Acts #37: Conflict - When it is Internal

We have spent the last couple of weeks in our study of Acts looking at some pretty important events. Moments of conflict in the early church that actually proved to have dramatic changes in the church back then and they had tremendous impact for us today.

First, there was a public conflict over a public issue that ended in peace.

If you remember, it was about whether or not Gentiles had to follow the Law of Israel in order to be a Christian. The leadership of the church got together in Jerusalem and it was decided, that we don’t have to becomes Jews to follow Jesus. Circumcision and the rest of law aren’t prerequisites to follow Jesus… being saved isn’t about being right… it’s about accepting and believing in what Jesus said and did.

Then we ran into a personal conflict:

A personal conflict over personal issues that ends in brokenness.

Last week, we saw Paul and Barnabas, two brothers in ministry for years, have a fall out over their personal disagreement over who to include in their missionary work. Where in the public conflict, the parties were clear in seeking out the counsel of the Holy Spirit, in this case all we see is personal opinion and probably some emotion, but no reference to the Holy Spirit. So there wasn’t healing, there was brokenness because it seems the parties didn’t seem to be seeking to honor the Holy Spirit but being right.

And that leads us into today’s text, where we find a new disciple who is faced with what must be a dramatic internal conflict, but in the face of it, he demonstrates as a young believer, a dramatic understanding of the new standard of the law, the law of love.

An internal conflict that demonstrates understanding of the law of love.

Let’s get into the text here, it’s just 5 verses to see as what we know as Paul’s second missionary journey begins

Acts 16:1–5 NIV84

1 He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. 2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

It sounds like such a strange ending to a passage that in connection with the passages we have just read right… but oh if that would happen today.

It’s not like we don’t have plenty of lost people around us today, what if the Spirit would move in our community the way it did then… I believe it can and not only can it, but God desires it. For this is the reason Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

What’s going on?

How does this group of disciples get to experience a move of the Spirit the way they do?

Well we know that Paul and Silas were faithful men, men who longed to see the Spirit move in the lives of the Gentiles.

But there’s something special about this kid Timothy.

We see that he was the son of a Jewish mom Eunice (we know that from another story) His father was Greek … every one knew his story. His mom and grandmother Lois were believers, his dad wasn’t though. The church knew him well and they knew him to be a faithful promising young believer.

Paul, having met him when he arrived back at Lystra could see something in him and wanted to take him along to share the Good News with those in the region but in order for that to happen, he asked Timothy to be circumcised.

What???

Didn’t we just go thorough all this? There’s no reason for it - with Jesus, it has no spiritual purpose. Is this correct?

Yes! He’s inviting him to join him for on a mission to tell the Gentile world that you don’t need to be circumcised in order to be a Christian and in order to do that, you need to first be baptised.

You heard that right, he’s asking him to be circumcised in order to be a part of telling Jews and Gentiles that you don’t have to be circumcised in order to be saved.

Timothy had to think this guy is crazy asking me to do this.

But then he says, OK.

Paul probably reminded him that he doesn’t have to do this. He is saved through faith in Jesus, This is about him being a part of a mission, going into cities where he was known in order to tell people about the good news of Jesus who came to set us free from having to follow the Law.

Well, either Paul is a fantastic salesman or something else is going on… i believe there is something more going on.

Well, remember Paul’s practice was to go into a town and preach in the synagogue to the Jews first. What do you think will happen when Timothy stands up to preach? They know him remember, they know he’s not really a Jew - he is because of his mom - but not really because he wasn’t circumcised, he would be seen as anti-Jew - apostate - rather than a Jewish… then considering his dad is Greek, the Gentiles would tend to see him as some sort of half-breed or something.

It’s not hard to imagine that Timothy had a great deal of conflict in his soul in this moment.

Internal conflict… Maybe you have had a similar experience. Where something was being asked of you that was over and above… not required, but they had the audacity to ask anyway. We have this “I feel like I should, but I really don’t want to” sort of battle going on in our mind.

It’s a battle between living the way of Christ and living the way of Gary.

This is an anti-Christ in our lives… when we are faced with the way of Christ vs the way of Gary. The way of Christ is marked by the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control… then their is the way that is anti-christ - also known as the way of the flesh.

Timothy knew he didn’t have to do this, and there was a large part of him that didn’t want to do what he was being asked.

But he knew that making this small sacrifice would keep in step with what the Spirit was doing.

How to crush the ANTI-CHRIST in you:

Commit to GOOD CHARACTER

Acts 16:1–2 NIV84

1 He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. 2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.

He had been a Christian for at most just a few years, he was probably 20 or younger. yet he was a man of good character.

2 Timothy 2:19–21

19 “...Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness... he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

What sort of sacrifices would a young man have to make in order to be known to have good character among the leaders of the church?

I can tell you. He’d have to sacrifice the same way an older man or woman would have to in order to be known as having Good character - As Paul said in 2 Tim 2:19, he’d first need to “turn from wickedness”

Put yourself in the shoes of a 19 year old… what makes someone popular then?

But for it to be said that a 18 year old is living a Godly life… how would he fit in with is crowd?

Commit to GOOD CHARACTER

Thats one reason why Jesus said,

Luke 6:26

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you...”

Jesus went on to say: “For my sake people are going to ridicule you, exclude you. They’re going to say all kinds of terrible things about you. But when they do it, rejoice in that day.” Why? “Because they spoke the same of the prophets.” Jesus is saying - the Godly men who I have chosen, have sacrificed for good character and they are committed keeping it, and I know if they hate me, they will hate you as well.

It takes commitment to have good character, because God is going to be leading you… leading you to say no to worldly passions so that you can have purity for noble purposes as Paul reminded Timothy. Being in step with the Spirit would put Timothy “OUT OF STEP” with the world.

As I say this, I wonder how we are dealing with this call to sacrifice today. Is there something you need to sacrifice that you may be more in step with Jesus?

++++

2 Timothy 2:23–25

Paul continues his teaching for leaders in the church… which Timothy was already showing the character for: “23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,”

, Are you following this? Because your passions and your desires are wanting you to do things that when you do them, we’ve got a problem. If you continue to fulfill your appetites of your passions, your reputation is going to continue to tank among the brothers as they find out about your indulgence in your passions. Because the passions, the desires of the flesh, they’re waging war against your spirit and certainly against God’s Spirit. They’re not in sync with each other. So the problem is you’ve got to say no to your passion so that you can be pure. That’s the goal. And that’s hard. Super hard. You got to flee those youthful passions. You got to pursue something else. And Timothy was doing that. He did that to gain this good reputation. That’s not why he did it. But that was the the byproduct of it. Are you following this?

Timothy was a guy who was… “Yeah, I need that guy on my team.” Timothy had a good reputation. That’s all we learn about him in our passage. And it’s a reputation that got Paul’s attention, that had already gotten the church’s attention. And he says, “Timothy, I need you on my team.”

Also to sacrifice popularity… we read that from Luke 6… woe to you if the world likes you

Timothy was a guy who was… “Yeah, I need that guy on my team.” Timothy had a good reputation. That’s all we learn about him in our passage. And it’s a reputation that got Paul’s attention, that had already gotten the church’s attention. And he says, “Timothy, I need you on my team.”

Yet have a good reputation among outsiders… which leads to the second point today that we see in Timothy’s sacrifice.

So Timothy, you are going to now be employed in ministry, and that ministry is based on you being useful to do something that if you don’t do it you’re not going to be as useful.

Now, it’s not necessary. You don’t have to be circumcised. Matter of fact, that’s the whole point of the letter we will be reading to the churches. But you are taking something that you don’t need … is unnecessary for your salvation … and you’re going to see this as something you gladly sacrifice in order to be more useful in ministry.

Because here’s the deal.

They know your dad’s a Greek. And you knowing the Scriptures as you do, you could get up in the synagogue, open up a scroll and read from Jeremiah, and teach the connections to Jesus from that scroll to the people who need to know Him as the Messiah. You could do that.

But if they think you’re not circumcised or they find out you’re not circumcised, they’re not even going to get a chance to get up on the platform much less hear what you have to say.

So let’s go have you get circumcised.

And Timothy agreed, that he might be used for something greater.

Sacrifice for GREATER USE

This shouldn’t need much from me for you to get it and begin to ask yourself some questions:

But

What would it take in your life to say

“If I sacrifice this - I know I would be more useful for God.”

For what? Verse 5 tells us, for discipleship and evangelism, for building people up in their faith and seeing more people come to faith through me.

If I sacrificed ______ , I think God would increase my Kingdom value...

I know somethings came to your mind, I know some did for me.

But just in case let me talk about two that might get you thinking.

Some give out of our wealth… others here give out of their sacrifice. Why do people do that? Sure for some it may be a habit, but I think for those who are truly sacrificial, they give the way they do because they believe that God can do more with it than they can. They sacrifice what they would do with the extra money in order to see God do what he wishes with it.

Another one is time - Time to study God’s word so you can answer the questions when the Jehovah’s Witness comes to the door. Time in His word so you know what not to say when your neighbor’s spouse gets sick. Time in His word, so you understand how to love the people you don’t like and forgive the people who hurt you. Time in God’s word for sure… but also time getting to know and understand the lost God has put in your life. Paul in 1 Cor 9 talks about doing this in order that he could share with them.

That’s really what Timothy was doing here. He was sacrificing something that didn’t matter to him… so sure I’ll get rid of it … especially if it really mattered to those he wanted to reach. It was his way of making himself more like them.

1 Cor 9:19-20

Matching steps…

But connecting with the lost doesn’t mean that everything is fair game, one thing we should never sacrifice is right doctrine.

Never COMPROMISE RIGHT Doctrine

That’s what Paul, Silas and Timothy were bringing the churches, this letter that held the right teaching of the Good News. Verse 4 tells us their ministry was to deliver the letter that explained that their salvation is found only in faith through Jesus. You don’t need to do anything but believe in him in order to be saved…

Well what about all the other stuff that Christians do? You mean all the things we do in our lives AS A RESPONSE TO WHAT JESUS DOES IN US.

But Paul did this to Timothy.... Yes but it wasn’t a requirement for his salvation, but he did it in response to it. Don’t believe it, look in Galatians 2

Gal 2:1-5

Here he was in ministry with Titus… a very Greek name… Who taught but was never compelled to be circumcised… because he was Greek, it was irrelevant to his relationship with God.

Yes, we need to be clear on some things, but we need to make sure we keep salvation issues and discipleship issues separate. We don’t call the lost to holiness without first sharing Christ with them.

There are things we agree to hold one another accountable to after we are saved… they are never expectations for the lost to find salvation.

And look what happened when the church had clarity about what they believed:

Acts 16:5 NIV84

5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”