NOV 20 2016

Sea Change Church · Harry Wilson · November 20, 2016
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Awesome job. Can we just get a round of applause for Madeline? That is a long scripture to get up here and read, and I could not have done it better myself. So awesome. It's Youth Sunday. My name's Harry. I'm the youth pastor here, and so that's why you're seeing some of the youth involved in the service today. And if you take a look at your notes, you don't be confused. You're like, wait, we've been over this scripture before. Adam did an awesome message on obedience just two weeks ago over this scripture.

But I decided to do a bit of a rewind. We're going to stay here and hang out here because there's so much to unpack, so much happening that I believe is so relevant and powerful for us today. And so let's look again at verse 27 through 30. It says, When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple.

They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, Fellow Israelites, help us. This is the man who teaches everyone, everywhere, against our people and our law in this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place. They had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions, seizing Paul. They dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. We see how easy it is in the beginning of this scripture to stir up a crowd. So easy. They call their friends, they ask for help, and before you know it, Paul is being dragged around and beaten.

It's easy to stir up a crowd. And right now, we're in the midst of a world that's pretty stirred up. I don't know if you've noticed that. But we're in the midst of a world that's not sure what to do, and a country, and a world that's just stirred up. How easy is it for us as Christians, for our hearts, to get stirred up? I believe that when we're not rooted in Christ, then we just become, we're one with the wind.

Wherever the new problem of the world that takes us, we just follow it. But when we're rooted in Christ, we become strong. It becomes tough to stir us up. We talk about our first corner, the corners. How's your first corner doing? Is it easy right now to stir up your heart? I'll admit that during the midst of all the watching the news and the heat of the election, I lost sleep.

I was up at night just like thinking about all the issues and everything happening. And it was just too easy to stir my heart up. And I had to come back and remember who's in charge. If we're not rooted in Christ, it becomes too easy to be stirred up. How's your first corner doing? And then we see as what's our role in this place? Are we, should we be a sanctuary or a rally?

Are we being a sanctuary or a rally? Are we being a place of rest or a place of protest? Is it just, is this place where we come and we have like-minded people and we just get upset about the craziness of the world, but in here in our own little bubble we're safe and they're crazy, but we're safe. Is that, is that this place? Or are we, are we being a place where we invite different people in and we're being a place of rest?

We talk about rest as a value here. We value rest. That's one of my favorite things about this church is this is a place where, where rest is important, right? And leaning into God. Are we being a sanctuary or a rally? And we look and a rally mentality is not sustainable. Why? Because there is no rest at a rally. There's no rest. And a rally, as we see in the scripture, can easily turn into a riot.

And that's what it does. It turns into a riot and we see Paul dragged around. So the question is for us is where are you doing your rioting? Where are you doing your rioting? It's okay to be passionate. It's okay to be on fire. And, and those are, those are good things. Like to have those things in your heart that you want to stand up for and to be passionate about.

Hopefully you guys leave passionate today. You're like, Harry's awesome. We're all high-fiving and it's great. Like that's the idea. Well, maybe not, but it's okay to have those things. But when it comes to our, our writing, when it comes to our protesting, if you're going to protest, pray. Where are you doing your rioting? Start a riot at the throne of God.

When we look and it brings me back. When we look at what Jesus did right before his death, right? He goes out into the garden and he's there and he goes out and he updates his Facebook status. And he's like, why won't these people get off my back? Is that what he does? No. What's he do? He starts a riot at the throne of heaven. He asks his father.

He enters into the throne room of God, of his dad that he knows personally. And he says, take this cup from me if it's your will. But let your will be done. He goes right to the father. Where are you doing your rioting? I love this quote by Ravi Zacharias. I'm reading a book right now called I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebecca. And me and my girlfriend are preparing to get married.

And we're hopefully getting engaged by the end of this year. And it's exciting. And so we're reading this book to prepare. Yeah, you can woo. That's fun. Woo! Where are you doing this to get? And it's exciting. So I'm reading this book, and he's talking about the importance of prayer in relationships. But this is what he says. He says, prayer is not a substitute for action, but prayer undergirds action with the strength that makes a difference.

Prayer is not a substitute for action, but prayer undergirds action with the strength that makes a difference. This, simply put, means that action without prayer lacks power. There's so much we can do. But when we don't invite God into it, it lacks power. But as soon as we begin, whatever actions that we're going into and the things we're excited about, when we invite God into those things, then we're inviting power into those things.

Action without prayer lacks power. And then we see that it's not always wise for action to be our first reaction. Right? And my mom would call this an emotional decision. She, growing up, I would, as me and my sister would grow up and make teenager-type mistakes, and she was like, well, that was an emotional response that you just had. And let's reel it back in.

And so, and we're having kind of an emotional response to what Paul is doing. Because Paul's attacked not based on truth, but he's attacked based on an assumption. He's attacked based on the assumption that he's stirring up people against the Jewish faith. That couldn't be further from the truth. And they're assuming that Paul is actually bringing Greeks into the temple.

Paul is a devout Jew. He knows far better than that. So it's not true, but there's these assumptions. And sometimes in this world, what assumptions are we making that hinder us from offering the same grace that Jesus offers us? Do we make assumptions about people we're like, I don't know, not sure. Or do we make assumptions that it makes it difficult to communicate with people?

What assumptions are we making today? And then verse 30 is heavy with meaning. It ends with this. The gates were shut. That's heavy. Because as we know, Paul is somebody who's been zealous for the Jewish faith. And he spent most of his life learning and defending it. And defending the temple. And now he's doing everything he can to reach the people he loves.

His people, the Jewish people. But the gates of the temple are shut to him. And it reminds me, and by the way, that's the last time Paul will enter the temple. And roughly 15 years later, it gets destroyed. This is heavy. And it reminds me of the many times in the Bible that it reads that somebody's heart was hardened. We read that throughout scripture.

Someone's heart gets hardened. And specifically, the verse that comes to mind for me is Matthew 6, 49 through 52. And I'll read it for us. It says, When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, Take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid.

Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves. Their hearts were hardened. Jesus had been performing miracles for his disciples. He had just fed 5,000 people with just a little bit of bread and some fish. And now they see this man, their savior, this guy that they've been spending time with, walking on water, coming into the boat during this storm.

And they don't understand. And it's a lack of understanding that caused their hearts to harden. And so the point that I believe is in your notes, it says that if we let it, a lack of understanding can lead to calloused hearts. Maybe that's not in your notes, actually. But that's okay. It's here. If we let it, a lack of understanding can lead to calloused hearts.

We have to know that I'm not going to understand everything. I'm not going to understand all the ways, all the amazing ways in God's work, that God works. And it's good to seek answers. I should be seeking answers. But I won't understand everything. And that's okay. I can give it up to God. And it happens in relationships, too. Sometimes we don't understand the way people work.

Like, I don't understand all of everyone else's actions or the way they think. And sometimes conversations are hard. And if we allow it to happen, this lack of understanding can lead to calloused hearts, leads to our hearts hardening. And we talk about, Adam often says, he prays for us to have baby soft skin. Baby soft skin. That way we're receptive to what God has to say to us.

And receptive to what other people have to say to us. That we can stop and we can listen. In fact, I want to read the dictionary definition of a callous. It's this. It's a thickened and hardened part of the skin or soft tissue, especially in an area that has been subjected to friction. Where in your life is there friction that's causing your heart to harden?

Is there something going on, whether it be a strained relationship or, as Adam just preached on, maybe a lack of obedience or hurt from a friend or parent? Where in your life is there friction that's causing you to just harden? Is it all the craziness of the world today? Where's the friction? And can we pray for that baby soft skin? And then let's look at 31 through 36.

It says, while they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.

And then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. What's keeping these commanders from hearing what's going on?

It's the noise and disunity of the crowd. It's the crowd, all the craziness of the crowd, the noise, the disunity. And that's preventing the commander from hearing truth. Are we being a sanctuary or a rally? Are we stirring everyone up, causing a lot of noise? Or is truth shining through each and every one of us? We are the church. Wherever we go, the church goes.

And we talk about that in the corners, right? Is that we want to model it so you guys take God's presence. He's always with us and you take what's happening here and you take it with you home to your neighborhood. Are we stirring people up? Or are we being a place of sanctuary, of rest? So that truth shines through. How effectively are we communicating that truth?

And do we have voices in our own life that we allow to be louder than truth? Are there voices of a disapproving parent, of this world, of expectations, whatever it is? Are there voices that you elect? Maybe it's the voice that says in your head, hey, I'm not good enough. Do we let that voice be louder than truth? What we see here is truth isn't going to shout above the noise.

It's not going to shout. And God isn't going to shout amongst the disunity and noise in our life. But if we slow down, if we begin to pray, if we enter the throne room, then truth wins. Truth comes in first. Truth's going to win anyway. But we can hear it. Looking at verse 37 through 22 too. As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, may I say something to you?

Do you speak Greek? He replied. Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led 4,000 terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago? Where did he get that? That's awesome. That had happened. He was getting Paul confused. And Paul answered, I'm a Jew from Tarsus and Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people. After receiving the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd.

When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic, Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense. When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. We see that Paul's ability to speak the guard's language actually shocks him. He says, do you speak Greek? He's shocked by it. And the reason is, is that he's already made an assumption about Paul.

There we go again. He's making an assumption about Paul. And so he's shocked that Paul has the ability to speak Greek. And then Paul addresses the crowd. And a question that's important to ask is, who's your crowd? Paul is a crowd. He is people that he cares about. And he's addressing. Who's your crowd? Paul's made it his life goal to be an effective communicator.

Something that is getting lost. It's almost communication starting to become kind of a lost art. As our technology gets better, our interpersonal communication, it gets a little worse. Right? And so it's becoming a little bit of a lost art. But Paul's made it a life goal to be an effective communicator. Paul could speak to women in that time. He could speak to slaves, to prisoners, to the poor, to Roman guards, and even Caesar himself.

Paul speaks to them. He was a master communicator. And he says this about it. In 1 Corinthians 9.22, he says, To the weak, I became weak to win the weak. I've become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I might share in its blessings. I love that. To the weak, I became weak.

Who's your crowd? How many languages do you speak? Or are we only able to speak the language of those that are like-minded to us? Can we break down the differences that we all have and that we share for the sake of a relational gospel? Can we break down those walls, break down those differences to build relationship? The gospel is about relationship.

It's about Jesus who wants a relationship with each and every one of us. Can we break down those differences and strive to become spiritually and culturally multilingual? That's what we have to strive to do. Spiritually and culturally multilingual. True communicators can speak different languages. And they can speak the languages of people different from them.

And guess what? That's what evangelism is every single time. That's what evangelism is. It's speaking the language of someone different than us. How effectively are we communicating truth? How effectively are we able to speak each other's languages? It's Paul's previous suffering that gives him a platform to speak as well. We see Paul beaten, dragged, and it's this uproar that even gives him the opportunity to speak to his crowd.

And sometimes that's how God uses us. That's how God will give us a platform to speak. He'll use our suffering. He'll use our pain and use it so we can speak into the lives of other people. I feel so thankful and blessed to be the youth pastor here at this church. And it's awesome. And I know that if I didn't make the mistakes I made and have some of the hardships that I had in my life, that I would have less of a platform to speak.

God has used all those things. We went to camp, Forrest Home. We're going Forrest Home again. Winter camp coming up. We'll be pushing that. But before that, we went to Forrest Home in the summer, and it was awesome. And I sat in with these kids. And for me personally, one of the greatest hardships of my life for me and my family was the divorce of my parents.

It was tough. Tough and really caused a lot of hurt for a long time was that divorce. And when I was in the cabin with six middle school boys and five out of six of them had divorced parents, man, I was thankful I could speak their language. I was really thankful. So God will use that. He'll give us those platforms to speak. And how does Paul get the attention of his people?

How does he do it? He speaks Aramaic, right? He speaks their language. And immediately they become quiet. People respond when you begin to speak their language. They do respond. Recently, as my girlfriend and I, Kalina, we've been dating for over a year now. And when we were dating for the first year, we celebrated each month. You know, we're super cute.

So we celebrated each month. And I know. I know. And so that was something we did. And we just got, you know, did little things. And every month, she would write me just the sweetest card. Just so sweet. Just like paragraphs long. It was really great. I would not do that at all. Instead, what I did is I went out and I got her a gift. And I'd give her a gift that I thought was thoughtful.

And that's how that exchange would go every month. And it wasn't until much later where we realized, because she got kind of upset. She was like, why don't you ever write me anything? And I realized we weren't speaking the same languages. We've been doing a kind of premarital counseling. And we've been talking about the book that talks about the five love languages.

And one is gift giving. And the other, another one is, remind me. Words of affirmation. Words of affirmation. Quality time. Yeah. There are all these. See, I still need, I got to study that book a little more, huh? Yes. Words of affirmation. That's her. Yeah. So, I wasn't speaking her language. I was speaking the language that was most convenient for me.

Right? I was, often you love how you want to be loved. And so, we, I was speaking the language that was the most convenient and comfortable for me. And it's easy to do that. It's easy to kind of just get stuck. And to just want to speak our own language. But if we're going to love people effectively, we have to be able to speak their language. Ephesians 2.14 says this.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. I love this. I'm going to read it again. He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. We have to understand that Paul writes this, Ephesians, as we think, in prison.

Right? As he has a dividing wall separating him from the rest of the world, he talks about the spiritual walls being broken down. He's able to see so far past his circumstance and can see what God's doing. And God is breaking down the walls, and he's doing it today. And we see that it's the love of Jesus. It's the universal language that breaks down the walls of disagreement and disunity.

The love of Jesus is the universal language that breaks down the walls of disagreement and disunity. We're going to be different. We're going to disagree. But that, if we can communicate with love, and as Jesus on the throne, we begin to break down those walls and break down those barriers. And all of a sudden, everything else just gets a little bit smaller.

From God's perspective, everything that happens in this world is pretty small. He's in charge. He's not threatened. He's not worried. He knows he can break down those walls at any moment. It's the universal language. And when Paul does speak to his people, he shares that love by telling his story. He begins to go into his testimony. And that's the same testimony that Adam talked about last week when we talked about seeing the light.

That's the biggest part of Paul's testimony. Paul's testimony climaxes when he encounters Jesus. And he gets to share that with this crowd of people he loves. Even if they don't accept it, he shares it. And our stories are the most powerful when they climax at the cross. Where is your story climaxed at the cross? Happens right when we're born. Jesus died for each and every one of us.

And we see the redemptive qualities of his love throughout our life over and over and over again. It was so awesome. They talked about the men's breakfast that happened way too early, in my opinion. I don't get up before 9 unless it's Sunday. So, but it's okay. But I got to hear about all the awesome stories of redemption from so many men that I look up to.

And it's so powerful to see that when our stories meet the cross, there's power there. And people want to listen. People want to listen. Our stories are the most powerful when they climax at the cross. So, as we go out today and as we go forward today, let's begin to practice. How do we practice speaking each other's languages? First, we got to listen.

Right? We have to be able to listen. Sometimes I love to talk. Maybe that's why I'm up here. I don't know. But it's we get to listen. And listen to other people and begin to speak their language. That's important. And as we go today, can we listen? Can we learn to speak one another's languages and to share our stories that meet the cross? And that brings people into the sanctuary, into the place of rest.

Amen? Amen. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this time. I thank you for your presence. I thank you for rest. That you are here and you put rest on this place and each one of us, Lord. And let us take it home with us, God. Let us always take it home. Help us to learn to speak one another's languages, Father. To share in your love. Not be afraid to share our stories.

Recently, Carol, my grandma, said to me, Everyone I encounter, I'm just going to assume God put them in front of me. And I'm just going to start telling them about Jesus. So we thank you, Father, for the cross, for what you've done in each of our lives since birth and redemption. Again and again and again. So quiet our hearts, Lord. Give us soft skin as we lean on you and your love.

In your holy name we pray. Amen.