Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Circle of Honor and Dishonor │ Msg 1314

Transcript

A Circle of Honor and Dishonor │ Msg 1314 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: As we journey through the scriptures, we often come to
0:05
Speaker 1: very emotional sections where it is wise to let our
0:11
Speaker 1: imagination go. And we, as one of my mentors used
0:17
Speaker 1: to say, we live out the text. Permit yourself to
0:22
Speaker 1: do that. We all have imaginations, some a little bit
0:27
Speaker 1: broader than others, but today would be a great day
0:30
Speaker 1: to let your mind run free, to imagine the writing
0:34
Speaker 1: of this section in 2 Timothy 4, 9 through 15,
0:39
Speaker 1: in its original context, a dark, damp, depressing dungeon where
0:48
Speaker 1: the man writing will soon put the final strokes on
0:52
Speaker 1: the last thing he ever wrote, that has been recorded
0:57
Speaker 1: and preserved through time. Such words deserve our respect, our time,
1:06
Speaker 1: and our trust. May we stand together out of respect
1:12
Speaker 1: for God's word as I read for you 2 Timothy 4,
1:16
Speaker 1: beginning at verse 9. Make every effort to come to
1:21
Speaker 1: me soon, for Demas, Having loved this present world has
1:28
Speaker 1: deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,
1:35
Speaker 1: Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up
1:42
Speaker 1: Mark and bring him with you for he is useful
1:45
Speaker 1: to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
1:52
Speaker 1: When you come, Bring the cloak which I left at
1:55
Speaker 1: Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. Alexander
2:04
Speaker 1: the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay
2:08
Speaker 1: him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself,
2:15
Speaker 1: for he vigorously opposed our teaching. May God be honored
2:23
Speaker 1: in the reading of his word and the preaching of
2:26
Speaker 1: it and then ultimately the living out of its truths.
2:30
Speaker 1: Please be seated. May we bow together for prayer. Our Father,
2:46
Speaker 1: we have already called upon you in this meeting of worship,
2:50
Speaker 1: but it's appropriate we do so again. We want to
2:55
Speaker 1: set apart this brief period of time, brief in light
3:02
Speaker 1: of our entire lives and in light of the eternity
3:06
Speaker 1: before us. And we pray that for this segment, during
3:12
Speaker 1: this wedge of time, you will give us the ability
3:17
Speaker 1: to concentrate our minds, to tune our hearts, to grasp
3:28
Speaker 1: what is written, what is meant, and even what may
3:33
Speaker 1: have been implied within the lines and between them. As
3:40
Speaker 1: we join Paul in a dungeon, may that visit be
3:44
Speaker 1: meaningful for us, in anticipating our final days and what
3:50
Speaker 1: life might be like for each one of us. We're
3:55
Speaker 1: grateful for a place where we can set aside time
3:59
Speaker 1: for such musings and thought. You teach us things we
4:08
Speaker 1: would not otherwise know. In fact, your son often said
4:13
Speaker 1: to those around him, do you not know? Do you
4:18
Speaker 1: not know? So enable us to know what we didn't
4:25
Speaker 1: know when we came in. And then fill us with
4:30
Speaker 1: such enablement that we can lead different people. And without
4:37
Speaker 1: announcing it, have others notice the difference. Because what we
4:42
Speaker 1: have known We now live. We remember today those in
4:53
Speaker 1: places where your word is under threat and where it
4:56
Speaker 1: is not allowed to be proclaimed. We pray for those
5:01
Speaker 1: who are in those places who love you and would
5:05
Speaker 1: give everything they have to spend one hour in a
5:08
Speaker 1: place like this. Watch over them. Take good care of them.
5:16
Speaker 1: Protect them especially those this day who serve in the military,
5:23
Speaker 1: we remember as well. We're grateful for the privilege of
5:28
Speaker 1: giving to the ministry and we do so with confidence
5:32
Speaker 1: that these funds will be handled with integrity and used
5:39
Speaker 1: for your greater glory. But first we give ourselves and
5:45
Speaker 1: then our gifts. And we commit these quiet moments of
5:52
Speaker 1: reflection to you as we give joyfully and generously in
5:57
Speaker 1: the name of Christ, our master. Everyone sit. Amen. Leadership
6:08
Speaker 1: and loneliness go hand in hand. That's a surprise to
6:14
Speaker 1: people who are not leaders, have not been called to
6:18
Speaker 1: fill leadership positions Matter of fact, most would think that
6:23
Speaker 1: every leader, if anything, has life pretty well wired and
6:28
Speaker 1: really has very few need for other people. Nothing could
6:32
Speaker 1: be further from the truth. Loneliness stalks where the buck stops. A.W.
6:43
Speaker 1: Tozer put it well, most of the world's great souls
6:46
Speaker 1: have been lonely. Samuel Taylor Coleridge captures this reality in
6:54
Speaker 1: his immortal Rime of the Ancient Mariner when he pictures
6:58
Speaker 1: the scene at sea and writes, alone, alone, all, all alone,
7:04
Speaker 1: alone on a wide, wide sea, not a saint took
7:09
Speaker 1: pity on my soul in agony. There's a loneliness that
7:17
Speaker 1: accompanies the role of responsibility. where you make decisions that
7:21
Speaker 1: aren't popular and where you rarely have a chance to
7:26
Speaker 1: convince the general public that your decision was based on
7:31
Speaker 1: what you believe to be right. If you are lonely,
7:36
Speaker 1: and certainly if you have recently been lonely, you know
7:40
Speaker 1: the agony of loneliness can hardly be exaggerated. How often
7:47
Speaker 1: Moses must have felt that when he was leading the
7:50
Speaker 1: people of Israel for 40 years between ages 80 and 120,
7:56
Speaker 1: mind you, across a wilderness that was barren and hot
8:01
Speaker 1: and dry. And they were often complaining, arguing, and even
8:07
Speaker 1: considering mutiny. How lonely he must have felt. And Joshua,
8:12
Speaker 1: who took up the mantle after Moses, in leading to
8:15
Speaker 1: the conquest of Canaan, how many lonely nights he must
8:20
Speaker 1: have felt when the odds were against them. And he
8:23
Speaker 1: led on right through the loneliness. And David took the
8:30
Speaker 1: throne of his nation at age 30 and held it
8:32
Speaker 1: until age 70. And all the time he was the king,
8:37
Speaker 1: he knew those segments of time when loneliness haunted him
8:43
Speaker 1: and stalked his steps When he lost his son, he
8:48
Speaker 1: felt alone. When Absalom rebelled against him and, in fact,
8:54
Speaker 1: overthrew the throne and David was pushed out of the
8:57
Speaker 1: city he loved, named after him, how lonely he felt.
9:03
Speaker 1: Looking back over the city of David, knowing that things
9:09
Speaker 1: seemed in chaos and out of control, all seemed lost.
9:14
Speaker 1: How lonely he was when he came back from the
9:16
Speaker 1: battle at Ziklag and their homes had been burned and
9:20
Speaker 1: their wives had been taken and the warriors spoke against
9:24
Speaker 1: him and his leadership. All alone, David stood like a
9:29
Speaker 1: steer in a blizzard. And these great prophets that we
9:34
Speaker 1: read of, strong-hearted and outspoken for God, lived lives of
9:39
Speaker 1: quiet loneliness. Misunderstood, misrepresented. and on occasion martyred. And so
9:50
Speaker 1: none of us should be surprised to read what we
9:53
Speaker 1: read in verses 9 through 15 in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
9:59
Speaker 1: Paul's come to the last days of his life. The
10:04
Speaker 1: dungeon is dark and it's damp. It's dismal and discouraging.
10:12
Speaker 1: And your mind plays tricks on you when you're in
10:14
Speaker 1: a place like that and you're getting up in years
10:16
Speaker 1: and your friends have gone. and you're left with time.
10:21
Speaker 1: There's an urgent plea that appears in verse 9 of
10:26
Speaker 1: chapter 4. Well, you can't miss the loneliness in the words.
10:32
Speaker 1: And remember, this is the man who just wrote, I
10:35
Speaker 1: have fought the good fight. I have finished the course.
10:38
Speaker 1: I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up
10:41
Speaker 1: for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
10:44
Speaker 1: righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not
10:46
Speaker 1: to me only, but unto all those also who love
10:50
Speaker 1: his appearing. And before that ink is dry, he's pleading
10:55
Speaker 1: with Timothy to come join him. Make every effort to come.
11:02
Speaker 1: And if that isn't urgent enough, he adds the word soon.
11:07
Speaker 1: Come soon. Between the lines are words that are saying,
11:13
Speaker 1: I miss you, my friend. I miss the warmth of
11:18
Speaker 1: your companionship. Don't misunderstand. Don't misunderstand. Paul is still the
11:24
Speaker 1: clear-thinking theologian. He is still the rugged and courageous missionary.
11:29
Speaker 1: He's still the powerful preacher. The brightest theological mind has
11:33
Speaker 1: stepped for Christ in the entire first century. It's still Paul,
11:38
Speaker 1: but he's still 100% human. So don't let it startle
11:44
Speaker 1: you to read words like verse 21, make every effort
11:50
Speaker 1: to come before winter. I like it, frankly, that as
11:56
Speaker 1: I am preaching these words, we find ourselves right now
11:59
Speaker 1: in the midst of autumn, my favorite season of the year.
12:05
Speaker 1: But it can be a lonely season. It was autumn
12:09
Speaker 1: when Paul wrote and longed for Timothy to get there
12:12
Speaker 1: before winter fell. These words apply. I wrote them years ago.
12:23
Speaker 1: Timothy Drop everything. Pack quickly and catch the next ship
12:29
Speaker 1: out of the Ephesian harbor. Come, my friend. Find your
12:36
Speaker 1: way to my dungeon cell. I miss you. Come before winter.
12:44
Speaker 1: Come before the harsh winds of autumn strip the leaves
12:46
Speaker 1: off trees and send them swirling across the fields and
12:50
Speaker 1: through the busy streets above me. Come before the first
12:55
Speaker 1: snowfall and the icy blast that will cover flat carts
13:00
Speaker 1: and frozen ponds with its blanket. Come, my friend. Come quickly.
13:06
Speaker 1: Help me make it through these cold, dark nights. I
13:15
Speaker 1: miss you. It's good for us on occasion to pause
13:23
Speaker 1: and let the wonder in, to put ourselves in the
13:27
Speaker 1: place of these people with very human feelings, alone, alone,
13:33
Speaker 1: all alone, alone in a dark, damp cell. And not
13:39
Speaker 1: a saint took pity on me in this living hell.
13:46
Speaker 1: Paul is left with his memories, and some of them
13:49
Speaker 1: are pleasant and A few of them are painful, which
13:54
Speaker 1: is why I call this a circle of the honorable
13:58
Speaker 1: and dishonorable. And he isn't hesitant to name a couple
14:04
Speaker 1: who have brought him pain. They're different types of men,
14:08
Speaker 1: but they are named for us. First, his memories took
14:14
Speaker 1: him back to days gone by when he enjoyed the
14:18
Speaker 1: companionship of a man named Demas. His name appears in
14:24
Speaker 1: verse 10. Demas. Demas once loved Christ. He once took
14:32
Speaker 1: up his cross and followed Christ. He once had the
14:34
Speaker 1: courage to serve alongside Paul. Paul refers to him in
14:38
Speaker 1: another place, in another letter, as my fellow worker. But
14:42
Speaker 1: no longer, no longer, Demas has experienced an inner erosion.
14:52
Speaker 1: He's cooled off to spiritual things. The dynamic for Christ
14:57
Speaker 1: has somewhere slipped. Perhaps afraid of the dangers and risks
15:02
Speaker 1: of following Christ when Nero's finger would one day point
15:06
Speaker 1: in his direction and he too would find his place
15:08
Speaker 1: in a cell. Perhaps he by now misses the comforts
15:13
Speaker 1: of home and desires the safety of anonymity. We don't know.
15:20
Speaker 1: It's possible that Demas never really counted the cost and
15:22
Speaker 1: suddenly when the cost became great, Demas fled. There's an
15:32
Speaker 1: old love song years ago that Nat King Cole sang.
15:38
Speaker 1: And I remember it because it was popular when I
15:42
Speaker 1: was 8,000 miles from the one I loved alone in
15:46
Speaker 1: a marine barracks. And I remember hearing The words from
15:53
Speaker 1: this wonderful love song, When I Fall in Love, there's
15:58
Speaker 1: a line in it that says, and too many moonlight
16:01
Speaker 1: kisses have been cooled in the warmth of the sun.
16:09
Speaker 1: For Demas, too many compromises cooled his heart to the
16:19
Speaker 1: person of Christ. William Barclay writes, the years have a
16:29
Speaker 1: way of taking our ideals away, of making us satisfied
16:34
Speaker 1: with less and less, of lowering our standards. There is
16:42
Speaker 1: no threat so dangerous, so insidious, as the threat of
16:46
Speaker 1: years to one's ideals. Remember, age can do a number
16:53
Speaker 1: on any one of us. Not all the aged are wise.
17:00
Speaker 1: Don't think you're safe because you've passed middle years. Who
17:05
Speaker 1: knows how old Demas was when he decided to go
17:09
Speaker 1: in another direction. The late great Richard Sumi has a
17:13
Speaker 1: marvelous line for this. He calls it the lure of
17:17
Speaker 1: a lesser loyalty. Paul has an eloquent way of writing this.
17:27
Speaker 1: The original text reads, Demas has forsaken me, having loved
17:32
Speaker 1: this now age. There's something alluring about this now age
17:42
Speaker 1: that if you're not careful, the moonlight kisses will be
17:47
Speaker 1: cooled in the warmth of that allurement. I can testify
17:54
Speaker 1: to you, and I say this with a sigh, that
17:58
Speaker 1: I've lived long enough to know men who once walked
18:03
Speaker 1: close with me and served alongside me. But something between
18:09
Speaker 1: then and now has changed them. Not that they don't
18:16
Speaker 1: walk with me that's important, it's that they no longer
18:18
Speaker 1: even walk with Jesus. And I sometimes wonder when I
18:23
Speaker 1: fall asleep at night where they are and what they're
18:28
Speaker 1: doing and what they've used to fill the void of
18:34
Speaker 1: what was once a magnificent journey for Christ. Demas, having
18:44
Speaker 1: loved this now age, has deserted me. There's a sermon
18:51
Speaker 1: just in those words, isn't there? Second, Paul's memories take
19:00
Speaker 1: him to another that brought him pain, which is the
19:04
Speaker 1: reason I've called this a circle of honor and dishonor.
19:07
Speaker 1: Here's another man who brought dishonor. He names him in
19:11
Speaker 1: verse 14. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. Alexander.
19:24
Speaker 1: Now he's different from Demas. Demas slipped away as the
19:28
Speaker 1: silent toll of erosion took him from Paul's side. Alexander
19:35
Speaker 1: hasn't left. He stands in opposition. With Demas there was
19:43
Speaker 1: a quietness about his departure and he winds up in
19:46
Speaker 1: Thessalonica doing whatever Demas chose to do away from Paul.
19:52
Speaker 1: But Alexander, verse 15, vigorously opposed our teaching. If you
20:00
Speaker 1: will take your time to go back, hold your place here,
20:03
Speaker 1: go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. You'll see the name
20:09
Speaker 1: mentioned again. It's debatable that these were the same Alexanders,
20:12
Speaker 1: but they may likely have been the same individual. Verses
20:17
Speaker 1: 19 and 20 of chapter 1 in the first letter.
20:21
Speaker 1: Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected
20:24
Speaker 1: and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these,
20:29
Speaker 1: among whom? These who suffered shipwreck. Or Hymenaeus, and here's
20:34
Speaker 1: our man, Alexander. whom I have handed over to Satan
20:40
Speaker 1: so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. That
20:43
Speaker 1: makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
20:50
Speaker 1: Charles Ryrie's words are worth repeating. This was a remedial
20:54
Speaker 1: discipline which excluded such persons from the help and fellowship
21:01
Speaker 1: of the church, a kind of last resort punishment. Back
21:08
Speaker 1: to 2 Timothy, let's spend a little time on Alexander
21:12
Speaker 1: since Alexander still lives today. One verse says, he did
21:19
Speaker 1: me much harm. Verse 14, not a common word used
21:25
Speaker 1: for the verb does, translated here did. If you search
21:31
Speaker 1: it deeply in the Greek text, you will find that
21:34
Speaker 1: it has reference to being an informant. you've ever spent
21:38
Speaker 1: time behind the Iron Curtain, if you've ever been in
21:41
Speaker 1: a communistic hell country, if you've ever been in a
21:45
Speaker 1: place where you were a marked person and there were
21:48
Speaker 1: those around you who informed on you, you know the
21:51
Speaker 1: danger of an informant. Alexander was one of them. Apparently
21:59
Speaker 1: he went to officials with many false accusations against Paul.
22:04
Speaker 1: You see how it's written? He didn't mean much harm.
22:08
Speaker 1: The Greek says he informed many evils. He informed many evils.
22:16
Speaker 1: His hope was to ruin Paul's reputation in the eyes
22:19
Speaker 1: of the officials. For all we know, he was part
22:21
Speaker 1: of the reason Nero said, that's enough. Lock him up.
22:27
Speaker 1: Paul doesn't say so, but Perhaps the informant Alexander came
22:32
Speaker 1: ultimately to an official who got through to Nero who
22:35
Speaker 1: locked him up. Which brings us to the second criticism
22:41
Speaker 1: in verse 15. He vigorously opposed our teaching. It wasn't
22:47
Speaker 1: so much here about his reputation as it was concerned
22:50
Speaker 1: with his communication. Paul stood for truth. Alexander stood against it.
22:57
Speaker 1: Paul stepped up, Alexander stood away, pointed his finger. Interesting
23:04
Speaker 1: thing about these two individuals, they represent the way those
23:10
Speaker 1: who fight the truth operate. Those who fight truth deal
23:15
Speaker 1: with it in two separate carnal realms. One, false information
23:23
Speaker 1: against the one who is teaching. the one who is preaching,
23:28
Speaker 1: the one who is leading. It's designed to hurt us.
23:32
Speaker 1: And the other is vigorous opposition to silence us, calling
23:39
Speaker 1: into question our word, our character, our teaching. And Paul
23:46
Speaker 1: doesn't stop simply with exposing Alexander. He warns Timothy. Did
23:52
Speaker 1: you get that in verse 15? Be on guard. against
23:57
Speaker 1: him yourself. You see, Paul will soon die. Alexander isn't dying.
24:03
Speaker 1: Paul will be gone. Alexander isn't going anywhere. He's going
24:07
Speaker 1: to take on another teacher of the truth because people
24:09
Speaker 1: like this don't stop with one. They make a career
24:13
Speaker 1: out of it. To borrow a line from Martin Luther's era,
24:18
Speaker 1: these are boars in God's vineyard. And every pastor, every
24:24
Speaker 1: spiritual leader, every woman of God can give you a
24:28
Speaker 1: short list, hopefully it's short, of Boers in God's vineyard
24:32
Speaker 1: who made their lives miserable. People like Demas break your heart.
24:38
Speaker 1: People like Alexander drain your energy. Because your great tendency
24:43
Speaker 1: is to set the record straight. That takes time. That
24:47
Speaker 1: also gets you dislodged and displaces you from your calling.
24:51
Speaker 1: That's the insidious nature of people like Alexander. They move
24:56
Speaker 1: you away from center. And they get you engaged in
25:00
Speaker 1: things that are not anything to do with your major
25:03
Speaker 1: purpose in ministry. So Timothy, Timothy, listen to me. Be
25:09
Speaker 1: on guard against this man. He's still on the loose.
25:12
Speaker 1: He's still informing. He's still informing. He's still slandering. Now, thankfully,
25:22
Speaker 1: that isn't the end of the list. Thankfully, there's a
25:25
Speaker 1: list that goes into these faithful friends and they become
25:28
Speaker 1: a part of the pleasant circle. These are in the
25:33
Speaker 1: circle of honor. We can sort of click them off
25:36
Speaker 1: one after another because we really do not know a
25:39
Speaker 1: whole lot about most of them. Take the first one
25:43
Speaker 1: who is mentioned in the end of verse 10, Crescens
25:46
Speaker 1: has gone to Galatia. Aside from this reference, in no
25:52
Speaker 1: other place of the Bible is Crescens named. So for
25:56
Speaker 1: me to add more here would be mere speculation. It
25:59
Speaker 1: would be a waste of your time and a waste
26:02
Speaker 1: of mine. We know nothing more than Crescens who had
26:05
Speaker 1: been close to Paul is now on his way or
26:08
Speaker 1: has gone on to Galatia. Look at the next name.
26:12
Speaker 1: End of verse 10, Titus has gone to Dalmatia. Now
26:16
Speaker 1: there's a name we're familiar with. You remember Titus 1.5.
26:21
Speaker 1: Paul left Titus on the island of Crete that he
26:24
Speaker 1: might set in order the things that were missing and
26:27
Speaker 1: also appoint elders in all the villages, in all the
26:30
Speaker 1: cities of the island. Titus has been a companion of
26:34
Speaker 1: the apostle. They've been close as friends and Paul misses
26:39
Speaker 1: him and his absence makes him long for him all
26:44
Speaker 1: the more. So Crescens and Titus, and then he moves
26:48
Speaker 1: to Luke, Dr. Luke. He's named in Colossians 4.14 as
26:54
Speaker 1: the beloved physician. The beloved physician. What a faithful man
27:00
Speaker 1: Luke is. Only Luke is with me. What a dependable companion.
27:09
Speaker 1: What a faithful advocate. a physician, also a writer of
27:16
Speaker 1: the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. I
27:21
Speaker 1: don't know the last time you took any time to
27:23
Speaker 1: think on the extent of Paul's sufferings, but it's really
27:27
Speaker 1: worth a journey there, and you'll understand why he needed
27:30
Speaker 1: a physician to travel with him. If you will, for
27:35
Speaker 1: a moment, turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, you'll
27:38
Speaker 1: see a litany of the aches and pains and sorrows
27:43
Speaker 1: of his past. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23, right in
27:51
Speaker 1: the center of the verse, I have been in far
27:54
Speaker 1: more imprisonments. Just stop right there. Multiple imprisonments. I had
28:00
Speaker 1: been beaten times without number. Who knows how crippled he
28:03
Speaker 1: became because of it. He could have walked with a limp.
28:07
Speaker 1: He could have lost the use of an arm. Beaten
28:12
Speaker 1: times without number, often in dangers of death. Five times
28:16
Speaker 1: I received the Jews' 39 lashes. Think of the physical
28:22
Speaker 1: toll that took on his body. You've never been beaten
28:25
Speaker 1: once with lashes, most likely. Five times, 39 times each,
28:31
Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul. Three times I was beaten with rods.
28:36
Speaker 1: Once I was stoned. Most who are stoned never live
28:40
Speaker 1: to tell the story. God graciously and miraculously brought him
28:45
Speaker 1: through the stoning at Lystra. Who knows what he suffered
28:49
Speaker 1: as a result of the stoning, the blows of the
28:52
Speaker 1: stones on his body. Three times I was shipwrecked. A
28:58
Speaker 1: day and a night I've spent in the deep. I
29:00
Speaker 1: have been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers and
29:04
Speaker 1: robbers and countrymen, from the Gentiles and from the city
29:08
Speaker 1: and in the wilderness and on the sea and among
29:12
Speaker 1: false brethren. I've been in labor and hardship through many
29:16
Speaker 1: sleepless nights and hunger and thirst, often without food and
29:20
Speaker 1: cold and exposure. He needed a doctor. And Luke was there.
29:31
Speaker 1: May I say to you who are physicians that we
29:34
Speaker 1: need more from you than your medical practice. We need
29:40
Speaker 1: your understanding of the body. I had a physician come
29:45
Speaker 1: to me following the first morning service today, and he said,
29:47
Speaker 1: your first line in the outline describes, and he gave
29:51
Speaker 1: me the medical term for how this can happen. When
29:54
Speaker 1: one reaches the end of his life, things pass in review,
29:57
Speaker 1: and he gave me the medical term for it. Very
30:00
Speaker 1: helpful insight. But let me say more to you who
30:03
Speaker 1: are physicians. We need your comfort. We need your warmth.
30:08
Speaker 1: We need your understanding when you give us the hard
30:10
Speaker 1: news that it's terminal. We need good bedside manners. We
30:19
Speaker 1: need you to feel our pain. We would like to
30:22
Speaker 1: feel like something other than case number 35 today. Because
30:27
Speaker 1: we have waited a long time to see you. We
30:31
Speaker 1: need you to be a modern-day Luke who is here
30:36
Speaker 1: in the dungeon with Paul, and he simply says, only
30:39
Speaker 1: Luke is with me. A friend in need, and even
30:44
Speaker 1: better if he's a medical doctor. One wonders how often
30:49
Speaker 1: he must have said to Paul, now remember, a little
30:52
Speaker 1: wine for your stomach's sake. Remember Paul. And remember, you
30:57
Speaker 1: need to do such and such. Haven't seen you doing
31:01
Speaker 1: your exercises lately, Paul. Paul, you're pushing yourself a little hard.
31:07
Speaker 1: Slow down. All of that is counsel without cost. But
31:12
Speaker 1: it's wisdom. Only Luke is with me and implied how
31:17
Speaker 1: I need him. I love the next name. Pick up
31:21
Speaker 1: Mark and bring him with you. For he is useful
31:26
Speaker 1: to me for service. Good for you, Paul. Good for you.
31:30
Speaker 1: You say, what are you excited about, Chuck? It just says,
31:32
Speaker 1: bring Mark with you and he's useful to me for service. Oh,
31:35
Speaker 1: you've got to know Mark. Mark in Acts chapter 13,
31:39
Speaker 1: verse 13, turned back when they got to Pamphylia and
31:41
Speaker 1: the going got rough in the first journey. Paul and
31:46
Speaker 1: Barnabas and young John Mark were together and night came
31:51
Speaker 1: hard and maybe the mosquitoes were there in swarms as
31:56
Speaker 1: you'll often see them in Alaska. And maybe they were
32:00
Speaker 1: malarial carrying mosquitoes. And maybe Paul got sick and Mark panicked.
32:06
Speaker 1: The leader of the group is not able to lead
32:09
Speaker 1: like I thought he would lead. And the nights are
32:12
Speaker 1: long and I miss my mother. And I miss home.
32:17
Speaker 1: And he deserted them. That's John Mark. Months passed. They
32:26
Speaker 1: were ready to go on another journey, and Barnabas said
32:28
Speaker 1: to Paul, let's take John Mark with us. What you've
32:33
Speaker 1: got to understand is that they were family members. Funny
32:38
Speaker 1: how blood mixes like that, isn't it? Paul said no.
32:41
Speaker 1: Barnabas said yes. Paul said no. Barnabas said yes. Paul
32:47
Speaker 1: said no. Barnabas said yes. And there was a schism.
32:52
Speaker 1: The Greek word is schism. At the end of Acts 15,
32:55
Speaker 1: there was such an argument as they stood toe to
32:57
Speaker 1: toe on whether they're going to take Mark or not.
32:59
Speaker 1: Barnabas said, he's older, he's more mature, he's learned his lesson,
33:03
Speaker 1: he'll make a great missionary with us. Give him a
33:05
Speaker 1: second chance. I'm not going to give him a second chance.
33:11
Speaker 1: So they split. Barnabas took Mark and they sailed for Cyprus.
33:16
Speaker 1: Barnabas is a Cypriot. He went back home and Paul
33:19
Speaker 1: chose another companion, Silas. and they traveled north. Barnabas and
33:23
Speaker 1: Paul never worked together again. Now let's go back. Some
33:28
Speaker 1: of you are saying, well, Paul, good night. Why would
33:33
Speaker 1: you do that? I mean, after all, and by the way,
33:37
Speaker 1: I'm sure both Barnabas and Paul quoted Old Testament verses
33:41
Speaker 1: to help support their position. Well, let me ask you,
33:48
Speaker 1: if you had loaned your car to someone and they
33:50
Speaker 1: wrecked it, and you got another car and they wanted
33:52
Speaker 1: to borrow it, would you be quick to loan it?
33:55
Speaker 1: I mean, months may have passed. What about loaning someone
33:58
Speaker 1: a thousand bucks and they said they'd pay you back
34:00
Speaker 1: and you're still waiting for that thousand bucks? And they
34:03
Speaker 1: come to you day after tomorrow and say, hey, boy,
34:05
Speaker 1: times are hard. I sure could use, you don't even
34:08
Speaker 1: want them to finish the sentence. So now you're not
34:10
Speaker 1: quite as compassionate as you thought you were. But what
34:15
Speaker 1: if we were all like Paul and we gave no
34:17
Speaker 1: one another opportunity? You see, there's a lot of humanness
34:24
Speaker 1: in this. There's a lot of real life stuff. But
34:28
Speaker 1: look at what he says. He says, Timothy, when you're
34:31
Speaker 1: on your way from Ephesus to here, pick up Mark.
34:35
Speaker 1: Oh man, he would be useful for service. Ah, good
34:39
Speaker 1: for you, Paul. Time has passed. Mark, by the way,
34:43
Speaker 1: is the one who wrote the Gospel of. Same John Mark.
34:50
Speaker 1: Aren't we glad that the received him back into the
34:52
Speaker 1: fellowship of their companionship, and he would be useful for service.
34:58
Speaker 1: Be careful about writing anyone off who has failed. Just
35:04
Speaker 1: writing them off, be careful about that. I know we
35:07
Speaker 1: need to be discerning, and I know certainly we need
35:10
Speaker 1: to guard the flock. But if you have a John
35:13
Speaker 1: Mark who didn't come through as you thought he would,
35:17
Speaker 1: just remember we're not all brave and strong. over every
35:22
Speaker 1: mile we travel. I hand it to Paul, and one
35:30
Speaker 1: wonders what they did when they met again, if they did. Tychicus,
35:36
Speaker 1: look at verse 12. Sounds like a disease, doesn't it? Tychicus.
35:41
Speaker 1: We know very little about Tychicus. He was part of
35:44
Speaker 1: the original Gentile delegation who accompanied Paul to Jerusalem as
35:49
Speaker 1: he delivered the collection to the poor, Acts 20, verse 4.
35:54
Speaker 1: When Paul was in Rome, chained to the Roman prisoner
35:56
Speaker 1: and riding Colossus, he mentions Tychicus as being there with
36:01
Speaker 1: him as he wrote the letter to Colossae. He's another
36:04
Speaker 1: of the bright, young disciples of Paul. Hard to have
36:08
Speaker 1: him leave his side. Now he misses Tychicus. Perhaps he
36:11
Speaker 1: brought an energy and a youthfulness that was wonderful. I
36:16
Speaker 1: think it's remarkable, men and women, that Paul, at this
36:19
Speaker 1: age and stage of life, sitting in a dark dungeon,
36:22
Speaker 1: could call to mind one, two, three, four, five, including Timothy,
36:26
Speaker 1: six individuals by name, and remember in his mind those
36:30
Speaker 1: scenes that had passed. But that happens to you when
36:33
Speaker 1: you come to this stage of life. Older teachers remember
36:38
Speaker 1: the great students of the past. Older pastors remember marvelous
36:44
Speaker 1: friends from congregations gone by. Those who have been faithful
36:50
Speaker 1: as teachers remember those who served well as their pupils
36:55
Speaker 1: and ultimately became models of what they had taught. That's
37:00
Speaker 1: where we are with Paul. And before we think he's
37:03
Speaker 1: run out of his practical side, look at the three
37:06
Speaker 1: requests he makes. I love this. I just love this section.
37:10
Speaker 1: Look at verse 13. And when you come, how's that
37:13
Speaker 1: for faith? Earlier he said, come, Timothy, come before winter.
37:17
Speaker 1: And now he says, when you come, isn't that great?
37:21
Speaker 1: I know you're coming. So when you come, I make
37:25
Speaker 1: three requests. Bring the cloak, which I left at Troas,
37:34
Speaker 1: and bring the books, but especially bring the parchments. Scrolls
37:41
Speaker 1: of the Old Testament text. Isn't that moving? Again, not
37:49
Speaker 1: too long ago, I sat down and wrote it in
37:51
Speaker 1: these words. Timothy, I need my cloak. I must have
37:55
Speaker 1: left it in the abode of Carpus in Troas. You'll
37:58
Speaker 1: have no trouble spotting it, Timothy. It's an old thing,
38:02
Speaker 1: but it's been on my back through many a bitter winter.
38:06
Speaker 1: It's been wet with the brine of the great sea,
38:08
Speaker 1: white from the snows of the rugged peaks of Pamphylia,
38:12
Speaker 1: gritty and brown from the dust of the Ignatian Way
38:15
Speaker 1: and crimson with my own blood from that awful stoning
38:19
Speaker 1: at Lystra. Bring that cloak. Winter's coming and I need
38:24
Speaker 1: the warmth it will provide. I also need my books, Timothy.
38:30
Speaker 1: Don't forget my books. You remember them, the ones I
38:35
Speaker 1: read under candlelight as we rode out the rough waters
38:38
Speaker 1: of the Aegean and endured the rigors of Macedonia together.
38:42
Speaker 1: Those scrolls that fed my mind and stretched me with
38:46
Speaker 1: fresh bursts of hope and stimulating ideas. Bring along my books,
38:50
Speaker 1: my friend. Oh, but especially tuck away a few of
38:57
Speaker 1: the scrolls of the parchments. Those are my most treasured possessions,
39:03
Speaker 1: how I need the comfort of King David's Psalms, the
39:06
Speaker 1: fortitude from the prophet's pens, the insights and perception from
39:11
Speaker 1: Solomon's Proverbs. Yes, the parchments, Timothy, the parchments. Surely they
39:16
Speaker 1: will help keep my heart warm and my hopes high
39:19
Speaker 1: in this desolate place. But Timothy, I need you. Make
39:24
Speaker 1: every effort to come before winter. Now what about take
39:31
Speaker 1: the time to read that to you because I want
39:33
Speaker 1: you to start doing that. Long enough have we read
39:38
Speaker 1: words on a page just black print on white sheets
39:41
Speaker 1: and we go on about our ways. We never put
39:43
Speaker 1: it into our words. Put them in your journal. Put
39:48
Speaker 1: them in your own words as you ignite your imagination
39:50
Speaker 1: and put yourself in the sandals of the person who's writing.
39:54
Speaker 1: Feel what he feels. Weep as he weeps. Groan as
40:01
Speaker 1: he groans under the labors of his current painful situation.
40:10
Speaker 1: Now all of this would leave us rather blank if
40:12
Speaker 1: we didn't take time to see it in light of
40:14
Speaker 1: where we are today. Allow me. I see four timeless
40:20
Speaker 1: reminders for every one of us. No longer talking about Paul,
40:25
Speaker 1: but we're talking about you and me. When you and
40:28
Speaker 1: I are lonely, when you and I are hurt, when
40:30
Speaker 1: you and I are loved, or when you and I
40:33
Speaker 1: are needy, let's go there. Here's the first. When you're lonely,
40:39
Speaker 1: you need caring, close friends. When you're lonely, You need caring,
40:48
Speaker 1: close friends. You may feel bulletproof right now. I mean,
40:53
Speaker 1: given your position at the company, who needs friends? Reminds
40:58
Speaker 1: me of the words of Sophie Tucker when she turned 69.
41:03
Speaker 1: From birth to 18, a girl needs good parents. From
41:05
Speaker 1: 18 to 35, she needs good looks. From 35 to 55,
41:07
Speaker 1: she needs a good personality. Beyond 55, she needs cash.
41:23
Speaker 1: When you're where Paul was, you don't need cash. If
41:28
Speaker 1: you'd given him a thousand shekels, it wouldn't have done
41:31
Speaker 1: him any good. He's at the end of the trail.
41:34
Speaker 1: He needs a friend. But let me give you a tip.
41:37
Speaker 1: Now is the time to cultivate them. They won't suddenly
41:40
Speaker 1: emerge when you get lonely. If you're not careful, you're
41:45
Speaker 1: not spending enough time cultivating friends. I just finished Tom
41:49
Speaker 1: Rath's interesting book, Vital Friends. In it, he gives this statistic.
41:54
Speaker 1: During our teenage years, we spend nearly one third of
41:57
Speaker 1: our time with friends. For the rest of our lives,
42:01
Speaker 1: the average time spent with friends is less than 10%.
42:07
Speaker 1: Less than 10%. And you wonder why you're not surrounded
42:13
Speaker 1: by those who care when you are lonely? You haven't
42:17
Speaker 1: cultivated them. They don't know that they have a place
42:20
Speaker 1: in your life. Take time for friends. Paul could have
42:26
Speaker 1: named 50, and he chose five here. When you're hurt,
42:32
Speaker 1: when you're hurt, you need loyal advocates. That's more than
42:37
Speaker 1: a friend. Webster says an advocate is one who supports
42:42
Speaker 1: or defends a cause, one who pleads in another's behalf.
42:49
Speaker 1: Every person who goes on trial needs an advocate who's
42:51
Speaker 1: called an attorney. And the attorney speaks for him or
42:56
Speaker 1: her and defends us. The judge will tell us, you
43:00
Speaker 1: don't speak to me, your lawyer speaks to me. And
43:03
Speaker 1: your lawyer then becomes your go-between. When we are hurt,
43:08
Speaker 1: we need a go-between. Who are they? They are those
43:11
Speaker 1: who understand us and support us regardless. They are in
43:15
Speaker 1: our corner faithfully. They lift our spirits. They also help
43:20
Speaker 1: us see things more objectively than we would see on
43:23
Speaker 1: our own. Luke was an advocate for Paul, as was Timothy.
43:30
Speaker 1: When you are loved, here's the third, you need to
43:36
Speaker 1: be grateful. If you are loved by a circle of people,
43:40
Speaker 1: you are rich indeed. Share the wealth. Why are you
43:47
Speaker 1: keeping all that love to yourself? When was the last
43:50
Speaker 1: time you looked at another individual outside that circle using
43:54
Speaker 1: the first person singular I and said, I love you? Well, Chuck,
44:02
Speaker 1: this is Texas. Texas. Junk with that. Others need to
44:13
Speaker 1: know you love them and they need to hear the
44:15
Speaker 1: word I. Don't just say love you. You say that
44:19
Speaker 1: to your dog. Love you. Love you. You say I
44:27
Speaker 1: love you to people. You share the wealth when you
44:32
Speaker 1: do that. And you need to do that with the
44:37
Speaker 1: person who is your partner in life. Don't think he
44:40
Speaker 1: or she ever hears it enough. Every night before Cynthia
44:46
Speaker 1: and I are asleep, I hear her say, I love you, sweetheart.
44:54
Speaker 1: And I say to her, I love you. I'm often
44:57
Speaker 1: convicted because I didn't think to say it first. And
45:02
Speaker 1: I love you. What great words to hear the last
45:04
Speaker 1: moment of nightfall. I love you. And when you're needy,
45:13
Speaker 1: here's the fourth, you need to admit it. You know
45:18
Speaker 1: why we don't admit it? Because we're so stinking proud.
45:21
Speaker 1: The last time you picked up a phone and called
45:23
Speaker 1: someone and said, hi, today's a really tough day for me.
45:28
Speaker 1: I need you right now. When's the last time you
45:29
Speaker 1: did that? As if anybody would answer out loud. You
45:34
Speaker 1: can't remember the last time. I need you. Let me
45:40
Speaker 1: tell you why I can't do it on my own.
45:45
Speaker 1: How often during the last two and a half, three years,
45:47
Speaker 1: my wife and I have said to a number of people,
45:51
Speaker 1: I need you right now. I need you right now.
45:57
Speaker 1: Hardest years of my ministry have been the last two
45:59
Speaker 1: and a half years. And it's been lonely. Tough. Oh,
46:08
Speaker 1: this has kept me going, our worship times and our
46:11
Speaker 1: time with our staff. But what difficult days. But that's
46:16
Speaker 1: when I earned the right to be heard. Because when
46:20
Speaker 1: I speak of hurt and loneliness and being needy and
46:25
Speaker 1: needing an advocate, I know where I speak. Loneliness stalks
46:33
Speaker 1: where the buck stops. Allow me a few moments with
46:36
Speaker 1: a story you'll never forget and we'll be through. Some
46:45
Speaker 1: time ago I was watching television and I saw something very,
46:49
Speaker 1: very amazing. The one who was speaking on this interesting
46:54
Speaker 1: PBS program was Sir Hugh Weldon, who is the former
47:00
Speaker 1: chairman of the Library of Congress. Listen carefully. He was
47:06
Speaker 1: standing in front of a forest of card index files.
47:12
Speaker 1: The program had all the makings of a slow-moving, dull
47:15
Speaker 1: documentary until about halfway through, Dr. Daniel Boorstin, the Librarian
47:22
Speaker 1: of Congress, brought out a little blue box from a
47:26
Speaker 1: small closet that once held the library's rarities. The label
47:33
Speaker 1: on the box read, contents of the president's pockets on
47:39
Speaker 1: the night of April 14, 1865. Since that was the
47:48
Speaker 1: fateful night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, every viewer's attention around
47:53
Speaker 1: the country I'm convinced was seized. My mouth dropped open.
47:59
Speaker 1: Boorstin then proceeded to remove the items in the small
48:03
Speaker 1: container and display them on camera. There were five things
48:08
Speaker 1: in the box. A handkerchief embroidered A. Lincoln. A country
48:17
Speaker 1: boy's penknife. A spectacles case repaired with string. A purse
48:27
Speaker 1: containing a $ 5 bill. Confederate money. I love it. some
48:38
Speaker 1: old worn newspaper clippings. Stay with me. The clippings, said Boorstin,
48:46
Speaker 1: were concerned with the great deeds of Abraham Lincoln. And
48:51
Speaker 1: one of them actually reports a speech by John Bright,
48:54
Speaker 1: which says that Abraham Lincoln is quote, one of the
48:57
Speaker 1: greatest men of all times. Today, that's common knowledge. The
49:05
Speaker 1: world now knows, that British statesman John Bright was right
49:11
Speaker 1: in his assessment of Lincoln, but back in 1865, when
49:14
Speaker 1: half the country hated him, millions shared quite a contrary opinion.
49:25
Speaker 1: The president's critics were fierce and many. His was a
49:29
Speaker 1: lonely agony that reflected the suffering and turmoil of his country,
49:34
Speaker 1: ripped to shreds by hatred and the cruel, costly war
49:39
Speaker 1: between the states. There's something touchingly pathetic in the mental
49:45
Speaker 1: picture of this great leader seeking solace and self-assurance from
49:50
Speaker 1: a few old newspaper clippings as he reads them under
49:53
Speaker 1: the flickering flame of a candle all alone in the
49:57
Speaker 1: Oval Office. Loneliness stalks where the buck stops. The loneliest
50:18
Speaker 1: people hearing my voice right now are you who are
50:20
Speaker 1: trying to make it on your own without a savior.
50:27
Speaker 1: You pretty well convinced yourself you can do it, but
50:30
Speaker 1: you haven't reached the end. You don't know all the
50:34
Speaker 1: future holds. And you will come to the day when
50:38
Speaker 1: you'll breathe your last, and you will be out of
50:42
Speaker 1: hope to get you from there into eternity with God.
50:50
Speaker 1: In fact, you won't go there. In the loneliness of
50:55
Speaker 1: this moment where you admit your need, it is your
50:58
Speaker 1: opportunity to say, Lord Jesus Christ, fill the void and
51:04
Speaker 1: emptiness in my soul. I cannot make it on my own.
51:11
Speaker 1: I am lost, I'm sinful, I've made a mess of
51:14
Speaker 1: my life, Look at what I've done. Nothing would hold
51:18
Speaker 1: up through eternity to get me to you. So I
51:21
Speaker 1: trust Christ who died on that cross. And I believe
51:26
Speaker 1: his death was sufficient for my sins. And I believe
51:29
Speaker 1: in him now. Let's bow our heads together. This is
51:37
Speaker 1: an epical moment in the morning we've spent together. And
51:41
Speaker 1: I don't want to miss this opportunity. If you've never
51:46
Speaker 1: trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible describes you
51:49
Speaker 1: as lost. You're a lost sinner. It doesn't mean you're
51:57
Speaker 1: immoral necessarily or you don't have any ethics. It just
52:00
Speaker 1: means you are not ready to meet God. Because to
52:04
Speaker 1: be that ready, you must be as righteous as God is.
52:07
Speaker 1: And the only one who can make it happen is
52:10
Speaker 1: the one who was as righteous as he is. And
52:14
Speaker 1: his name is Jesus. believe in him, you will be
52:19
Speaker 1: declared righteous. You may think, Chuck, I don't know how
52:25
Speaker 1: to do this on my own. Then connect with us
52:27
Speaker 1: and we'll help you. We have friends here in Soul
52:31
Speaker 1: Care who are a part of our ministry, filling every
52:34
Speaker 1: prayer room, standing at most of the exit doors, and
52:38
Speaker 1: they're there to help you. Each one of them would
52:40
Speaker 1: consider it an honor to have you put your hand
52:43
Speaker 1: in theirs and say, I need you. I need you
52:46
Speaker 1: to help me know how to have forgiveness and hope
52:52
Speaker 1: and a reason to go on. Or you may simply
52:58
Speaker 1: desire to pray, Lord Jesus Christ, come into my life.
53:06
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, thank you even for the aloneness on that wide,
53:11
Speaker 1: wide sea. where not a saint took pity on our
53:15
Speaker 1: souls in agony. Thank you for meeting our needs when
53:22
Speaker 1: there was no one else to do that. Thank you
53:25
Speaker 1: for being our friend, our advocate, the one who has
53:31
Speaker 1: loved us all the way to the end. How grateful
53:37
Speaker 1: we are for you. We pray that you will be
53:41
Speaker 1: honored in the words that were spoken And we will
53:45
Speaker 1: not soon forget the words of a man who shortly
53:48
Speaker 1: after writing them died. May we live differently because of
53:53
Speaker 1: what we have heard today. May we learn to say,
53:58
Speaker 1: I love you. And may we say it often. May
54:03
Speaker 1: we admit our need without any pride or self-sufficiency. And
54:11
Speaker 1: may we, Father, live lives of vulnerability and openness before
54:15
Speaker 1: a watching world that continues to look for authenticity and hope.
54:24
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, we pray. And everybody said, Amen.
54:35
Speaker 2: The preceding message, A Circle of Honor and Dishonor, was
54:39
Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2009 and 2015 and the sound recording was
54:44
Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2015 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights
54:48
Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
54:53
Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited.