Moving On

a lot of you here I think are familiar
with dr. Henry cloud we quote him often
we have upon occasion viewed videos from
him he's a Christian counselor a
Christian business consultant a prolific
author and one of the books that he is
written is a book called necessary
endings the subtitle is the employees
businesses and relationships that all of
us have to give up in order to move
forward and his thesis in the book is
that for any of us to move forward in
life whether that be our personal lives
our businesses or our careers or even
our ministries we often have to bring
closure to that which we have been doing
previously and perhaps even closure to
the people that we have been doing it
with here's how he summarizes that
thought in one of the paragraphs in his
book let me read it to you
he says endings are not only part of
life they are a requirement for living
and thriving professionally and
personally being alive requires that
sometimes we kill off things in which we
were once invested uproot what we
previously nurtured and tear down what
we build for an earlier time refraining
giving up throwing away tearing down
hating what we once cherished all are
necessary endings are the reason you're
not married to your prom date nor still
working in your first job but without
the ability to do endings well we
flounder stay stuck and fail to reach
our goals and dreams or worse we remain
in painful and sometimes destructive
situations
endings are crucial but we rarely like
them hence the problem and I would add
not only do we rarely like them rarely
do we do them well my experience has
been over the years that when it comes
to significant life changes such as
changing relationships or changing jobs
or changing ministries we often do them
on the fly and often in a reactive
fashion my friend and I we have a fight
we stop talking we drift apart the issue
remains unresolved I don't like my boss
I don't like my job I talked behind his
back and secretly I begin to look for
another position take it and all of a
sudden I give my notice and I'm gone or
I volunteer for a ministry and start off
with great excitement but then it's
tougher than I thought and maybe I
didn't quite get the appreciation that I
expected or perhaps even experienced
some opposition and and before you know
it my fire dies out and I disappear and
that's the end of that and of course
what that does in all of life's
situations is it leaves other people
holding the bag what happened here did I
do something wrong
did am I missing something and of course
what that does is it makes people
cynical it makes people close off their
hearts it makes people question
relationships and motivations and before
you know it you have a society that
begins to disintegrate like we're
watching the American society
disintegrating south-of-the-border how
do we move on in life in a redemptive
fashion
and in a god-glorifying fashion as
opposed to that which leaves our past
path strewn with the wrecks of lives and
relationships that's what I want to talk
about this morning I want to talk about
it with you on the basis of Paul's
moving forward from Ephesus listen again
to the first three verses of this
passage that we read earlier when the
uproar had ended Paul sent for the
disciples after encouraging them said
goodbye and set out for Macedonia he
traveled through that area
speaking many words of encouragement to
the people and finally arrived Li
arrived in Greece where he stayed three
months because the Jews made a plot
against him just as he was about to sail
for Syria he decided to go back through
Macedonia Paul you need to remember was
on his third missionary journey an
honest third missionary journey his aim
was to revisit all the churches that he
had founded on his first two missionary
journeys and as he traveled through Asia
Minor which is Turkey today he decided
to drop in at Ephesus he had never been
to Ephesus before he had not previously
established a church there but you'll
recall found 12 disciples prayed for
them to receive the Holy Spirit began to
preach the gospel had an amazing revival
happening at Ephesus and then he spent
the better part of two and a half going
on to three years and nurturing those
new believers in the city of Ephesus now
finally after all that period of time
and after the riot that happened he was
prepared to move on on the rest of his
missionary journey let me show you what
that looks like
because it's it's rather interesting his
third missionary journey of course began
in Antioch over here he revisited his
earlier places that he established then
he came to Ephesus where he stayed for
this length of time and then he
revisited all these churches all the way
to Corinth that he had previously
established now his plan had been to
travel from Corinth in Greece back to
Syria but as the text told us he became
aware of another plot of the Jews
against him the rest of the book of Acts
is filled with their attempts at trying
to kill him so whatever the reason
instead of traveling this way he
backtracked
over the cities that he had just visited
until he came to Troas which is where
the which is where we find him in this
particular passage so he he moved on
from Ephesus and then he moved back to
Troy Astro asses the rest of the chapter
goes on to point out is the place where
a young fella by the name of Utica sat
in the window ledge because he was
trying to get some fresh air fell asleep
and you know came to the ground picked
up dead Paul was able to rejuvenate him
and a great story about preachers who
preached too long just so you know
because Paul preached until Sun till Sun
up in that situation it shows how hungry
God's people were for the wisdom that he
had to impart but here's the question
then how did Paul know that it was time
to move on from Ephesus and what can we
learn together from the move that Paul
made as he resumed his missionary
journeys in the time that we have I want
to give you if we can three factors that
I believe played a significant role in
his decision three factors that if we
understand them apply them to our own
situation can help us to know
at what point in life we need to move on
beyond a relationship beyond a job
beyond the situation into a new
situation and do it redemptive ly first
of all for Paul there was the leading of
the Holy Spirit the leading of the Holy
Spirit now you don't know that from the
verses that we have read together but he
makes that very plain a little bit later
on in verse 22 and 23 he is now on his
way back to Syria has stopped by
milita's which is close to Ephesus and
is speaking to the Ephesian elders and
this is what he says compelled by this
spirit I am going to Jerusalem not
knowing what will happen to me there and
then verse 23 I only know that in every
city the Holy Spirit warns me that
prison and hardships are facing me the
Holy Spirit is directing him to move
forward with an aim of going to
Jerusalem and the reason for that of
course is that as an apostle he is
called to bring the gospel to the
political leaders of his day and even
though he doesn't fully understand
what's going to happen we know from the
rest of the book of Acts this sets the
stage that eventually he ends up in Rome
testifying to the Emperor about the
kingdom of God but what's significant
for us at this moment is that we have a
principle here and that principle is
this sometimes you know that it's time
to move on because the Holy Spirit is
leading you to move on from where you
are to where you need to be the Bible is
filled with examples of where the Lord
comes along by his Spirit or through one
of his angels tells his people
well what the next phase of life ought
to be there is the call of Abraham way
back in the Old Testament there are many
other callings throughout scripture
where God appears to people and he says
this is what I want you to do and
sometimes in your life and in my life as
we walk with the Lord
mining our own business trying to you
know figure out what it is that we want
to do and where it is that we want to go
sometimes there's just a check in our
spirit that says don't or a check in our
spirit that says yes and afterwards we
often understand that to be the
prompting of the Holy Spirit leading us
to go forward give you a quick example
one of the one of the most enjoyable
years of my life there have been many
but one of the most enjoyable years of
my life was my second year in college
when I inherited the leadership of our
College radio station now it wasn't much
of a radio station it was a carrier
current station which means that we fed
our signal into the electric circuits on
campus and anybody that was close to an
electrical outlet could pick up our our
signal it was quite an operation I I
remember one time we borrowed somebody's
truck and went all the way to Xenia Ohio
to pick up this huge transmitter that we
we lucked back and we had our engineer
plug it into the electric circuit to
electrify the whole campus it was awry
but it's very enjoyable because we
managed to triple our budget that first
year we had 40 kids on staff went to
24/7 broadcasting we had a captive
audience people might not want to listen
to us in the dorm but they had listened
to us in the dining hall
we had a United Press International
teletype for the news and we even
managed to finagle if you can believe it
a alive NBC a radio network feed we were
sophisticated I
want you to know this and it was it I
cannot tell you how much fun of us I
mean really how we ever got to school
and ever got grades doing this beyond me
but it was a ride and I was enjoying it
you might be able to tell that I wasn't
enjoy it just a little bit but all of a
sudden along comes the Lord and I
remember it so clearly because I was not
very happy about it he said that I had a
quit and leave the position and go on to
somebody else and you know how that goes
you argue and you debate and you hope
that it's you know just your own
imagination but sometimes you just can't
outrun the Lord and you just have to
listen to what he is saying and a lot of
you know the story of how I came here
back in 1985 and how in 1978 already
when I was pastoring my first church
there was a moment of Revelation where
the doesn't happen to me very often was
a moment where the Lord came along and
said that one day I would get a call
from this congregation and that didn't
happen for another six years but
sometimes the Lord lead his people and
most of us if we're walking with the
Lord even remotely and if we have open
eyes to see and ears to hear often in
retrospect we can recognize that was the
Lord's prompting and sometimes the Lord
just prompts us to start new things to
stop old things and to move into new
things it's important for us as members
of the body of Christ to be sensitive to
the leading of the Lord and to have
whatever confirmation that we might need
to know that it is the Lord because you
don't always know you don't always know
am i hearing this right and so one of
the things that I'm really committed to
is is to judge the leading of the Lord
in the context of community because
often other people around me can confirm
or not that what I'm hearing isn't just
my own imagination it is in fact the
leading of the Lord and I found it
interesting that in the verse that we
caught it
from Paul's conversation with the
Ephesian elders that same kind of thing
is actually happening because he says in
verse 23 listen to it again I only know
he says I don't know what's going to
happen I have to go to Jerusalem and all
I know he says is that in every city the
Holy Spirit warns me that prison and
hardships are facing me now here's a
question how does he know how does the
Holy Spirit speak to him in every city
that he is visited well it's through the
other believers if you read on in Acts
chapter 21
you know he's now back in Syria and you
get this prophet coming down from
Jerusalem the guy's name is activist and
what does activist say to him coming
over to us he took Paul's belt tied his
own hands and feed with it and said the
Holy Spirit says in this way the Jews of
Jerusalem will bind the owner of this
belt and will hand him over to the
Gentiles the Lord often uses community
to make sure that what we're hearing is
the Lord because usually when the Lord
tells you what's going to happen alright
he wants you to do it means that he
wants to encourage you not only to obey
but you know you're going to get into
trouble and if you're going to get into
trouble you have to be very very short
very very clear that you are in the
Lord's wheel and that he will carry you
through because otherwise you will bail
when things get tough and things will
sometimes get real tough as we all know
so there's the leading of the Holy
Spirit and the second factor that we
need to consider or they Paul considered
is that his task in Ephesus was
completed now it's true he leaves after
the riot and I'll talk about that in a
moment or two but his plan to leave
precede it
the riot because if you go back to
chapter 19 verse 21 after all this had
happened Paul decided to go to Jerusalem
passing through Macedonia and aquella
that's Greece after I've been there he
said I must visit Rome also
after all this had happened if you go
back to that chapter refers to the
revival in Ephesus when so many people
came to faith that five million dollars
worth of sorcery books were thrown in
the fire you know God's grace is at work
lives have been transformed when they
give up their pagan ways at great
expense to themselves and so Paul knew
then that the gospel was established and
he was ready to move forward and again
there is an important principle here
because his task in Ephesus was
completed he had established the church
he didn't just abandon the babies he
organized the church he appointed elders
for two and a half years he taught them
day and night every day in the Hall of
Tyrannus this community was solidly
founded and he could go forward with the
rest of his missionary trail and again
the principle here that is this
sometimes it's time to move on in life
because our task is finished and our
work has been done let me elaborate on
that just a little bit because all of us
if we're in Christ have a unique calling
and with that calling comes a unique
level of gifting that gifting varies
from individual to individual and it
varies in size G
Jesus and the parable of the talents
talks about a man who receives one
Talent talks about a man who receives
two talents talks about a man who
receives five talents regardless of the
size of our talent eventually we come to
a place where we have finished what we
have been called to do and we can no
longer take anybody further along and be
fruitful in the doing think of parents
raising their children
you pour yourself into your children
when they're young only to leave them
goodbye I always say just by the time
they get to be of some use to you in
your household they go off on their
older they they pour all their energy
into somebody else think of you know
contract work you you have certain gifts
that you bring to the table an employer
recognizes those gifts and you have a
fixed time period or a fixed task to
complete and once the task is completed
the job is done
same thing in ministry situations you
you you join a ministry you give
yourself for a season you you you you go
as far as you can go and then you know
that you cannot go any further and one
of the ways in which we can usually tell
that in life is we get restless on the
inside we we start looking at other job
opportunities we start looking at other
relationships we we wonder what's next
in my life and and how can I move into
that one of the ways in which we can
tell but it's time to move on is that we
have done in a given situation as much
as we can do given what we bring to the
table somebody else may be able to take
that further but we can only take it as
far as we're taking it because we've
reached their ceiling does that make
sense
but let me sound a note a warning here
because there are two ceilings in life
that we have to be able to separate the
first is the natural feeling of our
giftedness I said some of us are one
talent some are two talent
some are five talent it varies from
person to person and it varies from
situation to situation there are two
things that are extremely frustrating
for people in life one is if your gifts
exceed the job that you have and you get
totally bored out of your mind
and the other is when the demands on the
job exceed what you're bringing to the
table and now you're extremely
frustrated and anxious because demands
are being made on you that you're not
able to deliver the Bible says and I
love this verse you've often heard me
quoted Romans chapter 12 verse 3 but the
grace given me says Paul I say to every
one of you do not think of yourself more
highly than you ought but rather think
of yourself with sober judgment it is
extremely healthy to know our god-given
limitations accept god-given limitations
don't envy what somebody else has got
recognized that God gives you what you
are suited for if God had given to the
one talented person in the parable of
Jesus what he gave to the five talented
person and vice versa both would have
been extremely frustrated you got to
operate with where you find yourself and
part of growing up in the Lord is that
we lay aside childish notions of who we
are and how great and wonderful you know
one of the problems in this day and age
is we have so many insecure parents that
don't believe in helping their children
live in a realistic world and so you
all these little kids growing up in this
day and age being told that they can be
anything and you can have whatever your
desire your heart desires especially if
your little girl let's that's part of
the culture of today and we think we
were doing kids a favor well let me tell
you what's going to happen when those
kids hit the workforce and their boss
fires them because they haven't learned
discipline they haven't learned how to
work and they are not the kind of
princes or princesses that everybody has
told in to be with sober judgment help
our children to think with sober
judgment about the gifts that God has
given them that's one ceiling that's a
natural ceiling that we need to respect
and honor and we can help each other
discover what those ceilings are and
function to the optimum in the place
where God has put us but there's another
ceiling and that's the ceiling that is
caused by broken Ness sometimes we bring
brokenness to the table and our
brokenness causes us to sabotage the
calling that God has upon our lives
think of the young man who grows up with
an authoritarian father hates his father
has been treated cruelly by father has
an attitude towards Authority now gets
his first job and guess what happens he
bristles every time when his boss tells
him to do something no matter how nicely
he might tell him and if he's not
cooperating the boss isn't going to be
telling him very nicely and there's
going to be a lot of friction and so in
disgust and in frustration he quits his
job why not because he has reached the
limit of his capability might in fact be
a very capable person because his
character cannot sustain the demands
that are being made
on he is projecting his anger towards
his father towards his boss and he's
going to have difficulty all of his life
unless he deals with that do you
understand what I'm saying many other
examples like that you can think of
let's suppose that you grow up and you
feel unwanted and you just don't believe
you have a spirit of slavery like we
sang earlier not a spirit of sonship
spirit of slavery you haven't bonded
with your mother you you don't believe
that you're wanted you're always looking
for other people to help you become
something that you are not now you're
living in the adult world and and you're
trying to live in community and you're
always getting hurt by everybody else
because they're not giving you the kind
of love and the kind of attention that
you think you need but it's a bottomless
pit and so people could giving it to you
it's not true there are people that are
fun to be with because they're givers of
life and then there are people who suck
the life out of you and you feel that
boy this this is just not going to work
and and so here that kind of a person
you're constantly falling out of favor
you never feel like you belong a job you
never feel like you belong in a church
community and and it's always
everybody's fault in every year all
making sense those are places of
brokenness and when we reach those
ceilings as we will because the Lord is
determined to flush them out then we
have a choice to make are we going to
let our own brokenness determine our
sealing or are we going to submit
ourselves to the Lord to help us push
through that place of brokenness so that
we can actually fulfill the destiny that
God has for us the bravest people that I
know and the people that I admire and
respect the most
are people who choose not to take the
easy path who choose not to blame all
the rest of the world always for their
problems but who say Lord God do in me
what needs to be done so that I can bear
the kind of fruit that you want me to
bear Jesus put it this way so first I
often quote in relationships with people
John chapter 15 if we can put that verse
up I am The True Vine my father is the
gardener other versions have the vine
dresser I am The True Vine my father is
the gardener he cuts off every branch in
me that bears no fruit while every
branch that does bear fruit he prunes so
that it will be even more fruitful a lot
of you know that I earned my first
dollar in this country when I came over
as a young 10 year old immigrant pruning
a farmer's orchard and I so remember
feeling sorry for the trees after they
were pruned in the spring because all
that stuck out was a bunch of spindly
branches and they just looked naked and
forlorn but we all know from the field
of Agriculture that pruning is
absolutely necessary if that tree is
going to bear not only fruit but quality
fruit because the very act of pruning
stimulates the growth of the tree and
the object isn't just more fruit the
object is more quality fruit and Jesus
says every branch of mine that bears
fruit he prunes so that it may bear more
fruit and what that means is that when
the Lord spots in you and me those
self-imposed ceilings that stop us from
fulfilling our destiny in Christ he's
going to put us into situations where
pruning is going to happen
where our issues get flushed to the
surface and where we have to make a
choice I will let the Lord do what he
needs to do in order to bring me into
the fullness of my inheritance and I've
noted over the years there's a very fine
line between opportunity and temptation
years ago Stephen and Deborah here had
just come alive in the Lord and had
really become part of this church
community and guess what's the first
thing that happens and I've seen this
happen so many times he got a job
opportunity way back in Georgia at the
headquarters of the company that he
works for and I remember our
conversation together is this
opportunity or is this temptation well
I've been around long enough to know by
now that when you're just starting on
your Christian journey and getting
established and becoming part of a
community and something come will comes
along that wants to take you away from
that that is almost never I'm not saying
never never but I'll say almost never
the Lord leading you away is a
temptation from Satan to keep you from
doing the stuff that you need to do in
order to grow up in the Lord and how
much loss not only Stephen and Deborah
would have suffered but how much loss we
would have suffered as a community if
they had bailed on us back then and gone
on to other colleagues it's not true
sometimes our work is done
and it's time to move on but we need to
discern if the sealing that were hidden
is a god-given sealing or if it is a
feeling of our own making
I think I'll introduce the third thing
and then we'll probably just leave it at
that for this morning but there's still
a third factor
that goes into Paul's decision to move
on and that is that he could no longer
work effectively in Ephesus I said
earlier he had planned to leave before
the riot because he think he figured his
work was done but after the riot he
absolutely had to leave for the very
simple reason why he could no longer
work effectively in Ephesus the place
was poisonous it was toxic they were out
for his life he barely escaped you know
by the skin of his teeth and it was time
to move on and that's the second time in
Ephesus that this has happened for the
Apostle Paul who couldn't remember the
first time this happened you know the
story well enough it was with reference
to the synagogue and his teaching there
Paul had to have it the gospel always
goes to the Jews first so every
community Paul visited he would go to
the synagogue and he would preach Jesus
and as he preached Jesus those folks had
the opportunity to either respond to the
gospel or to reject it and so when he
first comes to Ephesus that's what he
does he goes to the synagogue and he
preaches Jesus and then this is what we
read in Acts chapter 19 the verses 8 and
9 Paul entered the synagogue spoke
boldly there for three months
arguing persuasively about the kingdom
of God but some of them became obstinate
they refused to believe and publicly
take note of that publicly maligned or
spoke against the way the way being the
gospel of Jesus so what did Paul do he
left them he took the disciples with him
and had discussions a day
in the lecture hall of taranis we don't
know a thing about taranis the suspicion
is that he was a teacher of philosophy
he clearly had a lecture hall and when
it became apparent that the Jews in the
synagogue were no longer interested in
listening to what Paul had to say he
walked away took the disciples with him
and he started the church effectively in
the hall of Tyrannus and here is another
principle that we need to understand
sometimes it's time to move on because
you could no longer work effectively in
a given situation and when we come back
to this we can talk about what that
looks like in the workplace we can talk
about what that looks like in friendship
relationships we can look like we can
look at what that looks like
with reference to ministry type
situations because time and time again
when the gospel has its work there's
going to be a clash of cultures and when
that clash of cultures happens we will
be restricted in terms of what we can do
and without giving all of that away we
live in North America today in a day and
age in my judgment or the secular forces
opposing the gospel of Jesus Christ are
rapidly taking over making it virtually
increasingly impossible for God's people
to be the kind of salt in the kind of
light that they need to be and lead a
great deal of wisdom in how to respond
to that how do you be in the world but
not of the world
what does moving on look like when your
friend doesn't want to follow Jesus
what is moving on look like when the
gospel is no longer accepted by society
at large Lord willing we'll come back to
that let's leave it at that for now
we're so grateful father that you are a
living God and that one by faith were
joined to Jesus we could become members
of his body and because we're members of
his body you communicate to us your
agenda your plan and your purpose and
what our part might be in the time and a
place that we occupy in history and
sometimes Lord you speak to your word
and by your spirit and we are just very
clear sometimes we just struggle make
the best decisions that we know how to
make and only in retrospect do we see
you know that your hand was guiding us
sometimes Lord we just know that we're
in a given situation and we become
Restless and we no longer feel effective
or fruitful and then you have to help us
work out whether that's because it's
time for us to step into something new
that is more challenging with greater
opportunities order that's just because
we're hitting a spot in our own lives
that is a sabotage that you want to to
heal and restore so that we can fully
step into the fullness of what you have
for us and then Lord there are those
times when when being faithful to you
puts us in a situation where the forces
of Antichrist come out against us and we
can no longer be effective in a given
situation and
and then we need to know what moving on
looks like and even how we can figure
out what the timing of that is then what
that looks like so thank you Lord for
your word thank you for community thank
you that together we can learn from you
and from each other and from your word
and thank you most of all like you're a
God who leads us faithfully until the
final day when we stand before your face
thank you for hearing us we pray in
you