The Acts of the Apostles- 92

Subtitle:  Shipwrecked

Acts 27:21-44.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 16, 2025.

We are going to continue with Paul on his storm-tossed journey to Rome.  But before we do that, I want to share some similarities and contrasts between the Apostle Paul and the prophet Jonah.

Both of these men were tasked by God with taking a message from Him to Gentiles and their king or kings.  Paul of course has a scope that is much larger than Jonah who was only sent to the capital city of Ninevah.  They both end up in a storm that threatens their lives, but are spared by God in order to deliver their messages.  Finally, they both end up in water that could kill them, but are helped by God.

Yet, there are some big contrasts between Paul and Jonah.  Paul goes toward his task as a willing voice to the Gentiles.  Whereas, Jonah is running away from his meeting as an unwilling voice to the Gentiles.  We could add to this that Paul has a heart of love for the Gentiles (not wanting them to perish), and Jonah wants the Gentiles to be destroyed.  Paul is taken in chains by others to his task, even though he would freely go.  However, Jonah uses his freedom to flee from the task.  Of course, there is great irony in this.  We can see that spiritually Paul is the man who is free and that Jonah is the man who has a spiritual bondage to vindication.  We also see that the storm is sent to chastise Jonah for disobedience.  Whereas, this is not the case for Paul.  The storm only helps people to see God’s mark of approval upon him.  Finally, Paul is happy to see Gentiles saved, but Jonah is sad that they are spared.

Of course, a person could come up with more.  All of this gives us insight into the thorny ground of wanting justice from God while keeping true to His heart towards all people.

Now, let’s get back to our passage at hand.  We left them on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, caught up in a storm so powerful that they are throwing stuff overboard to save their lives.

Hope is given (v. 21-26)

Verse 20 ended with the statement that all hope was gradually being lost.  However, God had different plans.  When we are in hard and difficult times, we can be tempted to complain about them.  Yet, their situation when from hard and difficult to an existential crisis.  They had come to believe that they were going to perish in this storm.

It is at this time that God speaks to the men through the Apostle Paul.  Paul encourages them and gives them hope in this time.  However, this would not be a hope of circumstances, what their eyes could see. 

Our hopes are generally pinned on what we can see, what seems most probable.  However, Christians are told to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Now, that passage is not telling us to ignore the things we can see and to suspend our thinking.  Rather, it is calling us to remember that God is greater than all of the things we can see.  Such a hope is something that is deeper than what we can see.  In a situation absent anything that gives visible hope, a man stands up and says he has been given hope by God, a word from God.  Of course, this begs the question who is this guy.  Men like Luke, Aristarchus would draw great hope from Paul’s words.  He has proven trustworthy to them.  Perhaps a man like Julius the centurion would also draw some hope.  Perhaps everyone else would simply draw hope from the courage it took for him to stand up and say that there is still hope.  Regardless, Paul stands up and speaks hope to them, “after many days” of fighting the storm and going without food.  All told, they would spend 14 days fighting this storm.  We don’t know how close to the end that Paul received his message.  I would think that God did it at just the right timing. 

As Christians, all of us would like to receive a concrete word from the Lord.  However, when God uses someone else to speak into our lives, we are generally not as thrilled to rely upon it.  We balk with the thoughts of how trustworthy they are.  We even balk at whether we think it is possible or not.  This is not a game of “hearing things from the Lord,” as if we are trying to see who can get the best record.   God speaks into every situation generally through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.  However, from time to time, He will speak specifically.  If God has given a word, then it will bear out to be true every time.  If you have been in a situation where you think that God spoke something to you, or someone else told gave you a word from the Lord, and it failed to happen as was said, then the failure wasn’t with God.  You have to go back to God in prayer and humble yourself.  Perhaps you jumped to conclusions about what the word meant.  Look closer.   Perhaps you wanted something so badly that you let your imagination get away from you. 

What we have here is a man who has faith in what God has said, and it will bear out exactly as God told him.

Paul gives the classic I-told-you-so, but it is not given in a vindictive spirit.  Rather, he is really trying to help them.  “You didn’t listen to me before, but listen to me now.”  He is coming alongside of them to encourage them.

We have to be careful not to let our spirit become bitter when people don’t listen to us.  People are free to choose and learn their own lessons.  Yes, your ego may have been hurt, but God is not working in order to spare your fragile ego.  Perhaps we fear that our experience is overly tied to how they respond.  Listen, God is quite capable of helping you regardless of who listens to your godly counsel.  Yet, the foundation question is this.  Am I truly giving godly counsel?

Essentially, Paul tells them that no one will die, but the ship is going to be lost and destroyed.

It is then that he describes how the word of God came to him.  A heavenly messenger spoke to him that very night.  The message is this: don’t be afraid, you must speak before Caesar, and God has granted you all those who sail with you.

There are two things here.  First, the message is really to Paul and about what he will experience.  He doesn’t need to fear because God wants him to appear before Caesar.  Yet, it is also clear that Paul has been praying for the lives of these sailors, soldiers and passengers.  God has heard his prayer and is granting him this request.  I don’t believe the angel is sent to convince Paul that he will survive.  Rather, he is sent to assure Paul that all the others will live.

This is important because Paul shouldn’t even be there in one sense.  He was unjustly arrested without due process, and he is protesting trumped up charges about Jewish religion.  Their salvation physically is going to be due to the intercession of this man.  This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about them.  God cared enough to put His special man on their boat.  As God spoke to Jonah, we can see here.  Jonah didn’t care about Ninevah, but God saw 120,000 people who couldn’t even distinguish their right hand from their left hand spiritually.  They were lost and in the dark, but God cared about them and sent Jonah, sent Paul, sends you and me!

Paul understands this.  He was a man who was supposed to have the light of God, but was absolutely clueless to the truth, until God had mercy and showed him the light.  How much more are these Gentiles worthy of a hearing who have only known darkness and lies?

Paul gives them his conclusion.  They should keep their courage (take heart) regardless of how tough it is going to become.  We don’t always receive such information from God.  When we are in difficult situations, part of us may want to use that to accuse God.  However, faith is not found in knowing the future.  Faith is found in knowing the One who not only knows what will happen, but can work it to our good in impossible ways.

The real question is this.  Do I really know God?  If I do, then that knowledge will help to strengthen my faith, as well as the Spirit’s help.  Yet, this kind of knowing is a knowing of experience.  I can know what God’s word says, but I need to experience times of trusting God (or failing to do so) and finding out that He is trustworthy for myself.

The sailors attempt to save the ship (v. 27-38)

As we said, these men have been caught in this storm for nearly two weeks.  Regardless of when Paul told them this message, the sailors try everything they can (probably with the help of all able-bodied passengers) to save the ship.

We are told that around midnight the sailors sense that they are approaching land.  Even though it is pitch dark with howling wind and rain, they probably hear the sound of the waves dashing against something other than the ship and other water.  Years of sailing had attuned their senses to recognizing that distinct sound.  Was it wishful thinking, their mind playing tricks on them?  Regardless, they were convinced enough to take some sounding with a plummet line.  They soon discovered that the depth went from 20 fathoms to 15 fathoms.  They were sailing towards shallower and shallower waters, which is a hallmark of land.  All ships have a certain depth of water that they can sail in without the bottom of the boat bottoming out.  To keep this from happening, the command is given to throw out anchors.  This is dangerous because of the wind and the waves.  Yet, they had to try something to buy them time for a chance to make it to land.

Some of the sailors used this command as a pretense to try and escape on a small skiff, a lifeboat.  However, Paul recognizes what they are doing and warns the centurion and the soldiers that none of them will live if those men do not stay with the ship.  This may seem strange, but in 2 Corinthians 11, we are told that Paul had been shipwrecked three times and had spent a day and a night in the water.  He had spent a lot of time traveling on ships, so he knew that they were not throwing out an anchor.

Why would Paul say that the soldiers would not survive if those men didn’t stay with the ship?  This does not seem to have been a part of the earlier angelic message, but it may have been something that Paul did not mention.  It is also possible that the Holy Spirit prompted Paul’s mind in the moment that this was not part of God’s plan.  Think about it.  They are buying time for a shot at navigating any rocks and making it to land.  For these sailors to abandon ship in this moment, is to leave the rest of the people to sure death.  It would take everyone of them just to have a hope of getting to the shore.

This is where we should recognize an important fact.  These men’s skills would not be used to save the ship, but they would be used to help get the ship to a place where the people could make it to land.  God wanted to save the men of the ship, but He also wanted to use these sailors, at least partially.

This brings up the mystery of how God uses our actions at times versus sending a miracle.  We could call it the miracle of God including our efforts, even those of unsaved people. 

He wants us to do what we can even when it will never be enough.  Imagine a disheartened dad facing his inability to do a good job with his kids.  He may recognize that he is not up to the task and is failing these kids in many ways.  So, what then?  Do we just quit?  Don’t give up in such situations.  There is a sense in which none of us are enough for every relationship and purpose that God gives us to do.  However, God is not only able to use our weak and feeble attempts, but He intends to use them.  He intends to use your weak efforts, not just to help your kids, but to help you.  In the midst of your weakness, you will find God’s assistance as you give yourself to the task.  You will find yourself growing in ability, but even more, in faith that God can and does work through you and in you.

As it gets close to daylight, Paul encourages the men to eat food for their strength.  “Not a hair from the head of any of you will be lost!”  Yet, pay closer attention to how Paul presents the bread to them.

Luke’s phrasing about Paul giving thanks and breaking the bread suggests that this was also treated as communion for the Christians on board (Luke and Aristarchus).  There is something spiritual happening here as they prepare for the final push to survive.  God is using Paul to implant in the minds of all of these men this crazy man giving God thanks for bread when their lives were in danger.  They don’t know God, but they now have experienced life with a man who does know God.  These 273 (276 minus Paul, Luke and Aristarchus) souls are being touched by the God of heaven who cares for their souls.

At this point, sensing that this is their last chance at land, they send the last of the cargo (the grain) over into the sea.  This would lighten the boat and give them the best ability to steer the ship and maneuver to land.

They fail to save the ship, but God delivers them (v. 39-44)

These men will fail to save the ship, but God does not fail to save their lives, at least physically.

Once there is enough light to see, they make a run for the beach.  This involves putting up the mainsail and cutting away the anchors at the same time.  They don’t recognize the land, but they do see a place on land that is their best chance.  As they put up the sail and cut the anchors, the ship lurches forward.  At some point, they become stuck on a sandbar (often these also have clay under the sand).  The wind and the surf begins tearing up the back of the ship.  It is time to abandon ship and pray to make it to the shore without drowning or being dashed against the rocks.

Things are happening fast at this point.  They will need to swim for their lives.  We are told that the soldiers were preparing to kill the prisoners.  This was common policy for Romans and many cultures of the ancient world.  Those charged with the custody of a prisoner pledged their own life for the life of the prisoner.  If they lost a charge, then they would be put to death.  In situations where there was no way to guarantee their custody, prisoners would be put to death.  Yet, God has been working on Julius the centurion.  He normally would be okay with killing the prisoners, but he favors Paul.  Thus, he tells his men not to kill the prisoners.  Of course, then it comes down to how much they trust him.  They had to respect him enough to follow such an order.

The instructions are quickly given.  Those who can swim are to jump in first and make for land.  Others are to grab a board or something from the ship so that they can hopefully float to shore.  I love the phrase, “so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.”  This was a miracle; but even more, it was a miracle that Paul had proclaimed well in advance.  Paul had testified and witnessed to the fact of his God’s grace for them all.

In the end, the greatest shipwrecks are those that metaphorically happen in the lives of people, individuals, groups and even Republics.  Paul uses this metaphor in 1 Timothy 1:19 for a shipwrecked faith.

Sometimes there are things in our lives that God does not intend to save, even though He intends to save us.  This can bother us.  We are so used to serving Him with those things that it can be unclear just exactly what we are trusting.  Satan tested Job in this way.  God wouldn’t let him kill Job, but he could take away many of the good things in Job’s life.  Would Job curse God and die?  Did the things mean more to him than God?  These are the questions we face as we do life with God.

God always intends to save the souls of people.  The loss of ships and things in our life are not proof that He doesn’t care.  Rather, He cares about much bigger things (like eternal salvation) than we often do.  No matter what we face, God wants to save us, to save our family, to save our church, to save our State, to save our Republic, to save our world.  He is not willing that anyone perish.  So, He is working every day to the ends of saving everyone’s soul.  The real question is do you have enough faith to stand in there with Him like Paul did?

When you face a time of losing things, don’t ask God why He is doing it to you.  Rather, put it on the altar and let Him know that He means more to you than those things.  Then, ask Him what it is that He has for you to do in this situation so that other might know who He is.  Yes, sometimes our trials are just as much about the people watching us go through them than they are about us.

Shipwrecked audio

The Acts of the Apostles- 90

Subtitle:  Almost Persuaded

Acts 26:19:32.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty on February 2, 2025.

It is not common for a person to put their trust in Jesus the first time they hear the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.  We can be stubborn in our ways, and thus resistant to it.  However, we can also be resistant to change even when we know that it is the right thing to do.  We may say to ourselves:  “Not now,” “I’m not ready,” “I have too many fun things to do” and “I’ll get around to doing it later.”

When people come to that place of making a decision it is much like coming to an intersection.  You need to make a choice, and there are many reasons why you won’t come to a stop and deeply ponder the choice.  At the moment, you sense that there is something real to this message.  You believe that it really is God touching your heart and mind, drawing you to Himself.  However, regardless of our choice, that moment passes us by.  It becomes easier to keep doing what you were doing before.  

The flesh does not like being in this awkward pinch of admitting our life has been lived unrighteously and that we are in need of God’s saving grace.  It will do anything to resolve the tension of the moment and get back to normal, whatever that is.  The danger here is that God’s conviction comes and goes.  We can let it pass and miss the opportunity for the time being.

Yet, God in His grace gives us an undetermined amount of time in this life to come to our senses and put our trust in His Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Today, we will look at a man who was almost persuaded, but almost is not enough.  Let’s look at our passage.

Paul addresses King Herod Agrippa II (19-23)

We are picking up at the point of which Paul has told the account of his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Verse 19 is where he turns from the story the encounter to speak about his response to that event.

It would be easy for us to read that account and think to ourselves, “If Jesus did to me what he did to Paul, then I would believe.”  Of course, this is easier to say than to do.  Many people have experienced powerful moments where they saw miraculous things and believed God was speaking to them.  Yet, later, after the moment had passed, they began to doubt it.  They think that it was just a subjective, psychological event instead of a real encounter with God. 

Our response to the overtures of God is critical.  He puts intersections in our path, whether we know it or not.  As we cruise through these intersections, our decisions determine whether we embrace Jesus and step onto the path of blessing, or whether we remain upon a path of destruction for ourselves and for others around us.

Paul let’s Agrippa know that he believed and obeyed the heavenly vision he received that day.  He went into Damascus, where his plan was to arrest Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial.  Yet, his purpose was changed.  He waited for the Christian Ananias to pray for him, and then he began preaching to the people in Damascus to become Christians.  He preached to Jews, but he also preached to Gentiles.  Jesus was God’s Anointed man not just to save Jews, but Gentiles too.  This is a different Paul with a different purpose.  He was now about the purpose of Jesus.  When you live for your own purposes, you stay the same person in general.  There may be some hiccups and drastic moving around of the props on the stage of our life, but in the end, we keep going in a direction of wasting our lives on the lesser things of pleasing our flesh, satisfying our momentary desires.  However, to live for the purposes of Jesus is to become a very different person who is on a very different trajectory.

Paul preached a message (verse 20) of repentance, turning to God, and doing works that are appropriate to one who is repenting.

Repentance is essentially having a change of mind.  In this context, you are having a change of mind about how you have been living your life, i.e., for pleasing yourself.  However, it is not enough to just change what pleases you.  This is not a repentance that saves.  It only puts you on another dead end path.  Repentance must move to the second part of the message, turning to God.

All of our self-choices lead us away from the path of God, but they also lead us away from relationship with God.  We are not just talking about things that God wants you to do, and things he wants you to refrain from doing.  We really need to stop ignoring God, or even being hostile to Him.  We need to learn the wisdom of yielding to His great wisdom like a child recognizing that their father knows best.

It is from this relationship that we can express the third component of Paul’s preaching.  We do works that are appropriate to repentance, or fitting for it.  It is not enough to change how you talk about God.  Those who repent want their lives to become like Him and their lives to accomplish His purpose.

This last point is not to imply that we cannot make mistakes, or have weak moments of doubt or temptation.  It really is a calling of a person’s bluff.  You can say that you believe in Jesus, but if you continually refuse to listen to all of his words, then you are kidding yourself and trying to deceive others.  You do not believe in Jesus, but rather, you believe in the Jesus of your own making.  Let’s be clear.  No one makes it into heaven by perfect performance.  But on the other hand, you are not going to fake your way in.  You either live for the purposes of Jesus out of a relationship with him, or you don’t.  It is as simple as that.

Think about it.  The love of God sends Christians across the path of individuals in order to wake them up to this need to repent.  He continues to do this over the top of the many times that we stiff-arm the moment and continue on in stubbornness.  He continues this to our last mortal breath.

Paul then says that he was seized in the temple and nearly killed because of this obedience to Jesus.  Yet, God helped him so that he could keep testifying to the life changing truth about Jesus. 

The help of God doesn’t always look like an angel appearing and slaying all of our enemies.  Sometimes it comes in the form of a pagan, Roman commander who is only concerned about keeping his own job.  Could God use a bureaucrat when you are sucked into their little fiefdom of power?  You bet He can.

We have seen this help throughout the book of Acts.  It was not about removing all difficulty and bad things from Paul’s path (the path of Christians).  It was a powerful help, but not one that insulated us from all that feels like it is harming us.  Paul would eventually be helped into the presence of God through martyrdom in Rome, but his time was not yet.  In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul takes the time to enumerate some of the difficult things that happened along his way.  We already talked about how he was beaten in the temple in Jerusalem.  However, what about the time in Lystra where he was stoned by the crowd and left for dead?  God helped him that day.  He didn’t’ die.  Yet, he still felt the pain.  He was still rejected and moved on to another city.  Paul suffered many things for the cause of Jesus Christ.  Yet, he learned to trust the path that Jesus was leading him on.  In the 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul then moves to speak about a physical malady that he suffered.  He prayed for the Lord to heal it, but the Lord told him “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

Think about that.  If we never had any difficulties, then God’s power would not be what He wants it to be.  It would be lacking somehow.  It is not lacking power because God is omnipotent.  But the power is enhanced in our lives when we have weakness.  The weakness here is not talking about moral weakness, but even that is a testimony to the power and greatness of God.  Paul then states a lesson he had learned, in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.  “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast ^[c]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  He is strong because the power of God uses it in ways that we don’t see, and in ways that we would rather not see.

If you think that God is not being fair and that it is cruel to not remove our sufferings, then just remember that he too walked this life and suffered.  The power of God was displayed in what looked like a weak man named Jesus.

Many today disregard Jesus as a weak message that must be rejected.  They think of the effect of his message on society as a weakening of that society.  But, they are wrong.  In truth, they are seeing the power of God and rejecting it, at least for now.  Still God’s grace works to convict their hearts of their error.

So Paul testified to Jews and to Gentiles that the prophets of the Old Testament had said these things would happen to the Messiah.  First, Messiah would suffer, and second, the prophets said that the Messiah would raise from the dead.

The Anointed Savior would suffer on behalf of our sins.  This is all through the prophets when you have eyes to see.  Even the promise in Genesis 3:15 of the Seed of the Woman who would crush the serpent’s head has a promise of suffering for him.  The serpent would do the same to his heel.  This may sound like a lesser blow, but a bite from a poisonous viper can be a mortal blow, even in the heel.  What about Psalm 16?  David prophesies that the Messiah would not be left to the grave and see decay.  Hmmm, sounds like some suffering would occur.  What about Psalm 22?  In the midst of existential suffering, something happens that is so great that the whole world will be amazed.  It even speaks of all those who died worshiping him.  Of course, the powerful passage of Isaiah 53 is shocking in its description of Messiah’s suffering.

The third things is that Messiah would proclaim light to the Jews and to the Gentiles.  He would be a healer of the breach and lost inheritance. 

Even though this is highlighted throughout the Bible, some people had too much to lose to believe in Jesus.  “The Romans will come and take our power away!”  Yet, in refusing to embrace Messiah by letting go of their power, they missed Messiah and still lost their power.  In the end, they lost everything, and many even lost eternal life.  “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”  (Mark 8:36).

Paul is interrupted (v. 24-32)

Festus cuts Paul off and declares that he is mad.  He has apparently had enough of this babbling about Jewish prophecies and Messiahs.  It is also possible that he is quite uncomfortable with this powerful moment.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit is touching his heart, and his flesh is kicking against the goads.

The devil is always looking for useful tools to break up God’s convicting work in others.  The interruption of Festus breaks up the flow of Paul’s defense for following Messiah Jesus.  Yet, Paul brushes this aside deftly.  He tells Festus that he is not mad, but speaking sober truth.  We know what truth is.  Paul is not lying.  However, the word translated sober has the concept of a sound mind that is self-controlled and not under undue influence.  Paul is in his right mind and dealing with reality, not some hypothetical, prophetic fantasy.  He is in full command of his faculties as he speaks the truth.

Paul then quickly turns the discussion back to Agrippa.  Agrippa is his true target because he is well versed in these issues and knows that Paul is not talking gibberish and out of his mind.  Paul then puts a rhetorical question to Agrippa.  “Do you believe the prophets?  I know that you do.”  He doesn’t get into all the different rabbinic schemes for how Messiah would come and what all he would do.  But, Paul knows that Agrippa has at least a rudimentary acceptance that there is something to these prophecies.  There is truth in them.

Paul has given Agrippa evidence that demands a verdict, and so, Paul is not just asking Agrippa if he has a general belief in the prophets, but whether he believes Jesus is what those prophets was talking about.  This is the question that Paul is putting before Agrippa.  Are you ready to join us Christians in believing Jesus is Messiah?

The response of Agrippa can be summed up by saying that he is not ready to join the Christians in this believing Jesus stuff.  He literally says, “In a little, you persuade me to become a Christian.”  It is traditionally taken to mean that he is almost persuaded, but not quite.  Others see here an ironical statement or even a question.  Do you persuade me to be a Christian in such a little time?  Whether Agrippa is close to believing, or actually stiff-arming Paul, the net effect is still the same.  He is not persuaded.

The truth is this.  You cannot almost believe in Jesus.  You either do or you don’t.  The term Christian here needs to be understood in its context.  It was a term of derision about a heretical group that was being quashed by the religious leaders.  Agrippa may even be shocked that Paul could consider that he would join this outcast group.

There is an old hymn called Almost Persuaded.  Here are a few of the verses:

 V. 1: Almost persuaded now to believe; Almost persuaded Christ to receive; Seems now some soul to say, Go, Spirit, go Thy way; Some more convenient day On Thee I’ll call.  Comment: notice that the decision is put off to a more convenient time.

V. 3: Almost persuaded, harvest is past!  Almost persuaded doom comes at last!  Almost” cannot avail; Almost is but to fail! Sad, sad, that bitter wail, Almost, but lost!

What a powerful statement.  Almost is but to fail.  When the question is put to people, it goes through their mind what it would mean for them to become a Christian.  To follow Jesus and live for his purposes would upend the life of everyone who does it.  What would it mean if you became a follower of Jesus?  In how many ways would your life be “ruined?”  Paul lost a career among the most prestigious Pharisees.  He lost a life of wealth, comfort and the accolades of the powerful men of society.  Yet, he gained Jesus!  He gained the favor of God the Father.

None of us can save people.  Paul couldn’t save Agrippa, but the Spirit of God was there to help Agrippa if he wanted it.  The rest of the story for Agrippa is not important to us today.  Did he ever come to faith in Jesus?  There is no record of that.  However, the key for you or for people to whom you witness is this.  You can’t always know how much the Holy Spirit has prepared a person to hear.  We must be faithful to plant the seeds of truth, water those seeds with more truth, and yet, only God can bring in the harvest.

People need to face the question.  What will you do with Jesus?  Will you now believe and follow him?   Yet, we must also know that this is a work of the Holy Spirit.   Through prayer, we can learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we may be silent so that the Spirit can incubate the message.  However, other times, we need to put the question before people, nudge them to make a decision, rather than letting the flesh just fall back into its routine once the moment has passed.

May God help us to be fully persuaded and be used of God to persuade others.

Almost Persuaded audio

The Lies We Come To Believe II

Exodus 2:11-15; 3:10-12; 4:1,10,13-14; Judges 6:11-13; 1 Kings 19:1-4, 11-14.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Father’s Day, June 16, 2024.

I preached a sermon on Mother’s Day with this same title.  There we looked at Eve, Sarah, and Naomi.  Each of them had spiritual hurts and emotional wounds that made it difficult to believe God.  When a person is wounded in life, it always has a lie or half-truth that surfaces in our heart, perhaps more than one.  We can be tempted then to live our life believing those lies to be true.

Today we are going to do the same thing, but with three men: Moses, Gideon, and Elijah.  I want to make it clear that the lies we believe are not generally specific to whether we are female or male.

In fact, there are many different hurts that can lead us to believe the same lie, similar to how a geographical destination can have many different roads that lead to it.  Women can learn from the stories of men and men can learn from the stories of women because the specific details of our experiences are not the most important thing to them.  Rather, what is most important is to see the mistakes that we make and how the Lord gives grace for us to overcome them.

The flip-side of this title, “The Lies We Come To Believe,” is this: “And The God Who Saves Us From Them!”  Amen?

May we see a little bit of ourselves in these three men, and may we be encouraged to have faith in God for the week ahead of us.

Let’s look at our first passage.

Moses (Exodus 2, 3, 4)

We have skipped the story about the birth of Moses.  Pharaoh was afraid that his Israelite slaves were growing too numerous.  He decreed that all infant males born to the Hebrews would be put to death.  Thus, Moses is born under the threat of death.  I wonder if his mother had been reading or thinking about the account of Noah when she had the idea of making a little “ark” out of bullrushes and casting her little boy upon the waters of the Nile, hoping for God to protect him from the dangers of the world.  The Egyptian princess “just happens” to find the boy in the make-shift ark and raises him as her own.  The event of chapter 2 doesn’t happen until Moses is 40 years old, according to Stephen in Acts 7:23.  It “just happens to come to him” to check on the condition of his fellow Hebrews, and he finds that it isn’t good.  Moses kills an Egyptian task-master, has an exchange with a bitter Hebrew slave, and has to run for his life because Pharaoh found out what he had done.

Moses then goes into the land of Midian, which interestingly enough means “strife.”  He will spend the next 40 years living in this rustic place raising a family and being a shepherd.  When we come to Exodus 3 and the story of the burning bush, Moses is now 80 years old.  The Angel of the Lord appears to him within a bush that is on fire but not being consumed.  The exchange continues into chapter 4.  If you pay attention to this exchange, you will see that God is calling Moses to go to Egypt and help deliver his people out of slavery.  Yet, Moses is not interested.  He offers up several protests, or excuses, as to why it shouldn’t be him.  We will look at those in a second, but first notice Exodus 4:14.

The continual protests of Moses stirs up the anger of the Lord against him.  This is called trying the patience of God.  It is one thing to try the patience of people, but quite another to test God’s patience.  Yet, we see here that God’s mercy is still extended to Moses. 

Let’s talk first about the wounds that Moses received.  His life is divided into three very distinct periods of 40 years each.  He is a prince in Egypt, lacking nothing, from birth to 40.  He is a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian from 40 to 80.  Lastly, he is a leader of Israel in the deserts south and south east of Canaan from 80 to 120.  It is the event at 40 years of age in Exodus 2 that helps us to see his wound, which begins with the killing of the Egyptian.  Clearly Moses feels like he needs to do something, but in a moment of passion, he kills an Egyptian.  He believes that no one has seen him do this.  However, the next day he finds two Hebrews fighting.  He challenges the one who had struck his brother, but receives a bitter reply.  “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?  Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”  Are  you a murderer going to lecture me about striking my brother?  Are you who have lived a princely life wanting to play the prince of slaves?

We need to understand that bitter people who have endured bitter lives have a knack for wounding others.  They have so many emotional wounds that they cease to care about how they impact others.  The devil wants us acting out of the pain of our wounds because we will then hurt others instead of finding the healing of God, even being a channel of the healing of God.  Please read this paragraph over again because many Christians still live their lives rooted in legitimate wounds they received in the past.

The wound that Moses receives is one of rejection.  Pharaoh wants to kill him for daring to kill an Egyptian.  His own people aren’t interested in what little help he wants to offer.  The fact that Moses had never made a single brick in his life probably added to their distaste for him. 

You might object that this was only one man.  That is precisely the point.  Our emotional wounds are not always rational.  Moses had to run because Pharaoh had the power to find him and kill him in Egypt.  Yet, that bitter reply of another Hebrew went deep into the heart of Moses.  You have nothing to offer these people.  They don’t want you.  Rejection is a bitter pill and it really messes people up..

Here is the thing to ponder.  All wounds tempt us to believe things that are either blatant lies or are half-truths.  The wounds and the feelings about them are real.  We shouldn’t discount them.  However, our wounded feelings are extremely bad at discovering truth.  The gravity of our injured self is always towards a self-deception.  It takes a miracle of God to pull a person out of that trap.

Think about anger.  We are told in the Bible that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).  However, it does not say along with that, “Don’t be angry.”  Rather, we are told “’Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath…” (Ephesians 4:26; Psalm 4:4).  Anger is a powerful emotion that can result from unjust situations as well as out of our own sin.  When we allow anger to drive the responses we make (even when that anger is justified), we will find ourselves falling into sin.

Anger is not the only emotion that can take control of us because of wounds in our past.  No feeling should be used to justify sinful actions.  Rather, we must submit ourselves to the commands of Christ and his Apostles.

I do want to be careful pretending to be in the head of Moses.  This is not an attempt to psychoanalyze Moses.  Instead, this is about how we all respond to hurt and seeing the similar dynamic in him.  I want us to see ourselves in what he is going through.  We need to recognize how we have been wounded, and then, how God wants to heal that wound.

So let’s get into the five protests that Moses gives to God.  We will see that there is a lie or half-truth that is beneath these protests.

1.  Exodus 3:11.  Moses questions who he is to do what God is saying.  The lie beneath this is:  I am nobody.  Rejection always affects self-worth.  A person can’t help the emotional response that says, “What is wrong with me that you would reject me?”  Kids do this when their parents fight and divorce.  Generally, this has nothing to do with the kids, but they feel that way anyway.  In fact, it is quite common that people who hurt you aren’t even thinking about you.  They are thinking about themselves and not caring about what you think or feel.

The world’s answer to all of this is to boost up your self-esteem and kick the negative people out of your life.  If Jesus had done that, then none of us could be saved.  Jesus didn’t kick the negative people out of his life.  He loved them to the bitter end, entrusting His life to God.

For the believer, our self worth needs to be anchored in Jesus and his love for us (as well as for the people who hurt us).  You may be nobody in the eyes of the world, but this doesn’t make you a nobody.  You are somebody that is loved by God.  He  has a purpose for you, and no matter what it is, He will help you to do it!

2.  Exodus 4:1.  The next lie is this.  They will not listen, believe, or follow me.  Out of that injured self-image flows the doubting of what God can do through us when He calls us to something.  In fact, parents can do this with their kids.  You can be offended that your kids are responding to your wisdom, instruction, and correction.  This doesn’t give you the right to write your kids off.  God’s calling remains on you regardless of how your kids respond. 

In this case, Moses is somewhat right.  The story of Israel coming out of Egypt is full of the murmuring and protests of the Israelites against God and Moses.  They may have physically followed Moses into the wilderness, but most of them perished there because they didn’t trust God.  Their lack of faith often caused them to take out their frustrations on Moses.  However, this isn’t the problem of Moses.  It is God’s problem, and He is quite capable of taking care of His problems (and ours).

3.  Exodus 4:10.  Here is another lie.  I am not eloquent (skilled) enough to do it.  This is the same argument as before.  Doing something for God is never dependent upon your level of talent.  It is dependent upon the blessing of God.

The Bible tells us to ask for wisdom if we lack it.  I suppose we could also ask for talent if we lack it.  However, let me talk about wisdom for a moment.  When God does supply wisdom, what does that look like?  Do you instantly sound amazingly like Solomon?  Does everyone around start remarking about how wise you are?  Of course not.  Yet, God gives you wisdom, here a little and there a little.  It builds up.  You don’t have to “sound wise” to the world in order to be wise.  Perhaps, it is best if you don’t.

4.  Exodus 4:13.  The lie here is this.  Someone else would be better than me.  This is a cop-out.  Why would God be asking you?  Why would the Holy Spirit be stirring it up in you, if this was true?  Maybe it is better for you that you do it?  God doesn’t just “use” people to help others.  He is simultaneously helping the person who chooses to obey him and help others.  It is good for us to be both receivers and givers.  Receiving teaches us humility, and giving teaches us compassion and mercy.

Of course, the attitude that says for God to find somebody else can also be sheer laziness, but I don’t get that vibe in this passage.  Moses has tried that and has the proverbial T-shirt to prove it.

5.  Underlying this whole account is a final lie.  I can’t go back there.  This was Egypt for Moses, but what is it for you?  We can go anywhere if God is with us.  Whether out of fear or out of pragmatism, Moses is not interested in going back to Egypt.  Going back will only make things worse: a Pharaoh who wants him dead, and a people who despise this non-slave Hebrew.

Moses would have stayed in Midian another 40 years, if God had let him.  However, God had different plans.

In moments where God is calling us to go back and face painful situations, it can feel like it is impossible.  However, this is precisely why we need Jesus.  He will go with us and lead us forth in victory, not against people, but against the lies, half-truths, and spiritual enemies that you have.  You may feel like you can’t face it, but you can with Jesus.  God has a good thing in the task that He is asking of you, and you can trust Him.

Gideon (Judges 6:11-15)

We won’t spend as much time on these last two.  Gideon lives about 200 years following Joshua.  There has been at least three periods of subjugation over Israel with several stories of judges or people who accomplished vindication for Israel.

Gideon’s wound is found in that he is a no-status person within a subjugated people.  As Americans, we do not know what that feels like.  We have no clue.  So, when the Angel of the LORD shows up to explain to Gideon that God plans to deliver Israel through him, Gideon responds out of this mentality.

Gideon’s first response bristles at the idea that God is with them and for them.  If God was really with us, then things would be better than this.  This is a very common lie that we tell ourselves.  We will even see every bad thing in our life as proof that God is against us (or worse, we think of it in terms of karma).  “God, what am I doing wrong?  If I was doing it right, surely it would be better than this!”

We need to be very careful with such ideas and questions.  God’s calling on Israel had not changed.  He had not rescinded it.  When we are in times of discipline because of sin, or even when we are in a time of discipline to make us stronger (i.e., not because of sin), God  is still with us and being faithful to us.  It is foolish to interpret the Fatherly discipline of God as a rejection from Him.  This is a lie.  The reason we entertain it is because of our past hurts, wounds, and even our sin, which always harms us and others.

We see a better response in Ezekiel and Daniel.  They were prophets during the period when God’s discipline cause Israel to be taken captive to Babylon.   Yes, Israel was in trouble with God.  However, after 70 years, they knew that God would bring Israel back.  Daniel knew that God would bring them back, and he put his faith in God’s ability to accomplish this.

It is very common for Christians to misinterpret the discipline of God.  We think of it as bad, and pray for God to return His goodness to us.  We tell ourselves that we have to trudge through the “badness of God” in order to get the “goodness of God” some day.

This is a lie.  The time in the wilderness was a special time of intimacy with God for Israel.  Many other generations looked back to the miracles that happened in those days asking where God was in there day.  We even see Gideon making this point in verse 13.  He is wishing that God would do for him in his day what God did for Israel back when they came out of Egypt (yes, during the times of discipline).

There were no gardens, no grain fields, and no fruit trees in the wilderness, but God supernaturally fed them day after day and provided water in a place where there was none.  Later, when they made it into the promised land (where they had all those “good things”), they tended to walk away from intimacy with God.  A man like David stuck out like an odd duck because he came to intimately know God and acted out of that relationship.  We spend entirely too much time accusing God of cursing us (letting bad things happen) when He is actually trying to bless us.

Gideon expresses the idea that he and Israel are forsaken by God.  However, this is a lie.  Jesus says this on the cross.  I believe he says this (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) for two reasons.  First, he is letting us know that he feels exactly what we feel when we have such a moment in our life.  You know, the kind of experience where you are asking God to deliver you and not let the bad thing happen, but then you are crucified anyway.  Jesus gets it.  God understands how we feel.  He has felt it Himself! 

However, there is a second reason Jesus says this.  This was a Hebrew way of telling people to pay attention to a particular passage in the Bible.  In English, we would say, “Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 22 and pay attention to what it says.”  The Hebrews generally used the opening word or line of a passage to refer to it.  “Turn in your Bibles to My God, My God why have You Forsaken Me, and pay attention to what it says.  That Psalm has a clear turning point: “He has heard me.”  The lament of a man dying on a cross suddenly turns into a rejoicing in the God who has heard him.  Try reading Psalm 22 as if it is Jesus speaking about his time on the cross.

When these kind of lies surface in your mind, you need to ask yourself these questions.  Who told me that?  How did I come to believe this?  Is this what God’s Word says?  The tough things you experience in life are not proof that God has or hasn’t forsaken you.  The Word of God tells you that He will never leave you nor forsake you, not even to the end of this Age!  See Matthew 28:20 and Hebrews 13:5.

I don’t have time to point out more, but we can look to Gideon’s response about his status in verse 15.  I can’t do it because I am a low-status person in a subjugated people!  This doesn’t matter when God is calling you to do something.

Elijah (vs. 1-4; 11-14)

On the heels of a great victory, in which fire comes down from heaven and burns up the sacrifice to Yahweh, Jezebel sends word to Elijah that she is going to have him hunted down and killed.  This causes Elijah to go on the run to the southern part of the Judean Kingdom.  From there, an angel tells him to go further south to Mt. Sinai.

Elijah’s wound has parts of it that are from rejection.  His life is being hunted by a king and queen who cannot restrain themselves from evil.  He was simply being a faithful prophet to Yahweh, and yet they hunt him down as if he were the one worshiping false gods.

There is one scene where Elijah shows up to confront King Ahab of his wickedness.  Ahab calls Elijah, the troubler of Israel.  Of course, it was Ahab and Jezebel that were bringing trouble upon Israel.  Of course, governments that reject God love to point to those who do love God as the problem

Elijah simply feels defeated.  He even begs God to kill him.  Life isn’t worth it.

I will point out three lies that have taken root in Elijah’s heart.  The first is this.  Nothing I do makes a difference.  There are a lot of young people today who are looking at the Church saying that it is not working or making a difference.  However, this assumes that we know what making a difference looks like.  It assumes we know what should be happening.  Of course, everyone should be repenting and believing in God.  This Republic shouldn’t be plundered by our spiritual enemy and fighting against one another, but we are.  What is the difference that God has us here to affect?  Be very careful in pretending that you know exactly what God is trying to accomplish through you, much more His Church.  Yes, He wants to save people, but sometimes we have to go through some tough things in order to get back to a place of true repentance.

In some ways, Jesus did not send the Church to make the world into a governmental paradise.  It could if we would all follow Christ and turn from sin.  In fact, there have been times throughout history in which particular families and particular nations saw some powerful things happen to turn the whole towards the things of God.  However, these often pass until we find a family full of people who don’t serve Jesus like their grandparents did, or a nation that no longer believes what their founding generation believed about God.

We are told that this varied experience will continue until the end of this Age of Grace.  There will be a wholesale apostasy against the truth of Jesus in these last days.  I am not saying that no one will be saved.  We are in a time similar to the days of Elijah.  Was he making a difference?  It didn’t look like it, but God was using him to encourage the remnant of 7,000 people who hadn’t bowed the knee to Ahab and Jezebel’s false god, Baal.  Yes, it is a discouraging time to work for the LORD, and our flesh doesn’t like laboring in that place, but it is where we are.  God sometimes needs us to be in that place.

On one hand, He is ensuring that the baton of faith makes it to the next generation.  But another reason can be this.  Elijah was one of the “power prophets.”  God did powerful miracles through Elijah. This is in contrast to a prophet like Jeremiah.  We have no miracles of Jeremiah, except for his ability to tell people what was going to happen in the future, and be 100% correct.  However, the power that was expressed in Elijah’s life was not about him.  It was always about what God was doing in that period of Israel.  Jeremiah’s generation were only given a sign of truth being spoken to them.  They received no fire from heaven and no Red Sea’s being parted.

So, if you find yourself in a wilderness eating bread delivered by a raven, and you feel that normal feeling, “This isn’t getting me anywhere…This isn’t working,” then stop looking at your situation with the world’s eye, the eye of your flesh.  Look with the eyes of faith in God.  He has a purpose in it, especially when we don’t understand what it is.

Elijah could be killed at any time, but his life is in God’s hand.  We should never presume God’s protection, but neither do we fear when we end up in the hand of the powers of the land.  When Pilate challenged Jesus to speak to him, he emphasized that he had power to put Jesus to death.  Do you know what Jesus said?  Turn to John 19:11 and find out.  Jesus knew that God had a purpose for His life and if Pilate was part of that purpose, then who was Jesus to fight against it?  This is not an argument against his place in the Godhead.  It is an argument for the function and role he performs within the Trinity.

We should also notice the words of Elijah, “I am no better than my fathers.”  He had started out with so much hope, but now sees that he has failed just like those before him.  In some ways, this is the same message that Isaiah presents in his book.  He is faced with the absolute failure of Israel to bring forth any salvation in the earth, and yet he is also faced with the power of God to produce salvation by His own Right Hand, Jesus!

May God help us to surrender in those times that are hard on our flesh.  May we recognize that He is making our inner man stronger, and He is giving us a spiritual gift that we can share with others so that they may be free.

The righteous will walk by faith.  They will breathe, get up in the morning, and go to work by faith too.

Elijah was ready to quit.  There is not a one of us who can’t relate to him in that moment.  However, you need to trust that God knows how you feel.  Jesus knows the feeling better than even you or I do.

Many a parent has given up on their marriage and their kids.  Sometimes they are even still in the home, present, but really absent.  When we operate out of the woundedness of our past, we simply continue the pain, continue wounding others and ourselves.  Jesus wants to heal our wounds and neutralize the lies that we have come to believe so that we can be the devil’s worst nightmare when we run into others who are like we used to be.

I pray that God will help fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, to turn away from the lies of this world and turn to the truth of God in Jesus!

Lies II

What Does God Really Want from Me? Part 8

Matthew 28:16-20.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday March 6, 2022.

We will finish our series today talking about sharing Jesus passionately with those who do not know him.

Everything that we do as a Christian should revolve around the worship of God.  It is a whole-life worship that demonstrates the worth and value of God when we CONNECT to Jesus and his people through an authentic relationship.  We also demonstrate His worth and value when we GROW spiritually through intentionally becoming like Jesus.  Again, we demonstrate His worth and value when we SERVE selflessly through the natural and spiritual gifts that God has given us.  Lastly, we demonstrate His worth when we SHARE Jesus passionately with those who do not know him.

Last week, we saw the passion side of sharing Jesus with others.  How could I not share Jesus, and who could keep me silent when he has set me free from a life of begging and being spiritually lame, like the man at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3.  No one was going to shut that man up short of putting him in prison and executing him, and then his death would witness even more loudly!

Today, we will look at the command and duty side of sharing Jesus.  Passion is not always enough to keep us sharing Christ.  We can get angry, wounded, or hurt.  In those moments when passion is low, the command of Christ is there to challenge our flesh.  I may not feel like it, but the Lord has given me a command, and I do not want to disappoint my Lord.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus uses his authority to give us a command

We talked about this last week, but we should always keep in mind the Daniel 7 passage where God judges the empires of the world, and yet, he then gives the kingdoms of the world to a Son of Man character who represents Jesus.  This Son of Man receives comes to the Ancient of Days riding on the clouds of heaven.  This imagery helps us see why Jesus purposefully used this title of himself.  Yes, it is a phrase that can essentially mean a human.  However, this phrase also had a connotation that reflected a mystery human who can ride the clouds like Yahweh, and will rule over the nations.  Many of the Jews understood this character as the Messiah.  We must never let this pompous, bloviating world take our eyes off of the fact that Jesus is the King of heaven and earth, and we will be judged on whether or not we were faithful to him.

All of that is to say that Jesus has left us with a purpose and a Great Mission, which is also called the Great Commission.  As we connect, grow, and serve, we are enabled to reach those who do not know Jesus with the Good News.

He could rapture us up to heaven the second that we believe, but that is not how God operates.  There is a spiritual battle for the souls of people happening on this earth.  Jesus shows us that God is not standing by silent.  We never become more like him than when we rise up to fight those principalities that hold humans in bondage through their own sinfulness (how sick the evil one is!).

It is easy to make the focus in this passage to be on the word “go,” but to do so is to miss the main point.  The main verb is “make disciples,” and it is modified by a phrase that explains just who we are to disciple, “all nations.”  Just so we are not confused, ask yourself who the subject of this command is.  Yes, it is his disciples, but not just those back then.  Jesus was to be with us to the end of the age, and therefore the mission is ongoing to the end of the age.  Since those original disciples are no longer with us, it is clear that Jesus intends this mission to be passed down from one generation of disciples to the next.

So, what does it mean to make disciples?  To make a disciple starts with being a disciple yourself.  We must become students of Jesus who are being transformed by the life and word of Christ.  This is the foundation of sharing the bad news and the Good News with others.  God’s Word is our powerful weapon because it is truth, and it is spiritual power energized by God’s Holy Spirit.  In essence, becoming a disciple of Jesus is another way of saying that we have connected to him as our Teacher and to his other disciples.  This means that we are a community of people who study and learn of Jesus.  Be must not become something other than that.

Jesus did not tell them to only reach other Jews, or any particular race, culture, etc.  The Gospel is to be taken to every nation as the Holy Spirit leads us.  We disciple those who respond to the drawing of the Holy Spirit no matter what their background, their sin, or their culture.  Not everyone fulfills the same task however.  There is a Sending, Giving, and Going aspect to this Mission.  Those who Go need a group behind them that are Sending them by continually praying and providing a support system.  Yet, we should be careful of drawing to strong of a distinction between those three aspects.  Technically, we are all called to go, but not always to go across the world to a completely different culture.  We should all be a prayer support for other Christians who are sharing Christ even if a person is a missionary. Can a missionary support another missionary in prayer and funds as needed?  Of course, they can!  So, we need to keep our eye on making disciples whether that is around the world or across the street.  All of us are working together in order to make disciples around the world.

Now, let’s look at the going component.  Going is necessary as I have already alluded.  We have to become a people who are learning to go to others.  I have to learn to step outside of myself, my comfort zone, in order to share Jesus with others.  Acts 1:8 gives us a picture of concentric circles moving out from Jerusalem.  “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

All of us go, just like our Lord who left the great halls of heaven in order to go to earth and battle for our souls.  We must be led by the Holy Spirit to go out from a life that is only focused on ourselves.  However, it takes greater sacrifice to reach the opposite side of the world.  Thus, God calls some people to be missionaries.  They will have to travel to areas in which they do not know the customs, and the language.  They will have much to learn.  They will need supporters back home who will pray for them and give money to support them.  Yes, this can become a racket if we let it.  Thus, believers at every part of this must become a people of prayer responding to the Holy Spirit.  We see this in the New Testament as many supported Paul in his evangelistic endeavors so that he could take the Gospel into the area of what we call Turkey today, and onto the European continent through Greece.

Another phrase that Jesus adds is that we are to baptize those who become disciples.  Jesus has them continue this practice as a symbol or sign that a person has joined the community of the disciples of Jesus.

There are some who become overly worked up over what is said when a person is baptized.  This is not a mystical ritual that must be done just right in order to “work.”  Rather, it is the response of a person’s soul to the Spirit of God.  This is what makes it effective.  Jesus emphasizes that disciples are being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Yet, in other places it doesn’t use this “formula,” as some call it.  As I have said, I do not believe that Jesus is giving us a “formula.”  To connect to the Father is to connect to the Son and the Holy Spirit.  To respond to one is to respond to the others.  Yet, this process of becoming a disciple is operated by each of them in different ways.

Jesus then emphasizes that they are to teach the newer disciples.  This connects to the earlier make disciples, but it is more explicit.  We don’t just hand a bible to new believers and leave them on their own.  The older disciples are to teach the newer disciples, not in a sense of being between them and Jesus.  The Spirit of Christ is the ultimate teacher, but Jesus wants the mature disciples to come alongside of the immature.

One might ask, “Isn’t the Word of God and the Holy Spirit sufficient?”  Sure, they are completely enough for any disciple, but it is not a question of sufficiency.  God has provided a community that new believers enter, and He also gives a command through the Lord Jesus for us to help each other.  Thus, we surrender to the will of God rather than lecture Him on the theoretical sufficiency of the Word and the Spirit.  All disciples need to keep their eyes upon Jesus and learn from him as he uses others to teach us.

Just like God is teaching us to battle the spiritual forces arrayed against His people and those who are lost, so He is teaching us to become spiritual parents that help His new children mature spiritually.  Spiritual maturity can be defined as simply learning to obey the commands of Christ through an intimate relationship with Jesus.  Thus, I can be a follower of Jesus for over 30 years and still be infantile spiritually.  Of course, it is not possible to be the essence of maturity in one day, but some grow into maturity much faster than others.  Of course, we should restrain ourselves from judgments in this area because we cannot see the heart, and some who appear mature may not be what they seem under pressure.

One last thought on this teaching issue is that you don’t need an official title or position to do it.  We are all supposed to become like Christ who was a teacher.  Thus, we are all to teach even while we are students to those whom God brings to us.  No human teacher has ever arrived.  They are still learning themselves.  In fact, I believe that you never learn more about Christ than when you are trying to teach others, that is if your heart is open to the Holy Spirit.

Well, that’s the mission.  It is still the mission of Christians today, whether you have been saved for decades or days.  Yet, Jesus ends this with the encouragement that he will be with us even to the end of the age.  He has not left us alone. This is more than a human saying that they are thinking of us.  Jesus is present with us today as if he was standing here in our church, or sitting there right beside you.  When you are in the most difficult place, remember that Jesus is with you.  He will give you the words; he will give you passion; he will give you wisdom, strength and courage! 

The enemy is raging against God’s people in our society today- all over the world in fact.  Yet, until God calls us home, He is not finished yet, and so, neither are we.  Let’s go forward with our Joshua, who is Jesus, and know that he will be with us no matter what we face.  Then we will connect lost sinners to the abundant life that can only be found in King Jesus!

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