Bound and Determined
(Acts 20:22-24)

Introduction: Generally we understand the concept of being bound in scripture as a negative thing. We find the Hebrew people in bondage to the Egyptians. The slave is a bondman to his taskmaster. Paul exhorts the Collosians to remember his bonds as he’s imprisoned. The Christless condition of all humanity is said to be in bondage under the elements of the world (Gal 4:2). Peter confronted Simon the sorcerer as being in “the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity (Acts 8:23).” And when we were the servants of sin and under its dominion, Christ came to preach deliverance to us that were captive and set at liberty we that were bruised (Luke 4:18), and by his atoning work we are freed from sin, not having received a spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption (Rom 6:18, 8:15).

But the thought of bonds is not altogether foreign or even negative for a child of God. The Bible speaks of charity as being the bond of perfectness (Col 3:14), and we are instructed to keep the unity of the Sprit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:3). We even sing of being one in the bond of love. It makes sense if you think about it. We’re all spiritually servants to either sin or righteousness and as servants we’re bound to that which we serve. But there’s a bond that Paul alludes to in this passage that we’re generally, woefully lacking in our spiritual make up. It’s when we come to terms with the liberty we’ve been granted in Christ, and an understanding of the bondage to sin that a lost world suffers from, that we able to up being bound in the spirit as Paul was.

The Lord Jesus Christ: For us to be bound in the spirit to do something for God would be entirely after the fashion of the Lord Jesus Christ in his very own passion. When we consider the fact that for the length of his ministry that cross, and its shame, was ever before him, we can begin to comprehend what it must mean to bound in the spirit. As the Lord Jesus approached the cross the Gospel of Mark accounts:

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. (Mark 14:32-34)

The Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a burden for the sins of the world, and he was determined to atone for those sins at Calvary.

David Brainerd: One of the most famous missionaries ever is David Brainerd who ministered to the American Indians in the 1700’s. He was saved at 21 and began to do personal work right away and at age 23 he committed himself to the ministry, but not before contracting Tuberculosis while at Yale. He began preaching at 24 struggling to know where the Lord would have him minister and after doing supply at a church for six weeks and being offered the pastorate there, he declined and moved to the wilderness to evangelize the Indians. He spent his 25^th Birthday alone fasting and praying in the woods where he lived a year in a tiny hut preaching to the natives of a place called Kaunaumeek. He was constantly in poor health and he did not see a single conversion in that first year of ministry. He received invitations to be the Pastor of two established churches around the same time, but declined both to continue his mission to the Indians. He moved to another location and labored tirelessly in preaching and translating for a group of 40 Indians that would listen to him, asking the Lord to take him home at times because intense pain he was in. He was 2 ½ years into his ministry before he saw his first converts. He made 4 unsuccessful mission journeys to the same tribe along the Susquehanna River, and the consumption finally overwhelmed him at the age of 29. David Brainerd is a spiritual giant in missional history and he will be a great victor at the Judgment Seat of Christ, not because of the great number of his converts, but because he was bound with a burden for the American Indians and he was determined to preach the Gospel to those people.

The Apostle Paul: Paul wasn’t supposed to go to Jerusalem. Even the Lord warned him not to go. I don’t want to paint Paul in some sort of super sinless light that isn’t consistent with the scripture, but in spite that his plans got ahead of God’s intentions in his trip to Jerusalem, I believe there’s something commendable about what compelled Paul to go. He said he was bound in the spirit. Over in Romans he said about his kinsmen the Jews that he could wish that he was accursed from Christ for his brethren (Rom 9:3). Paul was bound with a burdened for lost Jews. And he was determined to preach the gospel to those people.

I believe the Lord would honor the prayers and efforts of a people that were genuinely bound in the spirit for the lost. I believe God has called us to a faith that goes beyond Sunday Morning preaching and potluck dinners and church program maintenance to a spiritual burden for a lost and dying world.

Let me give you three areas that a will be affected when we as believers and we as a church come to a place where we are bound and determined to see lost people saved.

1. (Supplication) It will affect the way we pray.

a) Frequency (Rom 1:9, Eph 1:16, 1 Thess 1:2)

b) Fervency (Col 4:2)

c) Fasting (Acts 13:3, Neh 1:4, Mark 2:20)

2. (Sacrifice) It will affect the way we give.

a) Substance (Rom 15:24, 28, 2 Cor 11:8-9)

b) Self (Rom 12:1-2)

3. (Standpoint) It will affect the way we think.

a) We’ll begin to see life (relationships, responsibilities) through the glasses of the Gospel

b) How are your kids doing?

c) How do we see tragedy?

d) Why should my business dealings be upright?

e) i.e. Parade Outreach