Our Psalms were, once again, filled with singing and shouts of praise to God, proclaiming many of His amazing attributes.
Two things jumped out at me in our Acts reading today.
Acts 17:6b These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here (NIV)
These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also (ESV)
These men who have upset the world have come here also (NASB)
Isn't that an amazing thing to have said about you? Paul and Silas turned the world upside down!
But what's even more amazing?
In the words of John MacArthur in his sermon Men Who Turned the World Upside Down,
But if you think that's amazing, get this. They've only been to one town, Philippi in Europe, and already through the events of a few days in one town; the world is convinced these men are turning it upside down. And the rumor has drifted all the way to Thessalonica, which is over a hundred miles away. When you turn the world upside down in your lifetime, that's gonzo. When the world says, "You're turning it upside down," and you've been around a few weeks, that's really gonzo. (emphasis mine)
It reminds me of a quote, but I have no idea who said it first...
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil shudders and says "Oh crap, she's up!"
Some Christians live their whole lives without the world even noticing. Paul and Silas made so much of an impact, the world didn't just take notice. The world was turned upside, by it's own admission!
Now the world went haywire at the fall, there's no question about that, it slipped off its spiritual axis when Adam sinned. And it was a twofold problem, Adam not only fell and became cursed but the globe went with him. So, that earth itself is cursed, there's a cursed earth and in that cursed earth lives a cursed man. And consequently, it's very interesting that man is rather comfortable in his sinning, isn't he? And the reason for that is simply this, you put a cursed man in a cursed system and he's gonna get along with his system, pretty well. It's when you apply righteousness to that cursed system that you make waves. And that's why the truth of God, throughout all history, has tended to flip man's world. (Men Who Turned the World Upside Down Part 2, emphasis mine)
MacArthur states that Paul & Silas turned the world upside right due to five things. First of all courage. Simple, biblical definition of courage; courage equals confidence in God, that's courage.
You can have this courage by trusting God, confessing sin, and thanking Him in advance.
Secondly content. All the courage in the world doesn't help much if your content is off. You must know the Word of God - study it, like the Bereans mentioned in vs 10-15 (which is the second thing that struck me, which has blended in nicely with this!). They didn't just take Paul at his word. They examined the scriptures to see if what Paul said lined up with God's Word. In order to truly know the Word we need to confess sin (if we have sin in our lives it will cloud our learning), we need to study the Word, we need to make it applicable and we need to share it.
The third thing is converts - because, obviously, you're multiplying the waves!
And if you're multiplying waves, you're going to get conflict, the fourth thing. But God uses conflict (persecution) to result in joy and productivity.
And the last thing that made Paul & Silas turn the world upside down was concern. But probably not the concern you first thought of when you read that. What did you think when you read that? Concern for the lost? Well, it's definitely true that we should be concerned for the lost, absolutely. But it's actually concern, even passion, for the glory of God, for the holiness of God. And that concern is what drove Paul and Silas to turn the world upside down.
Do you and I have that same passion?
Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 99-100, 102, Acts 17:16-34
4 comments:
Excellent post, Tammy! "God uses conflict (persecution) to result in joy and productivity." Never thought about it that way before.
I had not thought of the message spreading that fast...and this was long before status updates. Great post.
Pam, you made me laugh with the "...and this was long before status updates" comment! Geez, I hardly remember life without them and they've really only been around a few years! I find myself FAR too often even THINKING in status updates!!
That MacArthur sermon was incredible. Not that I've come across many that aren't, but this one really hit me, particularly that point about their concern and passion for the holiness and glory of God to come through in everything. We've talked about this concern in terms of many of the OT famous characters and prophets before, but I'm not sure we've really looked at it much in NT characters. Clearly, this is a call for ALL believers to remember what's truly important and what should motivate us to do everything from spread the Word, to working joyfully at any job, to rebuking fellow believers who are tarnishing the image of Christ and "reviling the Gospel" with their words and/or deeds. If our passion for His holiness and glory are our central focus, then we should be able to do any and all of these things without fear, without personal agendas, and with the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ shining through.
Great post Tammy. I also love what you said about Paul and Silas' concern for the glory of God and for the holiness of God.
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