Sermon for Sunday July 27th, 2008
Responsibilities In This
World by Steve Shepherd
Acts 23:1-23:11
INTRO.- ILL.- Someone came up with some crazy ideas on how to make life more
enjoyable.
- Old telephone books make ideal personal address books. Simply cross out the
names and addresses of people you don’t know.
- Fool other drivers into thinking you have an expensive car phone by holding an
old video remote control up to your ear and occasionally swerving across the
road and mounting the curb.
- Avoid parking tickets by leaving your windshield wipers turned on to fast wipe
whenever you leave your car parked illegally.
- No time for a bath? Wrap yourself in masking tape and remove the dirt by
simply peeling it off.
- Apply red nail polish to your nails before clipping them. The red nails will
be much easier to spot on your bathroom carpet. (Unless you have a red carpet,
in which case a contrasting polish should be selected). I DON’T THINK SO!
Making life more enjoyable sounds good to most people but is it really possible?
It’s one reason why some people shoot for the stars in making money or wanting
to become famous. It’s why thousands and thousands of young people try out for
the American Idol show. They probably figure it’s a quick way to fame and
fortune. And for some, it’s been pretty good.
However, there is no quick-fix to anything good in life.
ILL.- I remember going back to visit my mother about two months after my dad
died. I took mom out to eat somewhere and while we were sitting there talking
she laid out 8 checks on the table. I said, "What are these?" She said, "These
are interest checks. Each of them represent $10,000." I said, "What? You mean to
tell me that you have $80,000 dollars?"
I never questioned mother after that.
How did she get $80,000? Did she rob somebody? Was she involved in some gambling
scheme? Was she involved in the syndicate? WHAT DID SHE DO? Knowing my mom and
dad as I did, I know she how got that money. She and dad worked hard for it and
saved it. And that is how most people do it, that is, if they are blessed with
any money at all.
The point is that anything really good in life doesn’t come easily. Generally,
it takes planning, hard work and something else. What’s else? I think more than
anything it takes God’s blessing on your life.
How do you make life more enjoyable? You seek the Lord in life! You seek His
will for your life! You include Him in your life! You walk with Him daily!
John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full." KJV "I am come that they might
have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
But along with enjoyment, there are some requirements in life. God wants us to
work. He wants us to fulfill our responsibilities to Him. He often blesses us in
spite of our delinquent attitudes and actions but He’ll bless us even more when
we do His will.
PROP.- In this text we see some responsibilities that we all have in this life.
1- Our duty to God
2- Our respect to man
3- Our witness to mankind
I. OUR DUTY TO GOD
1Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled
my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."
ILL.- Mrs. Hunter was called to serve for jury duty, but asked to be excused
because she didn’t believe in capital punishment and didn’t want her personal
thoughts to prevent the trial from running its proper course. But the public
defender liked her thoughtfulness and tried to convince her that she was
appropriate to serve on the jury.
"Madam," he explained, "This is not a murder trial! It’s a simple civil lawsuit.
A wife is bringing this case against her husband because he gambled away the
$12,000 he had promised to use to remodel the kitchen for her birthday."
"Well, okay," agreed Mrs. Hunter, "I’ll serve. I guess I could be wrong about
capital punishment after all!"
We want to think about our duty to God, which could well include serving on a
jury some day. I’ve never been given that duty yet but as a citizen I would try
to fulfill that responsibility if I were called.
We need to think about our duty to God in response to His will for our lives.
What’s His will and/or mission for your life? Have you figured it out and are
you doing your duty to God?
It’s pretty obvious from scripture that God wants us to live right, to work, to
take care of our families, etc. BUT HAVE YOU DISCOVERED HIS WILL BEYOND THOSE
THINGS?
HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THE WILL OF GOD FOR YOUR LIFE? And are you fulfilling your
duty in all good conscience as Paul did.
ILL.- Wilson Johnson, the founder of Holiday Inn motels, once said, “When I was
forty years old I worked in a sawmill. One morning the boss told me I was fired.
Depressed and discouraged, I felt like the world had caved in. When I told my
wife what had happened, she asked me what I was going to do. I replied, ‘I’m
going to mortgage our little home and go into the building business.’
“My first venture was the construction of two small buildings. Within five years
I was a multimillionaire! At the time it happened, I didn’t understand why I was
fired. Later, I saw that it was God’s unerring and wondrous plan to get me into
the way of his choosing.”
I’m glad that Wilson Johnson discovered what he thought was God’s will for His
life. It isn’t always that easy for some people.
You ask: “What is the will of God?”
Well, here’s the answer true;
“The nearest thing, that should be done,
That he can do—through you!”
Are you a mother? Then be a good mother to your children. Be a mother first of
all. Put your kids first in your life. Are you father? Then be the best father
you can be. Do you have a job in this world? DO THE BEST YOU CAN. Are you a SS
teacher? Then do your duty. Do your best. Are you a leader? Do your duty!
Whenever God puts you in a certain situation in life then be the best that you
can be. Fulfill your duty whatever it is, and do it for His sake and glory.
I Cor. 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the
glory of God."
II. OUR RESPECT TO MAN
2At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him
on the mouth. 3Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed
wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate
the law by commanding that I be struck!" 4Those who were standing near Paul
said, "You dare to insult God’s high priest?" 5Paul replied, "Brothers, I did
not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ’Do not speak evil
about the ruler of your people.’"
When Paul realized that he was dealing with the high priest he immediately
apologized in a sense. And we should respect rulers and all for people, for that
matter.
ILL.- Mrs. Morrison said: Service in the restaurant was abysmally (very) slow.
My husband was starting to flip out, so I tried to distract him with small talk.
"You know," I said, "our friend Christi should be having her baby anytime now."
"Really?" my husband snapped. "She wasn’t even pregnant when we walked in here."
HAVE YOU BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT? Have you ever been in a restaurant where the
service was SOOO very slow? Or perhaps it wasn’t very good? Or the food wasn’t
good? In those cases, it would be hard to be your pleasant self.
No matter where we are in life we need to be as respectful as we can toward
others and to others.
ILL.- The presidential race is on. We hear both pro and con, good and bad about
both candidates but regardless who gets to be the President of the United States
we should still respect the office and pray for the president. I like some
presidents better than others. You do too. There are probably some that you
don’t like at all. It’s a matter of personal opinion but we still need to
support our President. And the same holds for all leaders in high position.
Rom. 13:7 "Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if
revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
I Tim. 2:1-4 "1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession
and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority,
that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This
is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth."
Titus 3:1-2 "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be
obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable
and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men."
Be considerate and show humility toward all people.
ILL.- Recently, Louise Smith told me that some painters came to the next door
house to paint. The owners were getting the house ready for sale. GUESS WHAT?
The painter parked his truck in front of Louise’s mailbox. What’s the problem?
The mailman won’t deliver mail when the mailbox is blocked. That painter was not
showing respect.
ILL.- I know of a Kroger’s store manager in southern IL who saw two young boys
park in the handicap parking one day. He happened to see them pull in. When they
came into the store he asked them if that was their car. They said, "yes." He
said, "Well, you can leave and don’t come back."
Those boys show didn’t show any respect for the handicapped. Handicapped people
deserve respect as do all people. And people deserve respect in a variety of
ways.
ILL.- For example, I make it a practice to open doors for people. and
particularly when I’m going into a place of business like the mall, etc. But I
don’t know how many times I’ve held the door open for young people (younger than
myself) who walked through and never said, "Boo! Kiss my foot! Thank you!" or
whatever. THAT’S DISRESPECTFUL.
Whatever happened to the words: Thank you. Please. May I? You’re welcome. God
bless you. Or just a plain, "bless you"?
These are words of respect to others and should become a part of our vocabulary.
We must learn to show kindness and respect to all people and in every way
possible.
III. OUR WITNESS TO MANKIND
11The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you
have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."
We often say to people in parting, "take care" or "take care of yourself." And
we want to be careful in life. We really don’t want to be involved in a car
wreck. We don’t want to get into any kind of trouble. We don’t want to make our
parents mad. We don’t to lose our job. We want our friends and family members to
take care of themselves or be careful in life.
But God says, "Take courage."
ILL.- Baptist preacher Adrian Rogers told about a man who bragged that he had
cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. Asked why he hadn’t
cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: "Someone had already done that."
Some situations don’t require much courage, do they? For example, it’s not hard
for me to preach sermons in our church Sunday after Sunday. No one has beat up
on me. No one has said anything really bad. In fact, no one has said anything at
all! But what if God wanted me to go preach in some Muslim country...
NOW THAT WOULD TAKE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF COURAGE! And I’d bet there would be
some response to preaching Jesus there!
Likewise, it’s easy for all of us to talk about God in Sunday School and church
but what about outside, out in the working world? Or at the mall? Or at the ball
park? Or the bank? etc.
ILL.- Theodore H. White: "To go against the dominant thinking of your friends,
of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of
heroism you can perform."
It takes courage to speak for Christ when you know that you may well be
surrounded by a host of non-believers, BUT SPEAK WE MUST! We have a
responsibility to speak up for Christ. We don’t have to bullish about it but we
do it have to do it. We’ve been commanded to do it!
Matt. 28:18-19 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
God told Paul that just as he had testified for Him in Jerusalem he would also
do it in Rome. In other words, Paul was to be a witness for the Lord to all
mankind.
We are responsible for what we know! What do you know that’s good that you
should share with others?
ILL.- My preacher friend Truman Brady is somewhat computer illiterate. Well, in
fact, he’s pretty dumb. As you know, he uses my sermons and as E J says, "He
does better with your sermons than you do." But here’s what Truman would do. He
would print off my sermons that I sent him and then he’d go to work. He’d
scratch out illustrations that he couldn’t use and then insert his own personal
illustrations or stories. HOW DID HE DO THAT?
Truman would tape a piece of paper over my story and then handwrite his own
story. When he told me this, I said, "What? Why are you doing that? All you have
to do is copy and paste that sermon into word processing on your computer and
then delete whatever you want and type your own story."
He, obviously, didn’t know how to do that. I thought, "Too bad! I’m not going to
tell you either." No, I didn’t think that or say that. I told him that I would
walk him through the procedure over the phone. I WANTED TO SHARE WITH HIM
SOMETHING THAT HELP HIM IN LIFE, IN HIS MINISTRY.
The point is this: we have the most important message in the world to share with
people that bless their lives in the greatest way possible! We have a message
that will save people eternally! And don’t you care enough about people, people
just like you, to share with them the message that will lead them to eternal
life?
We have a responsibility in THIS life to witness for Christ or to share the
message of Christ.
CONCLUSION---------------
ILL.- When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn’t know she was in line for the
throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were
frustrated because they couldn’t motivate her. She just didn’t take her studies
seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would
become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, "Then I
will be good."
The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of
responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from then on. AND SO SHOULD
IT BE FOR US AS WELL.
We have inherited a high calling. We are children of God who created heaven and
earth and will give people eternal life if they believe and obey. And it is our
responsibility to point all people to Him.
We have a duty to both God and man. But our greatest responsibility is to God.
WILL YOU TAKE IT SERIOUSLY? Will you do your duty?