Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....July 8, 2019
As we begin to wrap up our tour of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles we move on into Acts 20:17-38
The true measure of a person’s life is not the duration but the donation. Peter Marshall
Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the privilege of walking with two families who have lost loved ones into eternity. While both men lived well into their 80’s, what was special about them was the amazing donation of their lives.
One brother was an extraordinary man who had as deep a love for his wife and family of anyone I’ve ever met – and he loved me. As I talked with his bride and family about his life last, I was struck by how much of a generous, overachiever he was and how he lived each moment to its fullest always seeking to put a smile on God’s face. His life touched 100’s of people.
Then yesterday, I learned another brother, a pastor and missionary whose life was a great adventure for Jesus. All he knew was GO – and his direction was set for Jesus. Even into his 80’s, he was traveling to preach the Gospel where 1000’s gave their lives to Christ.
When I think of these men, whose lives appear so different, the truth is they were quite similar as they lived each day seeking to honor the Savior holding nothing back.
When I learned to play baseball back in high school – during the state finals, a teammate said – leave it all on the field! In other words, give it all you’ve got and hold nothing back. My uncle said the same thing in different words – he’d say, “You only get out of life what you put into it.”
As we approach Acts 20:17-38, we find another man who gave it all he had – who fought the good fight.
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them:
“You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for (3) years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
-Acts 20:17-38
Paul is nearing the end of his life and he knows it because the Holy Spirit has revealed it him. Yet as he boards a boat for Jerusalem, he asks to meet with the leaders at Ephesus who were dear to his heart one final time. And this is the message he shares with them. In this wonderful encouragement, I want you note verse 24:
I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Paul was saying to live was Christ and to die was gain. He was saying that if there is anything worth denying yourself and dropping your nets – it was taking up the cross and following Jesus.
This verse begs the question – what drives or motivates you? What makes you tick? For Paul, he was compelled by the Gospel – and his personal encounter with Jesus. Thus, his sole ambition in life was to help others experience the same love and grace he had experienced. He was compelled by the God’s love for him.
For Christ’s love compels me, because I am convinced one died for all, and therefore we’ve all died. And Jesus died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
What COMPELS You?
Paul was captivated by the love that engulfed him on the road to Damascus and transformed his life.
How CONVINCED of Jesus are You?
He was convinced that Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He’d do.
Are you CONVICTED Jesus Change Lives?
Because of where he’d come from, Paul understood that only the cross can take the dead and give it life, make the lost found, and give hope to the hopeless.
Are You COMMITTED to the Call?
An ambassador is a person who represents his home nation while living in a foreign land. As believers, we are called to live on earth representing our home in heaven with the message of God’s love and grace.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Which begs the question – What compels you? The donation of your life will be determined by the focus of your purpose. Here are your options:
Option 1 – ME First
This option puts self on the throne and seeks to make sure self is loved and nurtured before anyone or anything else. This is the nature of our flesh. We live in a culture where self is the predominant characteristic of our day. Me-ism has become the prevailing spirit!
Do you remember the rich farmer Jesus spoke about in Luke 12 – he opted for Me-ism. In his abundance, he built bigger barns, filled them full of his harvest, and then leaned back to enjoy his blessings. If you were to count the personal pronouns in this parable and you’d sense Me-ism squeezing life and eternity from a man who thought he had it made.
Option 2 – The PAST Rules
Some people choose to live in the past. Not selfishness but escape is the driving motive of their lives. The word nostalgia comes from two Greek words: NOSTOS – to return home and ALGIA – to a painful condition.
The term was first used of Swiss mercenary soldiers who became despondent while fighting in foreign lands. When they remembered the Alps and the calmer periods of their lives, they got the blues. They became nostalgic.
Some people live with a permanent case of nostalgia. They long for the good old days. They project their minds into a bygone era when things were calmer and life was better. But I think Will Rogers spoke into nostalgia the best – Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was.
Option 3 – WIN No Matter the Cost
For some, life is all about winning and the desire to succeed is what drives them. Coach Vince Lombardi used to say – Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing. This attitude is pervasive all around us. Just look at the money being thrown around in sports today. But what if, like Jesus taught, life isn’t about being the best but doing your best.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -Colossians 3:17
Option 4 – MORE is Better
We can make the accumulation of wealth our purpose. Gold is god. The bank is the altar. And stuff is the priority.
The worst thing about money is it costs too much! John D. Rockefeller put it like this – The most miserable man in the world is the man who has nothing but money.
One man put it like this – Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not an appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace of happiness.
To those who live for money come the sobering reminder from the rabbi from Galilee, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"
Option 5 – FOLLOW Jesus
I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
Golf Poem
In My Hand I Hold A Ball,
White And Dimpled, Rather Small.
Oh, How Bland It Does Appear,
This Harmless Looking Little Sphere.
By Its Size I Could Not Guess,
The Awesome Strength It Does Possess.
But Since I Fell Beneath Its Spell,
I've Wandered Through The Fires Of Hell.
My Life Has Not Been Quite The Same,
Since I Chose To Play This Stupid Game.
It Rules My Mind For Hours On End,
A Fortune It Has Made Me Spend.
It Has Made Me Yell, Curse And Cry.
I Hate Myself And Want To Die.
It Promises A Thing Called Par,
If I Can Hit It straight And Far.
To Master Such A Tiny Ball,
Should Not Be Very Hard At All.
But My Desires The Ball Refuses,
And Does Exactly As It Chooses.
It Hooks And Slices, Dribbles And Dies,
And Even Disappears Before My Eyes.
Often It Will Have A Whim,
To Hit A Tree Or Take A Swim.
With Miles Of Grass On Which To Land,
It Finds A Tiny Patch Of Sand.
Then has Me Offering Up My Soul,
If Only It Would Find The Hole.
It's Made Me Whimper Like A Pup,
And Swear That I Will Give It Up.
And Take To Drink To Ease My Sorrow,
But The Ball Knows ....
I'll Be Back Tomorrow.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Who wrote the book?
After Paul started the church in Thessalonica, he wrote this first letter to the believers there within just a few months of leaving. In Acts, Luke recorded that Paul preached for three Sabbath days to the Jews in the local synagogue (Acts 17:2). However, most scholars believe Paul spent about three months, rather than three weeks, with the Thessalonians because he would have had to have been there long enough to receive more than one offering from the Philippian church (Philippians 4:15–16).
Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica obviously touched not only Jews but Gentiles as well. Many Gentiles in the church had come out of idolatry, which was not a particular problem among the Jews of that time (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
Where are we?
Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonian church from the city of Corinth around AD 51, just a few months after having preached in Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. Upon leaving Thessalonica under duress, Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled to Athens by way of Berea. But after a short time in Athens, Paul felt the need to receive a report from the newborn church in Thessalonica, so he sent Timothy back to serve and minister to the new believers there. Paul wanted to check on the state of the Thessalonians’ faith, for fear that false teachers might have infiltrated their number. However, Timothy soon returned with a good report, prompting Paul to pen 1 Thessalonians as a letter of encouragement to the new believers.
Why is First Thessalonians so important?
Everyone would like to have some insight into what their future holds. How much more so when it comes to the end of the whole world? First Thessalonians provides Christians with the clearest biblical passage on the coming rapture of believers, an event that will inaugurate the seven-year tribulation. At the rapture, Christ will return for His people. The dead in Christ shall rise first, while those still living will follow close behind. All believers will meet Jesus in the air to begin an eternity spent with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).
What's the big idea?
Impressed by the faithfulness of the Thessalonians in the face of persecution, Paul wrote to encourage the Christians in that community with the goal that they would continue to grow in godliness. Paul knew that the people had been exposed to errant teaching from those in opposition to the way of Jesus Christ and the grace of God. And Paul also understood that unless the young church continued to mature in its faith, the danger would only increase over time.
With that in mind, Paul taught the people that any spiritual growth would ultimately be motivated by their hope in the ultimate return of Jesus Christ. Paul was never interested in simply telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, for he knew that what ultimately inspired change was a life of consistently walking in the power of God’s Spirit. And so to a group of young Christians with questions and uncertainties, Paul offered the hope of Christ’s return, providing both comfort in the midst of questions and motivation to godly living.
How do I apply this?
Do you ever feel as though your Christian faith has grown stale, that you are withering on the vine when you would rather be flourishing in His service? Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is the perfect remedy for such a feeling. Its focus on Christ’s return provides water for the thirsty soul today, encouraging growth in maturity by providing hope in the midst of suffering or uncertainty.
Paul’s specific, practical instruction for this process of sanctification can be applied directly to our current circumstances. By clinging to our hope in Christ, we may see several clear results in our lives: avoiding sexual immorality, refusing to defraud others, appreciating those Christians who serve on your behalf, refusing to repay evil for evil, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all things—to name a few (1 Thessalonians 4:3–7; 5:12–23). This list, of course, is not exhaustive, but the first letter to the Thessalonians makes clear that every Christian should expect to grow in holiness over the course of his or her life.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou