Finding Something Missing in Ephesus
Passage: Acts 19:1-10
When God wills, 19:1.
Early this month we had all our sons and their families home which meant we had six grandkids three and under playing in the house. Mind you we have tons of toys, more than enough for all of them to play with, but the word we heard most was “mine, mine, mine.”
It reminded me of that scene in the Disney move Finding Nemo where the seagulls are all saying, “mine, mine, mine.”
We live on a strong-willed planet filled with seven billion strong-willed people who are all saying, “Mine, mine, mine.” “My will be done.”
Someone has said the definition of hell is “my will be done” and the definition of heaven is “thy will be done.”
I spoke last week about building the kingdom by praying “Thy will be done.” That is an easy prayer to pray, but a hard prayer to wait for an answer to. How many of us have prayed and prayed for God’s will and waited for a sign, a door to open, an answer to be given?
What is God doing, when will He do it, how will He do it? So
many questions. One of the hardest things in the Christian life is waiting and not knowing.
At the beginning of Paul’s second missionary journey he traveled through Phrygia and Galatia.
Acts 16:6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
At the end of Paul’s second missionary journey he made a brief stop in Ephesus and they begged him to stay, but he said he would return if God wills, and he left.
Now at the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey he retraces his steps through Phrygia and Galatia but it happened that this time God willed for him to go to Asia minor and into Ephesus.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
You don’t know when the fullness of time will come in God’s plan.
You don’t know when in the mysterious counsel of God He wills this way or that.
When we look at all the twist and turns of our lives, all the circumstances and situations, all the differences between our life and someone else’s life, we are called to walk by faith and not by sight, and that means total trust and dependence on God.
Paul is living this important truth. While Paul was in Ephesus he wrote two letters to the church in Corinth. We hear how he was applying this truth.
heard the Gospel.
Perspective changes everything. What are we doing with our lives? Are we laying brick or are we building a cathedral?
I Corinthians 4:19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.
I Corinthians 16:5 I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
II Corinthians 1:9-10 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
Being in the center of God’s will does not mean everything will be sweetness and light, or a bed of roses. Actually it will be more like a garden of roses, flowers and thorns. Jesus prayed, “Father, not my will but thy will be done” and He ended up on a cross.
So Paul is in Ephesus now according to the will of God. In the good and the bad God has great purposes for Paul in this great city. Paul finds three things in Ephesus.
Ignorance which is answered with instruction.
Opposition which is countered with separation.
Opportunity which is seized with great boldness and fruitfulness.