Waiting on God's Timing - Life of Paul Part 11

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Good morning, everybody. Hey, it's wonderful to have you here. Hey, we want you to take a Bible. Let's open it together to acts chapter. Thanks. Acts chapter 13. Uh, the fifth book in the new Testament. Matthew mark, Luke John acts chapter 13, acts 13. And, um, we're going to be continuing in our study of the life of the great man, the apostle Paul. Now, everybody here and pray for my voice. I've got real bad hay fever. I got more phlegm in my throat than mud in the Mississippi. You understand what I'm saying? So y'all pray for me, but anyway, um, you remember the lady who sued McDonald's over the cup of coffee. Remember that? Okay, well, I got a new one for you. This is true. Happened in Knoxville, Tennessee. This lady went to McDonald's and she ordered a regular cheeseburger. And as she was eating the regular cheeseburger out of the back of the cheeseburger, the little green pickle came out of the back and fell on her chin and was so hot, gave her a second degree burn on her chin. So she sued McDonald's. This is true saying, and I quote that the pickle was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and she won$110,000. Now her husband saying that because of her injuries, he lost the consortium and ran romantic services of his wife also sued McDonald's and he won$15,000. You say, no, really? I'm telling you the truth. Say, what's the lesson here. The lesson is eat more often at McDonald's and pray for anything hot that you can get your hands on. No, no, no. That's not the lesson. The lesson is the lesson is that we as Americans are unbelievable opportunities. I mean, we see opportunity where nobody else in the world would see an opportunity. Nathan lawn is anything wrong with that? Well, no, I don't think so. I mean, it's one of the things that has made us as a country, one of the most innovative nations in the history of the world, however, there is a downside to it. And as Americans who are followers of Jesus Christ, there's a downside that we have to face namely that because of this opportunistic nature that we, as Americans have acting comes easy to us doing comes easy to us, waiting does not. And yet waiting on the Lord and waiting on the Lord's timing is a very important spiritual discipline that the Bible tells us about. So this is what we want to talk about today. We want to talk about waiting on God's timing because it lays at the heart of the passage that we're going to look at from the life of the apostle Paul. So let's look together, little bit of review. Remember that in the city of Antioch, which is in present day, Northern Lebanon, Southern Turkey, there were Jewish believers and Gentile believers that mixed together and made up this first multi-ethnic church. Well, there was a fella named agribusiness, a profit acts, chapter 11, who came there and predicted a famine, which we know from secular sources actually happened between the years of 46 and 48. And the believers living there in Antioch took up an offering and they sent this offering to the Christians in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians there, because they were poor. The reason they were poor is because of an organized boycott that was being carried on there against any Jewish person that would believe in Jesus. We saw that last time. And so they sent this offering to Jerusalem in the hands of Barnabas, their senior pastor and Paul, their associate pastor. Now that's where we've been. So let's pick up here in chapter 13, but look at chapter 12, the very last verse it says when Barnabas and Paul had finished their mission, what mission? Well, the mission of taking this offering to Jerusalem, they returned back to Antioch from Jerusalem. Well, of course they did. This was their duty station for God back here in Antioch. And they brought with them a young man named John, who was also called mark. Now this young man, John mark is going to figure very prominently in the event. So the next couple of chapters we'll talk about it in a, in the days to come. But this is where they pick him up right here on their return from Jerusalem. First one of chapter 13 and in the church in Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. There are five that are listed Barnabas Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Santorini Manet's son who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Paul. Now this was a list here. The Bible gives us, this was the pastoral team, the pastoral ministry team here at the church at Antioch. And I want to stop for a second and have us go through this pastoral staff team and look at each one of these people and make sure we understand who they are. First of course was Barnabas. We've already met Barnabas. He was a Jewish man raised on the island of Cyprus who came to Christ soon after the resurrection, he moved to Jerusalem and rubbed shoulders with Peter and James and Matthew and John and all the apostles. And then when the church of Antioch started, they Peter and all of them dispatched Barnabas here to be the senior pastor responsible for the spiritual wellbeing of this church. Second in the list is a fellow named Simeon, also called Niger. Now Simeon is a Jewish name. So this is a Jewish man, but Niger, his nickname comes from a Latin word that literally means black, no doubt, referring to the color of his skin. And so here we have a Jewish man from somewhere in Africa who had become a follower of Jesus Christ. Some commentators want to identify this guy with Simon of Sai Reni, the fellow that was in Jerusalem and was forced to carry the cross of Jesus part way. Is it possible? This is the same person possible. We can't be sure what we do know for sure is that this man was Jewish, that he was African and that he was a believer in Jesus Christ. The third person we have is a fellow named Lucius of Sai Rini. Now Lucius is a Roman name. So this man was a Gentile for sure. And he came from Sai Rini, which is in Northern Africa present day Livia. And I think there's a reference in the Bible that tips us off as to exactly how this guy got related to the church in Antioch. Look, chapter 11 of acts, verse 20. It says some men from Cypress and Rini. That's where Lucius was from, went to Antioch. That's the church we're talking about and began to share Jesus Christ with Gentiles as well as with Jews there. Now, unless I miss my guests, Lucius was one of these original missionaries who went to Antioch from siren. He began sharing with the Jews and the Gentiles there. And as such was one of the founding members was one of the charter members of this church here in Antioch. Some people want to identify him with Luke, the guy who wrote the gospel in the book of acts, is it possible? Yeah, not sure, but certainly this guy Lucius was one of the charter members of this church. One of the missionaries responsible for this church being in existence. Then the fourth guy was a fellow named[inaudible] and the Bible notes that this fellow had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch now Herod the tetrarch is really Herod Antipas. He was the youngest son of Herod the great his father Herod. The great was the guy who killed all the babies in Bethlehem. You remember that Matthew chapter two, he died. His father did in four BC and they split his father, Herod the Great's empire up and Herod onto pause, Herod the tetrarch got all of Galilee, you know, where Jesus did his public ministry. And he got most of what is today. Lebanon and Syria. This was here at the tech trucks area. Herod was the guy who beheaded John the Baptist Herod was the guy that Jesus calls that old Fox. Luke chapter 13 Herod was the guy that Pontius pilot sent Jesus to inherit was the one who took off his clothes, put the purple robe on him, had his soldiers made fun of him. And then sending him back to pilot. Same guy. Herod was the guy who killed James mating. The first martyr acts chapter 12 and in prison theater, all of this, this guy did Herod the tetrarch now Manet. And the Bible says was brought up with him. Literally was a soon tropho sinned, Greek, a foster brother, a soulmate with this guy, Herod. You say, what in the world does that mean? Well, here's what it means back in these days. If you were prince, if you were royalty you, if you needed a friend or you needed a play, may you just didn't go out in the street and play stickball with all the other kids. I mean, that just didn't happen even today. You know, if you meet any of the Royal family from Britain, you are not allowed to extend your hand to shake their hand. First, they have to stick their hand out first and you are definitely not allowed to touch any of them. This is royalty. There is a line of demarcation between war royalty and the rest of the world. And so if you were a prince, where did you get a playmate from? Where did you get a chum from? And so what they did in these days is they went out and they would actually bring in young men who would become a soon tropho, who would become a foster brother to the princes in the core. They would go to school with the prince. They would eat with the prince. They would play games with the prince. They would study with the prince. They became the prince, his best friend. They became, they in the prince, Herod and Manet. And we're like, uh, Jonathan and David, like, uh, the lone ranger and Tonto, like Luke Skywalker and Han solo, like, like Romeo and[inaudible], you know, Shakespeare. Yeah. Okay. You remember? All right. And so this has, [inaudible] grew up in the palace virtually being a prince himself, right along with Herod the tetrarch. Now fellows think about it. If he had stuck with Herod inherits rise to power today, he probably would have been, as we read this, a national security adviser or a secretary of state or ambassador to who knows what, but instead this guy, minivan came to Christ and made a decision to walk away from everything. Herod might be willing to give him and go to this little town of Antioch and serve God. That's who this guy was. Now, if you're here and you've never trusted Jesus as your personal savior, it might seem cockeyed for you to you to have some guy walk away from this kind of power. And this kind of prestige in this kind of political might to go serve God and run a church somewhere. I mean, this guy could have been like second in command in that whole tetrarchy, but you know what? Friends, when Jesus Christ comes into your life and when he transforms your life from the inside out, suddenly all the trinkets of this world just don't make a whole lot of difference anymore. The only thing that makes any difference is finding out what God wants you to do and doing it with all your heart. That's what happened to minivan. Jesus changed his life. And if you're here and your attitude is, Hey, it ain't anybody that could change my life that much. Well, wait a minute. No, don't, don't say that so quickly. Why not give Jesus Christ a chance in your life and let him show you what he can do. And you may find, he just may change your whole value system. Like he did this fellow minivans Monet and walked away from all of this to go serve this church in Antioch. And finally, of course we have Paul X, rabbi X, Pharisee, X persecutor of Christians, and one of the most highly educated man in the entire Roman empire. This then is the leadership team of the church of Antioch, three Jews, two Gentiles, a black man, a north African, a Cypriot and two Jerusalemites and X rabbi, and X prints and three commoners. And yet here are all these men working together as a team because their bond in Jesus Christ was stronger than all of these differences that tried to separate them. One of the reasons the church in Antioch was the incredible church that it was, was because of the leaders that he had. Remember speed of the leaders speed of the team. And this church had a incredible leadership team that God had put together there. You've just learned about it. Now let's go on verse two. Well, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart for me, Barnabas and Paul for the work to which I've called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. And the two of them Barnabas and Saul went on their way, sent on their way by the holy spirit, went down to the port of Solutia and sailed from there to Cyprus here, here, these people are these five leaders they're going about their business. They are faithfully serving the Lord. They're faithfully serving the people and suddenly God asks for two of them, Barnabas and Paul to be released and go on what we call today, the first missionary journey and, and notice now would you, that God asks for 40% of their pastoral staff to be released and not just any 40% without a doubt, the two best leaders they had is who God asked for them to let go of, to go on the first missionary journey. Man, I think it says an awful lot about this church, that they were willing to turn loose of the two best leaders they had and let them go be used by God to reach people for Jesus Christ. You know, folks, one of our core values here at McLean Bible church is that our church must have an evangelistic impact on our community. That we cannot be McLean Bible country club, that we have got to have an outward focus and be willing to pay whatever price God asks us to pay, to make an impact on this city for Jesus Christ. Now what encourages my heart is that in espousing, this core value, all we're really doing is copying the church of Antioch. Here was a church that was so outwardly focused here was a church that was so committed to reaching people for Christ. They were willing to turn loose of the two best leaders. They had to go do that. And so in saying that we have to be willing to do whatever it costs to reach this community for Jesus Christ. All we're doing is copying the godly example of this wonderful church. And so here, Barnabas and Paul, they head off for Cyprus and folks. The history of the entire world is about to change. Now we'll come back and pick up here next time, but we need to stop here because we have a strategic question that time for us to ask. And everybody knows our strategic question. So everybody take a deep breath. Ready? Ready? One, two, three. Thank you. You're right. I thought you say lawn. I don't see what this has to do with my life. And frankly, you told me more about those five guys than I ever wanted to know. So what difference does this make to me at all? Well, let's see if we can bring it around to your life today. Okay. Friends. One of the things I want us to appreciate is that this thing we call the first missionary journey on which Paul and Barnabas are now embarking. This marks the real beginning of any kind of deliberate and intentional effort to take the message of Jesus to the Gentiles. This is the beginning. And yet this idea of taking the message to the Gentiles is not a new idea. Not at all way back, 15 years before this, when Jesus rose from the dead, he gave the great commission. What did he say? Matthew 28, 19. He said, go and share the message of Jesus Christ with all the world. Now that includes Gentiles acts chapter one, verse eight 40 days later, just before Jesus was going back to heaven. He said, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That includes Gentiles. And you know what? Not just that, but the apostle Paul knew that he had been called to this very mission uniquely the day he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. One of the things Jesus said to him was this. He said, I am sending you to the Gentiles, Paul, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light from Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins. Paul knew from the first day he was a follower of Christ. This was his mission. In fact, three years later, when he visits Jerusalem for the first time, he has a dream. And in this dream, God says to him, leave Jerusalem for I'm going to send you far away to the Gentiles and on his most recent visit to Jerusalem, just a couple of weeks before this, when he took the money up there, listen to what happened. Galatians chapter two, Peter Paul writing, Peter and the apostle saw that I had been entrusted with sharing the message with the Gentiles just as they had been entrusted with sharing it with the Jewish people. They realized that I, Paul had been called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. So they gave me the right hand of fellowship and agreed that I should go to the Gentiles and they, to the Jewish people. Now here in acts chapter 13, it has been 15 years since Jesus pronounced the great commission. It has been over 10 years since Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and was informed that his special mission was going to the Gentile. So my question is, why did Paul wait 10 years to go do this? Me, Paul was a man of action. Paul was a man of a vigorous, uh, participation. Paul was not a procrastinator. And yet he left 10 years go by before ever setting out on a delivery Brit and an intentional plan to go reach Gentiles. Y here's the answer. The answer is that Paul had learned something very important. He had learned the value of not just acting for God, but of waiting on God. He had learned my friends that when we wait on God's timing, when we wait on God's perfect moment. When we wait on God to get all the dominoes exactly in line, then you push the first one and they all fall over effortlessly. He learned that. So it wasn't that Paul didn't know what his job was. It wasn't that he didn't know what his mission was. It wasn't that he didn't understand what God had in for him to do. He had the job, right? He was waiting for the timing to be right. It took 10 years, but here in acts 13, the timing is right. And suddenly Paul has right job and right time. And now he acts. And you know, the Bible is full of people who acted when they had right job, wrong time. And then it was a disaster. Every single time member old Moses said, I know I'm supposed to lead the children of Israel out. And so we went out 40 years ahead of the real Exodus to try to pull this off. You remember that killed at a junction, right job, wrong time, train wreck. And then there were the Israelites. Remember them. They didn't go into the land that day with Joshua and Caleb, like they were supposed to the next morning, read about it in the Bible. They woke up and he said, Moses, we've made a big mistake. We're ready to go. Now Moses said, fellows, I'm sorry, the timing's wrong. You missed the time. I mean, this is not the right time. They said, no, no, no. God's given us this land. We're going. Moses said, well, I'm not going with you. We want to go try it. And they went and tried it and they got swept. Right job, Bob, wrong time. Remember our friend, Samson, man. He wanted a wife, some kind of bad, but when he wait on God's timing, no, he went out and got the Laila. And I want to tell you something for that woman. I don't think there was ever God's timing for that woman. I don't think there was a circumstance in the world where God's timing would have been right for that woman. But he would have got the right woman if he would have waited. Did he wait? No. Did he have a trial train wreck? Oh yes. And our friend Jacob, who knew that God was going to favor him above his brother Esau. He knew that, but did he wait for God to do it? No. He went out and tried to do it himself and it ended up creating a mess out of the thing. You see my friends in every case, when we have the right job and the wrong time we have disaster, Paul knew this and that's why say Nancy on. And that's why he was in no hurry. And that's why he, for 10 years resisted the fleshly poles to go charge out and do this himself. He knew what his mission was, but he said, God, I know when the timing's right, she'll tell me. And here in acts 13, the time is right friends over and over in the Bible. God calls you and me to practice this very same spiritual discipline. Paul practice of waiting on the Lord, Psalm 27, verse 14, wait on the Lord. The Bible says be strong and take heart and wait on the Lord. And the reason God says this is because it takes a lot more strength to weight than it does to act. It's much harder to weight than it is to act next verse Psalm 130 verse five, my soul waits on the Lord. David writes. And in his promises, I put my hope folks. When we're rating on the Lord, we're, we're not a drift. We're not hopeless. We're focused on the promises of God knowing God's going to do what he said, just not now. And we wait. So Isaiah 40 verse 31, those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like Eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. So Isaiah 30 blessed it are all people who are willing to wait on the Lord. Now, what does it mean to wait on God's timing? What does it mean to wait on the Lord? It means that we resist the urge that we all have to rush ahead in fleshly impulsiveness and in fleshly impetuousness and get the job done ourselves. It means that we saturate things in prayer, waiting for the timing to be right, that we pray about things for weeks and months and years, even sometimes saturating and pickling them in prayer. And in means that we become comfortable living with the engine running, but the transmission in neutral. So God says, put it in gear. Then we get comfortable with the idea of just sitting in neutral until God's timing is obvious to us and everybody else around us. Now, whether you realize it or not, you're actually sitting in this morning in a living example of waiting on God's timing. Back in 1995, we could new at our other building. We knew we were outgrowing that building. That was no secret. So we put together a little team to go out and look for land. And we said, here's what we want. We want at least 25 acres. And we want it no farther away than four miles from our existing buildings. So here's your, there's your mission? Go find it. Well, that team looked for over a year. We couldn't find anything that worked. And so finally at the end of the year, we said, there is nothing. Let's just disband the team. And people said to us, well, why don't you move to Loudon county? There's lots of land out there. And we said very simple, because our name is not Louden county. Bible church is McLean, Bible church, and God called us to McLean. And so we said, we're going to disband the team. No more sense. What? Let's not waste time. Look him. We're just going to wait on God. We're gonna pray about it. We're gonna wait on God. And I had people say to me, well, how long do you plan the way I said real simple. I plan away until God shows us what to do. And if I go to my grave, wait in the next pastoral, wait on God. And so God shows us what to do, but I know God's got a piece of property for us. Don't tell me what God can't do. I'm not interested. We'll wait because we want God's best. We'll wait. And we waited two years, nothing happened. And finally, one of the people who had been on this little team was at a party one night and overheard somebody talking about the fact that there was a rumor that the national wildlife Federation might be interested in selling their property. And the rest, as they say is history. Every time you walk in this building, I want you to remember, you're walking into a piece of property. We waited on God, two years to get, and I'm so glad we did everything else we looked at. Wouldn't have been anywhere near what God has given us here. And friends, if you're waiting on God in some area of your life, I'm here to tell you. You will never be sorry. You waited whatever God's got to give you. If you'll wait for it, it'll be better than anything you could ever do for yourself. You say, well, lawn, I got one more question. That's good. Cause I only have time for one more answer. So you say, well, what's your question. My question is, why does God do this? I mean, I don't understand that. It seems like this is cruel. It seems like this is unkind. I mean, why didn't God just do it? I mean, he knows what we need to do. Let's get on with it. That's a very American question. And I'm going to give it a very biblical answer. The reasons why God asks us to wait are three number one, because when we are forced to wait on God, number one, it gives God time to purify our motives. First, first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31, whatever we do the Bible says do all for the glory of God. And I got a confession to make so many times when I first get an idea in my head of what the Lord wants me to do a lot of times I'm right, but there's too much Alon Solomon in it at that point just way too much of me in it. And by taking the time and making me wait, what I have learned is that that's how God works me out and Jesus in to this whole thing. And I'll bet you, there's a lot of things in your life you set off to do for God. And at the beginning, there was way too much of you in it. Your Mo your credit, your glory, and you know what, when God makes us wait friends, it gives him the time to purify our motives. So when we do it, we can do it for God's glory, not our glory. That takes time. Number two, God asked us to wait many times, because when we're forced to wait, it protects us from doing things in the energy, the flesh, all these people that we just mentioned, Moses, the Israelites, Samson, Jacob, they all had God's will correct didn't they? But they try to pull it off in their own human power, their own human wisdom, their own human strength. And as we saw, it was a train wreck every single time. And when we're willing to wait on God's timing, my dear friends, when we're willing to take the time to saturate the things in prayer, the issues in prayer, it gives God a chance to humble us. It gives God a chance to work in our lives. So when we are ready to do it, we're going to do it now in the power of God's spirit, not in our own energy. I mean, think about Moses. He went out to lead that first Exodus. Sure. He could pull it off. Sure. He could do it. Right. You know, 40 years later at the burning Bush, there's a very different Moses there five different times. He says to God, God, I can't, I can't, I can't not me get somebody else. God said, okay, Moses, now you ready? Because now, now that you think you can't, you're going to go into this trust in me and my strength, not you. And now you're ready. And friends that takes time in our lives to get us there. Number three. And finally, not all only does God used the time to purify our motives and to get us to the place where we're willing to do things in the power of the spirit and not our own flesh, but third. And finally, when we're forced to wait on God, it allows God give us his very best. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, friends, many times when we have a sense of God's plan and we're ready to go, we need to understand, we may be ready to go, but God's got other dominoes. He's got to get ready to make this thing work. And so maybe your motive is Christ centered and maybe you're willing to do it in the energy of the spirit. Okay. That's wonderful. But you're not the only part of this equation. And maybe God needs time to get all the rest of this ready. So he says to you, okay, keep that motor running. But in neutral while I get all the rest of this ready, and when I get everything else ready, I'll come back and get you. And by rushing it, by putting the thing in first and popping the clutch, like so many of us like to do what we end up doing friends is we end up short circuiting what God wants to do for us. He's got something so wonderful. Worked out for us, but by us not being willing to wait, we short circuit, that whole thing, man. I want to tell you something. I'm sure. Glad we waited for this property. Just think how different life would be if we'd have taken something less. I'm sure. Glad I waited for my wife. I had some other opportunities, but I waited for her and I got a winner. I'm sure. Glad the two of us waited for our home. We had some other opportunities, two and a half years. We looked for the home. We finally were in, but I'm sure. Glad I waited. I looked back so many times. I go, oh God, thank God I didn't do this other thing that we waited for you, friends, the people who wait on God, get the very best. I love the little poem that says he knows he loves, he cares nothing. This truth can dim. God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him. Boy, is that true? I've been a follower of Jesus Christ now 30 years. And I want to tell you something. I've learned hard way. Here's what I've learned with God. Timing is everything. Timing is everything. And friends, if you're here and you're right in the middle of having to wait on God in some area of your life, if you're having to wait on God at the office, there's something that ought to be coming your way and it's not coming your way. And God's saying just wait. If you're on a sports team and you're riding the bench and you're saying, I ought to be out there to start. And God's saying just wait, if you're in a relationship or if you've been praying for someone to come to Christ and you say, say, God, why don't they come into Christ? And God says, just wait. If you're in a situation where you really know, God has something he wants you to do and you're ready to do it. And God just keeps saying no, no, no, no. Just hold on a second. Just wait. Or you're waiting for an automobile or a ride, the right job or the right place to live or a godly marriage partner. And God's saying, no, no, no. Just hold on. I'm here to encourage you today. God, hasn't forgotten about you. God's not trying to be mean or cruel to you. God wants it. So when he pulls the string, you can do this Christ centered. God wants it. One until when he pulls the string, you do it in the energy of the spirit and don't have a disaster. And God's getting everything in line friends to do things wonderfully for you that you couldn't do for yourself. Be contempt to be in neutral, being in neutral with God's a wonderful place to be because it means God's at work and you don't have to work. Be contempt to be there. Now, this isn't very American. We don't like this. We have instant everything. We have instant oatmeal. We have instant coffee. We have instant prima. We, we don't use the payphone because it takes too long. We got cell phones. Everybody's in a hurry. This is a very unAmerican value. This is a very un-American message. But this is a very biblical message. And if you're wise, you'll be more of a biblical Christian and less of an American when it comes to waiting on God. Remember what Paul did. He knew God's will for 10 years he waited. And when God's timing was right, all Paul did is go change the world you wait to. And you'll never be sorry. You did spray[inaudible] Lord Jesus. Thanks for talking to us today about write down where every one of us lives and you know, the pace of life that our culture sets for us. We're not good at waiting. And my prayer Lord is that you would encourage us today with this spiritual discipline of waiting, make us more concerned about being good followers of Christ than good Americans and help us Lord to learn the wisdom of waiting on God, help us get comfortable with the notion of being in neutral. When we have an omnipotent, all powerful God at work for us. And for those of us here who are waiting now, and we're kind of, kind of shuffling on the seed, a little uncomfortable, a little impatient use what we've shared today, Lord, to calm down and remind us that if we will wait, we will see God's very best. So give us the strength to do that Lord and an uplift our lives today. Give us hope as we trust you and wait on you. And I pray this in Jesus name.