Watching World, Working Gospel
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
Good morning church, I am excited to be preaching to you this morning
If you have your bibles we will be in Acts 16:13-34 today
If you don’t have your bibles, no worries, it will be up here on the screen for you
This passage is a narrative of the begging of the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey recorded for us by Luke
And in the verses leading up to our text today we see that as this second trip has begun God has in His sovereignty opened and closed doors in order to lead Paul directly to Macedonia
specifically the city of Philippi
A city name that might cause you to think of another book of the bible
Paul’s letter to the Philippians and rightly so
because our text this morning is the origin story of how the Philippian church Paul would latter write to began
TENSION
TENSION
More than that though, our text this morning shows us something that we all know but I believe don’t think about that often
or at least not as often as we should
That is: There is always someone watching
I know that sounds weird and creepy at first but don’t we know it to be true
whether it is a
boss
coworker
spouse
family member
friend
or total stranger
It is rare for there to be a time in our day when no one is watching us
how we act
how we talk
where we are or where we aren’t
And like you I have always known this to be true but it went to a whole different level when I became a dad
See now I have my own personal stalker and his name is Walker
Don’t let his cuteness fool you… he is crazy
not only is he crazy but he watches every little thing I do
and on top of that he remembers everything
Which can be really fun and cute
like when i mow and i get to watch him run from our backdoor window, to our kitchen window, to our living window so he doesn’t miss anything
or i can do something funny and he copies me and we laugh
But it can also be really serious and life-shaping
as he watches how I talk and treat
his mother
him and his sister
family members
and total strangers
And that’s the reality of someone always watching
Without even knowing it we can be shaping and changing lives
This is even more of a reality for us as Christians we live in a world/culture that is always watching us
unbelievers all around us and in almost all of our circles
Putting our lives under a microscope
to see is this gospel as life changing as we say it is
is the Jesus guy really who who say He is
And in our text today Paul is going to show us what kind of kingdom impact we can have when we live for gospel and the world watches
TRUTH
TRUTH
We will see that we live in a watching world but we also see what kind of people are a part of this watching world
and as we go through this story we are going to see 3 groups of people who I believe are still just as present in our watching world as they were in Paul’s day as he walking the streets of Philippi
In our Watching World
Some are searching
We see this in Paul’s first interaction in the city with a woman named Lydia
On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira (thigh-uh-tee-ruh), was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
The first thing Paul and his crew do in Philippi is wait for the sabbath to go down by the river
This was Paul usually strategy
wait for the sabbath
go to the city’s synagogue
preach the good news of the gospel to the jews in that city
We see here that Paul doesn’t go to a synagogue because there wasn’t one
it was Jewish custom that there could be not synagogue built unless there were 10 jewish men in that city
this helps us understand how small the Jewish community was in Philippi
So instead of the synagogue they go to the river
this is because the common jewish practice when there was so no synagogue was to meet for prayer by a river so they would have access to water for their cleansing ceremonies
As they come to the river the find a group of Jewish women who had come to pray
in that group was a woman named Lydia
Lydia
we assume was a fairly wealthy woman
because of her occupation of sailing purple cloth (a color only for kings or princes)
and later as she asked to host all of them at their house we can infer she has a big home
But not only is Lydia a wealthy woman but she is also a searching woman
Luke describes her as a God-fearing woman
this means that she is a gentile who now practices Jewish beliefs
meaning Lydia once was roman citizen who believed in the roman gods
but in her searching for truth, to know what god is real
she has put aside greek mythology and come to believe this YAHEW God of the Jews must be Him
so now Lydia is not just search for truth but also for the savior YAHEW has promised his people
And in God’s sovereignty Paul walks into Lydia’s life
and he stands before this group of women, knowing nothing about them, and preaches the gospel
tells them that the Savior they are waiting to come has
has perfectly fulfilled the law they can’t
yet died for their sins as the ultimate sacrifice
and resurrected from the dead defeating the grave
so that they can be forgiving of their sins and stop washing their sins away weekly in the river and be wash for eternity in the blood of Jesus
While Paul is talking, Lydia is watching
And the Lord opens her heart and eyes
and for the first time in her life it clicks
everything she has been searching for Paul is telling her is found in Jesus
so she believes in the Lord Jesus Christ
is saved and baptized
In this interaction with Lydia we see that the gospel gives answers to the searching
The answer Lydia had always needed to complete her searching was Jesus
all she needed was someone to come into her watching and tell her about him
but searching people are not the only people in our watching world
Some are enslaved
We see this in Paul’s next interaction
Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.” She did this for many days.
Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.
Paul and his crew are walking the streets again and this demon possessed girl begins following them
We are told that this girl is possessed by a spirit that allows her to predict the future
and some men have decided to use her to make money
so she would have been a very well known person in town
Well she decides to start following Paul and the crew around
but not just follow but repeatedly and loudly shout, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”
the demon who has possessed her rightly identifies who Paul and the crew serve
which shouldn’t surprise us because we see this multiple times in the gospels
the first people to really rightly identify Jesus were demons
Where it gets funny is that she does it for many days
and eventually Paul is over it bro
he turns to the girl and cast the demon out of her
not in his own power but in the name of Jesus Christ
In this interaction with this girl we see that the gospel gives freedom to the enslaved
The freedom this girl had always needed from her possession was Jesus
all she needed was someone to come into her watching and tell her about him
but searching and enslaved people are not the only people in our watching world
Some are hopeless
We see this in Paul’s next interaction
After Paul cast the demon out of the girl, her owners get furious
they realize that without the demon she will no longer be able to make them money
because of this they bring Paul and Silas to the chief magistrates and begin throwing out reasons they should be arrested
The magistrates not only arrest Paul and Silas
but order them to be stripped of their clothes
beaten severely
then order for them to be put in prison and guarded carefully
which landed them in the inner most part of the prison
most likely not even a cell but a hole in the ground
and their feet are locked in stocks
Luke picks up the story at about midnight with Paul and Silas in prison
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”
The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
While Paul and Silas were in probably one of the most hopeless situations they were praying and singing hymns to God
and the other prisoners were watching and we can only assume the jailer who was told to guard them carefully was too
Then an earthquake came
breaking the chains and shackels loose on all the prisoners
The guard wakes up and sees the doors flung open
and immediately draws his sword and places it at his heart to kill himself
He knows the law
he knows that if a prisoner who is under the death penalty escapes under his guard then he must pay that penalty
he has decided in a split of a second it is better to take his own life than to be humiliated in front of everyone for his failure and be killed by roman
this guard is hopeless
Then seconds away from spending eternity in hell
Paul yells, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”
The guard gets some lights
starts checking cells and counting
everyones there
his life is spared
We don’t know how Paul and Silas convinced everyone to stay or what took place
But what we do know is that the guard doesn’t go running to any other prisoners but Paul and Silas
why?
because he has been watching them just like the other prisoners
and because of how they were acting in the midst of their hopeless situation there was no doubt the earthquake
his life being spared was a result of their God
So he brings them out of the jail and has one question: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Paul says:
you need to start being a better person
you need to start serving at your local church
you need to clean up the language and stop that drinking habit
NO…
Paul says: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”
that’s it
the beauty of the gospel and it’s simplicity
The guard is saved
he has Paul and the crew come to his house to share the gospel with this household who also gets saved and baptized
he starts mending to their wounds
and he feeds them a meal
In this interaction with this guard we see that the gospel gives hope to the hopeless
The hope this guard needed from his hopeless situation was Jesus
all he needed was someone to come into his watching and tell him about him
In this account we have seen that
In our Watching Word
some are searching
some are enslaved
some are hopeless
The good news is that we’ve also learned that
The gospel
gives answers to the searching
gives freedom to the enslaved
gives hope to the hopeless
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
Now, what do we do with that?
Well, in about 15 minute we are going to walking out of this room, to our cars, and back into the watching world
And in that watching world outside we are going to interact with family members, friends, coworkers, classmates, and teammates who are unbelievers yet watching you
Some of them are searching
they grew up in church but are searching the world to see if maybe this thing they grew up in really isn’t all they thought it was like they world says
they grew up in another religion and are searching to see if there is something better than the legalistic culture they know
maybe they have always been an atheist but man something in their soul, something they see in nature is telling them there was to be more so they are searching
Believer, we know the answer to their searching
give it to them
Be like Paul and search out the searching, be bold in sharing the gospel
All someone needs is for you to come into their watching and tell them about Jesus
Some of them are enslaved
I choose this word intentionally because I don’t know about you but I haven’t interacted with many demon possessed girls when walking downtown Kannapolis
but I do want to be intentional to say that does not mean their is no spiritual warfare happening in kannapolis, china grove, landis, and everywhere else
may we not forget Paul’s words to the Ephesians
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
I strongly believe the enemy has used culture and it’s influence to blind us to our enslavement to sin
Sin is so normalized and praised nowadays
you are now see as weird or the outcast for not partaking
even in the most hideous things you can think of
And yet, I also know that God has written His law on our hearts while humans enjoy sin, they still know it is wrong
even more than that they hate that they can’t just shake it or quit it
they hate that they keep doing it because of peer pressure
or because the temptation is too much to bear
They feel enslaved to guilt, shame, and never getting it right
Believer, you know the freedom from their enslavement
give it to them
Be like Paul and let them know that they can be freed from the enslavement to sin not from their own power or yours but through Jesus
Some are hopeless
they are not religious nor care to be
they don’t feel enslaved to their sin but enjoy and celebrate it
their life is actually really dang good
It will only be a rockbottom, life shattering, hopeless seeming situation that will open their eyes to a need for Jesus
and in God’s sovereignty He has arranged it
Believer, you know the hope in their hopelessness
give it to them
Be like Paul and Silas, in hopeless seeming situation live in a manner that reflects your hope that is in Christ in all circumstances
so that when their moment arises they, like the jailer, know who to come to find hope
And isn’t that the beauty of this all
God uses our past, our testimony, our former circumstances to reach those in similar place with the good news of the gospel
Maybe you were once
the searcher
but someone told you about the answer found in Christ and now God is using you to share the gospel with people who are searching
the enslaved
but someone told you about the freedom found in Christ and now God is using you to share the gospel with people who are enslaved
the hopeless
but someone told you about the hope found in Christ and now God is using you to share the gospel with people who feel hopeless
Isn’t it amazing how God works
GOSPEL RESPONSE
GOSPEL RESPONSE
That said, I would be remiss not to address the unbeliever in the room this morning
Most likely you are in the room this morning because you have been watching someone
someones life, actions, or words have caused you to think maybe this Jesus thing is what they say it is
Maybe you are searching
whatever your religious background may be you know deep down there is something more to this world
you don’t know which religion is right
you just want to know what is true
The answer to your searching is found in Jesus
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Today is the day to believe in Jesus. His is the truth. And He is the only way to the one true God.
Maybe you are enslaved
you’re not a christian but man you are wrestling with your sin
it’s got a grip on you that you just can’t loosen
you’ve tried everything to try and free your self
to clean yourself up before God
Freedom from your sin is only found in Jesus
Paul tells us clearly that once we trust in the work of Jesus on the cross
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
Don’t believe Paul? Jesus says,
So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.
Today is the day to believe in Jesus. In Him is freedom. And He is the only way to be freed from your sin
Maybe you are hopeless
you are not religious nor care to be
you don’t feel enslaved to you sin; you actually really enjoy it
you life was actually really dang good
But you have hit rockbottom and man did it hurt
it was a divorce
a death
a addiction uncovered
And now you feel hopeless
This service might have been your last shot
You thought maybe if I go to church God would give me a sign
Well here is your sign from Peter about the hope you can have in Christ
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
Today is the day to believe in Jesus. His hope is a living hope. And He is the only way to have hope in all circumstances.
CLOSING
CLOSING
May today be the day of salvation for someone in room
someone who is searching, enslaved, or hopeless
And church may we leave here today going into the watching world with the working gospel
