Introduction:
A. I want to begin this sermon with a statement from Peter T. Forsythe.
1. I believe he was right on when he said, “The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom, but its Master.” (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, Thomas Nelson Pub., 1991, p. 22)
B. Back in the 1950s, when Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office.
1. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes, he arrived at a church barbecue.
a. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished, because he had had no lunch.
2. As Governor Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken.
a. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
b. “Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?”
3. “Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.”
a. “But I’m starved,” the governor said.
b. “Sorry,” the woman said again, “Only one per customer.”
4. Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around.
a. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of this state.”
b. “Do you know who I am?” the woman said. “I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister.” (Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6)
C. I love that story, because it beautifully depicts someone who truly knows their place and their orders and they cannot be swayed.
1. Whomever it was who put her in charge of the chicken and gave her the instructions to follow regarding the chicken, she was going to be true to that person and that person’s commands.
2. She is a good example for us to follow!
3. God is the one who is in charge and God has given us His instructions.
4. Will we be true to our God and will we be faithful to carry out His instructions?
5. I hope and pray that we will!
D. One of the primary responses that God desires from each one of us is obedience.
1. Our obedience should come as a result of our trust in God.
2. But one of the hardest things that often results from our obedience is change.
E. Just hearing the word “change” may cause all of us to shudder.
1. I know very few people who enjoy change.
2. Charles Swindoll wrote: Change “threatens our comfort, interrupts our routines, challenges our priorities, and introduces anxiety.”
3. Someone wrote: “It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it’s that place between that we fear. It’s like being in between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold on to.” (Marilyn Ferguson)
4. I would add: Nothing to hold on to but God himself.
F. Although change is often good, it is rarely easy or pleasant.
1. Change often leads us down unknown paths filled with narrow passages and surprising turns.
2. No doubt the songwriter, Eddie Espinosa, understood the invaluable benefits of change when he composed the words to this song we often sing:
Change my heart Oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart Oh God, may I be like You.
You are the potter, I am the clay;
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.
Change my heart Oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart Oh God, may I be like You.
3. I wonder if when we sing those words and ask God to mold us and make us, do we understand what that likely entails.
4. The process involved when God molds us and makes us into something different and better is uncomfortable and, at times downright painful.
5. If we, as the clay, remain in a moldable and flexible state, then reshaping is easier and less painful, but when we become hard and dried, then we are brittle and inflexible and the process of change is harder.
G. In our study of the life of Paul, we have watched closely as that remarkable man has faced many periods of change.
1. Let’s rewind and review the scenes in our mind.
2. On Saul’s way to Damascus to persecute Christians, a light came from heaven, and he was converted to Christ – how’s that for molding and making?
3. Saul was immediately led to live and serve among a whole new group of people – the very Christians he once persecuted became his family and colleagues in ministry – how’s that for change?
4. And then Saul went to Arabia – a change in surroundings…a change of pace…lifestyle.
a. Although we don’t know all God accomplished during that desert sabbatical, we do know this: Saul changed.
5. From there he went to Damascus, then to Jerusalem, and then, of all things, back to his home in Tarsus, where he stayed in the shadows for years.
6. Saul’s obedience to God led him to so many changes…one after another.
7. Then, finally, after waiting so long in Tarsus, Saul heard a familiar voice at his door – Barnabas had come to enlist his help in an enormous undertaking in Antioch.
8. So Saul went through another big change – he went from the obscurity of Tarsus to the limelight in Antioch.
9. And that’s where we left Saul in our sermon last week – he was in the midst of a wonderful, fruitful, growing ministry in Antioch.
a. Acts 11:26 reads: So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
10. Would you be surprised if I told you that God was about to suggest another big change?
I. The Story
A. Let’s pick up the story in Acts 13: 1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-4)
B. Let’s begin by acknowledging that the church in Antioch was the place to be at that time.
1. An amazing move of the Holy Spirit was taking place there.
a. People were coming to Christ by the droves, both Jews and Gentiles.
b. It was the happening place at that time.
2. And on top of that, the team of leaders that was working there in the Antioch congregation was a First Century Dream Team.
a. There was Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul.
b. These five were prophets, preachers and teachers par excellence.
c. Each was called, gifted, devoted, and set apart for the Lord’s work.
3. That’s exactly what that growing church needed – the right leaders laying a strong foundation.
4. Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there and been a part of what God was doing?
a. If we had been there, we might have responded like Peter did at the transfiguration, “Lord, let’s just set up a sacred tent and stay here. Let’s just make it permanent.” (Mt. 17:4)
b. The problem with that sort of response is that in God’s work there’s no permanent campsite on planet earth – eventually, things change and the time comes to pull up stakes.
C. And that’s what we see happen here in Acts 13.
1. While they were worshiping, the Holy Spirit said, and I paraphrase, “Okay, boys, hitch up the wagons, it’s time to move westward! I need Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
2. Can you imagine how some of us might react today if the Holy Spirit were to announce that some of our favorite ministers or members had to move on?
3. We might say, “You can’t be serious! You’re going to reach down and pull some of our best and move them elsewhere? We won’t let you! We are not going to let them go.”
4. But amazingly, nothing like that occurred in Antioch – as soon as those folks realized it was the Spirit of God who was sending them on, they released them.
5. And keep in mind all these happened when the church was at its zenith, it was steaming ahead at full speed – people were coming to Christ, and lives were being transformed.
6. Yet, it was at that moment, that the Spirit said, “It’s time for change.” Who would have imagined it?
7. But God is full of surprises, because God sees the big picture while we focus mainly on the here and now.
D. So this was God’s way of telling Barnabas and Saul it was time to move.
1. And as we note, it was the Lord who did the speaking – in those days the Lord revealed himself in a number of ways, many times more clearly and definitively than in our time.
2. Today, I believe that God speaks to us through His Word, and He speaks to us through the gentle nudging of the Spirit, and He speaks to us through the collective witness of His people.
3. The way God chooses to lead His ministry today is often difficult to get our arms around.
a. Ministry matters are rarely that obvious and objective.
b. We serve a Head we cannot see, and we listen to a voice we cannot literally hear.
c. Often we feel as if we’re being asked to follow a plan we do not completely understand.
4. During the process of discovering and obeying God’s leading, we should expect to face change.
a. If we are going to obey our Lord’s lead, then we must embrace the changes He calls for in the power of the Spirit.
5. Although each of us is accountable to the church we serve and the leadership of that church, ultimately, each one of us answers to God.
a. Without embracing that sort of single-minded devotion to the Lord, we run the risk of becoming people pleasers.
b. Our responsibility is to please God, not please others.
E. Just like in the situation at Antioch, God often reaches into a smoothly running ministry operation and says, “That person is to go, and this person is to stay.”
1. Like the folks in Antioch, let’s be willing to release gifted men and women without reluctance.
2. Let’s release them to obey God and to follow God’s lead.
F. Barnabas and Saul struck out on a brand-new adventure onto foreign soil, with the Lord out in front leading them, and the Antioch church fully standing behind them.
1. But this was no pleasure cruise they had booked.
2. Life and ministry became quickly difficult, and the rigors were too much and someone abandoned ship as we will study at a later time.
3. As Saul and Barnabas faced those hard times, I’m sure they thought, “Why did we leave Antioch for this?”
4. But they likely quickly remembered that they had left Antioch in obedience to God’s will and that obedience to God’s will leads to change, and change is often hard and painful.
II. The Application
A. As we bring this lesson to a close, I want to suggest a few ways for us to keep the clay of our will soft and flexible in the hands of our Potter, God himself.
1. If we allow ourselves to grow hard and brittle to God’s leading and work, then we become less usable to Him and His purposes.
B. First of all, ti keep our clay soft, we must not remove any possibility from God.
1. I like the State Farm commercial that shows a man declaring a number of “nevers” for his life and then shows all those “nevers” happening to him.
a. He says, “I’m never getting married!” Then the next scene shows him picking out an engagement ring.
b. The next scene shows he and his wife on an airplane and another passenger has a crying baby. He says, “We’re never having kids.” The next scene shows him coaching his wife through child birth.
c. The next scene shows them in their high rise apartment in the city and he says, “I love it here. We’re never moving to the suburbs.” The next scene shows him in the front yard working on the landscape of his suburban home.
d. The man points to a mini-van driving by and he says, “We’re never getting one of those.” The next scene shows him in the driveway washing their mini-van.
e. The next scene shows the man washing marker drawings by his child off the walls of his hallway, he says to his wife as she passes by with a full laundry basket, “We’re never having another kid.” She immediately replies, “I’m pregnant.”
f. The last scene shows the man with his wife and two children curled up on the sofa and he says, “I’m never letting go.”
g. The voice over announcer then says, “For all the nevers in your life, State Farm is there.”
2. Spiritually, for all the “nevers” in life, our God is there.
a. Actually, we must not say “never” to God, but must stay open to whatever it is God may call us to do.
b. We might say, “I’m never moving…north, south, to Africa, etc.”, but if God calls any of us to move, then we must obey.
c. We might say, “I’m never doing that ministry…teaching, evangelism, teens, nursery” - you name it, but if God calls any of us to be involved in a ministry, then we must obey.
d. Saul and Barnabas and the folks in Antioch might all have said we will not allow anything to take them away from ministry in Antioch, but that is what God did and they obeyed.
3. Let’s stay open to whatever possibilities God has instore for us.
C. Second, to keep our clay soft, let’s not allow a lot of activity to dull our sensitivity to God.
1. Author and professor, Howard Hendricks, said, “The greatest threat to your ministry may be your ministry.”
a. What Hendricks meant by that is that we can get so busy with church activities that we stop spending time with God and stop hearing what God is saying to us.
2. Those men in Antioch, including Saul and Barnabas didn’t let that happen.
a. They were exceedingly busy with ministry but they didn’t let that stop them from spending time with the Lord.
3. In order to stay pliable in God’s hand, we must carve out regular time to be with the Lord, worshiping, reading, meditating on His Word, praying and taking time to slow down and listen.
4. Only then can we hear and discern His still, small voice amid the scurry of church activity.
D. Third, We must let God be God.
1. This is a point we made last week – God is in charge of the plans, people and places.
2. In this case, God chose to move two and leave three of the leaders – that was His prerogative.
a. God could have chosen to move all five or only one – It was His call.
b. God has His plan and He has His reasons for choosing whom He chooses.
3. Our sovereign God does as He pleases, and when His will is clear, then our response is to obey.
E. Finally, We must be ready to say “yes.”
1. When God calls, we should listen, and when he sends, we should go.
2. The “no” answer comes more easily than the “yes” one, doesn’t it?
3. Like Moses, we might want to give reasons why we shouldn’t be the one God chose.
4. Or, like Moses, we might want to have all the details ironed out before we say “yes.”
5. But God is much more pleased, remember He did become frustrated with Moses’ reluctance, when we are ready to say “yes” and trust Him to take care of the rest.
6. Certainly, saying “yes” to God is not going to be easy, obeying God will lead us into hardships and some uphill stretches in the road, but God will bless us nonetheless.
7. And let me add one thing: When we say “yes” to God, we shouldn’t feel guilty, whether the “yes” means staying or going.
a. If God doesn’t include us in His list of missionaries to Africa, then He isn’t leading us there, and doesn’t need us there.
b. If God leads us elsewhere, then we should go.
c. If God says to stay where we are, then stay and give it all we’ve got, because God has us where He wants us.
8. Personally, I’m thankful God first took us to El Dorado, Arkansas and then brought us here to Wetzel Road, and for 29 years has said to stay!
a. Whatever God asks of us, let’s be ready to say, “Yes.”
F. Let me end with this illustration from Roger Staubach.
1. In spite of the fact that Roger Staubach played for the Dallas Cowboys, who are one of my least favorite teams in the NFL, he is one of my favorite players.
2. Staubach is a man of faith, who is a devoted husband to his wife of 52 years, faithful father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and a man who played the game of football the right way.
3. I want to end with this illustration, because Staubach admits that learning to submit to leadership was hard for him.
4. Staubach admitted that not being allowed to call his own plays was a real of trial for him.
5. Legendary Coach Tom Landry called every play.
a. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could Roger change the play (But he had better be right!).
6. Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a “genius mind” when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.
7. Roger Staubach later said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.”
8. The same will be the case for us. When we learn to follow God’s lead there will be harmony, fulfillment and victory.
9. Like Saul and Barnabas and the folks at Antioch, let’s follow God’s lead.
10. Let’s trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.
Resources:
Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 2002, Chapters 9.
