An Unpleasant Prospect
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
I’ve used this before, but once again:
It was one of those great stories you can’t put down at night
The Hero knew what he had to do and wasn’t afraid of the fight
Hero, as sung by David Crosby and Phil Collins
That seems to be where Paul was at this point...it was not a pleasant prospect, but Paul was determined to continue
Not that he would call himself a hero; but
Arriving at this point of the narrative, Paul has called the Elders of Ephesus to him at Miletus
He has reminded them of his ministry and we saw his mood, mentality and methods in last week’s message
Now he moves on to what was awaiting him as he headed for Jerusalem
In this morning’s lesson, we’ll see Paul’s plan, his presumptions and his purpose
Paul’s Plan
Paul’s Plan
Still playing on his intentionality
He is going to Jerusalem
He was carrying an offering to them, wanted to be there by Pentecost
This is no idle plan
He is constrained by the Spirit
The underlying word means to bind, it is used in regard to the marriage obligation elsewhere in Paul’s writing
—Paul is bound by the Spirit
Could he have altered his plans? Certainly
BUT, knowing that it was the Spirit directing him...he knew that he would be out of God’s will...and likely understood that it would end badly from his perspective
Others had run from God’s call—e.g., Jonah had ended up in the belly of a fish
Paul’s Presumption
Paul’s Presumption
First: He is “in for it!”
The Holy Spirit has been testifying to him—underlying word is
to make a solemn declaration about the truth of something
At the root of the word is the source of our English “martyr”
The tense gives us the thought that it’s a continual revealing, or reminding him, of the things he will be facing
This seems to only strengthen his resolve to accomplish what is placed before Him
We are not given the timeframe of when this information had been given him; but we see that it did not alter his course
There will be imprisonment and afflictions
Second, that his own life is of no value, when compared with the fulfilling of the call he had been given by God
Paul fully understands the servant—or slave/mast relationship
Which we discussed last week (doulos)
The servant’s will is always submitted to that of the master—or in the case of a slave, his life could be forfeited!
Their owners could also kill them for any reason, and would face no punishment.(https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/slaves_freemen.html#:~:text=Slaves%20were%20often%20whipped%2C%20branded,and%20would%20face%20no%20punishment.)
We might look at that as in the game of chess—sacrificing a pawn (though non of us would care to think our ourselves as such)
It was somewhere in this timeframe—or shortly thereafter—Paul would write to the Roman church Rom 12 1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
It has been noted by others that the problem with living sacrifices is that they tend to jump off the altar when the flames get hot—Paul was not about to jump
He had chosen to follow Christ after his supernatural encounter with Him on the Damascus road—He had understood and he had counted the cost
We can look to the example Jesus gave the crowds in Luke 14:26–30 ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”
Hatred, in the mind of the culture was a relative term, and in context likely not the hatred we understand—think of it as preferring one thing over another
Paul had left much behind—counting it as rubbish—to follow Christ; he had been, and would continue to pick up his cross daily...he had indeed counted the cost of discipleship
The Prince of Preachers observed:
If the excuse for fainting be that the work is toilsome, that it is too much a drag upon you, why did you begin it? You ought to have known this at the first. You should have counted the cost.
Charles Spurgeon
Paul’s Purpose
Paul’s Purpose
... finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
First note that this is the ministry he had received from the Lord Jesus
Nothing here was of his own doing—yes, he was fully intentional—but he followed the lead of the Spirit in all
Notice that word “testify” again...Luke seems to like it. He used it multiple times in Acts
The grace of God is the undeserved favor—God freely offering forgiveness to fallen mankind, at the cost of His one and only son, Jesus Christ
The good news—Gospel—is that it is free, we cannot earn it; but we MUST accept it, thus, the solemn nature of the testimony Hebrews 2 3 a
...how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
That should be a solemn warning—and Paul had been giving it, and would continue to give it...through the rest of his life
Application
Application
Do You Have a Plan?
Do You Have a Plan?
Here’s where a plan starts
Please notice the conditional nature of both statements; “If A$=sardis; print “yipee!”
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Commitment and trust are the keys to a straight path and vindication of action
Both imply obedience—God tells us His ways, defines sin, outlines proper action...we need to follow these directives
No end to people who want God’s intervention in their lives—His blessings, yet refuse to follow him
Paul was willing—we might even say eager—to follow the leading of the Spirit...even when he knew that some ugly things were coming up
Do You Have any Presumptions?
Do You Have any Presumptions?
This may be difficult to explain; more difficult to swallow
Trusting and committing does not mean that life will be easy
Another allusion to a popular song “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden!” sung by Martina McBride
We can expect trials as James 1 2
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
This is totally contrary to popular wisdom and even a lot of preaching
Trials are part of the growing process for believers
…part of the sanctifying process…
…part of the purifying process…
Do You Have a Purpose?
Do You Have a Purpose?
We can have no greater purpose than what Paul had
to testify to the gospel of the grace of God
Paul could testify to it because he had experienced it
He had stood by as Stephen had been stoned to death…giving his tacit approval
He had gone throughout the countryside persecuting and imprisoning believers in the early days of the Church
He had met Jesus in a supernatural way and been gloriously changed into a man who would passionately take the Gospel throughout many lands, found churches, strengthen churches
His writings still influence us 2000 years later
Are you able to testify to the gospel of the grace of God?
Have you experienced this grace in your life?
