Date:   09/02/07

Text:   Acts 165:36—16:10

Title:   Went Down to Troas

Theme: God is always present and guiding His children, we can l earn to be obedient to him in all of life situations.

Introduction:   

  The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This works well on paper, but not necessarily so in real life situations. You are going home to Sugar Land from IAH. Should you take 59, which is a straight line or 8W or 610W? With constructions, detours and traffic jams, the straight line will not bring you home in the shortest amount of time. Or you want to achieve your American dream. It may have taken the other person less than 5 years to get there, but you have spent more than 10 years and it is still nowhere in sight. Sometimes we feel life is full of detours. What should have been a straight line between two points, may now seem to be nothing but pot holes and detours. None of us like detours and we fight and resist when we run into them.

  Today's passage started with a very simple request from Paul to Barnabas, Let's go back to the places where we had preached. This is a pastoral heart for Paul who wanted to go back and visit the churches he started during his 1 st Missionary journey. Certainly a simple and reasonable desire. But as we read on, we notice that this simple journey had turned into a rather long and complicated trip. They ended up with people and in places that were not in their original plans. From the get go, this was a journey full of surprises.

From Paul's experience at the beginning of his 2 nd Missionary Journey, we can learn much about how God guides and direct us in our personal life journeys. We learn that very often God is silently leading us through closed or opened doors to the place where he wants us to be. His hands have never left us.

  Let's take a closer look at the beginning of this 2 nd Missionary journey.

I.   God's hand is evident in human weaknesses. 15:36-40

  Vs.15:36 “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are.” It is indeed a simple and reasonable request. Yet, who should we go with this time? Last time when they went, besides Paul and Barnabas, there was also John Mark. However, Mark left them in the midst of the journey. This must have greatly hurt Paul. He took it as disloyalty and unfaithfulness. So, to Paul, Mark was out of the question: there is no way Mark should come this time. But Barnabas wanted to bring Mark again. Being an encourager, Barnabas wanted to give Mark a second chance. He saw Mark being young and inexperienced, intimidated by the ministry before him during their first trip, therefore, wanting to go back. Barnabas did not treat this as a federal offence, but could be forgiven and overlooked. After all, Barnabas was the disciple who went and looked for Paul when other apostles and disciples were skeptical of his conversion. Barnabas was a courageous and kind person.

  However, Paul would not budge. Luke did not give us the details of this conflict. We only knew that it was a sharp disagreement, meaning a very violent dispute between Paul and Barnabas. The disagreement was so strong that Paul and Barnabas split. Paul took Silas and Barnabas took Mark and went their separate ways. Can you imagine how Paul must have felt at the very beginning of his 2 nd missionary journey. It must have stung both of them deeply.

  What do we learn from this? First this appeared to be a mistake for both disciples. Nowhere did we see that they prayed to God regarding who to bring, thus resolving their disagreement. Second, disagreement/conflicts do occur between believers. Luke, again, did not provide details, as to who was at fault. It just happened. However, in vs.40, the church did seem to favor Paul. Conflicts do hurt people deeply.

  Disagreements and conflicts between Christians sometimes can lead to the destruction of ministries. But other times, God continues to work in spite of weaknesses. After splitting, one church may become two: 1 st Presbyterian and 2 nd Presbyterian, 1 st or 2 nd Baptist. God can use both of them to bring others to Christ. Now, in that first century church, one mission team had now become two teams. Nothing can stop the flow of God's river of grace.

Yes, God can work through human frailty to accomplish his redemptive plan. Yet, we are not to use this as an excuse to allow unresolved conflicts which can lead to bitterness and resentment to take root in our lives and cause division. Moreover, from Paul's later letters we read that later there was reconciliation between him and Barnabas. In his 1 st letter to the Corinthians he addressed Barnabas as his partner, his coworker. In his last letter to Timothy, he asked that Timothy would bring Mark to visit him for Mark was very helpful to him. It was apparent that Paul had reconciled with both Barnabas and Mark.

  Yes, we do run into conflicts with each other, resulting in both parties deeply hurt. Sometimes, it would damage our ministry, other times, it would cause us to be more motivated to grow spiritually and become more involved in other ministries. No matter how God uses our conflict to mold us, it is always important and necessary to work towards a reconciliation between the two. Let's move on and see what happened next.

II.    God's hands are evident in the choice of new co-workers. 16:1-3

  Barnabas took Mark and went to Cyprus. Barnabas's ministry was not heard of again in the book of Acts. 16:1-3, “ 1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ” Paul and Silas went north from Antioch to Derbe and Lystra. At Lystra, they met Timothy who then became one of Paul's coworkers during this 2 nd Missionary Journey. So Paul had two new coworkers: Silas and Timothy. Let's take a closer look at them.

  Silas was a prophet, making him adept to proclaim and teach God's word. He was a Jew and therefore had entrance to the Jewish synagogues they would visit. As a Roman citizen, he had the same protection and benefits as Paul did. It was a good fit for Paul's purpose in this 2 nd missionary journey.

  How about Timothy? He was well spoken of by the church in Lystra. His mother and grandmother were Jews, and his father was a gentile. So he was, both a Jew and a Gentile. Before they started on the trip, Paul had Timothy circumcised. This was to show the Jews that he had no intention to overthrow the Jewish tradition. This circumcision would also grant Timothy full access to the synagogues as Paul and Silas. Timothy later became Paul's right hand man and the leader of a church.

  With the addition of these two, Luke made a summary statement about this part of the trip, 16:4-5, “ they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. ” The churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. The goal of evangelism is not to do more head counts or increase huge numbers of converts. However, when churches are growing in faith, they will naturally increase in numbers.

  Paul lost Mark, but gained Silas and Timothy. Both proved to be valuable to the church's mission. This is certainly not what Paul had in mind at the beginning of the journey. Yet this is how it turned out. God works in some very mysterious ways. In ways beyond our imagination.

III.    God's hands are evident in guiding us through negative means. 16:6-8

  Now we come to a very interesting passage in the NT. It is about how we discern God's way. 16:6-8, “ 6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. ” Having travelled and preached in the Phrygia and Galatia area, Paul intended to move westward. However, the Holy Spirit would not let them. How did they know it is from the Holy Spirit? Again, Luke did not give us the details, but merely the conclusion of a process. With the western door closed, Paul moved north to Mythia. He was hoping that he may further preach the gospel in Asia, i.e., moving farther north and east. But this door was also closed. So he moved west again. this time the door was opened and he and his group arrived at Troas. This city was never in his mind or his plan. But here they were.

  How did God lead Paul to Troas? Through a very indirect and negative guidance. He closed the doors here and there. By closing these doors, he was actually directing him to Troas.

None of us like closed doors in our search for God's will. We want this job very much. Or we want to live in that particular city. So we ask others to pray for us so we can have this job or go to that city. To us, the shortest distance between two points is this particular line. We insist this is the best line, the best route to obtain what we want. Yet, interview after interview, we're turned down. I trust that we all have experienced this. I have to have this job. I have to stay in this or other city. I think we also realize how painful this can be. We are jealous of people who acquired our dream jobb. We are angry towards people and may even be angry with God. How come he is so unfair?

  What did we learn from Paul and his group? They looked at this as the Holy Spirit was closing one door after another. They did not fight or argue with God. they simply obeyed. Then they came to Troas. God's closing the doors is one of his many ways of directing his children to where he wants them to be.

  Let's move on.

IV. God's hands are evident in guiding us through positive means. 16:9-10

  Something happened at Troas. 16:9-10, “ 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. ” At night, in a vision, a man of Macedonia appeared to him and said, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” We noted that Paul immediately responded to this call and went to Macedonia, which is in today's Europe. They first went to Philippi, and started a church there. This vision at night is also called the Macedonia Call that we are familiar with. When we mention this Macedonia call, it usually means a special need in a certain place. Prior to arriving at Troas, God directed Paul indirectly, via closing this and other doors until they came to where he wanted them to be. Now, it is a direct guidance, in a vision, a man issuing the Macedonia call and Paul obeyed and went. They followed the guidance and went to Philippi. The 1 st church in Europe was formed shortly afterwards. If this was Troas, then Philippi is just around the corner.

  About two years ago, I received an email from a pastor friend. the subject matter was: Confidential: Macedonia call. I usually don't like such a heading, especially the Macedonia call. For I know that this must be asking me to do something. I briefly scanned it and then left it aside. I saw words such as Beijing, seminary, need; so I just left it in my inbox. 5 months later while I was cleaning up my inbox, I saw this email. I was deciding if I should delete it. I Kind of felt bad if I did so, for if one day this friend asked me about this letter what should I say? So after taking a deep breath, I read it in detail. The content was what I expected. Then I wrote back and this led to a teaching ministry in china last year and this year. The letter in the inbox was my Troas. It was God's way of showing me what he wanted me to do.

  I also would like to make an observation here. It has to do with mission motivation. What motivates us to missions or other ministries. First of all, it is a command from God that we are to be his witness at wherever we are. Secondly, it is Christ's love that compels us to be obedient to him. We serve others, we proclaim the good news to people here and far away because we have experienced Christ's love for us and we want to tell others about this love. Thirdly, we serve and proclaim the message because of the great need around us. We have all seen pictures of starving children and poverty. We have been shown the population numbers in different countries and what % of them are believers. They all want to open our eyes to the need so we can help accordingly.

  However, in missions and in other ministries, there needs to be a good balance of obedience to the command, compelled by Christ's love and the needs of the people. if all we focus is on need: how people need rice and bread, or how they need Christ, we'll quickly experience burn out or develop a callous heart towards the needy. If all we focus is on obeying Christ's command, we are just carrying out a responsibility cold heartedly. It's just a job. There is also the danger of manipulating people's emotion so they will feel guilty. And out of guilt, they agree to do something about it. This is wrong. There must be a proper balance of command, our love for Christ and people's need.

Conclusion:

  In the mid 70's. After working as a research fellow or post doc for 3 years, I started looking for a more permanent job. In those years, the country was in a mild recession and jobs were hard to come by. I applied to several places and was rejected. Then a friend told me about a teaching opportunity in Taiwan. I resisted the idea because we had never been to that place and besides, most of our friends from Taiwan had wanted to stay in this country. So why should we even consider. But God slowly opened our hearts and went there. Soon after our arrival, I began to feel an unease within me, causing me to seek what God wanted to do with my life. About half a year later, one thing led to another, I was convinced that God was calling me into full time ministry. One year later, we came back to the States and enrolled in seminary to further prepare myself for ministry. As I looked back, Taiwan was my Troas, getting there was hard. It was never in my original plan. But God was working in my life, closing this and other doors, with this as the only door opened to me. And then at that place, he showed me something far better and greater than my own plans.

Dear brothers and sisters, where is your Troas? To some, coming to Houston is tripping through a series of door-closing events in other cities. You really don't like to come to this hot and humid place. But other doors were closed and this was the only opened door, and here you are. To others, Troas may not be a physical place. This could be a place in your relationships. You hate where you are, but you are here. Don't write this place off, because God may work something in your life that you have never dreamed of. He will show you something far greater and better than you have ever experienced or imagined.

There are some of you experiencing closed doors one after another. It must be a very disappointing and painful experience. When you try to fight against it, it is also very miserable. May I encourage you to look at such closed doors from God's perspective. You see, each time when a door is closed, it is God's way of saying: this is not the one, I have prepared a place, a job that is far better than what you have here. May those closed- door experiences in life create in us a sense of anticipation, yearning to see what God has prepared for us ahead. If this is your Troas, then your Philippi is not really far away.