Gospel Legacy

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

We're starting a new sermon series today. It's called Acts Uncharted, and it is talking about the last last few chapters in the book of Acts. So Acts 20 verses... Sorry, Acts 20 through 28. We're gonna start in Acts 20 verse 3 today. The thing that you need to know about Acts 20 through 28 may be wrapped up in just one thing, that there is a church planting organization called the Acts 29 network. And this is a nod to the fact that there is still work to do, right? There's only 28 chapters in the book of Acts, but in Acts 29 network, it says, hey, there's still work to do. And it also is a nod to the fact that the book of Acts ends without a whole lot of

resolution. Right? It doesn't have some fairy tale ending. It doesn't end like it's like it's total... like everything's totally fine. All these loose ends have been kind of tied up. None of that. This is just... It just kind of ends. And in that respect, it's kind of... it kind of begs us forward. In this series, we're gonna look at the end of Paul's third missionary journey. Now, we talked about Paul's missionary journeys in the last series that we did, and all told, that was about ten years. On all three journeys that Paul sent... went on. And it's been, at this point, it's been about 20 years since Paul became a Christian. Since Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, it's been 20 years since that moment. And what he's doing right now, he's kind of transitioning out of

missionary journeying. He's... he's transitioning out, and he's... he's gonna go back to kind of his home base, which is a place called Antioch. He's going back to Antioch for good, and when... as he does, from where he is going back to Antioch, it's kind of like a farewell tour. Paul is going back through all these places that he's been preaching the gospel, all these places that he's spent months and sometimes years helping a church start. And he's going back through, and he's kind of looking at that... his long legacy of ministry. And as he's going through that, you kind of see it, even in the people that we're gonna start. We're gonna start in Acts chapter 20 verse 4. I said 3, but I misspoke. Look at who is accompanying Paul on his journey, right? We have Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus accompanying him, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.

Okay, I rehearsed all week on all those names. Okay, make sure I got them all right. The important thing to see is that these are people from all over the place. This isn't... this isn't seven guys from one family. This isn't even seven guys from one nation. This is seven people from all over the place. People that Paul has been. He's been in Thessalonica. He's been in Asia. He has been in Derbe. He has been all these places in Berea. He's been all these places, and as he's been there, these people just, they're just with him. And by the time Luke is writing Acts chapter 20 verse 4, these guys are a living legacy of Holy Spirit power in Paul's life. And yet, and yet, Paul at this point, what we're gonna see in this series, Paul's moving on. He's not... the farewell tour isn't him hanging on to glory. The farewell tour isn't about him somehow capturing the magic of 10 years ago

or anything like that. He's doing something different, and we get to see some different things in the midst of it. We get to see why Paul is free to let go. We get to see why he is free to move on, why he is unhindered by doubt or worry. It's... we get to see why Paul can look at his legacy and say it was worth it. The risk was worth it, and that's honestly, that's what we all want. Whether you're seven or 77 or older or younger than that, that's the kind of legacy that we all truly want.

This is what our IRAs, our family traditions, our memoirs, it's what they all point to. It is for us to be able to look back on our life and say it mattered. It counted. I did what I'm supposed to do. I'm not worried about doing it the right way or the wrong way. I know. We all want to look back on our lives and say it was worth it. And we want to be, desperately, we want to be free from the thought of,

man, maybe I chased the wrong thing. Maybe, maybe the ladder I climbed doesn't lead to anywhere. What if everything that I did, what if everything that I poured into is now just gone, it's just lost? It's a scary thought. I meet people, I meet all kinds of people, and sometimes I meet people in a common situation. Here's one of those. It's mom and dad are in their late 40s, early 50s, and kid is in late teens, early 20s, and kid is going off the rails. Kids going off the rails. However that's conceived. It's a lot of different ways that kids can go off the rails.

And I always know what I'm dealing with by the level of fear I see in the parents' eyes as they describe to me what their child is doing. Because in their mind, child is off the rails. And if their whole life, if their whole legacy is centered on that child doing the right thing at the right time, making sure that they're making the right decisions, the amount of fear and anxiety that overcomes these parents is unreal. It's unbearable. It makes them do really crazy things, actually. It makes them say really crazy things. But it's because they are extremely fearful that everything that they have poured into this child is now going down the drain. Everything they've done to set this child up is now for naught. Their legacy is over.

Look, not all of us are going to have wayward children. That's not exactly what I'm saying, but I am saying that all of us are going to put our legacy somewhere, some way, somehow. We're going to stack it up. We're going to measure it. We're going to know. Or we're going to wonder if we did it. So what gives Paul this kind of legacy? How is Paul so free here? How can he just walk away from it to understand that we really have to get into his conversations and listen. And that's really what Acts chapter 20 is about. It's about Paul having two different conversations, one with a church in Troas and another with a church with Ephesian elders in a place called Miletus. Acts chapter 20 verse 7. It will be up here, by the way, if you don't have a Bible with you. We always put our verses up here. And this is Paul on his farewell tour to Troas. And he says, Luke writes,

On the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Look, this could be my new life verse. Acts 20 verse 7. Because I can always say, at least I didn't go until midnight. You're welcome. At least I didn't go until midnight. The reason that Paul's going until midnight... Sorry, I won't go to midnight. I'll get you out for lunch, I promise. The reason that he's going to midnight, though, is because he's trying to impart some wisdom to them that they need that they won't get ever again. He knows Paul. Paul knows he's not coming back. He's not coming back through Troas. He's not going to be able to contact them again, okay? What no FaceTime. He's not going to be able to do this. So he's imparting wisdom to them. And we don't know what he says to them, but we do have a similar thing that happens as Paul travels from Troas to Miletus.

Look at, we're going to skip down to verse 17. Acts 20 verses 17 and 18. It says, Okay, Paul is about to, for a long time, give them some final instructions. He's about to give them some final instructions. And this is likely the similar things that he said to the church in Troas, but it's in more full form here in what he's talking to the Ephesian elders about. Okay? And he starts out with something really, and he says, you know how I lived. Okay? Which is, which is an incredibly confident thing to say, right? You know how I lived. Good, bad, ugly. You know how, you saw me. He continues. Look at verse 19. He says, you know how I lived? Serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. So he says, you know how I lived? You know how I administered, I ministered in the middle of humility and tears and trials.

Okay? If there's any thought that following Jesus is rainbows and unicorns, man, verses like these should help us. Where, man, it is trials and tears. It is humiliating. It is difficult work to love somebody in the name of Jesus, to disciple them, to live. To listen to them, to walk with them through things, all the ups and downs. That takes a lot from you. And you don't get a ton of thanks back. Right? And this is what Paul's saying. I ministered among you. I wasn't asking for a ton back, but I ministered among you through trials, tears, humiliations. I did it all. Verses 20 and 21. He says, how I did not shrink back from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul continues. He's talking about how. This is very just difficult work. We're describing it here.

But now in verse 24, we're finally getting to the why. We're finally getting to the why. He says, I'm going to Jerusalem. In verse 24, I'm going to Jerusalem. I'm going to be afflicted, but, and then we get verse 24. But even though I'm going to face more affliction, even though I'm going to face trials in Jerusalem, but I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Let's just take a minute. Let's take a minute and appreciate this for what it is. Let's take a minute and see just some unbridled gospel passion right here. This man is writing this. He means it 100%. He's telling it to people that he is passing on, kind of passing the torch to. And we are getting, he says, I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself.

This is Paul's perspective on how his life stacks up. Look at a couple other verses. They're not around there. I'll just have them up here. Galatians 2:20. This is what Paul writes. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself from me. Look at Philippians 3:8 and 9. Just behold it for just a second. It says, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

When Paul writes, I don't take account of my life as any value, nor as precious to myself. What he's saying is it's in comparison. Paul's not a misogynist. Paul's not a sadist. He's also not a misogynist. But Paul just doesn't want to hurt himself. That's not Paul's goal here. He's trying to help us understand in comparison. He's like, I'm not putting the value of my life over the value of the call that I received.

If only, he says in Acts 24, if only I may finish out this ministry that has been given to me. Paul sees his legacy through the lens of finishing the ministry that he has been given. Paul sees his legacy, everything that is going to count for later, everything that's going to matter after he's dead, everything that is permanent, everything. He sees that solely in terms of finishing the ministry that he has been given.

What Paul is helping us understand is that in order for him to continue in ministry, it was going to be a yes to the ministry given to him, and it's going to be a no to many, many, many other things. Sometimes good things, sometimes great things. But it's things that get in the way of the ministry that is given to him. I want to talk to you a minute about legacies. And I'm not asking for you to answer these out loud, but I do want you to think about it. I want you to tell me, if you can, not out loud again, just to yourself, which movies were nominated for Best Picture 20 years ago?

Anybody? No? Okay. Hey, who, in your job, who climbed the corporate ladder 20 years before you? Who was the best at your position in the state? Like a year ago. Do you know? Which kid won player of the game for like the Burleson World Series? Which kid won that five years ago? Do you know? Do you care? Think that kid cares? How did that kid feel about it at the time? Can you name, can you name all the 1500 yard receivers from two years ago in the NFL? Two years. Come on, you stat heads. Name them all. All the 1500 plus yard receivers. I can, but only because I looked it up. Right?

Think about it, man. 1500 yards. You know how hard that is to do in the NFL? You know how few people do it? There were three receivers from two years ago. There's usually a handful every year. 1500 yards, very hard to do. Very taxing on the body. Takes a lot of commitment and dedication. Who did it two years ago? You don't know? I didn't either, and I like the NFL. Some of you were like, well, I don't even care. Okay. What about your great-grandparents' hopes and dreams? What about their middle names? How did your great-grandparents, how did their children judge their parenting whenever they got older? Silence? Who won your fantasy football league three years ago? Some of you can name that. What about you? What about you in second grade? What was the best thing about second grade for you? Highlight of second grade. Go for it. Go for it. Yeah, I can't remember either. Hey, what were the names of the two people that first climbed Mount Everest?

Looking for Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Edmund Hillary? Hillary. This is the last name. I had to look that up. You know how hard it is to climb Everest? I mean, maybe it's less hard now. You know how hard it would be to be the first two guys to climb Everest? This is like a crowning achievement of their lives. You don't even know their names. I don't bring up any of these questions to disgrace these people or to disgrace you as a second grader. I'm sure you were very cute. Little missing teeth and the whole bit. I don't do that to disgrace any of this. How kids feel in a baseball game is great. It's great. I merely ask all these questions to put them in their place next to ministry in Jesus' kingdom.

Ministry in the kingdom of Jesus is the only legacy worth building. Period. End of story. If you're going by what counts, if you're going by what lasts, it's ministry in Jesus' kingdom. Not your career, not your kid's career, not your family tradition. And again, all these things are fine, right? I'm not trying to vilify. Who gets to light the Christmas tree every year? It's fine. But in comparison to the ministry in the kingdom of Jesus, let me say it a different way. Paul is perfectly right. Paul is perfectly right to give all he has for Jesus' kingdom. Perfectly right. Like, for anybody to stand there and say, well, I don't know. I don't know if I'd have done that. I don't know if that was a really wise decision by Paul. No, man, you're wrong.

Paul is perfectly right to give everything for the kingdom of Jesus. He's right to risk his reputation. He's right to risk his life. He's right to throw it all away. He's right to invest all of his time in making disciples. He's right to do it. No one can fault him. Plenty of people can fault me. Like, if I'm binging something on Netflix, like, yeah, please find fault in that. That won't last, okay? But look, look, what Paul says in Philippians 3-8, he says, He says,

And yeah, he's referencing his heritage, too, so some of the things like weren't on him. But like, you know how hard it was to be a Pharisee? You know how hard it was to like keep all that together? Keep that up? And he did it like without, you know, like a to-doist app or something. He did it without like a checklist or whatever. I don't know if he wrote on peppers or anything. It doesn't matter. But he had a, he dedicated his life to all of that. And then he says, after he meets Jesus on the road, it is so clear to him, it's all rubbish. It all doesn't count. It all goes on the scrap heap. And these are good things, probably. These are things that included helping the poor as a good, as a good Pharisee. Paul would probably have helped the poor. It's all rubbish. It all belongs on the trash heap. There are times in our lives, whenever we meet, we need to make decisions and we need to say yes or no to something in that moment.

Not we'll see, not we'll put it off till later, not we're not, well, we'll see how it plays out. No. It's a yes or a no. And sometimes you're surprised by those things and sometimes you're calculated about those things, but it's either a yes or a no. Either you are building in real time, either you are building your life on a kingdom legacy or you are building your life on a legacy that fades. Period. It's binary. You are either building your life on the kingdom, in ministry in the kingdom, and that legacy or one that does not last. And we learn about how to do this. We learn about how to build that kingdom legacy as Paul, as we look a little bit more about how Paul recounts his own legacy. And there's really two big, kind of big things I want to show you. One is that this kingdom legacy, it kind of tends toward or invites us toward a gritty faith.

And I'm not talking about hitting the gritty. I mean gritty like with two T's, gritty. It has grit to it. Look again at Acts 20 verses 20-21. It says, I did not shrink back from declaring you anything that was profitable and teaching you public from house to house, testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ's grit. Means in part that you're understanding that this work, this ministry is opposition oriented. When Paul says that he did not shrink back from something, that is to imply that most usually do.

I didn't shrink back, meaning that's kind of curious because most people do shrink back from this thing. I did not shrink back. He uses the exact same phrase in verse 27, just a little bit further down. Acts 20-27, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Why did he not, why does he say like I didn't shrink from it, why do most people shrink back from that? Because it's difficult and it's often thankless. You ever confronted somebody that needed confrontation? That's not fun. And they're usually not shaking your hand afterward. It might take them a couple years to come around and go, you know what, thank you for that. I've shared a story like that before, I won't recount it again, but I had, my sister-in-law had a friend who was just off the rails. And my sister-in-law confronted her, and like three years later, my sister-in-law's friend came back to her and said, thank you for confronting me. You were the only one of like ten friends that they have in common. You were the only one that said that I should stop.

You were the only one who told me the right thing to do. But for three years, it was super thankless and they didn't talk, okay? So like that's a great story at the end, but in the middle, after not being talked to for a year and a half and not having a prospect of talking to this person again that you had to confront, and you had to tell that they were doing something wrong, that's a long time, man. That is mentally taxing. That is relationally frustrating to lose a friend because you've told them the truth. It is thankless. It is difficult. This is why people do shrink back. Following Jesus always kind of brings us to a crossroads. It brings us to moments when we need to say yes or no. Right? And this takes a bit of grit. And this is the gospel story, right? This is simple fishermen saying yes to dropping their nets and following Jesus. This is Matthew, the tax collector, saying yes to leaving his previous life and following Jesus. This is Peter saying yes to walking on water.

This is Philip saying yes to sharing the gospel with somebody from another culture in the Ethiopian eunuch. This is Lydia saying yes to I'm going to have a church that's going to meet in my home. This is Timothy saying yes to pastoring the Ephesian church. And we're in the middle of that conversation. And this is Jesus saying yes to the cross. It's all very difficult yeses. But it's not sorta. It's a yes or no. Jesus calls us toward a gritty faith where our yes means life in the midst of death. It means joy in the midst of sacrifice. It says yes to going and being crucified with Christ and living nonetheless. It's saying yes to living out your baptism. What happened with Josie and Gage, right? They were buried with Christ and they were raised with Christ. They were made new. They died though. They died. And they've come back in a new life. Not the same life. This is what we're celebrating.

This is why we celebrate it with water. This is why we celebrate it by going down into something. We are symbolizing burial. Death. But just like Jesus, that death is not a funeral. That death is a celebration. You guys roared for that death. So gritty. If we're gonna have a life of kingdom impact, it calls us to this grittiness of being able to soberly look at our lives and say what am I saying yes to? What am I saying no to?

Kingdom legacy also invites us so the first thing is a gritty kind of faith. The other is really just an intentional faith. To be gritty and to be intentional. If you're gonna be intentional, you're going to look further the next week. A poverty mindset has been defined as living from paycheck to paycheck. That you can make a million dollars a month but still live poor. You can just blow through all of it because you're not thinking about life beyond the next paycheck. You're living weekend to weekend. And if you were doing that, you're probably not going toward intentionality.

But part of what I mean, when we're talking about a kingdom legacy, looking further the next week, maybe think about it this way. That a life that is changed by entering the kingdom will never die. Ever. Eternal life. Hope that Jesus has given us and them will never fade. Your hope in Jesus Christ will never fade. Many other things will fade. Many things will disappoint you. Many things will disappoint you. Christians will disappoint you. Churches will disappoint you. People that you look up to, that you think the world of, that they could never make a mistake and they're totally going to make a mistake. And in fact, some of them might even betray you and it's gonna gut you. It's gonna hurt so bad. And in that moment, you're either gonna be glad that you have a hope that goes beyond that or you're gonna wish you did.

Intention is looking further the next week. Our lives, our children's lives, their children's lives, their children's lives, all of it amounts to nothing outside of Jesus' kingdom. And if you think I'm overstating, like I said, just try to remember your great-grandparents' middle name. That's three generations back. That's like, I don't know, a hundred years. Maybe less. You definitely don't know their hopes and dreams. You probably don't even know their middle names.

Intention is also looking further than your own welfare. So it's looking past the next two weeks, but it's also looking outside of your own welfare. Look at what Paul says to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20 verse 28. It says, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Leaders to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Paul says this to Ephesian elders. These are leaders in the Ephesian church. And he's saying, you need to take care of these people, but this encouragement is not just for them. It's easily ours. And it can be discovered with a simple question. What has the Holy Spirit made you an overseer of? You might not oversee a church. Fine. It's most of us in this room. But what has the Holy Spirit made you an overseer of? Children, grandchildren, career, choice of where to go to college, what friends you're going to have, your dating relationships, your conduct and reputation at work, spouse.

Who are the people that the Holy Spirit has given you? What has the Holy Spirit made you overseer of? And I don't mean like you're in charge and they're not. That's not what I mean. I just mean like, what are you supposed to be stewarding? What are you supposed to be caring for? Kingdom legacies look after others. They care. They show honor. They are intentional with their schedule and their energy.

Here's what I want you to do. I really want you to take an honest assessment. Right? I want you to think about this. And so either you can write this down in the paper that's in front of you. You can write down in your notes app. You can write down anywhere you want to. It's okay. If I don't see you writing, it's fine. You're not, you know, you're not on my list or anything. Just calm down. But I do want you to take this down. I really want to encourage you to assess your life. Okay? Alright? And you can just write down these questions because answering these questions would probably take a bit.

Maybe think about it in reverse engineering. What legacy does your schedule build? Right? If I just had to determine your legacy by what you spend time on, what feedback am I getting? That's the assessment I want you to do. You don't need to report that to me. If you text me with that this week, it's cool. We can talk and have coffee and such. But that's not really the intention. I want you to think about this. Okay? What legacy does your schedule build? Second question. What are you saying yes and no to with your time?

What are you saying yes and no to with your time? These two questions, just those two, are going to practically tell you what you believe about Jesus's kingdom. If you're like, yeah, like Jesus is cool. I think doing things for Jesus is awesome. That's cool. But you don't spend any time ministering. You don't spend any time reading scripture. You don't spend any time praying. You don't spend time at church. You don't spend time with God's people. You don't spend time worshiping Him. You don't spend time in it. Then practically, I don't know what you believe, but it's probably not a kingdom legacy.

If it doesn't come out in action, then what is it, man? What is it? Good vibes, positive thoughts. That stuff just doesn't stack up, man. Can you say about your life what Paul says in Acts 20-24, which is such a great that it's the year 2024 and it's Acts 20-24. So if you want this to be your life first for like the next three months, then go for it. It says, but I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish the course in the ministry that I've received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Can you say what Jesus says about His own life when He says in Mark 10-45, For even the Son of Man came not to serve, excuse me, came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many?

I want to encourage you by asking you all these questions, my intention is not to shame you. That's not really, I don't think shame works, actually. Shame's kind of the opposite of what we believe in here as a church. Behavior motivated by shame is, well, that doesn't really amount to much, right? Maybe I would say it this way, that if you want, if it is an appeal to you, if it is something that you say, I hear you, Drew, I hear you talking about kingdom legacy, I want to build that thing, I want to be a part of that, I want to be a part of something that lasts. Here's my two encouragement. Number one, it just takes saying yes to that, right? Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, infuses you with power, infuses you with desire, infuses you with the ability to obey. It's not perfect, it's not always fun, but it is good. It is a legacy that lasts, right?

So if you're saying, I want to build that legacy, Drew, I'm there, I'm going to, okay, then the first thing you need to do is to say yes to what the Lord's doing in your life. And not be driven by that shame. If you want to say yes to that, we have a time of response, where I'm going to, whenever I'm done, kind of up here, I'm going to go back there where those lamps are, that couch, and those chairs are, I'm just going to be hanging out with a big smile on my face. And we're going to sing. And when we sing like that, you are more than welcome to come back while we're singing. If you just want some prayer in that moment, that's cool. If there's a decision you really want to start kind of working through, that's cool. If you want to make a decision, I'm not going to parade you in front of anybody, right? That's not how we do it. We do it nice and slow.

And so if there's a decision that you want to make, or if there's a question that you have, that's cool. We can like, you know, schedule some coffee or something. But that place is where conversations begin. That place is where decisions start to take form, take shape. And so we have our time for response in doing that with those, with those couches and chairs. And I really want to challenge you, begin to see your life through the lens of faith. See your life and your legacy through the lens of faith. And when you come and pray, you know, if you just, man, if you just want some strength, if you just want, if you're like, man, I need to, I need more grit, I need more intention. That's cool. If you want, if you want to make a decision or if you're thinking about a decision, that's cool too. My encouragement is, man, come see me, come talk to somebody. And I'll be there.

Let me, let me pray for us. Lord, thank you for this morning. I pray that just as, as our, our legacies kind of, kind of get played out before us as we kind of see all that you're doing and all that you're kind of bringing about. And really painfully looking at all the yeses and nos, all the things that we say yes to, that we shouldn't, all the things that we say no to, that we shouldn't. Lord, I pray that we would just, we would just come before you honestly. You know all those nos and yeses. You've seen it. You've been there. You're not, you're not gasping, you know, you're not wondering like how a horrible person like us is coming to you that you welcome us, Lord. We thank you for that. I thank you for welcoming me and all my horrible nature. I thank you for, for, for bringing me and making me alive in you.

Lord, as we, as we sing and even after the service, I pray that you would convict hearts, that you would help people make decisions. Lord, we know that you are in charge of all things and we can trust you. I pray that you would help us to trust you in this moment right here. And it's in your name that we pray. Amen. I'm going to be back there. Would you guys please stand as we sing?