Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduce me

Who here has been on a long journey?

A really long journey?

One of those where you hear the dreaded question “are we nearly there yet?” from the backseat?

I want to hear some really long journeys - who has one they could share?

What’s the longest journey you’ve ever been on?

[live interaction in the room]

One of our longest journeys when our first children were still very young from the south of France to Seattle on the west coast of the US; First a short hop to Paris - CDG with baby seats that wouldn’t fit through the scanner almost put an end to it; Canada - Calgary if I remember right - where I think heather took her first steps at the gate while we were waiting for the flight.

Seemed endless.

Thankfully our children were too young for the dreaded “are we nearly there yet?” but I’m sure it’s what they were thinking and it was certainly what we were thinking - all to save a few hundred pounds.

Here at Hope City we talk a lot about “Journey” - about how there’s often a long journey between a first encounter with the message of Jesus and coming to follow him for yourself.

Research says it’s often years.

But when we talk about “journey,” we want to be really clear that beginning to follow Jesus for yourself isn’t the end of that Journey.

It’s a life-changing moment - an eternity-changing moment - but it’s not the end of the journey, just the doorway to another chapter in the journey.

It’s our firm conviction that every person in this room is on that journey - whether you’re still exploring what it might mean to follow Jesus, or you’ve been following him sixty years!

And as we continue working our way together through the story of the very first churches, today we’re going to be looking at a passage from the bible which, as I’ve reflected on it, seems to picture this really clearly.

But it doesn’t just show us the journey, it shows us some important ways we can move forward in that journey too.

So come with me to the book of Acts in the bible, and we’ll pick up the story at chapter 18, verse 18. We’ve been following Paul, a key character in the life of the very first churches, on his second mission trip and last week we left him in the thriving metropolis of Corinth in Greece where his story challenged us not to be afraid, but to keep on believing God’s promises, and to keep on speaking of Jesus.

As we read about what happens next, look out for this theme of journey: who’s making progress in their journey of faith?

What moves them along?

We’re on page 1114 in these blue bibles - if you have one nearby, why not open it up and follow along?

Acts chapter 18 - big 18 - verse 18 - tiny 18. Page 1114.

And Alex is going to read for us this morning.

Acts 18:18-19:7 and it’d be great for Acts chapter 18 - big

Thanks Alex.

Last week we had a close-up narrative focused on the details of his time in one city.

This week what we’ve just read probably spans a year or more and sometimes we just get the outline sketch of what’s happening.

Although there’s always so much going on in these passages and so much to learn, we’re going to focus on two things this morning wrapped around this theme of journey that we started with: first, we’ll look at Paul’s encounter with those disciples when he returns to Ephesus that our reading finished with.

Then we’re going to dig into what’s going on with that guy Apollos in Ephesus that came a little earlier.

The Ephesian Disciples Acts 19:1-7

At the start of our reading today we followed Paul on the return leg of his second huge journey.

Maps always help for this so here’s a map.

The far end of this journey was Corinth in Greece, where we picked up the story - and in just a few short verses today, Paul travels a thousand miles or more across the sea to Syria with a brief stopover in Turkey at this place called Ephesus.

Just ruins today, it was a huge city at the time but he’s a man on a mission so he only pops in for a moment, so it seems, and then heads off, with an Arnie style “I’ll be back” over his shoulder.

True to his word, at the end of our reading, he is back after another epic journey; again, perhaps a thousand miles, but over land this time rather than sea.

You ever walked five hundred miles?

Let alone a thousand?

But he finally arrives, and as he arrives, in Acts 19:1 we read he meets some disciples:

“Disciple” can be a bit of a Christian-y word so let’s unpack that.

What does it mean?

What did it mean?

At the simplest level, a disciple is a pupil learning from a teacher.

But there’s a little more to it: disciples learn with the intent, in time, of becoming like their teacher.

So maybe “apprentice” is a better way of thinking about it - someone who is learning how to do something that their teacher already does, learning how to become something that their teacher already is.

So Paul meets these disciples on his return to Ephesus but obviously he can tell something is not quite right so he starts asking questions.

They’ve believed - but believed what?

They’re disciples, yes, but disciples of who?

And it seems from his conversation that they may be disciples of a guy called John, Jesus’ forerunner - or at least disciples of one of John’s followers who hadn’t yet grasped the full message of Jesus.

In chapter 3 of Luke’s gospel, John shows up, calling people to change their ways because the Lord was coming - you can read about his message there.

He used baptism as a sign of that repentance - so the baptism of John that’s spoken about here is like saying to God, “I’m sorry, I’ve done wrong, I’m going to change my ways” - it’s a picture of being washed clean from those wrongs.

But the big thing these disciples had missed was that John also spoke about someone coming after him, someone greater and more significant - and that person had now come: No prizes for guessing that someone is Jesus!

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection the full good news, or gospel, had arrived: it’s not less than this repentance - that is, changing our ways - in the hope of forgiveness like John preached (Luke 3:3).

Jesus’ death in our place on the cross is the root of that hope.

But it’s more: through Jesus, we can have a new, transformed life, starting now: the power of God the Holy Spirit alive within every believer.

And somehow Paul could tell they were missing this - so he invites them into it.

Christian baptism isn’t just about washing, about forgiveness - down into the water - but it’s also about resurrection, about new life - up out of the water, like Jesus rose from the grave.

It’s about true life, renewed life, through God himself, God the Holy Spirit, coming to live inside of us.

And that’s what those disciples experience at the end of the passage we read.

For them, there are these supernatural signs demonstrating this new life beginning, a new life they’d been missing.

But if you haven’t experienced signs like these yourself it’s really important that you know they don’t always mark out this new life beginning - for example, we don’t see them when the Ethiopian comes to faith and is baptised in Acts 8; or with Paul himself as he’s baptised and his new life begins in Acts 9.

The bible teaches us that every true Christian has the Holy Spirit - I think we see this particularly clearly in Galatians.

Galatians 3:26 tells us all Christians are children of God through faith, and then Galatians 4:6 tells us because we are God’s children, adopted into his family, he sends his Spirit into our hearts.

But you find the same teaching again and again - for example 1 Cor 6:19 tells every Christian the Spirit is in them.

So don’t let these signs be your guide, let the bible be your guide.

If you are a child of God through faith, you have the Spirit within.

Ok, that’s our first scene - let’s pull this back to the theme of journey that we’ve been talking about.

What do we see here?

What do we learn here?

Well, if you’re here today but you wouldn’t call yourself a disciple of Jesus - a learner, an apprentice, seeking to become like him, like we talked about earlier - if you wouldn’t call yourself a disciple of Jesus yet, you’re just on that journey, I’m so glad you are here today.

You are in a good place.

We believe you are on the most important journey of your life.

And we are excited to try and help you journey on.

What I’d suggest you could take away from this section would be the importance of getting the full message of Jesus, not just a part of it.

It isn’t just that you’ve gotten things wrong, done things wrong, and you need to be sorry and to change.

It isn’t just that Jesus died for your sins - so you are off the hook, free to do whatever you want any old time.

Get the full gospel.

And how could you do that?

Stick with us as we keep reading the bible together and seeing what we learn.

Go to the source: read the bible for yourself and keep reading it.

Start with the gospels which walk you through the life of Jesus and keep going.

Take one of these books over here - they’re free; all sorts of different books to help you get your head around the message of Jesus.

Talk to someone who’s ahead of you on the journey - maybe you know someone here and you could ask them to walk through the stories of Jesus with you.

If you don’t know someone, email uncover@hopecityedinburgh.org and we’d love to arrange for someone to do that with you.

Do it right now - you won’t regret it!

Get the full message of Jesus - it’s totally life-changing.

And what about if you are a disciple of Jesus?

What’s here for you?

I’d suggest this should teach us to go beyond simply swallowing the labels people wear, and challenge us to listen more carefully and to ask more questions so we know where people really are.

So we can help them truly find this new life in Jesus.

Do people call themselves disciples?

believers?

Christians?

What does that really mean to them?

What message have they heard?

Are there parts they’ve missed?

Where are they really in their journey?

What’s really holding them back?

Is it lack of knowledge?

Or just not wanting to accept or believe what they are hearing?

Are there people around you who’ve made it part way, but they’re stuck?