The Macedonian Call

SERMON: 2014-09-14--ac14140--the-macedonian-call-part-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:39:01.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The sermon begins with an exposition on the Book of Acts (segment [0]) and continues through detailed theological discussion until segment [323], which concludes the main body of the message before a period of silence. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- The Book of Acts, I believe, contains a number of stories that can legitimately be described as epic. Epic in the sense that they are not only grand and dramatic events that profoundly impacted their own generation, but events that have continued to reverberate through the centuries and continue to impact the world even today. Let me just quickly tell you about some of those stories. You'll be familiar with them. The first is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. You remember the story how dramatically there were tongues as a fire and the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and all the assembly broke out speaking in other languages and 3,000 people came to faith. What the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost did was it took the power of God who made the whole universe and His presence, and He brought it to earth in the hearts and in the lives of His people. And in subsequent generation, that power in God's people has enabled them to penetrate virtually every society upon the earth with the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ. The second story that I would consider epic in the Book of Acts is the conversion of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 9. Every Sunday school child knows the story of how Saul of Tarsus was on the way to Damascus to imprison believers in Christ because of his opposition to the gospel and how the Lord Jesus met him on that road, knocked him to the ground, and transformed his life from one of the greatest persecutors the church had ever known up until that point to one of its most flaming apostles, an apostle with a message to the Gentiles. You and I are here today in part because of Paul's conversion and his ministry to the Gentiles, an epic story in its own right. Closely related to that is the conversion of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 and 11. And Cornelius, you will remember, was a Roman centurion, a God-fearing Roman centurion, and one afternoon at 3 o'clock an angel paid him a little visit and said, "I want you to send for the Apostle Peter who is in Joppa, a town not that far from Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea where Cornelius lived." And you know the story of how Peter had that vision preparing him to not call unclean what God had called clean, went to Cornelius' house, preached the gospel, and guess what happened? The Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and all of his household. An epic story in its own right because it finally began to show the early Jewish believers that the Gentiles shared in the blessings of Christ. It was an issue that was difficult for them to get around. The next epic story, and we've been talking about that in recent weeks, of course, is the Council of Jerusalem and its decision that the Gentile believers did not need to keep the law of Moses. And as I've shared with you what that did is it took what would have remained a small Middle Eastern sect restricted largely to a dedicated few and it made Christianity a world religion and it enabled the Christian faith to spread all over the world. And that brings us this morning to a fifth epic episode in the book of Acts, one that I would call Paul's Macedonian call. It's recorded for us in Acts chapter 16. It runs the verses 6 through 10. I want us to read it together and then talk about why that story is an epic story because at first glance it looks just like a little piece of New Testament history but its implications for your life and my life as I want to try to show you in the limited time that we have this morning is incredibly profound. Let's read it together. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Messia or Messia, both pronunciations are correct, I had to look it up, they tried to enter Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Messia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Now before I talk about the particular importance of that passage, in reading it together and perhaps in looking at your bulletin insert, who can tell me what is odd about those verses? Anybody catch? There's a transition that happens here in pronouns. The pronouns go from they to we, watch this, let's read it together again. Verse 7, when they, that is Paul, Silas, and Timothy, remember they're on their second missionary journey, Paul has just picked up Timothy in Lystra and Silas has replaced Barnabas because they had that disagreement, when they came to the border of Messia, they try to enter Bithynia. Verse 8, so they passed by Messia and went down to Troas. Now notice what happens in verse 10, after Paul had seen the vision we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. It goes from they to we and them to us. Who can tell me why? Luke joins them. Remember Luke is the author not only of Luke's gospel but also the book of Acts, in fact scholars tell me that Luke and Acts at one point used to be a twin books together because they were both authored by Luke. Well Luke writes from an historian's point of view and up until this point he has examined all the facts but he hasn't been part of the trip firsthand. Now here in Troas he joins them for their ocean voyage as we'll see in a moment to Macedonia. Three more times in the book of Acts the pronouns change from they to we and every time it is in connection with an ocean voyage which is rather interesting and I'm beginning to wonder if maybe the Apostle Paul didn't like ocean voyages, got seasick and wanted to bring a doctor along with him just to enable him to get through it. I don't know but it's really quite bizarre because Luke never brings himself forward but he enters into the narrative when he travels with Paul and with his associates on the missionary trip. Okay but back to this story you remember I said this is an epic story it is just as big as Pentecost and just as big as Paul's conversion and just as big as Cornelius's conversion and and just as important as the council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15. So here's the question why is this story so important? Well all we need to do is look at the map trying to get my little lighter to behave here. Look at the map of Paul's second missionary journey. Now notice Antioch in Syria is the starting point because Paul had said to Barnabas let's revisit the churches in Derbe and Lystra, Iconium and Antioch and Pisidia that they had visited on their first missionary trip. The first missionary trip had gone this way you will recall and then back again to Antioch. Now Barnabas and him they had this big blow-up about taking John Mark along and so Paul and Silas go back to Tarsus which is Paul's birthplace then they revisit Derbe, they revisit Lystra where they pick up Timothy and then they go on to Iconium and to Antioch in Pisidia and then they travel into the province of Asia but interesting thing happens on this journey. The Holy Spirit will not allow them to preach the gospel in Asia. So now what do you do? Well they keep on traveling and you've got to picture this because this is like Lord what are you saying you're closing doors but we're in the middle of Asia what do we do now? So they keep on going and they figure well here is the province of Bithynia and maybe the Lord wants us to preach in Bithynia but guess what happens when they get to the border of Bithynia? The Holy Spirit says no go. Now what we're in the middle of Asia do we turn back? Do we keep on going? They continue to go remember it's about 500 kilometers from here to Troas so they continue to journey until they come to Troas and he has this vision of the man from Macedonia saying come over and help us and so Paul immediately concludes that God has called him to preach the gospel in Macedonia. Macedonia is over here the rest of Greece is over here and so on and therein lies the significance of this particular event because what continent is Macedonia on? It is in Europe. So here for the first time we have the gospel going west instead of east and the significance of that is incredibly profound because number one most of us sitting here would not be here we would not be Christian believers if the Holy Spirit hadn't sent the gospel westward but equally important it transformed the Western world into embodying biblical values in its institutions and in its life we can let the screen go and therein lies the significance of this story. The Western world was evangelized because of this momentous decision to take the gospel to Macedonia and while the Western world certainly hasn't always lived up to its Christian values by any means it does mean that Christian values permeated much of history in the Western world at least until recently and in the limited time that we have available to us this morning I want to paint a little bit of a picture of some of the ways in which this has impacted how the Western world lives and believes its faith and I don't know how many of these I'll have time to mention but I want to talk at least about this first one this westward movement of the gospel helped establish a biblical world and life view in the Western world let me say it again this westward movement of the gospel helped establish a biblical world and life view in much of the Western world now a world and life view is the lens through which one sees life everybody's got one most people don't realize they have one because they grow up with it and it is part of the assumptions that are part of people's lives but everybody's got a world and life view and the world and life view that you have determines what you value what you think is important why you are here and how life works and dr. Peter Jones who is a native of Liverpool England and a boyhood friend interestingly enough with John Lennon one of the world's most knowledgeable evangelical scholars in terms of the rise of the new age or new paganism makes the observation that the Western world is in the midst of a battle between two different worldviews the biblical worldview that we have inherited on account of the gospel preaching back in those early days that evangelized first Greece then Rome then Europe then South America or Africa and of course North America we are in the midst of a gigantic battle between opposing worldviews a biblical worldview and a worldview that is essentially pagan in orientation the biblical worldview he calls two ism the pagan view he calls one ism let me talk about each of those just briefly and this engages our minds a little bit so it may be hard to grasp but stick with me because it colors everything in the world today in fact he will argue that the major social battles of our age like abortion and same-sex marriage and euthanasia and many many values that are part of the culture wars in North America can be traced back to this conflict between two ism and one ism take note of this two ism of course is the kind of model of biblical world and life view that we talk about here all the time to ism to ism means that God and creation are separate they are two separate entities from a biblical point of view God has always existed we don't understand that he is the I am who I am and because he is eternally self existent everything that exists in the universe comes from the hand of God has incredibly profound implications because it means that he is outside of creation even while he is a work within creation and as the God outside of creation he is the one who has the power to tell us what is right and what is wrong he has the power to name whatever needs to be named he names Adam Adam as his image bearer names Eve of course but also names all the animals naming in Scripture is incredibly important because it means that you have authority over and you have a knowledge of the character whose name you are ascribing and when Paul says in Ephesians chapter three that God the father let me read you that passage it says that every family in heaven and on earth derives its name from God the father which means that God has the right to tell us who we are how we should live and what pleases him he has the right to determine how the world operates to ism you and I are familiar with we may not always like to give God that kind of authority even as Christian believers but that is basic biblical world and life view now remember fallen human race doesn't like to be accountable to God fallen human race doesn't want to be told what to do by God fallen human race doesn't want gone to say how we who we are and how we should live fallen human race wants to do its own thing and so one ism is a pagan religion that echoes the words of Romans chapter one where through our wickedness we suppress the truth the truth about God that is plainly visible in all of creation you've heard me say this many times from a biblical point of view even even the the furthest removed pagan looking at creation ought to be able to determine two things about God that he's there and that he made everything because nothing can make itself from a biblical point of view but you see we suppress that truth as a human race and when we suppress that truth according to Romans chapter one what happens we are given over to darkness the Bible says what happens is that our thinking becomes futile and our foolish hearts become darkened and we had changed the glory of God for the images of birds and animals in other words we begin to identify creation as our God and therein lies the key to one ism one ism doesn't believe that there's a God out there who is above creation no one ism says that creation is God there is a spark of divinity in all of humanity and so the classic name for that is pantheism and here you see a pantheistic logo the sign of infinity everything is one and when everything is one all the world's religions are also one keep that up for just a moment without belay belaboring it the points of one ism and pagan spirituality are this all is one one is all humanity is one all religions are one there's only one problem we have forgotten how divine we are and there is only one answer and that is to look within for the spark of divinity there's actually a website and you see the logo of that website over here called one ism and this is by a fellow by the name of Herschel Wayne Herschel who claims to have gained all these supernatural insights about the origin and the nature of the universe and he writes some amazing things that sound like the Christian gospel if they weren't so far off listen one ism introduces the means to ease the crisis of global suffering create equality improve human rights and the Eden principle by which he means this pagan philosophy all is one and one is all enables us if we could only dig deep inside ourselves we can find what we need to find to have world peace so you may say that's pretty heady what is that practically it means huge things in terms of what you're hearing in the world today because if God and creation are one then the differences that God has created in the universe begin to disappear and so not only are God and creation one but God and man are one they're intermingled people and animals are one because we're all part of the same creation angels and demons are really one and even more importantly and more practically in terms of our present day and age men and women are one God's created differences in the world begin to disappear because the return to paradise doesn't come by the cross of Jesus who died so that we can be reconciled to God and reconciled to each other we don't need Jesus we become one because the divine life in us brings us all together and we are united to nature and to each other as I said that is classic pantheism and Peter Jones argues very persuasively that as God gives the world over to its scene and their thinking becomes futile and darkened then our whole understanding of the world gets turned upside down and the gender confusion that is being pushed on us from all sides is the fruit of being given over to a world and life you that is unbiblical at best did you know that in Sweden preschool teachers now can no longer call boys and girls he or she they have to be called friends and you may have heard the earlier news story out of Toronto this one particular couple has a baby called storm and the raising that child without telling anybody whether he is a boy or a girl because they want him or her to find his own gender and we live in a day and age of great gender confusion most of us are familiar with the gay pride label of LGBT now also Q L for lesbian a gay for G for gay B for bisexual T for transsexual and Q for queer but did you know that that acronym has now grown to include many more terms let me read it to you now it's L G B T Q Q I P 2 S A A that's all included under the umbrella and I'm not sharing this with you to make fun of that or for us to laugh at it because gender confusion is an incredibly painful thing but understand we live in a day and age where we have rejected God's designation of who we are you understand that once we reject God's authority to tell us what is what what happens is that we live in our own confusion because we have no compass by which to measure things and I thought of this as Michelle and I were on the ferry from Yarmouth to Maine now I've been on lots of ferries because we always used to have to take the ferry to PEI before they build a bridge but you were never outside of I shot of land but when you go from Yarmouth to Portland Maine it's open ocean and at one point in our ferry trip I climbed up to the top of the ship to look around and of course when you middle the ocean what happens all you see is ocean and it's a big circle all the way around now imagine trying to navigate without navigational tools you get lost and so years ago you know they just found that Franklin expedition of North they got lost in the ice but years ago how do they navigate well you navigated by the stars because they were a fixed reference point now today you navigate by all kinds of modern and and and and and technological methods of course but the point is this without a fixed reference point you get lost because now all you have to go by is your feelings and your experience and your own thoughts and the moment you do that you lose sight of our reference point and you wander that's what has happened when we have rejected God's authority we have rejected biblical authority now our authority is our experience what we like what each of us cherishes and the problem with that is we end up wandering and so let me tell you one story that illustrates how profoundly this has impacted life in Canada on a legal level let me read you a quotation from a prominent Canadian politician back in the 70s as he engaged the abortion debate that was just getting going and you tell me who said this this appeared in the Toronto Star as part of an article a while back and not on the Toronto Star in a Montreal newspaper here's the quotation you know at some point you are killing life in the fetus in self-defense of what of the mother's health or her happiness or of her social rights or her privilege as a human being I think she should have to answer for it and explain now whether it should be to three doctors or one doctor or to a priest or a bishop or to her mother-in-law is a question you might want to argue you do have the right over your own body it is your body but the fetus is not your body it is someone else's body and if you kill it you will have to explain who do you think said that Pierre Elliott Trudel in the lead-up to the changing laws on abortion understand what he was saying because he himself of course ended up being pro-abortion but at that point in history he was saying you have to think through the legal implications of knowing you're actually killing somebody and however you want to explain it that is the reality right that's that's what he said now roll the clock forward 42 years that I'm not picking on politics here so don't misunderstand me think back to Justin Trudeau why did he decide for his caucus with regard to abortion issues you cannot run as a liberal candidate unless you have adopted a pro-choice position you get the significance of that it's gone from we know this is wrong there may be reasons we have to do it but we know that it's wrong right - now it's no longer not wrong it is wrong if you are pro-life and a member of my caucus you see what happens when all around you you see the ocean and you don't have the stars to navigate by the more we adopt a new age point of view or a neo-paganism where God has been exiled from life the more adrift we go and it's happening at an increasing rate and Peter Jones will make the argument that it is not coincidental that the rise of all these social changes that we have been dealing with in the last 40 years or more coincide with a rise of the age of Aquarius as in the 60s we began to import Eastern religion and so to wind this up here is a short clip from 1965 by Paul Harvey it's dated it's American but I think it is profoundly prophetic we'll conclude with this take a look if I were the devil if I were the prince of darkness I'd want to engulf the whole world in darkness and I'd have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population but I wouldn't be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree V so I've said about however necessary to take over the United States I'd support the churches first I'd begin with a campaign of whispers with the wisdom of a serpent I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve do as you please to the young I would whisper that the Bible is a myth I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around I would confide that what's bad is good and what's good is square and the old I would teach to pray after me our father which art in Washington and then I'd get organized I'd educate authors in how to make lowered literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting I threatened TV with dirtier movies and vice versa I pedal narcotics to whom I could I'd sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction I tranquilize the rest with pills if I were the devil I'd soon have families at war with themselves churches at war with themselves and nations at war with themselves until each in its turn was consumed and with promises of higher ratings I'd have mesmerizing media fanning the flames if I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglected discipline emotions just let those run wild until before you knew it you'd have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door within a decade I'd have prisons overflowing I'd have judges promoting pornography soon I could evict God from the courthouse then from the schoolhouse and then from the houses of Congress and in his own churches I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls and church money if I were the devil I'd make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle if I were the devil I'd take from those who have and give to those who wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious and what will you bet I couldn't get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich I would caution against extremes in hard work in patriotism in moral conduct I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned that swinging is more fun that what you see on TV is the way to be and thus I could undress you in public and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure in other words if I were the devil I just keep right on doing what he's doing Paul Harvey good day that's 1965 isn't that prophetic don't want to extend this but understand this is why the Lord calls us individually as families and as communities to embrace a biblical world and life you there is a God he has revealed himself in scripture he has revealed himself in Christ he grants us the Holy Spirit and as you and I grow in union with Christ and try to let his word shape our lives in the middle of increasing darkness we can still be salt and light because I don't know about you but I've read the last chapter in the book and in the end the kingdom of Jesus wins over the darkness that dragon gets thrown into the lake of fire [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:38:55.830; remove through 00:39:01.000] [ [CUT]BLANK_AUDIO] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:39:01.000; resume after this marked segment]