LIFE LESSONS
FRIEND OF PAUL: SILAS
DR. JIM DIXON
1 PETER 5:1-14, 1 THESSALONIANS 1:1
JANUARY 22, 2006
We want to welcome each of you on this beautiful Sunday. I know that many of you are looking forward to the Bronco game. Our daughter Heather and her husband Chris have taken a couple of days of vacation. We are taking care of our granddaughter who is 3 years old and very cute. This morning Barb said to her, “Today the Broncos play. What do we say?” Abigail said, “I do not like to say “Go, Broncos, Go!” Barb said, “Why is that?” Abigail said, “I’m too little.” She said, “I like to say, ‘Go, Diego, Go!”‘ I think Diego is a name of a cartoon for little children. On the other hand, I do say, “Go, Broncos, Go!” and would like to see them do very well. I am not wearing orange and you noticed that Mark was not wearing orange but this morning, as I came up to my office, Mark gave me this which is a picture of Jake Plummer. I do not know whether Mark carries this on him at all times or what, but I did notice that Jake Plummer would not make a very good Roman because Romans did not like facial hair. In fact Romans referred to strangers or foreigners as “barbarians” and barbarians is often rendered as “stranger” or “foreigner,” but it actually comes from “barba” which actually means “beard” or “bearded ones.” The Romans did not have beards, but they called strangers “barbarian bearded ones.” Of course the word “Barbara” comes from barba. The name Barbara, my wife’s name, means “stranger” but it also means, “bearded one” even though she does not have a beard!
It is true, however, that Jake Plummer would have made a good Jewish man. He would have made a good Jewish man because around most of their history, the Jews have absolutely loved facial hair. They have loved to grow their hair long and of course their holiest people were the Nazarites who not allowed to ever cut their hair so Jake would have made a good Jewish man.
Today we come to another Jewish man. We come to a man whose name was Silas, one of the friends of Paul. He was also a friend of Peter’s. In our scripture for today as we look at Silas or Silvanus, our scripture is taken from 1 Peter 5:1-14 and 1 Thessalonians 1:1.
Like Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written to you exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand in it or walk in it. There is one other verse, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, “Paul, Silvanus and God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. This ends the reading from God’s Holy Word. Let us pray together before we have our message this morning.
Thomas Obediah Chisholm was born in log cabin in Kentucky. He was born in 1884. He has influenced, in some measure, many of you. When he was 16 years old, he become a school teacher. Of course, 16 years of age is kind of young for a school teacher, but in the South, it was very difficult to find school teachers at the turn of the century. The years passed and Thomas was kind of unhealthy oftentimes with many illnesses and many infirmities. When Thomas Obediah Chisholm was 27 years old, he went to hear an evangelist named H.C. Morrison and the Holy Spirit came upon Thomas and Thomas gave his heart and soul to Jesus Christ, accepting Christ as Lord and Savior.
Thomas died at the age of seventy-six and that was in the year 1960. He died in Ocean Park, New Jersey. Through the course of his life there were many valleys and mountaintops, times when he had health, time when he did not, times when he had abundance and affluence, times when he was almost poor but at all times he marveled at the faithfulness of God. His favorite verses were found in Lamentations, chapter 3, verses 22 and 23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. Of course those words are now part of a praise song that is sung all over the world, but it was Thomas Obediah Chisholm who first converted those words into a great hymn. One of the great hymns of the faith, “Great is Thy Faithfulness, Oh God Our Father.”
Many of you have sung that hymn through the years. It is the unofficial theme of the Moody Bible Institute. It was popularized by George Beverly Shea in the Billy Graham Crusades, popularized all over the world. In the course of his life, Thomas wrote over 1200 hymns. None of them really became hits except for “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and one other hymn called, “Living for Jesus.” Many of you have sung that, “Living for Jesus, life that is true, striving to please Him in all that I do.” Those were the two hymns for which he became famous. One had to do with the faithfulness of God to us. The other had to do with our faithfulness to God. Both of these subjects are important. This morning we look at faithfulness. As we look at Silas or Silvanus, we look at the subject of faithfulness and particularly we are going to look at our faithfulness to God and what it means to live for Jesus.
Silas was a close friend of Paul and later a close friend of Peter. Of course in a sense Silas was a lot like Paul. They were both Roman citizens. They were both highly educated. They were both highly cultured. They were both brilliant men. Silas had the same name as Paul because Paul’s Hebrew name was Saul or Saulus and Silas is simply the Aramaic form of the Hebrew name Saulus, so Paul and Silvanus had exactly the same Hebrew name. Of course in the Hellenized world, Saul went by Paul and in the Hellenized world, Silas went by Silvanus.
Throughout the early church, there was a name given to Silas. There was a title given to him and he was called “Tophistoadelpho·, the faithful brother.” That was the name given by the early church to Silas and they gave him this name because Peter had referred to Silas in this way, “the faithful brother as I regard him.” Tophistoadelpho. Of course we look at faithfulness this morning as we look at the life of Silas and we have two life lessons. The first concerns faithfulness to God’s mission. Are you faithful to God’s mission?
The Broncos play today at 1:00 at Invesco Field and they have a mission. Their mission today, of course, is to win, but their real mission, their ultimate mission is to go to the Super Bowl and to win it. Of course that mission is not really significant, not in the greater scheme of things. It is a fairly insignificant mission. There is a lot of fun and hype in the city of Denver, but the Super Bowl just does not really matter. If they win, it will go down in sports history. A few players would have, at least for a season, greater fame, maybe greater wealth, but it is ultimately insignificant. You see, what counts is the mission of God, God’s mission, because it has eternal significance. We see a description of God’s mission in the Gospel of John, 3rd chapter, verses 16 and 17. “God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” This is the mission of God to rescue the perishing. This is the mission of God to offer eternal life. This is the world view of God. God views the world as perishing. God views the world as lost to sin and death and God offers eternal life. This is His mission and you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, are called to that mission I am sure that many of you have heard of Admiral Foote, Admiral Andrew Hull Foote. You can read about him in your encyclopedia. He is probably wedged right there between football and footnote. I know that is how it is in the World Book Encyclopedia. Of course I have many books on American history and in all of them there is a considerable section on Admiral Andrew Hull Foote. It was Admiral Foote who was the first to lead Ironclads in battle and of course Admiral Foote was the Commander of the Naval Forces for the Union Army in the Civil War. Admiral Foote, from 1849 to 1851 fought the African slave trade along the coast of Africa. He was a devout Christian.
There is a story about him often told. He was on a ship, the S.S. Perry. He was commanding that ship and he was on the coast of Asia. He invited the King of Thailand, the King of Siam, to come and have dinner with him. The King of Siam, the King of Thailand, came with his entourage onboard the S.S. Perry and had dinner with Admiral Foote. Before dinner was served, Admiral Foote said a prayer. He offered grace for the food they were about to eat. The King of Siam, the King of Thailand, said, “I thought only Christian missionaries said prayer before eating.” He said, “I thought only missionaries said grace before dining.” Admiral Foote laughed and said, “That might be true but, you see, the truth is also every Christian is a missionary.”
If you go to conferences on missiology, they often quote that statement by Admiral Foote. The statement is true biblically. Every Christian is a missionary by the will of God. The question is, “Are we faithful? Are we faithful to missions? Are we faithful to God’s mission?” Of course Silas was faithful to God’s mission.
The year was 46 AD when Paul went on his first missionary journey. Paul took with him Barnabas and the younger cousin of Barnabas who was John Mark. The three of them set forth on that first missionary journey and they went from Antioch to Cyprus and then they went to Pergia and Pamphylia. When they were in Pergia and Pamphylia, John Mark, the younger cousin of Barnabas, said, “I’ve had enough.” He said, “I want to go home.” So John Mark left Barnabas and Paul, and this really bugged Paul. In 49 AD when Paul was ready for his second missionary journey, and he invited Barnabas to join him. Barnabas said, “Well, let’s take my cousin John Mark, and Paul said ‘NO.”‘ In Paul’s sight, John Mark had not been faithful to God’s mission. So Barnabas and John Mark went off to Cyprus and Paul was left to choose someone else to go with him on this missionary journey. Who did he choose? He chose the man who was called “Tophistoadelpho,” the man who was called the “faithful brother.” He chose Silas or Silvanus. They set forth and they were later joined by Timothy on this second missionary journey.
They traveled across Asia and Asia Minor and into Europe. The traveled the Via Ignacia and they traveled for three years. For the cause of Christ, in the name of Christ, they suffered imprisonment. They were beaten and they were scourged and yet they were faithful to take the Gospel to the nations, faithful to tell people about Jesus, faithful in God’s mission.
So how is it going with you? Will God find you faithful? Faithfulness might take many forms and it should take many forms. Faithfulness involves supporting missions financially and of course as a church we are a missions-focused church so $1,300,000 out of our operating budget goes to some form of missions. We, of course, have designated dollars over and above that go to missions so almost $2 million annually go to the cause of missions because we want to be faithful in God’s mission to the nations. Of course if you are faithful in missions, you not only want to give financially but you want to give of your time. That is why there are 2,000 of you who have gone on short-term missionary trips with our church. You have taken the time to visit some other part of the world for the cause of Christ and with the love of Jesus Christ, faithful in mission. Of course if you are going to be faithful in mission, you are going to need to pray, take time to pray daily, for those who are serving Jesus Christ in other parts of the world, many parts of the world that are very, very dangerous and there is an absence of civil liberties and great persecution of believers.
If you are also going to be faithful, you need to serve Christ as a missionary where you are because this is a mission field. So how is that going? Are you willing to tell someone about Jesus? People often say to me, “I can’t do that because I need to be trained.” I do not believe that. I think it has to do with courage. It is just not that hard to tell someone about Jesus. When someone says they are hurting or that they have some problem or disillusionment or depression in life, it is really not that hard to say, “Jesus has really helped me.” When they say, “What do you mean?” “It’s easy to say, “He’s comforted me. He is given me a peace. He has taken away my guilt. He has forgiven my sins. He’s given me a cause and a purpose in life. He’s given me hope of eternity and heaven itself.” It is not that hard. It is a question of whether you are willing to be faithful in a mission field because we live in the midst of a vast mission field, and we are called to faithfulness.
In 1969, a man was walking on the beach at Waikiki, Hawaii. As he was walking on the beach he looked out into the ocean, and he saw a man struggling and he could tell the man was drowning. This man who had been walking the beach swam out and rescued this guy, brought him to shore, gave him CPR and saved his life. That was 1969 in Waikiki. In 1970, a man was walking on the beach in Malibu, California. He is walking on the beach in Malibu, California. He was kind away from all the crowds in a remote section and two horses came by with two women on the horses. One of the horses reared and the woman fell off. As she fell, she swallowed her tongue. She would have died but this guy who was walking on the beach went to her and knew what to do and saved her life. That was 1970 in Malibu. In 1971 in Palm Springs, a guy was taking a walk. As he was taking a walk in Palm Springs, he came to a construction site and there were electricians who were putting an electrical system into a new hotel in Palm Springs. This guy was watching them do this when a little boy came up and grabbed hold of a live wire. He would have electrocuted himself almost instantly but this guy who had been walking in Palm Springs was there and just came running, jumped on the little boy and separated him from the electrical charge and saved his life.
The amazing thing is that the guy in Waikiki and the guy in Malibu and the guy in Palm Springs were all the same guy. It was a guy named Dr. Max Binnis, an M.D. from Sherman Oaks, California. I do not know anything about Max Binnis. I know he likes to take vacations in a lot of nice places, but his story is just a little hard to believe. Apparently in a 9-year period, on vacation, he rescued and saved the lives of sixteen different people.
Our son Drew is an M.D. He recently received his M.D., and he is a doctor. This past year for a time he served in trauma surgery at a hospital in Tucson, Arizona. He had the opportunity to save a few lives and what a joy to be able to save anyone’s life. But, you see, Drew knows there is a greater joy, and the greater joy has to do with the saving of a soul, not just rescuing someone’s physical life but rescuing somebody for all eternity, rescuing somebody’s spiritual life. Drew knows that. Do you know that? Do you realize how important that mission is?
This is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Physical life is important but even more important is physical life and the life of the soul which transcends death.
This Tuesday is our daughter Heather’s birthday. Heather will be 31 years of age and we are so proud of the woman that Heather is. I can look back on the years. I have a memory… I was thinking just yesterday of when Heather was, I think about 13 years old, just becoming a teenager. She had a little dog that she loved, and that little dog’s name was Misty. Heather had named her dog Misty. This was a toy poodle. It was wintertime and somehow, we left the front door open and little Misty just ran right out the front door. There was a lot of snow on the ground. We had just had a huge snowstorm in Denver. There was a foot and a half of snow everywhere and Misty was gone. When we realized that Misty was gone, I looked at Heather’s face and there was just a panic on Heather’s face. I thought, “Lord, help us to find this dog.”
Barb and I took off in the car to try to find Misty. We just drove around everywhere looking at the snowdrifts. We never could find her. We came back to the house. On Heather’s face, there was this look of hope, this look of anticipation, the expectation that she would see Misty, that she would see her dog and then the devastation that we could not find Misty. I thought, “Lord, somehow help us to find this dog.” Heather said, “Dad, can I go with you? Let us go out again. Let’s look some more.” So we drove around looking for Misty. As we were driving, Heather started to cry, and she said to me that Misty was her best friend. Of course that was not true. Heather had many friends, human being-type friends. In that moment, it seemed to her as though her best friend was that little dog who slept in her bedroom. I said, “Lord, PLEASE help us find this dog,” but we did not find Misty and we went back to the house. Heather began to get us together and give us all of the game plan of what we were going to have to do. We were going to have to put ads about a missing dog in the newspapers, we were going to have to put up posters all over the neighborhood and all over the mailboxes on street light posts and everywhere and go door-to-door canvassing the neighborhood. I thought, “Lord, help us to find this dog!”
Barb and I then put on our parkas, and we started walking in the neighborhood. We were only a block and a half from home and kind of praying and there came Misty jumping right over a snowdrift and right into my arms. We brought Misty home and when Heather saw Misty—the joy … Heather’s middle name is Joy… The joy that was on Heather’s face was just beautiful. It was just beautiful to see, and the Bible says, “There’s incomprehensible joy in heaven when one person on this earth finds salvation and finds Jesus Christ.” That is why Jesus Christ told the story of the lost coin. That is why Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep because, you see, this is the divine mission. This is God’s mission to save human beings and bring great joy in heaven.
I hope that you are committed to this mission with us. We do not judge unbelievers. All judgement is in the hands of God, but we know that when we take the Gospel to people and we tell people about Jesus and they believe, they are saved, and it is awesome. It is the Great Commission that has been given to God’s people.
As we look at Silas, the second life lesson this morning has to do with faithfulness to God’s people, faithfulness to God’s mission and faithfulness to God’s people. Are you faithful to the people of God? Four thousand years ago, when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, historians and anthropologists tell us there were only one hundred million people on the earth. Four thousand years ago when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, only one hundred million people on the entire earth, one-third of today’s population in the United States on the whole earth. Three thousand years ago when David ascended the throne in Israel, historians and anthropologists tell us there were 120 million people on the earth. A millennium has gone by, and the earth’s population had grown by twenty million people, pretty slow growth. Two thousand years ago when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, 140 million people on the earth by most estimates. Again, in the course of a millennium, the earth’s population had increased by twenty million to 140 million. One thousand years ago when Otto III ascended the throne of the Holy Roman Empire and when Leif Ericson allegedly set foot on the North American Continent, there were 275 million people on the earth. The earth was beginning to grow a little more rapidly, the population.
Five hundred years ago, about the time that Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, 450 million people were on the earth. The truth is the earth’s population never reached one billion people until 1850, about the time of the California gold rush after the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill. Of course today six billion people are on the earth and how many of them are God’s people? You might be thinking, “Well, ALL of them! All of them are God’s people.” It is true that God cares about everybody, and it is true that God is our Creator but, you see, the people of God biblically has very specific use, so in the Old Testament era, the people of God were the Jews, Israel. God said to the Jews, “I will be your God and you shall be My people. Here is My law, My statues, My ordinances. Walk in them.” The Old Covenant.
Now we come to the New Covenant era, the New Testament, and the people of God become the Church of Jesus Christ. “I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” All those who believe in Jesus Christ become people of God. From every tribe, tongue, people, and nation—red, yellow, black, brown, or white—they become people of God, the Church, The New Covenant. “Believe in My Son and I will be your Father. You shall be My children, God’s very own people.” How faithful are you to the people of God? How faithful are you to the Church?
Now Silas was faithful, Tophistoadelphoi, the faithful brother. He had been brought into the family of Christ and joined the children of God. With all the brothers and sisters, he was the “faithful brother.” He went with Paul throughout Asia and Europe planting churches and calling people to faithfulness, faithfulness to the local expression of the Church of Jesus Christ. Of course he served Paul and Silas also served Peter. Scripture indicates that he was an Amanuensis to Peter. Peter said, “By Silvanus, I have written briefly to you,” and most scholars believe that it probably means that the letter was written or scribed by Silvanus because the Greek is just excellent Greek in the letter of 1 Peter. It does not reflect the Galilean fisherman like Peter but the educated Silas. And so Peter probably dictated or summarized what he wanted said and Silas wrote it down. Silas might have also borne the letter to the Churches of Asia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, but he was faithful to the Church and all the needs of the Church, and he called others to faithfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ.
You know, sometime ago Barb and I were at a banquet. As we were at this banquet, we saw two couples there who used to come to our church. We knew them and recognized them. When they left our church, they told us where they were going and why. One couple said they were going over to Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church because they wanted more traditional music. Of course the pastor today at Cherry Creek Pres is Don Sweeding, a wonderful man, and a good friend. The other couple said they were going to go to Greenwood Community Church because they wanted to go to a smaller church. Greenwood Community was our mission church, is now our sister church. The Pastor of Greenwood is Tom Melton, a great friend. We get together for hours every month.
Well as Barb and I were looking at these two couples, we went up to them. To the one couple we said, “How are things going over at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church? How are you enjoying it?” They said, “Oh, we don’t go there anymore.” We said, “Oh, where do you go?” “We go to Mission Hills Baptist.” We said, “Well, that’s a great church. How are you liking it?” “We’re not sure yet. We are just kind of checking it out. We might go somewhere else.” I said, Oh.” We went to the other couple, and we said, “How are you enjoying Greenwood Community Church?” They said, “We don’t go there anymore.” I said, “You don’t?” They said, “You know it’s hard to find real worship in the suburbs. We are going down to the inner city, the urban area. That’s where you find real worship.” I said, “Really?” and they said, “Yeah.” Strange enough, we just saw that couple at a CCU (Colorado Christian University) function a month ago and now they have switched again to another church.
I thought, “Wow! Is this typical? Is this what is going on? A bunch of kind of church swapping and church switching?” I think so. But, you see, the Church exists universally but Christ calls His people to commit to a local expression of the Church, to actually make a commitment. It is not about Cherry Hills Community Church but it is about faithfulness. If you do not want to be faithful here, go find a church where you WILL BE faithful because it is about faithfulness. Go to a church where you are going to be willing to teach Sunday School or sing in the choir or lead a small group or serve in their inner-city ministries and programs but be faithful, be faithful to give of your money and of your time and of your talent. Be faithful to God’s people as well as God’s mission. That is the life lesson that we have from Silas.
I know most of you have heard of a man named Salmon Chase. Salmon Chase was born in 1808. In 1849 at the age of forty-one, he became a United States Senator and in 1856 he became the Governor of the State of Ohio. In 1861 he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and it was Lincoln who appointed Salmon Chase Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. It was in that role that Salmon Chase oversaw the trial of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy.
Today most historians look back and they say Salmon Chase was a very good Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Today most historians look back and they say Salmon Chase was the greatest Secretary of the Treasury in American history. It was Salmon Chase who put “in God we trust” on all American currency. When you see “In God We Trust” on your bills and on your coins, it was Salmon Chase who put those words there. “In God We Trust” did not become the official motto of the United States until July 30, 1956, almost a hundred years later, but Salmon Chase put the words, “In God We Trust” on our currency.
Is that true of you as you live day-by-day? Do you trust in God? I think in a sense there is a deeper question. I think in a sense there is a deeper issue and that is this. Can God trust in you? Can God trust in me? That is what the Parable of the Talents is all about. That is what the Parable of the Pounds is all about. Can God trust us? That is really the issue before us as we look at life lessons from Silas. Can God trust us?
I know there are a lot of you who are interested in eschatology, the consummation of the age, the return of Christ and the end times. I know that is true and some of you pore through books and you go to conferences and seminars, and you have read the “Left Behind” series and you have questions and you want to know all about the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition who will one day rise on the stage of world history. You want to know about the false prophet in the Book of Revelation. You want to know about mystery Babylon in the Book of Revelation, the meaning of mystery Babylon. Perhaps you want to know about the Temple Mount and the desolating sacrilege. You want to know about the tribulation, the rapture. Will it be pre-mid, post-trib? When will it happen? You want to know about the identity of the king of the north and the king of the south and the king of the east. You have lots of questions. You want to know about the mysterious mark, and you want to know about 666 and you want to know everything relating to the return of Jesus Christ.
Of course these things are important. We have dealt with some of them in the past. We will deal with them in the future but understand, what is most important is faithfulness. If we ARE the final generation, what matters is faithfulness. When He comes back, will He find us faithful? Of course this is really what is most important for every generation. When you die and you stand before Him will He say, “Well done, good and faithful servant?” Don’t you want to hear Him say that? Don’t you really want to be faithful to God’s mission and don’t you want to be faithful to God’s people? Let us look to the Lord with a word of prayer.