A Worthy Investment
A Worthy Investment
Acts 20:1-16
John Picchiotti has made an incredible investment in my life. He texted me a brief word of encouragement this past week,
“Dave, just dropping you a line to let you know that today I am celebrating my 45th year in Christ. Just wanted to let you know you have been a significant part of the journey. Love you brother. Coach Pic.”
When Pic was 30 years old, he left the real estate business and joined the staff of Young Life. Young Life is a Christian organization that sends their staff to where the kids are, to win the right to be heard, to win teenagers to Jesus Christ. Pic, became Coach Pic, and poured his life into teenagers. I was one of those teenagers he helped win to Jesus Christ. I have known Coach Pic for over thirty years and he has been there for me at every key point in my life.
Pic has been a constant source of encouragement. He is in his 60’s now and wanted me to pray that God would give him wisdom in how he and his wife could maximize their investment into the kingdom of God during this season of life. He wants his life to count for Christ. He wants to make a worthy investment. I love Coach Pic. I would not be the man I am today if it was not for his investment in my life. His life forever changed mine.
Do you have your own “Coach Pic?” Do you have someone who has made a worthy investment in your life? Do you have someone who is always in your corner? Someone who texts you out of the blue and says, “Just wanted to let you know you have been a significant part of the journey and I love you?” Do you have a “Coach Pic?” And are you a “Coach Pic” to someone else? Who have you made a worthy investment in for the kingdom of God?
As I spoke to Coach Pic this past week and heard him speak about his life, he reminded me, life is a vapor. It is a mist. We are given so few years, so few days and so few hours to invest in others. I could hear the tension in his voice. He wants to be used by the Lord. He wants to continue to invest his life in the kingdom of God. He wants to make an impact. He wants to make a worthy investment. I pray as we approach this text, we will understand that life is short and we will all be encouraged to make a worthy investment in the kingdom of God.
How are you encouraging people?
The Apostle Paul is on his third missionary journey. He was in Ephesus preaching the word of the Lord. The Lord had given him favor and the word was dramatically changing people’s lives. Paul invested his life preaching and teaching the gospel in Ephesus for the last two years and people turned from their idols to the living God. The impact was so great that the business of idol makers were affected. Demetrius, the silversmith, incited a riot against Paul and the message of the gospel. Paul was used mightily by the Lord to transform people’s lives and he did it through many who opposed his work. There will always be things and people who try to discourage and thwart our investment in the kingdom of God, but kingdom investment is always worth it. Acts 20:1–2,
[1] After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. [2] When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.
One of the words that exemplifies the Apostle Paul’s ministry is encouragement. When most think of Paul, they think of his letters and church planting and sermons before councils and kings, but most of Paul’s ministry involved encouragement. He would go to a city and preach the gospel and then he would spend the rest of his life encouraging those saints to hold fast to Jesus and make much of his name. In verse 1, he called the disciples and after encouraging them he left. Verse 2, he went through the regions giving them much encouragement, he left. Paul traveled throughout the known world leaving a trail of encouragement wherever he went.
Beloved, let us be people of encouragement. Let us remind people of the hope we have in Christ. Let us tell people that the sufferings of this present world do not compare to the glory that is going to be revealed. Let us remind people our Father who sees what is done in secret will reward us. Let us keep telling others that Jesus is worth it. Let us give grace and mercy to all again and again and again. Let us encourage everyone to make Jesus your greatest treasure. This is what Paul did, and this is what we are called to do.
Are we a people of encouragement? Does encouragement exemplify our church family? Does he mark your homes? Your conversation with your kids? Do people know you as critical of others or grateful for them? Are we quicker to say, “What’s wrong with you people?” Or “Look at what is right with these people!” Paul encouraged the saints. I pray we would commit to do the same.
Paul did not just encourage people, but he invested into specific people. All throughout his ministry, we see Paul surrounded with brothers and sisters laboring alongside him. Acts 20:3–6
[3] 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. [4] Sopater 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. [5] These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, [6] 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.
Luke is a historian and provides specific details of their travel narrative. We may gloss over those details, but the details provide confidence in the historicity of the book. The details of names and places help to verify the legitimacy and truthfulness of the account. Paul has picked up a handful of characters throughout his missionary travels. Sopater from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Timothy and Gaius from Derbe, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.
Paul invested his life into these men and labored and served alongside them. He spent his life encouraging these men in the things of God. 2 Timothy 2:1–7,
[1] You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, [2] and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. [3] Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. [4] No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. [5] An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. [6] It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. [7] Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Paul could have written these words to any one of his companions. Timothy, most likely being the youngest of the men, may have needed the encouragement most as young men often do. Notice what he says, “what you have heard from me” give to others. Paul asks Timothy to give to others what he first received from him. Timothy was to look for faithful men who would then give themselves to others. Paul modeled what he expected of Timothy. Paul invested in faithful men all over the known world. Paul made a worthy investment in men who would make a worthy investment in other men.
We have to also see that the investment was not easy for right after Paul says invest your life into faithful men, he encourages him with three analogies: A good soldier, a disciplined athlete and a hard-working farmer. Every one of those roles require a lot of effort over a long period of time. Discipleship is not for the faint of heart. It requires patience, discipline and lots of hard work over years.
Parents you are called to make disciples of your children. You need to be like a good soldier of Christ Jesus helping your children not to get entangled with worldly things, like a hard-working farmer sowing seeds of grace and mercy into your children’s lives. Invest your life into your children. Give them Christ every day. Do not grow weary in encouraging them to follow Christ.
Beloved, we all have the responsibility to invest our lives into others. It is so encouraging to hear so many stories of you investing your lives into others. Let me encourage you to continue to pour your life into others. It is a worthy investment. One of the privileges we have as a congregation is to help develop and disciple future pastors and missionaries. When we bring in pastoral residents for a season, you have an opportunity to help invest in them so they will be more effective ministers of the gospel in the future. Pioneer Church has their one year anniversary of their first public service today. How many of the saints at Pioneer were invested in and encouraged in Christ at Park? Trell is a better pastor for his time at Park. AP, Elizabeth, Terrell, Ny, and Gerald were all poured here and are being a blessing there. How much have we seen Thomas grow over the past year? How much will we see Alan, Samuel, Michael and Josue grow over the coming year?
Discipleship is a community project. All of us have the responsibility to invest into one another for the glory of God. So, who are you encouraging? How are you encouraging people? I am so encouraged as the pastor of this church in how much you are investing your lives into one another and I would just ask you to do so more and more. I would love for every single member to be able to say: this is who I am encouraging and this is how I am encouraging others to follow Jesus Christ. Let us be a community of encouragement.
Are you praying for the Spirit to exercise power?
Each and every Lord’s Day, we gather to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. When we gather, are you praying for the Spirit to exercise his power? We will not see spiritual transformation and conversion by our own effort. We need the Spirit of God. Acts 20:7 is the first time we clearly see the pattern for New Testament worship, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread.” The Jews would worship the Lord on the Sabbath which was Saturday. It marked the time when everyone would rest from their labors and give their worship to God. The New Testament worship follows the resurrection pattern of setting aside the first day of the week to rest in the finished work of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished our salvation. We rest from our works as we trust in Christ’s finished work of the cross and resurrection. We rest from our works because we cannot earn our salvation.
The New Testament pattern is to set aside the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, (as John calls in Revelation 1:10) to break bread and hear the word of the Lord. The church gathered broke bread (commemorated the Lord’s Supper) and heard the Word of the Lord. We do the same week after week after week. We set aside the Lord’s Day to assemble as God’s people, to break bread, sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs of praise, and sit under the Word of the Lord. We are not merely coming to church, but we are gathering as the church. We are gathering in faith declaring that what we are doing now will one day happen on the Day of the Lord. On the Day of the Lord God will gather his people with his Word and all his saints will come and worship him as King of kings and Lord of lords.
We notice how central the word of God was in the gathering of the saints and the power of the resurrection, but first we can chuckle on how long sermons literally can kill you. Acts 20:7–12,
[7] 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. [8] There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. [9] And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. [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.” [11] And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. [12] And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
The night was dragging on and there were lamps burning to light the room. The lamps would also be taking the oxygen from the room so the windows, or wind doors, were open to help circulate more air flowing through the room. Eutychus sat by the window and sank into a deep sleep and fell out. It was a third story building and he was taken up dead. Paul went to him, bent over him and raised him from the dead. Eutychus was dead or as I like to say, dead-dead. He had no life in him until God raised him from the dead.
Elijah, the Lord Jesus and now the Apostle Paul all have demonstrated the Spirit’s power in raising someone from the dead. Each story authenticates the message of the gospel and the hope offered in the Messiah. The hope of the Messiah to come in Elijah, the hope of the Messiah who came in Jesus, and the hope of the Messiah who will come again in Paul. The power of God descended on Eutychus. He was dead and God gave him life.
Friend, if you are not a follower of Jesus, the Bible calls you dead. You are dead in your trespasses and sin. You may be breathing but spiritually you are dead. You need a resurrection. God needs to take your stony heart and give you a new one. We must be born again. We need a resurrection. God sent Jesus Christ to be our resurrection. He came to die for us. The only way we can experience a true resurrection if someone else takes our place in death. And that is exactly what Jesus Christ did. He lived a perfect life and offered his perfect life as a sacrifice for our sins. He died in our place on the cross and then took our place in the tomb. But death could not hold him. God raised him to life as a promise to all who would repent of their sins and trust in him that they would be raised to life with him. Every resurrection we see in the Bible is given so we would understand our need for our own resurrection and to point us to the One who gives us a resurrection. Friend, if you turn from your sins and trust in Christ, you will be saved and experience a spiritual resurrection now and a bodily resurrection on the Lord’s Day. Repent, turn to Christ and live.
Beloved, does the Word of God bore you or excite? We know throughout the history of the church, there have been many preachers who have put people to sleep, but there have been many others who came uninterested in the word of God. There are some who may not come sleeping, but who come uninterested in the word of God. Some who are more focused on their social media feed or grocery list than listening to the Word of the Lord. Do you come with eager anticipation for the Word? Do you expect God to speak? Do you pray for the Spirit of God to exercise his power to continue the work of your salvation? Do you pray for the Spirit to save someone who is far from God? Do you pray for the Spirit to sanctify and unify his church? Do you pray for the Spirit to exercise his power? Or do you gather each week spiritually asleep? You may be here physically but asleep spiritually?
There may be factors of why we may lose focus on the word on any given Sunday. Maybe we had a long week, or a late night of work or were restless in the night, but those days should be few and far between. We should come with an eager anticipation that God will speak through his word by his servant for the glory of his name. God will speak, are you listening?
And think about Paul’s investment. He spent all night teaching the Word of God. He spoke til midnight, God brought his resurrection power, and Paul continued to spend time with the saints until daybreak. And the saints were comforted in what they saw and heard. Think of the energy it took for Paul to share not only the word but his time with the people? Again, Paul invested his life into the saints. One of the reasons Paul experienced so many amazing blessings and witnessed so many miracles, is his willingness to regularly gather with the saints.
There are some services where the Holy Spirit moves in such a way that after I’ll say, I am so glad I didn’t miss that. Even this past Wednesday night, we had a time of prayer for people who we want to experience God’s resurrection power. We only prayed for 5-7 minutes but it was such a sweet time of resting on God’s power. You could feel the power of the Holy Spirit and the sweet communion of the saints. And the saints as Luke writes, “were not a little comforted.” Let me encourage you to continue to be faithful to the gathering of the saints, praying for the Spirit to exercise his power to save and sanctify the saints.
Do you have exclusive priorities?
Paul had exclusive priority to serve and honor the Lord. He did not do all that he wanted to do but was constrained by the Spirit to do his will. Acts 20:13–16
[13] But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. [14] And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. [15] 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. [16] For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
Again, Luke lays out Paul’s travel to provide details of the places he went with the gospel, but I merely want to point out how exclusive Paul’s priority was to do the Lord’s will. Paul felt the Holy Spirit told him to go to Jerusalem so he had to make choices based on the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Beloved, we all have to make choices on what we prioritize. There will always be things that demand our time and attention. It may be our jobs or kids activities or family obligations. There are some things we cannot avoid, but we should always prioritize what the Lord wants us to do. We know the Lord wants us to spend time with this word. We know the Lord wants us to gather with saints. We know the Lord wants us to pray. We know the Lord wants us to invest our lives in others. We know the Lord wants us to share the gospel with those far from God.
Paul was a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He charged Timothy, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” Are you entangled in civilian pursuits? Are you unable to serve the saints or reach the lost because your priorities are misaligned? Does God have exclusive rights over your priorities? Do you prayerfully submit your schedule to Christ first or commit your schedule and then ask God to bless it?
It is hard, very hard, to question someone’s priorities. It is hard to question how people spend their time and money, but I believe we are going to be faithful elders, we have do it, Hebrews 13:17,
[17] Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
As elders, we are charged to watch over your souls. We have to watch to see if your souls are in a good place with the Lord. We are not the Holy Spirit. We cannot look into the matters of the heart and discern motivations, but we can look at what we see and hear and ask the question, “Are you entangled with civilian pursuits?” Are your priorities right?
Almost every week before I preach, I pray that the word sown would fall on fertile soil. I want the good soil Mark 4:20 for every person here, “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and hundredfold.” The sowing of God’s word requires spiritual power. My fear for many of us is that the word doesn’t fall on good soil but among the thorns. Mark 4:18–19,
[18] And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, [19] but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
As a congregation I think of the three mentioned two are the ones we are in most danger of: the cares of the world and the desires for other things that enter in. They choke the word and it proves unfruitful. We cannot avoid the cares of the world and we cannot avoid the desire for other things, but we are commanded by Christ to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
I would encourage you as you enter into a new semester to analyze your priorities. Do your activities, your travel, your hobbies, interests, push you towards Christ and his people or away from them? Are you so busy that you miss the time with the saints? I do not want to create an unhealthy legalism in our body, but I want every single one of us to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No good soldier gets entangled in civilian or worldly pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. Are you entangled? Do you have a desire for other things? Are the cares of the world overtaking you?
As one who has been charged to shepherd your soul, let me encourage you to have exclusive priorities for the Lord. The Apostle Paul did many things, but when the Lord gave him directions, he obeyed; regardless of the costs. He was hastening to be at Jerusalem for that was where the Lord was leading him. Do you have that kind of exclusivity with the Lord’s priorities? Beloved, if one of our elders sends you a text or tells you, we are concerned for you and your priorities, please do not get angry. God has given you shepherds because you need them. God has given me shepherds because I need them. Shepherds are sheep too. Part of our church covenants states,
We will walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a Christian Church, exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require.
We will seek, by Divine aid, to live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remembering that, as we have been voluntarily buried by baptism and raised again from the symbolic grave, so there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life.
The world wants us to be unfruitful. God has given us each other so we can help tend the soil of one another’s hearts so the word would fall on fertile soil.
I pray we all have a Paul in our life. I pray we all have a Timothy in our life. I have a Coach Pic and Pic has me. We have each other and God has given us each other because Jesus is worth it. The world hates Jesus. The world hates when we encourage others to follow Jesus. The world hates when our priorities make Jesus first. The world is going after our minutes, and hours and days to drift us away from Jesus, but our lives should be marked by his glory.
The Lord Jesus had a singular priority for God’s glory. His glory led him to the cross, the tomb, the resurrection, ascension and to the right hand of the Father. Our lives should be marked by a joyful desire to encourage all people to experience the joy of Jesus as their greatest treasure. Is Jesus your greatest treasure? Then encourage others to have the same priority. Invest your life to encourage others to know Jesus and make him known. It will be a life well lived and a worthy investment in the kingdom of God.