Introduction
As we look at the gospel of Mark, we see that version of the great commission saying, “preach the gospel to every creature.”
Each of the Gospel writers include a version of the great commission that is unique to them because I am sure that Jesus communicated the Great Commission in more than one way and at more than one time.
Each Gospel writer heard and remembered in the way that was most applicable to their purpose.
Mark just wanted to communicate basic good news to Greek readers.
His gospel actually starts and ends with the idea of the gospel.
Now, why am I bringing up Mark when Paul is our subject and Timothy is our text?
Because Mark gives us a very important instruction and we see that Paul had done all in His power to fulfill it.
Describing the Biblical Text
Our text this morning is a text that describes Paul’s feeling as he believes he is nearing the end of His ministry and yes, his life.
Yet, he remains constant in his commitment to the Gospel and the Lord of the gospel.
He is continuing to instruct Timothy and he wants to see more apostles and evangelists in order to continue to equip them in the gospel that when he dies they will be ready.
Narrate the Contextual application
When we are facing the end of our lives, what will we be saying and doing to continue our work for the gospel of Jesus.
Paul had a life on which he could look back and know thqat he did all he could do to communicate Christ faithfully.
That needs to be what we consider as well.
What will we look back and say?
Will we say we have fought the good fight or will we simply be content to look back on a life that accomplished very little for the Lord?
We all know who Alexander Graham Bell is don’t we? We all know Thomas Edison and Marie curie.
Yet who is Charles Hancock? Who is Tom Rush?
We may not know these men for any great scientific contributions to man however, these men have led a number of people to Christ.
Their names won’t be recorded in any history book but they will be the instrument used to validate some of the names written in the Lambs book of life.
Life Application (thesis)
If we are going to one day say we have fought the good fight and kept the faith then our lives will have to be faithfully lived for Jesus.
We must be committed to use our lives for Christ.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
The commitment to use our lives for Christ will be defined by the two other commitments that we see in this passage today.
We must be committed to use our time for Christ.
Just how important is our time and the way we use it?
[Video clip here]
Every moment counts doesn’t it
Think of it like this.
Our lives are about 35 minutes shorter now than they were when we came in here this morning.
The real question is then, “Were the last 35 minutes of my life useful in the kingdom of God?”
I would like to think they were since you were here but what the 35 minutes that started yesterday at 3:22 in the afternoon.
Or the 35 minutes that began at 7:15 last Thursday night?
Paul is looking back over his life.
In the present, he is declaring that his time for departure has come.
He is declaring that his future in Christ is secure as he will receive a crown of righteousness which will be awarded to all who have loved Jesus’ appearing.
But he is also declaring his past as he writes that he has fought the good fight, finished his course and kept the faith.
The idea of a course finished is that it was completed successfully in that a race or a designated path was completed.
I want us to consider our lives like a race.
We see that imagery used elsewhere in the New Testament such as Philippians 3 and Hebrews 12.
There are several ways we can approach a race.
We can race to win
IOW we can run it like we have to finish in first place.
We can run the race to finish
This means that we are content to merely cross the finijnsh line with no regard to place or time.
Or, we can run the race with no finish in mind.
We will simply run until we stop with no goal to finish.
If we are going to use every moment that we can for the Lord, we have to eye the finish.
We don’t have to necessarily look for the win because we don’t know how long some things we do for the Lord will take but we must always be pushing for the prize at the finish line.
Swimming is a very interesting sport because in the turn, the swimmer is allowed to do almost anything. Between the time they touch the wall and then push off from the wall they can stop, adjust their goggles, stretch, chat with the coaches and timers, and pull their swim cap down tight. Then they can take off swimming again. Now most swimmers don’t do that because the object in swimming is to drop time or to swim faster this race than in the last race.
Why would we stop and waist our time when we have a world to reach for Jesus?
We need to finish our course.
We need to keep the faith.
The ide of keeping is to stand our watch.
It is to serve the prescribed time that God has assigned us to serve.
My Dad used to have a saying about the way they worked when he was a child.
He would say they worked from can see to can’t see.
IOW it was from sun up to Sundown.
Our watch or shift begins when we receive Christ.
It ends when we see Christ.
For Paul to say he has kept the faith, it means that he remained faithful to the end of the shift
He committed to use His time for Christ in that he finished his race and he kept his watch of faith.
The words of Paul in Ephesians 5 say this “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
The second commitment we see this morning is this.
We must be committed to use our strength for Christ.
Think about that.
What else do we really have to give?
Time and strength equal about everything we have.
It is Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12 is to fight the good fight.
Here, Paul is saying that the good fight had been fought.
The word fight in this verse is the word from which we get our word agony.
It might be rendered here in this passage as struggle.
You really have to wonder why Paul considered his walk of faith a struggle or a fight.
I think it is because it is so easy and so tempting to simply stop and to say I’ve had enough.
Look down at verse 14 for just a minute.
Paul struggled with the accusations of Alexander the coppersmith and it even led Paul receive Physical harm.
But He knew that the Lord would deal with Alexander in kind with the way he treated Paul.
Now notice the next thing we see in this passage is that Paul stood without support in his defense.
There were no other followers of Jesus there to help or support Paul.
He was rescued from the Lion’s mouth.
But all this was as it happened because of verse 17.
God gave Paul the strength that he needed to accomplish what he had been called to do.
For Paul, that is preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
We are believers today because of Paul’s ministry which led to the spread of Christianity through all of Europe.
But Paul struggled.
He fought
He strove.
What are doing to make sure we are fulfilling all that God has called us to do?
Are we giving all our strength to Him in our service?
Are we giving all we are to accomplish the calling of the great commission?
You remember the great Commandment is to love the Lord God with our hearts, minds, souls, and all of our strength.
That means that our whole being is poured into the love of God all of who we are is to be serving Him.
We are to hold nothing back.
All of the Christian life is a fight; it is a struggle.
But, in the strength and in the provision of God it is an easy yoke or burden to bear.
Essentially, He bears it for us and bears us up under it.
This is how we can commit our lives for Christ’s service
It is how we can let our time be redeemed for the Lord and how we can serve Him with the strength he has given us.
There will come a day when we will be looking back on our lives and hopefully we will say the same things that Paul is saying here.
I have fought the good fight, finished the course and kept the faith.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Global Warming -- Thinking Globally, Acting Locally -- Acts 13:1-3
Introduction
Within the environmental movement, there is a commonly used slogan that goes Think Globally; Act Locally. What lies behind this slogan is a very important idea. The idea is that we can do something in our own community that will make a difference worldwide. If enough people do what they need to do to make a difference at home, it will change the world.
The kingdom of God is very much like that.
We saw last week how a few random events in the life of Peter came together to open the door of the preaching the gospel to the gentiles.
Describing the Biblical Text
Today, we will see the gospel assigned and the apostles sent out to the work.
In our text, we have a very intriguing account first, Luke
Goes to the trouble to name the disciples who are in Antioch and it is very possible that some of them we have seen before.
Simeon called Niger may well be the same Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Jesus down the Via Dolorosa.
In this text we see the calling and the setting apart of Saul and Barnabas to the work of the gospel.
Narrate the Contextual application
Here we see the church at Antioch planning to be a missional church.
Missional is the new churchy word that describes a church or a ministry that places an emphasis on missions.
But then, shouldn’t all churches and all followers of Jesus be missional in their approach to the gospel.
I have even heard a teacher lately say all scripture should be understood through missional principles of interpretation.
But, that makes sense also if Christianity is a Missional faith then missions has to be the principle by which we will understand our scriptures.
The church at Antioch was certainly taking their place alongside the church at Jerusalem in terms of being a church that would try to reach the world.
Life Application (thesis)
So often, when we seek to be missional, we sort of relegate the idea of missions to denominational agencies and boards and we often do not think that we are missionaries where we are and where we serve right here in High Point, NC.
But, the great commission makes us missionaries and makes our tasks at church missional activity.
But, the question then has to be asked, “What is the missional purpose in what we do?”
Hopefully we will have a better handle on answering that question as we look at this thesis.
We must be prepared to win the world for Christ by taking action in our church.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Since we are talking about acting locally, let’s look at a couple of actions that we are to take when it comes to missionally understanding our purpose and doing our job to win the globe.
We must be serving the Lord openly and without shame.
Onomatopoeia is a really cool thing.
Just what is onomatopoeia? It is a word that sounds like what it is. Buzz, zoom, Ho Ho Ho, squeal.
Look at what the church at Antioch had, Prophets and teachers.
What do you think they were doing?
They were prophesying and teaching.
They were doing the Lord’s work and they were doing it unapologetically and without shame.
The prophet was the NT proclaimer of truth in regards to what the Lord was doing and what he would do.
He was more of a forthteller that he was a foreteller.
And, in the formative years of the NT Church, the prophet would be a main source of truth.
It will not surprise me to learn in glory one day that much of the truth that we find in the scriptures; particularly in Paul’s letters was a direct result of the prophets in Antioch.
So we see here that the church at Antioch was openly teaching and preaching Christ.
They were organized for ministry as the presence of officers like prophets and teachers would indicate.
The church at Antioch was also a church that was seeking in all things to do the Lords work.
In verse 2 we see that the church was worshiping the Lord or ministering to the Lord.
The word worship here is the word from which we get the word liturgical but its biblical meaning is really cool when you look at it.
It literally means a public service and it comes from combining two words, people and work.
So literally worship was seen as the public serving of Christ as the work of His people.
Worship is one of the essentials that we see as we think about what the church is supposed to do in terms of serving Christ.
Throughout the process of visioning for the church, there are a lot of questions that have to be considered and it all starts with who we are then where we are but then we get to the all important what question based on who we are and where we are, what must we do?
Worship is one of those non-negotiables when you ask the what question concerning the church.
We have to worship; it is a part of who we are as followers of Christ.
Worship is in the DNA of the church.
The Antioch gang was also engaged in the practice of fasting as they considered what the Lord would do through them.
Fasting is simply an act of self denial as one seeks the Lord’s instruction.
It can be practiced in a number of ways.
The most common is to go for a period of time without eating.
1 Corinthians describes a form of fasting in which married couples would avoid intimacy for a time as they prayed together for things.
In the process of their worship and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke and they took the second action.
We must be obedient to the Lord’s commands.
That is something that we ought to know and something that we ought to do.
But I fear that our focus is less on obedience than on our appearance and our participation.
I know that the we now have the Bible and the need for the Biblical prophet has passed.
That being said, the Biblical gifts can still be employed by the Lord as He needs them but at this moment, we really don’t need the prophet as we have the bible to convey the truth of God.
What we really need to figure is this, “Do we obey what we know we are to do?”
All too often, we are like the person who is looking for the excuse not to obey.
There is the person who can’t share his faith because he flunked math in high school.
There is the person who cannot come to church because he is out of mayonnaise.
But obedience is never really that hard.
Jesus called those who were weak and heavy laden because his burden would be light.
So obedience is only as difficult as our surrender to Christ makes it.
If we are sold out surrendered to Christ, then obedience is never a question.
But, if our faith is not as mature, then obedience is something with which we struggle and until we commit ourselves to growing in the grace and the knowledge of Christ, we will always struggle with it.
We see an obedient church in Antioch because they were a worshiping, serving, spirit led church.
But something else they did was to also leave God in control.
They did not presume upon God but rather they trusted Him with the results of their obedience.
There are churches that will try to look at everything in terms of numerical statistics rather than to simply trust God for the results of their obedience.
This text simply says that the church sent Paul and Barnabas off.
The church just did what the Lord commanded they left everything else in His hands.
If we believe that conversion is the Lord’s work then we have to leave it in his hands.
That is how we will win the world to Christ.
We will worship, pray, fast, obey and then leave the results to God.
This means we will tell others about the saving power of God through Christ or else we will not be obeying.
We will disciple believers in his word or else we will not be obeying.
We have a whole wide world to influence.
As we walk out that door this morning, let’s ddo our part in our little corner of it.
That local action could change the world forever.
It did in Antioch.
Within the environmental movement, there is a commonly used slogan that goes Think Globally; Act Locally. What lies behind this slogan is a very important idea. The idea is that we can do something in our own community that will make a difference worldwide. If enough people do what they need to do to make a difference at home, it will change the world.
The kingdom of God is very much like that.
We saw last week how a few random events in the life of Peter came together to open the door of the preaching the gospel to the gentiles.
Describing the Biblical Text
Today, we will see the gospel assigned and the apostles sent out to the work.
In our text, we have a very intriguing account first, Luke
Goes to the trouble to name the disciples who are in Antioch and it is very possible that some of them we have seen before.
Simeon called Niger may well be the same Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Jesus down the Via Dolorosa.
In this text we see the calling and the setting apart of Saul and Barnabas to the work of the gospel.
Narrate the Contextual application
Here we see the church at Antioch planning to be a missional church.
Missional is the new churchy word that describes a church or a ministry that places an emphasis on missions.
But then, shouldn’t all churches and all followers of Jesus be missional in their approach to the gospel.
I have even heard a teacher lately say all scripture should be understood through missional principles of interpretation.
But, that makes sense also if Christianity is a Missional faith then missions has to be the principle by which we will understand our scriptures.
The church at Antioch was certainly taking their place alongside the church at Jerusalem in terms of being a church that would try to reach the world.
Life Application (thesis)
So often, when we seek to be missional, we sort of relegate the idea of missions to denominational agencies and boards and we often do not think that we are missionaries where we are and where we serve right here in High Point, NC.
But, the great commission makes us missionaries and makes our tasks at church missional activity.
But, the question then has to be asked, “What is the missional purpose in what we do?”
Hopefully we will have a better handle on answering that question as we look at this thesis.
We must be prepared to win the world for Christ by taking action in our church.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Since we are talking about acting locally, let’s look at a couple of actions that we are to take when it comes to missionally understanding our purpose and doing our job to win the globe.
We must be serving the Lord openly and without shame.
Onomatopoeia is a really cool thing.
Just what is onomatopoeia? It is a word that sounds like what it is. Buzz, zoom, Ho Ho Ho, squeal.
Look at what the church at Antioch had, Prophets and teachers.
What do you think they were doing?
They were prophesying and teaching.
They were doing the Lord’s work and they were doing it unapologetically and without shame.
The prophet was the NT proclaimer of truth in regards to what the Lord was doing and what he would do.
He was more of a forthteller that he was a foreteller.
And, in the formative years of the NT Church, the prophet would be a main source of truth.
It will not surprise me to learn in glory one day that much of the truth that we find in the scriptures; particularly in Paul’s letters was a direct result of the prophets in Antioch.
So we see here that the church at Antioch was openly teaching and preaching Christ.
They were organized for ministry as the presence of officers like prophets and teachers would indicate.
The church at Antioch was also a church that was seeking in all things to do the Lords work.
In verse 2 we see that the church was worshiping the Lord or ministering to the Lord.
The word worship here is the word from which we get the word liturgical but its biblical meaning is really cool when you look at it.
It literally means a public service and it comes from combining two words, people and work.
So literally worship was seen as the public serving of Christ as the work of His people.
Worship is one of the essentials that we see as we think about what the church is supposed to do in terms of serving Christ.
Throughout the process of visioning for the church, there are a lot of questions that have to be considered and it all starts with who we are then where we are but then we get to the all important what question based on who we are and where we are, what must we do?
Worship is one of those non-negotiables when you ask the what question concerning the church.
We have to worship; it is a part of who we are as followers of Christ.
Worship is in the DNA of the church.
The Antioch gang was also engaged in the practice of fasting as they considered what the Lord would do through them.
Fasting is simply an act of self denial as one seeks the Lord’s instruction.
It can be practiced in a number of ways.
The most common is to go for a period of time without eating.
1 Corinthians describes a form of fasting in which married couples would avoid intimacy for a time as they prayed together for things.
In the process of their worship and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke and they took the second action.
We must be obedient to the Lord’s commands.
That is something that we ought to know and something that we ought to do.
But I fear that our focus is less on obedience than on our appearance and our participation.
I know that the we now have the Bible and the need for the Biblical prophet has passed.
That being said, the Biblical gifts can still be employed by the Lord as He needs them but at this moment, we really don’t need the prophet as we have the bible to convey the truth of God.
What we really need to figure is this, “Do we obey what we know we are to do?”
All too often, we are like the person who is looking for the excuse not to obey.
There is the person who can’t share his faith because he flunked math in high school.
There is the person who cannot come to church because he is out of mayonnaise.
But obedience is never really that hard.
Jesus called those who were weak and heavy laden because his burden would be light.
So obedience is only as difficult as our surrender to Christ makes it.
If we are sold out surrendered to Christ, then obedience is never a question.
But, if our faith is not as mature, then obedience is something with which we struggle and until we commit ourselves to growing in the grace and the knowledge of Christ, we will always struggle with it.
We see an obedient church in Antioch because they were a worshiping, serving, spirit led church.
But something else they did was to also leave God in control.
They did not presume upon God but rather they trusted Him with the results of their obedience.
There are churches that will try to look at everything in terms of numerical statistics rather than to simply trust God for the results of their obedience.
This text simply says that the church sent Paul and Barnabas off.
The church just did what the Lord commanded they left everything else in His hands.
If we believe that conversion is the Lord’s work then we have to leave it in his hands.
That is how we will win the world to Christ.
We will worship, pray, fast, obey and then leave the results to God.
This means we will tell others about the saving power of God through Christ or else we will not be obeying.
We will disciple believers in his word or else we will not be obeying.
We have a whole wide world to influence.
As we walk out that door this morning, let’s ddo our part in our little corner of it.
That local action could change the world forever.
It did in Antioch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)