SHOWDOWN: What Are We Fighting For?
Acts 17:1-6 ESV
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
We are continuing in our series “Showdown.” And much like the classic western where the good guy rides into town to defend it from the bad guys, inevitably resulting in the quickdraw duel at high noon, we are discussing the moments in our lives when we find ourselves in a standoff and we must act.
The “opponents” that we face can take on many forms and be motivated by various factors. It is important that we recognize those opponents and act accordingly.
Title: WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?
Deep Dive into the history of Duels
17th and 18th Century Duels were fought with swords. Afterwards they began to be fought with pistols.
Fights were to First Blood, Severely wounded, The Death, or one shot.
July 11, 1804: U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr, while in office, dueled former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; Hamilton was killed.
February 24, 1838: U.S. Representative from Kentucky William Jordan Graves killed U.S. Representative from Maine Jonathan Cilley in a pistol duel. Afterwards, Congress passed a law making it illegal to issue or accept a duel challenge in Washington, D.C.
September 13, 1859: U.S. Senator David C. Broderick and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California David S. Terry. Broderick was killed.
Even Abraham Lincoln, as an Illinois state legislator accepted a dual and was about to fight when his people talked him out of it.
Duels and showdowns are common still. Luckily we have mostly moved beyond the need to shot each other in order to make our point. As I read through these historic duels the one question that I have is why? What happened that caused such anger that it drove two people to the point of killing or at best severely hurting the other?
In the scripture that we read a few minutes ago we see this angry mob. Evoking images of torches and pitchforks. Looking to take out Paul and his companion because he “turned the world upside” with his preaching and teaching about Jesus.
And, as I pondered this moment in scriptures and the one I will share with you in a moment, I think to myself; “Are the things that I am fighting for so compelling that it turns the world upside down?” Or, “Is it possible that what I am fighting for is misguided and unimportant?”
Let me be clear, the gospel is the most important possession of the church. It must be the only thing that motivates our fight. This beautiful gospel is that God has made a way that we might become children of God. Part of his inheritance. That no matter the depth or depravity of our sin, it will not be too great that his blood cannot cover. That no matter how far we wander, he will be relentless in his pursuit of us. That because SO LOVED the world that he gave his one and only son (To become sin on our behalf, to take our punishment upon him, to die on our behalf) that WHOEVER believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
No! my concern is that we have forgotten our first love. And the message we proclaim has become cloudy and at times secondary. That instead of fighting for people, we begin to fight against people.
Acts 19
Synopsis – Paul rides into Ephesus. He begins to teach and preach in the synagogues. God was doing “extraordinary miracles.” People were being healed, even from handkerchiefs that Paul touched. Those that practiced magic began destroying their books. All totaled some 50,000 silver pieces worth. The idol makers got angry because they were losing business because lives were being changed. THE GOSPEL DISRUPTED THE ECONOMY!
Could you imagine if our message, the glorious gospel was resulting in economic shift?
The idol makers were so upset that they started a riot.
Acts 19:32 ESV
Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
Doesn’t this look like our world right now? Everybody is angry about something. I could make a handful of statements and probably offend everyone. If we offend people, let’s do it because of the gospel. Let’s be the type of people that turn our world upside down.
What was the message that caused this huge shift? That caused people to turn away from their practices that dishonored God? We can’t say for certain but we might have an clue given to us by Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus.
Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:12-13 ESV
“remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
THIS IS THE MESSAGE! THIS IS OUR MOTIVATION FOR THE FIGHT!
I believe that our message as believers have been lost, or at least minimized, by all of the other “important” issues of our day. Instead of standing firm and fighting for what is right many believers have joined the mob. “We are mad, not sure why, but we are mad!”
Revelation 2:2-5
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
This love at first is, I believe, this gospel of grace. It is really easy for us as believers to feel like we can move past this. We can become hard in our well doing that we forget about the great grace that God has shown us and that he desires to show others.
The instruction to the church here is repent, do the works you did at the beginning. If not then the influence that the church had in the region would be gone.
I do not want to cash in my influence for things that don’t really matter. Let’s fight harder for the gospel of grace than anything else.
Maybe this “showdown” is really us squaring off the unimportant, the frivolous, or the lesser causes.
Closing