and encourages us to understand that a new car is going to rust and break down over the decades. But the treasures we store up in heaven will last forever and bring us enjoyment for eternity.
Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow. They don't labor or spin thread.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and throws it into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you? You of little faith? So don't worry what will we eat? Or what will we drink or what will we wear?
For the Gentiles, the unbelievers eagerly seek all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have to worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. The second offer Jesus makes is that if we prioritize living for Him and his kingdom, he'll make sure we have whatever we need.
Do you get why that's such an incredible offer? Because when we put them together, we get this offer live for me and my kingdom, and you'll store up treasure in heaven. But Lord, if I do that, how are my needs going to be met in the meantime? If you do that, I'll personally make sure that your needs are met. That's a far better offer than Malachi Chapter Three even though we're not under the law, we are still under the law of sowing and reaping.
Paul told the stingy Corinthians that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. If your practical needs aren't being met, you need to honestly ask yourself am I seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Because if you're not, God doesn't promise to meet all of your needs. It's a conditional promise. Do you see that?
It's a conditional promise. It's not, you can do whatever you want and I'll meet your needs. It's seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then I'll meet all of your needs. Sometimes the church is called to step in and meet practical needs, as we saw two weeks ago with the abandoned widows in One Timothy chapter five. But the church is not called to step in and meet the practical needs of believers who are not seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
So if your practical needs aren't being met and you're not honoring God with your finances, you're not putting them first. You're not being led by the Spirit in your giving. Don't ask for prayer about your practical needs. Don't do it.
God has told you in his word what you need to do. Don't come and ask for prayer as though you want a second opinion. God has been clear you need to put Him first, be led by the Spirit, and give in a God-honoring way. When we refuse to do things God's way, we can't complain. When we don't experience his provision or his blessings.
Let me say that again. When we refuse to do things God's way, we can't complain when we don't experience his provision or his blessings. This is a mega rule for the Christian life. In any area of our lives, if there's struggle or difficulty, the first question to ask is, am I putting God first? Am I honoring Him in this area of my life?