Sermon: "Don't Be Discouraged" Acts 19:1-10

“Don’t Be Discouraged”
[Acts 19:1-10]
September 19, 2010 Second Reformed Church

In the past week, a number of you have come to me about being discouraged with one thing or another – frustrated that things were not going the way that you would like them to, or that things were popping up that got on your nerves.

Understand, in titling this morning’s sermon, “Don’t Be Discouraged,” I am not suggesting that we always have to be chipper, must less fake it. I am not saying that we should deny that there are times when we get down – that there are things and people that wear on us. What I mean to suggest to us is that the example that we are given in the Scripture is that even when things are discouraging – when we get down – we – of all people – ought not to lose hope.

In this morning’s Scripture, as we mentioned last week, Apollos went to minister in the church at Corinth, and while he was there, Luke tells us, Paul traveled back across Asia – what we now call Turkey – to Ephesus – as he had promised – if the Lord was willing. We will remember that he had left Priscilla and Aquila – the husband and wife team from Italy – to minister among the Ephesians while he went back to Jerusalem and Antioch. (And it was among the Ephesians that Apollos had come to a saving knowledge of Jesus through Priscilla and Aquila’s ministry.)

With all that in mind, we might find ourselves dumbfounded by what Luke tells us: Paul came across a group of about twelve disciples, who had been baptized with the baptism of John, but did not know that Jesus is the Savior. They knew about Jesus – His Teachings – but they did not know about His Resurrection. (Remember, last week we understood that to mean that they had been baptized in the manner of John the Baptist – they had been baptized for the forgiveness of sins in the Name of the Savior Who was to come.)

We would not be surprised to see Paul being discouraged: He had ministered among the Ephesians. He had left Priscilla and Aquila. They had explained the faith to Apollos, and he had gone off to spread the Gospel among the Greeks. How is it that there could be people who were baptized in the baptism of John, but did not know about the Resurrection of Jesus?

And even more bizarre, when Paul asked them if they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit – if they had received the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit – they said they had never even heard that there was such a Being. If any of these twelve were Jewish disciples, it is profoundly bizarre, because the Holy Spirit is spoken of in the Old Testament, and they should have known about Him.

Two quick examples:

“Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11, ESV).

“At last Daniel came in before me – he who is named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the Spirit of the holy God – and I told him the dream...” (Daniel 4:9, ESV, alt.)

If these were Greek – Gentile – disciples, it would be less bizarre, but still, it is about 54 A.D. at this time – Jesus had risen over twenty years before. Paul had been through the area with other believers preaching the Gospel. It is strange that there were those in that area who had only know the baptism of John.

Let us understand, then, that it is not enough just to know about Jesus to be saved, He must be believed in savingly. It is not enough to know all the facts of the Gospel – or the whole Bible. Anyone can memorize the Bible and know the history and teachings of Jesus. That will not save you. Paul wrote, “If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised [Jesus] from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).

What does that tell us? It tells us, as Keith Green used to say, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.”

It is possible to grow up in the church, know everything the church teaches, know the Bible inside and out, tithe each week, donate your time and abilities, serve in office, teach the Sunday School, and go to Hell. There is no salvation apart from a true, saving belief in Jesus and His Resurrection as a historical fact.

So let us make sure we know what we believe. Let us make sure that our friends and family know what they believe. Let us make a confession that clearly and honestly states whether we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead as a historical fact – or not.

Paul explained to the twelve that Jesus had, indeed, risen from the dead – that He is, indeed, the Promised Savior – and they truly believed, so Paul baptized them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – and they were indwelt by God the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues and prophesy. They evidenced their belief and the gifts that God had given them to serve Him.

After this, Paul entered the synagogue, and for three months he engaged in apologetics – in arguing, persuading, proving – that Jesus is the Christ – the Savior that God sent. Paul took the Old Testament and went through the prophecies: God said that this would happen, and it did happen. God said the Savior would do this, and Jesus did do this. And so forth. And Luke tells us that after three months of instruction and proof, “some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way [Christianity] before the congregation.”

And this is a place where it is clear that salvation is God’s Gift and God’s Choice. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain how someone could be shown with clarity and in depth that Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies and then still reject Him.

Have you ever explained something – in a class or just one on one – and did everything you could to make something clear – and have the person still not understand? When I worked with John in the pipe organ company, there were times that he would explain something to me, and I would think that I had understood, but I hadn’t. And I know there were times when John just shook his head in discouragement, wondering what was wrong with me that I didn’t get it.

Or have you ever explained something – or shown something to be true – laid out all the facts that lead from point a to point b – and had the person – after the explanation – tell you that what you said was wrong? On at least two occasions that I can think of, I have presented the facts of a matter and had the person I was talking with tell me, “I don’t care about the facts, this is what I believe....”

Paul showed the Jews in Ephesus that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the Savior, and some of them reacted by saying he was wrong and that Christianity was evil. Paul certainly got discouraged – he must have banged his head against the wall at times. He wrote, “And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (II Corinthians 11:28, ESV).

A good pastor – a good shepherd – will constantly watch out for the flock – to protect the flock from attack of wolves and lions – and to keep the sheep from walking off cliffs. And sometimes the pastor – and even other sheep – will look around the fold and wonder, “What is going on?” “Why are the very people who claim to be Christians frustrating the work of the Gospel? Why are the very people who ought to understand and believe being obstinant in their unbelief?”

Paul left the synagogue and went next door to Tyrannus Hall and rented a space where he preached and taught and reasoned and argued for the Gospel of Jesus Christ for two years. And Luke tells us that all of the Jews and all of the Greeks of Asia – that is, Turkey – heard the Gospel. And we know from history and the Bible that at least seven churches in Turkey came into being from Paul’s preaching: the Church in Ephesus, the Church in Smyrna, the Church in Pergamum, the Church in Thyatira, the Church in Sardis, the Church in Philadelphia, and the Church in Laodicea. If they sound familiar to you, it is because these are the seven churches the book of Revelation is addressed to.

But how could Paul go on with that type of discouragement? How could Paul preach the Gospel day after day, when people rejected what he had to say, and were violent towards him – even trying to kill him – and when the churches quickly succumbed to false teaching?

One place we find the answer is in Paul’s letter to Titus, where he writes, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14, ESV).

How did Paul go on? How can we go on? Because we know and believe that Jesus is the Savior that God has sent and God did raise Him from the dead. We know that He is Truth and He has changed us and is using us to make His Gospel known throughout the world. And we know and are assured by God the Holy Spirit Who lives in us that Jesus is returning in Glory and will bring us with Him into that Glory, into His Kingdom forever.

We have the hope of the life to come with Jesus, and it is witnessed to us and assured us by God Himself. So we can bear with the discouragements in life and in the Church by keeping our eyes set on Jesus and His Return and the Promises He has made us – for He cannot lie.

So let us pray:
Lord, we thank You that the Resurrection is a historical fact, and if we believe that it is and that You have raised Jesus from the dead, You have saved us for Yourself. Help us not to lose hope when we become discouraged for many and various reasons. Let us cling to the hope that You have given us – by speaking to us with the Truth – that You are returning for us – and the Glory is even closer now than when we first believed. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.