Scripture
20I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. 21I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus. 22“And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, 23except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. 24But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Acts 20:20-24
Observation
Paul doesn’t let the uncertainty of his future keep him from certainty in the One He follows. God didn’t fill in the blanks, but he was already a dead man walking alive in Christ. There was nothing to fear for a man who saw every day as a gift, every person as soul worth saving (no matter the race), and every message the same. For Paul there was only one message worth dying for and he preached that message every chance he was given. Whether in home groups or synagogues, whether in front of crowds that wanted to hear him or wanted to kill him, whether in front of Jews or Gentiles he preached the same message. “…the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus…the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” There were so many other issues he could have addressed, and he did so in his letters. Yet, even there, he always brought it back around to the one message worth dying for, the message he did die for, the Good News that the grace of God is for everyone who repents (has a change of thinking and change of heart) and puts their faith in Jesus alone. Pure, simple, powerful. Nothing more and nothing less.
Application
Paul wrote, “HIM we proclaim” (Col. 1:28). “Jesus” appears 213 times and “Christ” 375 times. The focus of his preaching was not history, science, politics, or pop culture. It was Jesus Christ – God in human flesh: holy and righteous, sacrificed and risen, ascended and exalted. I remember back at Life Bible College hearing an old-time preacher in chapel. He said, “I don’t care what passage you’re preaching from, Old Testament or New, always bring it back to the Cross. Preach Christ! Preach Christ! Preach Christ!” This impassioned plea comes through in Paul’s words here to the church of Ephesus. It may sound morbid, but as I approach my 48th Birthday this Friday I’m thinking there are very few things worth dying for. I would die to protect my loved ones. I would die to protect the innocent. Paul says he was willing to die for just one more chance to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. I’m been a pastor in full-time ministry for 25 years and I wish I could say with Paul’s confidence, that I have only preached Christ. The sad truth is that it’s easy to want to make a message pop, to try to grab the attention of the listener, and to soften the approach to sin. Any time I’ve started going down that road though, I also hear that old-time preacher in my head and The Holy Spirit warning my heart. Guzik puts it this way:
• The gospel of moral reform? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of save yourself through good works? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of social action and improvement? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of religious traditions? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of merely having spiritual conversations? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of mystical mumbo-jumbo? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel seeking the church of true hipness? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of self-esteem? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of ecological salvation? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of political correctness? Not worth dying for.
• The gospel of emergent church feel-goodism? Not worth dying for.
Spurgeon puts it this way: “Yet there used to be a gospel in the world which consisted of facts which Christians never questioned. There was once in the church a gospel which believers hugged to their hearts as if it were their soul’s life. There used to be a gospel in the world, which provoked enthusiasm and commanded sacrifice. Tens of thousands have met together to hear this gospel at peril of their lives. Men, to the teeth of tyrants, have proclaimed it, and have suffered the loss of all things, and gone to prison and to death for it, singing psalms all the while. Is there not such a gospel remaining?”
Prayer
As I prepare a salvation message for Friend Sunday, I’m so thankful for this powerful reminder that I don’t need to find the new, I need to stick with what’s true. For Your Truth will set them free! Not a great illustration. Not a funny joke. Not an emotional crescendo with great oratory flare. Forgive me for getting caught up in other message than the one worth dying for. I thank you in advance for those who will come to know You as their Lord and Savior this Sunday. Thank You for the privilege of leading those 8 Jr. High Students to you at SEMS last Tuesday. Thank You for the honor of telling anyone and everyone about You!
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