His Life Is In Him (Acts 20, Jeff Kliewer)

Of a preacher man. He had a father who was an evangelist, would go from town to town and often John would go with him and see his father preach. And he talks about how there was one particular illustration that his dad would use very often in his preaching that stuck in his young mind and shaped him probably more than anything else that he heard his father say.

It was the illustration of a man who was quite elderly, who came to one of the crusades that his father hosted. And at the end of the sermon the man came forward and knelt and prayed to accept the Lord and he was filled with joy because his sins had been forgiven and so late in life he had not missed eternity.

But then a few minutes later after that joy swept over him, he began to weep. He began to cry and in fits of disappointment he cried out, I wasted it, I wasted it. This man recognized that he was given but one life to live and it was all but gone.

His one chance at life was wasted. That thought shaped the young John Piper and in his twenties he searched out the meaning of life and eventually came to understand that life is Christ, to know Christ is to know life and to die is gain.

And it shaped him and later on in his career his own sermon that was probably most well known was about seashells. Have you guys heard this illustration? Piper's famous seashell illustration. He talks about opening a magazine one day and he was down in Florida and he read in the magazine about someone who had retired to Punta Gorda, Florida at age 51 and had bought a yacht to sail around and had retired so young and was going to spend the rest of their life collecting seashells.

And Piper read that story and instead of thinking wow you know that's the good life, that's what I want to do when I'm 51. Piper threw the magazine down and he said no they wasted it. He began to think about that and he said what would you do before the Lord Jesus Christ, do you want to show Him your seashell collection?

This is what I, I'm made of this life, Lord here's my seashells. When Piper preached that and you know Piper's inimitable way, it just stirred the crowd and many people were born again that day and he's preached it very often since then.

But the illustration is the same as the one that his father gave. We only have one life to live. The same placard that, that Piper had on his wall growing up, he now keeps over his front door. It's one that my grandmother also had on her wall.

It said only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. That's the point of the message today. Turn with me to Acts chapter 20. How many times have I said this is my favorite chapter of the Bible?

I'm about to say that, you know I think I've said that a few times before. I love Acts chapter 20, I hope you do too after today. Don't sleep on the things that matter most but run in such a way as to get the prize.

1 Corinthians 9 24. Make the most of this one pass through life. This one life that will soon be passed. Acts chapter 20 verse 1 and following. After the uproar ceased, there was a riot in Ephesus and now he's, it's calmed down and Paul sent for the disciples and after encouraging them he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

Saptura the Berean, son of Pyrrhus accompanied him and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. Try pronouncing those names.

These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days we came to them at Troas where we stayed for seven days. So if we could pull up the map in the back this is now Paul's third missionary journey and in today's sermon he's going to accomplish most of the mission.

He started in Antioch, he worked his way through Asia, he's crossed over now to Philippi which is the southern part of Macedonia and he's gone down to Greece we see in verse two so he's kind of come to the farthest most point in his journey but instead of just sailing back from Corinth to Antioch he decides to go back up by land.

Why was that? In the text it says there was some kind of plot on his life in verse three. There was a plot made against him so evidently that ship was about to get hijacked and Paul was going to be killed but he was made aware of it so instead he goes by foot back the way he came up through Macedonia.

Now life is well spent making disciples who make disciples. We say I don't want to waste my life. Nobody here wants to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and have nothing to show him but seashells. All of us want to have something to offer.

What is it that Paul intends to bring before the throne of the living God? I'll tell you what, fifty years from now, well let's say a hundred years from now, I can guarantee you I will not be standing in this pulpit but somebody else will.

Disciples make disciples. Notice in verse one after the uproar ceased Paul sent for who? The disciples. He was making disciples with his life. Passing on to the next generation what he himself had received from someone else when Ananias laid hands on him and baptized him and sent him out.

Commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is something worth living for. Disciples who make disciples. I think this is the next great push in our church. The Lord has been accomplishing things among us.

We built an evangelistic culture where people are sharing the gospel. And that's continuing to build among us. But the next step for us is for every man and every woman to say, I will be a Paul to some Timothy in this church.

I will disciple someone. And for every woman to be a Lydia or an Aquila to a younger lady or two. Or like Jesus, up to twelve. To disciple somebody. To lead them. So look with me in verse four. Wherever Paul went on that journey that we just discovered, as he went through Berea and he went through Thessalonica, he went through Asia, notice that there's landmarks in verse four that there are now disciples that are traveling with him.

Paul has taken Sopater the Berean, the son of Pyrrhus, to accompany him wherever he goes. When you go to do ministry, take somebody along with you. Teach them how to disciple. Bring them alongside of you.

There's Aristarchus and Secundus. They're from Thessalonica. You have Gaius from Derbe and Timothy. Also, from Lystra, right nearby Derbe, he saw Paul stoned and left for dead. That made a mark on Timothy.

And now he's running the race side by side with his mentor. What a treat for him. And the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. Later Paul will say, Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. He has now become one of his co-workers.

He's passing the baton. Epaphroditus brought the gospel to Colossae. Paul never visited Colossae. The church was started by someone that Paul had reached and passed the baton to take it to the next place.

This is something worthy of your time in life. There is some young man sitting here today, older man, that you need to disciple. And maybe you're young in the faith and you say, well, I don't know. I'm not sure I have anybody I can disciple.

You might have a younger brother or a younger sister that you can teach the Bible to. You know something. You know something to tell them. This is what's happening and this is worthy of our time. So the first thing, disciples making disciples.

That is worth your time. That will outlast you. That will outlive you. To devote yourself to teaching the next generation. But there's a pitfall in this life. I've seen many young disciples come to faith and probably the biggest thing that has led them away, I talked about how social justice teaching has derailed many, but probably even more than that is the flesh.

Someone who came to Christ and began to run strong but then fell into sexual temptation. Or maybe just their laziness created a habit where they no longer went to church and before long they forgot about church altogether.

The flesh, the flesh is a pitfall. And listen, to really live this life in a meaningful way, you must die. William Wallace said that, right? Every man lives, not every man really, wait. I messed that one up.

Every man dies, not every man really lives. Remember that quote, Braveheart? His point was you can live, but not really live. And to die in Christ is not really death, it's a resurrection. The question is are you living for something that matters?

See, the flesh all day long will beg you to feed it. The flesh will promise you life in something that's not life at all. The flesh will offer you opportunities to feel good and to feel like you've accomplished something.

But it's a pitfall. The flesh took over this, this man here that Paul is speaking to, his name is Eutychus. Follow with me in verse 7 through 12. On the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them intending to depart on the next day and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

I don't plan to do that, everybody say amen. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered and a young man named Eutychus sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer.

That's how some of you might describe my preaching, still, he's still talking. Why is he still preaching? Well Paul kept talking till midnight so take that one. And being overcome by sleep he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

Ecclesiastes says a man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time when it suddenly falls upon them.

Eutychus did not think he would die that night but that was the night of his death. But for God and His power, let's keep reading, verse 10, but Paul went down and bent over him and taking him in his arms said, do not be alarmed for his life is in him.

That's the title of my sermon today, his life is in him. Your heart is still beating, there's still breath in your lungs, you have a reason why you're here. There is something for you to accomplish. Could be snuffed out like that tomorrow, you never know, when your car flips and rolls a couple of times.

Could be the last day of your life. Eutychus didn't expect to die that night but now his life is in him, a little longer. I think he'll live a little differently from this day forward, don't you think?

I don't think he'll be sleeping on Paul's sermon the rest of the night. I love this, by the way, about the rest of this section. When Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, what did he do? He conversed with them a long while until daybreak.

For those of you with a short attention span for the scripture, let that be an encouragement, an encouragement to grow and to mature in your appetite and your hunger for the Word of God. I'm sure Eutychus was paying attention and they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted.

Wow, what a story. John Bloom has a quote on DesiringGod .org that I just want to read to you, it's in your notes also. Listen, this is the struggle for life. The thing that promises you life is often death and the way of true life is dying to yourself.

Listen to the way John Bloom put it. When it comes to resisting the powerful demands of our weak flesh, the Bible describes it as a kind of dying. That's because our deceived, corrupt flesh believes our life will be happier if we gratify it.

Denying it can feel like dying to something life-giving. We must remember every day that nothing good dwells in us, that is, in our flesh. When we, in following the Spirit's direction, die to our flesh, we are dying only to what would destroy us.

Things like sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness. All we are dying to is death. That kind of dying is worth dying every day, for in such dying we choose life. When our weak flesh seems to wield great power through its cravings and compulsions, we must watch and pray for the Spirit, for greater is He that is in the new, regenerate us, than he that is in the old us.

All our sinful flesh will yield is death, but if by the Spirit we put our flesh to death, we will live. Today, when your unruly flesh makes maddening demands on you, remember, it will not kill you to die to your flesh.

You are choosing life. When Eutychus' eyelids were feeling heavy and he was about to fall asleep and all that his flesh wanted to do was to just nod off for just a moment, he gave in to his flesh and it was death.

But life is found in denying the flesh. Life is found in denying oneself to do what God has called you to do. A death to your own desires. That's how your life will have purpose. And that's the great struggle for your life.

This is where the battle is fought. Spirit versus flesh. Let's keep going. Verses 13 to 16. Count the days to gain a heart of wisdom. As he moves down the coast of Asia, notice Paul's, his ambition. Notice his desire to accomplish something that matters.

But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Asos, intending to take Paul aboard there. For so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Asos, we took him on board and went to Middolene.

And sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and the day after that we went to Miletus. By the way, if anybody tells you that the Bible is made up of fables and stories, just read it.

This is history. They tell you people, persons, dates, places. This is real history being recorded down to the detail. Verse 16. For when Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time, mark that word time, in Asia.

For he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost, the 50, after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He spent that back in Greece. He wants to make it to Jerusalem on Pentecost because he knows what?

The city will swell with millions of people and there will be an opportunity to preach Christ. He has purpose. He's using his time well. The verse I want you to memorize comes from Acts chapter 90 verse 12.

Put it on a postcard somewhere in your house. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Chris Rice wrote a song years ago called Life Means So Much. He says, teach us to count the days.

Teach us to make the days count. Lead us in better ways. Somehow our souls forgot. Life means so much. Life means so much. Life means so much. We have a limited number of days. I think the average is about 30 ,000 which makes me about halfway done.

So with the 15 ,000 that I have left on an average life span, could just be one, it could be 15 ,000, could be a little more. I want every last one of those days to count for the gospel of Jesus Christ and that brings us to the fourth point.

Testifying to the gospel of God's grace. This is what you're here to do Christian. To tell someone, to testify, to declare that you have seen and you have heard that Jesus is the Christ. He rose from the dead triumphant over death.

He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. These words need to come from your mouth to someone's ears. That is a life worth living. That's what you're here to say. You're here to testify and I love this verse.

It's one of my life verses, Acts chapter 20 verse 24. We're gonna get to it here. Verse 17, now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility.

I love that he points out his own humility by the way. And with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the call of the gospel. We testify, what do we say? Repent and believe. Repentance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent of sin, put your faith in Christ. And if you here have not yet done this, I call you to it in this moment.

Your sin leads to death, you know it does. Turn from that sin, turn to Christ and live. The one who rose from the dead is able to raise your body also. The one who conquered death is able to give you life and meaning in life and purpose.

So turn from sin, repent from whatever it is that opposes God and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. Now keep reading, 22. And now behold I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

You'd think he'd turn back right? Don't go, go to Florida. Go walk on the beach. Don't go there because you know what happens there. You're going to be beaten within an inch of your life and if you survive it you're lucky.

But he says, verse 24, and make this your life verse. I have this in my office as one of my life verses because it says I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course.

Makes me think of my boy running this race the other day. He was promised a prize, whoever won the second grade walk-a-thon. And he locked in and he ran his heart out because he wanted to get some pretzels and M &M's.

How much more the eternal reward that's waiting for you and I who run for Jesus Christ. We're not told what it is. It's described as crowns. It's some way reigning with Christ. We don't know exactly what the rewards are but we are running in such a way as to get a prize.

First Corinthians 9, 24. Run in that way. Run to get a prize it says. And now how do you do that? So I want to run this course. I want to have a ministry from Jesus. What am I to say or do? Well here it is.

To testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Mark those three words. That's purpose in life. God, grace, gospel. God. He's the one we live for. This world does not revolve around me or you. Our lives are minuscule and we're specks of dust and our lives are just a mist that's here today and gone tomorrow.

But what is worthy? The one who created it all. Only God is worthy. Piper talks about how insane it would be to go to the Alps in Sweden or France and rather than looking out at the majesty of those mountains to lock yourself up in a room of mirrors and admire yourself.

He said it's like the pathology of someone who goes to the Grand Canyon and looking out at the creation of God contemplates how big he is. Pathological. No you go to the Grand Canyon to see the glory of something that makes you small because you were made to behold his glory.

To see him. God is the issue of the gospel. God. The second word is grace. Who he is, he's God. The triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What has he done? Sum it up with the word grace. He has leaned in.

He has favored humanity. He has come. The word become flesh. Come to us and dwelt among us. In his grace he has become man. He has taken on flesh. In the form of sinful flesh though he himself was without sin.

And he died on a cross. And he rose from the dead. And that cross is the pinnacle of his grace. It's the demonstration that God has come to earth to take care of our sin. To take our sin away. The word grace sums it all up.

And gospel. Gospel is the news of it. What God has done in his grace. Who God is. The trinity. This has now been encapsulated in a message. In some good news. We now proclaim who God is and what he's done.

And that's your purpose in life. To take who he is and what he's done and speak it forth into the world. To testify to the gospel. There's the purpose of life. It's God, grace, gospel. God, grace, gospel.

Only one life it will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Go preach the name of Jesus. Lastly, go and love the church. We die caring for the blood bought church. Verse 25 and following.

And now behold I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Paul knows he's going to die. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all.

For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Here's a special word to elders but it applies to all of us. But elders, me, listen. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

To care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood. Whatever you do to care for the church of the living God, when you go visit someone sick in the hospital, when you help a brother, when his back's out, when you have a sister and she has a need and you come and you meet that need, whatever you do for the church is time well spent.

Way better than what you could have spent it on watching a football game. I know I keep hitting the football games recently. It's not wrong to watch football, it's just wrong to be devoted to it in place of the church, right?

I mean think of it this way. Little kids come up to you on the playground and they tell the adult, hey watch this for me. You know how they say that? They throw their jacket on you and say, watch this for me.

Or maybe it's just like a little bag of acorns that they've collected. Watch these for me. And you think okay, well he asked me to, I'll watch it. How much more if a little boy came up and said, watch this for me and it was the gift that was given to him by his dying mother.

How carefully would you watch that for him? What if you're a soldier and your dying soldier friend hands you a letter that he had written to his wife and says, give this to my wife and then takes his last breath.

How carefully would you guard that letter and how faithfully will you deliver it? The blood bought church. The church was bought with the precious blood of Jesus and he said, watch it. Care for it. This is worth your time.

This is worth getting up early to come to Sunday school, going to a prayer meeting, going to a community group, taking part in ministries and serving Operation Christmas Child. Everything we do for the church is for the one who bled to pay for us.

Watch that way. Watch carefully. Verse 29 and following, 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.

Guys, you wonder why I do apologetics sometimes and I'll even name names. I've called out Paul Tripp when he said that he had been preaching a truncated gospel for 30 years and now he's found the additive that makes it whole.

Or Geno Jennings, I've talked about Jim Wallace, Shane Claiborne. When people begin to twist the gospel, why would I say it? Because that's my charge as an elder. To watch and to protect the sheep. To protect the sheep from false and twisted teachings.

There is one gospel and it's all about the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. We do that according to this charge. This is where I get it in Acts chapter 20. Keep reading. Verse 31, therefore be alert.

Eutychus, be alert. If you're falling asleep, be alert to the things of God. Remembering that after, that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I command you, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Sanctified there refers to positional sanctification. There is a progressive sanctification where we're being made more and more into the image of Christ. But in the moment that you put your faith in Christ, you are set apart as belonging to Him.

You're sanctified. You're made holy through the blood of Jesus. So, we who are sitting here in Christ, we're sanctified positionally. Paul says, I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

Paul was willing to work, to have a little extra to give. Malachi 3 talks about tithing to the church. It says test me in this, see if I don't pour out blessing on you to give that first 10 of your income to the church.

It's a habit that I was taught young and I've always practiced that when you do that, you will see that God is able to provide everything that you need for life and godliness. He is faithful. Test Him.

Find out. And then do even above and beyond that to give what the Lord has called you to give to. He'll lead you in where to put money and where to help people. Compassion International and Operation Christmas Child and things like that.

He'll lead you in how to do it. Test Him in it. Test Him in it. In all things I have shown you that by working hard, this is by the way how you earn money. It takes hard work to earn money. In this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

And when He had said these things, He knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word He had spoken, that they would not see His face again.

And they accompanied Him to the ship. Don't waste your life. Let this morning be a spiritual wake up call. Acts chapter 20 verse 24 should be a life verse for you. Mark it and learn it. Does, 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 receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

That poem that I saw on my grandmother's wall has taken on a deep meaning to me because it was there in the room when she died and I was there visiting Seattle. I don't remember the year but in the 90s.

I wrote a poem that describes what that did in my life and heart. Only one life, it will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last. I used to read those words on my grandma's wall and I was there that day to see her fall.

I watched the medics come and press her chest until my dad spoke up and said, let her rest. She lived her life and now it's past. She lived for Christ. Her reward will last. When my eyes were young I couldn't see that far.

I heard an eternal song but only read the first bar. Now my eyes are older and they're looking out to an eternal kingdom I've been reading about. This life is heavy man. It disappears like a mist. 2000 years ago is like two days when life flowed from the wrist of a savior once given and now calling for this.

Here I am, all in, letting this life go for an eternal bliss. I have only one life, it will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last. Let's close in a word of prayer and worship team come up and then we celebrate life.

We celebrate baptism. If you're getting baptized today you can come on up to the front row. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for the words of Paul. We thank you God that you have given us this one life. Every beat of our heart, every breath we take comes from you and this morning we want to say we offer it to you.

Help us Lord to count the days, to make the days count. I pray that we will die to our flesh so that we won't be swallowed up by the lies of the flesh but that we will crucify the flesh dying daily to our own desires.

God I pray that we will commit ourselves to making disciples who make disciples. I pray that we will testify to the gospel of God's grace. I pray that we will pour ourselves in to loving the church and caring for the church because you bought the church with your own precious blood.

These are the things that matter. These are the things that are worth living for and I pray now God that you will testify through the water. Death to the old man, a new man rising. Speak Lord through the testimonies of others.

Speak through the water itself. Let it witness that Jesus is the crucified and risen Savior of the world. In his name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing.