Sunday, October 24, 2010

"Are You Ready to Die?" Sermon: Acts 21:1-16

“Are You Ready to Die?”
[Acts 21:1-16]
October 24, 2010 Second Reformed Church

Are you ready to die?

I didn’t ask if you want to die. I don’t want to die – I’m working hard to be healthier and live as long as possible. I hope none of you want to die right now. But, if it were necessary, would you be ready – are you ready now – to die?

Last week we saw that the Holy Spirit told Paul that he would not see the Ephesians again. So he called the pastors and elders together and gave them one final address. He told them that he had given them the entire Gospel – all they needed to know for salvation – and this was against those who were saying there was an additional knowledge they needed besides Jesus. He told them to watch out for the false teachers – to search them out – warn against them – and remove them. He told them to give of the blessings that God has given them in thanks to God. And he told them that the Holy Spirit was sending him to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit promised him torture and imprisonment.

After weeping with Paul, they accompanied him to the ship that would take him to Jerusalem, and Paul and his companions sailed.

This morning’s Scripture is largely a detailed itinerary of where they went and how long they stayed in each place:

From Melitus, they sailed along the coast of Turkey, they sailed to Cos, then next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. There they changed ships and boarded one bound for Phonicia – in what we would now call Syria – north of Israel. And as they sailed, they passed by the island of Cyprus – it was on the left as they sailed by – landing in Syria at Tyre. In Tyre, the ship unloaded it’s cargo.

Did you ever read texts like these and wonder, “Who cares?” Who cares if they went to this place and that place and spent this number of days and had to change ships and then unload the cargo? What’s the point? The point is that this is evidence that this is not mythology, but history. These mundane details suggest the truthfulness of the history. If this was mythology, these common details would not be specific, and they probably would have been left out all together.

Once in Tyre, Paul and his companions stayed with the disciples there for seven days. And while they were there, the Holy Spirit told the disciples in Tyre that Paul was going to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit promised Paul torture and imprisonment. The disciples were naturally upset about this and they begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. But Paul said he could not resist the Holy Spirit, and he was going. So the disciples of Tyre and their wives and families went with them to the beach and kneeled and prayed and said farewell to one another.

Then they went south to Ptolemais, where they spent one day with the disciples there.

The next day they went to Caesarea, in Israel, and entered the house of Philip. Do we remember Philip? We haven’t heard about him in some time, but he was one of the first deacons (6:5), and the Holy Spirit had sent him to preach the Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch (8:5), and then he had preached his way north through Israel and settled in Caesarea.

Paul and his companions stayed with Philip and his four unmarried daughters – who prophesied – for many days. And while they were with Philip, a prophet named Agabus came to them from Judea. Do we remember Agabus? The Holy Spirit had sent the prophet Agabus to Saul and the disciples to warn them that a severe famine was coming to Jerusalem – in particular – so the Church, led by Barnabas and Saul, collected money to help the church in Jerusalem (11:27). This time the prophet Agabus came to the house of Philip and walked up to Paul and took Paul’s belt and then bound his own hands and feet, prophesying that the Holy Spirit said that the owner of the belt would be bound by the Jews and handed over to the Gentiles once he reached Jerusalem.

Now Paul’s companions couldn’t take it any more and they, with the household of Philip and others, begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

What was the Holy Spirit up to? Everywhere Paul went, the Holy Spirit told the local disciples about Paul being tortured and imprisoned in Jerusalem. Why did He keep telling them and upsetting them?

Historically, the Christians would soon come under the greatest persecution they ever faced. So, it is likely that the Holy Spirit was confirming what would happen to Paul so they would be ready and not overcome and dismayed, but rather trust in God and His Plan instead.

But Paul had had enough, “What are you doing to me – weeping and breaking my heart?” “I understand you’re upset, but this isn’t helping me. I am not looking for a way out – I’m not looking for someone to kill me. You know this is God’s Plan.”

“For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.” “For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Paul was ready to die – for the Name of the Lord Jesus – for the Gospel – as a witnesses to Jesus and His Salvation. For Jesus’ Sake, he was willing to die.

Paul wrote to the Philippians, “As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again” (Philippians 1:20-26, ESV).

Paul tells the Philippians: “I want you to understand that whether I live or die, my goal is to honor Christ – to glorify Him – in my body. My desire is that I live in a way that Christ is honored and that I die in a way that Christ in honored.

“For me it is a win-win situation: if I live, then I can continue to live, honoring Christ, preaching His Gospel, carrying out all those things He has set before me to do. And if I die, then I will be in Paradise with Jesus. And, to tell you the truth, even though – if the choice was up to me – I would have a hard time decided whether to live or die, my goal is to die and be with Christ because that is far better – for then I will be unable to sin and I will look forward to being raised imperishable – holy – perfected. But, for now, God has made it clear to me that I am to remain in my flesh for your progress and joy – for the maturing of your faith, and to give you additional reason to glorify Christ Jesus.”

Please understand: Paul was not suicidal. He was not trying to find an easy way out of the suffering that he was continuing to endure. What he was saying was that he existed for Christ – to glorify Him – and if he should live, he would do everything he could to make Jesus and His Gospel known. But, if he should die – for the sake of Jesus and His Gospel – he was not only ready, he was joyful to do so because it would bring him into glory with Jesus – Who is his life and hope and future.

We see this theme throughout Paul’s letters in particular: the Christian is to live his or her life as a witness to salvation in Jesus Alone. We are to live in such a way that other’s attention is draw from us to Jesus. We are to be signs that point to Jesus and say, “Look at Him Look to Him See Who He is and what He has done ”

And if we are living for Jesus – to be sign-posts to Him – there may even be times when people ask why we do or do not do certain things, and then we can tell them, “I do all I can not to cheat on my taxes because Jesus gave His Life for me. I do all I can not to break the law, because Jesus has freed me from slavery to sin. I give to the food pantry because Jesus gave His Life for Me. I spend time reading my Bible because Jesus loves me and I love Him, and I want to know Him better. I try to live a life of thanks to Jesus.” And so forth.

We Christians are also to be ready to die as a witness to salvation in Jesus Alone. In the early Church and in many parts of the world today, Christians were and are put to death for confessing faith in Jesus. Would we be willing to stand for Jesus and submit to execution if it comes to this country?

If Mayor Smith or Governor Christie or President Obama got a bill passed that confession of Jesus as Savior was punishable by death, would we be ready? Would we say – in the face of that threat, “I believe”?

I would like to believe that I would accept death, rather than renounce Jesus, but it’s hard to say until we’re in that position, isn’t it?

We can help to prepare ourselves:

First, let us consider our sin. Let us understand that without salvation in Jesus Alone, we are looking at suffering eternally. That’s the fact: God is infinite and infinitely holy and all sin is against Him, so sin requires infinite punishment.

Second, let us consider what Jesus did. The Holy Son of God left His Throne, became a human, lived under God’s Law – never sinning – submitted Himself to torture and death at the hands of sinful men, suffered the infinite punishment that we deserve – for each one of us who will believe, and since He is God and sinless, He survived, rising from the dead, ascending back to His Throne, crediting our accounts with His Righteousness – His Sinlessness. So now, when God looks at we who believe, He sees, because of Jesus, a holy people for Himself that He welcomes into His Kingdom.

And third. Let us consider how thankful we ought to be for the gift of Jesus – for God rescuing us from our sin and making us His people for Jesus’ Sake. And let us be thankful in our hearts and minds and souls, but also in our bodies. Let us speak and act differently from the world. Let us seek to live out our joy in Jesus through both our words and deeds, no matter what God has for us – whether peace or sorrow, health or illness, long life or violent death.

Paul understood who he had been in his days of self-righteousness and arrogance as a persecutor of the Church – of Jesus Himself. He understood the Amazing Love that changed him into the man he then was as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And Paul was thankful to God – no matter what he had to endure for the Gospel. So, if God would be glorified, if the Gospel would be advanced, if people would believe in Jesus through Paul’s death, then Paul was ready to die.

Are you?

How could the disciples respond to this, but to say, “Let the will of the Lord be done”?

So they accompanied Paul from Caesarea to Jerusalem, and Paul lodged with Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple.

Let us pray:
God of Life, we don’t like to think about death and dying, and we naturally want to avoid suffering. Help us to believe that whatever happens to us – if it honors the Name of Jesus – if more people end up hearing and believing the Gospel – then we can endure all things for Christ, and be joyful that in life and in death, we have witnessed to Him. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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