SERMONS FROM THE HEIGHTS by Randy L. Hyde, D. Min. Senior Pastor Pulaski Heights Baptist Church Little Rock, AR 72205 www.phbclr.com rhyde@phbclr.com Psalm 29:1-11; Acts 19:1-7 INTERIOR REGIONS January 11, 2015 It s difficult to read and understand the Book of Acts without consulting a map. There s just so much going on, and there are a number of players in the game. From the wild and bizarre occurrences on the Day of Pentecost to Peter and John wandering the streets of Jerusalem talking incessantly about the Risen Christ and performing miracles in the process from Ananias and his wife Sapphira dropping dead because they are caught in the act of deception to the selection of the Deacons, from the stoning of Stephen to Philip s baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch beside the wilderness road, the Acts of the Apostles is a frenetic race to tell us of the exciting things that are happening in the early church. And then we come to the dramatic conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, followed by his missionary journeys. To keep track of all this, it helps to consult the maps, so let s do that, shall we? A map not only makes for a good scorecard, it also provides a good visual indication of what happened, and where and with whom. In the worship guide, we have provided you with just such a map, one that reveals Paul s journeys. What I would encourage you to do, if you have the interest, is locate a map in your own Bible, preferably one in color. If there are no maps available in your Bible, you can Google one on your computer, if you have one. If you have neither, see me and I ll copy one for you. It s really quite easy.
In laying the groundwork for this sermon, by having a map in one hand and the Bible in the other, I came to what, for me at least, are some interesting conclusions about this particular time in Paul s life... what is considered, more or less, the middle part of his career. Let me tell you a little bit about what I discovered... As you may be aware already, Paul is known to have made at least three planned missionary trips. There are red lines on the map designating his first journey, purple his second, and green his third. Paul s last journey was not planned, at least by him. Under guard, he was accompanied on his ill-fated journey from Jerusalem to Rome, where he would eventually lose his life. On the map I have told you about, that trip is shown in orange. All I can say is, this fellow, once named Saul and now known as Paul, really got around! Those lines, indicating his travels, are all over the place! Interesting to me is that on each of his three mission trips, he traveled from Antioch in Pisidia (there are two cities named Antioch, you know... the other one is in Syria) to Iconium and Lystra and Derbe. Back and forth, back and forth, he would go among these three cities, then he would take off for Macedonia or Achaia or Cyprus, wherever the Spirit would lead him or he could escape from persecution. In our account from the Acts of the Apostles, which we read a few moments ago, we are told that Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. That phrase, interior regions, captured my curiosity. Look at the map, and what you will discover is, this is familiar territory to Paul. How do we know? Look carefully and you will see that his hometown of Tarsus is on the southeastern tip of what Luke, the author of Acts, describes as the interior regions. This part of the world is as known to Paul as northeast Arkansas is to me. Or, the way from here to Macon, Georgia. As most of you are aware, Janet and I visited with our daughter Emily and her family over the holidays. We left on Christmas day and drove to Macon, where they live. Macon is about an hour-and-a-half drive due south of Atlanta. Having made this trip for more than twenty years now, we have found that the best way to go is to avoid as much of I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis as we possibly
can. Not only is there always some construction on the interstate, but wrestling with those big trucks is not our idea of a fun and leisurely trip. In fact, we now avoid Memphis altogether, having discovered that getting off I-40 at Hazen, taking Highway 70 through the Delta and cutting over through Oxford, Mississippi before entering Alabama, is the best and easiest way for us to go. It is not unlike passing through the interior regions, as Luke puts it, on our way to Georgia. We know just about every crack in the road between here and there. Joan and Don Shipley, who make the same trip from time-to-time, can underscore what I am telling you. The same was true for Paul. This is his backyard. He knows where he is going. He is well acquainted with Iconium and Lystra and Derbe, and the environs around them, because they are near his hometown. And, it helps him avoid Corinth. Why does Paul want to avoid Corinth? Because there is dissension in the church there, and Paul wants to avoid the conflict? No. We may not know everything there is to know about Paul, but one thing we do know is that he was not afraid to get involved in a scrap. There are indeed problems in the church at Corinth but that is not why he is avoiding it. His letters to the Corinthian church reveal he did everything he could to keep the congregation together. He jumped right in the middle of all that was going on there in an attempt to make them straighten up and fly right. No, he is now avoiding Corinth because he has found that Apollos is there. It s not necessarily that Paul doesn t like Apollos. Who wouldn t like Apollos? But perhaps Paul is a bit intimidated by him. Paul?! Intimidated?! By anyone?! How can that be? Paul doesn t appear to take a backseat to anybody. If he could stand up to Simon Peter, which he so clearly did at Antioch (the one in Syria), why would he go out of his way to avoid being with Apollos? That s a good question, so let s take a closer look... Just prior to our reading for this morning, you will find a short account of Apollos, the native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, Luke tells us, well- 3
versed in the scriptures. When it comes to our own interpreting and understanding the scriptures, we all have images in our minds of how things might have been. So what is my imagery of Apollos? Think of him, if you will, as Billy Graham or Joel Osteen in sandals. At one point, in his correspondence with the church at Corinth, Paul reminds them that, when he was with them, he was not eloquent... that he preached Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 1:17, 23). I think that is more than a deeply-held theological conviction on Paul s part. I believe it is also a sideways reference to Apollos who has followed Paul to Corinth, and has brought with him, not only his superior speaking skills, but also his ability to get people to follow him. In that particular church environment, to influence people in his direction is tantamount to getting them to turn their backs on Paul. And though it was probably not his intention, with his excellent oratorical skills but according to Paul and Luke, his undeveloped and limited theology Apollos has divided the church into various camps. I have found that some people will avidly follow a charismatic leader, and will do so because of his or her personality, whether that person is grounded in good and appropriate theology or not. That may just be what has happened in the church at Corinth when it comes to Apollos. Now that Apollos is in Corinth, Paul decides to go to Ephesus. If indeed Paul is avoiding Apollos (and that s certainly just a theory on my part), perhaps it is because he doesn t want to deal with any comparison that might be made with one who he considers to be a better, and probably a better-looking, preacher. Ephesus, in other words, may not have been Paul s first choice as a destination, but it does provide him with opportunities to share the gospel without having to compete with someone who comes across looking much better in comparison. And it takes him through the interior regions of Asia, that part of the world Paul knows so well. Travel in the first century was slow and methodical, and occasionally dangerous. You were subject to bad weather conditions, which is why most travel took place in the warmer months. I love Scotland, but I wouldn t want to go there right now. I have learned that, not only is it cold, but it is dark until mid-morning, 4
the winds right now are extremely high, and the rain is coming down sideways. Sometimes, the better part of wisdom is staying home. And sometimes, when you travel, you encounter bad people. Study the life of Paul and you will find that he experienced all these things... in spades! Yet, there were those times when, as he traveled the interior regions as well as other places, he had the opportunity to think and reflect upon this adventure of faith to which he had been called. Imagine, if you will, where his thoughts took him, where his heart propelled him, where his calling compelled him to chase after the hope that in Christ Jesus the whole world might be saved. Was Paul avoiding Apollos? Possibly. But there was one thing he couldn t avoid, and that was the presence of the One who guided him and saved him and called him to give his life so others might come to know the amazing grace available to them through Jesus Christ his Lord. It was in Ephesus that Paul ran into a group of Jesus followers. But like Apollos, their understanding of the faith was limited. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? Paul asks them. No, no we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Paul has some work to do, doesn t he? Speaking of Memphis... In 1977, while living in Nashville, Tennessee, I attended a meeting of the Christian Life Commission that was being held in Jackson, Mississippi. Accompanying me on the trip was my friend David George, at that time pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville and before that at First Baptist in Stuttgart. There was another fellow with us who was in the doctoral program with me at the Vanderbilt Divinity School. To go from Nashville to Jackson, we had to go through Memphis. The three of us set out on our own missionary journey in my 1973 Oldsmobile. To my surprise, this other fellow, who was a native of Texas, informed us that he had never before been to Memphis. Really? I thought all God s children had been to Memphis... at least at one time or another. How can you be from the South and not have ever been to Memphis? But I had grown up near there, so going to Memphis was a matter of course for us. The same was true for Janet and her family. I used to tease my late mother-in-law that she thought Memphis was a Forrest City suburb. 5
Paul is equally mystified. How can you be a follower of Jesus and never have heard of the Holy Spirit?! If they weren t baptized in the Spirit, then how and why were they baptized? It was John s baptism, he is told; that is, John the Baptist. You can see Paul taking a long, deep breath. He s got some work, not to mention some explaining, to do. What they need to understand is that John s baptism meant one thing, baptism in Jesus is quite another. John baptized for repentance only, baptism in the name of Jesus brings a grace that only Christ can give through his death and resurrection. Paul not only travels through the interior regions of Asia, he is now doing the same when it comes to the hearts of these he encounters in Ephesus. And he is able to do that because he has already traveled the interior regions, not only of his home country, but of his own mind and heart. Travel has more to do than just with hitting the road. Sometimes it involves going nowhere at all except into the deeper recesses of your soul. Until you have been there, and know why you go where you go and do what you do, you can never truly model for others The Way of Jesus. If Paul and his peripatetic wanderings do nothing else for you than encourage you to journey through the interior regions of your own life and soul, then let him at least do that... because I can tell you, wherever he goes, he takes you to the Risen Christ. And there is no better place to be. Journey with us, Lord, and wherever you take us find us giving our hearts and minds to you. Through Christ our Lord we pray, Amen. 6