you can hear the full message or podcast at www.getalifechurch.com.
Courage
Split Second Decision Time
Back in high school I can remember being at one of those parties that I really had no business attending-but I did anyway. After a while, the crowd started to get a bit rowdy and my friend and I noticed a fight happening. So we did what all high schoolers did when there was a fight, we watched. But as we got closer, we noticed that the person taking the hits from several guys twice our size was a friend of ours. At that moment we had a choice. We could either be the hero and step in and probably wind up in the ER or worse. Or we could stand by, watch it happen and then offer support after the fact. I wish that I could say that we stepped in and did a Bruce Lee on these guys, but we didn't. We stood by and watched it happen and offered support after the fact. My friend turned out to be fine even though he had a bruised ego. And the whole thing lasted just a few minutes.
And that is how those moments of courageous decision come...fast. You have to make a split second decision regarding what to do. That lesson over 20 years ago taught me that it's more painful to stay on the sidelines and think "what if" than to get involved.
This split second decision to go the courage or fear route is something that all of us deal with at sometime. In fact, it probably happens a lot more than we realize. It’s those moments where you have to decide do I do the right thing or the easy thing? Do I do the right thing or the safe thing?
In fact I think a good definition of Courage for a believer is doing what's right in God's sight regardless of circumstances or consequences. And there is a pretty good pattern of leaders to follow in the Bible that shows us what that type of courage looks like. Without those before us acting in courage we wouldn’t know anything about salvation, grace and divine forgiveness.
And there is a common theme of courage that runs through our current book of study in Acts. It is full of people who put a human face to courage. People who threw caution to the wind because there was something bigger at stake than their reputations, their comforts and even their lives.
One of my favorite courage stories in Acts 13.
Context- in chapter 13 it says that the church leaders prayed for Paul and Barnabas and sent them out on Paul’s first missionary journey. And in chapter 14 In a city called Lystra, there was a man who had been crippled since birth and Paul sees faith in him and tells him to stand up and he is instantly healed. The crowd sees this and they think that Paul and Barnabas are gods and they make preparations to offer sacrifices to them.
But it says in verse 14 that they began emphatically telling the people to stop, after all they are only humans and then challenging them to turn from their beliefs in many gods to the one God of heaven. And then in verse 19 it says that unfortunately the crowds were persuaded not to believe them and we read “They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city!!!”
He is stoned and left for dead and what does he do?? He gets up, dusts himself off and he goes back for more! Now that is courage! And just two verses later, it says that shortly after they did leave the city, they went BACK again.
We take these stories for granted. In fact it is almost impossible to relate to them - jailed, beaten, left for dead. We don't face these obstacles in suburban America. And yet, there are still plenty of opportunities for us to walk in courage. And there is a lot that we can learn from the patterns we see from the courageous stories in Acts. Here are some common threads.
Their courage came from following the leader.
They had seen Jesus speak the strong truth of God’s message with unconditional love to all different groups of people. They had seen him being chased by mobs, some wanting to worship him, others wanting to stone him. They had seen him say and do unconventional things, when all of the conventional wisdom or the politically correct wind was blowing in one direction, Jesus would stand in the wind and often times walk in the opposite direction.
As Paul letter writes in his letter to the Corinthians- "follow my example as I follow the example of Christ."
Their courage came from being full of the spirit.
What was different about these men and women of the new testament from Acts on? In the gospels they were bickering about position and titles, they were denying they knew Jesus, they were falling asleep at important moments. What changed? Obviously we could say that they had witnessed a resurrection and that would certainly shoot faith steroids in a person quickly. But Acts reveals to us right at the beginning that the spiritual wells where courage comes from at a moments notice came from their wellspring of the spirit of God filling them constantly with his power, courage,love and grace. The spirit is aware of things long before we can be.
There are multiple examples of filling and courage. Here are a few.
In chapter 4, Peter and John are released from jail (a second home to many of the apostles). It says they came together and prayed, "the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."
While Stephen was standing in courage and becoming the first Christian to die for his faith, "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
and Their courage came from one another.
The word or a form of the word encourage appears 10 times in Acts. I was thinking about the words en-courage and dis-courage and both have the word "courage" at the end. Dis means "not a part of, to remove" and En means "put into, make, provide with, surround with". So if you are an dis-courager, like a deflating balloon, you are someone who removes courage from a person. An en-courager puts courage into, makes courage, provides others with courage and surrounds them with courage.
The church needs to be this for each other- a provider of courage. One of my favorite verses is in Hebrews 10:23-"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another."
Showing posts with label encourager. Show all posts
Showing posts with label encourager. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Follow The Leader Part 3 (mini notes from my sermon on 7-13-08)
To hear the full version, go to getalifechurch.com.
subtitle: little HEROES of the faith (part 3)
Here are some observations from the life of the underrated Barnabas.
Barnabas is a relentless encourager.
Verse 23 of chapter 11 says,
Barnabas was looking for grace because that's what encouragers do. He was interested in looking for the good and then encouraging that. Maybe there was nothing negative to report, we don't know. All we do know is that Barnabas saw the good, affirmed it and encouraged it. Have you ever had someone look deep inside you and find grace, even when you were feeling at your worst?
Encouragement is a lost art today. It takes so much more effort to be an encourager than a discourager. I find it interesting that the word "courage" makes up most of these words. En-couragers help people to do more than they even think they can. Dis-couragers find fault and push people back into their shell.
Barnabas is radically generous.
Acts 4 ends with an amazing passage about how the first century church was living in a radical state of community, something all of us long for. And it is Barnabas' gift where he sells his field and lays the money at the apostle's fee that seems to spark something. It was significant enough that people wanted to copy it (see Acts 5-Ananias and Saphira). It seems that this act marked the church and it marked Barnabas as well. Sometimes it takes us selling the field in order for us to convince ourselves that we truly believe. And the overflow of that act is courage on display for the rest of the community.
Barnabas finds the good in people.
In chapter 9, Paul, who was known as the executioner to the early church has a vision of Jesus and turns not only to him for salvation, but begins to preach as well. Imagine Osama Bin Laden coming through the doors of the church after finding Jesus and ready to preach. It says that the disciples were afraid of him but Barnabas was willing to take the risk. Why? Because the son of encouragement had the eyes of grace to believe in him.What would have happened to Paul had Barnabas not argued on his behalf? Thank goodness, we'll never know.
Barnabas sticks with someone through thick and thin.
In Acts 15, Paul was upset with Mark (the gospel writer) apparently because he deserted them earlier. Paul decided not to include Mark in his entourage. Barnabas disagreed. In fact, he was so adamant about it that they parted company. Now the good news is that this turned out to multiply their efforts, not divide them. But Barnabas stuck with Mark, even though he messed up. Barnabas is not afraid of sticking with people even when they are in the middle of some messy situation, even when others have written them off.
Now for Paul Harvey's "the rest of the story"- In Paul's second letter to Timothy chapter 4, he writes, "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry." Nice.
Barnabas is content with being second.
When Barnabas went to Antioch to check in on them, he could have snatched the headlines for himself. It said during his visit, a great number of people came to faith. He could have set up his website barnabasrocks.com, sold some books and possibly retired early. But was does the simpleton do? He heads out to Tarsus to find Paul and he brings him to Antioch. And I love the way John Piper puts it "With this strategic investment in Saul's life and career, Barnabas secured forever his secondary status in church history."
In fact up to this point in Acts, they had always been referred to as Barnabas and Saul, but shortly after this story, they would be referred to as Paul and Barnabas. And for Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, this was fine. He was simply following the Leader as Jesus let go of his entitlements (see Phil 2) in order to fulfill his destiny. We're not taught that second is best. Robin doesn't get the press that Batman does. And Barnabas settles for a footnote instead of a headline. In our culture that is searching for meaning, sometimes we get caught up in the journey to find significance. Rather than finding this in the hiddenness of Jesus, we look for it in the self-help section. We need to have permission in America to be content with living in the shadows. A first fiddle would not sound half as good without the second fiddle. Contentment lies in surrender which Barnabas found when he gave all that he had.
Imagine a church who had real compassion for outsiders. A generous church who help the causes that are close to God's heart. A church where people could come and know that even at their worst, they will be loved. And imagine a people who put others ahead of themselves even if it cost them money or fame or power.
Paul and his combative style grabs the headlines of the church (and we need to learn from Paul), but let's also leave some shelf space for Barnabas the son of Encouragement.
subtitle: little HEROES of the faith (part 3)
Here are some observations from the life of the underrated Barnabas.
Barnabas is a relentless encourager.
Verse 23 of chapter 11 says,
When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
Barnabas was looking for grace because that's what encouragers do. He was interested in looking for the good and then encouraging that. Maybe there was nothing negative to report, we don't know. All we do know is that Barnabas saw the good, affirmed it and encouraged it. Have you ever had someone look deep inside you and find grace, even when you were feeling at your worst?
Encouragement is a lost art today. It takes so much more effort to be an encourager than a discourager. I find it interesting that the word "courage" makes up most of these words. En-couragers help people to do more than they even think they can. Dis-couragers find fault and push people back into their shell.
Barnabas is radically generous.
Acts 4 ends with an amazing passage about how the first century church was living in a radical state of community, something all of us long for. And it is Barnabas' gift where he sells his field and lays the money at the apostle's fee that seems to spark something. It was significant enough that people wanted to copy it (see Acts 5-Ananias and Saphira). It seems that this act marked the church and it marked Barnabas as well. Sometimes it takes us selling the field in order for us to convince ourselves that we truly believe. And the overflow of that act is courage on display for the rest of the community.
Barnabas finds the good in people.
In chapter 9, Paul, who was known as the executioner to the early church has a vision of Jesus and turns not only to him for salvation, but begins to preach as well. Imagine Osama Bin Laden coming through the doors of the church after finding Jesus and ready to preach. It says that the disciples were afraid of him but Barnabas was willing to take the risk. Why? Because the son of encouragement had the eyes of grace to believe in him.What would have happened to Paul had Barnabas not argued on his behalf? Thank goodness, we'll never know.
Barnabas sticks with someone through thick and thin.
In Acts 15, Paul was upset with Mark (the gospel writer) apparently because he deserted them earlier. Paul decided not to include Mark in his entourage. Barnabas disagreed. In fact, he was so adamant about it that they parted company. Now the good news is that this turned out to multiply their efforts, not divide them. But Barnabas stuck with Mark, even though he messed up. Barnabas is not afraid of sticking with people even when they are in the middle of some messy situation, even when others have written them off.
Now for Paul Harvey's "the rest of the story"- In Paul's second letter to Timothy chapter 4, he writes, "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry." Nice.
Barnabas is content with being second.
When Barnabas went to Antioch to check in on them, he could have snatched the headlines for himself. It said during his visit, a great number of people came to faith. He could have set up his website barnabasrocks.com, sold some books and possibly retired early. But was does the simpleton do? He heads out to Tarsus to find Paul and he brings him to Antioch. And I love the way John Piper puts it "With this strategic investment in Saul's life and career, Barnabas secured forever his secondary status in church history."
In fact up to this point in Acts, they had always been referred to as Barnabas and Saul, but shortly after this story, they would be referred to as Paul and Barnabas. And for Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, this was fine. He was simply following the Leader as Jesus let go of his entitlements (see Phil 2) in order to fulfill his destiny. We're not taught that second is best. Robin doesn't get the press that Batman does. And Barnabas settles for a footnote instead of a headline. In our culture that is searching for meaning, sometimes we get caught up in the journey to find significance. Rather than finding this in the hiddenness of Jesus, we look for it in the self-help section. We need to have permission in America to be content with living in the shadows. A first fiddle would not sound half as good without the second fiddle. Contentment lies in surrender which Barnabas found when he gave all that he had.
Imagine a church who had real compassion for outsiders. A generous church who help the causes that are close to God's heart. A church where people could come and know that even at their worst, they will be loved. And imagine a people who put others ahead of themselves even if it cost them money or fame or power.
Paul and his combative style grabs the headlines of the church (and we need to learn from Paul), but let's also leave some shelf space for Barnabas the son of Encouragement.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Follow The Leader Part 2 (mini notes from my sermon on 7-13-08)
To hear the full version, go to getalifechurch.com.
little HEROES of the faith (part 2)
Stacey and I had an incredible opportunity recently to attend a taping of a collection of "fathers" of the faith including Jack Hayford, Lloyd Ogilvie, Loren Cunningham, Robert Shuler Sr., John Perkins and Winkie Prattney (the self-proclaimed purple tele-tubby). But as great as it was to be able to listen to and rub shoulders with these men, we were there as much to spend time with the one who put the event together, our friend Dave Buehring.
We have known Dave for over 10 years and we always look forward to spending time with him. He is a mentor and a friend and an invaluable encourager. He is the type of person who leaves you feeling refreshed when you have been with him. In the words of the commercial... he's priceless.
How many of you have this type of person in your life? Sadly, these people are lacking in today's world.
But we have a great example of this type of person in the Bible. He gets little press and actually winds up decreasing in stature over the course of the story. But his contribution to the faith is immense. His name is Barnabas.
Here is some context on our passage that we begin with. We've been looking at the book of Acts in our series called "Follow the Leader." We pick it up in chapter 11 (reading Acts 11:19-26). Stephen's martyrdom caused an explosion of growth of the gospel. Which isn't surprising because the good news always thrives under persecution and suffering. But the word wasn't getting out to the Gentiles, except for a couple of people who went to Antioch where something seemed to be happening. And Antioch was an extremely important city to the faith. It was a city of half a million people with a reputation of being both sophisticated and decadent. It eventually becomes the birthplace of foreign missions and the Bible tells us that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. And the apostles sent Barnabas to investigate.
When we are first introduced to Barnabas in chapter 4 of Acts, we find out that his name is Joseph. The apostles gave him a nickname since there were quite a few Josephs around, including one other pretty important man by the same name. So they gave him a nickname. Now if an apostle is going to give you a nickname that will still for thousands of years in scripture, you'd better hope it is a good one. There are examples of not-so-good ones, like "Simon the Leper". And while the nicknames were not very creative, the were pinpoint accurate for their description. And Joseph got a good one, one that fits him like spandex- Barnabas which means "Son of Encouragement".
-in my next post on this sermon, i'll list 5 "Barnabas characteristics" that the church needs today.
little HEROES of the faith (part 2)
Stacey and I had an incredible opportunity recently to attend a taping of a collection of "fathers" of the faith including Jack Hayford, Lloyd Ogilvie, Loren Cunningham, Robert Shuler Sr., John Perkins and Winkie Prattney (the self-proclaimed purple tele-tubby). But as great as it was to be able to listen to and rub shoulders with these men, we were there as much to spend time with the one who put the event together, our friend Dave Buehring.
We have known Dave for over 10 years and we always look forward to spending time with him. He is a mentor and a friend and an invaluable encourager. He is the type of person who leaves you feeling refreshed when you have been with him. In the words of the commercial... he's priceless.
How many of you have this type of person in your life? Sadly, these people are lacking in today's world.
But we have a great example of this type of person in the Bible. He gets little press and actually winds up decreasing in stature over the course of the story. But his contribution to the faith is immense. His name is Barnabas.
Here is some context on our passage that we begin with. We've been looking at the book of Acts in our series called "Follow the Leader." We pick it up in chapter 11 (reading Acts 11:19-26). Stephen's martyrdom caused an explosion of growth of the gospel. Which isn't surprising because the good news always thrives under persecution and suffering. But the word wasn't getting out to the Gentiles, except for a couple of people who went to Antioch where something seemed to be happening. And Antioch was an extremely important city to the faith. It was a city of half a million people with a reputation of being both sophisticated and decadent. It eventually becomes the birthplace of foreign missions and the Bible tells us that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. And the apostles sent Barnabas to investigate.
When we are first introduced to Barnabas in chapter 4 of Acts, we find out that his name is Joseph. The apostles gave him a nickname since there were quite a few Josephs around, including one other pretty important man by the same name. So they gave him a nickname. Now if an apostle is going to give you a nickname that will still for thousands of years in scripture, you'd better hope it is a good one. There are examples of not-so-good ones, like "Simon the Leper". And while the nicknames were not very creative, the were pinpoint accurate for their description. And Joseph got a good one, one that fits him like spandex- Barnabas which means "Son of Encouragement".
-in my next post on this sermon, i'll list 5 "Barnabas characteristics" that the church needs today.
