We began a conversation a number of weeks ago with a question: what gives us meaning in this life? I suggested that the question is actually a mute point for those who call themselves Christian because if we believe that Christ came, died and rose again then we must also live out this reality. To live out this belief we are called to become a witness for Christ. A witness is an impossible role without the acceptance of the God into one’s heart, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit for the single intent of glorifying our Lord. Do this effectively one must make a public declaration of a belief in and adherence to Jesus Christ over an extended period of time connecting to both God an others.
This week we will continue the lesson by getting to the heart of God through the reviewing the scriptures. However, before we dive in, I’d like to tell you a story of integrity.
A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.” The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued, “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues; however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil. He so wanted the seed to grow.
A year went by and the CEO asked the young executives to bring their plants to work for inspection.
When Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot, she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.
When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful – in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He asked Jim to come to the front of the room. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed. Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer — Jim!”
Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed. “How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.
Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow.
“All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”
• If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
• If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
• If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
• If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
• If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
• If you plant hard work, you will reap success
• If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later. http://www.charactercountsiniowa.org/2013/02/22/a-very-special-seed-a-story-about-integrity/#.ViUREdKrSHs
Integrity means wholeness; the entire state of anything particularly the mind; incorruptness; uprightness; honesty. – Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary
I don’t think any other individual in all of scripture defines integrity better than Paul. The letters he wrote and the stories we can read about him detail a man who sought to live his whole life for God. Today’s scripture give us yet another description of his whole nature. If you have a bible or an app, please open it to Acts 18. While you are doing that, let me bring you up to date with what has happened. Paul and Barnabas split up because they couldn’t agree who they should accompany them on their next journey. Paul headed back to Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the new church plants. Once again, Paul encounters the wrath of the authorities and the joy of converts. All the while, his ankle express keeps moving only to pull into the Corinth. This is where we find him today.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
Claudius banned Christina’s from Rome because the Jews and the sect called “the way” were clashing regularly. A roman historian by the name of Suetonius wrote that that the Jews were rioting at the instigation (led by) a slave by the name of Christus. To keep the peace, the Claudius expelled all of them. What a shock this must have been to so many but especially to business owners which were no required to establish their trade. Paul demonstrates his love for his fellow believers by spending time with them. A Shiva of sorts but also something we call the ministry of presence today. The ministry of presence is the intentional spending of time with another during a rough patch. No solutions need to be offered; time and conversation.
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
Paul’s friends show up and tell him to get preaching. He begins with fervor only to once again create a few enemies. The people in the synagogues didn’t want to hear the truth that the Messiah had come. They, like us, don’t like change. If they were to believe then they would need to reorient their whole worldview. Resistance is part of the process of change. I am sure Paul knew this and experienced it. I am also sure it caused him to fear on occasion.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
A week ago, we heard a testimony of hearing the Lord audibly. Others have alluded to hearing Him. Still others felt a strong sense of the next course of action that was undeniable. Paul heard from the Lord because he stayed connected to the Lord. A vision so clear, he knew his was called to a Corinth for this season.
12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. 13 “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” 14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” 16 So he drove them off. 17 Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.
The people are once again frustrated with Paul to the point that they bring him before the civil Roman government who just isn’t that interested in getting involved in religious disputes. They knew any such intervening creates a bad precedent. They were the occupiers and peacekeepers so when the religious mob action took place, it was no concern unless it kept the people from working and paying their taxes. This is separation of church and state taken to the extreme.
18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.
Most bibles’ today create an artificial break in the scripture. I prefer to add this final verse because it informs us that Paul didn’t leave because of the unrest. He left to accompany good friends and the fulfillment of his calling or vow. They mention He cut his hair because it was customary for Nazirite Jew to not shave for a period of time due to commitment. Numbers 6 details that a Nazirite is a “dedicated one” or a “set apart one.” A Nazirite was an individual who made an extraordinary vow of commitment to God. The Mishnah – the Jewish digest of oral law – mentions the typical vow as 30 days though longer periods were not uncommon. – (quest, 196, commentary)
So what are we to take from today’s scripture? A “Witness for Christ” requires integrity before the world. Put another way: a wholeness of oneself whereby a person’s internal being is directed by their willingness to love and serve others no matter the cost.
Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.
Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was his lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.
Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him. Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education.
Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.
One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great.
So, he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he would ever pay.
Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem read:
The clock of life is wound but once,
and no man has the power
to tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still.
https://communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info
