Do Some Dusting

Do Some Dusting

Acts 13:13-52

August 29, 1999

Pastor Peter Hiett

A fisherman was just lying out on a beach one day, lying there in the sun, with his line cast out into that beautiful blue surf. He was smelling the sea breeze, feeling the warm rays of the sun beat down upon his body. He was soaking up that moment, anticipating a fish, relishing that beach. Along came a young businessman; he was trying to relieve a little stress from his busy day at the office, taking his lunch break, walking down the beach. He saw the fisherman lying there and he stopped and looked at him a minute, and he said, “You know, really, you shouldn’t be lying here on the beach. You need to be at work.”

The fisherman smiled and said, “How come?” And the young businessman said, “Well, if you got some income, if you were at work, you could buy better equipment; you could catch more fish that way!”

The fisherman said, “Why do I want to do that?” “Well, if you had more income, don’t you see, you could get some other people to work for you; you could start a business; you could have other people doing the work for you.” The fisherman said, “Why?”

The young businessman was getting mad now; his face was growing red. He said, “Don’t you get it? If you made enough money, and you had your own business, and you got some boats, and you had people working for you, you could get to be so rich that you’d never have to work again; you could spend all your time lying on this beach soaking up the rays of the sun, smelling this great sea air, fishing, without a care in the world – without a care in the world!”

Still smiling, the fisherman looked up at him and said, “Well, what do you think I’m doin’ now?”

§¦§

You know, that’s kind of a cute story, isn’t it, for the Rotary Club? But we’re called to catch more than fish. Jesus said to Peter, I will make you a fisher of men. We’re in the fish business, catching fish, making disciples of all nations, making disciples of our children, of our families, fighting the good fight, running the race.

A few months ago, I was running, running up the hill out here on my way to work, in my car, going to a meeting, looking at my watch. I remember I was thinking this, “I can’t wait ‘til we get that new building built, ‘til we get the church administrator; it’ll be so great once I move my office to home, because then I’ll get my schedule under control. I’m going to have time to be with the kids, and I’ll be able to rest. Suddenly, it hit me!

I’ve been saying the exact same thing,

on the same road,

going to the same church,

for six years!

That’s half of my children’s childhood; six years saying the same thing, except I just filled in the blanks with different little goals. There are so many goals, so many needs, so many voices, issues, demands. And they don’t stop, so I don’t stop.

And I get angry,

depressed,

frustrated,

impatient;

I get unkind

and I smell!

I smell of anxiety; you know this!

Anxiety smells different than tiredness;

and it’s not just me;

I’ve smelled you, too!

I’ve heard you, “How’re you doin’?”

“Oh, you know; it’s just busy, busy, busy; work, work, work; there’s just so much going on.

It’s just nuts these days!”

And it’s not all worldly stuff, I know that. It’s people, wounded hearts, ministry,Bible studies; church events, even Evangelism programs.

So how are we supposed to live? How are we supposed to fish? Which one of those guys was right? How do we fish?

§¦§

In Acts chapter 13, at the start of the chapter, Paul and Barnabas are set apart; they’re called to minister to the Gentiles, and they’re sent out. In chapter 13, we read this,

Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and came to Perga, in Pamphylia, and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Now, we know that was a pretty difficult parting, that they fought over, or they would fight over, but . . . they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue on the Sabbath sent to them saying ‘Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.’ So Paul stood up and motioned with his hand, saying ‘Men of Israel, and you that fear God, listen!’

And he reminds them of how God, through Moses, liberated them from slavery in Egypt, up to their promised rest, the promised land. Then he begins telling them about Jesus, who died and rose again, and then in verse 38, he says this,

Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man (Jesus), forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Boy, that is quite the statement – especially in the synagogue, on the Sabbath! The Sabbath was to remember how God had delivered them through Moses, and set them free. Paul said this man Jesus will free you from everything which the law of Moses could not.

Beware, therefore, lest there come upon you what is said in the prophets, ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder and perish. For I do a deed in your days, a deed you will never believe if one declares it to you.’ As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath, and when the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

By the way, this all happens on Sabbaths.

The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, (these same people saw the multitudes, I guess), they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul and reviled him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’ And when the Gentiles heard this, they wre glad and glorified the word of God, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of the district.

They were driven out of the district. That whole thing kind of sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It sounds like ministry; it sounds kind of like the Christian life. You see God working, just doing wonderful and incredible things, and just when you think, “Oh, this is perfect! This is incredible!”, there’s opposition!

They drive Paul and Barnabas out of the district—there’s tension—John Mark deserts them—opposition— conflict—complaint—problems!

It’s just like Rosanne Rosanna Dana said, “It’s always something!”

Work – frustration! And, at this point, I would imagine that Paul and Barnabas are really frustrated!

Next verse,

But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Wow! Filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit – isn’t that amazing? That’s amazing to me. Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I’m telling you, rejoice! No anxiety, no worries, says Paul. How do you do that? Well, Luke records this,

They shook the dust off their feet against them.

Do you do that? Have you done that? Two times already in volume I of Luke’s two-volume set, the gospel according to Luke and Acts, Luke has recorded that Jesus said it at least twice to His disciples—commanded them to do some dusting.

Luke 10, verse 5

Whatever house you enter, first say ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there (that’s quite a statement!), your peace shall rest upon him. But if not, it shall return to you.

Verse 10,

But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you.’ Nevertheless, know this; that the kingdom of God has come near.

We know that we are not supposed to pronounce any sort of final judgment; however, Jesus does tell His disciples very clearly there are times and places where I want you to do some dusting. So Paul and Barnabas dusted, and yet still, in Antioch of Pisidia, there were people who had believed, right? There were new believers, they needed follow-through, they needed discipleship, they needed programs, they needed nurture, they needed all kinds of help, and yet; they dusted their feet, and they were filled with joy and went on to Iconium.

It’s as if they knew there were things to which they were called and things to which they were not called—things that they could do, and things that they couldn’t do. Did you get what Luke said in verse 48?

As many as understood — as many as Paul and Barnabas were able to reach, as many as were able to fit into that church building, as many as understood their brilliant communication and responded to their very good programs and resources regarding the gospel, as many as filled out ministry evaluation forms in a positive manner — believed!

No?

He’s very clear. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Something way bigger than Paul and Barnabas was going on. Something way bigger than Paul and Barnabas’s capabilities and competence and sufficiency was occurring here.

Oh, yeah, they’re called to do certain things, like speaking love, speaking peace, empathizing — to a point; but the rest was so far beyond them that, if they even tried to carry the dust, the fallout, the ashes of those larger and greater things, just the dust on their feet would crush them!

Before I came here I worked in California with a senior pastor who was really world-renowned for his speaking, and for his writing. It was discovered the year before I left that he was having or had had sexual relationships – affairs – with at least four women in our church, and at least eight others. He had lied, he had deceived, he had faked repentance, he had desecrated marriages while preaching on fidelity and love. And I just couldn’t understand it. I saw him at a café before I left. I said, “Ron, what happened?” And he said, “Peter, I know this is no excuse, but I tell you, the pressures, demands of church, ministry; the burden just got to be so great that I began to say, ‘I’m going to give myself just one hour a week to escape – give myself an hour to escape!’ And that hour grew and grew and grew!”

And I think I understand that. But do you see that is, as he said, no excuse? In fact, it is an indictment of faithlessness, for he was bearing burdens that he had absolutely no business and no right to bear!

I’ve told you of my friend and Gary’s friend, Tim, a pastor in St. Louis, who asphixiated himself in his garage. It was ministry; it was burdens of family and people, and all those troubles. But do you see, that’s no excuse, for he was bearing burdens that he had absolutely no right, no privilege to bear.

Some of you are alcoholics, addicts, voyeurs, gossips, greedy, slanderers, coveters, sinners. And you say, “Oh, life is so hard; I just need that; it’s just so difficult!” Don’t you see, you have no excuse, because you are bearing burdens that you have no business, no right to bear?

Do you not know that you can’t save a person, you can’t save your family, you can’t save your spouse, you can’t save your kids? You can’t save yourself! You can’t make things grow; you can’t make a church grow; you can’t make a business grow, you can’t make things grow like this—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, control of self; you can’t do anything—apart from Jesus! And He said this, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Whenever I’m stressed, I know that I’m carrying something I should not be carrying. It’s hard to picture Jesus as being all stressful, busy and frantic and carrying a beeper! Now you can see Him angry, right? You can see Him excited, you can see Him happy, you can see Him tired. He was tired because He worked hard; He even carried a cross. He said His burden is light. But you can’t see Him as frantic, frustrated, stressed! Maybe in the Garden of Gethsemane—why? Because He was carrying our sins so we wouldn’t have to—but not busy.

Jesus would be healing folks; He’d be preaching the Gospel; there would be multitudes surrounding Him, and while there were still people to be healed, while there were still people who needed to hear, all at once, He’d just stop – and leave. He wouldn’t leave anybody behind on call; He didn’t even leave an address where they could reach Him, didn’t tell them when the next meeting would be. He just left! He’d go across the lake and He would hide out with His Father—Abba, Shabbat, in Hebrew. That’s where we get that word Sabbath.

How did He know when to stop? Right after He said that my yoke is easy and my burden is light stuff, He started talking about the Sabbath. Then He said, The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Every Friday, whether their work was finished or not, a good Jew would just stop as soon as the sun went over the hill. They couldn’t control the sun going over the hill. The stop was permanent, it was solid, it was the thing that couldn’t change, but their work was transitory. Just the opposite of what we teach our kids, isn’t it? You work and work, and when you’re finished, when you’re done, you get to rest! Just the opposite!

Sabbath isn’t a big topic in American churches, yet the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. People who broke it in the Old Testament were often stoned to death. It was big. The Sabbath, the Lord said, was a day to remember that it is God who saves—liberates—frees. So it was on the Sabbath that

Paul and Barnabas stood up and said, Listen, I’m telling you about this man Jesus who can set you free from everything that law of Moses cannot!

Sabbath is surrender; it’s surrender to the liberator, and it takes faith to Sabbath. We say things like this, “You know life is so busy;,it’s so hectic, it’s just nuts—nuts, there’s no time left anymore. Sabbath—we just don’t have time for that!” Can you imagine living in a day where you grew your own food, and famines were not unheard of at all, and your children were often hungry, and every Saturday, you had to sit there staring at your crop? The next day locusts might come; floods might come; but you couldn’t move a muscle. Why? Because you were remembering; you were thanking; you were trusting—that it’s God who gives life.

In returning and rest you shall be saved, prophesied Isaiah.

And Jesus said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground and should sleep. I’ve always missed that part, scatter seed upon the ground and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow. And he doesn’t know how. You see, things grow on the Sabbath.

In fact, the best things happen when you stop – Shabbat!

The Sabbath is built into creation, the seventh day. In Genesis, chapter 2, the seventh day, and yet, oddly, unlike all the other days there, it’s a day without evening and morning, without beginning and end. And it was on a Sabbath that Jesus said, My father is working still, and I am working. And Genesis 2 says this, On the seventh day, God finished God’s work. But get this – ON the seventh day He finished, not before the seventh day, but ON the seventh day.