Theme: God guides and provides for your mission one step at a time. (Principle 7 from Made to Count)
Introduction:
Carpe Diem! A life of adventure. A life of significance, not merely success.
That’s what we all really want deep inside our hearts - even if the first part of our life has been a drive to succeed. We have too often obtained what we sought only to ask later, “Is that all there is?” The accumulation of stuff – awards, promotions, high-tech toys, frequent flyer miles and second homes – leaves a vacancy in our soul. The dreaded realization close in around our hearts like strangling fingers as we gasp and grasp the reality — stuff doesn’t satisfy!
It’s the lesson Robin Williams was teaching his students in the movie, Dead Poet’s Society. Playing the character of Professor Keating, he leads the boys across the campus of their prep school into any ivy-covered building where the memories of past generations line a heavy, glass trophy case. In a scene thick with musty tradition, he invites his students to gaze at the faces of athletic heroes posing with confidence and smiling back at them from photos now brown with age. He points to the awards and trophies that are lined up like proud sentinels but are merely gathering dust. The professor instructs a student to read a poem…
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a’ flying,
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.
Professor Keating’s teachable point? Seize the day – or, in Latin – carpe diem!
Directing the attention of his captivated students to the fading photos of these campus heroes from days gone by, the professor points out that they weren’t so different – full of hormones and feeling invincible, these boys from yesteryear were bursting with hope and life, yet now they were gone. “…did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see, gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But, if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you.” Placing his own ear tightly against the showcase, the professor challenges his charges: “Go on…lean in!”
As the boys lean in, mesmerized by the professor’s ability to stir their imaginations, he whispers hoarsely: ”Carpe…diem…Hear it? Carpe diem!! Seize the day, boys, make your life extraordinary!”
It’s one of those movie scenes that imbeds itself in your mind. A light suddenly comes on as you watch it, one that all of us need while groping in the darkness for life’s significance and meaning. We want to make a difference. We desire our life to be an adventure. We hunger for our lives to be extraordinary…and not just run of the mill, merely “ending up pushing up daffodils.”
But to Seize the Day you’ve got to start where you are. It’s not just about, “If only I were in another position,” or “If only I were in a different place.” Seizing the Day means starting, grabbing hold of God’s significance for you right where you are!
I. Philip Was a Man Who Was Faithful Right Where He Was
Philip was obviously a faithful leader at the church at Jerusalem. That is reflected in the fact that he was chosen as one of the lay leaders in Acts 6 and the qualifications that had under girded that choice were the need from men who were “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (v. 3). They also obviously had to have a servant’s heart in meeting the needs of others as well as being men “full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (v. 5).
It is a proven maxim that people will never be faithful in a new role if they’re not faithful in their present role!
Too often we tend to focus in the church as though to really make a difference for Christ, there has to be a call to “full-time Christian work.” Yet God in His Scripture makes it very clear that the primary call for every believer is a call to Himself and a personal relationship with Him – not to a positional vocation. God, indeed, does call gifted men and women to vocational ministry and missions for the growth of the church in frontier regions of the world and the equipping of the saints to carry out Christ’s mission throughout the world.
However, there is not a need for a call to “fulltime Christian work” to make a difference for Christ. And to leave the impression that there is, according to Erwin McManus, reduces the life of every other believer who’s not in full-time Christian work in two ways:
1) If they don’t have “a Paul experience” it abdicates them from any responsibility to have a conversation with God about their life’s work, because if you’re not called to vocational ministry, then you can do whatever you want. And…
2) It demeans any other vocation as secondary in God’s eyes (Interview with Leadership Magazine, Title: Called to What, Fall of 2003)
And Philip understood that he didn’t have to be called to vocational ministry to make a difference. He definitely realized and greatly appreciated the wonderfully high calling of the Twelve. They were called specifically to study and teach the Word, prayer, and the equipping of the saints in the church in Jerusalem for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11-12).
But men and women from the workplace, like Philip, were essential in the impact of the church in its world as well. Philip, being a man from the workplace, would have access and impact in people’s lives in the fabric of society that the Twelve apostolic leaders would most likely never have.
There is also no doubt by the way in which Philip is described that he did his work, both within the church and outside of it, with excellence. He understood that everything he did, he did not unto men but unto the Lord and everything reflected his walk with God and commitment to Him or his lack of it (Colossians 3:16-17, 23).
Philip is an outstanding New Testament example that members of the community of faith who have committed their lives to God are called to make a difference right where they’re planted.
Illustration: The story of creation shows clearly that a man or woman’s work is a key arena in which God expects them to model their faithfulness and ministry. While too often work has been referred to mistakenly as part of a curse of sin, clearly work was given as a blessing to men and women before the Fall ever occurred. They were given responsibility to take dominion over all of creation and thus be profitable and productive in the faithfulness of carrying out their work. They were to rule over all of creation (Genesis 1:28).
It is in view of the blessing of work and one’s faithfulness to it that God in Exodus 31:1-3 lifts up Bezalel. He was not a priest nor a prophet but a craftsman. God describes him as one whom “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge of all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs…in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work with wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.” As a craftsman and one of the workplace, Bezalel was to make an incredible impact by the faithfulness and excellence in his work right where he was. It was that very reality that would be a key part of evidence of his faithfulness in order for God to use him to impact the lives of those around him.
In the New Testament we are charged “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 3:23)
II. Philip Was a Man Who Was Available Wherever God Needed Him.
As the pressure of persecution grew within the church, the Twelve stayed in Jerusalem but the others scattered as God directed them “sharing the Gospel” (Acts 8:4). It can actually be translated that they “gossiped” the Gospel wherever they went.
Philip was in the vanguard of those being willing, and available, to go wherever needed by God.
Philip’s life theme could well be portrayed in the oft sung hymn, Wherever He Leads I’ll Go.
Wherever he leads I’ll go
Wherever he leads I’ll go…
I’ll follow my Christ, who loves me so,
Wherever he leads I’ll go.
God has clearly promised to guide and direct those available to Him to exactly where He needs them.
· “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will guide you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).
· “The steps of a (good) man are directed and established by the Lord when He delights in His way and He busies Himself with his every step” (Psalm 37:23-24, AMP).
· “In his heart a man finds his course, but the LORD determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
Illustration: David Livingston was raised at his father’s knee being told that he could make a difference in his life through his commitment to Jesus Christ wherever he served. His father constantly told him stories of great Christian leaders and missionaries. When Livingston decided he wanted to become a physician, he knew he had an uphill battle.
Having to work in the mills long days and then go to night school, followed by getting home at 10:00 in the evening and studying until midnight, only to turn around and go back to work at approximately 5:00 the next morning, he believed that God could use him to change his world.
As a teenager, he began to pray a simple prayer…
Lord, lead me anywhere, just go with me.
Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.
Sever any tie in my heart
except the tie that binds my heart to yours.
III. Philip Was a Man Who Was Teachable to Reach Out Beyond His Comfort Zones.
Philip had been willing to leave the comfort zone of Jerusalem, his home town, and occupational focus center to respond to God’s call of leadership to Samaria. This was amazing for a Jew, as the racial hatred and animosity between Jews and Samaritans was incredible. Samaritans were the result of the Assyrian invasion during the Old Testament in which hordes of Jews were taken into captivity to Assyria and the Assyrians moved into Israel and inter-married with Jews. The resulting children were Samaritans. Therefore, the racial animosity of Jews to Samaritans was intense.
This is the very issue that confounded the disciples when in John 4, Jesus said he “Must go through Samaria” and there shared with a woman of ill repute at the well. This was amazing for many reasons…
· A Jew went out of their way to avoid Samaria.
· Men didn’t talk to women in public places.
· Rabbis would never address a woman of ill repute unless it was in condemnation.
Yet in the midst of those unexpected circumstances, God broke out in the city of Samaria and many were converted and the whole city was a buzz with the activity of God. What an amazing place to get comfortable, especially when you are the focus center of what God is doing.
Yet, Philip, at receiving God’s call to go to the backside of the desert, immediately followed God’s leadership. This reminds all of us that God is not looking for talent or ability but for availability and teach ability that expresses itself in faithfulness when God speaks. He doesn’t want people to debate or dialogue but simply obey…
· “Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them” (John 14:21, NLT).
· “Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed” (Joshua 1:8, NLT).
· “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my father in Heaven” (Matthew 7:21, NLT).
Once again, as Philip goes to the backside of the desert, he shows his willingness to obediently cross barriers to share the Gospel…
Cultural barriers – the leader from Africa who was from an entirely different culture and nation than Philip.
Racial barriers – while Philip was Jewish, the leader from Africa was most likely black-skinned and, therefore, visibly different from Philip racially.
Economically – while we don’t know Philip’s workplace vocation, it is unlikely it would have come close to being as preeminent and prominent as the leader from Africa who was in charge of his nation’s entire treasury. Yet Philip did not let this dissuade him from obedience to the Spirit of God when prompted to build a bridge to the man.
Religiously, without question – the leader from North Africa came from an entirely different background than monotheism, especially that based on a personal faith in Jesus Christ. Without question, Ethiopia was a society of multiple deities and probably characterized by syncretism (take a little bit of one belief and combine it with a little bit of another, or a few others, and develop a religion that you like for yourself personally).
Yet Philip was willing to be taught by God’s Spirit and ready to simply ask the question, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” Evangelism has never changed in all these centuries, as it is still one person, telling another person, how they made the discovery of a lifetime…and how anyone can make the same.
Conclusion: God guided Philip one step at the time.
And God provided for Philip, exactly the same way.
If you’re going to Seize the Day, God is going to look for the same qualities in you that He found in Philip. He’s going to look and see if you’re
· F – faithful
· A – available
· T – teachable
If He finds those qualities in you, He will never guide you where He will not provide for you! And He’ll have you start making a difference for eternity right where He has place you in time.
