To see Jesus become greater in your life (Acts 20)

Cornerstone Mission Church, November 16, 2008

The account of John the Baptist, who saw Jesus Christ, realized for who Jesus Christ really was, and was determined to see Jesus become great. He said it like this, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and if full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:29-30. And, he further said in verse 31-36, “The one who come from above is above all… The one who comes from heaven is above all... For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John’s theology of believing in the Son from above whom God has placed everything in his hands wasn’t a theoretical religious concept only on paper. Believing in Jesus had massive impact on his self understanding. In the paraphrase by Eugene Peterson in Message, John was most happy to see Jesus moving into the center moment while he slipped off to the sidelines.

“Jesus must become greater, I must become less.” Jesus must take the place of honor in my life, must become prominent, while I take the backseat and remain in his shadow. He must be the voice my reason, passion, purpose. His life must be infused in me and take over every fiber of my being so that I cannot make sense of who I am, what I envision, hope, dream, and what I do everyday apart from Jesus Christ. I can only make sense of my life only in Jesus’ life. I am glad Jesus takes the center stage of my life. This is what John meant by believing in Jesus. Believing that leads you to eternal life is the sheer conviction that Jesus must become greater, while you and I must become less.

Now, this isn’t exactly the way the people of today like to talk about themselves, is it? We live in times when self discovery, self expression, self promotion, self indulgence is everything. It is the age of Narcissism. You will readily hear, “Discover yourself. Discover your inner strength. Be yourself. Be all that you can be. Be uniquely you. Love yourself.” But, you don’t often hear people talking like John the Baptist did, in sheer determination that someone else must become greater while they themselves become less. To feel passionate about some else taking prominence in your life, literally taking over your life, while you feel indifferent about your self importance doesn’t quite fit the mantra of “Love yourself.”

Can it be ‘loving yourself’ if you can only see your own true worth through the worth of someone else, your success only through success of some else, your happiness only in someone else’s happiness? Or does this sound like crazy irrational and dangerous obsession by someone who suffers low self esteem?

Jesus must become greater; I must become less. Is this the way you and I talk? Certainly, this was the way Paul talked about his life in Acts 20 in different words. He said in Acts 20:24, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Again just like it was for John, when Paul talked considering his life worth nothing to him, he wasn’t being philosophical, theoretical, hypothetical, or poetical. This is the man who kept on doing the things that got him into trouble and got him beat up and imprisoned. Yes, there were times when God protected him like when he was in Ephesus. For God said to him in Acts 18:9-10 to keep on speaking and not be silent for he was going to be with him and no one was going to attack and harm him. But this was not the norm. Acts 20:23 reflects more of the norm for Paul, “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.”

To speak of his life as worth nothing to him, he meant he would gladly lay down his life because there was the cause that was greater than him, the cause that defined him, the cause that motivated and moved him, the cause that was so great in worth and value that he would willingly risk his life. And, that cause was the person of Jesus Christ and his message of God’s grace. Paul couldn’t envision building his life apart from building on the Cornerstone. Paul was all wrapped up in the life of Jesus. This is what we want to see happening in us.

Context

In chapter 19, Jesus Christ Paul proclaimed in Ephesus caused uproar that could have ended in mob-violence, but by God’s provision it didn’t which allowed him to stay for couple years. Acts 20:1-6 describes Paul’s itinerary for the part of his third missionary journey. By piecing together from Paul’s letters to Corinthians, after leaving Ephesus, he went to Troas and then to Macedonia (2 Cor. 2:12-13). And, here in Macedonia, possibly at Philippi, he wrote his 2 Corinthians. His stayed in Macedonia area scholars say that may have lasted couple years. It was about this time that he began taking collection of money to give as a gift for the poor in the church in Jerusalem.

From Macedonia, he went to Greece probably Corinth spending the winter three months. He was ready to sail to Syria and eventually get to Jerusalem and bring the collection of money to the Jerusalem church. But, it came to his attention that Jews made a plot against him. So, instead of sailing which would have been an easy trap for the Jews who wanted to harm him, he went back to Macedonia, to Philippi and from there sailed to Troas.

And, if you ever wonder why Christians meet on Sunday for worship, you see one of the clues to this in Acts 20:7, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Since he was leaving next day, he wanted to talk to them as much he could. So, he kept on talking until midnight. Well, probably the upstairs room was crowded and with the lamps burning, air was stuffy and stifling, and the flickering flames created a hypnotic effect. Not surprised to see Eutychus sinking into a deeper sleep as Paul talked on and on. The poor fellow fell down three stories to his death. Paul miraculously revived this young man to life just as Peter raised dead Tabitha to life in Acts 9. Verse 11, Paul went back upstairs and ate midnight snake with others and went to talking until daylight.

After this short stay in Troas, Paul traveled to Assos Mitylene, Kios, Samos and finally Miletus. He skipped visiting Ephesus, a place where he stayed several years before. Verse 16 explains why. He was basically in hurry to get to Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost.

But, he couldn’t simply bypass by the church of Ephesus and not encouraged them as he did with others in areas he had already visited. So, we see Paul sending for the elders of the church. For Paul encouraging others was huge part of who he was; one of the motivations behind Paul visiting the Christians in these areas was to encourage them, encouraging in a sense of exhorting them, urging them to let Jesus take the center stage of prominence, that they must see Jesus increase while they become less.

The strategy to see Jesus become greater in your life.

As I pointed out Luke records how Paul was all about encouraging others. We see him encouraging others in v. 1 and v. 2 and now from v. 18 to 38, we see him encouraging the elders, the leaders of the church of Ephesus.  Here are the ways Paul himself experienced Jesus becoming greater in his life, encouraged others to follow, and we can imitate for ourselves. 

• Experience the gospel of God’s grace

Paul says in verse 32, “Now I commit you to “God and to the word of his grace.” Paul said he didn’t think he could come back and visit them again since he was not sure if he would live or die in Jerusalem. So, in the prospect of him not being able to come back to encourage them, what would sustain them? Simply, it is God who would sustain them. And, commitment to God cannot be understood apart from commitment to the gospel, the word of his grace. Paul says that this commitment to God, to the goodness of his word of grace is what will enable you to be built up. One of the two prongs of our church mission is to build our lives on Jesus Christ. Building up only happens when you and I take the commitment to the word of God seriously.

Paul also says that only by committing to God and to his word, you will be able to embrace your true identity. It gives you and inheritance among all those who are sanctified” in verse 32. It is the inheritance of being children of the living God, the ruler of the universe, the King. Seeing Jesus becoming greater in your life while you become less is about your true identity only in Christ. Who you are doesn’t make sense to you unless God explains to you who you are in Christ. Your purpose in life doesn’t make sense unless it the purpose God gives you in Christ. And, this knowing your true identity happens when you commit to God’s word, through which God can get it through you who you really are in Christ and shape you to live for his will.

• Be bound by the Spirit

v. 22, “Compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.” This is how Paul described the force of the Holy Spirit working in him. It is the force of binding that he couldn’t ignore although he knew by the Spirit that only imprisonment and hardships awaited him if he were to go to Jerusalem. To see Jesus become greater in our lives means we experience the binding of the Holy Spirit. And, to be bound by the Spirit, it requires spiritual reorientation each day. Each day, you must remind yourself through the word of God, who you are, and what you are destined to become, a person who makes much of God and makes little of yourself. When you orient yourself to the word of God, the Holy Spirit convicts your heart, compels you to God’s will.

• “Be on your guard” (v. 31)

... said Paul to the elders of the church of Ephesus. There are two aspects of being on your guard. Watching over yourself and watching over others. Both require understanding that the road to the promised land is not easy. Itt requires determination to finish the race, complete the task with vigilance. How do you let down your guard? When do you stop watching over yourself and over others? Isn’t that when you stop counting on God to come through for you and for others? Isn’t that when you stop relying on God for his help, his protection, his guide? Isn’t that when you stop praying? There is no such thing as being on guard for yourself and for others without coming to God, the only one who can guard you.

• Pray intimately (v. 36)

We see Paul and the elders on their knees embracing each other with affection. If you want to see Jesus become greater in your life. You need to experience this kind of intimate prayer with other brothers and sisters. So, if you have not come to pray on Wednesday when we pray corporately. Come and experience praying intensely.

• Live transparently

We see this in Paul’s life. He said in v. 18, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you.” For few years, Paul rubbed shoulders with the people he ministered to. He let his life speak for itself. When you don’t aim for transparency, you cannot see Jesus becoming greater in your life. This is because Jesus is the Light. The Light shines and darkness must be dispelled. When you embrace secrecy, hiding, darkness, you reject the Light, you reject Jesus. So, it is important to foster transparent, authentic, what you see is who you really are kind of life.

• Serve the Lord (v. 19)

With humility, with tears (“never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” V. 31), and with faithfulness Paul served the Lord.  To see Jesus becoming greater in your life, you must choose who you are going to serve.  To serve yourself is to see yourself become greater.  To serve Jesus and his cause is to see Jesus become greater in your life.  You cannot serve both yourself and Jesus. 

• Proclaim the gospel of God’s grace

Paul was a man who was completely gripped by the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ and only thing that made sense to him was to see more people become gripped by God's grace in Jesus as he was.  He wanted to see Jesus become greater in other's lives as it was for him.  For Paul, this was the worthy cause to devote his whole life to it even it meant risking his own life in doing so.  To see Jesus become greater in his life meant ensuring Jesus' message gets out.  We see his commitment to the gospel of God's grace that transformed his entire life. 

Verse 20, “not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you"; verse 21, “turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus"; verse 24, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace"; verse 27, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God." 

• Give generously (v. 35)

For Paul, the goal of his hard work was not to increase wealth, but to help others.  Jesus didn't withhold, but gave himself completely, generously, and sacrificially.  To see Jesus become greater in your life, as Paul did, requires you to give generously of yourselves as Jesus did. 

Sunday sermon, Galatians 2:20, Know and determine the price for freedom

Yesterday was Veterans Day. Each year, the Department of Veterans Affairs puts out a poster for Veterans Day. Let me show you this year’s poster. The title of the poster reads, “HONORING ALL WHO SERVED,” and towards the bottom reads, “To be a veteran one must know and determine one’s price for freedom.”

USA Today featured an article titled, “Medals carry great weight, as do men who wear them” November 10th, just this past Friday. (Link to the USA Today article)

And, the sub title reads, “27 servicemen have received top decorations for valor in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their stories testify to the brutality of war and the humanity behind heroism.”

These are our new generation’s combat heroes in their 20’s to 40’s. The article captures the split second moments before they acted bravely. The article reads, “This new generation of decorated troops talks of acting without thinking, except for moments of clarity when death seemed inevitable.” Bill Carr, a deputy undersecretary of Defense said, “We’re a nation that loves the struggle of men and women being better, being bigger tham themsevels, being selfless and talking risks on behalf of one another.”

Sgt. Maj. Bradley Kasal, 40 years old, he was shot seven times during close-quarter combat in Fallujah, Irag, in 2004. While wounded himself, he was trying to strip the gear off the fallen Marine next to him, Alex Nicoll, to locate a wound. That’s when a grenade landed close by. He said, “I looked, and there was a grenade sitting right there… I pushed Nicoll over and rolled on top of him and covered him up. The grenade went off. It rang my doorbell. The blast hit me in the leg, back of the arms, buttocks. The flack jacket took a lot of the blast.” He recalled, “I thought I’d bleed to death… That’s way I rolled over (the wounded Marine) to save him.”

Fonseca got his Navy Cross for his action on March 23, 2003. In the opening days of the war, a convoy of vehicles came under attack by the enemies’ fire as well as strafed (machine gunfire) by a U.S. jet accidentally. He recalled, “All this chaos around you, and I told myself real quick, ‘I’m not going to make it out of here.” Waiting to be next, he was thinking, “Is it going to be quick? Is it going to be painful? Am I going to feel anything?” What was he doing in the mean time? He was running from one vehicle to the next to treat wounded Marines.

Their moments of clarity when they thought they were going to die caught my attention. Thinking they were going to die, many of these brave soldiers were wired, trained to act to protect their comrades, fellow soldiers. But, the acts to throw their bodies to protect their comrades didn’t just happen. As the slogan states, they were trained to know and determine the price for freedom beforehand.

As Christians, our ultimate hero who is to receive the highest Medal of Honor in the universe is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrew writer calls us to think of him, to fix our eyes on him for he is “the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” To
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart.” says Hebrews 12:2-3.

Did Jesus think of dying on the cross for the first time when the moment came to be crucified? The truth is that he had known and determined the price of freedom for us; the price would be his death on the cross. Philippians 2:8 says, “before found in appearance of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!”

He said in Luke 9:23-26: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The reward is the freedom in Jesus Christ to experience God’s amazing love for us and to love him and love people. The reward is the freedom from the bondages of self-cravings and absorption, self-exaltation, self-worship.

You need to know and determine that the cost to this freedom is to renounce your agenda, your expectation, your rights… another word, you need to die to your self pride, your perceived rights, your will to win arguments at all cost… you need to die to the worldly desires that wages war against you.

To know and determine speaks to the fundamental shift in orientation. It is the shift from living your life as you fit and want, to living your life through the life of Jesus Christ.

Christian spiritual maturity is about Christ’s life becoming more dominant reality in us. Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

May God help you to know and determine the price for freedom in Christ!

Sunday Sermon: Judges 6, The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.

Normally it was Midianites and Amalekites who lived a nomadic lifestyle. Nomads are “a group of people who have no fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land.”[1] It was Midianites and Amalekites who lived this way. In contrary, when the Israelites finally came into the Promised Land during Joshua’s period, they were no longer people who wondered through the desert. They were the people of the land, each person belonging to the inherited portion of the inherited land from God.

But in chapter 6 of Judges, we witness something was very wrong. Verse 2-6 says:

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.

Why was this happening? This was the land that God promised to Abraham long ago, their forefather. After forty years of wondering in the desert, by God’s grace, they finally made into the land of Promise. How did they get to this point of impoverishment? How did they become a people of the land to a people being chased away from the land? Verse 1 summarizes what they did in the manner typical to the book of Judges: Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of Midianites.

I am certain that Israelites during this period did some deep soul searching, wondering what life was all about. Perhaps, you are doing the same soul searching trying to understand why your life is as it is. Is your life impoverished? Do you lack joy, peace, love, purpose? Do you feel like nomads dictated by life circumstances? Do you feel out of control?

Verse 6 says that after 7 years of misery and soul searching, the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help. I want you to listen carefully how God responded to them.

Verse 8-10 says that when they cried out for help to the LORD, he responded by sending a prophet. And, the prophet delivered the message from the LORD:

I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, `I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me.

Why did God allowed the Israelites’ life to become so impoverished, uprooted, anxiety filled, defeated, enslaved? It is so that they might turn to God for help!

1. God wants you to pay attention to the fact that He is the LORD, your God who alone can deliver you, free you, make your steps firm, help you to live the real life. He wants you to grapple again and again with his saving grace in Jesus Christ.

Does your life feel like something is missing big time? Turn to Jesus. Do you feel defeated by sins? Turn to Jesus. Does your heart feel cold? Turn to Jesus. Are you overcome by sadness? Turn to Jesus. Are you depressed? Turn to Jesus. Are you going through the motion of life and feel that life is meaningless? Turn to Jesus. God wants you to know that knowing him through his Son Jesus is the key to truly meaningful, fulfilled, satisfied life.

If we do not know this God, if we are not seeking to know him, if we are not drawing near to his son Jesus, if Jesus is not in the center of our thoughts, emotions, decisions, actions, we can only live substandard, unsatisfying, frustrating, defeated life.
God wants to take you to Calvary, to the cross where your savior, Jesus died for you, where he was killed to take the full blow of God’s curse against you in sin, where he forgives all your sins, so that you can have reconciled life with him and with others.

Is the death of Jesus for you a past act, irrelevant to you? Oh, I pray that the Holy Spirit come upon you to convict you of your need for the living Savior every day.

Now, I am going to speak on the life of Gideon, a judge whom God raised up. We are going to learn from the story of Gideon that God can and will use you mightily for his glory.

2. When God calls you to do his will, he promises you his enabling powerful presence now!

In 6:12, an angel of the LORD told Gideon, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” And from this point on, we meet Gideon not responding with faith and trust, but with whole lot of “buts.”

When God brings us to grapple with the magnitude of his sacrificing love through his Son two thousand years ago, he doesn’t just leave us there. He doesn’t have us grapple with his past act of death on the cross alone. He tells us that he is here with us now! That is exactly what God did with Gideon. God was raising Gideon up for his purpose to rescue and deliver Israel from the oppression. Our God is not God of past, but God who is present now! And, it is his presence of God that made Gideon a mighty warrior.

So, when the LORD said to Gideon through the angel, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior,” he was calling Gideon to place his trust in God’s enabling presence.

To this Gideon replied in verse 13, “But sir… if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt? But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” When the LORD promised, “The LORD is with you,” to Gideon, God was promising his enabling powerful presence for Gideon to accomplish God’s kingdom works. But, Gideon’s response was not of gratitude, thankfulness. Instead Gideon couldn’t reconcile in his mind God’s promise of his presence and the current oppression. He conveniently forgot that God allowed the oppression because of the Israelites’ unbelief, to turn them to himself.

Verse 14, “The LORD turned to him and said, “God in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” God redirected Gideon’s attention to what God was going to do through Gideon. Now in verse 15, Gideon’s response seems to be of humble nature… “But Lord… how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” This is not true humility. Because true humility would say, in contrary to what I think and what I feel about myself and situation, I will trust in what you say! It was God sending him, with his abiding presence. God was going to deliver Israel out of the misery through Gideon. All that God was calling Gideon to do was trust what God had told him. Again, in verse 16 God affirmed Gideon, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

And, from verse 17 to 24, we see how a beginning of Gideon’s quest for signs from God. Gideon wasn’t satisfied with God’s word of promise that he was going to be with him and that Gideon was going to strike down all the Midianites together. He wasn’t convinced by God’s word. He needed more proof. So what does he do? He hastily prepared sacrifices to offer to the LORD. And, what did God do? Verse 21 says, “With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.”

And, we see this attempt to make certain of God’s promise by seeking signs by Gideon from verse 36 to verse 40. First, he asked only on a fleece, a peace of sheep skin, to be wet by the morning dew and not the surrounding ground. And, God did. Then again, Gideon asked for a sign, this time for the fleece to be dry while the ground surround it be covered with dew. And, God did the sign again.

In spite of Gideon’s unbelief, God graciously gave him the signs to turn his unbelief into belief in what God promised. The point is not that we ought to seek signs from God. Because Gideon asking signs was a sign of unbelief. Rather, it shows how much God wanted to use Gideon for his purpose. So, the story speaks of God’s patience and graciousness to convince Gideon that God was really with Gideon.

3. When God call you to do his will, he calls you to hack away any hindrance. (6:25-32)

Going back to verse 25 to verse 32, God called Gideon to destroy the Baal’s alter and to build the altar for God. Verse 27 says that Gideon was afraid of his family and the men of the town. So, he did it at night rather than in the daytime. Now, this isn’t exactly what you might want to put on the hall of fame of courageous acts. The altar to Baal and the Aherah pole were the idols that were dear to Gideon’s family and his clan. It is like going to someone’s house who have a shrine set up in their room to destroy it.

As coward as it might sound, the important thing is the fact that Gideon obeyed. In order to be used by God, you need to deal with any sinful stumbling block that prevents you from doing God’s will.


[1] Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V.