Christ and His Church 41

Introduction

Philippians 3:8–11 ESV

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

The only way that Paul has endured and persevered all that he has is because he treasured Christ above all

Skye Jethani - In his book With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God gives 3 questions to determine the way we relate to God

What is your treasure? What is the goal and desire of your life? What would you give everything to possess?

You would hope for me as a pastor that I would be able to answer Christ to all these, and I hope I’m far enough along to say I’m getting there, but I fully realize that my heart can love many other things more than Christ.

And that my doing is highly affected when I don’t

I don’t pray etc not because I’m too busy but because my love for Christ is not there

We feel guilty because of what we don’t do for Christ but he cares far more about how much we love him

When Jesus states the greatest commandment is to love the Lord, the word love is a verb, an action word.

It is love in action as well as in word. That’s why the second commandment follows

And so we should be not only amazed at how God used Paul but also Paul’s great love for the Lord that led him to the utter most parts of the then known world

Recap

This mornings story

“so take heart men...”

Paul’s love for Christ led him to walk in trust and hope to see God fufill his purpose.

I God’s Promises

“It will be exactly as I have been told.”

God had promised to Paul twice now that he would get to Rome and stand before Caesar

Now in the midst of this storm, God promises that everyone on the ship will make it as well.

John 14

Jesus gives his disciples promises to hold on to

1-4 - He will return

6-7 - they can and do know the Father

8-13 - Open door to ask/prayer

15+ coming Holy Spirit

While given to the disciples these are promises that we have and will receive

He will return - I Thess 4

We can know the Father - Romans 5

Prayer - Hebrews -

Holy Spirit - Eph sealed with; Romans prays for us

Through these we see the faithfulness of God to what he has said and hope for what we will see in the future

God is faithful to his character, his purposes and his promises

II. God’s Plan

Because God has a perfectly timed plan

Felix, Festus, Agrippa and now a storm?

Can this be God’s plan?

Paul says I have faith that it will happen, in God’s way and God time.

2 Peter 3:8–10 ESV

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

While this is talking about the final judgement and the day of the new heavens and the new earth I believe this is true of God’s timing in our life.

II. God’s Providence

And so within God’s timing, he moves.

God’s providence: is God’s sovereign, wise fulfillment of his promises and purposes, in his time through his chosen means...

So why the storm and all these obstacles?

So that God can reveal himself.

Scripture seems to say that there are things that God ordains, things he allows and some things that just happen that God uses for his purposes.

God hardened pharoahs heart,

Jesus when asked in John 9 whether it was the sins of his parents or his that the man was born blind

Jesus replies

John 9:3 ESV

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Romans 9:17–18 ESV

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

This is difficult for us to understand because we can’t but we can trust because God uses all things for his glory and purposes and while our world could be filled with meaningless tragedy God is working to bring about life and light.

But we can trust that his purposes are ultimately good

III. God’s Purpose

God’s purpose was to take the gospel to the Gentiles through Paul all the way to Caesar and not only were these things not going to get in the way but God used them to bring the gospel to these authorities, to the people of Malta and eventually to Caesar.

Romans 9-11 tells us that God had a purpose in the hardening of Israel’s hearts, so that we as Gentiles could hear the gospel and be grafted in.

But with hope, God is patient not wanting any to perish a part from him.

God wanted the gospel to go to Caesar

God’s purpose is that all will see the glory of who he is, believe and love Him with all their heart and he now patiently waits until all those who are his are saved.

He is accomplishing this now, by His Spirit and through His church

That those of us who have experienced his love, will love Him and tell others of his love.

Do we?

The purpose of Acts was to help Christians and church leaders of that time be focused on King Jesus, the hope of all humanity. It was not to fix their thoughts on the power of Caesar or his religious policies. Paul was bound for the sake of Christ, not because of the trickery of the Jewish people or the religious policies of Rome. Because Paul was bound for Christ’s sake, he did not try to escape from his bondage, nor did he endure because he had the sacrificial spirit of a revolutionary. In the face of the sword’s power, Paul focused on the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one on whom Israel was counting. When the church faces the power of the sword, she must also focus only on the Savior. Dr. Ben Chen - article from China Partnership

Conclusion