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.
And you must bow our heads in prayer. Father,
we give you thanks and praise that even before we were born, you loved us, and that there has never
been a point in time in our lives that you have not loved us. We thank and praise you that you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God, are the God. You are the God of love,
of true, deep, eternal, universe-creating, salvation-giving love. And we ask, Father,
as we open your word this morning, you know the anxieties and the fears of our hearts. You know the
things which are troubling us. And we ask that your Holy Spirit would bring your word and your love,
the person of Christ, deep into our hearts to form us and to comfort us. And we ask these things
in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
Once again, oh, I guess we don't have many of them left. They've all been taken. Oh yeah,
there are a few of these left if you want a scripture journal with the Book of Acts in it. There's some
there if you'd like one for your own personal use. We're all familiar with the phrase, in fact,
probably some of us have said it to other people sometimes, and probably some of us have had it
said to us, it's not all about you. It's not all about you. Maybe if we don't say it to somebody,
we think, you know, the problem with them is they think it's all about them, but it's not all about
them. We think that. And, you know, that's, it's true. And a lot of times it's very needed. But,
and there's a big but, one of the times when people say it to us, this is what we think.
Well, I might agree that it's not all about me, but you seem to think it's all about you.
You, you're just saying it's not all about you to, to me, but inwardly I think you still think it's,
it's all about you. And that's a problem. And sometimes as well, when people say this,
or when we hear it, and I'm not saying there's never any truth in it. In fact,
the point of my sermon is, in fact, that there's a very profound truth that it's not all about you,
but it doesn't have these other features which make it very problematic,
is that often it's said in such a way that it makes it sound as if the valid needs that you have
and that I have, that my valid needs, my valid desires, and the justice that I think is required
is going to be denied to me. And so we have some problems with that phrase and how it's used.
The Bible text that we're going to look at today actually has a lot of wisdom about this whole
situation. It's not about you. And some of the problems we have with either saying it,
believing it, receiving it, the inconsistencies, all of that, there's actually great wisdom in the
Bible about this. So if you would take your Bibles with me, we're preaching through the book of Acts,
and today we're at Acts chapter 16, and we're going to be beginning at verse 11. Acts 16,
beginning at verse 11. If you're using these, it's on page 94.
And just in terms of the context of the story, Paul and this man by the name of Silas,
and a man by the name of Timothy, and later on there's going to be two books in the Bible named
after him called 1 and 2 Timothy, and Luke. And later on Luke is going to write a gospel,
and in fact this book, the book of Acts. And the four of them at least, they're on a missionary
journey in what we now call of Turkey. And it's as if they've come from this way,
doing their second, this is the second missionary journey for Paul, and they come to this situation
where the Holy Spirit says no, they want to go this way, and the Holy Spirit says no, and then they
think of going this way, but the Holy Spirit says no. And that's sort of interesting enough,
and the Bible doesn't tell you how they know that it's no, but it's interesting enough that that happens.
But what is actually even more profound is that they walk for 400 miles, that's 640 kilometers,
walking, constantly getting a no to go that way, and a no to go that way. It's almost as if they're
the sheep and God is herding them down the road. They're not going to go back, they've already been
there. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. They keep going, and finally at the end, they have a vision, Paul has a vision,
and one of the things we then discover is that all along the line, there's been, it's not just been this
one guy making these absolute decisions, but the four of them have been talking and thinking and praying
about it, and they come to the conclusion after the vision that God is calling them to listen to the vision,
to go to Macedonia, and they go. And that's now where our story continues. Verse 11.
So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis,
and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony,
we remained in this city some days. Now, okay, I'm odd. Odd things amuse me, and I think they're cool.
This is really cool. You know why it's really cool? When these four dudes step off of the boat
onto the dock, the first Christians have entered the continent of Europe.
That is cool.
They don't come with armies.
Just four guys.
Now, Roman Empire, it's one of the things that's really neat that it's even recorded,
because you see, for Romans, they didn't know about continents. It was just all part of the Roman Empire.
From a Roman perspective at that historical time, from Luke's point of view,
they were just going from one province to another.
But now we know that this is the very first Christians to come to the continent of Europe,
and Europe is the first continent that would be massively evangelized.
And it starts with this.
I think that's cool.
Well, there's something else which happens which is just as cool.
And if you're thinking, rolling your eyes,
yeah, George, you're really lame.
Lame things amuse you. That's fine.
I own that, okay?
But look at what happens in verse 13.
And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside,
where we supposed there was a place of prayer.
And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
And just sort of pause.
What this is telling us is that there weren't ten Jewish men in the city,
or if there were ten Jewish men,
there weren't ten Jewish men who cared a hoot about being Jewish.
So there's not enough people to form a synagogue,
but there's a group of women, maybe the odd men,
but it just looks like it's only women.
And they're gathering to pray.
And it continues, verse 14.
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia,
from the city of Thyatira,
a seller of purple goods,
who was a worshiper of God.
And what that means is that she's a pagan,
but she's heard about the God of Israel,
what we would call the Old Testament,
our Jewish friends, the Tanakh.
And she now wants to start living her life
according to what we call the Old Testament.
And she wants to worship the God of Israel.
But she hasn't officially become Jewish.
So one of the people listening was a worshiper of God.
And then here's this really, really neat phrase.
The Lord opened her heart
to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
I'm going to return to that in a moment.
And after she was baptized,
so the Lord opens her heart
and she becomes a Christian.
So Paul speaks.
She's listening.
And God does something silently
in the very center of her
to open up the very center of her
to receive the message about Jesus
and to become a Christian.
Verse 15.
After she was baptized
and her whole household as well,
she urged us saying,
if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come to my house and stay.
And she prevailed upon us.
Now, here's what's really cool.
Lydia is the first European Christian.
You know what else is cool about that?
The scholarly research
leads to the conclusion
that not only is she a pagan,
who's now become a Christian,
she's a former slave,
who has become a Christian,
and she's a single mom,
who's become a Christian,
because in Roman law,
to enter into contracts without a man,
you need to be a woman
who's had four children.
So because she is a business owner
and hence has to enter into business deals,
she's probably a single mom.
So she's a former pagan,
a former slave.
She's a single mom,
and she's an entrepreneur,
and she is the first European Christian.
I think that's really cool.
We know her name.
And here's a point.
Actually, first,
if you could put point number one,
Claire, that would be very helpful.
Here's the overarching,
sort of the big point.
There's a second big point,
which I'm just going to leave
as sort of a reveal at the end.
But it's this,
as we're looking at this text,
the true God.
See, that's what we Christians are claiming.
This is the true God revealing himself.
And we're going to look at a story
where the true God can shake the planet,
unlock shackles,
remove demons,
and open your heart
to believe in the Lord Jesus
and to be saved.
That's the big message of the text,
one of the big messages of the text.
The true God can shake the planet,
unlock shackles,
remove demons,
and open your heart
to believe in the Lord Jesus
to be saved.
And the sub-point from this,
just before we go any further,
is this.
If you could put up 1A,
that would be helpful, Claire.
1A.
The Lord who loves you
asks you to speak to others about Jesus.
And he asks you to speak
knowing that he will open hearts.
The Lord who loves you
asks you to speak to others about Jesus
knowing that he will open hearts.
You see, that's what a text,
the text doesn't say,
boy, Paul gave the most unbelievable speech.
He told 10 jokes
that they're still talking about today,
years later.
He gave this analogy
and a metaphor
that brought tears to people's eyes.
He was just on fire.
His rhetoric,
he was just fantastic.
He was awesome.
He doesn't say anything like that.
He spoke.
But actually, later on in the,
if you go and look at his letters,
you'll see that one of the complaints
that people make about him,
you know what one of the complaints
that people make about Paul was?
That he wasn't very good at speaking.
I'm not making that up.
You know, a guy,
he's not very good at rhetoric,
hasn't been trained,
he's untaught.
What a doofus.
So it's not his rhetoric,
but he just shares.
This is really encouraging to us.
Just tell people about Jesus.
It's God's job to open hearts.
Don't intentionally do a sucky job,
but just,
God knows you're weak.
He knows I'm weak.
Well, what happens?
Well, something actually very dramatic happens,
and before we go any further,
the next bit of the story
is going to talk about a demon.
And, you know,
our country is divided
into two classes of people,
fundamentally.
Well, I guess there's three types.
There's one type
that never think about anything
that they can't eat,
drink,
or, you know,
make more money,
or they're just consumed,
like, you know,
with what's going on next.
But apart from that,
most people in our country
either just find
the whole idea of demons
existing completely impossible.
It's something they would treat with scorn.
It would be something
that if you were to say
you believed in them,
they, it would,
even if they didn't say it to your face,
they'd believe that it shows
that you're an ignorant,
foolish,
uneducated person.
And on the other hand,
there's many people
in our culture
who lean in
when you hear about demons
or angels
or telling of fortunes.
They're very curious about this.
They have a fascination with it,
and they definitely believe
that it happens.
I'm not going to argue
for the text.
I'm just going to tell you
that part of the text
is that the Christian faith
does believe
that angels and demons exist.
And as we're going to see,
Christians believe
because we've been taught
ultimately by Jesus
that demons can,
in fact,
influence human beings,
can oppress them
and harass them.
And the text
that we're reading,
I'm not going to go
into it very much,
but one of the things
which is very true
of this text
in all of the book of Acts
is that Luke
gets the titles right.
So later on,
it's going to talk,
I don't know if it uses
in our version
the word like police people
or officers or whatever,
but in the original language,
he uses the right name
for who would be doing that
in that context.
They use agora.
They use the right titles
of officials.
They use the right,
he uses the right titles
for magistrates
and for cops.
Everything he does,
he does it completely accurate
for that context.
So it's an historical account
and the Luke's claim
is this is what actually happened.
And so we Christians
believe that these things are real.
And if you want,
give me a call,
I'll buy you a coffee,
I can give you some reasons
why it's reasonable to believe
and important to believe
that demons actually exist.
But let's see what this story does.
It's going to talk about demons
and here's what happens next.
It's verse 16.
As we were going
to the place of prayer,
that's so a little bit later,
doesn't say it's a week
or two weeks
or three weeks
or whatever,
but sometime later,
we were going
to the place of prayer.
We were met
by a slave girl,
a young girl
who's a slave,
who had a spirit of divination
and brought her owners
much gain by fortune telling.
Now this text actually
is quite remarkably accurate.
Some of the other versions
to try to help us
to understand it better
aren't quite as accurate
as this text
is quite accurate.
The one thing
they don't say is,
and I don't know
why they said I don't say it.
I was saying to my wife
the other day,
like it's way cooler
to you to be literal.
In the original language,
it doesn't say
she has a spirit of divination,
although that's what it means.
She has a python spirit.
That's actually
what it says in the Greek.
She has a python spirit
or the spirit of the python
within her.
That's possessing her
and that spirit
uses her for fortune telling.
So just so you know,
a bit of an aside,
Christians believe
that no demon
knows the future.
The dead don't know
the future.
If you go to a seance
or some other type
of activity,
which you shouldn't go to,
it's opening yourself up
to demons,
and they will claim
that they can tell you
the future,
but they are always lying.
No demon can know
the future.
But it's just like
if you've done any reading
about how fortune tellers work.
Fortune tellers work
on preying on your anxiety
and your pride,
your ego.
And they use cues
to read what you're like
and they'll give
ambiguous enough things
that get you excited
and allow them to point
and confuse you
into thinking
that they're telling
something about the future
as if they have powers
or they're open to powers
that allow them to do that
and it's all lies.
And Christians should have
nothing to do with it.
But that's what's going on
and she's making piles of dough
for these owners.
Okay?
And it continues.
Verse 17.
So she followed Paul and us
crying out,
these men are servants
of the Most High God.
And by the way,
actually this is not
a good translation
in the Greek.
There's no the.
And so it's added
because it doesn't make sense
in English.
These men are servants
of Most High God.
That's actually what it says
in the original language
which is terrible English.
But you see,
one of the things
that the demon is saying
partial truths
and partial truths
are a way to say,
is a way of lying.
And she's going after,
shouting out very loud,
these men are servants
of the Most High God.
Those of you,
oh sorry,
who proclaims to you
and,
sorry, no,
it does say the Most High God.
I got that wrong.
It does say that.
These men are servants
of the Most High God
who proclaim to you
way of salvation.
There's no the
before way of salvation.
And those of you
who've read
the C.S. Lewis's
science fiction trilogy,
this is like Weston
dealing with Ransom
and keeping him awake
by speaking all the time.
Those of you
who haven't read it,
everybody should read
the science fiction books
by C.S. Lewis.
Anyway,
this verse 18,
and this she kept doing
for many days.
Paul,
having become greatly annoyed,
turned,
and look what he says,
it says here,
and he says,
not to her,
but to the spirit.
He speaks to the demon.
So he'd look at you
in the eyes,
but he's not speaking to you,
he's speaking to the demon.
And he says,
I command you
in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her.
And it came out
that very hour.
Now,
just sort of pause here.
Remember,
the big point
is that the true God
can shake the planet,
unlock shackles,
remove demons,
and open your heart
to believe in the Lord Jesus
and to be saved.
But here we see,
if you could put up 1B,
Claire,
that would be helpful.
The Lord who loves you
shows that you should
cast out demons
in the name of Jesus.
The Lord who loves you
shows that you
should cast out demons
in the name of Jesus.
Now,
why did Paul not do it
a bit earlier?
Well,
we're going to see why
probably in a moment
when we see what happens.
Look what happens.
And by the way,
what's about to happen
is something
that we should pray
very, very, very deeply
does not happen
in Canada.
We all know
that on one level
it does happen in Canada,
but we should pray
that our country
moves away
from anything like this,
that we should move
to a,
that we should be praying
that our country
develops just laws
and those who enforce
the laws
not be corrupt.
We should pray
into that.
What we're going to see
here in the next bit
is how it is
in much of the world
and throughout
much of history.
Some of you
have come from countries
where what is being
described next
is a very normal occurrence.
Look what happens.
Verse 19.
And just,
by the way,
the implication
of the original language
is that this young girl
made lots of money
for these men.
Lots of money.
So these are rich,
powerful men
and they're citizens
of the city.
Paul and Silas
are outsiders.
They're outsiders.
So verse 19,
but when her owners
saw that their hope
of gain was gone,
and that's,
by the way,
a whole other thing.
It's really interesting
that,
so it's not as if
Jono and I,
I don't know,
Jono says he has a demon
and I say I'm going
to cast a demon
out of him,
but nobody sees
any difference
with Jono before or after.
Nobody sees anything.
But we just both have
a feeling that something's happened.
And maybe something has happened.
Not that you have
a demon brother,
but maybe something
has happened.
But one of the things
which is interesting here
is that everybody sees
that something has happened
and knows that something
has happened.
That in a sense,
the pagan slave owners
are bearing witness
that Paul has just
cast out a demon.
They don't describe
what's been seen,
but something's been seen.
Something's changed.
The one time
I've been involved
directly in an exorcism,
one of the changes
was that the person
had spoken
a radically different voice,
which went away.
But that doesn't always happen.
That's a whole other topic
of conversation.
Verse 19 again,
but when our owners
saw that their hope
of gain was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas
and dragged them
into the marketplace
before the rulers.
What?
They're not cops.
They didn't break any law
and they didn't do
a bad thing.
But the owners
take it upon themselves
to seize Paul and Silas,
drag them,
and the word for marketplace
there is agora,
so it's the center
of the city.
Verse 20,
it's where the court is,
the municipal offices,
the main temple,
it's the center
of the city
where decisions are made.
And that's where
they drag Paul and Silas.
And it's literally
dragged them.
They overpower
Paul and Silas
and are dragging them.
Paul and Silas
aren't going willingly.
In verse 20,
and when they had brought
Paul and Silas
to the magistrates,
they said,
these men are Jews
and they are disturbing
our city.
They advocate customs
that are not lawful
for us Romans
to accept
or practice.
The crowd joined
in attacking them.
And by the way,
here attacking them,
it's a crowd,
but it's not a mob.
And they're not attacking them
by punching them.
They're calling out
extra reasons
why these two Jewish men
should be punished.
The crowd joined
in attacking them
and the magistrates
tore the garments
off them.
The magistrates
tore the garments
off Paul and Silas,
leaving them,
if not naked,
next to naked,
and gave orders
to beat them
with rods.
That would have been
their equivalent
of police,
to beat them
with sticks.
And when
the officials,
in a sense,
had inflicted
many, many,
many, many blows,
the implication of many
is that you can
almost translate it
as many, many, many.
After they inflicted
many, many, many blows
upon them,
they threw them
into prison,
ordering the jailer
to keep them safely.
In other words,
don't let them go.
Not keep them safely
because, oh, no, no,
we don't want them,
we want them to be safe.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Make sure they don't get away.
And having received this order,
verse 24,
they put them
into the inner prison
and fastened their feet
in the stocks.
Now, here's what's going on
in this text.
What I say,
this is the world, folks.
This is what we should pray.
I'm sure it's happened
in Canada,
and every time
it happens in Canada,
it's things like this,
an abuse of power,
they should be punished.
We should pray
that we have a society
of laws,
of just laws,
and of freedom
for people,
and of innocent
until declared guilty.
That's what we should be praying
for all of the time,
that we don't slide
into accusing people
and saying,
well, these people
are powerful
and respectable,
and these people
look like the type
of people
who do things wrong,
and these are powerful,
and these are weak,
and these are us,
and these are others,
and so if they say
bad things about the others,
well, what the heck?
Let's beat the others
and throw them in jail.
That's what's happening.
And we see here,
like, it's,
what happened in Amsterdam
the other night
is absolutely horrifying
and despicable.
Despicable.
And the French parliamentarian
who praised it
despicable.
Despicable.
But you can understand
a mob
getting caught up
in the moment.
What's harder
is cultured,
calm arguments
to hate Jewish people.
What is not acceptable
is mainstream media
when they have
anti-Semites
speaking calmly
to millions
and nobody
corrects them.
That's vastly
more evil.
And some of you
might say,
George,
you shouldn't talk
about that
from the pulpit.
This isn't politics,
this is morals.
I don't care
if they vote
conservative,
liberal,
NDP,
green,
or the rhinoceros party.
This is,
we have to speak
against these types
of things happening
in our culture.
So one of the reasons
probably that Paul and Silas
are slow at dealing things
is they can sense
the rampant,
amped anti-Semitism.
anti-Semitism.
And they can sense,
you know what,
it's been said
many, many times
by many people,
one of the first things
that tyrants want to do
is to wrap themselves
in the flag.
That's what these guys
are doing,
wrapping themselves
in the flag
and promoting hatred.
So now here they are,
they're in jail.
And they're,
later on we're going
to find out
that they've been
so badly beaten
that there's open wounds.
And they're going
to be profoundly uncomfortable
because they can't move
because their feet
are in stocks.
And they're in a jail
which would not
be very clean.
And in those days
the only food
that would come
would be if outsiders
brought food
into the jail
because there's no obligation
for the jailer
to give any food.
And what happens next?
Well it's very interesting,
verse 25.
And about midnight
Paul and Silas
were praying
and singing hymns to God
and the prisoners
were listening to them.
Now just pause.
This verse has caused
lots of anxiety
for Christians
throughout the years
and it shouldn't.
This makes Paul and Silas
sound like they were supermen.
And these blows
just bounce off them.
Now you know
maybe that's what went on.
Maybe the Holy Spirit
really anointed them
for unbelievable courage.
But you know
what it could also be?
Jason and I
are the ones
who are beaten.
And we're in the jail.
And you know
Jason is going like this
and I'm going like this
to see if we've,
you know,
some of the tooth we lost,
we've lost them
and maybe we're seeing
if we're going to lose
that tooth.
And we have open wounds
and our feet are in stock
and we're really uncomfortable
and we're really,
really hungry
and we're feeling ashamed
because we got stripped
and beaten in public.
And it starts to get dark
and I say to Jason,
I say,
brother,
can you sleep?
And Jason says to me,
no brother,
I can't sleep.
Are you really?
Yeah,
that's pretty sore.
I can't sleep.
I said,
you know what?
Why don't we pray?
We're not going to sleep anyway.
Why don't we pray
and sing some hymns
just to show them?
Amen.
Because we can't sleep anyway.
We've got our stupid feet
in these stalks.
We're all bleeding
and all of that.
So they sing
and they probably
are also praying
for the salvation
of the prisoners
in the jail
or the people
who beat them.
I mean,
on one level,
that's a supernatural
work of grace
that's possible for all,
that we pray
for our persecutors
and our haters.
Anyway,
verse 25 again,
about midnight,
after about midnight,
Paul and Silas
were praying
and singing hymns to God
and the prisoners
were listening to them
and suddenly
there was a great earthquake
so that the foundations
of the prison
were shaken.
And then there's
a separate thing.
Immediately all the doors
were opened
and everyone's bonds
were unfastened.
And once again,
we note that it's actually
quite a good translation here.
Unfastened.
Not shaken loose
but unfashioned.
And when the jailer woke
and saw that the prison doors
were open,
he drew his sword
and was about to kill himself
supposing that the prisoners
had escaped.
Now just pause here.
Why was he doing this?
So first of all,
there's a double miracle
that goes on here
and if there'd just been
an earthquake,
people could say,
well,
it's just a coincidence.
But there's both an earthquake
and at the same time
their shackles,
the doors open
and their shackles
are unfastened.
And the jailer,
woken up
by the earthquake,
goes out to see
what's going on.
And by the way,
the whole city
would have been affected
by this earthquake
and he sees the jail doors open.
Now, historically,
the jailer was either
one of two types of people.
He was either
a retired soldier
or more likely,
in those days,
cities could own slaves.
So he was actually
very likely to be a slave,
a senior slave
in the municipal government.
And later on,
when I'm going to talk
about his household,
the implication of that
is that he's a slave owner
who also owns slaves.
The whole ancient world
was unbelievably messed up.
Right?
You can be a slave
and own a slave.
You can,
and anyway,
but you see,
in the ancient world,
because he's a slave,
but even if he was
just a Roman soldier,
but if he was a slave,
if he lets these prisoners
go under his watch,
the punishment is
crucifixion.
And from all of the accounts
of the ancient world,
if you have a choice
of dying by crucifixion
or a cutting of a sword
in your body,
you're going to pick the sword.
You don't want to die
over many days
naked outside the city
with birds landing on.
You know,
I don't want to go any further.
It's gruesome.
But there's a surprise.
Look at what happens
in verse 28.
But Paul cried out
with a loud voice,
Do not harm yourself,
for we are all here.
And the jailer called
for lights
and rushed in
and trembling with fear,
he fell down
before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out
and said,
Here's this famous question.
Many, many people
are familiar with this text,
even if they can't remember
where it was.
Sirs,
what must I do
to be saved?
And they said,
Believe in the Lord Jesus
and you will be saved,
you and your household.
And then they spoke
the word of the Lord
to the jailer
and to all who were
in his house
and he took them,
that is the jailer,
that same hour of the night
he washed their wounds
and he was baptized at once,
he and all his family.
Then he brought them
into his house
and set food before them
and he rejoiced along
with his entire household
that he had believed in God.
So here you can see
that the picture is
of the true God
is very big.
He's big enough
that he can shake the planet,
he can unlock shackles,
he can remove demons,
and he can open your heart
to believe in the Lord Jesus
and be saved.
Now here's the question.
And some of you
might be wondering,
George,
why did you begin by saying
what you said
at the beginning of the sermon?
Some of you can't remember,
that's fine.
If God is able
to shake the planet
and open hearts
and cast out demons,
why did he allow
Paul and Silas
to be beaten?
Why did he allow it?
Well, part of the answer
is this.
Paul,
it's not all about you.
It's not all about you.
If you could put up
point 1c,
that would be helpful.
the Lord who loves you
reassures you
that you are not
the center,
that he is.
It's not all about you,
it's about him.
You know one of the things
that's really cool?
This probably happened
in the year 49.
We're in the year 2024.
There's still Christians
in Philippi.
There's still Christians
in Philippi.
almost 2,000 years later.
You see,
one of the problems
with it's not all about you,
it's on one level
we all know intuitively
that that's very important advice.
Like in a family,
I need to know as a dad
that it's not all about me.
You know,
the pastor of the church,
I have to know
that it's not all about me.
Like some of the other
organizations I'm involved with,
it's not all about me.
I need to hear that.
I need to remember that.
And I need to know
how to understand.
But you see,
the problem is
is that other people
say that to me sometimes
in such a way
that they're implying
that it's really
all about them.
And if there's no,
like if all of that,
if we all do that,
then there's like,
we need something
that holds everything together.
We still need a center.
We need something,
someone,
that it is about.
And the thing
which is so wonderful
about the gospel
is that when Paul says,
when the Lord says
in a sense to Paul,
Paul,
it's not all about you.
Well,
who's saying that to him?
You know,
it's not as if God is just,
you know,
one of the problems we have
is like in many religions,
like God is so big
and a God who's so big
is just going to crush us.
And for all of the religions
of the world,
when they say
it's all about you,
that's something
which isn't actually
very hopeful
or reassuring.
The ancient gods
created human beings
to be their slaves.
Allah is so,
in a sense,
it's almost as a little bit
as if Allah is like
the Matrix
in the Matrix movies
because Allah doesn't actually
give the message
directly to Muhammad.
Did you know that?
Because he can't have
that direct contact
with a human being.
Allah gives the message
to an angel
who gives the message
to Muhammad.
And in a sense,
you know,
when you have
the religions of the East
and even when you have
in the religions of the East,
it's a different type
of the bigness of God,
but the bigness of God
is something
that's going to swallow you,
that you become part of
and you lose you.
So even in all
of those religions,
when they say
it's not all about you,
it's something
which ends up
crushing you
or denying you
or denigrating you.
But the same God
who is able
to shake the planets
comes as Emmanuel,
God with us
in the midst
of our mess,
the midst
of the muck
of your life,
the midst
of your wounds,
the midst
of your weakness,
and in love
he dies for you.
I mean,
one of the hopes
for my marriage
with Louise
is that I understand
it's not all about me,
that Louise understands
it's not all about her,
but we do know
that it's all about
the Lord.
Our hope as a church
is that it's not
all about me,
it's not all about
the council,
it's not all about
the Sunday school teachers,
but it's all about Christ.
There's a type
of both relativizing
and an arms around us.
Just a couple of truths
that follow from this,
just very briefly,
that the last one
is the big point,
right?
If the big point
is this is revealing God,
the true God
shakes the planet
and locks shackles,
removes demons,
and opens your heart
to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ,
but if you could put up
one D,
that would be helpful.
Since God is big
and you are small,
your weakness
is not a bug,
but a feature.
You're all familiar
with the idea
of the bug,
right?
It's,
you know,
we have a couple
of computer-type
people here,
they'll fix the bugs,
things that aren't
supposed to be there.
But me being weak,
and a lot of my anxiety
comes about either,
because I'm wrestling
with wanting to be
the center,
but I'm not,
and I'm wrestling
with others who think
they're the center,
and I know they're not,
and I'm wrestling
with that,
and I also wrestle
with weakness.
But it's really helpful
to know that God is big
and I am small,
and that's not a bug
that I have to fix.
There's a brilliant text.
Paul says that it's something
that Jesus spoke to him,
so he says it's something
that came right from Jesus.
It's 2 Corinthians,
I don't have it on the screen,
2 Corinthians 12, 9.
Jesus says to Paul,
this is a little bit later,
My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect
in weakness.
So here's the final point.
Paul, you know, by the way,
Paul's not going to be articulate
with the Philippian jailer
after having teeth missing potentially.
He's not already a good speaker
to begin with.
He's hungry.
He hasn't slept.
He's been beaten.
He has open wounds,
but he still shares the gospel
about Jesus to this other guy.
It's all in his weakness.
Here's the final point.
If you could put it up,
one E.
And by the way,
those of you who are familiar
with the book,
I think by Larry Ellison,
I've tweaked his title.
I've made it Christian.
In Christ,
you have all the weakness you need
for God to work through you.
I can't forgive,
I'm too weak.
In Christ,
you have all the weakness
you need for God
to work through you.
I can't tell other people
about Jesus.
My life is a mess.
In Christ,
you have all the weakness
you need
for God to work through you.
I'm terrible at praying,
and I'm not a very good Christian.
In Christ,
you have all the weakness
you need
for God to work through you.
I'm weak and poor,
I don't have any money
to give to the work of the Lord.
I can't be generous,
I have to wait
until I have money.
No,
in Christ,
you have all the weakness
you need
for God to work through you.
Because he is big.
Let's stand
and bow our heads
in prayer.
Father,
you know how
a lot of our life,
even as Christians,
is all about trying
to get stronger
and stronger
and better
and shiny
and shinier
and more cleaned up
so that eventually
you'll pay some notice
to us
or that we can do
good things.
And you know,
Father,
how both the world,
the flesh,
and the devil
beats us up
about our weaknesses
and our smallness.
And so,
Father,
it's very freeing
to hear
in the context
of salvation,
the context
of Jesus being Emmanuel,
Emmanuel who dies
for us,
Emmanuel who on one hand
can shake the planet,
but on the other hand
will walk amongst us
and die on the cross
for us,
that our weakness
is not something
that is a bug,
but a feature
of who we are
as human beings.
I am small
and I am weak,
and that is not
a bug to fix,
but a feature
of who I am.
And it is,
Father,
very humbling
to know
that you are the one
who opens hearts,
you are the one
who shakes the planets,
you are the one
who did everything
that had to be done
to save.
You are the one
whose son became poor
that we might become rich,
that Father,
that every single
one of us here,
and not as an excuse
not to repent
of our sins,
and not as an excuse
not to learn
and to grow,
but that we already
have,
every one of us here,
all the weakness
that you need
for us to work
through you,
through us,
for your glory.
So we ask,
Father,
that you make the gospel
more and more real
to us,
and help us,
Father,
to see our smallness
and our weakness,
and that we are not
the center
in light of this
profound act
that Jesus has done
to save us,
and to make us
your children forever.
And we ask these things
in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior,
and all God's people said,
Amen.