The Kingdom of God- 2

Subtitle:  Now But Not Yet Fully

Various passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 23, 2025.

Next week, we are going to talk about how a person enters into the kingdom of God.  But, before we do that, we need to deal with something that was a surprise when it was revealed.

In some ways, Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as something that people could and were entering in his day, but in other places, the Kingdom of God seems to be something that is still future.  The subtitle of today’s sermon is relaying the fact that the Kingdom of God is right now, but also, not fully here.  To say it in another way, the Kingdom of God is already present on the earth, but not yet complete.

Let’s look at some passages.

Passages that speak of the Kingdom as a present reality

Our first passage is Luke 17:20-21.  We have there a question posed to Jesus by the Pharisees. They wanted to know when the Kingdom of God would come.

The Pharisees as a group did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  Definitely, there were some who secretly believed, and others who would believe after the resurrection of Jesus.  Yet, we should not suppose that this is a question that is asked out of a sincere desire to hear the wisdom of Jesus.   Their question probably represents an adversarial intent.  They are fishing for him to make his views clear so that they can then use his words against him.

We should keep this in mind when analyzing the answer that Jesus gives.  Jesus always gave truth to these men, but it was in a way that would be missed (or even dismissed) while they remained unbelieving.

The first point made by Jesus is that the Kingdom doesn’t “come with observation.”  The verb is actually present tense here.  Thus, the Kingdom is not coming (presently) with observation.

What is meant by the phrase “with observation?”  Some versions translate this as “with signs.”  This seems contradictory because the biggest sign that the Kingdom had arrived was staring them in the face.  Jesus did many signs before the people, whether casting out demons, healings, and his powerful teachings of repentance.  If the Anointed teacher from God was here, then the Kingdom was surely on his heels. 

Yet, though some of the actions of Jesus may have fit what they expected, many of his actions did not.  They were looking for one from the line of David to rise up, make a rightful claim to the throne, lead an army against Rome, and establish Israel above the nations.  These are the things they expected, or were seeking to observe.  The Kingdom was presently coming, but not in the way that they were expecting, not in that kind of way.  This would not be a replay of David.

Jesus then states, “For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you” (NKJV).  “For indeed” is translating the word look, or behold.  It is exclamatory and calls a person’s attention to something they are missing.  If they had eyes to see, they would recognize the Kingdom.

The translation “within you” is unfortunate.  You will notice that many other translations will give the translation “among you.”  Why the difference?

If we take “the Kingdom of God is within you” to be a statement about a spiritual nature of the Kingdom, we would be able to find many passages in the New Testament that back this up.  The Christians did not try to take over the nation of Israel or establish a capital city with a king on a throne in those days.  Christ’s rule was realized within their hearts and minds.  By the Spirit, they were connecting to the King and living out his purpose and plan in this life.

Yet, in the context, Jesus is not talking to believers.  He cannot be saying that the Kingdom is spiritually in the hearts of these unbelieving Pharisees.  This brings us to a secondary notion of “within you.”  The you here is plural.  Within is most likely not referring to within them individually, but rather, in the midst of the group.   Jesus was even then right in their midst, within them as a group.  Yet, they couldn’t see him for who he was.  This is not a statement of the Kingdom’s spiritual nature, but rather an answer to their question.  It is here right now in your midst, and yet, you cannot see it!

There is no way around this passage.  Jesus teaches that the Kingdom of God was already in the midst of the nation of Israel in his day.  He also taught that it was not coming in the outward way that they were expecting.  It would not be a nation like they were used to seeing nations.

We should resist the temptation to refer to this as simply a spiritual kingdom.  Rather, it is a kingdom on this earth unlike any kingdom before it.  It’s King (Jesus) resides and sits on a heavenly throne at the right hand of the Father.  He sends forth his Holy Spirit to draw people unto him and to dwell within his followers.  When we read the Word of God, we cannot observe the Holy Spirit applying it to our heart and speaking within our inner man, but it is very real.  We can’t see executive orders from Jesus to the angelic world and to his people on earth, but they are real nonetheless.  In fact, the followers of Jesus do very real things on the earth in response to a very real spiritual work within them.  Not everything done in Christ’s name is stirred up by his Spirit.  Yet, we cannot deny that the New Testament presents a real king operating by the Spirit in the hearts of his followers.  This is the Kingdom of God in the present age.

This helps us understand the words of Jesus before Pilate in John 18:36.  He tells Pilate that his Kingdom (notice he doesn’t deny its reality) “is not of this world…If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews…”  Jesus is a King over a very real Kingdom, but it is not of this world.  Don’t read that phrase as if it means it isn’t in this world.  Just as believers are born of the Spirit and are no longer of this world, so the Kingdom Jesus is creating is not of the world.  It is not like it, but even more, the world is not its source.  This is a Kingdom that God the Father is originating.  All other Kingdoms were created by mortal men and displayed a particular way of operating.  This Kingdom is not at all like those kingdoms.  This is why they didn’t fight to save Jesus.  His Kingdom is not worldly and focused on worldly attainment.  Rather, his Kingdom is directed by the Father for higher purposes that the world, and those who think like the world, cannot understand.

Luke 11:19-20 gives us another statement of the Kingdom’s present reality.   Again, Jesus is speaking to Pharisees who do not want to believe that he is Messiah.  Of course, they would have to explain the power Jesus displayed in casting out demons.  Jesus knew that some of them were saying in their minds that he was able to do this because he was in league with the prince of demons, Beelzebub.  Thus, it was a satanic ruse to get people to follow Jesus.  This really was the only option for unbelievers because there was too much undeniable evidence for these exorcism.  Men who had been tormented and tormented a whole region for years were suddenly in their right mind at the command of Jesus.

Jesus points out that this logic can be used against their own students who performed exorcisms.   Casting out a demon cannot in itself be proof that a person is in league with the devil.  You would need something else to establish that.

Of course, these disciples did not have the power and success-rate of Jesus, not even close!  Yet, Jesus is mercifully showing them the error in their logic.  However, their error in logic is not driven by inability to use logic.  Rather, it is driven by their unwillingness to accept that Jesus is (was) their Messiah.

Jesus statement at the end drives the main point home.  “If I cast out demons with the finger of God…”  It is put as a conditional because this is what they are struggling with.  Of course, Jesus knows that he does this with the finger of God.  This is not some admission that he isn’t sure how he is doing this.  The finger of God language comes from Exodus 8, when Moses stood before Pharaoh and his magicians.  They were able to duplicate some of the first miracles, but they eventually tell Pharaoh that Moses was not using magical arts.  This was the very finger of God working with him.  They could not do what God was doing through Moses.  By the way, Jesus is most likely implying to the Pharisees that their disciples are equivalent to Pharaoh’s magicians, and he is equivalent (actually greater) to Moses.  He was the prophet like Moses that they were told was coming (Deuteronomy 18).    When God shows up, there is no comparison between what men can do through ritual and reliance upon fallen spirits, and what He does through His people. 

Back to the statement of Jesus.  “If I cast out demons with the finger of God, behold, the Kingdom of God has come upon you!”  Jesus is challenging them to quit resisting the Holy Spirit and open their eyes.  They are hardening their hearts much like Pharaoh did.  Here it is!  Embrace it!  The King is in front of them displaying the power of the Kingdom over every evil thing, and they are blind to it.

Matthew 21:28-32.  This passage deals with the an issue that was similar with John’s ministry.  By what authority did John baptize people and tell them to ready themselves for Messiah?  Also, by what authority was Jesus doing what he was doing?  Jesus challenges them about John because they were unwilling to state categorically that John was not sent by God as a true prophet.  This was a political unwillingness because John was popular with the people.

Jesus then asks a question about two sons who were asked by their father to go work in his vineyard.  The first said that he wouldn’t do it, but later he regretted it and went to work in the vineyard.  The second son, however, said that he would go, but he never went into the vineyard to do the work.  The question is simple.  Which of the two sons did the will of their father?  The obvious answer is that it was the first son who was unwilling at first, but later did the work.  He then gives a powerful statement that would help them to see what the two sons represented.  “I say to you that tax collectors and harlots [enter] the kingdom of God before you.  He then goes on to connect their entering the Kingdom to believing in John. 

There is more here than I have time this morning.  In one way the two classes of sinners listed are like the first son.  They had rejected God’s purpose for their life and were doing their own thing.  However, the ministry of John the Baptist (and now Jesus) had caused them to regret this.  They believed and were doing “the work” that God had always asked of Israel: trust in Me and believe on My Anointed One when he comes.  However, the Pharisees through their lives were telling God that they were all about doing His work.  Yet, they refuse to embrace John, the Messiah’s forerunner (herald), and the Messiah himself.

We could also invert this by only focusing on John’s prophetic message as the Father’s call to go into the vineyard to work.  These Pharisees were refusing to believe John and now they are refusing to believe the One John pointed out as Messiah.  They could “regret it” and do the work, but they are continuing in their rejection of the Father’s will.  It is still possible that they could repent and do the will of the Father.  Our ability to do God’s will is not prevented by previous failure, though it definitely influences us. 

We should note that the verb in verse 31 is present tense.  Tax collectors and harlots were presently entering the Kingdom ahead of them.  The construction is not about any particular tax collector or harlot.  Therefore, it is not so much a statement about that very moment, but about those days, whether yesterday, today, or tomorrow.  People were entering the Kingdom at that time, and not because they were dying and “going to heaven.”  They were entering by doing what the Father was telling them to do, which was to repent and believe upon the Messiah who is Jesus of Nazareth!

Let’s go next to a passage in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  Colossians 1:13-14.  Paul writes to the Colossians that “[The Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Paul had been one of those stubborn Pharisees who kicked against the goading of God to believe in Jesus.  He had given lip-service to doing God’s work, but when it came down to it, he was resisting and not doing it.  Yet, God broke through to his heart, and he finally embraced Jesus as the Christ.

Here, Paul is writing to the Colossians about something that has happened.  This is not something that is going to happen in the future.  This idea that God was presently transferring people from under the bondage of the power of darkness into the “Kingdom of the Son of His love…”  The Father had placed them in the Kingdom of Messiah Jesus.  This was not a geographical thing with a literal border.  This is a spiritual transfer that happens in the heart.

Let’s now turn to several passages that speak of the Kingdom of God as a future reality in some way.  This may look like a contradiction upon first glance.  But, a careful look will show that it is not a true contradiction.  It may not have been satisfying to many of the Pharisees  in the first century, but it was not contradictory.  Essentially, there are some ways in which the Kingdom is now, but there are other ways in which the Kingdom is still in the future.

Passages that speak of the Kingdom as a future reality

Matthew 28:11-12.  In this passage, we have a Roman centurion who has great faith that Jesus can heal his servant on command without ever going to his house. 

We can limit God through our lack of true understanding.  This is so in the case of the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda.  When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, all he could think of was how unable he was to get into the pool when it stirred.  His mind could not fathom that a pool was not necessary if God wanted him healed.  Jesus was willing to go to the centurions house and lay hands upon the servant, but the man protested that he was not worthy of Jesus coming to his house.

Jesus was amazed that this gentile had more faith than most Jews.  The grounds for this amazement has nothing about our ability to have faith.  Jews are not genetically predisposed to having faith at higher levels than gentiles.  Rather, the Jews have a history and records of many ancestors who believed God for impossible things.  They had a whole history of God doing impossible things.  They of all people shouldn’t have even blinked at demonstrating such faith.  Yet, precious few of them did so.

Jesus takes advantage of this gentile’s amazing faith to make a statement about the Kingdom.  “[M]any will come (future tense) from east and west, and sit down (future tense) with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.”  Jesus is telling us that there is a time in the future where believing gentiles will come from all around the world and sit with Abraham and the other patriarchs “in the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Now, we showed last week how the Kingdom of Heaven is just another way of talking about the Kingdom of God.  These “sons of the Kingdom” thought that their genetic descent from Abraham was a golden ticket into the Kingdom when it came.  Yet, Jesus is telling them that they and their golden ticket will find themselves shut out of the Kingdom while Gentiles come in and fellowship with the Patriarchs who were their ancestors.  Again, Jesus is pointing to something that would happen in the future.

Some Christians will interpret this spiritually versus literally.  They reason this way.  First, Jesus said his Kingdom is spiritual.  Second, this means that people are coming to him spiritually and fellowshipping with Abraham in the sense that they are believing just like he did.  It can even be extended to a heavenly meaning.  Many gentiles will die and go to heaven where they can sit down with Abraham and the patriarchs, while the unbelieving Jews will be shut out.

The problem with such interpretations is that they take a thread of truth and make themselves the judge of what God’s Word means.  They either treat everything as spiritual, i.e., nothing is literal, or they treat only the things they like as literal and the rest are metaphorical.  If I only take it literally when I agree with it, that is a problem.  Who is in charge of what the Bible means?  Me?  A religious hierarchy?

Of course, we all have to come to a decision about what the Word means.  However, we need to do so humbly and without limitations upon what God can mean and say.  When you read, ask God to give you wisdom and understanding.  Be humble.

Let me ask you a question.  The first coming of Jesus, was it all spiritual or was there some literal things about it?  Was Jesus the literal son of a literal virgin?  Yet, Jesus set them free from spiritual bondage rather than from the gentile powers.  We must beware of letting a spiritual truth cause us to reject any literal fulfillment.  Most often God is doing both spiritual and literal things.  They can both be true at the same time, or true at different points in time.

This begs the question.  Is the Kingdom of God only a spiritual thing that only take place in a spiritual place?  In this passage, Jesus presents a real common to life scene of believing gentiles sitting down with Abraham in the Kingdom.

Let’s look at another passage.  Matthew 19:27-28.  Peter asks Jesus what they who had left everything and followed him would have as a reward.  Jesus points to a time called the “Regeneration,” in which “the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory.”  He then states that those who have followed him (the Twelve disciples who were faithful to the end) would also sit on twelves thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

The Regeneration is a rare word in the New Testament.  It has the sense of renewal, but this appears to be more than just a spiritual renewal in this passage.  Jesus equates the renewal with him sitting on his throne of glory.  This is a clear reference to the Messianic prophecies that speak of the Messiah renewing all things.  It should not be equated with the New Birth, though some do this. 

The tendency to spiritualize this passage does not come from the passage, but from a person’s prior persuasion.  Jesus is looking forward to a time in the future when all things will be renewed and he will sit on a throne of glory.  At that time, the twelve disciples would sit on 12 thrones judging the tribes of Israel (Judas was replaced by Matthias in Acts 1:15-26).  That seems to be a very clear statement about a literal reign of Jesus and the Disciples.

Some will say that the disciples did reign in the sense that they had authority in the new Church of Jesus.  They will also treat the thrones as symbolic of their authority.  The 12 tribes of Israel, then become symbolic of the various groups of Christians throughout the world, or Jews who believed in the first century.

Of course, it is true that the Apostles had authority to lay down the foundation of the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints.  However, we are left asking why a person would not simply understand it for what it says.  It makes most sense of a statement about a future time when God has restored the righteous through resurrection and setting up a literal kingdom on this earth that has literal thrones.

Now, from 135 AD to 1948 AD (1,813 years), there was no nation of Israel.  Christians would read this and recognize that there wasn’t a nation of Israel.  It was easy to read it and think that it couldn’t be literal.  There is no Israel.  It generally was seen as a replacement thing.  “National Israel is gone and we the “spiritual” Israel have taken their place.  Yet, 1948 blew this out of the water.  Why would God allow Israel to come back into existence?

For far too long, much of the Church has given up the expectation of a returning Jesus setting up an observable kingdom on the earth, one in which the nation of Israel would be “resurrected” from the dead.  This happened to the nation in the natural in 1948, but will also happen to the people of Israel spiritually in the future.

What we have here is Jesus looking forward to a time in which the Kingdom does become observable.  It presently is not observable in that kind of way (Jesus on a throne, the Disciples ruling in Israel, etc.).  However, one day it will be.

In fact, the throne of his glory is given more definition in Matthew 25:31-32.  The throne of Christ’s glory is connect to his coming in glory with the holy angles with him.  This is clearly about the Second Coming.  He speaks of all the nations (those who have survived to that point) being gathered before him and separated like sheep from goats. 

This is a very recognizable point.  The first coming of the Christ did not look like a conquering king.  His was a victory and a kingdom that was spiritual and over the hearts of men (Jew and Gentile).  Yet, his Second Coming will be quite different.  This is shown in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 

We could try and spiritualize even the Second Coming of Christ.  He comes gloriously when his messengers (heavenly and earthly) bring the glorious truth of God into the lives of those who embrace it and believe.  That same word is a judgment and destruction against those who reject it.

In the end, we need to let Jesus tell us what is going to happen, rather than we being the one determining what will happen.

In Acts 1:6-7, the disciples ask Jesus if it is time for the Kingdom to be restored to Israel.  Now, they are not disbelieving what Jesus said earlier.  They are simply asking if the future time had finally come.  Note that a lot of things had happened.  Jesus had been rejected by the rulers of Israel, executed on a cross, and resurrected from the dead.  We can forgive them for thinking that perhaps God had finished making His point, and now it was time to go into the observable aspect of the Kingdom.

This would have  been a prime opportunity for Jesus to explain to these guys that it would never be an observable kingdom (i.e., only in a spiritual way).  Yet, Jesus doesn’t explain to them that they are supposed to go back and spiritualize everything he said about the Kingdom.   However, Jesus tells them that it is not for them to know when this would happen.  It was only for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit and remain faithful to God’s plan for now.  The Kingdom would continue being present, but in a more spiritual way, until the time that God the Father was ready to move to the next phase, a more observable phase.

We could end with Revelation 19:11-20.  Up to verse 16, we could easily apply this completely to the first century with a spiritual interpretation alone.  Jesus has come.  The sharp sword from his mouth is symbolic for the Word of God that he was delivering.  He rules over the nations today, and his judgments are happening like a rod of iron.  The word of God is striking those of the lost who refuse to believe, and thus, they are spiritually slain by it.

However, at verse 17, we are given a description of a great supper of God that is put on for the birds of the air.  The overall picture is that of Jesus coming back to the earth in order to deal with the wicked governmental powers that have not only persecuted his people, but have also bound the whole earth under a beastly system that is antichrist.

Though we could spiritualize this too, we would be hard-pressed to see any way that the wicked governmental powers are being judged  by Christ and removed so that His kingdom could move forward with the righteous, resurrected believers.

On the flip-side, we do see a literal need for Jesus to come back physically and literally remove them.

There are many other passages that we could go through, showing a present or future aspect to the Kingdom of God.  The challenge for believers today is to understand that we are a part of a real and present Kingdom of God right now.  We need to cooperate with the Lord Jesus by pursuing his word and being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We need to do what the early Church did by telling everyone who Jesus is, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Yet, we also need to understand that we are not just doing the same thing over and over again.  We are not just being faithful in our mortal life so that we can enter a spiritual kingdom that is forever in the heavens.  No.  The emphasis on the New Testament is not us going to be with God, but rather, God coming down to be with us.

History is headed to a climax, and the times of the Gentiles will come to an end.  We will reach the great “until” of prophecy, as the Lord Jesus literally comes back riding the clouds of heaven.  Of course, there is room for metaphor and spiritual meanings, but that does not mean we should reject any interpretations that also allow for literal meaning.

The Kingdom is now, but not yet fully what it is promised to be!

Now But Not Yet Fully audio

The Acts of the Apostles 78

Subtitle: Farewell to the Ephesian Elders II

Acts 20:25-38.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 1, 2024.

We are picking up in the middle of Paul’s farewell to the elders of the Ephesian church while he is in Miletus.  These are clearly Paul’s last words to them.  He does not expect to come back.

In the previous verses, Paul has reminded them of the example of his life while he was among them.  He then spoke about his present example of steadfastly and boldly going towards persecution in Jerusalem.

At verse 25, Paul begins to speak to the future ahead of them in which he will no longer be with them or able to visit.  He isn’t dying, but the message that he is giving does have that feel to it.  In short, the Apostle Paul does not want to leave any important thing unsaid.  He does not expect to have another chance.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul exhorts them about the future (v. 25-31)

Paul explains that he knows they will not see him again.  He then speaks about the nature of his leaving.  He has been faithful to preach the Kingdom of God to them.  This Kingdom has both present and future aspects to it.

Yes, Christians are a family, and salvation is being brought into God’s family through Jesus.  However, the Kingdom references have deep roots into the Old Testament with the promised Anointed Son of David who would rule over God’s Kingdom.  Of course, Jesus is no normal king.  He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, having all authority and power over the heavens and the earth.  Paul had preached to them the open door for all to become citizens of this Kingdom of Messiah Jesus.  Those who enter the Kingdom of God receive the life of Christ flowing into and through them by the Holy Spirit.  Christians are to be a kind of preview of the future Kingdom Age when Jesus will return physically and rule from this earth.

Paul also speaks of being innocent of the blood of all men.  Essentially, he is saying that it will not be his fault if any of them fail to survive the judgment of Jesus at the end of their lives.  He had declared to them the whole counsel of God.  They were not missing any critical information for which they had to wait.  They had everything needed for living their lives in godliness, in short, how to please God.

They had heard the truth, and to hear the truth is to be responsible for it before God.  He was leaving and their eternity would be between them and God.

Of course, it had always been between them and God.  No one can repent for you and have faith in Jesus for you.  However, the Lord Jesus had sent Paul into the lives of these Ephesians (just as He sends you to others) to share the good news of salvation in him.  Thus, God can use Paul today to assist them, and then use others tomorrow.  Ultimately, our spiritual walk is dependent upon our relationship with Jesus. They will not be able to point to Paul and say that he had failed to warn them.

In verse 28, Paul exhorts them to pay attention to themselves and the flock of God that they were in.  Since Paul will no longer see them, the whole burden that Paul had helped them with was now coming upon them.  They would first need to pay close attention to their own lives so that they could then pay close attention to the flock of God in which they had been placed.  They would work together to care for the Ephesian believers.  Notice that this follows the pattern that Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7.  Before we make judgments in the lives of others, we must first exercise judgment in our own life.  Of course, we do not judge with our own thoughts, but by the truth of the Word and by the Spirit of God.  Those who live a life of watching over their own souls will be able to be a help to others in the same endeavor.

We should also see that Paul emphasizes how they had come to this authority of elder and watching over the flock.  It was the Holy Spirit that had made them “overseers,” which comes from the Greek word “episkopos.”  This is where we get the word Episcopal.  It is also the root for the English word “bishop.”  Episkopos was borrowed into Latin as episcopus.   Latin was spoken by Christians for over a thousand years before English became a thing.  It was common for the sound of /p/ to devolve into a /b/.  Thus, the sound would be more like ebiscopus.  English doesn’t use endings and the initial “e” was dropped creating the English word biscop, and then bishop. 

Episcopalians is a term used for a church that highlights the rule of bishops over the Church with one bishop over each church- as opposed to congregational, which believe that the people of the church are to rule themselves.  Another word used in this issue is the term presbyterian.  A presbyter is an elder.  This emphasizes the rule of elders over a church.

Regardless of all these different views on Church polity, the terms overseer (bishop) and shepherd (pastor) are not about a title.  Jesus didn’t die so that men could have titles of authority over one another.  These are functions that are intended to assist, to help, the body of Christ.  Their essential purpose is not about elevating one person over another, but about letting the Holy Spirit use us to come alongside of others in their relationship with the Lord Jesus.  We must not lose sight of this purpose.

An overseer is just another way of speaking about a shepherd, or pastor.  The Greek word has at its root the concept of one who feeds.  The pastor term essentially emphasizes assisting in the care of all that a sheep (believer) needs.  Of course, pastors must also recognize that they too are a sheep doing a work for the Good Shepherd, who is the true head of the Church.  The feeding here is spiritual nutrition, which we obtain from the Word of God.  Shepherds are to give the church words of care rather than control.  Wise sheep will learn to hear the voice of Christ through the care of godly overseers and shepherd.

I like to used Psalm 23 to see all the things that a sheep needs, and consequently, all the things that pastors are to focus their ministry upon.  Sheep need “green pastures,” which is the spiritual food of God’s Word.  Sheep also need “peaceful waters,” which is both the Word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  They also need protection in “the valley of the shadow of death.”  Pastors are only one of the ways that the rod and staff of Christ is used to comfort His people.  Lastly, we can see that the psalmist’s head is anointed with oil.  This can be about the blessing of the Holy Spirit, but with sheep, anointing had more to do with medical care, whether preventative or for healing after an injury.  Believers need help in healing from the wounds of life, and preventatively avoiding some wounds of life.

In verse 29, Paul points to two particular threats that these overseers and pastors should deal with.  The first has to do with “savage wolves” that will com from outside the church.  They are not Christians, though they may pretend such.  Even the metaphorical use of wolf harkens back to the beast kingdoms of Daniel, of which Rome represented one.  These wolves are merely little beastly chips off of the beast block.  These wolves only come for one thing.  They see the sheep as a meal.  Of course, this is not literal, but metaphorical.  They consume people spiritually for financial gain and for their own pride.  Their actions are as destructive as a wolf among sheep.  They destroy the believers by destroying their faith in Christ and robbing them of their eternal inheritance.

The second threat comes from perverse men that will rise up from within the church.  These are believers who have become twisted in their doctrine and thereby also in their actions.  They are on a journey of becoming less and less like the Lord Jesus, whom they claim to serve.  Now, all of us fall short of Jesus.  So, we should be careful in nitpicking each other’s lives in order to label them as perverse men.  Yet, people can become dangerously off course, whether through pride, or through wounds.

What do these perverse men see in the sheep?  We are told that they desire to draw the disciples away to themselves.  They are fixated on “their” ministry, their kingdom, and their glory.  They are too infatuated with being a leader of men rather than being a follower of Jesus.

We are to guard against and recognize the wolves who come in, and we are to guard against the twisting of doctrine and the twisting of living out godliness.  This is actually the duty of all Christians who claim to love the Lord who bought them with His blood.  However, those in leadership bear a greater responsibility, a more severe judgment if they fail to pay attention.  Paul mentions that this was so important to him that he had warned them night and day with tears when he was with them. 

You may not be an official overseer in your church, but when you spend time in the Word of God, and spend time talking with God in prayer, then the Holy Spirit will cause you to see any dangers that come into your life, and into your local church.

Notice that these break down into external and internal threats.  This isn’t just true of the church as a group.  It is also true of us as an individual.  What am I watching out for as I pay close attention to my own life?  I am looking for those ways that the devil brings from the outside into my heart, i.e., temptations from situations and people, but I am also looking for those internal threats that come from my own heart and mind.  Arrogance, pride, lusts, and desires, if not pruned, will grow a thicket of weeds within even the best of overseers, thus destroying their souls.  Be watchful over your life and take possession of your soul by faith in Christ.

Paul entrusts them to God (v. 32-38)

Verse 32 begins with the conclusion to this farewell.  He was a spiritual father to this church and these men.  He had founded it, and he was a vital part of its spiritual success.  However, all spiritual parents, just as natural parents, will hit points along the road when we must entrust our kids to their Heavenly Father.  Of course, they are always in His care, but this is about ways in which we are bowing out of their life.

This happens when they reach maturity and move out into life on their own.  You may still have influence through letters, emails, phone calls, etc.  But, they are no longer in your house as little kids.  The relationship changes.  This is also true as one approaches death.  A parent knows that they will no longer be able to do anything after death.  This one that I have cared for throughout all of their (spiritual) life is now cast upon the Lord.   At particular stages of their life, God used you for their good and in different ways.  Now you are bowing out of that role.   Of course, God can use others, but there is also the fact that children grow up to become parents themselves.  Spiritual maturity comes through the tough decisions where we step up in Christ in ways that others stepped up for us.

In verse 32, Paul also points out that God and His Word can build them up.  God through His Holy Spirit, with His Holy Word, and in the community of holy believers builds us up.  This is the same language of Ephesians 4:13, where we are being built up in order to be more like Christ.  This is both individually and corporately.  A spiritual building must have a good spiritual foundation, and that foundation is Jesus.  God has started this building when we put our faith in Jesus, and He will finish this building when we are resurrected and stand in His presence.

Part of our discipleship is learning to cooperate with this work of God among those who have been sanctified, i.e., set apart for God’s holy purpose, of being conformed into the image of Jesus.

Paul refers to an inheritance that is ours in Christ.  This inheritance is definitely an eternal inheritance as an adult son of God.  In this sense, we inherit all things with Christ! 

Yet, this inheritance does have some downpayments within this life.  We inherit a place among God’s people, shining the light of Jesus to the world around us.  We inherit the glory of being a witness of Jesus to a lost and dying world.  We inherit the joy of being used of God to bring some to salvation, and to be persecuted as he was by others.  We are entering into our eternal inheritance even now in our mortal flesh.

Through a series of statements, Paul emphasizes that they follow his example of using strength to care for the weak.  The weak in this context is the Ephesians themselves.  When Paul was among them, he did not have them financially care for him.  Instead, he worked in his tent-making trade in order to supply his needs and the needs of the men with him.  He also did this with the Corinthian church.  In fact, he pointed out to them that other churches sent him money while he was in Corinth so that he could continue to minister to them.

Instead of despising those who are financially weak, or spiritually weak, etc., Paul used his strengths to cover for their weakness, and to help them to become stronger.  He even taught them to care for the Judean church when they were hurting from famine.  Here is the thing.  If we do not use our strengths to help the weak, then we will begin to become weak ourselves.  We will begin to become twisted and not like our Lord.  Jesus laid his life down for us while we were yet sinners (very weak).

Paul wasn’t trying to make money (silver or gold) from them, nor was he looking to have nice clothes.  He was not ministering for material gain.  Instead, he modeled the words of the Lord Jesus.  “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In many places, Jesus challenged his followers to be givers.  The sermon on the mount speaks to this and the blessing that comes from it.  However, these words are not recorded in the Gospels in this form.  Is this a mistaken quote by Paul?

I believe that this falls into the category that the Apostle John identified in John 21:25.  Jesus said many things and they were not all recorded in the Gospels.  Also, Paul had several visions where the Lord Jesus spoke directly to him.  These are the words of Christ, even if you cannot find them in the Gospels.

There are a lot of people ministering today under the banner of Jesus Christ who pride themselves in their clothing, in the expensive vehicles they drive, as if these are proof that they are a great apostle.  Jesus’ proof of His Apostleship was dying on the cross for us.  The Apostle Paul followed in the footsteps of his Lord.  He wasn’t looking to get anything in the flesh.  He was among them to give.  This is the true mark of an apostle.

Finished with his message, Paul prays with the elders.  He is doing more than setting an example here.  He knows that they will need God’s help to succeed in all that he has put in front of them.  He wants them to overcome, and thus, he prays for them God’s help.  God is ultimately our source and the only way that we will overcome this world by faith.

We then have a great show of emotion in tears and kissing.  This is not a lack of faith, but a recognition of the will of God.  Sometimes God’s will takes away from us.  We are never happy about the leaving of a loved one, nor their death.  Even if they are in a better place, such as heaven, we miss having their fellowship and strength in our lives.  It is only right to grieve the passing of a godly person.

However, this is a godly sorrow and godly tears.  It is full of thanksgiving and gratitude to God for His many gifts into our lives.  In fact, Jesus himself was full acquainted with tears and sorrow.  He wept over Jerusalem and its coming betrayal of him.  Serving Jesus will have times of laughter and times of tears.  In all of it, we have the assurance that God the Father is working all things to the good. 

The scene ends with them seeing Paul and company off at the ship, which is a metaphor for many things in life.  Yet, the God of all comfort stays with them, even as He goes with Paul.  Let us hold fast to this wonderful truth!

Farewell II audio

The Sermon on the Mount XV

Subtitle:  Revealing Areas that are Pitfalls for Hypocrisy II

Matthew 6:25-34.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 24, 2024.

We continue looking at our relationship with things and asking how they can cause us to be hypocritical.  In the previous sections, Jesus has focused on wealth and its tendency to become our master.   However, most of the people in the crowd are not wealthy and do not entertain any ideas of becoming wealthy.  Today’s passage speaks to that large percentage of people who live at a level of survival.  They live from day to day, week to week, and their whole life is focused on the things that are necessary to keep living.

It is also important to understand that Jesus is using language that will remind them of the wilderness wanderings of Israel when they came out of Egypt.  There, God helped them to survive with food, water, and clothes that didn’t wear out.

Let’s look at our passage.

Do not worry about the necessities of life (v. 25-29)

The backdrop of Israel in the wilderness reminds us that God took care of them even though they were in a place of scarcity.  In His love, God wants us to understand that it is not His intention to live in worry about food, water, shelter and clothing.

Of course, in our luxury, we can be confused on what is necessary and what is simply a desire or a want.  Even in a necessary category such as food, we can long for a particular kind of food, or a level of cuisine that is higher.  It is important for us to understand that our Creator is also our heavenly Father.  He knows that we are mortal beings that need food.  However, He also knows that we do not “need” expensive food every day.  I don’t believe that this means He is opposed to the desires we have that go beyond necessities.  Yet, He never made us to be slaves to our desires, nor fearful of our necessities.  He has designed the world to care for such needs, and His supervision ensures that we will find what we need.

In the midst of our worrying, God wants us to know that we don’t have to do it.  We can choose to stop worrying.  In fact, Jesus commands his followers, “Do not worry…”

Jesus is talking about a stressful anxiety about these things and not simply planning for them.  He is not commanding us never to think about these things.  This word has the idea of being internally divided, or fractured, over various concerns.  Worrying about things is a type of bad stress that actually affects our health and life span negatively, but more on that later.

The average person in the crowd that day most likely stressed about food, clothing, and not being killed by the Romans.  Jesus focuses on food and drink (water) as necessary for life, and clothing as necessary for our bodies.  He could have added oxygen or other things, but these  work best because they will remind the people of the wilderness wanderings of Israel.

God provided food (bread and meat) and water in the desert.  They may have gone some days here and there without, but in the end, God always made sure they had these things. 

The Bible also tells us that their clothing and sandals did not wear out during the 40 years they were in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4; 29:5).  It was His supernatural provision just as much as the manna, flocks of quail, and water coming out of a rock upon the strike of the staff of Moses.  However, the clothing would also have the connotation of the Garden of Eden.  The environment of the earth was not hostile in the beginning.  Also, the earth was not a morally hostile environment either (sin and sinners).  Clothing becomes a protectant against exposure to the elements and exposure to those who may be stirred up by nakedness and thereby led into sin.

You will also notice that this section is filled with questions.  You could say that at the heart of worry is our unanswered questions, or questions that we have for which we do not like God’s answers.  We are questioned by Jesus (by God) five times versus the three questions that we often wrestle with and laid out in verse 31.

Here is the tie to hypocrisy.  Fearful questioning of God and the world around us can lead us to playing the hypocrite..  We may go through religious rituals that declare God’s provision and greatness, and  yet, we do not actually trust Him.

Jesus asks the question, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”  Of course, it is!  God’s purpose for humanity is higher than simply eating food and wearing clothes.  In fact, food, drink and clothing are symbols for the higher spiritual things that God wants to accomplish in our life.  The manna in the wilderness hints at a supernatural bread from heaven that we need.  We are told in the New Testament that this bread from heaven is Jesus himself.  The work that Jesus did in a human body was as necessary for us as natural bread is for our body’s survival. 

We are also told that Jesus is the source of the water of life.  It is the Words that Jesus spoke to us, and the Holy Spirit that He has poured out upon us.  Jesus is the source of water, the rock in the wilderness that has been struck so that the waters of life would pour out to us.

Finally, the righteousness of Christ is presented as a white robe that we can wear.   Our righteousness is not pure white.  Our robes are speckled with sin.  However, our faith in Jesus gives us a new robe of his righteousness that we can put on.  By faith, the Holy Spirit helps us to obey Jesus and go to war against sin our life.  Thus, we are enabled to walk out the righteousness of Christ even as we wear his robe.  This clothing will never wear out.

All of this is important to understand.  Yet, Jesus is telling us to stop worrying about the natural necessities of our life.  I can say that I believe, but then go on not to trust Him fully through worrying, complaining, and not having the relationship with God that I should, or even could.

To illustrate the illogical nature of worrying about these things, Jesus gives three illustrations of God supplying for His lesser creatures.  The first is about birds.

Birds do not sow seeds, water them, reap them and then store the seed in barns.  These are the kinds of things that God has given humans the wisdom and ability to do.  Thus, birds are in an even more precarious place than humans.  They are at the mercy of God’s provision even more than we are.  There are some animals that will cache food (squirrels), or store it as fat for winter (bears etc.), but don’t miss the point.  The emphasis is on the situation of the birds.  A bird has to forage and find food each day.  They have to wake up each day and go about looking for what God will provide.  Jesus actually says, “Your heavenly Father feeds them.”  Think about what that looks like.  The birds do not see a man with a grey beard floating down from the sky with a bag of bird seed.  God’s provision operates at a far grander and foundational level than that.  Because birds are not human, they will not spend time fretting over whether they will find enough seed each day.  Neither should we think that they exercise great faith in God.  They are simply an illustration to us that we don’t have to fret.

Thus, Jesus gives his second question.  “Are you not of more value than they?”  The answer is “Yes, yes you are!”  This does not mean birds have no value, but that the value placed upon them within God’s purposes is much lower than that placed upon us as humans.  We are His imagers upon this earth.  This means that He will even more make sure we are taken care of.  Surely your Creator has thought about your need and made provisions.  Yes, you will have to get up each day and work at bringing it in.  You will need to use your mind, and prayerfully ask God’s help.  But, you can trust Him.  Thus, our deepest question is simply this.  Can I trust God?  God is your God.  He cares for you.  Don’t think of Him as the pastor’s God, or the prophet’s God, like Saul did with Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:15, 21.  He is your God, and He cares about you more than the birds.

The second illustration is about length (verse 27).  It is simply laid out in the third question that Jesus asks us.  “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”  This translation (NKJV) relates the issue of length (1 cubit is about 18”) to stature.  However, the word primarily has a meaning of life.  It is more likely that the length here is a picture of lengthening one’s life in the sense of adding a step to your journey.  This fits the passage better than the concept of height, which is a secondary meaning of this word anyway.  No one can add a step (minute, hour, day, etc.) to their life by worrying.  The truth is that worrying will only lower our life.  Studies have shown that heavy anxiety can affect our immune system, our emotional well-being, and thereby our physical well-being.

One particular study tracked a large number of people from teens to ninety-year-olds.  They were able to follow them over the course of twelve years while tracking their anxiety levels.  At the end of the 12 years, they determined that a person with high anxiety was 2 times more likely not to be alive than those who did not have high anxiety.  It simply does you no good to worry and fret about something you cannot control, and it generally does bad things.

Why not make your default position trust in God’s purpose and loving care for you?  We will live exactly as long as God has enabled us to live, and I can be good with that.  Even if I were to die in my childhood, the resurrection and the age to come cause this time of our lives to pale in comparison.  Then, we will have bodies that are not dying, weak, and impacted by disease.  We will be immortal.  This life is actually just the proving grounds for our place in the life to come.

The third illustration (verse 28) is about flowers.  His fourth question is this.  “Why do you worry about clothing?”  He tells us that lilies do not toil nor spin.  These verbs have to do with making clothes.  They don’t work hard amassing the raw materials of clothing, neither do they spin that raw material into threads that can be worked in a loom into the material for making clothes.  This may seem like a silly statement, but notice that Jesus has increased the dependency by moving from an animal to a form of vegetation.  Birds can forage around, but flowers simply are what they are.  They draw nutrients from the soil and their DNA code expresses that in a particular form.  They are in an even more precarious situation than birds.  However, Jesus tells them that not even King Solomon was dressed, arrayed, in as much glory as they.  Remember that Solomon was extremely rich and would have the finest clothes that money could buy.

These simple flowers that grow up, bloom and then die, have a beauty that outshines our clothing.  If you think that Jesus is stretching the concept of clothing here, then think of it this way.  I spoke of clothing earlier in the sense of protection from the elements.  However, we generally fret and are anxious over how nice those clothes look.  Thus, clothes become a big part of a person’s identity, whether a rich nobleman or a peasant.  Jesus tells us that God has given flowers a visual glory to which our humanness doesn’t compare.

Yet, there is a beauty in our nature as humans.  I am not just talking about a beautiful person in the prime of their life.  There is a different kind of beauty that is displayed in the whole range of our look from newborn to senior.  There is also a beauty that is displayed in our male and female similarities and differences.

We can spend too much time trying to mimic the glory of a flower and forget that God’s different glory for us can be enough.  It should not be lost on us that Jesus emphasizes that the flowers which have a greater glory also have a much shorter life-span.  What glory are you going for?  The Bible says that the righteous will shine like the stars in the resurrection (Daniel 12:3).

The fifth and final question is this.  “Will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”  Of course, this is our true problem.  Faith and worry are inversely proportional.  That means, when faith goes up, worry goes down.  It is impossible to quit worrying without putting faith in something.  Some may not worry because they have faith in their own ability.  The believer knows that they have ability, but even greater than that, they also know that they have a heavenly Father who is caring for them.  We really do not have an excuse for worrying.

This is exactly the problem that is expressed by Israel back in the wilderness.  They perished because of their unbelief, lack of faith in God.  What is even sadder is the fact that they had a tremendous amount of amazing evidence that God could and would take care of them.  Don’t be the kind of person who blames their lack of faith on God’s lack of giving us evidence.  Unbelief actually blinds you to all the evidence.  So, listen to Jesus and start trusting God and stop worrying.  It just isn’t the logical and righteous thing to do.

Three conclusions (v. 30-34)

It is clear from the creation account that man is not only the apex of God’s creation, but that His purpose for us is for us to image Him to the earth and to the heavens.  Birds have their part in the purpose of God (i.e., one of those is to be an illustration to us humans).  But, our purpose is much more important to God.

In verse 30, Jesus tells us to stop questioning ourselves out of trusting God.  “What shall we eat?  What shall we drink?  What shall we wear?”  These are real questions that we may not have the answers to.  However, our lack of an answer is not a reason for unbelief, and not trusting God.  The Red Sea was not a reason for Israel to stop trusting God.  That is precisely when trust becomes the most critical thing.  It really doesn’t matter if a kid doesn’t know what they are going to eat for dinner.  What matters is that they have a loving parent who is taking care of those things for them.  Your worrying won’t fix any of your problems, but God can and will when we trust Him.

This leads to his first conclusion in verse 31.  He reminds them that this is how the Gentiles act (i.e., the nations).  They clamor and desperately seek for these kinds of things.  However, Israel was the people of God.  They had a heavenly Father Who had pledged Himself to caring for them.  Of course, there was a time when all the sons of Noah (all of humanity) were God’s people and cared for by Him.  However, the rebellion at the Tower of Babel brought judgment upon them.  On top of the confusion of languages and scattering across the earth, these nations doubled down on rebellion by throwing off the truth of their error.  They connected to fallen spirits who taught them all manner of false religion for the ulterior motives of those fallen spirits.

Jesus would go on to pay the price for the sins of the nations so that they too could come near to God.  However, don’t miss the power of the point.  Don’t act like a rebellious orphan who has no loving Father.  We shouldn’t fault a lost person who worries.  That is simply their situation.  However, it is a strange thing for a child of God to walk in worry and complaining. Stop it!

The second conclusion is put in a positive form and is clearly the most important of the three.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, and He will take care of these natural needs.  The life of the nations was all focused on these lower, lesser, things of life.  We could categorize them as concerns of the flesh.  God’s people on the other hand are to seek His kingdom and his righteousness.  These two themes have been presented throughout the sermon on the mount.  Our higher purpose is to work with God in order to bring His will and rule to the earth.  If we will do that, then He will take care of the lower needs.  This doesn’t mean we don’t work, buy food, prepare meals, make clothing, etc.  It does mean that we don’t worry about those things.  Instead, we will trust in His care.

We should even note that we can do these lesser things for God’s higher purposes.  We pray for food so that we can be strengthen to accomplish His greater purpose of the Kingdom.  In this way, even things like food, water and clothing can become holy.  I am not consumed with wanting designer clothes so that others will think I am great.  Instead, we will use clothing as a means of bringing in God’s Kingdom, whether in how we dress or in blessing others with their necessary clothing.  Lesser things can be done for higher purposes, which elevates them in the end.

This highlights the need for faith in our lives, not just faith for salvation, but also for living itself.  For a kid, becoming an adult is a scary thing.  A teenage boy can be intimidated by becoming a man, getting a job, paying for his own place, his own insurance, etc.  On top of this, he can really be intimidated by marrying a woman and raising a family.  No one ever approaches that with every single question answered about the future.  However, God has fitted us for becoming adults in many ways, and a critical part of that is having faith.  We don’t have to have all the answers.  We just have to have a reasonable hope that we can do it and it will be good.  In God, we always have a reason for hope and faith in our future.  I mentioned a young man, but we could also picture a teenage girl.  How intimidating is it to become a woman, marry a man, become pregnant, birth and raise a baby?  In and of themselves, these can be scary things.  God has not only fitted you to be able to do these things, but He also pledges to be with us and help us in them.  We can walk forward with faith and trust in Him.

The final conclusion is given in verse 34.  We are told to stop worrying about tomorrow and just face the difficulties of today.  Of course, as I said before, he is not talking about the thinking we do in order to plan for tomorrow.  This is our tendency to worry about the things that we think will happen or could happen tomorrow.

Today has enough evil of its own, whether we know what it will be or not.  Of course, you will want to trust God and ask His help as you face them.  You will also want to trust that He is working to help you with it as well.  It may take time for God’s answer to materialize, but it will.

We also have to be careful that our planning is not a means of ensuring that we never have to trust God. Our best plans are still the plans of frail humans.  We can’t control everything through sheer planning.  Even our plans have to be put in God’s hands.  We don’t have to trust Him, but we can.  We are privileged to have a heavenly Father who cares for us.  If your plan has no room for God in it, then you are not aiming high enough.

This life is a journey in which the Lord walks with you.  Don’t walk it as if He is not with you.  Instead, make your trusting in Him a critical part of your plan.  Anything short of this will lead religious people to be hypocrites.  We will give lip service to trusting and loving God, but we will doubt His love and care, becoming mere posers, actors.  May God save us from such an empty life!

SOTM XVI audio

The Acts of the Apostles 57

Subtitle: Following up with Jesus

Acts 14:21-28.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 1, 2023.

Today we will see Paul and Barnabas finish their first missionary trip, which went to the island of Cyprus and then central Asia Minor (current Turkey).

Luke doesn't give us a sense of how long they took on this whole journey, but the overall timeline of Acts would put it around the magnitude of around a year.

The whole emphasis of sharing the Gospel with Gentiles as well as Jews is something that blossomed in Syrian Antioch.  Yet, another persuasion was also blossoming in Judea.  This persuasion would eventually become the source of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.  Paul and Barnabas did not teach Gentiles that they had to obey the Law of Moses in order to follow Jesus.  However, some groups from Judea believed that Gentiles had to be circumcised and taught to keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved.

That will be our topic next week.  For now, let's look at our passage.

The Gospel is preached in Derbe (v. 21)

Verse 20 ends with Paul and Barnabas leaving Lystra (where Paul had been stoned and left for dead) and going to a town called Derbe, which was approximately 65 miles east of Lystra.

In verse 21, we are told that they preached the Gospel to the city.  We are told very little about this, and can assume that they would have preached at a synagogue first, if there was one in the town.  Regardless, the reference to "the city" implies more than preaching in a synagogue.

It would be interesting to know when the Gospel first made it to each city or region in the world.  Many places that are extremely godless now have had great moves of revival in the past.  Derbe itself is now a region controlled by an Islamist State and dominated by Muslims.  You would not know that the apostles Paul and Barnabas had seen a great move of God there.

We are told that they made many disciples.  There is no mention of resistance, but it seems unlikely that everyone in town believed.  In light of the prior stoning in Lystra, we can say they only had normal resistance.  We should also note that there is no sense of Jews and people of the cities that they had visited following them.  More than likely, they believe Paul to be dead and will not find out until much later that he survived.

We should pause on the word disciple for a minute.  It is not enough to give intellectual assent to who Jesus is.  True belief will be seen in a person becoming a disciple, a student, of Jesus.  It is good to believe the report about Jesus, but this information is meant to transform your life.  You are now a student of Jesus.  You may be out of your studying years, and tell yourself that you don't read books.  However, when a person (even a non-reader) comes to believe on Jesus, they will want to know everything they can about him.  This means reading the Bible.  In the case of Derbe, there may have been only one copy of the Scriptures in town.  Thus, it would be important to gather together and read the Scriptures so that all could benefit from God's Word and learn about Jesus.  It is time to stop being a man-child who pursues his flesh and begin stepping into the maturity of seeking the truth about Jesus.

However, discipleship is more than knowledge.  It is essentially about relationship.  By the Spirit of God dwelling within us, we can develop a relationship with Jesus through prayer and the Word.  We also are in relationship with the Church of Jesus, and we benefit from those who have come in before us who are further along in their maturity and discipleship.

Discipleship is a life-long journey of growing in our knowledge and experience of becoming like Jesus, and learning to do his will.  There are ups and downs, bumps and smooth days, but all along, the character of Christ is being formed in us.  In fact, we should recognize that even the term "student" is somewhat misleading for a 21st-Century American Christian.  In the times of Christ, a disciple was someone who moved in with a master.  Each day the master would show you things, but it was always in response to what the day held.  The wisdom of the master would be both taught and caught.  It was never seen as a pure information download.

The Christian life is this process.  We will not become a "master" ourselves until we are resurrected; only then will we be perfectly like Jesus.  We are unable to physically sit at the feet of Jesus, but by the Holy Spirit, we are able to come to him through the word and through prayer.  I spiritually come before his feet in order to learn.  Each day we wrestle with the Lord Jesus about our life, what the word says, and what the Lord would have us do.  Other believers are intended to be a help to us in this process.  We can cut ourselves off from other Christians by telling ourselves that they are all hypocrites.  However, even properly dealing with a hypocrite will help you become more like Jesus than becoming a hypocrite yourself by abandoning the gathering of the saints.  When Christ says to a man to come and follow him, that man always finds others who responded around Jesus.  You cannot separate the two.

Verse 21 also tells us that they decide to return to the places where they had preached.  We are not told what the reasons are for returning back to Antioch.  They may have been running low on supplies, or winter may have been approaching.  For whatever reasons, they determine to go back to Antioch of Syria, and they determine to retrace their steps.

We should note that several of the towns had pushed them out rather abruptly.  It may be that they felt like the heat would have died down by now, and they had some more things they needed to do and say to the believers that were left in those towns.

Paul and Barnabas follow-up with the new believers (v. 22-28)

Surprisingly they go back to Lystra where Paul was stoned, then to Iconium, Pisidian Antioch and then down to the coast at Perga and Attalia.  They don't appear to focus on new evangelism, but rather on strengthening the believers who were there.  They help them to establish a strong foundation so that the church will continue.

When we share the Gospel with people, it is important to follow-up with those who have responded positively.  The Gospel is not only about relationship with Jesus.  It is also about relationship with God's people.  It is how we show that our love for Jesus is real.

By the way, we have the right and authority to share the Gospel with anyone on this planet because Jesus himself has given it to us.  However, that also begs the duty we have to determine exactly how God has gifted us to participate in spreading the Gospel.  So, telling others about Jesus is our duty to those who don't know.  Whereas, follow-up falls in this category of the duty that develops when a person has become a brother or sister in the Lord, a familial duty.

Verse 22 tells us that they strengthened the souls of the disciples.  Internal strength of heart and mind are continually assailed by our own flesh, by the world around us, and through the spiritual interference of the devil and his forces.

Jesus tells us to take possession of our souls by patience (Luke 21:19).  Of course, possession may immediately make us think of evil spirits, but the emphasis is more on a plundered inner life.  Through lusts of the flesh and the pride of life (in short, through sin), we can become a slave to many things without being actually possessed.  These strongholds in our thought-life and in our heart become a seething cauldron of all kinds of sin.  We become controlled by our flesh, and even by the culture that we have grown up in.  This puts the devil indirectly in control of us.  Jesus was purposely using the Promised Land image for our soul.  When we are being delivered by God, He will bring us to a place where we can take full possession of our soul and serve God without being in bondage to sin.  This takes trusting God to help us fight against, and tear down, strongholds of sin in our life.

Just like every one of those cities in Canaan had fortified walls and need to be torn down for Israel to take possession, so they would need to then fortify cities again against the attack of future enemies.  Christians need to learn how to guard their mind and heart against the deeds of the flesh, the corruption of culture, and the slick sales of the devil.  Through prayer, reading the word, fellowshipping with believers, and listening to the Holy Spirit, we are enabled not only to take possession of our soul, but to also fortify it against the attacks of the enemy.  Furthermore, we can help new Christians to take possession of their souls and fortify their life against the devil and his schemes.

This is why the Scripture speaks of the gifts of the Holy Spirit being distributed among God's people as He sees fit.  We need each other because this is how God has designed for us to be strengthened.  He is making us a new people of God without specific ethnic and geographical lines.  We are related by the blood of Jesus.  No matter how different the culture of their birth, a Christian can have fellowship with any believer in the world because the same Lord, Spirit, Word, etc. reigns in us both.

This is what Paul and Barnabas were doing.  They were sharing their gift of knowledge about God's plan through Jesus, the doctrine they should hold fast to, and the purpose of God in their life.

We are also told that they were "exhorting them to continue in the faith" (vs. 22).  In John 15, Jesus used the analogy of a vine to represent the relationship that a disciple needed to have with him.  We need to remain in him (a living connection) in order to stay alive spiritually and to bear fruit.  This is a living relationship and a new way of life.  This is not about a one time declaration, i.e., saying the "magic words," and moving on..  It is not about simply being on "Team Jesus."  I can say I am on the team, but only those who are drawing spiritual life from Him truly belong to Him.  We need to hold on to that.  We are going to be tested even more in the years ahead.

Essentially, Paul and Barnabas are saying to us to stay in the faith no matter what!  Don't let the enemy twist your thinking around and lose faith.  There will come days when your flesh says that it is very inconvenient for you to be so religious.  It may desire to compromise, or it may be offended and want to quit completely.  Regardless, don't walk away from Jesus.  Keep wrestling with him by faith and seeking his help to continue on.

Lastly, verse 22 tells us that they told them that they must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations.  Like I have said up unto now, there is resistance in this life to staying in the faith.  In fact, even sinners have resistance in life.  You might as well fight for the right things and receive a blessing out of it, instead of kicking against the goads of the Holy Spirit and being destroyed by our own choices.

Some of the resistance you face will be the same kind of things that all other believers encounter.  Thus, others who have faced things you are facing can encourage you on how to continue in faith.  Yet, sometimes there are things that are very unique in our life.  These times of tribulation put the squeeze on us in ways that not everyone will understand.  I think of the image of a tube of toothpaste.  What oozes out of me when tribulation puts the squeeze on my inner faith?  Let us recognize that there will be a mixture of some sorts.  God is using tribulations to refine us.  It is our job to recognize the bad stuff that comes out of us, and by faith go to war against that sin with the Spirit's help.

Notice that they use the word "must."  It is a necessity that we have tribulations.  The world is full of difficult things, but there are even more when you refuse to run with the world in the same flood of delusion that they are.  Many will despise you for it.  Yet, part of staying in the faith is accepting that you will have to face tribulation.  In fact, if you haven't had anything difficult attack your faith yet, then you may want to start preparing your inner defenses because it will come multiples times over the course of your life.

It is also interesting that Paul places entering the Kingdom of God in the future.  We go through many tribulations in order to enter it.  Yes, we are already a part of the Kingdom of God spiritually, but Paul is specifically looking ahead to the time when Jesus Christ comes back to earth and sets up a Thousand Year reign.  The righteous will be resurrected an enabled to participate in this blessed time for the earth.  In those days, Jesus will have put down one of our big problems (our spiritual enemies) by putting Satan and his cohorts in the Bottomless Pit.  He will also deal with another one of our problems by raising up an administration of glorified saints.  No government on earth today is run by glorified saints.  Rather, they generally become halls of corruption fleecing the people under their power.

God does not remove every tribulation from the life of those whom He loves.  Think on Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, and especially Jesus.  Rather, He uses the tribulation to refine us and make us shine like the stars.  So, don't blame God when tribulations come.  Rather, see tribulations and trials for what they are.  Firstly, they are the things the devil is trying to use to keep you from entering God's Kingdom, and second, they are the very fires in which God fashions you into the image of the Son of His Love, Jesus.  Yes, this life has difficulties, but God has an age planned in which all the righteous of every age will be glorified and blessed together!  Hallelujah!

We are also told that they helped the churches to appoint elders.  The churches would need some structure in their group so that they will be able to navigate the days and trials ahead.

The word "elders" comes from a Greek word at the root of the terms Presbyterian, or Presbyter.  It does speak of age, but the implication is more on the wisdom and experience that one has.  We might better think of it as the spiritually mature.

The Church is like a family.  Most of these people had been Christians for the same number of days.  However, there was a range of their prior experience.  Some had been devoted Jews who had studied the word of God and were waiting for Messiah.  Others may have been worshipping Zeus last week, and had no clue about what the Scriptures said.  They both may be saved on the same day, but one will be further ahead than the other.  Of course, this is a simplistic example that should not be pressed to strongly.  Sometimes people have been a Christian for decades, but have very little spiritual maturity to show for it.

In fact, we have an example of an "elder" so-called showing a dearth of spiritual maturity in Third John.  There a man named Diotrephes who "loves to have the preeminence among them."  Elders are not called to be kings and rulers over believers.  Rather, we should see them as older brothers who can help us younger siblings along.  Our day will come.  Anyone who is an elder today was not an elder 30 or 50 years ago.  The key is familial relationship that is fueled by the a love for Christ.  This becomes a strength to a church when it is properly done.

God in His wisdom will always provide mature believers to a church.  When I became a Christian, there were people there to help me grow.  Yet, we can come under the judgment of God when we walk in our flesh and choose elders who are not truly spiritually mature.

It may sound like Paul and Barnabas "appointed" these men unilaterally.  However, the word translated as appointed has the sense of raising the hand as if in a vote.  More than likely, they talked to the people about what was required of elders and what type of person would best qualify.  Then, the group as a whole would determine who best fit that category.  We should not read into it a democratic system, but neither is it autocratic on behalf of the apostles.  They are there to help the church not make a foolish decision.

Finally, they make it back to the coast of Asia Minor, and instead of going back through Cyprus, they go directly to Syrian Antioch, where they started.  These are the people who had prayed for them before going and no doubt while they were gone.  It was good for them to hear the testimonies of what God did through Paul and Barnabas in the cities where they went.

Of course, we never know the full effect of our efforts in the Lord, but we do not want to diminish the importance of people hearing the Gospel.  Whether they believe or not, a door of faith has been put in front of them.  They will know about it from then on, and hope will be possible.  We shouldn't diminish people responding in faith.  This is always an amazing miracle of God in the heart of an individual.

I think about the many people who poured into my life as a young kid.  They had much reason to feel like their teaching and prayers were falling short.  But eventually, God would get ahold of my life, praise the Lord!  That would be good news to my grandma and my mom.  How many people come to death's door while they still have an adult child running from Jesus.  They have to cross that threshold asking God to help their child.  "Okay, God, they are in your hands!  I'm leaving here, but please put my child on someone's heart!"  Some of those prayers are still being answered today, even though those people are in heaven.  Yet, it thrills the heart of any mom to hear the story of a son getting right with Jesus.  It gives them hope while they live in this life. 

The problem with open doors is that they eventually shut.  Right now we have an open door for faith in our world, but that day can shut for us as individuals, nations, and as a world.  May God help us to be faithful to share the Gospel while there is still time to work!

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