Thinking in 3’s - Acts 19:8 - Speak Boldly

Acts 19:8   And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 

Paul’s visit to Ephesus on his 2nd missionary journey was pretty wild. He faced opposition everywhere he went. He woke up expecting it every single day. Now, as he entered this great city, he would be immersed in a pagan culture that could hardly conceive of what he would tell them. Distracting from his message would be men driven by evil spirits, “naked and wounded.” Those who came to faith in Christ would burn their superstitious tool boxes worth ridiculous sums of money. The silversmith union would rise up in opposition against him, and the riot brought the whole city to a halt.

And what was Paul’s role in this? He taught daily in the synagogue. He “spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.” When Jewish opposition increased, he moved from the synagogue to the hall of Tyrannus, where he continued reasoning with his hearers for another two years. He did not incite mobs. He did not resort to the spectacular. He relied on, and proclaimed, the Word of God. He spoke boldly. He reasoned. He persuaded. It’s what we need to do, whatever the venue; whatever the crowd size; whenever we get the chance, and wherever we can find the opportunity.

To “speak boldly” is to speak openly. This is not a secret. My Bible program dictionary offers these phrases: “to speak openly about something and with complete confidence;” ‘“to speak regardless of who is listening;” “to speak without fearing;” “to speak without worrying.” If I could add to this, it seems that a person who speaks boldly is also a person who speaks clearly. He will not want to be misunderstood. Those who oppose will misquote and take statements out of context in any case. But its the hearers - those who have ears to hear - that you want to reach.

And so our verb, “speak boldly,” is followed by two participles that flesh out what this means. The first of these is “reasoning.” Paul’s task is to present a reality that stands in distinct contrast with the current, pagan worldview. Instead of many gods, Paul spoke of one. Instead of works intended to appease these gods, he spoke of God’s grace that was able to redeem. Instead of sensuality, he was compelled to relate a Biblical view of spirituality. And these people had never heard such things before. And so he had to support his claims with the story of Scripture, how this God created and designed; how this God was personally involved in human events; how this God loved and cared and sent and sacrificed. This was unheard of to these busy, prosperous people.

But Paul did not merely want to talk about ideas. He wanted Jesus to become so real, so compelling, so personal, that they could not but help to give themselves to him. And so Paul “persuaded.” He would lay out the argument in such a way that there really was no decision to make, since God in Christ had decided for them in this work of atonement. It is as though they were in “the Way” of a camel stampede, and there was no place to step aside from the onslaught of the salvation that was proffered by God through the preaching of this apostle.

And many believed. They found their new home in Christ. Their lives were changed. And many rejected. They rejected Paul’s words. They rejected Paul. They rejected God. But Paul did his job. I have to ask myself, and you. Have we done ours?

In Good Faith

“fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” (1 Timothy 1:18–19 NAS95)

“In good faith” means that you make a promise with every intent to fulfill your word. Conversely, “in bad faith” means that you enter into an agreement with little intention that you will follow through. Political discourse if full of bad faith. This is one reason we must keep our faith free from the political realm - because “good faith” means that we will “keep faith and a good conscience.”

When Paul tells Timothy to “fight the good fight,” he is not talking about training for a triathlon. He is not mentoring Timothy in the pursuit of making a million dollars. He is not prodding him to join the “get out the vote” effort. No, there is something far more important in his mind. This has to do with his integrity. It has to do with aligning his heart and words. It has to do with his trustworthiness in leading the flock of believers to which he is assigned. “Fight the good fight” is having a good faith.

Paul ties together faith and conscience. He says that “keeping faith” is linked to having a “good conscience.” The two go together. Let’s take the second one first.

The “Gospel” sense of conscience is that we know and believe that we are cleansed by the blood of Christ. I can have a “good conscience” before God, not because I am perfect, but because I know my sins are covered and forgiven. It means that I can forsake the utterly useless schemes of covering up and pretending to be something that I am not, because I now find my identity in Christ. I am a sinner saved by grace, “accepted in the Beloved.” 

Good conscience also has an ethical element. That is, in light of my identity in Christ, I live gratefully and graciously. I seek to express the sweetness and savor of the Lord Jesus in my words and actions. Good conscience means that I live an examined life, confessing failures daily, and picking up the “good fight” again.

Good conscience is tied to keeping faith. Keeping faith means that we embrace sound doctrine. It means that we use as our guide the Holy Scriptures, and the character of Christ, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. These are not three separate guides, but one guide, that is at the same time theological, spiritual, and personal. Keeping faith means that we “study to show ourselves approved unto God, .. rightly dividing the word of truth.” 

The Church, and its expression as local churches, needs those who live “in good faith.” Our world also has need of such people.

Kingdom Prayer

You can pretty much pray about anything. Far be it from me to try to tell you what you can talk to your Heavenly Father about. He cares about the things you care about. The point of “Kingdom Prayer,” though, is that we also ought to pray for the things that He most cares about.

We are free to pray about presidents and patriotism. Our world is all aflurry about such things right now. I want to make sure we know the difference when I say that we should pray about the King and God’s Kingdom. Kingdom prayer. They are not the same thing.

What is kingdom prayer? It’s a big question. Here is a small part of the answer. We start with what is known as “the Lord’s Prayer,” perhaps better called the “pattern prayer” that Jesus gave to the disciples. 

“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9–10 NAS95)

This is the first half of that prayer, and it occupies itself with God, His name, His kingdom, and His will (much as do the 1st 4 commandments of the 10 commandments). Regardless of country or kin, we want God and His name to be hallowed. The event that is most highly anticipated is not an election, but the coming of the King. He can put into place God’s will in a way that no president of any party can ever do, and we pray for that day. We want God’s will to be done, even if it is some measure clashes with our own.

So certainly kingdom prayer occupies itself with the kingdom. But kingdom prayer also focuses on readiness for the kingdom. It causes us to examine our own lives, seeking to apply Scripture to areas that have been glossed over, as in this Sundays text, and the one that immediately follows (James 4:13-17, and 5:1-6). Politics will never solve these problems of the human heart. Only God’s Spirit can do so, as we listen and repent.

And because Christians love their neighbors, we also pray for our neighbors and their readiness for the kingdom. We pray that they would hear the Gospel and come to recognize Jesus as Savior and Lord. We seek to live and share that Gospel, to be seen and heard by those who are not now prepared, and need to be. 

Let’s enter into Kingdom Prayer.

Thinking in 3’s - 1 Samuel 22:2 - Christian Team-Building

Several years ago we had talked about developing teams within the congregation, each team led by Deacons. There was discussion how to formulate these teams, and someone mentioned a lottery system, seemingly in order to be able to pick the best first. I’m really not sure if he was joking or being sarcastic. Probably not his best moment.

But what strikes me is how David assembles his “team” when he was on the run for Saul. Now granted, he may not have had a lot to choose from. And yet, it seems that at least a portion of these men stuck with David for the long haul, - and there were definitely difficult days - and they were eventually known as “David’s mighty men.” Let’s hear how they were described:

1 Samuel 22:2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.

The perfect traits for team-building: distressed, indebted, and discontented. It might remind one of Jesus calling His motley crew of disciples. It also might remind one of the make-up of the church. These have never been exercises in cherry-picking. Or at least, it’s not supposed to be.

We had a gentleman years ago who pray for people to come to our church - a certain kind of people - people who were ready and equipped to serve. I get what he was saying. But it still doesn’t square with what I see here in 1 Samuel, or in the Gospels, or in the Epistles. Sinners come, “Just As I Am, without one plea,” and then the job of the church is to disciple - to make disciples. And so there is hard work to do. We do not start with finished products - and every mature Christian knows that he himself/she herself is no finished product.

So when these men filtered in to David’s camp, he did not say to them, “No, you can’t stay. You’re too stressed.” Or “Only those who have passed the Dave Ramsay test are allowed.” Or, “If you weren’t content in your last church, then why would we want you in this one?” He took these men, such as they were, and somehow, the character of the captain rubbed off on them over time. I do not doubt that there were rough spots; discipline issues; hard talks; perhaps even ejections. But there must have been a lot of positive things that take place.

And just to be clear, in the church, it is not the character of the pastor that is supposed to rub off. No, many people come to church not having had ample opportunity to be in the presence of Christ and His people - and it is the character of Christ that needs to be infectious.

This all requires a lot of love and patience. These are gifts to us from God. We do not have sufficient supply in and of ourselves. Let’s ask God to help us accept hurting people, and then to pray diligently for them, and work hard to help them, in God’s timing, to have less of the 3 “d’s” and more of the big “C” - Christ.

Thinking in 3’s: Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:50-1)

Luke chapter 23 contains that dramatic story of the sentencing and crucifixion of Jesus. There is much here that should capture our attention, but I will only note briefly three phrases about this figure, Joseph of Arimathea, who appears between the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; who places Jesus in a tomb.

Luke 23:50Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, ⁵¹ who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.

Luke makes three statements about Joseph. First, he was “a good and righteous man.” This does not mean that Joseph was man who constructed his own goodness or established his own righteousness. Rather, he was a godly man who looked to God and not the world around him to define what was good and righteous. He would have kept the commandments, even as he was painfully aware of ways in which he failed to do so. He strove to do what was right (righteous), choosing the narrow way, though he may have faltered at times. 

Luke also says that he “had not consented to their decision and action.” That decision and action would have been that of “the council,” or the Sanhedrin, of which he was a member. He would have been one of the very few who did not go along with the railroad job of rushing Jesus to an undeserved sentence of death. 

We all know that it is difficult to stand against the crowd, to be one of the only ones for vote “no.” The majority may rule, but they most certainly are not always right. Joseph must have been mortified at their actions. But what good would his negative vote do? Yet, Scripture attests, he did not consent. We also, if we would be faithful followers of Christ, must object at certain times and say no.

Thirdly, Joseph was “looking for the kingdom of God.” He was looking for something better than the present order, even if that order could be marginally improved. He was looking for the fulfillment of the promises of God. He was looking for the in-breaking of God in this world, interrupting the normal flow; disrupting the way things work.

Little did Joseph know that, having placed Jesus’ body in the tomb, God’s in-breaking would occur that very Sunday, in that very place.

On what do you rest this trust of yours?

The history of the world records the lives of many great people. Many of these have been great sinners. And we have the record of many of their sinful sayings.

One of these is Rabshakeh. His story is found in Isaiah 36. He is a trusted representative of Sennacharib, the fearsome king of the Assyrians. Rabshakeh skillfully advances arguments for the surrender of Jerusalem as the Assyrian army approaches. He is confident, bold, and loud. 

The opening question is important. He does not ask, “In whom do you trust?”, but rather, “On what do you rest this trust of yours?” That is, “I know you trust your God and your king, but what supports that trust?” Christians have at least two primary grounds undergirding our trust: God’s Word, including his “great and precious promises;” and our King, Jesus, who died for us, and was raised from the dead, and is now at the right hand of God.

But let’s take another step. In our Rabshakeh story, he turns his attention to the people’s regard for their king. As you can see, this story fits in to our summer series, “The Things Sinners Say,” and also ties in to a blog series, “Thinking in 3’s.” Among the arguments that Rabshakeh makes, is this 3-fold challenge to trust in Hezekiah, king of Judah: 

        “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you” (v. 14)

“Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord” (v.15)

“Do not listen to Hezekiah” (v.16)

Hezekiah, one of the good kings of Judah, is not our king. Jesus is our King. Yet Great Sinners today still seek to dissuade us from trusting King  Jesus, just as Rabshakeh did regarding Hezekiah. 

Now, having two primary grounds undergirding our faith in God - the written Word of God, and our living Lord - which of these is primary? Is one more important than the other?

I think the answer to this question is that both are absolutely necessary. Without the Word of God, we could not properly understand the person of Jesus, whose coming Scripture predicts, and then His life and death and resurrection is recorded as well. Without Christ, the written Word would have no focus, and contain no climax. They go together, and we need to cling to both as the Rabshakeh’s of the world do their thing. But we listen to God’s Word, and follow our King, Jesus. Both undergird our faith.