If you're going to have a good marriage you're going to have to be persistent in those times when circumstances make it difficult. If you're going to raise good kids you're going to need persistence in standing firm against those parts of the culture that pressure them to go the opposite direction. If you're going to advance the cause of Christ and have a positive influence on people around you you're going to need to be persistent because the Enemy of our Souls doesn't give up easily. If you're going to remain faithful as a Christian you're also going to need persistence because there is nearly constant pressure to get you to give in and give up. Your persistence, or lack of it, may ultimately determine whether you end up in heaven or hell.

Have you noticed? Some people just will not be stopped. They accomplish much more in adversity that most people accomplish with great advantage. They refuse to listen to their fears. It seems that nothing anyone says or does holds them back.

The following excerpt was reportedly taken from the diary of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church. I don't agree with all of Wesley's theology, but I can't help but admire his persistence. Here is his entry for a period of about one month:

Sunday morning, May 5, preached in St. Ann's, was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday p.m., May 5, preached at St. John's, deacons said, "Get out and stay out."
Sunday a.m., May 12, preached at St. Jude's, can't go back there either.
Sunday p.m., May 12, preached at St. George's, kicked out again.
Sunday a.m., May 19, preached at St. somebody else's, deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday p.m., May 19, preached on the street, kicked off the street.
Sunday a.m., May 26, preached in meadow, chased out of meadow as a bull was turned loose during the services.
Sunday a.m., June 2, preached out at the edge of town, kicked off the highway.
Sunday p.m., June 2, afternoon service, preached in a pasture, 10,000 people came to hear me.

As you can see, Wesley was no white flag specialist.

Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister put it well a few years back when she said, "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

Persistence in the face of trouble - that is the theme I want to pursue in this message. Persistence is a character quality that touches many areas of life. If you're going to have a good marriage you're going to have to be persistent in those times when circumstances make it difficult. If you're going to raise good kids you're going to need persistence in standing firm against those parts of the culture that pressure them to go the opposite direction. If you're going to advance the cause of Christ and have a positive influence on people around you you're going to need to be persistent because the Enemy of our Souls doesn't give up easily. If you're going to remain faithful as a Christian you're also going to need persistence because there is nearly constant pressure to get you to give in and give up. Your persistence, or lack of it, may ultimately determine whether you end up in heaven or hell. Jesus said we must be faithful unto death.

Our persistence, coupled with God's word, provide a winning combination that produces hope in our lives.

Paul wrote in Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

We're going to look into the Scriptures again this morning, to a passage that involved Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13. I hope you have your Bible so you can follow along. The things I say are not nearly as important as the things recorded in God's word and you maximize their impact on your life when you put your own eyes on them.

We'll be considering selected verses from the second half of Acts 13. As we work our way through them, think about this matter of persistence.

Chapters 13 and 14 of Acts describe Paul's first missionary journey. He and his partner, Barnabas, were sent out by order of the Holy Spirit from the church in Antioch of Syria. Don't worry if the names of towns and places in the passage sound unfamiliar to you. I'll be your tour guide. Just try to follow the story.

Their first stop was the island of Cypress where they preached in synagogues scattered across roughly 100 miles of Island terrain. There they encountered a Jewish false prophet named Elymus or Bar-Jesus. I won't take the time to tell you the story, though it is an intriguing one. Let's just say that after the encounter with Paul, Elymus didn't see the sun for a time.

We pick up Luke's account as the two missionaries say goodbye to Cypress, shove off from Paphos, and head for the Pamphilian coastal town of Perga....

There are several things that Luke doesn't tell us in these two verses that are helpful to note. First, he doesn't tell us about the trouble that they probably had traveling the 130 miles from Perga to Pisidian Antioch. Let me tell you why I say "trouble."

In 2 Corinthians 11:24-26, Paul speaks of the kinds of difficulties he and his companions faced while preaching in the first century world. There he wrote: "Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren…."

These words were written years after the events Luke describes in Acts 13. They tell us some of the things that happened as Paul went about preaching. W.J. Conybeare wrote in his work, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, "No population through the midst of which Paul ever traveled abounded more in those 'dangers from robbers' of which he himself speaks, than the wild and lawless clans of the Pisidian highlands."

You took your life in your hands when you traveled those Pisidian Mountains! Some never made it through. Others were beaten severely and robbed. Paul and Barnabas went though anyway.

That brings us to the first occasion in which we need persistence:

Many people would have turned back rather than enter those Pisidian mountains. Some would have felt quite justified in doing so. In our day they might have even sanctified their fear with prayer to God for an "open door."

Some of you may disagree with me on what I am about to say, but hear me out. Even if you disagree, think through what say. Often Christians, seeking guidance from God in particular issues, will say something like, "If God opens the door, then I'll know what He wants me to do." It sounds like a good approach to the uncertainty and risk of the future. But there has always been a problem I haven't been able to resolve with that way of thinking: What is an open door? What is a closed door? How can I know the difference?

What I have observed most of the time in such situations is that we often interpret adversity (such as physical hardship) as a "closed door." Likewise, the expectation of smooth circumstances is often considered an "open door."

Consider this hypothetical statement that really isn't that hypothetical. Suppose we're in a very difficult school district and it's taking a negative toll on our kids. We try to transfer them to another school but we're told that we must attend in the district where we live. We're considering a move. We'd like to know what God thinks about it. So we say, "If our house sells and we conveniently find a three bedroom place where we're suppose to move within two weeks, we'll know that it is God's will that we move." Oh? Are you sure? Let's consider some other possible interpretations. Suppose the house doesn't sell and we can't find that new place that's suitable. Does that really men God wants us to leave our kids in that school to struggle?

Or maybe it means something entirely different. My point is... How can we know what it means? Every one of these interpretations of circumstances is plausible.

Paul and Barnabas faces some difficult potential as they entered those Pisidian highlands. Had they said something like, "If God gives us a military escort through those mountains and we can be guaranteed safety then we'll know He wants us to go," they probably never would have gone. There are dangers from robbers? Closed door! Actually, before they came back through those mountains on the return trip, Paul would been stoned by an angry mob and left for dead! Closed door!

My point is not that we shouldn't try to be sensitive to God's leading. I'm just not convinced we can know God's specific will for the future beyond what is written in Scripture. Persistence in the face of hardship is going to require some faith and some willingness to take risks when we're doing what is right, counting on God for support. If we aren't careful our "open and closed door" interpretations will cause us to unwittingly build paths right around those places God wants us to be.

At some point if you're going to persist in serving God, we're going to have to move forward and trust Him to support us and our intent.

When Israel was between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea, Moses said, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!" Then he ordered them to march right into the sea! Closed door! But God opened it because of their faith.

When Israel was entering the Promised Land they came to the muddy Jordan River. It was flooded from bank to bank. Joshua ordered the priests to march into the high water. Wait a minute! Closed door! But God parted the river and opened the door - just like He opened the door for Paul and Barnabas through those Pisidian highlands. Persisting in the face of physical hardship… God can and will bless it.

But there is another occasion for persistence in sharing our faith here:

Four little words there in verse 13 hold a big potential for heartache and discouragement to persistence. The words are, "and John left them." That's young John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. For some reason he quit and went home! We don't know why because Luke doesn't tell us. Maybe it was the risk of those Pisidian highlands. Some suggest it may have been the threat of Malaria. Others say he just grew homesick. Whatever it was, it was a clear case of deserting the work. I say that because later we learn it upset Paul so much he refused to take John Mark along on the second missionary journey. That issue between John Mark and Paul would later be resolved, by the way. Mark did ultimately do a good work.

My purpose in pointing this out is that often we don't realize how much we depend upon the faithfulness of others until someone we counted on quits. At such a time we may risk losing the will to persist if we are not very careful and very determined to endure in our faithfulness.

All of us who have been in the church for awhile know those who have been among us, worked among us, sacrificed with us, laughed and cried with us. We've prayed for them, they've prayed for us... then like John Mark here - they left. They turned back. That really hurts! It's discouraging. It can cause us to ask, "What's the use in keeping on?" But that is just what our enemy wants us to ask, because his comeback answer will always be something like, "There's no use in keeping on. Everyone else is quitting. You may as well quit, too."

Paul mentioned this kind of disappointment in his second letter to Timothy. In the fourth chapter of 2 Timothy, he told Timothy, "Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me." Can you hear the loneliness and disappointment? Then a few verses later he writes, "At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me…" It hurts when those we count on for companionship in Christ quit! Our faith is severely tested when sometimes we have to go it on our own. Like Paul, we must turn to the Lord for strength to keep on going.

Do you remember the story of Joshua and Caleb? They were the only two of their generation who lived long enough to see the Promised Land. Can you imagine how many graves they saw dug during the forty year wilderness wandering? What a potential for discouragement! Yet they persisted and God rewarded them.

If you are discouraged because of people who have left the Lord, realize that every person who remains faithful also has to deal with it. Decide right now that, no matter how many people might turn back, you will persist to the end. That is the only way you're going to make it. Jesus said, "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life…."

The last phrase of verse 14 says, "they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down." They made it safely.

In the next twenty-five verses, Luke gives us a synopsis of Paul's sermon that day. Because of our time, I'm not going to read it, though it holds some wonderful truths about the Gospel.

The results of the sermon become evident down in verse 40. The response was mixed. Some were interested but apparently there were some scoffers in the crowd.

I'm not sure if those words "continue in the grace of God" mean that some of them became Christians or it if it means simply that they should continue their favorable attitude toward God so that ultimately they might be saved. That does bring us to another occasion for persistence:

It never ceases to amaze me how the same message, under the very same circumstances, can produce such a varied response in people. I have taught people the gospel who were so glad to hear it they would hardly let me leave. Others were indifferent all the way through the studies, we parted ways, and they never responded. There have even been times when I've been asked or even forced to leave before I could finish. Why such difference?

In the parable of the Sower, the very same seed fell on the hard ground, the rocky ground, the thorny ground, and the good ground. Yet it only grew to the point of fruit bearing on the good ground.

It's discouraging when people reject the words of life! That is why we need to understand that not all people will respond to the truth of the Gospel and that it isn't necessarily our fault. Not everyone responded even to the teaching of Jesus, so surely there will be those who don't respond to us.

It's discouraging when someone we know and love does not accept the gospel. Perhaps we've thought, "Surely when they hear they will respond just as I have." But they don't. Is that a failure of the gospel message or is it an issue of the type of soil? If I believe the Bible, I know the issue is the soil. We sow the seed with the expectation of a good result, but also a realization that not all of it will bear fruit.

Perhaps in a sense it is like mining for gold. Those who run the mines know that they are going to process so many tons of ore in order to get so many ounces of gold. It's a fact of life and if you're going to have the courage to persist you're going to have to focus on the gold found, not the mountains of empty ore.

There is also a positive side to this story.

Just as it is today, within that crowd of people there would be some hungry for the truth, some indifferent, and some who would reject. In fact, the rejecters are seen in what follows:

That brings up a fourth occasion for persistence:

The Jewish leaders in Pisidian Antioch had probably never seen a time when the synagogue was so full of interested people. But of course the people were there to see and hear these two missionaries, not them. So they were filled with jealousy.

And what was the response of Paul and Barnabas?

This wasn't the first, nor would it be the last time those who held to their vested interest more tightly than truth would rise up and speak against the gospel. Not everyone has the same degree of love for the truth. Many religious people do not really love truth at all. They are there simply because of what they can get and if a loss is somehow threatened, they're ready to deny truth and fight. If we are going to persist we must be ready for opposition and not let it put us off.

In this case Paul and Barnabas could see that to continue dealing with these contradicting Jews was going to jeopardize the others present who could be won, so they did what some are reluctant to do: they turned away from them.

That suggests yet a fifth occasion for persistence:

When is it time to give up on someone and move on? Perhaps the answer is held in verse 46:

That word "repudiate" means literally, "to thrust away." These people took the truth and willingly pushed it aside.

Is there ever a time when we should give our sharing of the gospel with someone and move on? Yes there is. Paul and Barnabas turned away from these who thrust the truth of the gospel aside. Then they turned to others.

This is a hard lesson some of us have yet to learn. Sometimes those who have said "no" steadfastly for years, all the while consuming the time and resources of the church, need to be left alone. I have seen the church burn itself out over people who have continued to reject or steadfastly refused or avoided the responsibilities of the gospel.

Do you remember Jesus' encounter with the Rich Young Ruler? The man wanted to be His disciple. Jesus told him to sell what he had and give it to the poor. The young man's response was to hang his head and walk away. Did Jesus go running after him, begging him to reconsider? Did He change the terms of discipleship? No. He let him walk away. He accepted the fact that this man was not ready to accept the terms of discipleship.

What am I saying? I am saying that there is a time to turn away from a consistent rejecter of truth and move on. I am also saying that while this may produce some regret when we think about the fate of that individual, it should not produce guilt. We cannot make the necessary choice for another person.

Why such a tough stance? Verse 48 hints at the reason:

The answer to the question of why we should sometimes move on when people reject is that there are others who will accept if we can just get to them.

What was the result of this tough decision? Look at the text:

Paul and Barnabas could have spent the rest of the first missionary journey arguing with these scoffers. But they didn't. The rejecters had to have the last word, though.

According to 2 Timothy 3:11, the persecution Paul received here and in the surrounding region was some of the worst he would receive in his whole life. Was it worth it?

It happened in Southwest Asia in the 14th Century. The army of Asian conqueror Emperor Tamerlane (a descendant of Ghengis Khan) was routed and dispersed by a powerful enemy. Tamerlane himself lay hidden in a deserted manger while enemy troops scoured the countryside in an effort to find him.

As he lay there, desperate and dejected, Tamerlane watched an ant try to carry a grain of corn over a perpendicular wall. The kernel was larger than the ant itself. As the emperor counted, sixty-nine times the ant tried to carry it up the wall. Sixty- nine times he fell back. On the seventieth try he pushed the grain of corn over the top. Tamerlane leaped to his feet with a shout! He, too, would triumph in the end! And he did, reorganizing his forces and putting the enemy to flight.

If a pagan emperor, seeing the need for persistence can triumph over an enemy who has the advantage, how much more should people who serve the Living God of heaven be able to triumph with persistence and perseverance at the thing God has assigned them to do! And we should.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

[Archive]    [Home]   [Comments]   [Search]