READ | SERMON NOTES
Summary l “Never again!”, someone exclaimed. He went on to say, “I will not move again until I hear from God. I don’t want to suffer anymore”. This person had worked in a terrible environment and when a new job opening came up, he jumped at it, only to find that the new workplace was even worse than the first. We find it difficult to make important decisions: whether it be about the course of study to undertake, the career to enter, confirming a marriage partner and so on. We want God to tell us what to do. But what is the motivation behind this desire to hear from God? The ideal answer would be that we wish to obey God and to do His will. However, if we are honest with ourselves, the real reason why we are eager to hear from God is because of fear of failure and suffering. We wish to have a successful outcome of the decision and to have a smooth path. We do not want to decide on our own and feel it is safer to have our all-knowing God to decide for us. If our motivation is fear, hearing from God is not a solution!
In Acts 16, Paul received signs from God (vs 6,7) about where not to go on his missionary journey. In vs 9, Paul receives a clear message to proceed to Macedonia. However, we learn in later chapters of Acts that when Paul arrived in Philippi, his first stop in Macedonia, an initial good response to the Gospel was followed by beatings and imprisonment. Suffering and in pain, Paul may have wondered why they were in such a predicament. Though they were miraculously released later, they were told to leave the city. Then in Thessalonica, the same cycle of some success, followed by violence and escape occurred. In Berea, we see the same pattern again. Eventually, Paul had to abandon the region altogether. Paul had clearly heard from God and he had obeyed. But this did not result in a smooth journey of success. Exactly the opposite happened. He and his fellow missionaries experienced pain and suffering and fled from the place God had led them to. Paul’s was not a unique case. Prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, and the Apostles followed God’s directive and faced anguish and even death. Perhaps not hearing from God would have led to a smoother path! We should not expect God to grant us wishes like a genie. Our Almighty God’s thoughts are not like ours; His ways are higher than ours.
Sometimes, we are paralysed by fear. Such fears may reveal the true state of our hearts. Maybe we are self-absorbed about me, myself and I? We preoccupy ourselves with what will happen to us, what will others think of us and so on. We cannot decide what to do. Seeking to hear from God is not the solution. So what is the real solution to our fears? It is to undergo a process where we turn outwards to God and others and focus less on ourselves. We die and rise again when we become Christians. We die to the old self and our sinful nature and we rise with Jesus to a new life where we direct our thoughts on God and our neighbours. With Christ at the centre, we will find that our fears dissipate. The fears are replaced by a motivation to love and serve God and His people. St Augustine said “Love God and do what you want“. Strange as this statement may sound, it highlights that once the condition of our hear is right, our decisions will be in accordance with God’s will. Acts 16 is an exception to the way God directs us. Many of the decisions we see in the Bible were made by the persons without a sign or dream. The decisions were made in love for God.
If we wish to live in freedom from fear, the solution is dying and rising again in Christ.
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- How has the Holy Spirit spoken to you through the preaching of God’s word?
- How would you summarise the message of this section or story?
- What are the implications for us through this message?
- What are the personal implications (for you)?
- What are the communal implications (for our gospel community)?
- What are the missional implications (for those we want to reach for Christ)?
