Acts 20:17-38
Chapel at the EurAsian Baptist Bible Institute
Vatici, Moldova

Viețile Noastre Nu Sunt Nimic (Predica de La Revedere)
Traducere în Română de Igor Ciobanu
Fapte 20:17-38
Capela la Institutul Biblic EurAsiatic
Vatici, Moldova

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Manuscript
(Note: I do not preach from manuscript, so there are differences between the audio and the manuscript. However, the core message is the same.)

Introduction

Three years ago, I was sitting in a college class listening to a guest speaker encourage us to spend two to three years serving as international missionaries.  At the beginning of the class, I was not particularly interested in what the man was saying.  I already had a plan for my life.  I was a year away from graduating college, and then I would immediately enroll in seminary.  I would complete all my degrees, and then I would consider missionary service.

However, that morning as the man spoke, I heard the Holy Spirit ask, “Why don’t you do that?  Why aren’t you considering that?”  The thought had never occurred to me that God’s plan for me might be quite different than the plan I had for myself.  That afternoon, I came home, kissed my wife, and said, “What do you think about going overseas for two years?”  Without hesitation, she immediately said, “Sure.  Let’s go.”

What followed were several months of seeking the Lord’s guidance.  Again, we had plans to work with another organization in Asia or Africa.  This organization is supported by our home church and is a great organization.  It was obvious that we would serve God with this organization.  Again, I had forgotten that God’s plan for me is often quite different than the plan I have for myself.  Because of medical issues that organization declined our application to work with them.

We were confused.  Why had God so clearly told us to serve him as short-term missionaries and then caused this great organization to decline our application?  The providence of God is a mysterious thing when looking forward into the future, but when we are able to look back at the past, we often see clearly the hidden Hand that was shaping our lives and our very souls.  At the time when we were confused and frustrated, God brought Eric and Stephanie Chapman into our lives.

God had given Eric a vision for this Bible Institute, and when he told me about that vision, I knew that this was the reason why the Holy Spirit had spoken to me that day in class and that this was also the reason why the other organization had rejected our application.

But, now, again, I am confused and frustrated.  My precious time with you as your professor has come to an end, and it is with a heavy heart that I am preparing to leave you.  I think it is obvious why I asked you to turn to this passage.  Like Paul with the Ephesian elders, I have been your teacher, and I pray that I have pleased God in my service to you.  Yet, also like Paul, I can say, “And now, behold, I am going…constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me” (v. 22).

Again, our family does not understand what God is doing.  Looking forward, providence is a mysterious thing.  All we can do is trust the hidden Hand of God who is shaping our lives.  You see, often God’s plans for us are quite different than the plans we have for ourselves.

So, what does this teach us?  How do we respond to the uncertainty of life?  This passage teaches us a truth that will guide us through times of uncertainty: Our lives are nothing until we count them nothing.

I. When our lives are nothing, the Gospel shines as everything.

Observation. Paul begins his farewell sermon to the Ephesian elders by recounting the time he had spent with them.  He tells them that while he was in the region of Asia he declared to them the things that were profitable (v. 20).  He taught them both publicly and privately.  He testified to the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles.  He urged both groups to repent and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

But how did he do this?  Did he declare, teach, and testify with victory?  No, he says in verse 19 that he served the Lord in Asia “with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.”  In spite of these difficulties, he “did not shrink from” doing the things God had called him to do.

Then Paul explains to the elders that he must go to Jerusalem.  He tells them that he does not know what will happen to him in Jerusalem “except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await” (v. 23).  All he knows is that God is leading him directly into suffering.

In chapter 21, Luke gives examples of what Paul says here.  First in Tyre and then in Caesarea the Holy Spirit reveals through Christian prophets that Paul will suffer in Jerusalem.  Their interpretation and application of the prophecy is to plead with Paul, “Don’t go!”  However, Paul insists that he must go.

Why must Paul go?  How can he go when he knows that suffering awaits him?  The key to understanding this dilemma can be found in v. 24: “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”  How can he go?  Paul says, “My life has no value!  My life is nothing!”

Paul says, “My life is nothing…except to do the work that Jesus has called me to do.”  What is that work?  “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”  Paul gave up everything and counted his life nothing because the Gospel is everything.  Paul understood that the Gospel would only shine as everything—the Gospel would only be displayed as valuable, as powerful, as glorious, as incomparable—when he counted his life as nothing.

Illustration

In Matthew 13, Jesus explains this principle with a parable:

Jesus tells of a man who is working in someone’s field, and he uncovers a hidden treasure.  The man realizes that the treasure is so valuable that if he were to have it then he would be richer than he ever thought possible.  However, the man is an honest man.  He will not simply steal the treasure, so he does some thinking: “If I sell everything I have—absolutely everything—then I will have enough money to buy this field, and then I will own the treasure honestly.”  Jesus says, “Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt 13:44).  His family and his friends believe the man has lost his mind.  “Why would you sell everything you have, everything you have worked for your entire life, to own a field full of dirt?” they ask.  Yet, he ignores them because he understands the true and hidden value of the field.  So, he sells everything and he gets even more.  Only after he has sold everything do his family and friends realize the true value of the field.

Principle

The Gospel is everything!  The Gospel is worth more than everything.  The Gospel is more valuable than your life because the Gospel is life.

About five years later, Paul would write a letter to the Ephesus Church, and in that letter, he reminded them of the surpassing value of the Gospel:

You were dead.  You were living in a death of sins.  You were following this world to destruction.  You were following Satan, and you were doing whatever your flesh wanted to do, and this made you a child of wrath.  You were dead.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ” (Eph 2:4-5)!  O, the glory of Grace!  You were dead BUT GOD made you alive, and God has seated you with Christ in the heavenly places “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  O, the majesty of the Gospel of God’s grace!

Amazing Grace!  How sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost,
But now am found;
Was blind,
But now I see!

The glory of the majesty of the Gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ!  The Gospel is everything!

Application.

Yet, God in his infinite wisdom has chosen to display the value of the Gospel through us.  My students—my brothers and sisters—does you life display the glory of the Gospel?  As Paul exhorted the Philippians: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil 1:27).  How can our lives display the infinite value of grace?  Our lives demonstrate the Gospel’s value when we renounce our lives to have it.  Like the man in the field, we must give up everything to have even more.  Like Paul, we must say, “My life has no value.”  For only when our lives are nothing does the Gospel shine as everything.

II. When our lives are everything, we become worse than nothing.

Observation.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this passage is what Paul says next.  Now remember that he is speaking to men that he had spent three years teaching.  He says, “For three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.”  These men have great training.  I hope that you have enjoyed taking my classes on the New Testament, but imagine having Paul as your professor!

Paul also points out that these men have a high calling: the Holy Spirit has made them overseers, to care for the church of God, “which he obtained with his own blood” (v. 28).  These men have great training and a high calling.

Even so, Paul warns them in verse 28: “Pay careful attention to yourselves.”  He warns them, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (v. 29-30).  Paul says that wolves are coming to destroy the flock.  He says that false teachers are coming who will deceive the church.  But where to wolves come from? from the outside? from somewhere far away?  No.  These wolves will come from within!  And if you read Paul’s first letter to Timothy which was written about six or seven years after this, you will see that what Paul has predicted has happened.

So, Paul warns them in verse 31, “Therefore, be alert!”  What are we to be alert for?  We are to be alert for our own selfish motives.  Paul reminds them that he has set them an example.  He did not teach them to make money.  In fact, his own hands provided for the things he needed.  Then he reminds them of what Jesus had said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (v. 35).

“Be alert for covetousness” was the warning that Paul gave.  We covet when we have a desire for something that God has not given us, and so the Ten Commandments defines the sin of covetousness with very broad terms: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or wife or servant or animals or “anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exod 20:17).

To covet means that your life has become everything because your desires demonstrate that you believe that you are worthy of everything.

Illustration.

One of the best examples of this is found in 2 Chronicles 26.  King Uzziah began to reign when he was only sixteen years old.  He “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chr 26:4).  The Bible says, “He set himself to seek God” (2 Chr 26:5).  He had a great teacher who instructed him in the ways of God, and because he had devoted himself to God, God made his kingdom prosper.

But then there is a great change in the story of Uzziah: “And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong” (2 Chr 26:15).  As a young man, Uzziah had been devoted to God.  He had sought after God, but as an old man he grew strong and proud “to his destruction” (2 Chr 26:16).  He coveted the honor and power that the priests had in their temple service, and so he went into the temple and offered incense on the altar.  God had clearly commanded and Uzziah had clearly been taught that only the Levites had this authority.  However, Uzziah wanted to honor and power, and so he ignored the commands of God.  He said to God, “I am everything and you are nothing.  My way is wiser than your way.”  And when the priests confronted Uzziah, God judged him by striking him with leprosy.

Principle.

Like Uzziah, you are young, and you have set yourself to seek God.  Like the Ephesian Elders, you have had good teaching, and you have a high calling.  But those things are not enough.  There still remains a danger.  There still remains an enemy.  Uzziah became proud and rejected God’s word.  The Ephesian Elders became greedy and spoke twisted things.

So, who is this enemy—our greatest enemy?  Is it the state? the Orthodox? those old people in the churches that are stuck in tradition and ignorance?  No.  Your greatest enemy is yourself!

You are not better than the Ephesian Elders.  If anything, you are worse and more vulnerable because I am certain that the quality of education that you are receiving here does not match the quality of Paul’s teaching.

Please understand that there is not some other place where you should expect the wolves to come from.  There is no college or institute advertising itself as “the School of the Wolves.”  No, the wolves will come from within.  The wolves are inside you, and they are hungry—they have desires that will cause you to do things that you could not imagine doing at this moment.

So, be alert!  Guard yourselves!  Know how these things begin.  They do not begin in a big, easily-recognizable way.  No, covetousness begins quietly.  It begins innocently.  A simple thought becomes a harmless desire that our flesh turns into a great desire, and then it becomes a need.  Then something we had only, barely thought about becomes something that we will sacrifice everything for.

I am young, but already I have seen many men who have lost everything for their desires.  They are serving God and loving his people, but then a woman in the congregation stays after the service to ask questions about the sermon.  He feels excited and affirmed.  He wishes that his wife were as interested in his ministry as this young woman.  She listens to him as if he is important and wise.  Again and again, he finds himself talking to her.  Then, he finds himself thinking about her at other times, remembering how happy he feels when talking to her, and then he calls her and meets her at a restaurant to talk with her and encourage her in the faith.  But when he is alone with her, he feels his heart beating faster as desire rushes through his body, and she feels it too.  Her husband is not a spiritual leader, but this minister has helped her.  He’s filled the missing hole in her marriage.  He is the husband that she wished she had, and then they cannot hold their emotion and desire in any longer.  Finally, they have left their spouses—their families—for each other.  Yet, it did not begin that way.  No.  It began with a feeling of excitement and affirmation.  No.  It began with a few thoughts.

I have seen it, and we could tell the story about others who have desire money or fame or intelligence or anything.  The desires within you are quiet.  They are waiting for you to put down your guard.  Then they will rise and overpower you.

Suddenly you believe that you are everything and that you deserve everything, and the result is that the Gospel is demeaned as worthless.  “The Gospel must not be that important,” people will think, “since this man or woman gave it up in order to follow the same desires that everyone else follows.”  And suddenly, before even knowing it, you have become worse than nothing.  Your choices have demeaned the Gospel and damaged the church.

Application.

So, my students—my brothers and sisters—I plead with you: do not live the life of Uzziah.  Do not follow the path of the Ephesian Elders.  The training you receive here is not enough.  The calling you have received is not enough.  You are not protected from ruining yourself and the value of the Gospel in the eyes of the world.

Be alert!  Know yourself.  Know your desires.  Know your weaknesses.  What desires control you?  What sinful desires keep coming up in your emotions and thoughts?  Do you think they are harmless?  Woe to you!  They are not.  They are your greatest enemy.  Stand up and fight with the power of Christ Jesus.  Do not allow them to continue.  Destroy them.  Confess them and repent.  Cry out to Christ: “O my Savior, do not allow me to fall prey to the wolf that is within me!  O that I would be faithful!  Bind my wandering heart to Thee!”

Conclusion

Our lives are nothing until we count them nothing.

What is the value of your life?  My friends, our lives are short.  They are a blink of the eye.  I do not know what God will do with my life, but I give it to Him to do with as He pleases.  I know that if I hold onto my life then I will lose it.  In my hands, it will become nothing, but if I lose my life for his sake—if I count my life as nothing—then He turns my life into something.  When my life is nothing, He can use it to display the Gospel of His Grace—to display Himself—as more valuable than everything!

My brothers and sisters, as I leave Moldova, I pray for you.  I pray that God will use you to manifest his glory and the glory of the Gospel.  I pray that one day when we are all 60 or 70 years old—or if not here, in eternity—we will be able to sit down together and praise God together for everything he has done through our lives.

Even so, I sternly warn you: Guard yourselves!  And sadly, I know, among the nearly forty people sitting here, it will not be long before someone follows desire to their own destruction.  Sadly, some of you will become wolves.  Some of you will shame the Gospel.  O, may it not be so!  Resolve this day to not become that person.  Commit this day to destroying your sinful desires.  Decide this day to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

For, our lives are nothing until we count them as nothing!

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen” (Jude 24-25). 

Mark 3:13-35
Series: Who Is He?: The Gospel According to Mark
Chapel at the EurAsian Baptist Bible Institute
Vatici, Moldova

Chemarea Poporul Nou lui Dumnezeu
Traducere în Română de Igor Ciobanu
Marcu 3:13-35
Seria: Cine Este El?: Evanghelia după Marcu
Capela la Institutul Biblic EurAsiatic
Vatici, Moldova

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Mark 2:1-3:12
Series: Who Is He?: The Gospel According to Mark
Chapel at the EurAsian Baptist Bible Institute
Vatici, Moldova

Așteptăra Sparte
Traducere în Română de Igor Ciobanu
Marcu 2:1-3:12
Seria: Cine Este El?: Evanghelia după Marcu
Capela la Institutul Biblic EurAsiatic
Vatici, Moldova

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Luke 1:39-56
The Spring of Life Baptist Church
Chișinău, Moldova

Sufletul Meu Marește pe Domnul
Traducere în Română de Igor Ciobanu
Luca 1:39-56
Biserica Baptistă “Izvorul Vieții”
Chișinău, Moldova

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