SERMON: BECOMING ALL THINGS (Acts 21:17-36)

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Acts 21:17-26

 

Acts 21:17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

 

20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

 

26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

 

            -- one day, a young blonde woman was shopping and found a great bargain in the store – she went up to the salesman and told him, “I would like to buy this TV” – the salesman responded, “Sorry, but we don’t sell to blondes”

-- She hurried home and dyed her hair, then came back and again told the salesman, "I would like to buy this TV." – he said, “I’m sorry, but we don’t sell to blondes," -- "Darn,” she thought, “he recognized me."

            -- so she went back home and went for a complete disguise this time; haircut and new color, new outfit, big sunglasses -- she waited a few days before she again approached the salesman – when he walked up, she said to him, "I would like to buy this TV."

            -- and once again, he replied, “Sorry, but we don’t sell to blondes."

-- Frustrated, she exclaimed, "How do you know I’m a blonde?"

            -- he said, “Because this is a microwave”

 

            -- just because someone is sure of something doesn’t mean it’s true – and that’s true for microwaves, TVs, and spiritual matters

            -- for the last several weeks, we have been following the Apostle Paul on his three missionary journeys – and we have seen how the Apostle Paul patiently helped new converts grow in the faith

-- once they responded to the gospel and became believers in Jesus, he continued to teach them what it meant to be a Christian – he helped strengthen and encourage them in their faith as he led them into greater understandings and revealed deeper truths about the gospel of Christ to them – and even after he left those churches, he continued to reach out to them in his letters to answer their questions about faith, to correct wrong understandings about salvation and Christianity, and to help them become mature believers

-- so, we have seen in our study in the Book of Acts that it takes time, and it takes growth in the faith, to fully understand the truth of the gospel and the good news of salvation through Christ and to become mature believers

 

-- as we move forward into the final major section in our study in the Book of Acts, we find the Apostle Paul back in Jerusalem – and once again, he is confronted with several groups of people who are just not fully mature in their understanding of the faith, salvation, and the relationship of Christianity to the Law

-- so, let’s take a look now at this passage and see how Paul reacted to these immature believers, so that we might learn how to respond similarly in our own lives as we seek to mentor and disciple new Christians in the faith

 

II.  Scripture Lesson (Acts 21:17-22:27)

            -- look back at Acts 21:17-20a

 

Acts 21:17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

 

20 When they heard this, they praised God.

 

            -- this is Paul’s fifth and final visit to Jerusalem – he ended his third missionary journey in Caesarea, and then came to Jerusalem at the prompting of the Holy Spirit – carrying with him an offering for the saints in Jerusalem from the churches that he had founded throughout Asia and Macedonia

            -- when he arrived in Jerusalem, Paul sought out the church and was greeted warmly by all the saints in Jerusalem – on the next day, he went to meet with James and the other leaders of the church, sharing with them the good news of what Christ had done among the Gentiles in all the areas where Paul had established churches

            -- the leaders of the church praised God for the report – which reminds us that we should always celebrate the good news that we hear from other churches and praise God for how He is using all His people in so many ways to continue to grow the faith and spread the word of Christ to all

 

            -- look back at the second part of verse 20 – 20b-26

 

Acts 17:20b Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

 

26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

 

            -- when Paul finished sharing how God had moved in the Gentiles, James and the other leaders told him that they had seen a similar response among the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea – thousands of Jews had become believers in Jesus as the Messiah – and had become Christians since Paul’s absence

            -- but note what they say at the end of verse 20 – all of these Messianic Jews – all of these Jewish believers in Christ – were zealous for the law

            -- what does that mean? – well, this could be a problem, although the leaders in Jerusalem didn’t seem to be worried about it

 

– to be zealous for the law meant that these Jewish believers were still following the law of Moses to the letter – they were zealous for it – they were dedicated to the law – they tried to fulfill the law and all its commands

-- this meant that these Jewish believers were still following the Jewish dietary restrictions – they were still making the required sacrifices and offerings at the temple – they were still doing all they things they did before they came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah

-- in other words, these Jewish believers were not living fully under the grace that came through Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life – for them it was not Jesus alone – it was Jesus plus Judaism – and this was something that Paul had opposed from the very beginning

-- if you remember, the first major controversy in the church was about the salvation of the Gentiles – what was required for a Gentile to be saved? – did they have to become Jews first? – to be circumcised and follow the law before they could receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior?

-- the council in Acts 15 had decided that the Gentiles didn’t have to do that – the council agreed that salvation for the Gentiles was by grace through faith – and the only extra thing the council asked of the Gentiles was that they would abstain from sexual immorality, not eat meat sacrificed to idols, and abstain from blood and the meat of strangled animals – not because this was required for salvation, but as a concession to the Jews in their midst

 

-- based on this passage, it seems that when the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea became believers, they remained fully Jews in a religious sense – because verse 20 says they were zealous for the law – this means that they still practiced Judaism as they had been taught – they simply added Jesus to their existing Jewish faith

            -- this would not agree with Paul’s clear teaching throughout the book of Acts and in his epistles that salvation was by grace through faith alone – and not by works – which would include following the law and the offering of sacrifices in the temple for cleansing from sin

 

            -- so, how do we make sense of this? – there’s several possible answers to this

 

            -- first – following the rule of Occam’s Razor, which says the simplest explanation is usually correct – we can assume that these Jewish believers being zealous of the law is exactly what we just talked about

            -- they have not accepted Jesus’ atoning death on the cross as the payment for sins and eternal life – they are still fully religious Jews – making sacrifices for sin in the temple and following all the Jewish laws – they’ve simply come to the understanding that Jesus is the promised Messiah – they’re just not putting their faith in Him alone for their salvation

 

            -- second – it could be that their adherence to the Jewish law was simply from a cultural understanding – remember that to be a Jew in the first century meant that you belonged to a system that was not only religious, but included their government and their culture

            -- so, to follow the law may mean that these Jews continued to follow all the cultural and societal practices of Judaism – they respected the traditions – they only ate foods that were clean and approved in the Torah -- they would still go to the temple to worship God – but they put their faith in Jesus for salvation in the same way Paul taught

            -- they would follow the law because they were part of the Jewish community, but they were not depending on following the law for their salvation – instead, they believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law and had paid the penalty for all their sins – just as we believe

 

            -- or, third – it could be that these were immature Christians – they were babes in Christ – and didn’t fully understand what it meant to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior

            -- they still followed the Law because it was all they knew – it was what they had been taught as children – it was what all their family and friends did – but they believed in Jesus as their Messiah and Savior – they just didn’t understand that Jesus had fulfilled the Law through His life, death, and resurrection and that they didn’t need to follow the law anymore – they continued to do so – not because they thought it was necessary – but because they didn’t fully understand the truth

 

            -- so, it comes down to one of three things – Judaism plus Jesus – following the law as a cultural and societal practice – or they were just immature and didn’t fully understand the truth of the gospel yet

            -- to be honest, we just don’t know what the true situation was – and I don’t know if the Apostle Paul fully knew, either – so, when the leaders told Paul that the Jews in Jerusalem were concerned that he had been teaching Jews in Asia and Macedonia to stop following the Law, Paul made a concession for them in order to keep unity and peace in the church – in the same way he had allowed the Gentiles to be told to abstain from blood, eating meat sacrificed to idols, and sexual immorality

 

            -- even though Paul always maintained that salvation was by grace through faith alone, he was still a Jew – and he never did anything that would cause any of his fellow Jews to stumble

            -- it’s the same way he taught in 1 Corinthians that if eating meat sacrificed to idols caused someone concern, then you shouldn’t do it – in this case, he realized that if the freedom in Christ that he had been teaching to the Gentiles in Asia and Macedonia was going to cause these Jewish believers concern or distress, then he was going to do what was necessary to keep the peace until they matured in the faith and truly understood the significance of the cross, the atoning death of Jesus, and the resurrection

            -- there were four men there in Jerusalem who had taken religious vows, and the leaders asked Paul to join them and pay for the expenses of their purification rites – which would end with the men going to the temple, making a special offering, and having their heads shaved as evidence of the end of their vow

            -- since this would not violate Paul’s belief in Jesus as the sole means of salvation, he agreed to do so, because this would demonstrate to the Jews in Jerusalem that he was not teaching contrary to the Jewish traditions in that community

 

            -- verse 27-36

 

Acts 21:27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

 

30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

 

33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

 

            -- when the time of purification was over, Paul went to the temple along with these four men who had taken the vows – but while he was there, some Jews from Asia – Jews who were not believers in Jesus – saw Paul there and got upset

            -- they knew that Paul had been living with Gentiles in Asia – which was not an accepted practice for any Jew – and when they saw Paul in the temple, they jumped to the conclusion that Paul had actually brought Gentiles into the temple with him, which was not true

            -- these Jews yelled for help and convinced the crowd to attack Paul, because they thought he had violated the law and was teaching people to not follow the law

            -- this led to an uproar in Jerusalem as the Jews dragged Paul out of the temple and began to beat him – the Romans got word of the uprising, and responded to put a stop to it – they saw the crowd beating Paul and arrested him and put him into chains for his own protection – as the crowd continued to shout, the Roman centurion couldn’t make sense of what was going on and had Paul led to the Roman barracks to find out what was going on

 

            -- I’m not going to go into detail about this uprising and Paul’s response for time’s sake – so, just to summarize – when Paul was taken to the barracks, he asked to speak to the crowd – and when he spoke to them in Aramaic – the language of the common Jew in Jerusalem – the crowd quieted because they realized that only a Jew would be able to do that

            -- Paul gave them his testimony – sharing with them the events that occurred on the road to Damascus and how he saw Jesus in a blinding light on the road – he told of how Ananias restored his vision through the power of the Spirit – and how God had called him to be His witness to all men

            -- but when Paul said that God had called him to share the good news of salvation with the Gentiles, the crowd erupted in fury again and called for his death

            -- the centurion ordered Paul flogged, but stopped once he found out Paul was a Roman citizen – and the passage ends with the centurion asking his commander for direction since Paul was a Roman citizen and it was against the law to chain or punish a citizen without a trial

            -- we’ll pick up on the action and find out what happens to Paul next week as we continue our series in the Book of Acts

 

III.  Closing

            -- but as we close this morning, we need to consider what we should do when we are confronted with people who oppose us or find fault with what we are doing

            -- in our churches today, there are a lot of people and a lot of denominations that have particular and strong beliefs about a variety of subjects, including baptism, worship style, communion, and other aspects of our faith

            -- for instance, some people claim that the only valid form of baptism is immersion – and that any other form is wrong

            -- some people claim that the only acceptable type of music is hymns – and to have guitars or contemporary worship music in a church is wrong – others have even gone so far to say that you can’t have musical instruments at all

            -- some people maintain that communion is only for believers – while others say that the Lord’s table is open to all

            -- and some people say that using any Bible other than the King James Version is a sin

            -- there are just so many gatekeepers in the church today that think it has to be their way or the highway – that only they know the truth, and everyone else is wrong

 

            -- when the Apostle Paul got to Jerusalem and was told that the Jews there had concerns about him teaching Jews in Asia and Macedonia that they didn’t need to follow the law for salvation, he had a choice to make

            -- he could have gotten confrontational – which we all know was something he did from time to time – we see that in the Book of Acts and we see that in his epistles – he could have just stood his ground and yelled at them – but he didn’t

            -- he could have condemned the elders in Jerusalem for teaching a false gospel – for not sharing the full truth of salvation by grace through faith with the Jews there – he could have split off and formed his own sect and followers

            -- but he didn’t do that either – instead, Paul was patient and considerate – he considered the audience – he considered what they had been taught – he considered their maturity level in the faith – and he considered what would happen if he confronted them and told them they were wrong

            -- in the end, Paul decided to show grace to these Jewish believers – to show understanding – to show empathy and compassion – although he had become convinced that the law had already been fulfilled by Jesus and that nothing else was required for salvation beyond faith through grace, Paul didn’t demand that of these Jewish believers

            -- instead, he decided to become one with them in unity, since doing so would not be a violation of what he believed – and probably with the idea that as these believers matured, they would come to fully understand the freedom they had in Christ

            -- just as Paul would not eat meat sacrificed to idols before those who were concerned about it – although he knew that doing so was nothing and meant nothing – Paul continued to follow the cultural and societal laws as a good Jewish member of the community – this is an example of Paul continuing the practice of being considerate towards less mature believers to keep them from stumbling

 

            -- it is worth noting that the sacrifices and offerings made as part of this vow that Paul participated in here did not have to do with the atonement of sin, but were simply offerings of righteousness made to God in accordance with this particular vow

– I have to believe that if Paul was asked to make an offering for the atonement of his sin in the temple, he would have refused, because that would have been a direct violation of his understanding of salvation – but that was not the case, so to follow the law in this instance would not be a violation of the truth of the gospel that he followed and would demonstrate to the Jews that he was still a Jew himself and still held to the cultural and societal rules for Jews

 

-- so, what about us? – what should we do when we are confronted with similar issues and concerns in our churches today?

-- if it is a non-foundational area – if it is an issue that doesn’t involve salvation – then I think we should follow Paul’s example, and try to avoid doing anything that might cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble

-- for instance, a couple of years ago I was asked to be a pallbearer in a funeral at a church that did not believe in musical instruments – I could have said no – I could have said that I believed it was okay to use instruments in church and if they weren’t going to do so, then I wasn’t participating – but this was a non-foundational area – something that didn’t matter in regards to salvation – so, I went and served as a pallbearer and sang acapella, to the horror of those around me

-- in the same way, when I go to churches where members are more charismatic – or maintain that baptism is by immersion alone – I just go with what they are doing – because in the whole scheme of things, it doesn’t matter – our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins is not dependent on our worship music or the amount of water used in baptism or whether we speak in tongues or not – so, I just try to not do anything or hold any position that would cause a more immature brother or sister in the faith to stumble – which is what I see Paul doing here

 

-- on the other hand, if it is a foundational area, then I think we need to take a stand and not do something that is contrary to our faith – several years ago, I had a friend who joined the Mormon church and she asked me to attend her baptism – I do not believe the Mormon faith is compatible with Christianity – their understanding of the Trinity and who Jesus is and what happens after we die does not line up with any understanding of orthodox Christianity

-- I felt that my presence there would imply my concurrence with their beliefs, and even though this person was a dear friend of mine, I told her I could not go

 

            -- we need to choose our battles – be firm on foundational issues – but be full of grace in those areas that don’t matter – just like Paul in this passage

            -- and with that, let’s close in prayer – and let’s consider how we may continue to be good witnesses for Christ, no matter where we are or who we are with

            -- let us pray

SERMON: APPROACHING THE FINISH LINE (ACTS 20:17-38)

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Acts 20:17-24

 

Acts 20:17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

 

22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

 

      -- I’m sure everyone here is familiar with the story of the Lord of the Rings – as you remember, four hobbits have been tasked to leave their home in the Shire to carry the One Ring to be destroyed in the fires of Mordor in order to destroy the power of the evil Sauron, who threatens the entire world

      -- so, for the first time in their lives, these four hobbits leave home – they leave their familiar surroundings – they step out of their comfort zones and into the unknown – and find themselves in the middle of an amazing journey that they share with wizards, warriors, dwarves, and elves

      – this is so far from what they have known – this is so different from anything they ever imagined – they find the world much more vast – much more good – and much more evil – than they ever imagined

      -- as the story progresses and the four hobbits find themselves in the middle of this great quest -- as they are yet confronted with more difficulties in their struggle against the evil of their day -- the hobbit Sam Gamgee turns to his friend Frodo and asks, "What sort of tale have we fallen into?"

 

      -- that question has been on my mind from the very first moment that I read these books – “What sort of tale have we fallen into?”

      -- in that question, Tolkien opened our eyes to the truth that we are here for a reason – our lives are part of a bigger whole – we find ourselves in the midst of a great story that started in the Garden of Eden – and that continues to this day and beyond

      -- it is the ultimate story of good versus evil – of redemption and renewal and rescue from the evil of sin and death that stalks all of us

      -- and it is a story that we are not just reading, but that we are part of

 

      -- the Apostle Paul was certainly mindful of that – and as we turn now to the end of his third missionary journey, we see him looking back on the roads that he has traveled and remembering the people who journeyed with him – the adventures they had – the success and the hardships they enjoyed as they shared the gospel with so many people -- and we see him looking ahead towards the end – as the finish line of his part of the story is almost in sight

      -- this morning, we are finishing up the third major part of our study in the Book of Acts – we began this study with Part I -- “A New Hope – the Beginning of the Church of Christ on Earth” – which covered Acts 1 through Acts 8 – it was in this section that we learned of Christ’s mandate to the church in Acts 1:8 to carry the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth – and we saw how the coming of the Holy Spirit empowered the early Christians with a bold message, bold prayers, and bold hearts

      -- the Second Part was called, “Unexpected Gospel Growth,” which covered Acts 8 through 12 – in this second part, we learned that the term unexpected growth did not only apply to growth in numbers, as we saw the church begin to grow with more and more people coming to faith in Jesus -- but also that the growth in the early church was unexpected in terms of who responded to the gospel – it was in this section that we saw the first Gentiles come to a saving knowledge of Christ, to the astonishment of Peter and the other leaders of the church, who initially thought that salvation was only for the Jews

      -- in this third section of our study in the Book of Acts – “The Mission Continues” – which covers Acts 13 through 21 – the focus of the Book of Acts is on Paul and his missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire, as he finds himself in the midst of a sweeping story to share the good news of Jesus to the very ends of the earth

 

II.  Scripture Lesson – Acts 20:17-38

-- as this passage in Acts 20 opens, Paul knows his time on earth is short – his journey is coming to an end

-- the Spirit has told him he would face prison and hardships on this journey -- his very death has been prophesied -- but still he is faithful and turns his face towards the finish line and the end of his part in this story of salvation and evangelism -- pressing on to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus Christ had given him

 

-- last week, we left Paul in Ephesus, as he spent a considerable amount of time ministering in the local church there – strengthening their faith and encouraging them as they began their own journey with Christ

-- Paul was forced to leave Ephesus because his teaching incited a riot among the silversmiths and other tradesmen who made household idols for pagan worshipers – as the church in Ephesus grew and the people turned to the truth of the gospel, fewer people were buying these idols – and the idol-makers were afraid that their livelihood was threatened

-- so, after the uproar ended, Paul left Ephesus and traveled through Macedonia, finally arriving in Greece, where he stayed three months – he originally planned to sail from Greece back to Syria, but he heard of a plot against his life from the Jews – so, he changed his plans and traveled back on foot through Macedonia until he reached Philippi – he sailed from Philippi to Troas – and then continued to travel down the coast by ship – ending up in the city of Miletus, on the western coast of present-day Turkey

-- which brings us to Acts 20:17 – let’s turn there again and look at this passage together and see what we can learn from Paul as he meets with the elders from the church of Ephesus and shares with them his thoughts on this amazing journey of faith that is now coming to an end

 

-- Acts 20:17-21

 

Acts 20:17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

 

 

            -- as his ship stops at the port of Miletus, Paul calls for his friends, the elders from the church of Ephesus, to meet with him there on the shore – Paul had intentionally not gone back to Ephesus, because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem – and he knew that if he went to Ephesus, he wouldn’t be able to leave quickly – for his heart was with the people in that church

-- instead, he called for the elders to come meet him -- and when they arrive, they gather around him – all of them know the truth of the matter – they are aware that Paul’s time is short – and they know that this will be the last time they will see each other on earth

-- their tears begin to flow -- they share remembrances of their life together -- they talk about the success of the church and Paul's hope for their future

            -- he encourages them to stand firm in the future -- and he reminds them of the example he has given through his own life of faith -- from the very beginning, Paul's courage to persevere in the face of difficulty was evident – and he reminds them that this was not of himself, but from the very power of God through the Holy Spirit

            -- Paul had stood up in the face of persecution from his fellow Jews -- both from within and from outside the church of Christ -- he had stood against the heresies of the Judaizers -- Jewish converts who demanded the Gentiles become Jews if they would seek salvation through Christ -- in the face of their demands of the Gentiles, Paul had boldly stood up and said, "No, salvation is by grace through faith alone -- not by works, lest any man should boast" -- Christianity was not Jesus plus Judaism, but Jesus alone

 

            -- Paul's stand against them is a reminder that the opposite of courage is not cowardice, but conformance -- and sometimes courage is simply the ability to lean into your wisdom and do something different -- to stand against the traditions of religion and what the world says is the right way in order to uphold the true doctrines of faith

            -- Paul had never wavered in his faith when confronted with the schemes and the plots of the Jews against his life, but continued to serve God in the face of floggings and imprisonment and stoning -- through shipwrecks and hardship -- through trials and defeats

            -- Paul reminds us here that courage does not necessarily mean you will be successful in all your endeavors – but that true courage can be seen when you continue on and press forward in faith – trusting in the Spirit to empower you to keep on doing what you know to be right despite what adversities come your way

            -- Paul tells the Ephesian elders that he did not hesitate to preach anything that would be helpful -- but that he declared to both the Jews and the Greeks the true gospel of Christ – that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in the Lord Jesus – Paul’s example to the elders and to us is that courage can be as simple as being obedient to God's word in a Christ-rejecting world while we walk with Him on this amazing journey to which we have been called

 

            -- verse 22-24

 

Acts 20:22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

 

            -- throughout his journey with Christ, Paul displayed faith and trust and courage, because he knew that God was with him – even now, as he was headed to Jerusalem, he knew that prison and hardship was ahead – but, he tells the elders, this is nothing to me – the important thing is to be faithful to the gospel – to finish the race – and to complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me

            -- In John 16:33 Jesus told his disciples, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart -- have courage -- I have overcome the world." -- as Bill Gothard wrote, courage is "acting on the knowledge that He who is in me is greater than he who is against me."

            -- Paul tells us it was the Holy Spirit Himself who compelled him to go on into the unknown at Jerusalem -- Paul could face the future unafraid because he knew God was with him and he knew God was greater than anything and anyone he was going to face – and he knew why God had called him – he knew his purpose and his mission on earth

            -- the whole point that Paul is trying to get across to the elders and to us is that we are here for a reason – our existence in this place is not the result of coincidence or chance – but we have been put into the midst of this great story of faith so that we might fulfill the purpose for which God calls us

            -- Paul says, “I know why I was called – I was faithful to the end – and you must do the same”

           

            -- verse 25-31

 

Acts 20:25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

      -- in his books, John Eldredge points out that our favorite stories all revolve around three eternal truths – truths that God has written on our hearts – truths that have propelled people of faith forward since the Garden of Eden

      -- the first eternal truth is that things are not what they seem -- there is more going on than meets the eye

      -- the hero of the story is always living just an ordinary life -- just caught up in day-to-day living of life -- totally unaware of anything but simply making it through their day

      -- but then, the second eternal truth comes into play -- the hero is made aware that there is some great battle or quest or struggle underway

      -- and then they are told of the third eternal truth -- they have a crucial role to play in this battle or quest

 

      -- that is the truth that Paul is trying to get across to the elders of Ephesus – that is the truth that we see written for us in the stories of faith in the Book of Acts

      -- if we will just open our spiritual eyes – if we will look at this world through eyes of faith – then we will come to realize that things not what they seem – that there is more going on in this world – that there is more at stake in this world – than what we see on the surface

      -- and that we are not who we think we are – but that we are something more – that we are the people of God – washed in the blood of Christ and called to be part of something greater than ourselves – empowered by the very presence of God through the Holy Spirit

      -- and called to go forth on this amazing adventure of faith to carry the good news of Christ to the ends of the earth – so that others might know of the grace that brings forgiveness from sin and eternal life

 

      -- that is the message that Paul is trying to get the elders to grasp here – that is the message that we need to take to heart – Sam Gamgee figured it out when he asked Frodo, “What sort of tale have we fallen into?” – the answer to that question is given to us here in the Book of Acts

      -- we see it in the life of the Apostle Paul – and as his part in the story comes to an end, he is passing on the flame of faith to the elders at Ephesus and to us – and we must go forward in the name of Christ as His church in this place – serving and ministering to the world around us – as we continue on in the journey that began in the Garden of Eden

 

      -- Paul says here that he has fulfilled what the Lord had called him to do – he had not hesitated to proclaim to them the whole will of God – and now he challenges them to do the same – to keep watch over themselves and the church that that the Holy Spirit has given them to oversee

      -- he tells them that his part in the story is over – and now their part is beginning – they are to shepherd and lead the church – to protect them from those who will try to come in and harm the sheep – to keep them safe from false teachers and false teachings – to stand up against persecution from the religious people and from the Government – to be faithful and to continue on in their own journeys of faith, just as Paul had been faithful in his to the end

 

      -- verse 32-35

 

Acts 20:32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

 

      -- for several years, Paul had stood as the leader and shepherd of the church at Ephesus – he had founded the church – he had ministered to the people – he had shared the gospel with them and strengthened them in their faith

 

      -- but now, it is time for the elders to assume this role in full – so, he commits them to God and to the word of His grace – in essence, Paul is placing them in God’s hands – and he is telling them to trust in God and His Spirit – because it is God who will continue to build them up and strengthen their faith – it is God who will give them the ability to minister and lead the people – it is God who will lead them through sanctification to help them become more and more like Jesus every day

      -- Paul tells them to rely on God as he did – reminding them that he never asked for anything from them – he never took silver or gold or anything else from them – but that he trusted God to meet all his needs and to supply all his requirements as he poured himself out for them – and they are to do the same as they step into his shoes to lead the people in the church at Ephesus

 

      -- verse 36-38

 

Acts 20:36 When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

 

      -- when Paul was finished speaking – when he had given his challenge and passed on the mantle of leadership to these elders and committed them to their journey of faith – he knelt down and prayed for them

      -- it was a moving moment for the church – and the elders embraced him and poured out their love on him as they accompanied him to the ship that would take him to his final destination – knowing that they would never see him again – but trusting that God would be with Paul, wherever his journey may take him

 

III.  Closing

      -- so, what are we to take from this last moving experience of Paul at the end of his third and final missionary journey?  -- quite simply, it is this

 

      -- we may think that we are just living ordinary humdrum lives, but we need to be aware that things are not what they seem – we are not what we seem – in fact, we are just like the Apostle Paul and all of the others we read about here in the Book of Acts

      -- we are in the middle of a great quest -- a grand epic battle -- a struggle between good and evil -- that is being played out around us every single day

      -- and God is reminding us that we are part of this story -- we have a role to play -- we have a purpose – each and every one of us – we have all been gifted by the Spirit in different ways, so that we can reach and minister to different people along the way

      -- our calling – our purpose – our mission – is the same one that Paul shares with the Ephesian elders in this passage – as members of Christ’s church – as His hands and feet and lips in this world today – we are to go out into the world and to help others see the truth -- to show them the light -- and to point them to the life that can come only through Jesus

 

      -- but as we see in Paul’s life – as we see in the lives of the many heroes of faith who have gone before us – know that this journey will not be easy -- there will be trials and struggles along the way -- roadblocks and detours and danger mixed in with the joy and the happiness

      -- “what sort of tale do we find ourselves in?” – it is a tale of faith and courage and perseverance – and as we travel along this journey, we will be confronted with conflicts and challenges – with familiar friends and new characters who come into our lives for a reason – because they are part of our story, too

 

      -- you know that waitress who was so busy she couldn't bring you a refill when you asked? -- you know that cashier who was rude to you the other day in the store? -- you know that person who cut you off while driving to work? -- you know that student that looks to you for help and support? -- you know that lady who comes up to you in the parking lot asking for money to buy gas?

      -- they're all part of this story, too -- they're the reason for the story – they are the whole point of the story – because the Bible tells us that an evil enemy is after them – he is trying to steal away their joy -- to destroy their hope -- to kill their eternal life

      -- and he will do whatever he can to keep you from pointing them to the truth -- from pointing them to life -- from pointing them to Jesus

 

      -- we don't have any idea where our story will take us -- we don't have any idea who we will meet along the way or what adventures we will have

      -- but we know our mission -- we know our calling -- we know why we are running this race – we are reminded of this in Paul’s farewell address to the elders of the church of Ephesus

      -- we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind -- we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves -- and we are called to go and make disciples of the whole world, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught us

      -- and we know what our reward is at the end of the race -- eternal life with Jesus in Heaven

 

      -- the Apostle Paul has given us a model to follow – from the moment of his dramatic conversion to faith in Jesus on the Road to Damascus through his three missionary journeys, Paul has been a faithful witness for the Lord

      -- he has run his race with faith, putting his whole trust in the Lord Jesus – who empowered him and protected him through the Holy Spirit

      -- and now we are to follow his example – to follow his footsteps – to take up our cross – and to follow Jesus on this great adventure of faith – not knowing where He might lead – but trusting in Him to help us accomplish our calling and our purpose in Him – as we press forward to the end – eternal life with Him forever

 

      -- so, with that challenge before us, let us come together now in prayer to commit ourselves to God – let’s ask that He would build us up and strengthen our faith – and that He would lead us on this amazing journey to which He has called us

      -- let us pray

 

SERMON: FINDING JESUS -- KNOWING JESUS VERSUS KNOWING ABOUT JESUS (Acts 18-19)

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Acts 18:23-26

 

Acts 18:23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

 

24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

 

            -- one day this church was having a baptismal service down at the baptizing hole in the river -- an old drunk was wandering by and saw the preacher standing out in the water and waded out and stood beside him -- the preacher looked over and saw the drunk standing there and asked, "Are you ready to find Jesus?" -- the drunk said, "Yes" -- so the preacher grabbed him and plunged him under the water

            -- the drunk came up from the water and the preacher asked him, "Have you found Jesus?" -- the drunk said, "No" -- so the preacher plunged him back under again -- he brought him back up and asked him again, "Have you found Jesus?" -- the drunk answered again, "No"

            -- thoroughly disgusted by this time, the minister grabbed the drunk, plunged him under the water, and held him there for a good thirty seconds -- the drunk came back up, gasping for air, spitting and sputtering -- the preacher yelled at the drunk this time, "Have you found Jesus?" -- the drunk replied, "No, but before you put me back under again, are you sure this is where He fell in?"

 

            -- today’s theme is all about finding Jesus – specifically, we see this passage revolving around the question – do you know Jesus or do you just know about Him?

            -- and that is a good question for all of us to consider in our own lives – first, it speaks to salvation – for as we will see, there is a vast difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus – but it also speaks to living our Christian life in the world today – Christians can be functionally atheists – and what I mean by that is that we can be believers in Christ – we can be washed in the blood and saved by grace through faith in Jesus – but we live our lives completely without the presence of Jesus

            -- and what this looks like in practice is coming to church and Bible study – listening to podcasts and YouTube videos – listening to sermons and teaching on the radio – and taking in all of this information about Jesus and intellectually accepting all that we hear – but doing nothing with it

            -- Christian atheists – Jesus in our hearts and heads – but not in our hands and feet – even though we know Jesus, we live our lives without Him

            -- hopefully, by the time we get done looking at today’s passages, we will have a better understanding on this topic and make a commitment to quit living like atheists and to start living like the blood-bought saints that we are – because, honestly, that’s the whole point of this sermon series in the Book of Acts

            -- if you come away from this series just knowing more about the New Testament church and the journeys of the Apostle Paul and nothing else, then we have failed in what the Spirit wants us to do – because true Christianity is living out what we know in our lives – letting the Spirit empower us to go and do and be who we are called to be in Christ

            -- so, with that, let’s look now at Acts 18 and 19 and see what we can learn about the difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus

 

II.  Scripture Lesson

            -- here in Acts 18, we see Paul’s second missionary journey with Silas come to an end – when we left off last week, Paul was alone in the city of Athens, trying to convince the learned men of the Areopagus about the truth of the gospel and how Jesus’ death and resurrection made the forgiveness of sins and eternal life a reality for all believers

            -- Paul left Athens and traveled to Corinth, where he first meets Aquila and Priscilla – fellow believers who are instrumental in mentoring and discipling other believers during their travels

            -- Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth for a while, working with them in their tent-making trade and preaching and teaching on the side – when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul spent more time preaching and teaching in the city of Corinth than before – and once again, we see opposition from the Jews against Paul and the gospel

            -- Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla left Corinth and sailed for Syria, making their way to Ephesus – the group split at this point, with Paul continuing on with Silas and Timothy to Jerusalem to fulfill a vow to the Lord and then back to Antioch, his home church

            -- and thus ended the second missionary journey of Paul

 

            -- which brings us to Acts 18:23 – look down at that again with me

 

Acts 18:23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

 

 

            -- so, after some time in Antioch, Paul felt a calling to go back to visit the churches throughout Galatia and Phrygia – staying for a while in cities such as Pisidian Antioch, Colossae, and Laodicea – where he preached and taught the believers and strengthened the fledgling churches

            -- before we move on to the heart of the passages for today, let me point out something here – we tend to think of Paul as a traveling evangelist – and he was – but he was more than that

 

            -- just this week, I was driving past a couple of churches that were announcing they were having summer revivals with guest evangelists coming in to speak

– the evangelists in our day are not like Paul – they come to a church – they preach and teach for a few days – at most, a week – and then they move on – Billy Graham did the same in his crusades – he never stayed more than a week or two in any one city

-- but that was not what Paul did – Paul was more than an evangelist – he was also a church planter, a mentor, and a guide – he didn’t just come into a city, preach and teach for a week, and leave – but he spent weeks and months – in some cases, like in Ephesus, Paul stayed for two years with the church there – leading them and guiding them as they built up their congregation and began worshiping together as new believers in Christ

-- so, don’t get the impression that Paul was just moving quickly from city to city – in some cases, he had to leave quickly, but that was a result of persecution – not choice – and even when he was forced to leave, such as the case in Lystra and Corinth, he always came back to strengthen the churches and to encourage them through his presence, his teaching and his preaching

            -- so, after spending some time in Antioch as part of his home church again, Paul set out to visit the churches in all the cities that he had been in – this time, it seems as if he’s traveling alone – perhaps Timothy was with him – Luke, certainly – but there is not a Barnabas or Silas with him – the leading force is Paul, driven and directed by the Holy Spirit, as we have discussed earlier in this series

 

            -- verse 24-26

 

Acts 18:24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

 

            -- Apollos was an exceptionally brilliant young man – he was a native of Alexandria, in northern Africa on the Mediterranean Sea – where the Great Library of Alexandria – one of the Seven Wonders of the World – was located

            -- Alexandria was similar to Athens and it drew scholars and philosophers to the area – with major schools and universities there to educate the best and brightest – Apollos was one of those

            -- he showed up in Ephesus and began speaking to the Jews and the Gentiles there about Jesus – his logic – his reasoning – his education – was flawless -- he spoke boldly in the synagogue and impressed everyone with his teachings – proving, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus was the long-awaited for Messiah

             -- one day, Priscilla and Aquila were in the synagogue as Apollos spoke about Jesus – and although they were only uneducated tent-makers – they knew more than Apollos did about the gospel of Christ – because they knew Jesus, while Apollos only knew about Him

            -- when they heard him speak, they quickly realized this – there’s a big difference in someone talking about a subject that they have learned about in books and between someone talking about a subject that they know because they have experienced it and done it for themselves

 

            -- I’m working with a lot of younger people now – younger meaning they’re in their thirties and forties – makes me feel older every single day

            -- and one of the things that just drives me crazy is when these younger folks start lecturing us and trying to teach me and the other guys my age about things that we lived through

            -- do you realize that we are coming up on the 25^th anniversary of 9-11? – 25 years ago – that’s just hard to fathom

            -- we had a Commander’s Call a few weeks back, and the Commander asked how many of the people there were not alive when 9-11 happened – a good quarter of the crowd raised their hands

            -- and while my coworkers were old enough to have been alive when 9-11 happened, they were in grade school – a couple were in kindergarten – and we were discussing 9-11 and they said, “Well, actually, this is what happened…” and they proceeded to tell us older workers all about the events of 9-11

            -- we just looked at each other – we lived 9-11 – we were all on the military base when it happened – we experienced the uncertainty and the chaos of that moment when the plane hit that first tower – we watched it in real time – and we were part of the initial reaction to that event when we realized this was not an accident, but a terrorist event

            -- the base completely shut down – gates were locked – we were restricted in our movements – they weren’t letting anyone in or out of the buildings or the gates – we lived in that moment of panic

            -- but yet our younger coworkers were explaining the events to us – they knew about them because they had been taught about 9-11 in school – but we knew 9-11, because we experienced it for ourselves

            -- that’s what going on here in this passage – when you read that Priscilla and Aquila listened to Apollos speak and then invited him to their home, it’s because they realized that Apollos might know a lot about Jesus, but he didn’t know Jesus

            -- and so, they took him home with them and, as Luke terms it so eloquently here, “explained to him the way of God more adequately”

            -- they connected the dots for Apollos – they opened his eyes to the truth of Jesus – not just words on a page or evidence of prophecies fulfilled – but the living Christ and His very Spirit who was sent to indwell believers

            -- Apollos knew about Jesus, but he didn’t know Jesus, until Priscilla and Aquila explained it to him and helped him become a true believer in Jesus for salvation and eternal life

            -- when the head and the heart connected and Apollos became a true believer, he became a tireless evangelist and teacher of the gospel – he left Ephesus and went on to Achaia – primarily, the city of Corinth – where he continued to debate the same Jews who earlier had pushed back against Paul when he preached in the synagogue there

 

            -- like I said earlier, the first issue with knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus concerns our salvation

– Apollos – for all his learning and ability to teach others about Jesus – hadn’t put his faith and trust in Jesus for salvation – it was only after Priscilla and Aquila sat down and explained the gospel to him that Apollos became a believer

 

            -- the same is true for the people in our next passage – look over at Acts 19:1-6

 

Acts 19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

 

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

 

3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

 

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

 

4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

 

            -- Paul is in the midst of his third missionary journey – he has been traveling throughout the regions of Galatia and Phrygia and comes once again to Ephesus – just as a note, Paul spent more time in Ephesus that he did any other city – and that’s one reason why his letter to the Ephesians is so theologically robust and instructional – because he had time to mentor and teach and guide them deeper in their faith during his long stays with them

            -- Antioch might have been his home church – but his heart was with the people of Ephesus

            -- but this is earlier in his journey, and when Paul makes his way back to Ephesus to strengthen the church there, he finds a group of people there who tell him they are Christians, but he quickly discerns that they are not

            -- remember, for someone who knows Jesus, it is always easy to tell is someone is a true believer or just knows about Jesus – in the same way Priscilla and Aquila could tell Apollos wasn’t quite there yet – in the same way, we know when new believers just haven’t matured to the point of fully knowing Jesus in the same way as someone who has walked with Him for years

 

            -- when Paul meets these folks, he realizes something is off – he can sense they are Christians in Name Only – and so he asks them, “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” – and they reply, “No – we didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit”

            -- evidently, they had heard the gospel preached and the Spirit had convicted them of their sins – they felt the call to respond – to repent of their sins – and that was all they did

            -- they were baptized as a sign of repentance only – not in the baptism that Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20, when He told us to baptize disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

            -- we’ve talked about this before – but to bring this point out again, there is a difference between John’s baptism and Christian baptism – John’s baptism was a symbolic practice to illustrate the washing away of sins in preparation for receiving the coming Messiah

            -- Christian baptism is more than that – it is when a person has put their faith and trust in Jesus for salvation and eternal life – and it symbolizes dying to our old self – dying to sin – dying to our sin nature – and rising again to new life in Jesus, just as He rose from the dead victorious over sin and death

            -- as we have discussed before, water baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace – and when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are baptized spiritually with His presence and indwelt with the Holy Spirit

            -- these disciples had not put their faith and trust in Jesus in this way – they had only been baptized as a sign of repentance, not as a sign of their belief in Jesus and His death and resurrection – not as a sign of the inward baptism of the Spirit – and so, they didn’t know Jesus – they only knew about Jesus

            -- Paul realized this – and even though the text doesn’t expand on this, I believe Paul probably gave them detailed guidance in what it means to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus – we read here that he placed his hands on them and prayed for the Holy Spirit to indwell them – and the Spirit came in power upon these men

            -- they spoke in tongues and prophesied as they were changed from who they were into new creations in Christ – there is a difference in knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus, especially when it comes to salvation

 

            -- we transition now into the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus in regards to actually living out our faith by being His hands and feet

 

            -- skip down to verse 13-16

 

Acts 19:13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

 

            -- this has always been a fascinating story to me, for several reasons – not the least of that there is a real spiritual world around us, and we need to be aware of it and we need to approach it with caution – especially, if we only know about Jesus and don’t know Jesus in a real and personal way

            -- as Scripture says, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” – and we see a bunch of fools in this passage

            -- Paul and Peter and the other apostles and disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit to the point where miracles were part of their daily lives – we read in verses 11 and 12 here that God did extraordinary miracles through Paul – to the point where just taking handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul had touched were able to bring healing to the sick and cast evil spirits out of them – but note here that it was God doing this through Paul – it wasn’t Paul doing it on his own

            -- but many people saw those miracles – and while some were drawn to the cross and salvation as a result, others simply sought the power and prestige that being able to do miracles like this afforded – very similar to Simon the sorcerer from Acts Chapter 8, who tried to pay the Apostle Peter for the ability to lay hands on someone and give them the Holy Spirit

 

            -- in this case, seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, had seen Paul and the other disciples casting out evil spirits through the power of Christ – they thought they understood the process – that if they said the right words and did the right things, then miracles would happen and evil spirits would obey them – that’s because they only knew about Jesus, they didn’t know Jesus or His Spirit

            -- one day, these seven sons of Sceva – which, by the way, would be a great name for a Christian worship group – came across a person possessed by an evil spirit – relying on their knowledge of Jesus alone and the example of Paul, they commanded the evil spirit to leave that person by saying, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out”

            -- and honestly, I can’t think of a better response than the one the demon gives – “Jesus, I know.  And Paul, I know.  But who are you?” – and the evil spirit had the man jump on them and beat them to the point where they ran out of the house naked and bleeding

 

            -- it’s not about what you know – it’s about Who you know – and these sons of Sceva thought they could command spirits simply because they had head knowledge of Jesus – it doesn’t work that way

            -- we cannot be the people that Christ is calling us to be apart from His Spirit and His power and presence in us – we can go to Bible study after Bible study – we can listen to podcast after podcast and sermon after sermon – we can watch videos of people ministering and doing great things for Jesus across the globe – but that won’t empower us to do anything on our own

            -- there’s more to Christianity than just knowing about Jesus, as the sons of Sceva found out – and there’s more to living out a life for Christ than just knowing the truth of the Bible and the truth of the gospel and not letting God do anything in us or through us

            -- like I said, a lot of Christians live life today like atheists – we proclaim that we know Jesus – and we may know Jesus – but then we try to go out and do life in our own strength – relying on our knowledge and our skills and our abilities rather than the power of the Spirit within us

            -- we may wrap our ministries and our efforts in the name of Jesus, but if we’re not putting our faith and our trust in the Spirit to work in us and through us to accomplish God’s will, then we are doing exactly what the sons of Sceva are doing here

            -- verse 11 confirms that it was God who did the extraordinary miracles through Paul – it wasn’t because Paul knew a lot or had a lot of knowledge and skill from his former training as a Pharisee – it was because Paul humbled himself and allowed God to work in him and through him

            -- and we must do the same – that is the difference between living life as if we just know about God and living life knowing God and allowing Him to use us in His plans and as He wills

 

            -- verse 17-20

 

Acts 19:17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

 

            -- back in the day, there was a show on MTV called, “The Real World” – it was one of the first reality shows on TV, and it opened up with this tag line:

 

"This is the true story... of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, work together, and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real."

 

            -- what we are seeing in this final passage for today is what happens when Christians stop living their lives just knowing about Jesus and start getting real by changing how they live so that they live their lives as if they know Jesus

            -- let me give you another example – football season is right upon us – all summer, these teams have been practicing and learning about football – about the basics of football – about the plays – about how to come together and play as a team

            -- but at some point, they have to get off the practice field – they have to get off the bench and out of the huddle and turn what they know about football into something real – they have to go and snap the ball and put what they have learned and practiced into motion

            -- that is what is happening in these verses

 

            -- everybody knew what happened to these sons of Sceva – and it shook them – and it scared them – and they realized, “Hey, we’ve got to quit playing church and start being the church – we’ve got to quit coming together and learning about Jesus and leaving here and living life like normal – and we’ve got to start living life in His power and His strength – or the same thing is going to happen to us as happened to them”

            -- they were convicted of how they were living – they were seized with fear – and they started taking the name of the Lord Jesus seriously

            -- Jesus became more than just a concept – more than just a lesson from Scripture – more than just a good example – He became real

– and they realized they had not been living their lives as He intended – they still had the world in their lives, even though they were Christians

-- so, they went through and purged everything from their lives that was keeping them from living out their faith as people who knew Jesus and who didn’t just know about Him

-- they got rid of their magic scrolls and books and anything else that was holding them back – they did what the writer of Hebrews tells us to do in Hebrews 12:1 – “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”

-- these believers did this literally and spiritually – they burned scrolls and books that were holding them back – they repented of their sins – they got rid of the things of the world – and got serious about living for Jesus

-- this is what we need to do – this is what we are called to do – because being part of a church means more than just coming on Sundays or Wednesdays and learning more about the Bible or about Jesus – it means living out our faith – connecting our heads to our hearts and letting the Spirit empower us to move our hands and feet and lips to truly be the body of Christ in this place

-- this is our calling – this is our mission

 

III.  Closing

-- Susan Hill wrote, “It’s possible to read the Bible from cover to cover and learn lots of facts about Jesus—but not really know Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t want us just to know facts about Him—He wants us to be in an ongoing and lasting relationship with Him.”

-- and that quote really sums up what this section of the Book of Acts is all about

 

-- first, in order to be saved – in order to have our sins and our sin nature forgiven – to have eternal life with God – we have to put our faith and trust in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead

-- that means that we have to know Him – the Biblical definition of the word, “know,” refers to intimate knowledge of another – knowing them in a real and personal way – in the same way that the Bible says that Adam knew Eve, we are to know Jesus spiritually

-- it’s not enough to know about Him – we have to know Him – to trust Him – to put our faith in Him and the grace of salvation and the forgiveness of sins through Him

-- that’s the first part of knowing Jesus

 

-- but the second part – the part that we all should be aware of – is when we quit acquiring knowledge about Jesus and the Bible and His church – and we start living it out

-- when we move past being Christian atheists – Christians in Name Only – who know a lot about Jesus but who do nothing with what we know

-- it’s time that we start to live our lives in the knowledge and the power of Christ – putting aside everything that hinders our life with Him – figuratively, burning the scrolls and the books and the things of this world that we have been relying on instead of Jesus – and turning to Him in faith – trusting in Him and His Spirit to give us wisdom and guidance and power to do what He is calling us to do and to be who He is calling us to be

-- to quit just knowing about Him and to start knowing Him and experiencing Him in our lives as we move forward in faith

 

-- if I ever run across a demon like the sons of Sceva did, I hope he turns to me and says, “Jesus, I know.  Paul, I know.  And I know you, too, because you belong to Jesus”

-- so, as we close this morning, let us commit to turning away from relying on ourselves and our own natural talents and skills and abilities to do life – to stop just learning about Jesus in church and Bible study – and to start living our lives in the knowledge and in the name of Jesus

-- truly living life as if we know Him, because we do

-- let us pray