The Bible reading is from Acts chapter 21 verses 1 to 16. When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Kos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patera. And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit, they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey. And they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home. When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Potamus and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day, we departed and came to Caesarea and we entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agamas came down from Judea and coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and delivered him into the hands of the Gentiles. When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart, for I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let the will of the Lord be done. After these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Nason of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should lodge. Brothers and sisters, this is the word of the sovereign Lord. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious God, we pray you'd be pleased to send your Holy Spirit upon us, that you would open our ears and our hearts and give us grace that we might hear your word, Father. Believe it, obey it, and rejoice in it for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. If you have been praying along with Bill Camp that the preacher would not be especially long-winded, take heart. I intend to be a little less long-winded than usual. So let's dig right into this interesting passage. Acts chapter 21, it's in the Bulletin of course and it's also in the Bible on page 930 in the pew Bible and I encourage you to open it in the Bible Because we're going to be flipping back and forth to some additional cross references as we go I want to set the stage by telling you about a wonderful get-together a party we had on Friday night David and Loretta sheets hosted all the new officers with a cookout in their beautiful backyard and We had a wonderful time enjoying David's brilliant grilled cooking and Loretta's side dishes, including a pistachio dessert that is unbelievable. It's so good. We had a wonderful, wonderful time. Good time, lots of laughter, telling lots of stories, enjoying one another's company. And one of the conversation starters we talked about was a little exercise where each of us filled in the sentence, Metrocrest is blessed dot, dot, dot. And we went around the room and the backyard and each of us took a turn sort of filling in that sentence. Metrocrest is blessed. And I took some notes of the responses from all of your officers, both the returning officers as well as the incoming officers. And among the responses were stirrings of life, God's faithfulness, amazingly successful union of two congregations, People jumping in to help. Active Sunday school for adults and for children, too. Gifted people. Supernatural joy. And then, Justin Sternberg, one of the new officers who's going to be ordained and installed in a moment, made a comment, and I've got to say, it sort of really jumped out at me and stood out in my mind, especially in light of my sermon this morning. looking at this group of officers, including our longtime elders, David Sheets, and Troy Carter, and James Woods, and our deacon, Daniel Greiser. Justin said, Metrocrest is blessed because they have been blessed by godly leaders who have followed Jesus by giving their blood, sweat, and tears for the church. I think that's a quote. their blood, sweat, and tears for the church. And I have to say, as a newcomer here to Metrocrist, I agree, we have been blessed by outstanding godly leaders who really have suffered. They've endured all kinds of challenges and frustrations and things that have come up and all kinds of issues that no one could have foreseen, no one could be prepared for. And with their blood, sweat, and tears, they have sought to serve the church. And I really do think on this installation Sunday, we should be very, very grateful for our officers, for the strong heritage of godly leadership here at MetroCrest. I said that comment particularly stuck with me because of this morning's sermon. We're actually going to be looking at what I've called the problem of suffering leadership. That's actually the back story to what we're going to be looking at this morning in Acts chapter 21. You might just want to have this open in front of you. Of course, we know that every Christian will suffer as we follow Jesus. Jesus calls it taking up our cross to follow Him. He actually, in the Beatitude, says that one of the ways we are blessed is by enduring hardship in His name. It's one of the ways every blessed Christian gives witness to Christ. It's by enduring the difficulties, the challenges, the struggles, and the suffering of the world And that's true for every single Christian. I think there's a sense in which is especially true for our leaders because it's in their suffering, as in Paul's suffering, that you and I are given examples and sources of courage and hope and strength. Paul shares with the church through the Bible his own struggles, not because there's anything particularly special about the fact that he suffered, but because in his suffering, you and I will find hope and courage in our suffering. We, like Paul, will find the strength of the Holy Spirit Now, there's a special sense in which it's true for our officers, and I wanted to stress it's true for all of our officers. They're all given to us as examples and sources of strength, both elders and deacons. I've heard it said that there are some in the church who don't share Paul's high regard, for example, for deacons. But the Apostolic Church had a very high regard for both offices, and we actually see that here in the book of Acts. In chapter 20, which we looked at last Sunday, the chapter concludes with Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders. You remember they were on the beach and they're praying. And Paul is shown interacting with the elders throughout his ministry there in Ephesus in the three years he had there. But over and over again in Paul's writings in the book of Acts, we see Paul identifying elders, recruiting elders, training elders, and commissioning elders. We're going to have an installation in just a moment where we will be installing one new elder as well as four new deacons. So chapter 20 includes a framework. that underscores the importance of elders, both in Paul's life and ministry and in ours. Well, here in chapter 21, the chapter actually opens with Paul and his friends making their way in this sort of opening section, verses 1 to 6. It's sort of a travelogue describing how Paul is making his way over to Jerusalem. He's set his mind to go there to deliver a collection that has been made in their behalf. And so verses 1 to 7 describe his making his way, sometimes going quickly, sometimes pausing for a day or even a week, making his way solemnly towards Jerusalem. And here in chapter 21, Paul actually is shown in verse 8 coming to a place called Caesarea. And we read this in verse 8, that Paul goes into the home of Philip the evangelist. And then notice how Luke, the author of Acts, describes Philip. Not only is he the evangelist, but he's, quote, one of the seven, unquote. Who are the seven? The seven are the deacons. They are the very first deacons, the deacons ordained and put in office in Acts chapter 6. as the church was growing and needed not only the leadership of the apostles, but also needed deacons to help minister to the congregation, to help serve the congregation. Of course, you know who the first and the great deacon is. The first and great deacon is Jesus, who is himself called a deacon. Deacon just means servant. And the Lord Jesus is the first and the great deacon. who is the example for all deacons and for all Christians, all of us who are called to be servants. So here in chapter 21, we're reminded that that here in the Apostolic Church, there's the role of the elder and the role of the deacon, and both are part of God's plan for His church. Both have essential roles to play in God's church, and it's a beautiful thing to see, both in the Apostolic Church, and I gotta tell you, it's a beautiful thing to see here in our church. It's a wonderful thing to see God raising up leaders full of the Holy Spirit who are called by God to serve, to lead, to teach, and to be servants. The deacons in Acts 6 are identified in a list. Philip is the second in the list, along with Stephen, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus. That's a total of seven counting Philip. He's mentioned several times in Acts chapter 8, you may know this. He's specifically mentioned in Acts 8 as a great evangelist. In fact, there's a sense in which Philip is the first evangelist after Peter who preaches the great Pentecost sermon in Acts 2. Philip is the one who goes and he shares the gospel. He goes in the beginning fulfillment of Jesus' promises. He goes and shares the gospel including famously with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8 verses 26 to 40. And Paul is a supporting character at this point for Philip, who is a proclaimer, an evangelist who shares the gospel. At the end of chapter eight, in verse 40, it says that Philip finds himself ultimately in Caesarea. And that's where, here in Acts 21, we come back to Philip. We come back and we find Philip here in Acts chapter 21. But before Philip goes to Caesarea, it's just worth noting another important part of Philip's life and ministry. It's worth noting that before he went to Caesarea to settle into this town where Paul comes to visit him here in Acts 21, it's worth noting that before then, he would have been in Jerusalem, When the very first deacon in the list, Stephen, the first martyr, is shown to have suffered as the first Christian martyr, stoned to death in Acts chapter 6 and 7, after himself giving testimony to Christ. If you flip over to Acts chapter 8, just a few pages back to Acts chapter 8, look at verses 1 to 3, and this is part of the back story to Acts 21. Notice how Acts chapter 8 begins. Saul, that's Paul, approved of his execution, that is Stephen's execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Flip back to Acts 21 and imagine the scene in verse 8 of Acts 21. The last time Philip had seen Saul that we know about was as a persecutor of the church. who approved of the execution of Stephen and who actually went from house to house dragging Christians, men and women, to kill them because they were followers of Jesus. And it's the same Paul who here in Caesarea in Acts 21 comes and knocks on Philip's door and with his disciples and friends. He's welcomed into Philip's home. He actually, it says, he actually stayed with him. What a scene that must have been. Can you imagine it? There's Philip, who had seen the man he was ordained with, who had responded to the call of the church, had responded to God's call. And he had seen that man, Stephen, stoned to death as Paul watched on with approval. What unbelievable grace that Philip was able to not only to welcome Paul into his home, but to let him stay there. That is the kind of grace you sing about, isn't it? That's the kind of grace that has transformed life and relationships so that the persecuted can forgive the persecutor. The persecutor can embrace the persecuted in Christian love. Well, that was the scene. It was an amazing scene. It must have been something to behold. It's also interesting that Luke records an interesting detail that Philip is said to have had four daughters and that they prophesied. He adds the detail that they prophesied. It's very interesting. I want to just comment on that briefly. I've heard of at least one church leader and one church that used Acts 21.9 as the basis for ordaining women ministers. I've got a good friend who has been taught when asked why they support women's ordination to say Acts 21 verse 9 with a sort of raised fist. This is the permission for the church to ordain women. But I have to say that I think that's misunderstanding Acts 21 verse 9 and, in fact, all of Acts. Now, there are many women, including Philip's unmarried daughters. who were and are gifted by God, by the Holy Spirit, to do all kinds of important things. That should be absolutely no surprise. Because all the way back at the beginning of Acts, on Pentecost morning, Peter, in his first sermon, actually stands up and memorializes God's promise through the prophet Joel, centuries earlier, that, quote, in the last days, God will pour out his spirit on all flesh, and that all our sons and daughters shall prophesy, along with male and female servants. God does bless the church with all kinds of godly gifted women, daughters, moms, wives, sisters in Christ, married and unmarried. And I look around this big room of people and I see the godly women who run homes and love families and serve the church in all kinds of extraordinary and important ways. Praise God. that the Holy Spirit in this day pours out on the whole church, men and women, sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit is at work in all of us, drawing us to Christ and giving us boldness as his witnesses. Praise God for God's work in both men and women in the church. But the very fact that Philip's daughters are identified as exactly that, as his daughters, with all the importance of that in the Middle Eastern world and in our world too, they were his daughters. They were not identified in Acts 21 as officers of the church, neither deacons nor elders. Actually, I think the fact that they're mentioned in this wonderful way, but in this specific way, serves to support 2,000 years of church tradition, including Paul's own explicit instructions in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy, that women, gifted women, are not called to church office. You may not agree with me about that, you may be irritated I'd bring it up, but it's here in Acts 21 and I think it's important that we wrestle with every single thing we find in God's word. I think to argue any other position leaves you having to explain why these godly gifted women are only identified as their father's gifted daughters. Now that is not Paul's main point. That is not Luke's main point. So let's try to dig at what is Paul's main point. If he's not giving some instruction about who's called to church office, what is he giving his instruction about? And I think it's this. What he's telling us is what are leaders going to experience? What is leadership? in the church going to be like. Paul is giving us here a glimpse into the model of church leadership. And it's a model that's been embraced over thousands of years. It's a model embraced by the PCA. It's a model embraced by the Metro Crest Presbyterian Church. And it's this. Leadership will necessarily involve suffering. it will necessarily involve suffering. If we don't understand that there's a problem with suffering leadership, we will not understand leadership in the church. We might be left with the world's understanding, which is of a kind of a power structure. You know, if you look at a lot of the commentary being thrown at the church, it's based on power structures. There are whole schools of thought about this, about race and the relationship between men and women. It's all about power. Well, the example that we have here in Acts 21 is the opposite of that. It's about about a willing submission to the power of God, a willing setting aside of our agendas. It's the kind of leadership model that can move a man like Philip, who had seen one of his friends stoned to death, that man welcomes into his home the man who had approved of his execution. See, that's an understanding of leadership that the world can't get its mind around. It can't understand leadership that is about dying to self. It's about giving up power. It's about letting go of power in order to be a servant, a servant of God in Christ. Now, in the middle of this section, beginning at verse 9 and 10, we find a character who has shown up before. His name, verse 10, is Agabus. It says, while we were staying for many days, Philip welcomed Paul for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Now, this Agabus is the same Agabus that tradition tells us was one of the 70 disciples in Luke 10. That's a traditional idea. We don't really know for sure, but ancient church tradition says that. Ancient church tradition also says that Agabus was one of the followers of Jesus in the upper room in Acts 2, that he might have been there at that very, very first Pentecost. there when the Holy Spirit fell on Peter in a powerful way. But Agabus might very well have been there when the seven were elected. He might very well have watched and observed what happened as the church elected its first set of deacons. And it's also the same Agabus who shows up in Acts 11 verses 27 to 28. Now that's important because in Acts 11, 27-28, Agabus appears as a prophet and he brings a prophecy that foretold a famine. And that was important because that famine was the basis for the collection that Paul spends much of Acts collecting. As he went from church to church, as he talked about the suffering of the Jewish believers, the Jewish converts back in Jerusalem, as Paul went among the Gentiles and he talked to the Gentiles about supporting their brothers and sisters in Christ in Jerusalem, it was on the basis of Agabus' prophecy. And by the way, it was a prophecy which had come to pass. Agabus had prophesied a terrible famine and it actually says in Acts chapter 11 that it came to pass in the time of Claudius. So this was a prophet who had successfully prophesied something already that mattered in the life of the church. So Agabus had a little bit of a rep, a little bit of credibility as he comes to Philip's house to meet Paul. Well, it's that same Agabus that appears at the party in Acts chapter 21 at Philip's house. Now, sort of picture a party like we were having the other night at the Sheets' home and we've got all the officers and all these leaders in the church gathered together and we were having a good time and laughing and enjoying fellowship and thinking about wonderful days and exciting things to come and really, really thrilled at all that God is doing. And into that happy gathering comes Agabus. And Agabus, he actually does something very unusual. Verse 11, he took Paul's belt and he bound his own feet and hands and said, thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt. and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. It's here that we discover the name Agabus is translated as buzz kill. That would put an end to the party, possibly. You're going to die, Paul. They're going to bind you. They're going to do to you the kind of thing you did to Stephen. They're going to deliver you into the hands of the Gentiles. Now here's the apostle to the Gentiles. And Agamemnon says they're going to bind you and then they are going to hand you over to the Gentiles. And let me tell you what that meant. That meant the powers that be. That means the world's concept of power. That means emperors and governors and kings and soldiers and crosses. Agabus says, that's gonna happen to you, Paul. Wow, that must have been quite a dinner party as Agabus made his prophecy. While Philip was serving Paul and the others who were traveling with him, Agabus told Paul what ministry would mean. Makes reference, by the way, to imagery from Jeremiah 13. Agabus knew his Old Testament. And in Jeremiah 13, the prophet Jeremiah used a very similar image to describe God's covenant people, suffering believers, suffering people of the covenant, and suffering prophets, suffering leaders, to illustrate what would happen to Paul. I've got to tell a personal story briefly. Today, a good friend of mine is being honored at his church in Greenwich, Connecticut. His name is Tommy Oates. Thomas Laird, my second grandchild, is named for Tommy Oates. And Tommy was my first boss in ministry. I'm more indebted to him than I can possibly tell you. He was an Episcopal priest who was my first boss in the Episcopal Church. And he left the Episcopal Church decades ago to become a PCA pastor in Greenwich, Connecticut. And Tommy is the retiring pastor of Grace Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. And he is today retiring. I'm going to conclude my sermon in a few minutes by praying for him. Because Tommy was for me a great blessing. And we saw all kinds of amazing things that God did through Tommy. We saw all kinds of wonderful, glorious answer prayers. We saw people come to Christ. But Leslie and I also saw a suffering leader who suffered for the cause of the gospel. And he actually wound up leaving the church that we both served because the bishop fired him and sent him home. And it wasn't because he'd done anything wrong. It was because he had done some things right. He had actually dared to come into a church and said, open your Bibles. Open your Bibles." And those were fighting words in this particular context. And Tommy, he was a sinner like the rest of us. He got things wrong regularly. But he just sought faithfully to proclaim Jesus, to tell people about Jesus, to point towards Jesus, to open the scriptures and read the glories of Jesus. And it cost him a job. And it cost him enormous suffering as he saw his children come home from school after school, day after day, to say, the kids were teasing me at school today, Daddy. They say you're a loser. They say you're a bad person. So I had a very quick, very personal introduction to the truth of Agabus's prophecy. See, there's a prophecy not only for Paul. It was uniquely for Paul. We need to be clear on that. It was a uniquely appropriate prophecy for Paul. But let me tell you this, brothers and sisters, and especially for those of you who are being ordained and installed today, it is a prophecy for you. And if you don't want that, if you're not willing to endure that, you probably shouldn't come up in a minute to be installed as an officer at Metrocrest. Your suffering will be very different, very, very different. It's unlikely you'll be stoned, but it's guaranteed you'll suffer. You can ask any officer at Metrocrest. You can ask any officer in the PCA. You can ask any pastor. They will all tell you being an officer, being a servant of the church will involve suffering. I do want you to notice that when Agabus gives his prophecy, what he doesn't say, he does say, this is going to happen to you, Paul. But he doesn't say, therefore, Paul, don't go to Jerusalem. No, the important thing was for Paul to go to Jerusalem with his eyes open. And the important thing for every officer at Metrocrist is not to run away from the reality of suffering, but to enter into the ministry with your eyes open and set on Christ, like Stephen. who as he was dying had the privilege, the unspeakable privilege of looking and seeing Jesus standing. It was essential that Paul know exactly what was going on. So God gave him this unique insight into what he would expect. And we know from church history that that's what happened to Paul. did come in. He continued to experience the opposition of the Jewish religious authorities. He continued to experience the hostility of the Roman authorities who got dragged into it. And Paul's life ends, tradition tells us, as a martyr. He died a martyr's death like Stephen did. An apostle, an elder, and a deacon united as one in dying for Christ. Suffering leadership is what it's all about. If you're not prepared for that, don't think about leadership in the church. It's not for you. It's not about telling other people what to do and bossing people around. It's about dying to self. Now, it's interesting how Paul responds in verse 13. I'm wrapping up, don't worry. Verse 13, Paul answered, as his friends urged him not to go. Agabus didn't, but his other friends, apparently including Luke, did. It says, what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let the will of the Lord be done. You see, it was Paul's determination that gave Luke and the others wisdom and courage to do what Paul was prepared to do, which is to submit to the will of the Sovereign Lord. That's the example of leadership. Paul was ready to do that. He was ready not only to suffer, but even to die, to give his own life for the name of Jesus Christ. And I guess the question I want to bring today to our officers who will be standing in just a moment to be installed and to every single member of our church is, are you ready? Are you willing? Are you willing? I'm going to close with a quote from David Sheets. David's got to run out in a moment. Everybody's got to hear this quote. I'm glad you can hear this quote, David. David shared, as we were going around talking about the blessings of Metrocrist, one of David's observations was that Metrocrist is blessed because the gates of hell will not prevail against Jesus' church. And I've heard that quote so many times. And I guess what always has appeared in my mind is the church is inside this little fortress and we've got the walls to protect us. We've got the drawbridge up and we're all the battlements. and the world is attacking us, and Jesus is promising us, don't worry, hell's not going to overcome you, you're going to prevail, remain courageous, remain strong, remain hopeful. That's what I've always pictured. But David pointed out, he said, you know those gates, gates are not a device that is used in offense. A gate is a defensive thing. So if the gates of hell will not prevail, the point is not that the church is huddled in a little fortress, sort of the last bastion holding on. No, it's the church that's attacking the gates of hell. Picture the gates of Mordor and the Lord of the Rings. Remember that last epic battle? It's the gates of Mordor that are under attack. It's the covenant people of God, the prophets, the saints, men and women united together who are attacking the strongholds of this world that hold in dominion, the lives of countless people who are in subjection, who are being held down, who suffer. The church is attacking. We're seeking to overcome the world. And the great promise is, as Jesus has told us, those gates will not prevail against His church. He has overcome the world and now in us we're seeing the outworking of that great conquest, that great victory. And every officer, every saint, every person called in Christ will see the perfect victory of God Almighty in eternity. We will see it. We will see it. The book of Revelation goes into great detail about it. we will see the great victory of God. And the question is, will we be ready to do what we are called to do? To follow Jesus? To reach out to the lost? Like Philip, to be evangelists. Like his daughters, to be those who speak God's Word. Will we be like them? Will we be ready? to do our part. Well, that's my prayer for every one of those of you who will be installed in just a moment. And that's my prayer for every one of us at Metrocrest, as we see God's blessings poured out on us and through us.