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August 6, 2006
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Discipleship
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"A Disciple's Courage"
Acts 18: 1-17
- Over the past few weeks we have been looking at being a disciple - We have found that a disciple is obedient to Jesus, witnesses Jesus through word and deed, and is a person of character who lives his or her life based upon the standard given in God's Word.
A disciple is someone dissatisfied with the very notion that Sunday morning is the beginning and end of what it means to follow Jesus. He or she is someone who follows Jesus day by day, in all situations, through all of life.
To be an image bearer, a Christ follower, means we are people for whom Jesus is not kept in only a corner of life. For us Jesus is not a decoration, a bumper sticker or necklace.
No, to be a disciple means that my personal attachment to Jesus has shaped all of life.
Everything I say and everything I do reflects this basic commitment of my life to Jesus.
As our church mission statement says, as a disciple, I find myself a member of something bigger than myself, God's Family. I live in this family experiencing with others the love of the Heavenly Father. And I purpose to be available to Jesus to bring others to know Him and to come home to this family, in order that these others may be made disciples too.
- We find today as we are following Paul on this missionary journey that discipleship has another component to it, radical courage. Paul, traveling through the peninsula of Macedonia, modern day Greece, has just come through Athens and now has traveled to Achaia and the city of Corinth just below that peninsula.
Corinth located at a crossroads of commerce from sea and land was a center of every kind of immorality. Paul arrives there having experienced resistance to the Gospel in several places. It seems the presentation of the Gospel brings resistance. At Philippi it meant jail time, in Thessalonica it meant an escape from the city by night, in Athens it meant being mocked, and at Corinth the Jews became abusive. So, Paul had had enough, shakes out his robe, a symbol of being "done with them" and tells them they are responsible for themselves, he would go to the Gentiles.
But although he may have planned to leave the community, instead, we meet a few converts. Then Jesus speaks to Paul in a vision. That is a promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit that God will speak to you and to me in dreams, visions, through prophesy, through the Word, and that we would be the servants of God who would respond with obedience.
So Jesus comes and says to Paul something that surprised me: "Do not be afraid!" I did not realize Paul was afraid, but Jesus knew. So he commands this apostle to have courage.
Have you ever been afraid in a situation so that you wanted to just be silent? I have. By what Jesus says to Paul I would say Paul was in such a situation. Although he boldly told the Jews: "I am done with you," there was some fear in him so that the Lord comes and says, "Do not be afraid."
It seems to me that this is a message we need to hear from God -- to not be afraid. Fear is a normal human response to circumstances out of our control - welcome to all of life. And God says, "don't be afraid" but does not say this just as a positive thought, but based upon a truth.
For Paul the Lord goes on to say: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent." So there is the command given in triplet: to not be afraid, to keep on speaking and not remain silent. God says, "Paul, open your mouth". But the basis of this is then given. "For I am with you." The presence of God is the reason for our confidence. The Lord goes on to say to Paul, "I am with you, no one is going to attack you and harm you, because I have many people in this city."
Not only does God promise Paul that He is with him but more so that he has gone before Paul into this city, so start speaking, for it is only by hearing that people come to faith.
Don't give up. Don't throw in the towel. Don't walk away in defeat. Don't go off in a huff.
Speak. Stay in the ring. Believe. I am with you. I have gone before you. Upon the basis of that promise, Paul continued to preach for another year and a half in Corinth.
- Disciples will experience fear, but they base their courage upon the fact that God is with them and goes before them.
Two of our daughter Grace's roommates are leaving after graduation this Saturday and traveling to Hawaii. One of the girls, Arlena is from Oahu, and so the two are returning there and plan to start a 24/7 prayer room in the building where Arlena's mom is employed.
They have permission to use the room, and so are set to do this work. Last week however, Arlena found out that her sister's husband's family is heavily involved in the mafia, drug and prostitution rings, etc and her sister had not known this for her new husband had not told her anything about it. It came to light that the very room where they are planning this prayer ministry has previously been used for the finalizing of drug deals. Arlena's mom was unaware of this but now is seeking to find ways to uncover this ring. So rather than two girls starting an innocuous prayer ministry, they are walking into battle. You can imagine the emotions they felt as they heard this news, the fear for Arlena's sister and mom and fears for themselves.
The girls all went to prayer as soon as they heard the news. They spent about 2 hours seeking the Lord, confessing their own sins, interceding on behalf of this and other situations and it came to light as they were praying that although they had not known about this reality, Jesus had. That their lead to establish a prayer room in this building, in this community at this time is all a part of God's plan. So, they will go and be light in the darkness. Their courage is based upon two facts: God goes with them and has gone before them.
Recently a friend was called into her employer's office but not told the basis of the charges brought against her. She had been told by upper management that the charges were totally unfounded that "what is being done to you is not right." So, she and I prayed together before she went into the interrogation. The employers asked her all kinds of questions some of which had nothing to do with her work ethic or performance at all.
The whole time she kept the picture before her heart that Jesus had died for her, that He had taken her pain, that any accusation however false brought against her, He had taken. They asked her to reveal something that she felt was not necessary for them to know, so refused to tell them. They said since she would not cooperate they had the right to terminate her employment. At that moment she was filled with great peace, and looked them in the eye and said, "If with no evidence, you want to terminate my employment with you, go right ahead."
The two managers left the room. She reached down and got her Bible from her purse and opened it and her eyes met this verse from Isaiah 54:17:
"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
With that Scripture in her heart, this friend sat there confident that whatever came, God would be glorified and she need not fear. "I had no fear, Brian" she told me. They could not reach a decision so as of today she was not fired and cannot yet return to work. This is a Daniel in the lion's den situation where someone is being wrongly persecuted because of their faith.
Courage is not based upon the fact that we will come through a situation unscathed. In the book of Daniel, the three Hebrew boys threatened with the fiery furnace place their confidence in God, knowing their God can save them from the flames whether or not he will.
In Corinth the Lord's promise to Paul is that he will remain unharmed, but that was not the case in other cities. Our courage is based upon the fact of the presence of God with us no matter what happens and the fact that God has gone before us.
- There are countless examples of courage based upon faith in the Scriptures and countless illustrations in our lives as well. Less sung are the people who say "no" to sin in their lives,
itself a courageous act, in order to say yes to God. I know men who have closed the door to pornography and their addiction to it only to find themselves equally addicted to looking at the advertiser inserts in the newspaper on Sunday morning. They have had to courageously "cut it off" and tell someone to keep them accountable. I know of women who have had to give away their credit cards to stop a shopping addiction, to turn from the sin of accumulating "things" in order to fill up their hearts. A friend who confessed his addiction to food and gluttony who is courageously turning from food to God. These are people who have said, "I have died to sin" and are seeking to walk it out. That takes courage.
For me these actions are equal to Joshua fighting his way through the Promised Land to "take it for the Lord" and to King Josiah who tore down the altars in Israel and Judah to false gods and consecrated the people to the Lord.
The reason we can take such actions is because it is God in Jesus Christ who is with us and He is the one who goes before us. Friends, be courageous.
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