Take Courage

Last week we looked at the Christian value of doing the right thing in the right way. We work for God-honoring results, but do so in ways which also honor our Lord. We looked at several aspects of this Christian discipline, which included truthfulness, repentance, strategy and faith. Today we go further into the aspect of this practice of faith as we explore from our text how and why we can trust in the Lord.

Read Acts 23:11-35

The Lord had just told Paul that he would bring him to Rome as his witness. He told him to take courage . God has a plan, and uses a variety of means to carry it out. We must do what we can and trust in Him.

take courage - tharseo - have courage, be courageous, be confident

“take courage, I have overcome the world...” John 16:33

“take courage… your sins are forgiven” Matt 9:2

As Jesus walked on the water, they were terrified til He called out, “take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.” Mk 6:50

“take courage, stand up, He is calling you!” Mk 10:49

Paul no doubt felt overwhelmed. He surely felt his own weakness and fear, but like Joshua in the OT, Christ was telling him “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you...”

Brother, Sister, so it is with you. We can take courage and acknowledge God...

We are not God

v.12-15

We don’t have to be God. We can trust Him to be.

Proverbs 3:5–6 NASB95

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

When we fail to trust God, our path get’s crooked.

The Jews had limited ability to stop Paul. They’d refused to even consider his side of things and were convinced that he must be silenced.

They’d forgotten God, and forgotten reason.

Gamaliel had the right idea - don’t meddle too much. Trust God. (Acts 5:38-39)

Instead of trusting God to protect His Name, they do wrong in the name of doing right. You cannot honor God by disobeying Him! We cannot fight for God using the devil’s weapons!

They tried forming a mob, but Paul was rescued by the Roman soldiers.

They tried accusing him and using the soldiers to kill him, but Paul pulled out his trump card (Roman citizenship).

Instead of trusting God and doing the right thing, they were desperate to get their desired result. Quickly exhausting their limited resources, they plot and devise another plan for murder.

God’s ability extends far beyond ours

Football is a team sport. On the defensive side, each player has his particular tasks and assignments he must perform. Some seal the front, others cover players or areas of the field, etc. When someone tries to rely on himself to make a play and leaves his assigned task, it usually means failure (big play given up). They must do the right thing, and trust their coach and team to do their part.

So it is with the Kingdom of God. We must do what we can, but trust God is working according to His knowledge and wisdom. Faithfulness in the assignment is success. It isn’t up to you to use results. When you do, you usually end up working against God.

When we rely on our own ability we also lose perspective. We get so focused on the desired result, that we forget what’s really important.

Matthew 23:23–24 NASB95

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

When you choose to go your way, you lose all sense of God's presence, care and authority in your life.

We need His support.

We also need to understand that we are accountable to Him.

When we make our own way, and our own rules, our way get’s crooked indeed. Examples:

Judges: everyone did what was right in their own eyes

Relativistic morality - whatever wave comes, what ever group is louder, whatever group is more powerful

Means justify the ends

We can be like the Jews, or we can be like Jesus - Will we take courage and trust in God, or will we trust in ourselves over Him?

It was largely lack of trust in God and His Word and an over-abundance of self-righteous authority that led the Jews to have Jesus crucified on that cross.

However, it was a full and complete trust in the Father, even amid the horrors and injustice of that Roman cross that led to Jesus becoming the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away our sins.

But Brother, what if I am not seeing God work? We’re always seeing God work, we just don’t often realize it. We can take courage...

God can use ordinary means for His divine purpose

This is what He does every moment of every day.

Even the most amazing events in Biblical History are all supplied and surrounded by thousands of ordinary events.

Ex. Before Moses saw the burning bush, he was tending sheep in the wildernesses by Mount Horeb. Before David killed Goliath, he’d practiced with his sling for hours upon hours. Before Jesus turned the water into wine he’d lived an extremely ordinary life as the son of Mary in a carpenter’s home. God uses ordinary people, doing ordinary things to accomplish his divine purpose.

That’s what God was doing in this text, and what He is doing in your life and mine.

The yearly worship at the temple, the laws regarding Roman citizenship, the “chance” overhearing of the Jewish plot by Paul’s nephew, the Roman guard. Paul would walk a normal road, ride a horse or donkey, would wear chains and eat a meal.

All normal, ordinary means that God is using to fulfill His divine purpose. That’s what God does.

That conversation at work the other day, that unexpected illness, the problem at school, the kindness of a neighbor and unexpected bill - All of it ordinary - all of it part of God’s plan.

We can take courage by looking for God’s Providence.

God’s sovereignty is His right and power to do anything He wants.

God’s Providence is His acting in our lives to bring about His will, according to His character.

“sovereignty in the service of wise purposes” - John Piper

“The doctrine of Divine providence... has reference to that preservation, care and government which God exercises over all things that He has created, in order that they may accomplish the ends for which they were created.” (ISBE)

Many non-Christians misunderstand Christian belief in God. We don't simply believe in God because we believe in some sort of magical powers or we need to make sense of events that we cannot otherwise explain. While we do believe in divine, miraculous power, True Christian faith extends far beyond just filling in the unknown with God. We know God, and accordingly we fill in EVERYTHING with God. God is involved in it all. He is working through it all, and can use it all to accomplish His good purposes. We believe in God’s Providence.

Think of God's providence in your own life. Remember the road that led you to Him? Remember the chance meetings, words, or circumstances? Not one was an accident, but a divine providence of a God who saves.

What is more amazing, that God can perform a single extraordinary miracle or that He can orchestrate a million tiny providences to bring about a certain end, all while using our own moral agency, personality and choices?

What we do matters. But never forget that God is working in the midst of it all. Prayerfully, faithfully, do the right thing and praise God for every providential work you see along the way. After all, He is saving the world and in His wisdom uses ordinary means to bring the extraordinary, miraculously saving Good News to people all over the world.

Sometimes though, the ordinary circumstances of this world are painful. Sometimes, it is hard to see God through the sinfulness and brokenness all around us.

God can even use the evil of man in His good plan

Recently, we’d studied Genesis 3 in our home groups. What was the result of the fall? Utter corruption and sinfulness, that brings hardship, sorrow and death.

That’s what God is redeeming. That’s also what God is working with. You see, he can use hardship, sorrow and even the evil of man to accomplish His good plan.

God used the wicked schemes of the Jews to bring His witness to Rome.

These men were twisted and wicked.

v.12 - a conspiracy (joined/formed a plot, banded together) - systrophe -

συστροφή, ἡ, twisting together, σ. χαύνην λαμβάνειν to be loosely twisted, of yarn1 (1 Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). In A Greek-English lexicon (p. 1736). Clarendon Press.)

seditious meeting, dense mass, twisted grain in wood

Yet, God would use their evil plot to bring about His good plan.

Romans 8:28 NASB95

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

This is providence. This is true. We believe it. But it’s sometimes hard to cling to isn’t it.

Paul only knew what God revealed and God had not revealed the full picture. We cannot wait for the full picture before we trust God. We look to His Word, remember His past mercies and grace to us in Christ, His care, His provision and we trust that He is working something good - ultimately good - even in the mist of much trouble, tragedy and sorry.

God uses evil to bring about Good.

A corrupt Jewish council schemed deceit and murder to have Jesus killed. A wicked governor who was trying to protect his own skin decided to have someone he knew was innocent cruelly tortured and executed. Sinful soldiers taunted Him and cast lots for His garment - and yet, every aspect of this horrid event was part of God's good plan to redeem. God used their corrupted motives and wicked actions to bring about the greatest Good ever imagined. If He can do that, we can trust Him in the circumstances of our lives!

We’re still accountable.

While God uses wickedness to accomplish His ends, He is in no way responsible for it. In fact, the willful sinful actions of people and groups leave them fully accountable to God for their wrong. Judas and the Jewish leaders were judged for their part in killing Jesus. We must uphold a standard of what is good and right, and hold each other, especially our leaders to such standards. Leadership, power and authority comes with responsibility to God - not so much for results, but for action and intents.

We’re all the same - in need of Jesus!

Paul never lost sight that He was a witness of the Savior.

Many get the idea that Christians think they are better than everyone else. While some do act like that, it is from Pride and not from Christianity. Christianity shows us that we are all fallen and sinful. That we all must turn and trust in the One who is righteous and in doing so, can be delivered from our sin and it's ultimate consequence. God can take what is corrupted and make it whole again. That's what we are (broken, on our way to being made whole), and what we want for the world.