In the classic Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, there is a scene where Arial is being tempted by the sea witch, Ursula.  Ursula will transform Ariel into a human, and she has three days to get the "kiss of true love" from the human, Eric. If Ariel fails, she will be turned back into a mermaid and bound to Ursula for eternity. The price for the transformation is Ariel's voice. Ariel agrees and signs a magical contract, so her voice is magically pulled into Ursula's Nautilus shell necklace, and her tail is split into legs.  In that scene the sea witch, Ursula, asks a question which will be the main question of this sermon.  The question is, “Life is full of tough choices, itn’t it?” 

One way of looking at life is it is a series of choices.  Everyday we make choices about all kinds of things.  This morning you had a choice to get out of bed or roll over.  You had a choice of cereal or bagels for breakfast.  You had to choose what to wear, etc…   What I want to focus on this morning is the tough choices we have in relationships.  That was, after all Arial’s choice; what was she willing to do for a relationship? 

Maybe the reason this sermon came out this way is because of the choices I have made over the last couple of weeks. 
-Two weeks ago I made the choice to spend the weekend with our family.  All of our kids, and their kids, and a brother and his family and Tanya’s parents, spent a couple of days doing relationship stuff; like jet skiing, kayaking, eating, homemade ice cream, and Farkle.  I had to choose between being here with you or being with family.   That was relationship choice.  I hear Paul did a fine job in my place. 
-Last Sunday, at this about this time, we were sitting in a cloud while you were in church, here, listening to Andras’ story; which I heard was also inspiring. Once again I made a relationship choice; Trek with the kids or church here with you. 

Here is where I want to struggle a bit this morning.  How do you make such choices?  With whom do you decide to invest your time? Who do you not?  Every time you choose to spend your life with one person, you are also choosing not to spend your time with someone else. Steve Cossey reminded me of the Coke song.  “I like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…”  That is kind of impossible.  As of July 2008, the world's population is estimated to be just over 6.684 billion people; according to Wikipedia.  How can I get together with all of them and teach them to sing the Coke song?  Who among all of them am I to spend myself?  How in the world do I make that decision? Who of the 6.684 billion people am I going to share parts of my life with?  As Ursula said, “Life is full of tough choices, itn’t it?”

Well, I have good news.  Good news in that misery loves company.  Paul had the same tough choices in his life as we do in ours.  Isn’t that good news?  Paul struggled too; and you get a glimpse of that in Acts 18.  You have had a break from Acts for the last two weeks. Play time is over and it’s back to work.  “You will be my witnesses” is all about the tough choice of relationships!  If we are to be his witnesses then that is all about spending time with people and deciding how and when and most importantly, who are you going to invest your life in?  Witnessing is full of tough choices, itn’t it?

So, let’s open the book and see what Luke has to tell us about Paul’s relationships and see if we can capture some clues about making the tough choices.  I have made a list of Paul’s relationship choices in this one chapter.

-Aquila & Priscilla fellow Christians and tentmakers
Acts 18:1-3  After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.

This must have been nice; sitting around working on tents and chatting about Jesus and spreading the Gospel.  It is a good choice to spend time with brothers and sisters in Christ making tents together.   That is important! 

-Jews
Acts 18:4,6 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks  But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

There was a burden on Paul’s heart to teach the Jews. Time and again he keeps going back to his people trying to get them to see Jesus.  It these verses he quits them.  He seems to be done with them; “I shake my clothes at you.” But a few verses later, he is back with them!

Acts 18:19-21 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.

Do you feel our question in Paul’s life? “Do I spend my time here with my people or do I go on?” I’m leaving this group and going to that group and I’ll be back…  Paul had time to preach Jesus to his people.  That’s good. 

-Silas and Timothy
Acts 18:5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

Paul had to mentor to Silas and Timothy.  That had to be priority.  These were the guys who were going to keep witnesses when he was done.  We need to spend lots of time with our little guys who are learning to be preachers of the Gospel.  Mentoring is something we must commit to. 

-Titius Justus & Crispus
Acts 18:7-8 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

We have people in our lives who help us.  Who open up their homes to us and meet our needs and serve us.  You can’t neglect the people who prop you up. 

-Corinth
Acts 18:11  So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

We need to spend time with our city.  Los Alamos needs us!  We must be plugged into our community!

-All his churches
Acts 18:22-23   When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.  After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

We must have time in our schedules for church.  For teaching the kids and mowing the yard and fixing the roof and painting the bathrooms and fixing fellowship meals and taking food to the hurting and visiting the hospitals, doing stuff with the teens and church stuff.  We need the relationships of church.

Can’t you feel the pull on Paul in this chapter alone?  “I have to speak to my Jews about Jesus, I love to work with Aquila and Priscilla and I need to mentor my guys, and I have all these churches who are counting on me.”  Life, for Paul, was full of tough choices, wtn’t it?

As I have read through this chapter and the chapters around it in Acts and studied Paul’s own writings, it seems there is a theme which may help us to deal with our own tough relationship choices.  Paul was open to the people God put in his path. 

It is like backpacking along a busy trail.  Last weekend, as we were hiking up and down and down and up the busy trail to and from Lake Katerine, we encountered lots of different kinds of people. 
–There was a young couple in love…
- Old people hiking with pain and determination on their faces…
– A girl and dog who I assume was an angel…
– Runners too busy to chat 1 hour 40 minutes…
-A lone girl without a dog unusual – 89 % have dogs…
- A family looking for water…
-Environmentalist concerned with where to camp…

These are a microcosm of life. There are those we meet on the trail of life who need us and those who we need.  There are those who are too busy and those ready to talk. There are those who ignore us and those anxious to hear. There are even those who may oppose us.  But God places people in our path and there is where we choose to make the tough choices. 

There is a verse in chapter 18 that is remarkable…

Acts 18:9-10  One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city."

“I am with you.”  It is like the Lord is hiking with us and telling us don’t be afraid because we are going to be hiking together and I will lead you to the people I want and you just keep talking.  Wow!  This is great.  How do you make tough choices about relationships?  To some degree you don’t.  God leads you to the relationships, God opens the opportunities.  God places people in your way on the path and you witness to them.  From one perspective we simply hike the path God is leading us on and be open to the people we encounter.  Wow, it is not my responsibility. It’s God’s! 

But from another perspective we need to be prepared for the path.  We need a certain mindset for God to use:
-We need margin in our lives. No one on a deadline has time for people.
-We need to pay attention.  Expect God to lead people into your life! 
-We need to be unselfish and unself-focused.  Get over yourself.  It is not about you, it is about you being there for others!  Focus elsewhere or maybe elsewho. 
-We need to be where we are.  If we are reliving the past or anticipating the future we aren’t there for others in the present. 
-We need courage. Speak for Jesus when God places people in your path.  Do not be afraid, keep on speaking! 

As Ursula said, “Life is full of tough choices. Itn’t it?”  And relationships are some of the toughest.  But when we are open and hiking with Jesus and there and aware and ready with the courage, we will be his witnesses!  

 

Los Alamos Church of Christ
August 3, 2008