Moving On 2

for those of you who were not able to be
with us last week which was the holiday
Sunday we looked last week in some
detail at two of three factors that were
instrumental in Paul's decision to move
on from his ministry in Ephesus and
resumed his third missionary journey
very quick review first of all the first
factor that motivated his move was the
leading of the Holy Spirit the Apostle
Paul was anxious to return to Jerusalem
before Pentecost we're told in verse 22
and 23 of chapter 20 speaking to the
Ephesian elders he says compelled by
this spirit I am going to Jerusalem not
knowing what will befall me there I only
know that in every city the Holy Spirit
warns me that prison and hardships are
facing me sometimes you just know that
it's time to move on because the Holy
Spirit is prompting you my experience is
the stronger the prompting of the Holy
Spirit the more he wants to prepare us
for trouble that might lie ahead as was
the case with with Paul so that we will
not doubt in the dark what God has shown
us in the light the second factor that
went into his decision then was let me
just back up here for a moment and show
you this map once again so that you
could understand what was happening he
was ministering in Ephesus stayed there
for almost three years then continued
his third missionary journey and
traveled all the way to Corinth his plan
as I put it at last
week was to sail from Corinth back to
Syria but he learned of a plot of the
Jews and so he decided to backtrack all
the way to Troas which is where we find
him in the next passage that we read
here in Ephesians chapter 2 from there
on he took this whole route and he
traveled back eventually to Jerusalem
where he wanted to arrive before
Pentecost Sunday so sometimes it's the
leading of the Holy Spirit sometimes
though it is because our task is
finished if we can get that slide up his
work was finished he says to the
Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 the
verses 26 and 27
therefore I testify to you this day that
I am innocent of the blood of all of you
for I did not shrink from declaring to
you the whole counsel of God very
interesting phraseology I did not I did
not shrink he says from declaring to you
the whole counsel of God he was in
Ephesus for three years and in three
years he gave them the whole shooting
match and Paul was an apostle he was not
a pastor his job was to penetrate new
territory establish new churches and
then move on and so after having
established the church at Ephesus and
having given them the whole counsel of
God that is to say he gave them
everything that he knew how to give them
about the purposes and the plan and the
will of God then he moved on it
sometimes we just move on in life
because our task is finished what we
have come to do we have accomplished and
we move on and that brings us then to
the third element that I introduced in
passing last week he could no longer
work effectively he was ready to leave
before the riot because he thought his
work was gone but after the riot he had
to leave because the situation now was
too toxic it was too polarized he could
no longer accomplish anything
effectively and there's a principle here
that we really need to understand about
making life's decisions and that is this
sometimes it isn't the leading of the
Holy Spirit that wants to make you move
on sometimes it isn't because your task
is completed you move on because you are
no longer able to labor effectively and
this can happen on multiple levels let
me give you just a couple of examples it
can happen in work situations one of the
keys to a satisfactory work the
situation is that first of all your
gifts man a fit fit your task I talked
briefly about that last week there are
two things that are frustrating in the
marketplace one is if your gifts are
greater than the job that you have to do
you get bored the second is when the job
is bigger than what your gifts are you
get filled with anxiety and you may well
have a nervous breakdown a key to
successful workplace is a fitting
relationship between your gifting and
your calling and the position that you
occupy furthermore for life to be
satisfactory in the workplace you need
to be in an environment where your gifts
are recognized where they are encouraged
where you are allowed to rise to the
level of your competency and you need to
be in a place where you are safely
protected
the function of that rests on the
shoulders of those who are your bosses
and we've all had good bosses I hope but
we've probably also had some bad bosses
and the difference between the two are
immeasurable because a good boss creates
a good and safe environment a bad boss
creates an environment of backbiting and
favoritism and dysfunction now here's
the problem in the working world and
you'll find this wherever you go
not just the working world there is a
tendency for wounded people to rise into
positions of leadership have you ever
noticed that wounded people are people
who have unprocessed desires and issues
in their own lives and they look to
their job to find their security and
their power and because they're often
hardworking and because they're often
very smart and because they're often
willing to step into situations people
like that often rise to the top I cannot
tell you how many horror stories over
the years I have heard of people in this
church who are working under managers or
supervisors
who should have never been in positions
of leadership because they're selfish
they play favorites
they they are just not good people and
when you find yourself into a situation
like that and nothing changes then you
need to ask yourself the question do I
want to stay in this job in this place
is it ever going to change no job is
worth an emotional break now it
wresting Lee the book of Proverbs has
some interesting things to say about
this principle of the broken in the
wounded coming into positions of power
and the danger that they they present
when they're in that position listen to
these verses from proverbs 30 21 22 and
23 under three things the earth trembles
under four it cannot bear up now let's a
a servant who becomes a king a fool who
is full of food and unloved woman who is
married and a maidservant who displaces
her mistress isn't an interesting very
counterintuitive because you would think
that a slave just keep that verse up for
a few moments you would think that a
slave having experienced slavery when he
comes into a position of power would
have compassion for other people would
you not and would you not think that
that a fool who in this narrative is a
person who is poor in Hungary that's the
context when he gets full of food don't
you think he would want to share that
food with other people who are hungry
because he has an understanding of other
hungry people and an unloved woman who
is married wouldn't you think she'd be
the happiest woman in the world she
finally got herself a husband or a maid
who displaces her mistress see but what
happens in each instance is that the
deprivation of their lives has caused a
wound that has not necessarily been
healed and now when I out of my hunger
come into a position of power my heart
doesn't overflow with compassion or
grace or wisdom I use my
our and my authority to oppress other
people precisely in the same way in
which I was oppressed before you need to
understand that Henry cloud in his book
that I referenced last week necessary
endings talks about people who are wise
and people who are foolish and people
who are evil and he says wise people
will listen to advice foolish people
only learn the hard way and evil people
don't learn at all and you got a lawyer
up get your guns out and be ready for
the cost a lot of money sometimes in a
workplace an atmosphere becomes toxic
and then you have to decide is that a
place where I want to remain now the
same thing happens in areas of being a
friend
friendship is a very precious gift
proverbs says in chapter 18 verse 24
there is a friend who sticks closer than
a brother and friendship comes in many
different ways as you can imagine you
have a progression from acquaintance to
a casual friend to a close friend and to
an intimate friend those are the four
levels of friendship and there are two
things that we need to note about that
the first is that there is very often a
progression from acquaintance to casual
friends to close friends to intimate
that's how friendships grow the second
thing to note is that as we progress
from acquaintance to intimate the size
of the group diminishes you can have
tons of acquaintances you can have a
number of very casual friends you can
have a number of close friends but then
of really intimate friends is going to
be much less and what happens in this
journey and hear me well is that for
friendships to grow towards intimacy
both parties have to be able to process
their stuff and grow in relationship
give you an example if you are my
acquaintance and you cannot keep a
secret that's not going to bother me too
much because I'm going to trust you with
my secrets but if you are a close friend
or let alone an intimate friend and I
share my heart with you and you betray
me
that is extremely destructive to my
friendship and so what happens in
friendships is that as we go through
life we make new friends but we lose old
friends the friends that I asked our
friends that grow with us does that make
sense people we trust people we can
share our hearts with people to whom we
can entrust their secrets so that that's
all very much a part of Gurley so what
happens is that sometimes you will have
a friend who starts off over here
somewhere and you discover that there
are character issues in that person's
life that they refuse to address perhaps
you're a Christian there a non-christian
you try to witness to them you try to
bring them to faith they have no
interest or no desire to come to faith
your life moves on and you end up losing
them behind and so sometimes you give up
on friendships because the friendship
has gone as far as it can go and it's
not going to be recoverable now the same
principle applies also in the area of
ministry we can take that off the screen
for a moment I don't know if you've ever
noticed in Scripture it isn't only the
Apostle Paul
who runs into trouble in his ministry in
Ephesus or in other places Jesus does
the same thing see it's easy to say well
Paul he was kind of a radical dude but
Jesus was all love and kindness and it's
no wonder people hated Paul but
everybody loved to know everybody didn't
love Jesus not by a long shot
in fact I find it fascinating that when
you look at the Gospels and you look at
the Ministry of Jesus how opposition to
Jesus develops at first the religious
leaders have sort of a bemused detached
view of this new prophet who has risen
in Nazareth and they come down from
Jerusalem because they've heard about
his miracle workings and his teachings
and and they just sort of listened to
him and then as the story goes on you
see their resentment and their
opposition to him increasing until you
have a couple of instances that I call
the nail in the coffin where they are
determined this man is a danger to
everything that we stand for he must die
and of course that's what they end up
doing then the same thing happens with
Paul he starts off here in Ephesus with
the Jews in the synagogue lasts for
three months then opposition arises he
moves on he ministers to the public in
Ephesus for two and a half years close
to three years then he gets the riot and
he moves on and here's what we need to
understand about what happens in these
situations because my experience is that
both Christians really don't get this
very well and the reason we don't get it
very well is because we don't understand
the kingdom dynamics that I want to talk
about for just a moment the kingdom
dynamics are of such a nature that life
changes when you come to Jesus we all
start off as you well know in this
circle
over here where we are alienated by
nature from God we're under Satan's
power we are selfish we live in conflict
with each other life is what you see
happening in the natural and it doesn't
matter if you're a good person or a bad
person we are alienated from God we are
prone to hate him and we're prone to
hate our neighbor and as that life goes
on you get the kind of conflict that we
see in the world all around us but then
comes the gospel somehow or another you
get exposed to the message of Jesus and
you begin to understand that God in
Christ has reached into the world in the
person of Jesus Christ so that our sins
can be forgiven so we can be restored to
God so we can experience the presence
and the power of the Holy Spirit and you
come to faith and when you come to faith
you move positionally out of this world
into the kingdom of God now here's what
we need to understand when this process
first takes place there isn't much
difference between a new Christian and
his old Christian life superficially
there may be some changes but you know
you're a baby in the faith and these two
circles as you know always overlap
because we have one foot in the kingdom
and we're still very much living in this
world but now if you truly are in Christ
have really been converted and the Holy
Spirit really lives in you then it is
inconceivable that your life is not
going to change you're going to grow in
love for God you're going to grow in a
desire to serve Him live for him obey
Him your eyes get opened you're like a
baby in the family
you get nurtured and comforted and
looked after and you grow up in Christ
that is the
inevitable reality the more you grow up
the greater the difference becomes
between your life in Christ and your
life in the world why do you think in
our culture today there is such an
ongoing conflict in terms of of pro-life
or pro-choice values why are so many
Christians so committed to the
preservation of life leur for all the
complexities that can provide and why is
our society drifting away into an
ongoing polarization about issues that
for some of us seem to be such
no-brainers
well society becomes more and more
alienated from God even while Christians
should become more and more like their
Father who is in heaven now this dynamic
is illustrated powerfully by Jesus in
the parable of the wheat and the weeds
you may remember the story farmer sews a
crop and then an enemy comes along and
he sews weeds among the crop and the two
are growing together and his laborers
want to pull out the weeds and the
master says no you cannot because you
may not be able to distinguish between
the two of them wait until they become
ripe and then you can separate the wheat
from the weeds interesting thing about
that story is the weeds there are
thought to have been Garden L which is
also known as a false wheat it's a form
of rye grass and when it first grows
among the wheat you cannot distinguish
the two in fact you cannot distinguish
the two until they come to full seed and
the nature of the kingdom is that
whatever is in
once people and whatever is in the world
is never static it continues to grow and
the more it grows the more distinguished
it can be and so what happens is that of
you're a Christian and you're engaged in
ministry or you're living in the world
as we all do then the question that
arises is where is this process at and
can I still work meaningfully in this
particular situation and it's really
important to understand this because my
experiences are by and large God's
people are of two different opinions as
to the relationship between the church
in the world there are those who are
separatist in nature and say the world
is bad we've got to pull out and and and
we don't want to be polluted by the
world right and then there were other
people who say well yes the world is bad
and but-but-but Jesus wants us to be
salt and white and you see that
historically for example in the conflict
over public education and Christian
education there are those who say I want
my kids raised in the Christian school
because they don't want them polluted in
the public system and then there are
others who say no if all the Christians
pull out of the public system it goes
down the tubes we have a responsibility
to stay and to be salt and light isn't
that true and then you get that conflict
whose right to his raw the same thing
with political parties the same thing
with with all kinds of other issues and
what we need to understand here very
clearly is that the question is is this
situation still redeemable is my work
situation redeemable is my friendship
redeemable is my participation in this
particular organism
or movement redeemable can I steal
Minister effectively to people or has
the opposition grown to such a point
where I can no longer be here do you
understand what I'm trying to say here
very important to understand this
because it changes all the time it
changes all the time there was a time in
this country when the discussion about
pro-life and pro-choice was a discussion
that was on the table that could
actually still be had and still be
influenced today there is no political
party that is even willing to touch that
particular issue because they do not
believe that they can get elected in the
culture and the climate of our day so
here's the question how do you know how
do you know when you should push through
in your work situation in the hope and
the expectation that something is going
to change how do you know when you're
walking with your friend but your
friendship can survive this because your
friend is going to make the changes that
are necessary for the friendship to
survive or if you're in the ministry
type situation how do you know that you
can push through the opposition and come
out on the other end and have success
after all because you see it's easy to
throw in the towel and they say well you
know I want to give up but sometimes you
gotta persevere but you don't want to be
a fool and persevere you don't want to
be banging your head against the wall
because it feels so good when you stop
painting alright two factors now listen
to me carefully because this is really
important two factors two questions that
we need to know the answer to to decide
whether it has become impossible for us
to continue in a given situation and
it's time to move on to more for child
grounds the first question we need to
ask is this has the truth been clearly
presented that is to say does your boss
know about what's going on behind the
scenes at work does he or she know what
your frustrations are and what makes you
anxious and troubled and what kind of
turmoil this produces in the company
does your friend know how her behavior
impacts you and how troubling this is
for the long-term nature of this
relationship
I know husbands and wives who are in
conflict with each other and neither one
nor the other
ever engages each other about the issue
and then all of a sudden one is gone
because the marriage is broken down the
other person has no idea whatever
happened and if you're part of an
organization or part of a ministry
situation do does your organization know
what your frustrations are and what you
perceive as the problems are I don't
think any of us and this is really
important principle ever have the right
to walk away from covenant relationships
without laying on the table what the
issues are so here's the first question
has the truth been told
have you had honest conversations with
whoever is in charge of the particular
thing that you're struggling in that's
where it begins doesn't end there
because the next question is have has
the truth
then clearly rejected and by the word
clearly I mean deliberately and
persistently reject it think back to
Paul and Ephesus
why did he leave the synagogue well
verse 9 of chapter 19 tells us some of
them that is the Jews became obstinate
sided with me they became obstinate
that is to say stubborn they refuse to
believe and publicly maligned the way so
far left them so notice they became
obstinate they refused to believe the
gospel that he was presenting to them
and then they publicly maligned that is
to say they publicly spoke against the
way of Jesus and there you have a key
it's not enough for somebody to disagree
with you they must knowingly
and publicly reject the truth and when
they do when they do they move towards
darkness and it becomes increasingly
difficult to move away if you look at
the Ministry of Jesus you'll see the
same thing why did Jesus not do any
mighty miracles in Nazareth he could not
why could he want because they refused
to believe I've often said this God is
incredibly patient with our I cannot he
has mercy and grace and and he will
reach down to us a thousand times over
in our places of brokenness in our
places of weakness in her places of
woundedness he has no patient whatsoever
with
our I won't when we knowingly and
deliberately say no and we do that
persistently and we do that publicly
over a period of time then the curtain
of grace begins to close I want you to
hear that and when the curtain of grace
begins to close the chances of return
become increasingly limited listen to
how the book of Hebrews puts it these
are not pleasant words folks but we need
to listen to scripture for ourselves and
for those around us Hebrews six seven
and eight
land that drinks in the rain often
falling on it and that produces a crop
useful to those for whom it is farmed
receives the blessing of God but land
that produces thorns and thistles is
worthless and is in danger of being
cursed in the end it will be burned
interesting argument from nature Jesus
does the same thing in his parables land
is meant for growing crops when rain
comes on the land the land ought to be
producing good crop if it doesn't
produce a good crop the land is not good
it is worthless whatever grows on it is
going to be weeds and those weeds are
going to be burned and then to make sure
that we understand what he means the
Apostle Paul puts it this way or the
writer to the Hebrews puts it this way
in chapter 10 26 and 27 if we
deliberately keep on sitting after we
have received the knowledge of the truth
no sacrifice for sins is left but only a
fearful expectation of judgment and a
raging fire that will consume the
enemies
of God so brave isn't it what scripture
is saying there when the truth has
clearly been presented and clearly and
deliberately been rejected the curtain
closes and the opportunity for
repentance and for return and
transformation diminishes and so if
you're in a work situation and you have
done everything did you know how to do
to change that situation and you don't
ever see a change in that maybe just
maybe it's time to move on or if you're
in a friendship situation and you have
done whatever you could to salvage this
to work it out and to move along but the
other party refuses to deal with the
truth in order to be able to grow
together then maybe it's time to leave
that friendship and if you're part of an
organization and they are increasingly
secularized and they are refusing to bow
to biblical truth and the prospect of
transformation is increasingly limited
then you need to recognize that maybe
just maybe you can no longer be part of
that situation you are better off
spending your time and energy elsewhere
on land that is more fertile and that
can still grow a good crop you know what
bothers me the most about the kind of
legislation that we've been seeing in
recent years in this country and in
other places around the world as it
deals with gender identity and sexual
identity issues is the more we put into
law
all principles that are in opposition to
scripture the more we are thumbing our
noses at God and the harder it is to
turn the clock back because of the truth
once having been presented and having
been rejected means grace leaves and
departs the Senate as before it
currently another bill bill C 16 which
takes the whole issue of gender identity
discrimination into law so that you
cannot discriminate against the person
on the basis of their
self-identification of the gender and
what that means is that if I'm a man
biologically but I present myself to you
as a woman and I want you to call me
Joni and address me as a woman and you
refused to do that I can take you to the
Human Rights Commission and you're going
to get yourself in a lot of trouble it's
already happening and it's part and
parcel of the culture in which we live
so what do we do just walk away from it
all put all of our hands in the air and
you know hope for Jesus to return sooner
rather than later well that's not a bad
idea but I want to end with one of the
parables of Jesus that I think really
puts this whole this whole business of
when is it time to give up and when do
we stay in proper perspective and that
is the parable of the fig tree that
doesn't bear fruit not the one that you
usually think of at the context of Palm
Sunday but in the context of the
parables in Matthew chapter 13 let me
readed with you and then comment on it
briefly and then we'll be done
Jesus told this parable a man had a fig
tree planted in his vineyard and he went
to look for fruit on it but he did not
find any so he said to the man it took
care of the vineyard for three years now
I have been coming to look for fruit on
his fig tree and haven't found any cut
it out why should it use up the soil sir
the man replied leave it alone for one
more year and I'll dig around it and
fertilize it if it bears fruit next year
fine if not then cut it down allow me to
point out a couple of very obvious
things in that parable first of all the
fig tree was intended to bear fruit a
man had a fig tree planted in his
vineyard he went to look for fruit on it
it was a three year old tree it should
be bearing fruit problem was there was
no fruit he didn't find any so what does
he do well he says to the man who took
care of the vineyard cut it down why
space is precious if this tree is not
going to bear fruit get rid of it so we
can plant another one there cut it out
now what does the orchard is do well he
runs interference leave it alone for one
more year
and I'll dig around it and fertilize it
I'll dig around it and fertilize it why
there are two reasons this tree may not
be bearing fruit here be well one is
because it is under nurtured and if it
would have enough nurturing its
potential will come to full expression
and it will bear fruit or it's just a
bad dream and it ain't going to bear
fruit
no matter how much time you spend on it
so one more year I will fertilize this
tree because that will tell us will it
bear fruit or will it not and what
happens if after this period of trial it
doesn't bear fruit then cut it down and
there you have a biblical balance on how
much of ourselves we invest in a given
situation or in a given person we don't
just walk away
we don't just walk away because people
are frustrating
we don't just walk away because people
are broken we don't just walk away
because people have gone in a bad
direction we do everything we can to
extend grace and mercy for that extra
year we ask the question have they heard
the truth have they rejected the truth
are they going to continue rejecting the
truth if so they will never bear fruit
and it's time to step away and to spend
our time and our energy in more
productive situations more productive
relationships more productive ministries
that is how God Himself works because
you never know you never know ahead of
time if that tree is going to be a fruit
or not but you will know if it's been
fertilized intended to if it has
potential it will show if it doesn't
show it's not going
happen and the church has expended an
enormous amount of energy over the years
trying to make dead trees come to life
and ignoring hungry broken trees that
need the Lord and that will respond in
grace if only somebody can speak the
truth wrap their arms around them and
love them I leave you this morning then
with these words from Jesus John chapter
15 I am The True Vine my father is the
gardener he caught salt 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 and let me apply this not only
to other people in other situations but
also to our own lives it's helpful to
ask the question how many times have I
heard the truth of the gospel what have
I done with that truth do I embrace it
is my life bearing fruit do I look
forward to the day when the Lord will
send the harvesters his angels into the
harvest and gather his wheat into his
barn even while he takes the weeds and
he burns them in ever blasting fire and
that decision you and I make day by day
when we take up our cross and we follow
Jesus
you