Love Others

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

20 After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia. 2 And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece 3 and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied[a] by Sopater son of Pyrrhus[b] from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.7 On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, 9 and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.” 11 After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left. 12 They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene. 15 Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and[c] the day after, we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

Context

In this week’s text, you probably felt or noticed something in it while you read it. If you were anything like me, it was hard to put my finger on, until at first, at least until until you read the previous chapter. What was this? Well, there is a clear change of pace and direction in what was going on. In the last chapter and leading up to it, you will remember that Paul stayed a great while, at least two years in Ephesus. Before, we seeing what he was doing while in Ephesus, how he had correct several misguided followers of John the Baptist, he enjoyed a much longer than usual teaching in the synagogues ministry, he lectured for a long time (at least twice a day) in the lecture hall after he was no longer allowed in the synagogues. We even read about what was happening in the town as he did these things, people were freed from demons and diseases were cured, those looking to make a profit off of exorcism were embarrassed and the name of Jesus of held in high esteem, the greedy in the town would rise up because of this, because as Christianity increased, the lucrativeness of temple worship and idol making was made less, and people would publicly repent of their past evils. This was a changing town because the light of the Gospel had entered.

Now after all of that, see what was happening. It was time to leave and move onto the next thing. Remember in last week’s text, The Holy Spirit had revealed to Paul what his next assignment was, so it was time to get going. One thing to know, this text doesn’t make it clear, but when you compare this account with accounts in the other epistles, is that Paul and company also had a multi church monetary offering that they were taking to the needy in the church at Jerusalem. So, it was important to all the churches involved as well as Paul and his traveling companions that this love offering be handled well and in a timely manner, so we see this sense of urgency and purpose with their traveling. In this, we see an action of love and consideration for other believers, other brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need, and along the way we see actions of love from Paul towards all the people he had met as he went along the way. You have heard me say this many times before, but what are they doing? They are fulfilling the great commandment to Love People.

This, is one thing you believer are to be doing always, it is important and an integral part of your life lived of faith in Christ lived out. Remember those 3 things, love God, love people, make disciples, all three. But today, we are observing the one and seeing and know that Loving others is an extremely important part of your christian life. So, let’s jump today and From the text, I want you to see and do these actions as you love others.

Message

The first action I want you to see and do is to: Encourage Others 1-6

20 After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia. 2 And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece 3 and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied[a] by Sopater son of Pyrrhus[b] from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

From the start, Paul was showing his love as he left. No doubt, his leave wasn’t unexpected and it certainly had a good reason. So, after the uproar in the town died down (so the dangerous situation was taken care of) Paul called everyone in to prepare them, encourage them to keep going, and say good by before he left for Macedonia. After passing through Macedonia, he went to Greece (we have also seen the region referred to as Achaia in previous texts) and remained their, specifically in the town of Corinth for 3 months. During this time, Paul would begin his letter to the Romans and encounter many difficulties in the church at Corinth, which can be read more about in 2nd Corinthians. As had happened to him before, he had to leave because his life was under threat so he had to change his travel plans. Then, in verse 4 we are introduced to several more named people, who were representatives from the churches who were giving to the offering and added protection in numbers during the travel. We then see the use of the words, “we and us,” meaning Luke, the author of this book was with them as well. After a brief dividing and conquering (because Paul wanted to spend a little while longer with the church where they were, they met in the town of Troas and spent 7 days there.

I know, I know, that’s a lot of travel information and names in such a short amount of time. But, because of the detail and mentioning, clearly Luke is communicating to us the importance of everything that was being done, yes this love offering needed to go and there was a limited time to do it. But, there was still time, and it was important to remember to encourage and love others along the way. I can imagine, every one of us in this room can think of a time (or many times) where you didn’t take the time, thought, or energy, or whatever to love others through encouragement along the way.

It shouldn’t be this way of course, but have you ever noticed that no matter the age or time you are in, mankind has a great sense of only thinking about ourselves and those we are most about. That is, we care about what benefits us and those we are about. It’s selfishness of course, but it is also a sin that penetrates deep and down in our hearts and can easily rule a person who doesn’t see the damage it does. Left to our own devices, we are all the heroes in our own stories, the only one who matters. But, as Will Rogers said, “We can’t all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap for them as they go by.” While this can be joke, yes. Importantly to, is the fact that the heroes need encouragement too, they need someone in their corner to rise to the occasion. Weather this occasion be sobriety, overcoming fear and stress, serious medical issues, or whatever your situation may be, you need encouragement and the people all around you in your life going through those need encouragement from you as well. Remember believer,Loving others is an extremely important part of your christian life. An important part of this is encouraging others as an act of loving others.

The next Action to see and do is to: Be with Others 7-12

7 On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, 9 and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.” 11 After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left. 12 They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

Here we see, the christian church in Troas gathered for it’s Lord’s Day (Sunday) Gathering. There they were assembled together and broke bread in a Lord’s Supper Love Feast. Now keep in mind, this Lord’s Day was a new institution at this time. In their culture, it had not yet been (but it was in the making) been accept in lue of the weekly Sabbath (rest) day. So, most of these people in attendance would have worked during the whole day then come in for their church meeting, which included a meal and a long teaching by Paul. Paul cared about these people who had gathered with them very very much, and he spent a lot of time with them on his final day with them, going even until midnight in his teaching and encouragement of them. All the while, the young working lad (most likely an early teenager) named Eutyus was in the crowd. After a long day at work and many hours in church service in a room where the torches/candles were eating all the oxygen. In an attempt to stay awake, he went to the window to get some air to stay awake, but none the less fell asleep, fell and died. Paul loved this young man, stopped what he was doing, and through a miracle from God the young man was brought back to life when Paul held him. Everyone rejoiced from this, they took a break to eat, and then continued teaching until dawn, with the young man well.

These early Christians understood that gathering with other believers was and expectation and requirement for followers of Christ of all walks of life. They went through great lengths to do it, even to the point that after a long hard work day, a young man would stay with the congregation to the point that he literally died from his exhaustion. In America, we don’t get this, we don’t understand this devotion and cost it has to be a follower of Christ. We love to be called Christians, but when it leads to difficulty or uncomfortableness or loss of profit, we are out. Don’t be like that believer. If you are physically able, the expectation for you is that you would be with other believers.

This doesn’t just mean you only come to church meetings, it also means you go and come along side the others as they go through the difficulties of life. Last week, Emily listened to a podcast together. On this podcast was a special guest speaker who has a pastor, but in a previous life had been a notorious drug dealer and later someone who want to end his life. By God’s providence, a saint who had known him from a child, came to him as he was trying to do the dead, and she stayed with him, taking him off that life ending edge at the end of gun barrel. There is great love in just being with someone, in spending time with others in the fun times and the sad times. This is expected of you believer, Loving others is an extremely important part of your christian life. So, ensure that you are being with others, around others, and you are loving others.

Another Action to see and do is to: Go with Others 13-16

13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene. 15 Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and[c] the day after, we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

From Troas, Luke and company went on a ship to Assos while Paul went on Land,. Eventually they met up in Assos and went to Mitylene then to Chios, Samos, and Milutus. From their Paul decided to not stop in Ephesus. As you will remember, Paul had just spent a great amount of time there, and he had a great many friends that would have taken a long time to great and say goodby to. Time was getting short, so he decided that the company should pass that place because their love for the town was to great to just “stop in,” because they had to make it to Jerusalem before pentecost (which by our calender is 50 days past Easter). It was now finally time to make the final push to get the offering the churches had assembled back to the Jerusalem church.

You may be wondering, why the Jerusalem Church needed an offering. Well, as you will remember, and as we have seen time and time again, to put it lightly, the Jews were not fans of the Christians. They brought extreme and violent persecution against anyone who was Christian at this time. Remember, Paul himself before his conversion was happy to arrest Christians and see them murder. These Christians in this town were living in the hardest of conditions, making a living would have been hard, because almost noone would buy your goods or allow you to work for them. Using the public works that the Jews used would have been frowned upon, and leaving your home was a dangerous game. These early Christian went without, or risk their lives. So, they suffered constantly for the sake of Christ, and these churches in these towns that were not experiencing this level of persecution (if they had any at all) found it within their brother and sister duty to help support them.

Notice something here brothers and sisters. Only for a brief while in this journey, was Paul alone. And, truth be told, he most likely went alone because their were people along the way he wanted to quickly meet and few good bys to say to people still. All through this journey is a great emphasis in working and being together on your God Honoring Missions. As an old preacherism goes, “There is not such thing as a lone wolf Christian.” Meaning, a true, good, and healthy Christian must gather with others and work together as you grow in your faith life and seek to bring God more glory. Going it alone, is like putting a little sheepy baby, a lamb, alone in field with no mom or dad or protector dog or shepherd, it is doomed to die because of the wild animals hunting it. Even the apostles and Jesus’ disciples didn’t go alone. They always had another with them in case they should fall. Don’t think you can do it alone beloved. Doing so is an unloving and sinfully prideful act. Instead, choose to grow in love and bring others along, Loving others is an extremely important part of your christian life. So, go with others.

Conclusion

Beloved, as the great commandments and great commission tell us. We are all to be actively and in some way always: Loving God, Loving People, and Making Disciples. Honestly ask yourself, are you doing all of these? One? Two? None? Do all three, ask to God to show you how and I promise you He will show you. Today, we have looked at Loveing Others in action. If you need somewhere to start, start with our three actions today, encourage others, be with others, and go with others; that God would be glorified through your growing love others which is a reflection God loving you.

Take a moment, and write in your sermon note area of your bulletin what you can do to grow in and do: Encourage Someone, Be with someone, and Go with someone.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.