Steve Zeisler touches on a topic that was relevent in Biblical times as it
is today. Namely that God uses people of all types to spread His Word.
Most
times it is average, ordinary individuals like you and I. This is an
encouraging sermon that reminds us Christians that we should not think
ourselves as not useful for God when in fact, we are useful.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
GOD'S RECRUITS
by Steve Zeisler
A friend of mine described to me a discussion he'd had with his teenage
son
about the Academy Award winning movie Braveheart. Horses, battles, swords,
villains and heroes account for some of the intrigue for an adolescent
boy.
But the father and son discussion centered on something more
im****tant---the
attractiveness of a life lived for a grand purpose. Today's young people
have been surrounded by so much me-first thinking, political correctness,
and insistence on personal rights that it's refre****ng for young people to
be reminded that some people live for causes that are bigger than
themselves; the discovery that there are things in life worth risking
everything for.
My own two older children had somewhat of a similar reaction to the Star
Wars trilogy, the story of a small band of heroes who faced extraordinary
odds against entrenched evil, and were willing to risk everything for
their
cause. Even farther back, another film had the same effect on me, The
Magnificent Seven. It was the story of seven cowboys who helped some
Mexican
villagers ward off disaster at the hands of marauding hordes of bandits.
The reason these kinds of stories have the capacity to influence young
people who are trying to establish their values is that these are the
kinds
of stories that are told in the Bible. It is this same understanding of
what
it's like to live in the world that is behind most of the historical
accounts in the Scriptures.
Consider the story of Abraham, a man sent with his nephew and a handful of
family members to live in a land they knew nothing of, following the will
of
God, living as a remnant, surrounded by difficulties, struggles, and
unbelief. Moses and his brother Aaron were sent back from the wilderness
of
Midian to face Pharaoh, the most powerful individual on earth, to risk
everything to say to him, "Let my people go." Gideon and only three
hundred
men fought an immense army raiding the people of God. Daniel and his three
friends faced a fiery furnace and a den of lions rather than deny their
faith in God. Joseph and Mary went on the journey to Bethlehem pregnant
with
a child, too poor to have a place to stay, and yet they trusted God.
It's the same story over and over again---people having no worldly power,
without the strength of an army or great wealth to call upon, are called
to
risk everything and live by faith. It's the story of a remnant carrying
out
a raid against a strong foe that is too strong for them, requiring they
trust God, who prevails over the enemy. So we love being told that same
kind
of story in popular culture. Those who care about what is true are always
underdogs.
In our study of the second missionary journey in Acts, which we began two
messages ago, we have the same kind of story again. A handful of travelers
for Christ's sake take on religious, political, and economic strongholds.
In this message I want to revisit the passage we've already studied in
Discovery Papers 4482 and 4483, to re-examine the nine people who populate
it. Part of what we've done so far is consider together what God is doing
in
the church. He stirs up the church. He takes relation****ps that seem
secure
and predictable and breaks them apart. He sends old friends off in
different
directions, even with painful partings. We should expect, if we are wise,
that life in the community of Christ will be unpredictable precisely
because
our Lord is alive and creative, and he brings about changes.
We've also considered how God works in the world among people who are not
religious and not good candidates, by our way of thinking, for faith in
the
Lord. Our Lord is as creative and unpredictable in the world as he is
within
the church.
Nine people have been introduced to us in this passage. Imagine them, if
you
will, standing on a stage in front of you: men and women, Jews and
Gentiles,
young and old, rich and poor. You may want to pause and reread Acts
15:36-16:40.
Acts 15:36-16:40
36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the
brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see
how
they are doing." 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with
them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had
deserted
them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had
such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and
sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the
brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia,
strengthening the churches.
16:1 He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy
lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a
Greek. 2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul
wanted
to take him along on the journey, so he cir***cised him because of the
Jews
who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4
As
they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by
the
apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches
were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and
Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in
the
province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to
enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they
passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a
vision
of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia
and
help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave
for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to
them.
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and
the
next day on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman
colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed
there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we
expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the
women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named
Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a
wor****per of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.
15
When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to
her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and
stay at my house." And she persuaded us.
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave
girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a
great
deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed
Paul
and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High
God,
who are telling you the way to be saved." 18 She kept this up for many
days.
Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the
spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At
that moment the spirit left her.
19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making
money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the
marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the
magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into
an
uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or
practice."
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the
magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been
severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was
commanded
to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the
inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and
the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a
violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once
all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The
jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword
and
was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28
But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul
and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to
be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you
and
your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all
the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them
and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were
baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before
them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God - he
and
his whole family.
35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer
with the order: "Release those men." 36 The jailer told Paul, "The
magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can
leave.
Go in peace."
37 But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial,
even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do
they
want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us
out."
38 The officers re****ted this to the magistrates, and when they heard that
Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to
appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave
the
city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's
house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they
left.
I hope that as you see these nine people again and think about what God
was
doing in choosing them, you'll see yourself, too. God recruits people like
you and me. Not only will we find ourselves up on the stage, but we'll
probably find people with whom we have little in common. If we met them in
another setting, we might avoid them. But here we meet them in the cause
of
Christ, and we must embrace them.
Fatherly encourager, youthful apostle, child with great potential
This group of nine divides fairly easily into the three different scenes
in
which they are introduced, with three people in each scene. The first
scene
is Antioch. There is a discussion between Paul and Barnabas as to whether
they should travel again. They get in an argument about the young man John
Mark. What does the Bible teach us about these three men?
For one thing, they represent three different generations of Christian
faith
and leader****p. Barnabas goes back to the beginning. He may well have been
converted at Pentecost. He was certainly a part of the church after
Peter's
second great sermon and the numbering of the church in chapter 3. He is
identified by name at the end of chapter 4. He saw the Lord work through
the
apostles in Jerusalem. He saw the death of Ananias and Sapphira, purifying
the church. He saw the martyrdom of Stephen. He heard the account of how
Philip led the Ethiopian eunuch to the Lord. He knew the story of Simon
Magus in Samaria. He has seen the Lord win victory after victory and use
all
kinds of people. He is a very mature man, one of the most senior figures
in
the church. He was given the nickname Barnabas, Son of Encouragement (he
was
born Joseph), early in his Christian life, when he was called into
leader****p. There are very few things that Barnabas has not seen. He isn't
fooled by failure. Nor is he taken aback by resistance; he has faced
enemies
many times before.
First John 1:12-14 talks about three generations in church life: There are
fathers, who know God so deeply that for them he is described as "him who
is
from the beginning," the eternal One. There are youths, who are engaged in
the battle, overcoming the evil one, strong with the word of God that
abides
in them. This is the generation that is called to fight today's battle
with
today's enemies. And there are children, who are focused on identity
issues:
Who is my Father? And what of my sins?
If Barnabas is a father in the faith, Paul is still new in leader****p. He
was called out of obscurity in Tarsus to teach young Christians in
Antioch.
He was a generation younger than Barnabas---on the front lines of the
battle
in 49 AD. And John Mark represents a child in the faith. Having given way
to
fear at a critical moment, he's not mature yet. He is still trying to work
out who he is.
Barnabas was a firm foundation for both John Mark and Paul. They both owe
their standing to Barnabas' encouraging ministry. John Mark, Barnabas'
cousin we're told in Colossians, was rescued from cowardice. Paul would
have
been rejected for leader****p in the church had it not been for Barnabas.
Twice (in Jerusalem and later in Antioch) it was Barnabas who said that
Paul
(then known as Saul) was a man who could be used in the service of the
Lord.
And yet both John Mark and Paul will become much more prominent figures as
New Testament authors than their mentor Barnabas. Paul will later write
thirteen of the New Testament epistles. Mark will write the first
canonical
biography of Jesus.
Paul is one of the few early Christians about whom we have a physical
description The apocryphal workThe Acts of Paul at Thecla, describes Paul
this way: "...bald-headed, bow-legged, strongly built, a man small in size
with meeting eyebrows and a rather large nose." His profession, tentmaker,
suggests middle class roots.
Barnabas and John Mark are probably wealthy. We know that Barnabas had a
field that he sold (Acts 4:37) to give the money to the church. John Mark
was raised in a well-to-do family in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). When he wrote
the gospel of Mark, he included the story of the rich young ruler as did
Matthew and Luke, but his account adds one unique detail. Only Mark says
that Jesus looked on him with compassion. Some have even speculated that
this rich young man was Mark himself, meeting the Lord and at first
refusing
the call of disciple****p. Even if it was not, he was probably similar
enough
to the rich young man that when he told the story, he wanted to include
the
gaze of Jesus' compassion.
Barnabas was a Levite, and Paul was a Benjamite. Paul was trained by
Gamaliel, and has great religious credentials. Paul lived a lot of his
life
alone. There are sad references in his writings. At one point he wonders
why
Peter is allowed to take his wife journeying and Paul cannot. Paul's wife
very likely left him when he was converted to Christian faith. At the end
of
his life, Paul says that everyone in Asia has abandoned him, and he names
only a handful who stuck with him. Each of these men has a unique history
and each has different strengths and weaknesses. All three are on the
team.
Purposeful prophet, brilliant historian, son in the faith
The second scene takes place as chapter 16 unfolds and introduces us to
the
next group of three. Silas first. Like Paul, he is a youth in the faith.
Acts 15:32 tells us that he has a teaching gift. He was sent from
Jerusalem
with the letter of the Jerusalem council. His name is sometimes rendered
Silvanus in the New Testament. Silas well illustrated the aphorism, "when
the going gets tough, the tough get going." Though Timothy and Luke were
also present it is Paul and Silas who are outspoken enough to suffer the
wrath of mobs in both Philippi and Thessalonica.
Luke, as I've mentioned, is a great literary figure, author of the two
volume history, Luke and Acts. He has wonderful depth of insight into both
the life of Christ and the life of the church. Luke is a Gentile.
Timothy, like John Mark, is a younger man. Timothy had mixed religious
heritage and, like so many today, went through all of the difficulty of
growing up without a father. Timothy was a withdrawn young man, and Paul
took him on as "his son in the faith."
Eager new convert, slave girl freed, violent man made tender
The last three folks we meet are those in Philippi we spoke about last
week,
two women and a man. Lydia we know by name, the other two we know only by
their descriptions---a slave girl and a jailer. They're all Gentiles. Once
again we encounter people who are very different from any we have met
before, who are different from each other.
If we were to try to think of Lydia in contem****ary terms, we might
imagine
her to be an executive with a foreign accent at Nordstrom. She works in
clothing. Purple dye was very expensive, so she is probably wealthy. The
account Luke gives us of this lady's life is filled with what she is
not---not a Jew, but a God-fearer; not a Roman, though Philippi is a Roman
colony; not a Philippian, but from Thyatira; not married (the story talks
about her household, not her husband's, as it would if she were married);
and not a man. She is very likely widowed; her having a household suggests
that she probably has children. All we know is that she established her
own
business, lives as an expatriate in Macedonia, and is an immensely capable
person who has the softest of hearts for Christ.
The eighth of the nine people before us, the slave girl, is demonized by
evil spirits and brutalized by evil men. She is probably much like a
fifteen-year-old crack-addicted prostitute whom you might meet on the
streets of a big city today. Her interior life is self-destructive, her
exterior life abused by others.
Then finally we meet the Roman jailer, likely a veteran whose reputation
for
ruthlessness and intimidation qualified him to run one of Rome's
repressive
jails. Yet there is a tenderness about him that is striking---wa****ng
wounds, inviting Paul and Silas into his home.
It's quite a lineup, isn't it? There is great variety among these nine.
And
we're all represented up there someplace ourselves. We have either a
terrible background or a decent one, as these people do. We come from
wealthy cir***stances, as Lydia and Barnabas and John Mark do; from poor
cir***stances, as the slave girl (and perhaps the jailer) do; or from
middle-class backgrounds, as Paul and probably Silas do. We may be a
professional, as Luke is; or a tentmaker, as Paul is. We may have
extensive
religious credentials, as Paul does; or have a background more filled with
the demonic than the holy, like the slave girl. Every conceivable person
may
be included, among them people who are very different from us, with whom
we
have nothing in common but Jesus.
God endorses team ministry
I want to draw some applications from this. Let me observe first, as we
look
at our friends standing in front of us, that God clearly endorses team
ministry. The regular way of life among the members of the early church is
that ministry takes place in groups. No leader is permitted the kind of
top-of-the-pyramid experience that we see too often in contem****ary church
and religious settings, in which there is a CEO in whom is vested all the
authority, but who is very lonely as a result. No one can hold "the boss"
accountable, and his strengths and weaknesses are reproduced in the
organization. The New Testament pattern is that a group of people leads
together, and leaders have accountable partners and varieties of gifts.
Further, there is no way to train young people for Christian leader****p
except to make them part of a ministry team that is doing that work. The
most advanced forms of training for effectiveness in the world do not
qualify a man or woman to serve in the cause of Christ. The things that
qualify any of us to lead in the church---humility, faith, knowledge of
God,
ability to follow the leading of the Spirit, knowledge of what our
spiritual
gifts are, growing competency---are all the kind of things that you can
learn only in settings where the more mature saints can help the younger
folks to grow. That also argues for the im****tance of team ministry.
Now let's consider three tensions that we can see in these chapters and
that
we can benefit from observing, because they remain tensions today.
Tension between generations
The first one has to do with generations. Barnabas, Paul, and John Mark
represent three generations, and some of the struggle to get along
together,
to continue to be able to move forward in ministry together, has to do
with
the fact that different generations look at things differently. Young
people
often think they're more qualified than they are. John Mark assumed that
he
had more courage than he had. Those who are the youths in the story, who
are
shouldering the most responsibility for doing battle with the evil one in
their generation, don't know what to think about those who are older and
have a deep and peaceful sense that God is in charge, nor do they always
know what to do with those who aren't formed yet. Sometimes the older
saints
are looked on as being behind the times, not having anything left to
offer.
There are certainly tensions around generations in this church and every
other church I know about. People who have walked with the Lord a long
time
see things one way, people who feel the heat of today's battle see things
another way, and people who are trying to figure out who they are in
Christ
see things yet another way. We need to let God hold us together. People
who
look at life differently because of their age and experience in the Lord
need each other, although our tendency is to draw near to those who
reinforce our point of view.
Tension between genders
The second tension has to do with gender. The point is subtly but clearly
made that when Paul saw Lydia come to Christ, he had trouble giving her
credit. The Lord opened her heart before Paul was ready for her heart to
be
opened. She had to appeal to him, "If you consider me a believer in the
Lord....", even though she did believe and had been baptized. And finally
it
says that she had to persuade the team to come to her house.
This is one tension that is easy to observe in this day and age, in this
church and everywhere else. Men frequently don't take women seriously
enough. The observation has often been made that a woman has to be twice
as
good as a man to be considered for the same op****tunity. The way Luke
wrote
this story suggests that Paul was in the wrong. The church is flouri****ng
at
Lydia's house by the end of chapter 16; Paul's reticence to acknowledge
her
was part of the problem. He had to get over it. This can serve as a
challenge to men in this generation, in this church and every other, not
to
overlook women, especially those whose gifts, background, and
qualifications
make them unusual.
But listen carefully to what Lydia says. She doesn't claim that she
deserves
recognition because she has her own business, has made a name for herself,
and has been extremely successful. She says, "If you consider me a
believer
in the Lord...." Her identity and her appeal are to be taken seriously
because of what has taken place in her heart as a servant of Christ. In
the
long run, that is the only appeal that allows men and women to trust one
another, believe in one another, promote one another, and be glad for one
another's contributions. The external degrees and accomplishments are not
the key to oneness and confident belief in one another. What
qualifications
has the Lord given? What reality of faith is there? I believe that is the
way tension regarding gender is going to be solved.
Tension due to diversity
Lastly, the qualifications of these people could not be more diverse.
There
are extremely impressive religious qualifications on the one hand, and
absolutely none on the other. There are wealth and poverty, Jews and
Gentiles, men and women, elders and youths, healthy families and
dysfunctional families. Every type of division---class, race, ethnicity.
And
yet it is this group that is to fight the war. It is these nine people
working together who are to advance the cause of Christ. Arrayed against
them are the Roman empire, the philosophy of the Greeks, the idolatry of
all
the ancient world, the economic power of those who make their living
abusing
those who are weak, the Roman jails, the anger of Jewish spiritual
leader****p, the courts of Rome---everything. All they have is one another,
the call of the Lord, and the presence of the Spirit. But it's enough.
These
folks changed the world.
That describes us. We're a remnant, we're not powerful in any worldly
sense.
We're to take risks for Jesus' sake, not knowing where the risks will lead
us. And we need to do it together. That's what it means to be the church
Copyright © 1996 Discovery Publi****ng, a ministry of Peninsula Bible
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