FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART
#212a FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART
Scripture Acts 9:1-20, NIV Orig. 1/21/1962
Rewr. 5/23/1979
Passage: Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
Purpose: To call attention to the clear declaration of Scripture of the process of conversion and commitment and setting apart of the believer that is contained in the gospel message.
Keywords: Christ Commitment Conversion
Timeline/Series: Acts
Introduction
Several years ago a Broadway play appeared on the scene called Merrily We Roll Along. It was written by a playwright by the name of Richard Miles. While the author had become successful in terms of his profession, his ideals had suffered greatly, and his life-style had become shameful and degrading.
The play depicted Miles’ life in reverse. Each successive scene showed the actors getting younger. The role representing the playwright became more and more idealistic. The action of this drama travelled back into the past, until finally, the characters in the play were sharing Miles’ college commencement. Richard Miles was the class valedictorian. As the final curtain went down, Miles was saying, “Lastly, this I have learned: I have learned to value ideals above all else. Let them be our heritage, our guiding force.”
The essence of the play declared that the man looked back with regret to the losing of his ideals. They could not be sustained against the temptations to achieve personal success. This was a burden under which Saul was living. He was determined to be a success. The idealistic upbringing and training of a young rabbi had by now been so compromised, that he yielded unthinkingly to the dictates of those he wished to impress.
Meanwhile Saul was still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and applied for letters to the synagogues at Damascus authorizing him to arrest anyone he found, men or women, who followed the new way, and bring them to Jerusalem, NEB.
Saul’s thinking was not far removed from that of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright. The agnostic Shaw wrote: I am by nature and destiny a preacher. . . . But I have no Bible, no creed; the war has shot both out of my hands. The war has been a fiery forcing house in which we’ve grown with a rush like flowers in a late spring following a terrible winter. And with what result? This: That we have outgrown our religion, outgrown our political system, outgrown our strength of mind and character. The fatal word “not” has been inscribed into all our creeds. . . . But, what next? Is “no” enough? Is “no” enough? For a boy, yes; for a man, never. . . . I must have affirmations to preach. . . . The preacher must preach the way of life—Oh, if I could only find it!
It’s too bad about George Bernard Shaw. He never found it. But out on this Damascus road this day, Saul will discover. He will discover what ideals are all about. He will discover what it takes to turn his ideals into reality. He will discover the “way of life” and that “way” will become what the preacher in him must preach.
I. First of All, a Claim is Extended. V6, And he, trembling and astonished said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do.” In blindness we grope. Make no mistake about it, here is a genuine encounter with the Lord of life. It is a matter for marveling to discover how adequate to the here and now God’s working always is.
When I share an extensive coverage of my own testimony, it is blocked out in segments of time roughly paralleling my pastorates. In the first, I had to come to terms with what I would preach. “We would see Jesus.” In this one I have had to learn to trust God to work through problems of church leaders who are not church lovers.
No matter how distasteful the experience is, the end-result is one of growth and spiritual nurture. The Christian life is not unlike those early, formative days in a baby’s life when he has wearied of wallowing and begins to walk. He grows. He is nurtured. A step is taken. A fall. A word of comfort and affirmation. He is encouraged to try again. A step. Then two. With many falls and several hurts, and sufficient affirmation he is on his way.
There then begins to develop a life of form and substance. Go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do. There is this initial act of faith unto obedience. John 14:22, One of the disciples, Judas, not Iscariot, asked Jesus how he would make himself known to his followers and not to the world in general. V23, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and he will come unto him and make our abode with him.
From this initial act of faith there springs the circumstance out of which we grow as Christians. In the city he encountered that which affirmed him in his initial act of faith. It became increasingly more to his advantage to seek and follow the course of God’s will. It is important that we affirm each other. The more settled we are in faith, the more determined to be faithful to our Lord, and supportive of others who are still in discovery. It is essential that we accept the Word of God as the basis of our authority. This means that confrontation is sometimes the appropriate means of affirmation. We are responsible for our advice. It better be thought through very carefully when you speak or act against those whom God has called to give spiritual affirmation.
II. Secondly, a Change is Essential. V8, And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes opened he saw no man: But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. The change was rather a dramatic one. He, at first, was on his way to Damascus to discomfit any who had become followers of Christ. He experiences the presence of the Living Christ. Now, he is on his way to Damascus for others of these followers of Jesus to affirm him in the faith. That doesn’t mean to lay their hands on him, or to ordain him to the ministry, or vote him into the church. You see, God laid his hands on Saul, and that is all that any of us need, or have any right to expect.
The change came about by virtue of Saul suspending his own will in the will of God. Galatians 1:13f, For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church . . . beyond measure, and tried to destroy it. . . . 15, But when he who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me. . . . 23, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
You see, the only miracle that had taken place was that a man had lifted his vision from himself and his own ego needs, to the vision of his loving, merciful heavenly Father. This would be a good place to stop and insert what God has done for you this week.
III. Lastly, Then, a Commitment is Inevitable. V20, And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. With Saul it was unquestionably a commitment to Christ. V5, “Who art thou, Lord?” How often Paul identifies himself as the servant. Romans 1:1 and others: δοῦλος, “doulos.”
He uniquely feels forgiveness. Christ will mean little to you if you do not experience His forgiveness for your sin. The greater the sense of forgiveness, the deeper the impact of Christ upon the life. Remember the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, Luke 7:47, For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.
Acts 1:8 Witness unto me
Acts 2:36 God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ
Acts 3:26 God having raised up His Son Jesus
Acts 4:30 Signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus
Acts 5:30-32 Raised up Jesus, exalted Him to be prince
James Stewart, in his book, A Man in Christ1, writes, “Everyone who has experienced a great forgiveness, everyone to whom the love of Christ has meant all the difference between victory and defeat, between radiant happiness and despair, will understand the spirit in which Paul spoke of himself as Christ’s ‘slave.’ The ransomed soul was bound to its Ransomer. No demand that Jesus could make would be too great. Life’s crowning joy would be to toil unceasingly for the One who had saved him from death and from something worse than death. With glad heart Paul acknowledged himself a bondman to the greatest of all masters. He was slave: Jesus was the Lord.”
But don’t make the mistake of presuming that the commitment is easily made, or for that matter is always made for Christ as Lord. There have been many who refused to turn from their vaunted “Damascus Roads” even at the intercession of Jesus. Judas lived and studied and even prayed with Jesus for three years, but his own will in the end destroyed him. He refused to accede to the will of God. And I remind you, God did not have to reach out in anger and strike Judas. His discordant heart destroyed [him]. And today, even though the evidences of Jesus’ integrity are clearer than ever, people in huge numbers are refusing to believe, to accede to God’s will.
Links and references
Man in Christ (https://pmoser.sites.luc.edu/jsstewartarchive/Stewart%20ManInChrist%201935.pdf), P. 302.
1 Stewart, J. (1935). A Man in Christ: The Vital Elements of St. Paul's Religion. Regent College Publishing.
STEPHEN: THE MAN, THE MARTYR
#777 STEPHEN: THE MAN, THE MARTYR
Scripture Acts 6:9 – 7:59, NIV Orig. 3/2/1980
Rewr. 10/28/1987
Passage: 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin
7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” 2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’[a] 4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’[b] 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. 17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’[c] 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. 20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.[d] For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’[e] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’[f] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’[g] 35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[h] 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’[i] 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’[j] beyond Babylon.
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[k] 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’[l]
51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Purpose: An in-depth look at a major passage from Acts with a specific purpose of isolating a man, his message, and martyrdom.
Keywords: Bible Study Word of God Christ as Saviour
Surrender Commitment Truth
Timeline/Series: Acts
Introduction
We are aware that the Jewish people have paid a particularly high price over the centuries to maintain their national entity. The Bible gives permanent record to some of these exceedingly unpleasant experiences. Any competent history of Palestine will tell the rest of the story.
Just since the time of Christ, we know of the grim four-year war between Jews and Romans about 70A.D. Half-century later, the Bar Kokhba revolt with a 3 year independence. There were battles with the Persians in the 7th Century, and with the Muslims, soon after. (614, 638) In the 10th/11th Centuries the Crusaders entered the Holy Land in an effort to restore the land of Christ to the followers of Christ. Christians, Jews, and Muslims were dying by the thousands in these confrontations. Time hardly permits discussion of more current expulsions that reveal persecutions from Spain to Russia, and even of death camps in Germany and Poland. The word “ghetto” comes from a district in Venice where Jews were forced to live under stringent privation.
Christians have also suffered, but for different reasons. Over the centuries, the single most constant threat against believers was their attachment to Christ. They have been imprisoned, scourged, impaled upon crosses. They have been denied right to property, redress of grievances, for no other reason than their faith in Christ.
The history of Christendom over the first three centuries was written in the blood of the martyrs. In Rome you can still visit the Colosseum where so many died, and walk through the catacombs where they hid from their tormentors. Leonard Griffith wrote, “Every dictatorship of the past nineteen centuries, including totalitarian regimes in part of the world today, has singled out the church as the number one enemy to be crushed and exterminated.”
No doubt, it started with Christ himself, but Stephen was the first human fodder that fed these flames of extermination. Thus, we review, “Stephen: the Man, the Martyr.”
I. The Man. 6:8, “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.” Back up briefly to the prior verse. The word increasing. Disciples multiplying. Suddenly, there is confrontation. See v9. May be weeks/months between v7 and v8 [chapter 6].
Stephen was a natural leader, made moreso by his allegiance to Christ. 6:8 indicates he was chosen deacon (?) not in the text 6:1 service 6:2 serve. That he was a man “full of faith, Holy Ghost.” He, with six others chosen for tasks, not for honor; singled out to serve not to be served. As Amos Wells says (B32p267) “when the deacons had more to do than pass the contribution box on Sunday.” The ministry to be sustained was the benevolent care of those without support, mainly older women without children.
Not only was he a natural leader, he was a man of charity. Actually, 6:5 pisteos is different from 6:8 charitos, “grace.” The word is “unmerited favor.” He was given to helping those who couldn’t repay favors. How many people have we helped who can never return the favor? The danger of the deacon-business is in coming to think this is their bailiwick. He wanted to help, and he wanted no plaudits or praise. He added to his monumental duties, the care of the Hellenist Jewish so that the apostles were free to preach.
After chapter 7, mentioned only three times: 8:2 his burial; 11:19 persecution; 22:20 Paul’s testimony.
II. The Man and His Message. 7:1, “The High Priest asked him, ‘Are these charges true?’ To this he replied, ‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me.’” Fifty-nine verses go on to declare what he believed. He does not directly answer the High Priest. False witnesses were claiming that he was preaching Christ would destroy the temple: The charge brought against Jesus; Mark 14:57f, “I will destroy temple.” Perhaps they heard him quote Jesus and interpreted Him loosely. We do that.
He answers with a discourse on history. There was the call of God to Abram 2-7. Without either Temple or Law, off the sacred soil of Palestine. The true Israel not bound to a scheme or a place. Then he reminds them of Patriarch and of covenant 8-12. Calling attention to the covenant with Abraham he noted that they had then moved against one of their own (Joseph), but God’s sovereignty dispelled faithfulness. With this he turns to Joseph, 13-19. Their history is of God’s providence. It is a history cheapened by their outrageous rejection of deliverers whom God had sent (Redeemer/Messiah). Breach of covenant resulted all of their struggles to survive, even in Egypt, and through to Assyria/Babylon. There is disparity in numbers. Genesis 46:26 (66), 27 (70 + Jacob/Joseph/2 sons), Exodus 1:5 (70), Acts 7:14 (75).
Next comes a lengthy treatment of Moses. A deliverer chosen, rejected, (40y). In Midian, chosen, returned, Exodus, rejected in wilderness, become idolaters. V40, “Make us gods to go before.” V37, Reminding them of Messianic promise “prophet like unto me.” Above from Deuteronomy 18:15, 18. Then, Stephen delivers a stunning blow of the inadequacy of the temple, vv.44-50. Jews believed SHEKINAH glory there. They worshipped place rather than the God of the place. He delivers a scathing denouncement: “resist the Holy Ghost” (v51), “persecuted prophets, . . . murdered Jesus” (v52); he is persistent in their guilt, but distressed over their unbelief.
III. The Martyrdom of the Man but not the Message. V58, “They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.” He has moved deliberately through discourse. An eternal truth about abode of God: V48, “The Most High does not live in houses made by men.” I Kings 8:27, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built?” Jeremiah 23:23, “I am a God at hand, saith the Lord.” Perhaps, between 50 and 51 hecklers.
Sensing the mood, he perhaps knows his time is short. This crowd won’t be back next week. Their history is one of resistance. The Law has not failed, they have failed to do it justice. V53, You have “received the law . . . and have not kept it.” Next, the Holy Spirit gives Stephen a vision of the heavenly court, and Jesus. Not seated as if at rest, [but] “standing” at God’s hand suggesting intercession. Deuteronomy 13:6f was their proof text. Convinced he enticed them from Jehovah, they took final action. Perhaps even to Golgotha. Without consent of Roman officials. To what purpose did he die? 8:1, “And Saul was consenting unto his death.”
Conclusion
Is there anybody in your life that you just can not forget? Parent, family member, teacher, whose influence remains? Has there been a thing done in the name of Jesus that just does not pass beyond recall? Stephen’s death was that and more to Saul of Tarsus. Stephen: the Man, the Martyr.
LINKS/REFERENCES
Griffith: https://www.yorkminsterpark.com/blog/rev-dr-a-leonard-griffith-1920-2019/
THE LAST WORDS OF JESUS
#258 THE LAST WORDS OF JESUS
Scripture Acts 1:6-11, NIV Orig. 10/15/1961
Rewr. 1/1975; 12/2/1988
Passage: 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Purpose: Preaching to my people early in Advent season of the need to commit ourselves to Christ that the world may come to know that He is Saviour.
Keywords: Christ, Saviour Obedience Witness Commitment
Timeline/Series: Early December
Introduction
Of the several history books I have in my library, there is one on the U.S. presidents. It is a paper-back, and the content relative to each of these men is kept deliberately brief, yet some fascinating data is included.
One of the most interesting segments of the book is found in the index, dealing with the last words spoken by these great Americans. It probably revealed the character of these men better than any other individual event. Several used that time to speak lovingly of their wives. Not a few left messages for posterity that addressed some unfulfilled challenge. For them death had come too soon. Others left commentary on their own character by speaking contemptuously of one of their contemporaries.
Many of us carry etched in our own memories “the last thing” someone said to us. It may have been the word of a loved one lost to death. Or, it could be no more than the statement of a friend who has departed on some extended journey. Perhaps few other things draw the intensity of interest like the last thing that someone says.
How can it be a bad idea, then, to examine the last thing Jesus said? That doesn’t make it any more important, but it is deserving of our special attention. If we are interested in “last words” from “important” people, then this text should speak volumes to us.
Jesus’ cousin John advised the people to hear Jesus. He himself baptized only with water. Jesus would baptize with “fire.” A noteworthy doctor named Luke spent much time telling of the miraculous deeds done by Jesus. An angel visitor, finding the disciples fussing over Moses and Elijah, instructed them to “hear” Jesus. His mother said what few mothers would dare to say, “Whatever he says to you, do it!”
So, look with me this morning at the “last” word of Jesus. It is still time to “hear” him.
I. It Was a Word Denoting Privilege. V7f, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But you shall receive [power]. . . .”
There were things that were perceived as not in their best interest. The burdensome gift of foreknowledge for instance: A desire to know the future is still problematic? How much proof do we need that Jesus was all he claimed to be? As Christians, are to walk by sight, or by faith? Indeed, we do know the answers to such questions: Our interest is not eternal, our interest is material—we want what will help outwit the other side. It still is not in our best interest to know what the plans of God are.
We are quick enough to claim our privileges, but on our own terms, which, of course, God has not promised. Psalm 103:17, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him.” The Hebrews perceived of the kingdom in political terms: God would invade history in a holocaust of power; their people would hold upper hand.
Jesus’ attitude of the kingdom was somewhat different. We know it best from “Lord’s Prayer.” “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” It is for us to yearn for God’s will among men as it surely is among the angels.
It is our privilege, brethren, to receive what God wills to provide. We are to be open and receptive. We must distinguish between preoccupation and privilege. C.S. Lewis depicts the sorrows into which Christ continually comes with his “land of Narnia” where “It was always winter, never Christmas.”
II. It Was a Word Declaring Power. V8, “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you.”
O, for the reality of such power. Need I remind you that electrical energy existed from the dawn of time. Harnessing that power did not arrive until the 19th Century. Atomic power arrived a century later. Brilliant scientists are seeking now new ways to harness the sun’s power. The lights shining so conveniently above us now will be seen as necessities when we return to this place in the evening. The power awaits only the flick of a switch.
Such power in the spiritual plain was always the work of God. It appeared. It vanished; totally at the discretion of God. Say at Gideon’s rout of Midianites; Judges 6:34, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew a trumpet.” Seen also in its negative aspect. Isaiah 63:10, “They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit: Therefore he was turned to be their enemy.”
But in this New Testament day, the power has come, and it has come for God’s own people. John 14:16, “I will pray the father and he will send.” John 14:26, “The comforter which is the Holy Ghost, will teach you all things and remind you of what I said.” John 16:13, “When the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you to all truth.”
You see, it is an intentionally narrow kind of power. Our freedom in Christ is not for what we want. Our freedom in Christ is for what we ought. Through 12 chapters of Acts, the world was virtually untouched by gospel. But Peter’s experience in a dream of clean/unclean food changed all. Acts 11:9, “What God has cleansed, call not common.”
This one concept of power changed the ending of the Book of Acts. Acts 28:31, “Proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unhindered.” Akolutōs [Greek: freely, without hindrance].
III. It Was a Word Documenting Purpose. V8b, “. . . and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
So, we are to be in fact what we are in purpose, witnesses. What the church was not before Peter’s Joppa experience, what they clearly have become according to the text cited (Acts 28:31), we are to be today as well. From the Greek martus, from which comes martyr: A martyr is not so much one who announces some intention, but one who when the time comes, has put first Jesus.
What is important if one would be a witness? We witness to what we know by faith. John Bunyan tells of a time in his adult life when a lack of certainty worried him. He knew Jews, Moslems, who were satisfied that their religion was best. He became a witness when he put away “I think so” and was able to declare, “I know.”
We witness, not only in words, but by deeds as well. The story of India’s Mahatma Ghandi tells of a man intrigued by Jesus Christ, but skeptical because of Christians he had known. The real witness is one who pays no regard to the price that must be paid. On Earlham College campus in Richmond, Indiana,, is a building with a great lobby. Over the fireplace is a quotation said to be from the log of one of the ships which brought Quakers to America. It reads, “They gathered sticks and kindled a fire, and left it burning.”
Conclusion
Man tells of loss of son, and of people suddenly reluctant to talk about him. He wanted friends to talk about this special person.