Wasn’t sure how to start this message. Making the most
of an opportunity seems to be full of great examples, though my brain couldn’t
find the more positive. For example, The Mayans & 12.21 taught us that if
you don’t finish something, then it’s not the end of the world.
Of
course then there is the whole idea that on the heels of a national tragedy,
legislation and executive privilege are being thrown around like a football. Truth
seems to be hidden for favor of agendas. I don’t know why, but I’ve never
really appreciate when a person or group turns a profit (of any sort) from
pain.
But
of opportunities, and making the most, I think the best example comes from
Paul’s words to the church in Colossi.
Col 4.5-6 state: “Be wise in the way you act towards
outsiders, make the most of every opportunity, letting your conversation be
always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer
everyone. “
Making
the most of the time seems to be a theme that we can see in the book of Acts.
Rather than seeing idol worship, Paul saw in Athens religious thirst. Next week
we will consider the next section of Acts 9 as we see Peter making the most of
his time as he travels and preaches.
This
morning we see the church seems to be making the most of the time of peace that
they are enjoying. And it is no small thing to say. Remember, for a time,
Christianity was illegal. Its persecution was state sanctioned. Saul was a
warrior for God stamping out the church where he could. And then he just
stopped.
It
wasn’t that he grew tired, but that he was converted. His energies, his zeal
for God, was refocused, honed. He was now a preacher of the Savior. I don’t
know if the pressures were instantly noticeable, or if someone, while
reflecting, realized that there was no longer this season of hostility. After
all, 3 years has passed to this point that Paul had left to arrest Christians.
The prisoners never came. Paul didn’t come back pressing the church. He did,
eventually return, but to join the brethren of Jerusalem instead.
I
wonder if perhaps such a revelation, that the Church is in a time of peace, was
something that Barnabas pointed out. He would be the one to take Paul, giving
him a second chance, presenting him to the Apostles. Yes, the church was now at
peace. Of course, this peace didn’t mean that there were not detractors Paul
had to flee town after a while because the Jews who rejected Jesus also
rejected him. They wanted to kill him. But that is not the same as state sanctioned
hostility.
So
now there is our text: “And the church throughout all
Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up and walking in the fear of
the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, and it increased in
numbers.” (HCSB)
Though
this was a physical as well as spiritual peace, Luke lays out a recipe by which
we can also be making the most of the peace that we have today, or at least
what is left of it. I do believe that the Church of America is in a time of
peace. I mean, our government hasn’t yet declared outright that Christianity is
illegal. We are not having people rounded up and arrested for their faith as
the Church in Iran is suffering, or even now Egypt. We are still in a time of
peace, and though we are in the twilight of that peace, we can still make the
most of the peace. To determine
if we are making the most of the opportunity of peace, there are 3 questions we
should ask:
Are we proclaiming Christ? This is something that we see Paul doing as soon as he
arrived in Jerusalem. Sure the church shied away from him, not knowing who they
were dealing with. We do it all the time ourselves, don’t we? Take for example,
the bull snake looks like a diamondback sans the rattle. Now when you see that
critter coiled in the cool of the shade, you freeze, and then you take a step
back. Once you realize that it’s not rattling you, then you know you can
approach it.
But we are not to shy from people. They
need to know the good news. They need to know that as messed up as their lives
are, be it divorce, broken relationships, unemployment, addictions, that God
can help them, offers grace and hope. The storms in our lives, though they
rage, we are quieted. As bad as today looks, there is a day coming, a day
promised that all of this will not matter. There is something better for us,
for you. It’s in Christ Jesus. That is the message that we are to share.
Do we fear the Lord? Now this one is a bit harder to ask. Do I fear the
Lord? So often we look at “fear the Lord” as meaning that we are to revere the
Lord. We are to see God as holy. But that is not fear of itself. There is more
to this fear. Consider, for example, sovereigns like Esther and King Xerxes. There
is a protocol with sovereigns. One, you did not touch casually the king. You
waited to approach. Even the queen could lose her life for being cavalier. And
you knew that whatever you did, you were accountable to the King. Haman learned
that lesson. Fearing the Lord means that
not only do we revere our Lord, the God Almighty, but that we also do what He
says.
He said that we are to be a salt, season
this world for Heaven, creating a heavenly thirst. If we aren’t, then what good
are we? Today, sociologists say that we are in a post modern world. It is a
post Christian world. No longer do the vast majority see that worshipping
together is as important as it once was. One of the biggest reasons that we are
in the shape that we are today is that we decided that we really didn’t need to
be that light, declaring what is wrong. We feared the world’s views of us
rather than what God thinks of us. Which is better, “George is one of the best
neighbors I can have,” or “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
And that is the difference really. We are
a culture that doesn’t really understand yet what total sovereignty means. It
doesn’t mean that God dictates our every step. He does lay out a plan. If we
follow, that is up to us. But we must remember that a day is coming that all our
thoughts and actions will be laid bare before Him. Will Jesus be His filter as
He gazes on our actions and deeds?
Sometimes, I’ll admit, we can find it
difficult to stand for life when our personal lives are mired with contrary
actions. It is hard for us to say we
have too much welfare when we are on welfare. It is too hard to stand on sexual
purity when the church is full of immorality. It is hard to stand on financial
feasibility when our lives are upside down in mortgages and loans and credit
cards. It is hard to proclaim love and grace when we shun our brother. It is
hard to be the light when we are either under the bowl, or clinging to
darkness. Do we fear the Lord? A time is coming when He will answer that for us
if we don’t answer it now.
Are we encouraged by the Holy Spirit? This last question is actually the key to being able to
answer the previous two questions. Let’s look at this word, encourage. There
are two parts, courage, or boldness. En comes along side. So putting it back
together, do we let the Holy Spirit come along side us and give us boldness or
courage?
The Holy Spirit isn’t here, isn’t given to
us so that we can feel better. He is with us so that we can choose better,
become better. Paul told the Corinthians that everything is permissible but that not
everything is beneficial. How do we know the difference? That is where the Holy
Spirit comes and guides us. He helps us to make the better choice. Sometimes we
are not presented with choices between good and evil. We are given choices between
good and better. What is the better choice?
In a few chapters, Paul will live out such
a choice for us. He is a Roman Citizen by birth. He was rare, for by the time
the parents can both afford citizenship, children are grown. When he preaches
in Philippi, they take to flog him. That is a huge NO for a Roman citizen. He
had a choice of stopping them before they began by stating, “Whoa! I am a
Roman. How dare you strike me!” But he made a better choice. From that choice,
a church that became the dearest to Paul was founded. A family, the jailer,
came to Christ directly from that choice Paul made. Now he couldn’t have made
that selfless choice if he wasn’t relying on the Holy Spirit.
The choices that we make may mean that we
might as citizens lay aside our rights for the message of Jesus to progress.
It’s not an easy choice and left to ourselves, we will always choose what
benefits us most directly. But in Christ, for me, it’s not about me. For you,
it’s not about you. It is about the lost meeting Jesus.
Answering these three questions, we can
indeed be making the most of the peace. And then there is that promise. God
increased the church. We don’t worry about building programs. That’s God’s job.
Our job is to trust, to fear, to proclaim. It’s easier to do now because we are
still yet at a time of peace. Are you, are we, making the most of it?
