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What do you want to be when you grow up? From a young age, I wanted to be an astronaut. I dreamed of riding one of those powerful rockets into space, then floating free above the earth. I collected pictures of astronauts instead of baseball cards. I covered my walls with posters of Gemini, and Apollo space capsules instead of rock stars – and I even wrote to the big space centers of the day to get all the information I could.
No, I never became an astronaut – because the day I met the guy who created the earth – He took control of my life and it went a completely different direction. I think many of us struggle with the direction of our lives – and today we’re going to learn that the Apostle Paul struggled too with who he was to be as well. We can learn from that to remain flexible and ever dependent on God’s direction for our lives. Our story in Acts nears its conclusion. In the past, Paul mostly determined where he went and to whom he preached. Now as he is taken into custody in Jerusalem others determine his actions – or at least try. The narrative kind of goes into fast forward as Paul begins the journey that ultimately leads to Rome. So we too will speed up a little – covering two chapters this week. We’ll stop along the way to make some points about life and ambition. 22:17-21 Paul thought he would make a great witness to the Jews given his unique background of Roman citizenship, Jewish heritage, and Pharisaical background – but God had other plans – sending him instead to the Gentiles. Maybe you feel that the training experience and heritage you have suits you to a particular task for the Lord. Don’t be surprised if he sends you “to the Gentiles” like Paul – calls you to a task that doesn’t seem to make logical sense to you. More often than we like to think, the Lord confounds our sense of logic in order that we might have to depend on Him for everything. Remember 1 Corinthians 3:19 “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.” I’m not saying that God doesn’t prepare you for service in certain areas – just don’t think it odd if you find yourself doing something out of your comfort zone. 22:29 A note on suffering. Paul was willing to die for his faith – and, history tells us, did die a martyr’s death. But he also was not willing to suffer needlessly. For us – there is a principal. We too can and should protest needless suffering in ourselves and others as long as we do not dishonor God. If you are being abused – speak up. If you see someone else being abused – come to their rescue. Jesus would not allow Himself to suffer before His time – and there is a time for suffering be sure – but don’t fall into the trap that anything that comes your way is from God and that He wants you to go through pain needlessly. 23:6 What was going on here? Was Paul simply employing a shrewd political move to deflect attention to his gaff of insulting the High Priest? Not likely – first, Paul probably didn’t recognize Ananias as the High Priest – Paul may have had a vision problem stemming from his conversion on the road to Damascus, and he had visited Jerusalem only sporadically in the ten years prior – the time Ananias was High Priest. I like how Paul – who reacted as a human, apologized as a Christian. We need to take note and do the same – realize that we make mistakes and take responsibility for them. Now – what Paul said was totally true – and within a few years the greedy, corrupt, and violent Ananias was forced to flee to Herod’s palace and was eventually killed – but never-the-less, Paul even quoted Scripture against himself. Are there times when you do something that offends someone else – even if it’s true? Not that we should always walk on eggs with everyone – no – and there are times when the truth about sin hurts but we must speak it anyway. But recognize that sometimes we react more strongly than we ought – and it’s okay to back up and retract – remove the human to make room for the spiritual. Now what Paul was doing here wasn’t just a ploy – he was actually identifying with the Pharisees here because they were right – believing in the resurrection of the dead. This strikes at the heart of the gospel – so the argument was a just one. For the Pharisees – tradition had become traditionalism – he was simply confronting them with the natural implication of their surface-held beliefs. We must watch for those who have a little knowledge of the gospel, but have not made a personal commitment to the Lord. I heard on KLOVE the other day that this is akin to inoculating yourself against the gospel. Tradition can get in the way to relationship – and this is dangerous indeed. 23:11 The Lord finally reveals to Paul the goal of his mission – to bring the gospel to Rome – and likely to the emperor himself. Paul was an ambitious man – sometimes the Lord frustrated those ambitions – when he wanted to go to Asia God stopped him until the right time – when Paul wanted to preach to the Jews in Jerusalem God sent him to the Gentiles – but here, Paul wants to go to Rome and God feeds that. Ambition is okay – but we must know the difference between fleshly desire and godly direction. To do this each of us must put our desires and goals before the Lord constantly. 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” We are all capable to giving in to ambition – and we have seen many great Christian leaders who have let fleshly desires for power or money cloud out God. We must constantly humble ourselves before Him to make sure we stay soft-hearted and willing to be changed into His image. |
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