Doing Things Right in the Sight of Men - Life of Paul Part 68

Good morning.

How are you? Hey, we want you to take a Bible. Let's open it together to Acts chapter 20.

We're going to be continuing in our study of the life of the great man, the Apostle Paul. Welcome to all you guys down at Overflow. We love you for being here.

Thanks for coming. Well, you know the Cubs almost did it. Almost. Ten days ago, the Cubs were five outs away from the first World Series appearance for them since 1945, an appearance which, by the way, they lost. The Cubs haven't won the World Series since 1908, but a week ago Wednesday night, October the 15th, the Cubs were poised to end all this pain. They were leading three to nothing in the top of the eighth inning, one out. They were already leading three games to two in the NLCS. They were five outs away, and then all of a sudden, disaster struck. They had two players fly ball right at the left field wall. An overzealous fan named Steve Bartman reached over the wall and interfered with the loop, blocking him from making the catch in the sure out, and the play then triggered a cataclysmic collapse on the part of the Cubs that allowed the Marlins to go on and score eight runs in that inning, defeating them eight to three in Game 6.

They also defeated them in Game 7. The Cubs' hopes of the World Series were over. Now, as the horrific implications of what Bartman had done sunk into the crowd, suddenly people started throwing beer cans at him, debris at him. People threatened him.

One guy came over the stands and actually tried to physically assault him from behind. And so the police came into the stadium and escorted him out for his own safety, and the only place they could find to put him temporarily where he'd be safe is they put him in a sanitation truck outside of the stadium and locked him in until they could get him off the ground. Things got really bad for Bartman. He couldn't go to work.

He had to disconnect his telephone. Things got so bad in Chicago for him that Florida Governor Jeb Bush offered him asylum in Florida. This is true. I'm telling you the truth. He offered to fly him down there free, give him three months on the ocean in Miami, pay for all of his meals, send him on a cruise in appreciation for what he had done for the Marlins.

This is true. Now, Bartman, what's interesting here is that Bartman is actually an avid Cubs fan. In fact, he said in apologizing to Cubs fans everywhere, and I quote, he said, End of quote. One of his friends said, Steve loves the Cubs.

Whatever may have happened, I know his heart was in the right place. Well, folks, Steve Bartman's heart may have been in the right place, but his hands were definitely in the wrong place, and it was what he did with his hands that made him the most vilified man in Chicago even to this day. Now, this is what we want to talk about today. Say we want to talk about the Cubs some more?

No. We want to talk about this whole issue of where our heart is versus where our hands are, where our heart is versus where our actions are, because this is a biblical principle growing out of our passage today where we find the Apostle Paul. So let's look at the passage, then we'll bring all of this into the 21st century.

A little bit of background. Remember, the Apostle Paul here in Acts chapter 20 is on his third missionary journey. He has spent almost three years in the city of Ephesus, and the result of that has been that the entire western half of modern day Turkey, we'll show you a map, the entire Roman province of Asia, which you see in green on the map, was saturated with the message of Jesus Christ. Now, there was a riot in town aimed at Paul.

He has survived that, and now he's getting ready to leave town, and that's where we pick up the story. Verse 1, and when the uproar, the riot, had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said goodbye. Now, it is the summer of 56 AD, and Paul has a plan. He's leaving Ephesus to go back to all the churches in Greece that he had started, and at these churches, what he's planning to do is he's planning to collect an offering for the saints, for the believers in Jerusalem, and then he's planning to take that offering to Jerusalem to give it to the poor believers who were living there. So that's what he's up to, and verse 1 continues and says, so Paul set out for Macedonia. He traveled through that area speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally he arrived in Achaia. Now, Paul was in Macedonia for the summer in the fall of 56 AD.

Let's show you a map. Macedonia is what you see in orange on the map, and he went to the cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea during these months, collecting money. These were all churches that Paul had started on his second missionary journey, Acts chapter 16, and then the Bible says he went down into Achaia, the blue section of the map, down, of course, to the city of Corinth, and he used Corinth as his headquarters for the next few months in order to spread out in southern Greece and collect this offering. That's why verse 3 says Paul stayed here in Achaia for three months.

He basically spent the winter of 56 AD here in Corinth. Verse 3 continues, and as Paul was about to set sail for Jerusalem, he heard about a plot that was formed against him by the Jews, so he decided to go back through Macedonia. Now, remember the Jewish community in Corinth did not really like Paul.

Remember they had tried to kill him the last time he was there. Remember they had organized a riot that ended up running him out of town, and so what Paul did is after he collected this offering, he booked passage on a ship, sailing, let's show you a map, from Corinth directly across the Mediterranean to Jerusalem, but the Jewish people found out about it and apparently hired a couple of assassins to get on this ship, and while the ship was sailing, their intent was that Paul had an unfortunate accident on board. Paul found out about it, we don't know exactly how, and said, you know what, I don't think I'll take that ship, upon second thought, and he decided instead to go north, as you see on the map, and buy land to go back to Philippi, and then he would take a ship from there and sail to Jerusalem. Verse 4, and Paul was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia, and Timothy also. You say, Lon, what is the deal here? Why is Paul traveling with a cast of thousands?

I mean, this sounds like one of those junkets that Congress goes on. Well, no, there's a good reason why Paul was traveling with all these people, and if you look carefully at the verse, and you look at the cities where each one of these men was from, you'll see the reason. First of all, the Bible says that Sopater was from Berea. Berea, you remember, was one of the churches from which Paul had collected money for this offering. Then the Bible says that Aristarchus and Secundus, they were from Thessalonica, again, one of the churches from which Paul had collected this offering. And then there's Gaius and Tychicus and Trophimus, all from the province of Asia, where Paul had collected money before he ever left Ephesus for this offering. And finally, there was Timothy, who was along representing the Church of Corinth. And folks, here's the point, that the apostle Paul was carrying money from each one of these cities, from the churches in each one of these cities, and so what Paul did is he asked those churches to each choose a representative or two who could travel along with him as he carried the offering. These men were to be witnesses.

These men were to be auditors, if you will, who would then be able to come back to their home churches and certify that Paul had handled this offering in a righteous and godly manner. You know, I think we all remember a few years ago, the headlines were big in the papers here, about an investigation that went on into a lot of very prominent non-profit organizations, I won't name them. And what was discovered is that these organizations were using, in some cases, over 90% of the money that was given to them for administrative expenses. And less than 10% of the money people were giving was actually going to what people thought they were given to.

And you remember the flap about all of that, because that's just wrong. Well, what Paul wanted to do is to make sure that there was no kind of flap about the way this offering was handled, that there was never any doubt that it got chewed up in administrative expenses. He wanted to make sure that there was never any question as to whether he pilfered some of this money or skimmed it off the top, whether he had bought a chateau in Switzerland or had an offshore account in Grand Cayman, that all of this was not done. And that's why he took these men with him, so that they could report back and say, we saw what he did with the money, we were there for every piece of the travel, and we can certify to you that money was handled in the way you intended it to be handled.

It was handled righteously and godly. Now that's as far as we want to go in our passage, because it's time to ask a question. And you all know our question. So is everybody ready? Yeah, you ready? Okay, nice deep breath. Here we go, ready?

One, two, three. So what? Right. Ceylon, so what?

Say, I've never been to Switzerland or Grand Cayman, what difference does any of this make in my life? Well, there's a biblical principle here I want to extract for us, and let me show you what it is, because it's really an important principle. Question, when the Apostle Paul took all this money and headed off for Jerusalem, here's the question, was there any real chance that the Apostle Paul was going to use this money for personal gain? Was there any real chance that he was going to skim this money or he was going to pill for this money? Well friends, knowing the character of the Apostle Paul, there was no chance he was going to do that. Couldn't he have looked at the leaders of every one of these churches and said, look, God knows my heart, God knows my intent, and I'm going to use this money honorably, and you can count on me and you don't have a thing to worry about. Couldn't he have done that?

And it would have been true, it would have been true. You say, well, Lon, if that's the case, then why in the world did Paul go to the trouble to put this big traveling team together? I mean, Lon, it must have been a logistical nightmare moving all these people around in those days, trying to get them from Greece to Jerusalem together.

Why did he do this? Well, because Paul was living out a biblical principle, and let me let him tell you what it is. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul's talking about one of these men that had been chosen to be a representative to go with him, and here's what he says.

He says in verse 19, he, this representative, was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry this offering. We're doing things this way, that is, we're taking this group of representatives along in order to take precautions so that no one might discredit us in our handling of this generous offering. Here comes our biblical principle. For we are concerned, Paul says, about what is honorable, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men.

Let me repeat that. For we are concerned, Paul says, about not only what is honorable in God's sight, but also what is honorable in people's sight. Now folks, this is an incredibly important biblical principle. Listen to what Paul says. Paul says it's not good enough for us to just be able to say, well, in the sight of God, he knows everything's okay. In the sight of God, he knows we've done everything right. God knows my heart. That's not good enough, Paul says.

It's good. It's important. We ought to do things where God can look at our heart and say, now, that was honorable. That's important, but Paul said that's only one half of the pancake, friends.

The other side of the pancake is doing things in a way, setting up systems, setting up boundaries, setting up accountability points whereby people around us can see that we've done what's honorable, whereby they can certify that we've done what's honorable. And that's why he took these people along, because it was a system that Paul set up. It was an accountability point that Paul deliberately set up, not because there was any real danger he was going to take the money.

He wasn't going to take the money. But he said, I don't just care about what God knows about my heart. I care what people can see, and that's why I'm taking all these people with me. Now, as followers of Jesus Christ today, I think there's never been a more important moment in time for us to take heed to this biblical principle. Hey, as followers of Christ, we all know that the televangelism scandals have damaged our financial credibility with the average American. We all know that the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church have damaged our moral credibility with many people in America. We all know that the inauthentic lifestyle that many people who claim to be Christians live in this country, that that has damaged our believability with so many Americans. And let me just stop for a moment and say, maybe you're here today, and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, and this is your hang-up. You've watched the televangelism nonsense, and you've seen people around you who claim to be followers of Christ do things that were just dishonorable. And you've extrapolated that and said, well, the whole Christianity thing is dishonorable.

And I'm here to tell you, wait a minute, wait a minute. Listen, biblical Christianity doesn't rise and fall based on the integrity of its followers. We want to be people of integrity.

We try to be people of integrity. But biblical Christianity rises and falls with the integrity of Jesus Christ. And as long as He's got integrity, and as long as He's impeccable, and as long as He's perfect, biblical Christianity stands just fine, folks. Listen, the problem, if we were perfect as His followers, we wouldn't have needed a Savior to start with, and we do. So yes, I'm not trying to justify our wrongdoing in certain cases. I'm just saying don't judge the validity of the Christian faith on us, because we're not the right people for you to be judging it on.

You judge it on Jesus Christ, and until you find something wrong with Him, trust me, the Christian faith is honorable and it's right. Now for those of us who are followers of Christ, though, let's be reminded that our credibility as followers of Christ, our reputation, and our moral authority is running at an all-time low here in America. And the reason primarily is because we have failed to take heed of this biblical principle. Many times you've heard evangelical leaders trying to justify their behavior, say things like, God knows my heart.

Well, all right, but that's not the point. The point is people can't see your heart. People can only see what you and I do.

They can only see the actions you and I take. That's what they're going to judge, that's what they're going to evaluate, and if we don't make sure we set systems up to ensure that we match up with what we do, with what we say is in our heart, then that's how we create the problem we have in America today. Now here at McLean Bible Church, we have really tried to take serious stock of this biblical principle. We have worked hard as the leaders of this church to implement this principle. And the reason is we know that we cannot speak to secular people in Washington, D.C. about Jesus Christ unless they regard us as a church that has integrity and authenticity and moral uprightness. And so here are some of the things, I just want to give you a few of them, that we have done here together as a church family to ensure that we're doing what's honorable, not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of men. Here are some systems, some boundaries, some accountability points that we've set up.

For example, financially. Did you know that I cannot sign a check here at McLean Bible Church? I'm not one of the authorized signatories and never have been in 24 years. If you get me to sign a check and you take it to the bank, they won't cash it, because I'm not allowed to sign it. I have no access to petty cash even in this church.

If you bought a can of coffee and bought it in here and then you said, hey, could you reimburse me from petty cash, the answer is no. I don't even know where it is, honestly, and if I did, I don't have access to go in there anyway. You say, well, why do you do that? Because we know the people out in our city are always wondering if I'm just helping myself to a few offering bags, you know, every week here, and we want to set systems up so they can come and see that that can't possibly happen, and that's why we have those boundaries. You know, I don't even know the combination of the safe here at McLean Bible Church. In fact, for years, I didn't even know we had one.

This is true. I had a lady come to me a few years ago and said, I got this envelope. You know, we have one of those little doors where you can slide things right in the safe. She said, I got to go slide this in.

Can you tell me where it is? I said, we don't have a safe. She said, yes, you do. I said, no, no, I've been the pastor here 20 years, ma'am, trust me.

We don't have a safe. She said, I know you do. They told me to go put this in. So I said, come with me. We went down to the finance department and I said, do we have a safe? And they said, of course we have a safe.

I'm like, really? I didn't know that. Where is it? I had no idea. You said, well, how could you be the pastor of the church and not know where the safe is? Well, why would I even care? I can't go in it. So why do I even care where it is?

I don't know the combination. I don't want to know it. Now, if you said to me today, I don't even know where it is in this building. If you said to me, Lon, I will give you $1 million, cold cash. If you take me right now and show me where the safe is, I couldn't earn that money.

If you're serious, I'll find out. But I don't know where it is. And why is that? Because if I don't know the combination of the safe, I can't go in the safe and take anything out. Do you know I've never seen the financial giving records of anybody in this church in 24 years? I have no idea what you give.

And let me tell you why. Because I want to shake everybody's hand the same when you come walking in this church. And we want to make decisions here at this church that are based upon righteousness and the biblical teachings of God and what's fair and good. And we don't want to be influenced by, well, so and so gives this much.

We got to be careful. They give a lot. I don't even want to know that kind of nonsense. We want to make decisions based on principle. And therefore, I don't have any idea what you give and never have known and never will know. These are boundaries our elders have set up to protect, proclaim Bible Church and to make sure that not only are we doing what is honorable in the sight of God, God knows all this, but there are also systems in place so a man could walk in or a woman could walk in and look and see that honorability reflected in the way we act. Do you understand what I'm saying?

We've done that morally. Do you know I'm not allowed to meet with any member of the opposite sex in my office, nor is any member of my staff, male or female, without a third person in the room? You say, why? Yep, got to have a third person in the room. I've had ladies show up and say, I don't want a third person in the room. I just wanted to talk to you. I said, well, I'm sorry you can't do that.

I said, if you need to talk to somebody privately, I'll arrange for you to see a woman staff member, but you can't do that with me. We have a system. We have a boundary here. You say, why is it?

That seems like a dumb rule. No, it isn't. What if some woman comes walking out of a counseling session with me and says, you know what Lon did? You know what he said to me? Do you know what he said about my body?

Do you know what some of the lewd and awful things that he asked me about? And I say, no, I didn't do that. I didn't do it. And it's my word against her word, and she goes to the papers. You don't think that would damage this church, and who do you think people are going to believe in our world? So we've set up a system, so that can't happen. There's always somebody in the room. You know, here at McLean Bible Church, no member of our staff who's married can ride alone in a car with a member of the other sex. There has to be a third person in the automobile. You say, isn't that awkward?

Isn't that logistically tough? It is, but you know what? I don't want to see, I don't want somebody to see a member of our staff riding down the road, some married man with a young, beautiful young lady in the car, and start saying, you know what? What's going on? So we made sure it can't happen. You know, I don't hug ladies. If you're a lady and you want to hug me in the lobby, uh-uh, not doing it. You say, well, I didn't want to hug you anyway.

Well, that's good, because we're not going to do it. And when I shake ladies' hands, none of this, you know, oh, you know, it's just not, you know, give me my hand back. I'm a married man. This is my hand. You give me my hand back.

Don't be doing that to my hand. That's not, I'm a married man. And you say, well, why do you do that? Because people are standing there watching in the lobby of our church. And friends, all of these are systems that we have established because this biblical principle is so important. We want people to be able to look and see what we say is happening in our heart, that we're really trying to honor God in our heart. So we've set up systems so that it shows. And that's why Paul took all these people along. So he set up a system so it showed he was honoring God. Now let's go from McLean Bible Church to talking about you and me privately, can we?

I mean, let's go from preaching to meddling. Is that all right? Because, you know, if you're here today and you're a follower of Christ, I hope that in your heart you've got a clearly established determination that you want to honor God with your life, that you want to do those things that please Jesus Christ in your life. And that's wonderful. But remember this principle that, friends, that's only half the pancake.

The other half the pancake, which in some senses is the more important half because it's the only half people can see, is how we go out, the system we set up to go out and live that out in front of people's eyes. You say, well, Lon, what are you talking about? Well, I'm talking about the fact that there are folks out there who want to discredit you and who want to tarnish your testimony as an excuse for their own unbelief, as a way of justifying their own refusal to come to Christ.

And the only way to stop them is by setting up systems where they can't go there. You say, like what? Well, men, like not staring at women, like as though you're undressing them with every step. You say, well, that's not what's in my heart.

I'm just thanking God for the awesome power that He could make such beauty. Whatever. You know, if you believe that, I'll sell you a bridge, too. You say, but even if it's true, then look at women like that. You say, well, what are you saying? You say, I mean, I walk down the street, you can't not look at women, they're there. All right? Friends, it's not the first look that's the problem.

It's the second look that's the problem. So do we have systems in place? Like Job said, I've made a covenant with my eyes that I will not look on a woman in an ungodly way. Do we have a system, a boundary, a place in our life, so somebody watching us walk down the street would look at us and see the intent in our heart lived out in our eyes? Do we do that? Hey, what about gossiping and backbiting other people? You say, well, God knows my heart. I'm just concerned. All right, well, if you're all that concerned, why don't you stop talking about people and go do something practically to help them? How about being people of full disclosure at work, in your relationships, not spinning people.

We live in spin town USA. But being a person that what you see is what you get. And when you tell people something, they're not always wondering, you know, what you're not telling them that they're going to end up finding out about later. This is a way that we outwardly can demonstrate the integrity that we say we're trying to live out for Jesus Christ inwardly. How about respecting our boss or respecting our teacher at school or honoring our parents?

How about that? Do we do that on the outside so people can see that's really in our heart on the inside? How about living at home in front of our children in a way that matches up with the faith that we say lives in our heart? They can't see our heart. They can only see the way we live in our home. And one of the greatest problems we have with teenagers today, trying to reach them for Christ, is they come to us and say, I live in a home where my parents claim to be followers of Christ, but they're so hypocritical and they're so inconsistent and they're so inauthentic that I question whether this whole Jesus thing has even got any validity to it at all. Tell them I'm not home. Well, what is that all about?

You're asking your kid to lie for you? And how about, you know, parents, the way we live with selfishness in our home and verbal abuse in our home and ungodly anger in our home and stuff we watch on television that our kids see us watching and stuff we place as we go on the computer that we got no business going. I mean, how about setting up some systems in our homes where we live out what we say is in our heart?

And finally, I mean, we could keep going, but just one more thought. Men, how about how we treat our wives with kindness and with gentleness and with the respect that we say we feel for them in our heart? You say, well, God knows my heart, Lon. You know, I love my wife. I told her that the day we got married. If it ever changes, I'll let her know.

No, that's not good enough, folks. Let me ask you, if a bystander were watching you and your wife walk down the street together or interact at some place, would they know what was in your heart? Is that obvious in the way you speak to your wife and the way you treat your wife and the way you respect your wife? Would they figure out that that was really in your heart?

The point is here, and I could go on, but I think the point's clear. The point is, do I look at women in a way that's God-honoring in the sight of people? Do I speak about others in a way that's God-honoring in the sight of people? Do I give full disclosure on issues in a way that's God-honoring in the sight of people? Do I honor my boss, my teacher, my parents in a way that's God-honoring in the sight of people?

Do I live before my children and do I treat my wife or my husband in a way that's honoring in the sight of people? Because that's how they're going to evaluate what's in your heart. And this is the biblical principle. Paul says we've got to think about that. We've got to go the extra mile. We've got to be concerned about building those boundaries and systems in because if we're not, we leave ourselves wide open to be discredited by a critically looking world. And that's how we got to where we are today, is the Church of Jesus Christ in America. Now we need to turn that around. Personally, we need to turn it around, and as a church family, we need to make sure we turn that around because if we don't, we're never going to speak to people in this town about Jesus Christ. We've got to get the platform of moral authority before we can speak about Christ.

And so this is our principle. As Peter said, keep your behavior excellent in the sight of all men, for this is God's will, that by acting properly, we may silence the ignorance of foolish men. And friends, I want to invite you to take a hard look at your life and ask some hard questions and say, am I really doing this?

And I hope you will. Let's pray together. Lord, thanks for talking to us today about real life, right down where we live. Because you know that, indeed, so many times we justify ourselves by saying, well, God knows my heart.

But thanks for reminding us today that that's not the whole pancake. The other side is building systems that show to people that we're really trying to honor God in the way we act so they can see it. And Father, I pray that you would help us to really take a hard look at our lifestyles today, all of us. And if there's a need for some course correction, I pray that you would give us the courage, with your help, to make those corrections. God, change the very way we live because we were here today and we interacted with your spirit in your Word, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.