Acts 18:1-18 "Love is Deeper Than Power"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either

by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray

for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,

I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,

they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will

do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a

non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the

types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would continue to fall with gentle power. Father,

you know that your Word touches us in some ways, touches some of our deepest fears. And so,

Father, you know that we as human beings often turn our eyes away from this or skip over it quickly.

But we ask, Father, that you sort of pin us with your Word and that your Word might enter deep within

and that you might help us, Father, to walk towards some of these fears and hear the beauty and the glory

and the wisdom of your Word. And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So,

if my wife was to be giving me a small present like this,

she wouldn't just wrap it like this.

One of the things which is really wonderful about her is she likes to make sure that there's lots of excitement in opening the presents.

She likes to, in a sense, increase the wow.

And so, she would take something like this and maybe put it in some smaller box wrapped with paper so that if you shook it,

you couldn't hear what it was.

And who knows, depending on her mood, she might even put that smaller box in a bigger box and surround that with all sorts of paper

and cover it up so that when you shake it, you can't hear what's inside of it.

So, you have to do a bit of a journey of opening things up until you get to the present, which is the whole point, or the main point of it.

The Bible text that we're looking at today is in some ways like that.

It's, on one level, very different in that there's not just, you know, wrapping paper or old newspapers that you throw away.

The stuff around the great present or the great treasure is all important, and we'll look at it quite briefly.

But in the midst of this story, there's a profound treasure, a great present that's given to us.

A verse, two verses that it'd be very worth your while to memorize.

And these two verses, if you're paying attention to my prayer, on one hand, they touch on something which makes Canadians very nervous and anxious,

and they want to avert their eyes from it.

But at the other hand, that thing which makes us most anxious and fearful actually is the solution to another fear that we have at a very deep level.

Or at least maybe not you now, but at some point in time, you might have that fear.

So, let's look. Actually, what we're going to do, if, Claire, could you just jump ahead to verse 9 and 10?

I'm not going to leave you in suspense.

Hence, we're going to go with the big thing of the verse, and I'll explain to you why it's a problem or an issue for some people.

Actually, for most people.

And then we'll go back and we'll look at the story, just so you see the context.

And then we'll come back and look again at these two verses.

So, and here's the two verses.

Paul's in Corinth.

I'll give you more of an introduction in a moment.

But here's what happens.

Verse 9.

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision.

Now, if you're like me, my version of the Bible has red print every time Jesus speaks.

So, this next little bit's in red print.

Here's what Jesus says to Paul.

Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent.

For I am with you.

No one will attack you to harm you.

Here's the problem part.

For I have many in this city who are my people.

Now, why is that last bit a problem bit?

Well, the last bit there is a problem bit.

It's one of the texts which divides people who are more on the reform side of the playing field from those who are more Armenian.

And that's because in the original language, it's not just that God is saying something like,

I don't know what the wisdom is nowadays, but like, you know, 20 years ago, they'd say,

let's say we wanted to make ourselves known and we decided to do a direct mail campaign.

And smart people could say if you sent that out to 20,000 people, there's a certain percentage of people who will respond and come.

And God's not just saying something like that.

He's not just saying, by the way, I've seen the future and these people are going to come.

And the implication of the text in the original language is that they will come, that God is doing something.

He will do something by which it means that they will come to know him.

That's why he can already call them his people.

And that, of course, touches on our fears around, well, whether we have free will.

And there's a whole range of fears and questions that people have around this, but that's what the text is saying.

So let's look at the whole text in context, and then I'm going to circle back after we've seen it,

and we'll spend some time in this because, as I said, this is actually a profound treasure.

It touches on one fear, but as you hear how the Bible answers that fear,

it shows you something about the beauty of God and the beauty of the gospel.

And it also is a great comfort for those who struggle with a different fear.

So anyway, let's go to the beginning, see how it goes.

First one, chapter 18 of Acts. We're back in our sermon series next.

This is an eyewitness-based history of the early days of the Jesus movement.

These things are taking place around the year A.D. 49 to A.D. 51, roughly.

And Paul, it's what's known as Paul's second missionary journey,

and this is part of the story of how Christianity first leaps across this huge divide and enters Europe.

Europe is pagan, pagan, pagan, pagan, pagan, and this describes,

these last few chapters have described how the gospel enters Europe.

And Paul has just been in Athens. He's left Athens. He's by himself.

And he goes to the main city, probably the main city in all of what we now know of as Greece.

And here's how the story continues.

Verse 1.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,

and Paul found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,

recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,

because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

Claudius was the Roman emperor at the time.

And by the way, this is one of those texts, there's other things in it.

And this event of Claudius kicking all the Jewish people,

or most of the Jewish people out of Rome,

we actually know that's true from a pagan historian by the name of Suetonius,

who's a very important pagan historian,

who talks about Claudius doing this in the year 49.

It's one of the ways that we can date some of the book.

So this happens after this.

It's why maybe later on in 49, maybe early 50,

that what Paul is talking about has actually happened.

Anyway, we continue, verse 3.

Sorry, verse 2.

Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome,

and Paul went to see them.

And because he was of the same trade,

he stayed with them and worked,

for they were tent makers by trade.

And tent makers not only made tents,

but we'd also now call them leather workers.

So he was both a leather worker and a person who could make,

you know, from animal hides, awnings and stuff,

to protect from the rain, but more particularly from the sun.

And verse 4.

And Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath

and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

So that's how the text begins.

By the way, some of you know your Bible

and know that Priscilla and Aquila,

or Aquila and Priscilla,

that you've heard those names before.

This is where we meet them.

They're probably not Christians when Paul meets them.

He meets them and works with them because they're both Jewish.

But sometime during this,

we're not told about their conversion,

but they obviously become Christians.

And I think they show up like almost a dozen times

in the rest of the New Testament

because they become, in a minor way,

quite important people

in the early days of the church in Greece

and in what we now call Turkey.

They become, in fact, his traveling companions

and very, very great friends.

It's also really interesting, if you notice here,

I haven't talked about it very much,

but look at verse 4 again.

He said,

Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath.

And I, you know, it's one of those things,

you could almost make it a whole sermon topic

if you're going and looking through the book of Acts.

How does the gospel

leap over these huge racial and language

and cultural and geographic divides?

And what you'll see is that it's never by force.

It's never by compulsion.

It's always by reason and persuasion.

Open-handed, public declaration of the truth

and giving reasons in the hope that it will persuade.

That's how the gospel moves forward.

So the next part, the next verse is very interesting.

It's one of the things that the book of Acts

has really helped me with.

It explains how you should talk to a Jewish person

or the types of things you should talk to a Jewish person about

if they find out that you're a Christian

and they want to talk a little bit about your religion,

our faith, so to speak, in there.

So let's see in verse 5.

Now just read this again.

Paul was occupied with the word,

testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

So what's happened is Paul didn't have any money.

He was working as a tent maker.

Silas and Timothy have arrived with some financial gifts

from the other churches,

so Paul now doesn't have to work as a tent maker.

He can give himself 24-7 to telling people about Jesus.

And the heart of it,

I was just talking to a Jewish man the other day,

and one of the things I like to talk to them about

is that we Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah,

the Messiah that your Tanakh, your Torah, promises,

and that not only is Jesus the Messiah,

but he fulfills the promise that God made to Abraham

in Genesis chapter 12, 1 to 3,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

that God, through Abraham's seed, singular,

there will be a blessing to the whole earth.

And I say, you know, we're one of those non-Jewish people

who've been blessed by the Jewish Messiah.

Those are the types of things I try to talk to them about,

see if they're at least receptive.

Many times they're a bit surprised to discover

that most of the New Testament was written by Jewish people.

And they're even surprised often that I know that Jesus was Jewish,

actually.

There's been a lot of miscommunication throughout the years

with many people who are Jewish.

But notice here that it says he was occupied with the Word.

Just if you could put up the very first point, Claire,

that would be very helpful.

I don't want to spend a long time with it,

but just every time in the book of Acts, you see,

it's a very common thing for it to say that Paul or Peter

opens the Word or shares the Word or talks about the Word.

So what does that, the Word, mean?

Very simply, the Word is the good news

that Jesus Christ crucified.

Sorry, the Word is the good news

of Jesus Christ crucified in light of the Bible.

And it's also the Bible in light of Jesus Christ crucified.

That's what it means.

That's, in a sense, what I'm to do every Sunday.

I'm to open the Word with you.

This is hopefully what the Sunday school does,

what the women's group and the men's group and the small group.

You open the Word, and you look at the Word,

reading the Word, looking at it through the lens,

in light of the fact that Jesus Christ crucified is good news for us.

It's the means by which God has reconciled people to himself

and forgiven our sins.

And we're also to not only just look at the Bible in light of Jesus Christ,

but we're to look at Jesus Christ crucified in light of the Bible.

That's what the Word means.

So anytime you see that in the book of Acts,

that's what you should understand is what is happening.

Now, the story takes a bad turn.

And those of you who've been following along with the book of Acts

know that two types of things happen wherever Paul goes.

And one thing is that people become Christians.

The other thing is that people want to shut them up.

And that's exactly what happens here in Corinth.

Look how it goes on in verse 6.

And when they, that's the Jewish leaders,

opposed and reviled him,

and the language there is quite strong,

they didn't just say, you know, we want you to stop.

The reviling means that they slandered him.

They slandered him.

They would have said untruths about him

that they knew were untruths

to make him look as bad as it possibly could be.

They lied about him in ways that made him look exceptionally bad.

And so as a result of that, it continues,

he shook out his garments and said to them,

your blood be on your own heads.

I am innocent.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles, to the pagans.

Doesn't mean he'll never talk to a Jewish person again,

but it means now that the focus on his ministry

is going to be to pagans.

Before it was Jewish people primarily, pagans second.

Now it's going to be primarily pagans and Jewish people second.

And so, verse 7,

he left there and went to the house of a man named Tidius Justice,

a worshiper of God.

His house was next door to the synagogue.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue,

believed in the Lord together with his entire household.

And many of the Corinthians, hearing Paul,

believed and were baptized.

For some of you, when you hear this text,

immediately you'll think of what happened to us

at the end of June in 2011.

If you're curious about the details,

you can talk to somebody like Andrew or whatever.

We came to the point we had to leave our building.

And when we left our building,

we basically went next door to our whole building

to continue with our worship services.

It's a very similar type of thing as what happened there.

Now we get back to our key verse,

which we're going to return to at the end.

And the Lord said to Paul one night, verse 9,

in a vision,

I mean, right now they're worshipping Aphrodite.

Right now they're worshipping Zeus.

But they don't know it,

but they will become Christians.

Even though right now they don't seem to show any interest,

they don't seem to show any,

they're not even on their radar.

They will become Christians.

And so one of the things which is interesting,

as I said, this is a text which

almost talks as if human beings don't have any free will.

Yet if you look at the text,

this text is embedded in things

that show that we do have free will

and we're responsible for the decisions we make.

People of their own free will

seem to decide to become Christians.

Paul, when he shakes off his robes

as sort of a sign of judgment upon them,

is implying that they could choose differently

and they've chosen to slander him

and oppose him and reject Christ.

And that they've done that of their own free will.

That's the implication.

And, I mean, you could ask yourself,

is this just because the text is inconsistent

or is there something else going on?

Well, we'll get back to that.

You'll notice that this idea of freedom and everything

continues on in the rest of the text.

Look at verse 11.

And Paul stayed a year and six months

teaching the word of God,

there's that phrase again, among them.

But when Galio was pro-council of Achaia,

the Jews made a united attack on Paul

and brought him before the tribunal.

Now, just actually pause here.

This is just one of those little nerdish things.

You know, one of the things,

if you look at the text

or look at a commentary

that helps you look at the text

in the original language,

and they don't cover it literally in English

because it wouldn't be helpful for us in English,

but every time, every little city, every community,

they have different statuses

and therefore there's different political officers.

And every time that Luke gets that right,

and he gets it right at a time

when he can only get it right

if he's based on eyewitness testimony

because back then they didn't have Google.

Like now you could Google and say,

what was the political structure of Athens?

And you could look it up.

What were the officials called?

You could look it up on Google.

Google, but, or if not that,

maybe the Encyclopedia Britannica,

for those of you who remember

what encyclopedias were.

But back then when Luke was writing this,

there wasn't Google,

there wasn't the Encyclopedia Britannica.

They'll only know that if the truth matters

and he was actually there and got it right

because he cares about the truth mattering.

And there's this other really interesting

historical thing about this phrase.

I'll read it again, verse 12.

But when Galio was pro-council of Achaia.

Now Luke would have no way of knowing

that because Galio is relatively well known

in the ancient world,

that there's actual historical evidence

of when he's there,

which is how you can date Paul's visit here.

And here's the other neat,

two other neat little things.

Stoics, Stoicism's very popular right now,

especially among men.

But in general, it's very, very popular.

Galio's brother was one of the famous

Stoic philosophers named Seneca.

And here's the other thing,

which is very interesting,

that both Galio and Paul,

for different reasons obviously,

would be both killed by Nero

within 12 months of each other

in about 11 years or 12 years after this.

Just one of those small little coincidences,

so to speak.

Luke wouldn't know any of this

when he's writing it.

He wouldn't know that Seneca

is still known as a Stoic philosopher.

But anyway, just one of those little asides

some of you might appreciate.

I'll read that verse again, verse 12.

But when Galio was pro-council of Achaia,

the Jewish leaders made a united attack on Paul

and brought Paul before the tribunal saying,

this man is persuading people

to worship God contrary to the law.

Now, by the way, in Roman time,

there was, in fact, laws about how you were allowed

to worship and who you were allowed to worship.

And the entire Roman Empire was pagan.

The one exception to that were Jewish people

who, of course, weren't pagans.

They believed there was only one God.

And there had been an exemption made for the Jewish people

by the Roman emperors, allowing them to worship

in their own, you know, from a pagan point of view,

illogical, stupid, foolish, unlearned way.

But they were allowed to do it.

And so they're accusing Paul of, in a sense,

inventing a new religion.

And because this is being decided at a very high level

in an official Roman colony by a pro-council,

a person whose dad was famous, his brother's famous,

how Galio rules on this could have a huge impact legally

on how Christians were viewed over the next,

over quite a few more years.

It's a very different situation than, in a sense,

the other things that Paul was doing.

It would be like getting a bit of a misdemeanor

where you call bylaw on it and you get fined

for, you know, making too much noise at night or something.

This is a very, very different type of charge,

which is probably why it's in the Bible.

To read verse 13 again,

this man is persuading people to worship God

contrary to the law.

So it doesn't mean contrary.

They don't mean it contrary to our law.

They mean contrary to Roman law.

But verse 14,

but when Paul was about to open his mouth

to defend himself,

Galio said to the Jewish leaders,

if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime,

O Jews,

I would have reason to accept your complaint.

But since it is a matter of questions

about words and names and your own law,

see to it yourself,

I refuse to be a judge of those things.

And he drove them from the tribunal

and they all see Sosthenes,

the new ruler of the synagogue,

and beat him in front of the tribunal.

But Galio paid no attention to any of these things.

And then verse 18,

Paul stayed many days longer,

took his leave,

and begins his journey home.

And that's what the next few verses say.

So basically what,

this is very important to look.

It's probably why it's in there.

There's been a very high level legal decision made

that from that Roman official's point of view,

Christianity is a version of Judaism.

Therefore,

it's covered by the exemptions

that Jewish people have

allowing them to worship.

It's a very,

very big deal.

There's a couple of lawyers in the congregation.

You can ask them about precedence

and how that would work.

And they'll tell you

this becomes a very big thing.

Now,

there's the text.

It's a very interesting text.

It implies that

the Jewish people

are responsible for making this case.

Galio is freely responsible

for making his answer.

People accepting and receiving,

that's all on them.

Yet at the same time,

there seems to be this idea

that there's this

lack of free will

and God's sovereignty

that some people

are going to become Christians.

How does it all fit together?

Well,

let's look again at verse 9 and 10.

Do not be afraid,

but go on speaking.

Do not be silent,

for I am with you,

and no one will attack you to harm you,

for I have many in this city

who are my people.

Now,

I'm not going to explain the whole issue.

I'm just going to give you

a couple of hints or clues

about how to understand this text.

First one,

if you put a point to,

that would be helpful.

The first thing is to take a breath

and just pause for a moment.

All systems of thought,

every system of thought,

doesn't matter if you're a Buddhist,

if you're a Hindu,

if you're a Muslim,

it doesn't matter

if you're Richard Dawkins,

it doesn't matter

if you're the New Age person,

it doesn't matter

if you have some type of boutique,

curated type of putting together

a spiritual teaching,

it doesn't matter who you are,

all systems of thought

have to account

for the mystery

of unstoppable external force

and real internal freedom.

Everybody has to account for it.

The thing which is unique

about Christianity

is it's right in your face.

Texts like this

and other texts

which I've talked about

in other weeks,

it's right in your face.

You see it.

If you are interested,

go to the Dig and Delve website.

I've shared this before.

And go and look up

Os Guinness having a conversation

right on this stage

with an atheist philosopher

chosen by the Atheist Club of Ottawa,

the Atheist Organization of Ottawa.

And they had a conversation

about the meaning of life.

And one of the things

which is very unique in that

is he acknowledges

that from his point of view,

there is no meaning to life

and there is no freedom.

He acknowledges it.

You can tell it really bothered

the atheists in the room.

But he just said,

listen, if all you have

is matter and motion

and that's all you have,

you know, at the end of the day,

there's nothing special

about human beings

and it's just,

we're just the product

of external,

unstoppable external forces

and we might think

we have freedom,

but at the end of the day,

the freedom's an illusion.

And it doesn't matter

and so I could maybe change

and so only all systems of thought

have to talk about,

have to try to deal with this.

And so it, you know,

if somebody challenges you about it,

one of the things

you can vaguely say is,

okay, listen,

I'll try to give you

my explanation of it,

but you need to give me

an explanation about it too.

It's not just me.

And at the end of the day,

the Christian explanation

is by far the wisest,

not only the wisest,

but also the most beautiful.

If you could put up

the next slide,

that would be very helpful as well.

And part of the reason

that only the Christian answer

is both wise and beautiful

is that only the gospel reveals

that love is the ultimate

and basic reality.

Only the gospel reveals

that love is the ultimate

and basic reality.

But what do I mean by this?

You see,

all systems of thought

tend to either see

our current life

as either a tragedy,

something that happened

with the one

where the one

is no longer the one,

or,

and even then,

they tend to think

in terms of power,

but basically,

all systems of thought

primarily think

in terms of power,

some type of power.

And when you think

about the whole problem

of both power

and free will,

if you just think about it

in terms of power,

you're never going to be able

to solve the problem

because you either have

to minimize the external power

or to maximize your own

or whatever,

it's always going to be

a problem.

But you see,

here's what Christians say.

Christians obviously believe

that power matters,

but only Christianity

teaches the Trinity.

Only Christians can really

and truly say

that God is love.

Only Christians.

Before there was any matter,

before there was time,

before there was energy,

before there was

that singularity,

which we now call that

which existed

when the Big Bang happened,

before that happened,

the Father loved the Son

and the Son loved the Father

and the Father loved

the Holy Spirit

and the Holy Spirit

loved the Father.

And you could go on

with all of those relationships

and that what existed,

God existed before all things

and one of the fundamental

characteristics of the God

of the Bible

is that God is love.

And so before there's matter,

there's love.

That's why it's both

most ultimate

and it's most basic.

Love is that which is

most basic

and most ultimate.

Now there's a mystery

about love

if you think about it

for a second.

And I know this is going

to maybe touch on something

that can be a bit upsetting

to some people.

But when you fall in love

with someone,

there's two things

that happen.

And not just fall in love,

another thing would be,

and this is where I know

I'm touching on

some soft spots,

tender spots,

because there's many people

who would love to be able

to have a baby

and either through

not being able to marry

can't have a baby

or through infertility

can't have a baby.

So I know we're touching

on something here.

But if you're to ask

a mom,

you know,

the day after,

she's holding this brand new

little baby

in her arms

and she's just filled

with love for that baby

or somebody

who's just fallen in love

and they're just filled

in love with that other person.

There's two things

about love.

On one hand,

you feel most free

and most yourself

when you're in love.

On the other hand,

you feel most bound

when you're in love.

You are completely

and utterly bounded

with that baby.

You are bound in a way

that seems like

the most unbreakable iron law.

The same time,

you feel most free.

Isn't that neat about love?

So God,

who makes all things

including power and force

out of love,

has so made and woven

human beings

and human realities

that power is real

because he needs

to have power real

because he wants,

he's out of the fullness

of his love,

not because he has

any deficit

in who he loves,

but out of the fullness

of his love,

he creates beings

who can love each other

and can love him.

And if you're going

to love each other

and you're going

to love him,

you have to have

the dignity of causality

and you can't have

the dignity

of being able

to cause things

if there's not a world

of cause and effect.

And God has so woven

things together

that there is both

in fact true cause

and effect

and there is in fact

at the same time

true human freedom.

And it's a mystery

about how it is

that God has woven that

that at the same time

that we can say

that George,

God can say to George,

George,

you freely sinned.

You freely did that.

You can't pass that off

on me.

You can't pass that off

on your parents.

You can't pass that off

on genetics.

You did it of your own

free will.

And that's going to be

completely and utterly true.

But here's the other thing

about the text.

Remember I said

on one hand

it touches upon something

which we're afraid of

which is losing our freedom.

But it's also this text,

you know,

listen to it again

when it says

I have many in this city

who are my people.

I keep speaking

because there are many people

in this city

who are my people.

If you could put up

the fourth point

that would be very helpful.

The Lord sees you

woos you

and draws you to himself.

Now,

I go to the

Starbucks in Bell's Corners.

I don't normally

do any product placement

but I go to that place

just about every day

of the week

other than Sunday.

I go to do sermon prep

and sometimes

some other work

there in the morning.

So I'm a regular,

regular, regular, regular.

In fact,

I'm such a regular

that I pay for my coffee

with a registered card

and if you pay for your coffee

with a registered card

at Starbucks,

you get free refills.

And so I'll buy my tall,

black coffee with no room

and after I've been there

for 45 minutes

or an hour

or whatever,

I'll go to get my refill

and I always get

a Mint Majesty tea

grande size

with one Splenda.

And I'm such a regular

that sometimes

the baristas,

when they see me

in there,

they get my tea

prepped in advance

for me

with George

written on it.

I'm not making this up.

And they have

the Splenda in it

and the two tea bags

and it's Mint Majesty

and it's a grande.

And so when I get up,

there it is,

two little eyes

and a smile.

It says George

and I get my tea refill

very, very quickly.

But sometimes,

this happened to me

just the other day,

I'd been in there

for 45 minutes,

50 minutes.

I go up to get my tea refill

and the barista says to me,

oh,

you came here later

than normal?

Is it time for your coffee?

And I said,

oh,

it's so hard

to be an older man

and become unnoticed

and invisible.

I've been here

for 50 minutes

and I,

that's fine.

I can be invisible.

I'm in therapy.

I can be,

you know,

for it

because it's hard

to be invisible.

Now,

here's the thing.

And for some of you,

you're cute,

you're vivacious,

you're handsome,

you're good looking,

you've never been invisible

in your entire life.

But being invisible

is a problem

for many people.

There are people

who would say

that in their family

with multiple kids,

they always felt

like they were

the invisible child.

That when they were

in school,

they were the invisible kid.

That when it comes time

to parties or dating,

they're invisible.

People look right at them

but don't see them.

They're looking for somebody

more important,

more interesting,

that that's the story

of their lives.

For many people,

especially women,

one of the things

that they worry about

is that they get

to a certain age

and beyond,

they start to feel

as if they're invisible.

It's a human problem.

But you see,

if you think about this text,

what this text is saying

is the solution to it.

It might very well be

that your parents

treated you

like the invisible child.

It might very well be

that in elementary school

and high school

and university

and in your place of work

that you're invisible.

It might very well be

that you could be

in that Starbucks

for 50 minutes

or an hour

and they don't even know

you're there.

That could very well

be the case.

But God sees you.

He sees you long

before you even

look for Him.

and He loves you

and He woos you

and He'll bring you

to Himself.

You might have been

missed and invisible

with everybody

on the planet

but not with the triune God,

not with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So this text,

which on one hand

sounds very scary,

is in fact

opens up the whole

truth of the Trinity

in a whole different way

to understand

human freedom

and dignity

but also something

about the fact

that we're seen.

So now just,

I have to start

wrapping it up.

Just a couple of things

about this.

Let's look again

at verse 9 and 10.

Remember I said

it's a very good verse.

It's something

you should try to memorize.

There's five different things.

I'm going to summarize them

in two statements

but before that,

just listen to the,

here's the thing

which Jesus is saying

to you and me today.

Each one of us here,

do not be afraid.

And we know

that this is a text

addressed to you and me

because it's a regular feature

of the New Testament

time and time again.

Jesus constantly was saying

do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid.

He doesn't want you

to be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

Jesus is speaking

to you and me directly,

looking us in the eyes,

saying don't be afraid.

And this particular,

you know,

thing,

it, you know,

many of us know

that it may be

a little bit uncomfortable.

I've told people that,

you know,

in coffee shops

that I'm a pastor

and they were friendly

to me before

and as soon as they hear that

you can see a change

that comes over

their entire face

and the entire body posture

towards me.

They're not friendly

towards me anyway,

anymore when they find out

that I'm a pastor

and we all know

what that's like.

And so it makes us

not want to speak

to hide who we are.

But the text says

do not be afraid,

verse 9,

but go on speaking

and do not be silent,

right?

Go on speaking

and the other thing,

don't be silent.

And that's a message

for you and me.

And then it also says this,

why, why,

and by the way,

you see,

here's the thing

about the Bible.

The Bible's not being foolish

and saying,

okay,

don't feel what you're feeling.

The Bible knows it.

You know,

I could tell somebody

don't be sad.

Well,

me telling you not to be sad

doesn't stop you

from being sad.

I could tell you

don't be afraid

and you're still afraid.

Like,

that doesn't mean anything.

The importance of that text

isn't that real Christians

aren't afraid.

It is that God knows

you're afraid.

Jesus knows you're afraid.

Otherwise,

he wouldn't say to you,

don't be afraid.

And the point is,

and so therefore,

you know,

you're a terrible,

lousy human being

and a completely horrible

seventh-rate Christian,

not even second-rate.

No, no,

it's not what he's saying.

It means that there's

an invitation for me

to come to him

with the fact that I'm afraid.

And he's not telling me

to stop.

He's telling me to look

at two other things instead

in a comfort

that he knows me.

You see,

it says,

do not be afraid,

but go on speaking,

do not be silent.

And here's the thing,

the first thing to look at,

for I am with you.

I am with you.

It's a profound freedom.

Lord,

I'm afraid to share

the gospel with that person

or I'm afraid

for whatever it is.

I'm afraid to say something

that might offend.

I'm afraid.

Or, you know,

I'm just afraid

about all these things

that we're afraid of

and we can come to him

and say,

Lord,

I'm afraid.

And this is an invitation

for us not to stop

looking at our fear

as much as to look

at the fact

that he is with you.

Jesus is saying,

I am with you.

It's an invitation

for George to say,

you know,

Lord,

I'm afraid of doing this.

I'm afraid of that.

I'm afraid of this happening.

Help me to bring home

to my heart

that you're with me.

I'm not going to face it alone.

The next part's going to

have to be nuanced.

And it says,

and no one will attack you

and harm you.

Now,

why does this have to be nuanced?

Well,

it has to be nuanced.

All of the three things

that we've said before

and the next thing

are all things

that are in the New Testament.

I think they're general commands

all put beautifully together

here in this text.

But if you read

all of the New Testament,

you do know that,

in fact,

it's not the case

that you won't get

attacked and harmed.

There's already been

Christian martyrs.

Paul himself,

if you read 2 Timothy,

he confesses,

he says,

in effect,

I know I've been delivered

many times from prison,

but I've come to understand

that this time,

after I see my next trial,

I'll be killed.

This is the end for me.

So how we are

to understand this text

is to understand it

in light of Daniel chapter 3.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

There's a very,

very beautiful

and powerful story

in Daniel chapter 3

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

that Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

are three Jewish men

in the employ

of the emperor

Nebuchadnezzar.

And Nebuchadnezzar decides

that all of his officials

are going to have

to worship the idol.

And so Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

are going to,

they make the sound

to start worshiping.

Everybody worships.

Three dudes are left

standing up,

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego.

Everybody's mad at them.

The king threatens them.

He says,

you realize that

if you don't bow down

and worship,

I am going to kill you.

And Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

say this memorable phrase

to Nebuchadnezzar.

He looks at Nebuchadnezzar

and says,

we believe that our Lord,

our God,

can deliver us.

But if not.

But if not.

We will not worship.

We will die.

And that's how we're

to understand this.

When we're attacked,

we can pray.

The Lord can deliver you.

It might be that he won't.

So in the back of our mind,

it's but if not.

And then this final thing

is I have many in the city

who are my people.

That's why it's worth our while

to tell our kids

about the gospel,

to tell their friends,

to tell our coworkers,

just to bear witness to Jesus

because God has people

in this city.

Unless you've come to the sense

that this is Ottawa

is Sodom and Gomorrah

and no Christian

should presume upon that,

that's a terrible thing

to presume,

there are people in this city,

despite the fact

that they seem disinterested

or maybe even hostile

to the gospel,

there are people in this city

who are going to become Christians.

That's why we should

speak the gospel.

That's why people

like our brother B over there

will go to closed nations

to tell people about Jesus

because, right brother,

there are people in that place

who God has called for himself.

And it doesn't depend

upon our skill.

It's a wonderful truth

of the gospel.

So just in closing,

two different things up here

to help put this together.

If you could put up number five.

I thought of making it longer,

but I thought I'd bring

the two aspects out

in two different sentences.

And if you want,

you can take a screenshot

or it can be online.

I send these words

to Josiah later.

the Lord can deliver you,

but if not,

do not be afraid,

for he is with you.

And there are many people,

there are many people,

I can't read my writing.

There are many people in this city

who will become Christians.

Whatever that is,

you can see it.

The Lord can deliver you,

but if not,

do not be afraid.

You lose your job,

you get a demotion,

or you don't get the promotion.

He didn't deliver you.

Don't be afraid.

He is with you.

There are many people in this city

who will become Christians.

You could go about number six,

that would be helpful.

The Lord can deliver you,

but if not,

go on speaking,

and do not be silent,

for he is with you.

And there are many people in this city

who will become Christians.

That's the message of this

very, very, very profound text.

Do not be afraid,

but go on speaking.

Do not be silent,

for I am with you,

and no one will attack you to harm you,

for I have many in this city

who are my people.

Let's stand.

Bow our heads in prayer.

Father,

you know that some of us

are struggling with invisibility,

with feeling unseen.

Some of us, Father,

may be worried

that we're entering into a time

of our lives

where we will be increasingly unseen.

That one that people sort of know

there might be a body there,

but they're really looking around

for somebody more interesting,

more important,

more fun,

more hip,

more cool,

whatever.

And so, Father,

we give you thanks and praise

for this profound truth

that you see us,

that you see us,

that you know us,

that you wooed us,

and that you brought us to yourself.

And we ask, Father,

that you help this

to be a truth

that comes home to our heart,

that Jesus is with us.

Father,

you know the things

we're afraid of.

Help us to be honest

and come to you

with our fears,

and we ask

that you help us

not to think about the fear,

but to,

although it's there,

but to focus on

you were with us

and that you will use us

and that these things

are true, Father.

And so we should take

steps of faith.

And,

Father,

we thank you for Jesus,

that he is Jesus Christ crucified,

that he is the means

by which our sins are forgiven

and we are made right with him.

He is the means,

the true revealing

of the depth of love

of the Trinity,

that Jesus,

out of love for us,

died for us

so that we can be made

right with you

and forgiven.

So, Father,

keep our eyes fixed

on Jesus Christ crucified,

that he is with us,

that he has saved us,

that he will never abandon us

or forsake us

or let us go.

And as these truths

become more real

to our hearts,

grant us courage

and boldness

to live for you.

And we ask these things

in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.