The Faithfulness God Uses
Acts 22:30 – 23:11
June 9, 2013
This year as our mission team has been preparing to go to Africa,
The theme God laid on my heart was a simple one.
It was that we as a team needed to make ourselves “USEABLE” to God.
• If you’ve ever tried to cut a log with a dull chainsaw…
• If you’ve ever tried to prepare a meal with a dull knife…
• If you’ve ever tried to use a machine with a bad motor or engine…
Then you understand that just because a tool looks like a tool, and feels like a tool, that doesn’t guarantee that the tool is always useable.
And that is true in Christianity.
We do a lot of pushing on people in this day in time to participate.
• We love for people to get involved.
• We love for people to sign up.
• We love for people to join the work.
But in reality getting a volunteer is only a small part of what is needed.
God doesn’t just need volunteers, he needs useable volunteers.
• You can participate on a trip and still not be used by God…
• You can participate in VBS and not be used by God…
• You can participate in a church service and not be used by God…
Participating does not guarantee that God will use you.
WHAT DOES?
Faithfulness
God uses those who are faithful.
Now, faithfulness is an important word to the Christian.
It is certainly something to pursue.
1 Timothy 6:11 “But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”
It is certainly costly at times
(see Paul coming to Jerusalem)
Acts 21:12-13 “When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
It is also extremely inspirational to others
(the believers that accompanied Paul to Jerusalem)
Acts 21:15-16 “After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge.”
And at the same time it is also rewarded by God
2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
And through these realities we begin to learn that
Apart from faithfulness we will not be used by God.
We may participate, but God will not use us.
Acts 15:36-38 “After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.”
Consider Paul even saying:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
In this light we have studied in our mission meetings
Two very telling passages:
2 Peter 1:5-8 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Peter is very clear, that there are essential qualities
That need to be added to our faith.
Faith was given to us by God, but that faith needs to develop and grow.
HOW DOES FAITH GROW?
What does growing faith look like?
Well Peter spells that out.
It adds “moral excellence” “knowledge” “self-control” “perseverance” “godliness” “brotherly kindness” “love”
And the Peter says:
“if these qualities are your and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful…”
And you get the idea.
• It’s not enough just to have faith…
• It’s not enough just to be a child of God…
If you desire to be used by God the faithfulness is required.
Consider what Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:20-21 “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Here Paul is using an analogy.
He speaks of “a large house”
This house would represent the entire church of God.
And all the vessels inside the house are genuine believers.
But what we instantly notice is that some vessels are desired,
While some vessels are despised;
Some vessels are useful, while some are not.
But Paul is clear, it is NOT the Master of the house
Who has dictated who is useful or not, IT IS THE VESSEL ITSELF.
For notice what Paul says:
“if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
The idea is that the vessel makes itself useful to the Master.
Just because you are a vessel in the house,
Does not automatically mean the Master is going to use you.
There is the required element of faithfulness before you can be used.
I would also add another passage that reiterates this point:
Jeremiah 15:15-19 “You who know, O LORD, Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach. Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, Nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, For You filled me with indignation. Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable? Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you — Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them.”
Jeremiah was having a pity-party, and he wants to quit.
His desire for faithfulness is waning, and he is in trouble.
In fact Jeremiah even accuses God of being deceptive.
But notice God’s response:
“If you return, then I will restore you – Before Me you will stand”
That is called repentance.
Jeremiah needed to make a change.
“And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman”
There God is telling Jeremiah how to be useful.
• Was Jeremiah God’s child? – Yes
• Was Jeremiah God’s prophet? – Yes
• Was Jeremiah currently useable? – No
He needed to repent, return to God, and remove those worthless attributes from his life, then he would be useable.
I suppose we could also, at this point,
Go into a section about the many requirements
Put upon those who are called into ministry.
Look at 1 Timothy 3 and see what sort of character qualities a man must posses before he is useable to God as an overseer or a deacon.
Look at Acts 6 when the first deacons were selected and listen to the apostles require “men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom”
It wasn’t enough for men to be willing, they also had to be faithful.
God is looking for faithful people.
And when He finds them, He uses them.
And there is no greater example of that than Paul.
As we look at this story
I just want you to see a man that God was determined to use,
And perhaps you will be able to see the attributes in Paul’s life
That indeed made him useable.
4 things
#1 PAUL’S PEACE
Acts 22:30 – 23:1
• So now you remember that Paul was just apprehended at the temple and the crowd tried to beat him to death.
• However, he was rescued by the Roman cohort.
• During that time Paul shared his testimony with the crowd, and then was carried into the barracks of Ft. Antonita to be examined by scourging.
• Of course before the scouring occurred Paul displayed some cleverness and revealed that he was a Roman citizen and thus saved himself a beating.
• And once this news came to the commander’s ears, he was afraid and decided to release Paul.
Now he has ordered the Jewish leaders to convene together for a hearing
So that he can determine exactly why they are so angry at Paul.
And that is where we are when we get to verse 1.
(1) “Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”
Now let’s examine that statement for a moment.
DOES THAT MEAN PAUL IS INNOCENT?
No
Let me tell you why:
The conscience is NOT the Holy Spirit,
And the conscience is also part of our fallen humanity.
Just because a person’s conscience says they are ok,
Does not mean they really are.
Scripture says our conscience can be weak:
1 Corinthians 8:7 “However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.”
Scripture says our conscience can be wounded:
1 Corinthians 8:12 “And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.”
Scripture says our conscience can be defiled:
Titus 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”
Scripture says our conscience can be evil:
Hebrews 10:22 “let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Scripture even says our conscience can be seared:
1 Timothy 4:1-2 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,”
The point being that just because your conscience doesn’t bother you,
Does not indicate that you are right with God.
It could be that you have an evil conscience
Which doesn’t accurately address your actions.
And incidentally, Paul knew this.
1 Corinthians 4:4-5 “For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”
Paul knew that a clear conscience did not equal God’s approval.
So Paul was not saying that he was totally pleasing to God in all things.
WHAT WAS PAUL SAYING?
He only means that to the best of his knowledge he was doing,
And had done, exactly what God desired for him to do.
And because of that he was at peace.
Paul was not claiming to be a perfect man,
But was claiming to be a man at peace.
• As far as he knew…
• As far as it depended upon him…
• He was right where God wanted him to be.
And friend, that is really all that can be asked of you today.
• Now certainly we keep studying the word of God to have our thoughts and
opinions changed…
• Certainly we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us areas that are not pleasing in
our lives…
The idea being that we realize that God is not finished working on us.
But all we can do is live to the best of our ability
According to the will of God.
And Paul had done that.
When he stood before this council, he had nothing to hide,
And nothing to be ashamed of (as far as he knew).
That is living in peace, that is living with a clear conscience.
So Paul was a man that honestly tried to do God’s will,
Whenever he knew what that will was.
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A PERSON THAT GOD WILL USE?
Yes
Not necessarily a perfect person, but a committed one.
Paul’s Peace
#2 PAUL’S PASSION
Acts 23:2-5
I, for one, am thankful for these three verses.
I think it is always important that Scripture reveal the truth about men.
There was only ever one truly righteous and sinless man, and it wasn’t Paul.
Jesus is the only One to ever pull that off.
And so it doesn’t bother me in the least to have an account of a time
When Paul messed up.
So here is Paul on trial and he has just declared that
According to his knowledge he has done what God has asked him to do.
And then:
(2) “The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.”
It should probably be noted that Ananias
Was one of the more ruthless priests to ever serve.
Here he is operating more like a mob boss than a servant of God.
And you will notice that it didn’t set well with Paul at all.
(3) “Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”
Paul was a passionate man.
He hated injustice, he hated hypocrisy, and I’m fairly confident that
He wasn’t too fond of being punched in the face.
And when Paul puts it all together,
His flesh gets the better of him and he unloads.
Now, was this Christ-like?
No.
1 Peter 2:21-23 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
Christ handled His situation a little better than Paul did there.
Furthermore Paul had written:
Romans 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
So obviously Paul had a weak moment.
He didn’t respond exactly how he should have.
And it’s because he was passionate.
But that wasn’t his only passion, for look what happens next.
(4) “But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”
So one of the people there recognized that what Paul did was out of line.
So here is Paul, wrongly struck in the face, but also himself wrongly responding.
And then one of the bystanders
(who probably didn’t say anything to the priest)
Confronted Paul’s wrong behavior.
And notice Paul’s response.
(5) “And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'”
So when confronted Paul recanted and admitted his wrong doing.
WHY?
Because Paul was also passionate about doing what was right.
It was important to him, not only to HAVE a clear conscience,
But to KEEP a clear conscience.
We know Paul was a man who battled the flesh.
Romans 7 taught us that at times he does the very thing he does not want to do.
I would think this incident was one of those times.
However, when confronted with it,
• He did not try to excuse himself,
• He did not try to justify himself,
• He did not try to divert the blame to someone else,
• He merely owned up to his fault and admitted his mistake.
He wasn’t perfectly righteous, but he was perfectly humble.
AND GOD CAN USE PEOPLE LIKE THAT.
God does use imperfect people,
But He does require that they be humble and submissive
And repentant when their wrongs are confronted.
Someone who insists upon keeping their bad habits
And exhibiting their bad behavior is not useable to God.
So we see Paul’s Peace and Paul’s Passion
#3 PAUL’S PERCEPTION
Acts 23:6-10
Here again we first recognize Paul’s cleverness at work.
We saw it last week when he used his Roman citizenship
To save himself from a severe flogging.
Here Paul uses his cleverness to end a pointless hearing.
Paul recognizes who the crowd is, and knowing them well,
He knew how to divert the attention off of himself.
And so Paul merely says, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”
And since Pharisees believe in the resurrection and Sadducees don’t,
It proved to be the perfect distraction.
They became so engrossed in arguing with one another
They kind of took their sites off of Paul.
The riot caused Paul to be taken away by force again
And delivered to the barracks.
What we actually have occurring here is Paul realizing that
He has completed his mission in Jerusalem.
There was no longer a need to testify.
• He had already shared his testimony from the steps of the barracks,
• When he tried to speak in this hearing he was immediately struck in the mouth.
• Furthermore he could look at those in the crowd and realize that there was no interest in truth among them.
Paul was finished in Jerusalem.
He could see that.
And we are reminded of a faithful man who came to Jerusalem
Despite the adamant warnings of persecution.
• When the persecution broke out he was focused and shared his testimony
before he ever sought to deliver himself.
• And even when on trial he tried again to share the truth before realizing that
those he was sharing with had no interest in hearing him.
He faithfully accomplished his mission in Jerusalem.
And incidentally, God uses people like that.
• People who will go, even when they know it is dangerous…
• People who will die to self and do what is necessary to keep peace…
• People who will focus and seek first the kingdom of God…
• People who will testify before kings and rulers…
And that leads us then to the last point.
Paul’s Peace, Paul’s Passion, Paul’s Perception
#4 PAUL’S PROMISE
Acts 23:11
So Paul has just had a rough time in Jerusalem.
He has faithfully shared the truth with people who did not want to hear it.
And then the next night Paul gets a much welcomed visitor.
“the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
Now, the first thing we must notice is that Jesus was there for Paul.
Jesus told us:
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
For most practical purposes, Paul was alone.
• He was beat up…
• He was arrested…
• He was in custody…
And yet, Jesus was with Him.
He promised to always be there, and He was.
But the point we desperately need to see in this text is
What Jesus says about Paul’s faithfulness in Jerusalem.
• Remember, even Paul’s friends tried to talk Paul out of going to Jerusalem.
• But Paul was adamant that the Lord had given him this mission.
And when Paul got there, he was faithful despite the hardships he faced.
And now, it appears, that the Lord was using Jerusalem
As a bit of a test for Paul.
And Paul passed the test!
“as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause in Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
• Picture Christ looking among His servants for one who would be faithful enough to stand before the emperor and share the truth of Christ…
• Picture Christ looking among His servants for one faithful enough to encourage believers in the very hornets nest of their day…
And as Christ looks for the one who will faithfully do this, He sees Paul.
• Paul was a believer like thousands of others.
• Paul was a child of God like thousands of others.
• But what seemed to set Paul apart is that he was faithful, where
others seemed to waiver.
• He didn’t mind facing Jewish hostility…
• He didn’t mind facing pagan hatred…
• He didn’t even mind marching right back into Jerusalem, knowing it
would cause him pain, if it meant obeying His Lord.
That type of faithfulness is why Christ sent Paul to Rome.
Christ could use Paul and so He did.
And that truth should resonate in our hearts.
• It’s not enough to just be a child of God…
• It’s not enough to just be saved and headed to heaven…
• And It’s not enough to be a volunteer…
We must be useable to God,
And that only comes through our faithfulness to obey Christ.
Let me encourage you to make yourself useable to God.
Don’t just make yourself available, make yourself useable.
Cultivate in your life the things that God can use.
2 Peter 1:5-8 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Timothy 2:20-21 “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
This is what Paul understood.
