The following entry is an excerpt from one of Pastor Josh Moore’s sermons on the book of Acts. The sermon was first delivered on 10/6/24 at Red Door Church.
We have been attempting to do some deep cleaning and organizing at home the last few months. Somehow I feel like when you are cleaning the first thing you have to do is make an even bigger mess.
You pull everything out of the drawers and out of the cabinets or everything is thrown out of the bedroom and into the hall, and then you go about the hard work of culling and sorting and disinfecting. If someone were to show up at the house in the middle of the process and you were to tell them you were cleaning, they might look at you cross-eyed. “Wait, what? I hope so!” they might say.
When Paul and Silas and Timothy ventured into Philippi and Thessalonika and Berea to share the message of Christ, the effect they had on those cities was similar. They had come to heal and to teach and to bring hope through the good news but instead there was a big mess. They were accused of having “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
To clean the drawer, sometimes you have to dump it out.
I find that this is often the way the Kingdom of God enters our lives. It first makes a mess and turns things in our lives upside down.
I know some of you have had that experience. God comes into your life and it seems that some things only get harder. I think Paul would say that. Think about Paul’s experience. We looked at the life of Paul several weeks ago in Acts 9 and we will see his story again later on in this amazing book, but Paul (or Saul) as he is referred to in the earlier part of the book, was a rising star in the Jewish faith and traditions and had a promising future ahead of him.
Paul’s life has changed considerably since Christ came in and many would say, it has gotten harder. Of course, Paul wouldn’t trade it for the entire world but his life has certainly not gotten easier (see Phil. 3:8-11).
Paul, before he became one who turned the world upside down, had his own world turned upside down. And in one way or another that is true for everyone who wants to follow Jesus. Discipleship (following Jesus) is often a messy process.
Of course, having your world turned upside is a scary prospect. But one of the deep, lasting joys of this process is finding things. Turning a room upside down in order to clean it is rarely fun but you end up finding treasure. Sometimes you may even find something that you forgot was there or didn’t know you had. When Jesus turns your world upside down you find more than earthly treasures—you find your true self—the person God made you to be.
Maybe your life feels like a mess right now. Take hope, that may very well be evidence of God’s hand in your life. Trust him, look to him, obey him, and you will find his peace, even in the mess.
