Last week we started our summer sermon series called ACTS: The Early Church Initiative by reviewing the first fourteen chapters of the book of Acts. In it, we learned that a priority for the Early Church was to place the GOSPEL above all else…because in the Gospel, Jesus placed YOU above all else.
 
Today we are picking up where we left off last year. Which was action packed. Last year we heard about:

Fire appearing on the disciples’ heads.
A paralytic healed.  
A Jesus-hater blinded.
Demons defeated.
A sorcerer converted.
Thousands baptized into Jesus’ name.

And as exciting as those things were, today we’re going to dive into something just as exciting.
Something just as thrilling.
Today we are going to hear about a marvelous, amazing, incredible, action packed…Meeting.

As we go through the events leading up to the first Church Council meeting, pay attention – you’ll see theme of Gospel above all else – running throughout the discussions. Our goal is to learn from that. Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. The Problem
 
The account is from Acts 15 which begins right at the end of Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey. A journey that was successful. They had brought the message of the Gospel to people living in different countries who had never heard of Jesus.

And when they returned to their home congregation in Antioch Syria – the congregation that sponsored the mission trip – they shared their success!

About Cyprus where the Gospel overpowered the lies of a Satanist.
About Pisidian Antioch where they preached on the streets in front of thousands of people.
About being chased out of the city, mistaken for God, and narrowly avoiding attempted murder.
And about how through it all the Gospel was preached, and hundreds of souls came to faith in the saving message of Jesus.

And the congregation was thrilled.
High-fives.
“Amens.”

As the night was winding down, Paul noticed a sign that had been affixed to the congregation’s 1st century version of a bulletin board: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” (15:1)

Seriously?
He went and got Barnabas.
 
Can you believe what they’re teaching?
This is the church that had convinced me it was by God’s grace apart from any Jewish custom that we’re saved.  
A church sponsored OUR mission trip in which we were told to teach - people were saved by God’s grace apart from anything else.
A mission trip on which we taught that people were saved by Jesus apart from anything, anything, anything else.

Over the next couple days, there were heated discussions:
Paul and Barnabas said the Gospel was all about Grace.
The opposing leaders argued that it was about God’s grace…and following Old Testament Jewish Law.  
A good portion of the people sat back and nodded in agreement with whomever made the last point.

Finally, they decided to send this question to the leadership of the Christian movement.
“Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.” (v.3)

Because the Apostles were the original twelve, they were the men who had followed Jesus.
Who had been taught by Jesus.
Who had been EYEWITNESESS of the Risen Lord Jesus.
Who had been commission by Jesus to preach the Gospel.
On whom the Holy Spirit had come in a hurricane like sounded, landed on their heads in tongues of fire and taught them languages they never learned.

If anyone knew what the Gospel was really about -- it was them.

II. The Very First Council Meeting
 
So, the group set off from Syria and headed south to Jerusalem.
As they went, they stopped at other churches where Paul and Barnabas told of the incredible works of God.

About the Gospel overpowering the lies of a Satanist.
About preaching in the streets in front of thousands of people.
About being chased out of the city, mistaken for God, and narrowly avoiding attempted murder.
And about how through it all, the Gospel was preached, and hundreds of souls came to faith in the saving message of Jesus.
And how all the churches were thrilled!
They were excited.
High-fives.
“Amens.”

They were excited with how the saving message of Jesus had made its way even to non-Jewish people.

And the excitement continued in Jerusalem.
The Apostles welcomed them.
They hugged them.
They sat down and listened to Paul and Barnabas talk all about their journeys.
They smiled.
They got teary-eyed.
They were ready to sing “Praise God from whom All Blessings Flow” when…

Some…stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” (v.5)
 
Because in the Old Testament, God required obedience!
Don’t believe me? Read Leviticus. Read Numbers.
They had to be circumcised.
They had to cover their heads.
They had to wear prayer shawls.

And that’s our tradition.
A tradition added to by great men.
A tradition passed down by great men.

Traditions not to eat pork.
Traditions not to eat shellfish.
Traditions not to join in fellowship with anyone who doesn’t follow these traditions.

And now…
We’re supposed to drop them?
Centuries of Traditions, gone?
For the sake of some “Dirty Gentiles?”

I don’t think so.
 
At this Peter stood up.
Peter, the leader of the Apostles….
Peter who had preached a phenomenal sermon on Pentecost:
 
“Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the Gospel…”(v.7)
Do you remember that?
I was up on the roof doing some meditation when I went into a trance.
In that trance, God gave me a vision of a sheet filled with all kinds of animals.

Animals that we TRADITIONALLY don’t eat.
Food like pork chops, bacon, and oysters on the half shell.
And I said to God, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
And God said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (vs. 14-15)

And then God repeated this sequence two more times.

And right at the end of it, when I was wondering what it all meant, three men sent by Cornelius, a Roman, stopped at the gate of my house. The Holy Spirit said to me, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” (vs. 19-20)

I went down to answer. The men were sent here by his master, Cornelius, who had a vision from God – about me being in that house.
Wouldn’t I come to tell about Jesus?

And…I did.
Because that’s was the point of the vision.
God’s message wasn’t just for Jews anymore.
It was a message of Grace for Gentiles…

But you don’t’ have to take my word for it!
Because when I was there and when I preached the message of the Gospel.
The people believed…Something that only happens by the Holy Spirit.
And they began speaking in tongues – a miracle that happens only by the Holy Spirit.
A miracle as proof that this was real faith given by the Holy Spirit.

Guess what!?! That happened in a home that didn’t have any Jewish traditions.
They weren’t circumcised.
They weren’t wearing prayers shawls.

“God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” (v.8-9)
 
“Now then, why do you try to test God?” (vs. 10)
Because you might think that you’re testing the Gentiles.
You might think that you’re testing their faith to see if it’s real and if they’re willing to become followers of Jesus.

But…really…
You’re testing God.
You’re telling him:
“Hey God, I know you said that it’s by grace through faith in Jesus that we’re saved, but…I’m gonna preach the opposite. I want to test how long it takes for you to strike me down with a lightning bolt for teaching the opposite of you.”
 
Because…think about it!
You’re putting yokes on the necks of these Gentiles.
A yoke just like you put on your donkey.
Something that makes general movement in life much more difficult.

You’re putting yokes on their necks by demanding that they keep all these Old Testament Traditions…
When you couldn’t even keep them yourself.

Avram, look at that prayer shawl. That’s not regulation length.
And Jeremiah, I saw you last Sabbath. That walk was lots longer than the allotted 3000 steps according to our tradition.
And Ezekiel…I’ve got a guy over there who told me that he saw you eating a BLT last week.
And don’t even get me started on the lies, the greed, the lust, the moral failures of each and everyone of you.
 
Brothers, for centuries, we were under the yoke of a law that we could not keep.
The message of Jesus freed us from that yoke.
Why put that yoke on someone else?
Why not lift that yoke?

We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. (v.7)

And then.
Silence.
Silence…and tension.

Until eventually, Paul and Barnabas took the opportunity to tell all about what happened on their missionary journey.
 
About the Gospel overpowering the lies of a Satanist.
About preaching in the streets in front of thousands of people.
About being chased out of the city, mistaken for God, and narrowly avoiding attempted murder.
And about how through it all, the Gospel was preached, and hundreds of souls came to faith in the saving message of Jesus.
 
And…
When they were done…

James stood up.
James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem.
James, a Jew through and through.

He said:
Brothers…
We’ve heard from Peter.
We’ve heard from Paul.
We’ve heard from Barnabas.
But perhaps we need to hear from one more witness.

A witness that’s Jewish.
A witness that’s traditional.
A witness that cannot tell a lie.

The Old Testament Jewish Scriptures:

Amos 9:11-12 says: 
 
“After this I will…rebuild David’s fallen tent.
…17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name.” (Acts 15:16-17)
 
Therefore.
Grace is grace.
We can’t force them to be Jewish and we don’t need to. And we don’t need to keep these traditions because Jesus fulfilled them all with His perfect life, death and resurrection. God doesn’t require sacrifices anymore!
 
It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. (Acts 15:19)
 
Brothers and sisters,
This is the truth.
Grace is grace.

It’s a truth that was discussed in Jerusalem.
By the Apostles of Jesus himself.
They voted.
They came to a conclusion.
It hasn’t been overruled.
It hasn’t been overturned.

Grace is grace.

It isn’t worked for.
It isn’t earned.
It isn’t given in response to following Old Testament customs.
It isn’t given in response to following human customs.

It’s all about Jesus.

He lived perfectly when you couldn’t.
He died innocently in your place.
He rose triumphantly for the forgiveness of your sins.

Forgiveness is yours.
By God’s grace.
 
III. WHAT NOW?

Therefore, we follow the advice of James, the leader in Jerusalem. Don’t make Grace difficult.
 
1) For Yourself
 
How good are you at puzzles?
I can usually handle them if they are 20 pieces or less.
I’m really good if they have an outline for each shape.
I’m especially good at the puzzles for 4 years old and younger.

But I have a friend who is so good at puzzles, do you know what he does?
He flips the puzzles upside down.
He does them cardboard side facing up.

Why?

He wants to make it more difficult…

Sometimes I think we do the same thing with grace.
We add in the qualification of “perfection.”
We need to be the perfect mom.
We need to be a stellar dad.
We need to be the best teacher, an incredible provider and the best keeper of Christian customs ever.

We tell ourselves that in order to receive grace we need to follow God’s Laws perfectly.
And then…
just to be sure…
…we add in some of our own human customs and laws just to make it really difficult.

Stop.

Grace is grace.
And because of God’s grace in Jesus, you are forgiven.

Jesus said this, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)

He said that because by grace salvation is yours.
By grace, you don’t have to earn God’s love.
By grace, you already have it.

2) For Others

I was at pastor’s conference this past week. And I was talking to a pastor who was telling me about something that happened to him recently. He had a gentleman join his worship service whom he had been trying to get to come for a long time.

A friend who wasn’t a part of a church.
Who didn’t actively worship and hadn’t known much about Jesus.

As he finally attended worship, the man was moved by the Gospel.
He was emotional as he listened.
He even shouted: “Amen,” at the end of the sermon.

Afterwards, the pastor was excited, and he went to talk to a member of his to share his excitement.
And he said, “Wasn’t it awesome having him join us?”

And the person he told this to simply rolled their eyes and said, “You better talk to him and tell him that we don’t shout AMEN around here. Especially if he plans on coming back.”

Friends, don’t make grace difficult for others.
Don’t add to God’s grace.
Don’t require human things.
Let grace be grace.
Grace for you.
Grace for the people you talk to.

As unyoked children of God, be in the business of unyoking those with heavy burdens to bear.

Because…the Gospel teaches that God placed YOU above all else.
And we, as an extension of the early church, need to place the Gospel above all else.
Amen.

We are restarting a sermon series that we did last summer. If you remember last summer, we went through a book in the Bible called “ACTS.” Acts is a book that describes the “ACTS of the Early Church.” This, by the way, is the Early Church in which our church finds its roots. The goal of the series was to discover (1) What the Early Church found important to do and (2) Consider how we might refocus on doing the very things that they did.  

Because I think it’s really easy for a modern church to get distracted.

Maybe you know this, but Facebook knows what you think. Their website records everything you do on Facebook. Then, they distract you with ads for the very things you’ve been searching for on your Facebook profile.

For instance, Friday was a teacher workday. The teachers had some food delivered from McAllister’s deli. And even though I wasn’t in charge of ordering that food…my account must have been logged into the computer that was used for ordering and... coincidence? I am getting all kinds of ads for McAllister’s Deli.

The same is true for being a pastor. Because I am a pastor, the majority of the ads I see on Facebook are about church from businesses aimed at churches. The ads usually go something like this: “Your Church NEEDS this!” It’ll lead to articles that say things like:

• Every church needs to be posting on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat at least once per day.
• Every church needs to be posting quotable quotes on Twitter at least twice per day.
• Every church needs to be planning all of their worship online via this one very particular planning app.
• Every church needs to have professionally produced mini commercials that they advertise with – or they shouldn’t advertise at all.

Now these things could be beneficial.
But when it comes to what church NEEDS to be doing…
I’m thinking the answer should come from God, not the advertiser paying good money to track my internet usage habits.
 
Today we are going to dive into chapter 2 of ACTs and use the story of Pentecost as a base point for review of the last year’s sermon series. (That’s about 14 chapters in one sermon). Our goal is to identify the thing “Above All Else” that the Early Church needed to be engaged in and understand why we need to be doing that same thing.
 
Before we do that, a prayer:
Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. God’s “Above All Else”

Acts 2 take places during Pentecost. It was an Old Testament festival that occurred “fifty days after Passover.” “Pente” a root form meaning “five.” That’s where we get the word “pentagon,” or “five-sided shape.” “Pente” meaning “fifty” hence, a festival fifty days after Passover.

It was a big festival. It happened every year. It drew thousands of practicing Jews to Jerusalem. This year was no different. The streets were filled with people. They were up early shopping the marketplaces and getting the items necessary for celebrating the festival later that day. It was just like every other year.
 
Until…

At about 8 o’clock in the morning, there was the sound of a hurricane-like wind. Only it wasn’t coming from the sky, but a small corner house.
After that sound was going for a while, out of the house, burst a group of men with what appeared to be flames of fire ignited on the top of their heads.
Men who, being from Israel, should not have known the 20-some different languages of the various people there in Jerusalem for the festival.
Yet they spoke clearly. Efficiently. Fluently.

It was amazing.
It was incredible.
It was…too good to be true.

Someone shouted: “They have had too much wine.” (2:13)
Because…getting drunk usually increases your language skills?
 
But the reality was that this was more than a house party.
This was more than a regular celebration.
This was divine and miraculous.

This was God!!!
 
And now with everyone’s attention focused exactly where God wanted it, God moves one of the men, Peter to stand up and speak this message:

“15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  17 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…’” (Acts 2:15-16)

That’s what’s happening! With the hurricane sound. With tongues of fire. With the different languages. This is God’s way of getting your attention.
Because…
About 50 days ago.
It wasn’t just 50 days until your 50 days celebration.
About 50 days ago.
You guys killed Jesus.
 
And this Jesus?
Wasn’t just some rebel.
Wasn’t just some teacher.
Wasn’t just some nice guy.

He was God.

He did miracles exactly like what you’re seeing here today!

He didn’t just cause storms; he stopped them.
He didn’t just make fire appear; but bread and wine and water.
He didn’t just speak different languages, but he spoke to dead people to make them alive.  

He did the very things that only God could do because he was God Himself.

And you killed him.
You killed God. 

But…
 
He’s God.
And death didn’t stick.
I saw Him.

He lives.

Now at this point the group that was listening started to get very uncomfortable.
Because some of the people who heard this were the very people that had been in Jerusalem 50 days earlier shouting for Jesus to be crucified.

And…if this was true…
Then, they had sinned.
 
And if this was true…
Jesus would be coming back to vaporize them.

What shall we do?” They cried.

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. (Acts 2:38)

And that’s it.
God’s message to the very people who killed Jesus…
About how they could get right with Jesus was simply this:

Repent.
Turn from sin. Turn to Jesus.
To turn from unbelief to turn to belief.

Their way into God’s kingdom was simply belief in Jesus!
 
And be baptized.  
To have someone pour water on you in Jesus’ name.
And the miraculous God who did these very miracles here today will work through that water to bring you forgiveness.
 
QUESTION:
Does that seem too easy for those sinners?
Does that seem too easy for any sinner?
Does that seem too easy for you, a sinner?

Guess what? That’s the main message of the God powered, God inspired Early Christian Church.
 
TRUTH:
The Early Church’s main message, also known as the Gospel, places you above all else.

It’s kind of like an internet troll. Someone who logs in and gets updates on your social media page or your blog…only because they can’t wait to go on your profile and argue…maybe post an obscene emoji and make you generally angry. Send inappropriate emails to every in your contact list, too.

How many of you wake up on a day to day basis and say: “I hope that internet troll guy is doing good today. Hey, maybe I should call him to check in. Better yet…Let me send him some Uber Eatz…what’s his favorite? Chicken wings?”

We have rebelled against God.
Like a spiritual internet troll to God we have repeatedly gone against him.
Consciously or not – when we complain about his rules, sin, do the opposite - we are completely against God.
Yet, He still did everything to save us!
In fact, he put YOU above everything else. Peter’s words bring that truth to the forefront.

(1) Above the Father’s Other Plans
Check out verse 23: “Jesus was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.”

This Jesus thing wasn’t an accident.
It wasn’t an incident that got out of control.
It wasn’t an UNPLANNED thing.

It was planned by the Father eternities before you were ever you.

In fact, God set things in motion from the beginning of time to achieve your salvation, to bring you forgiveness and to connect you to his kingdom.

Understand then…
God’s ultimate plan isn’t a fireworks celebration for himself.
It isn’t millions of people bowing down to him.
It isn’t to have his name be the most Googled name of all time.

It’s you.
In heaven with him.
 
(2) Above Jesus’ Own Life
Peter continues, “Jesus was handed over to you…and you put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (v.23b) Notice the phrase “Handed over.” It doesn’t say, “You actively took him by force,” but he was passively “handed over.”

Jesus knew God’s plan was to have him die.
And he still volunteered for it.

Not because it would be easy. It isn’t as if Jesus said, “You know what would be a lot of fun? To have nails jammed into my hands, to have my metatarsals separated by a spike, to press a crown of thorns deeply into my skull and to hang up there while everyone ridiculed me until my lungs gave up and I died.”

Nope.

Jesus went to the cross because…YOU.
Because He placed you above HIS OWN LIFE.

(3) Above the Holy Spirit’s Inconspicuousness
Peter continues, “Jesus has sent…the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (v.33)

How much do you know about the Holy Spirit?
Briefly: He’s God.
One of the three persons in the ONE Triune God.
He’s always been around.

In fact, he appears at the very beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 1 it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…Now…the earth was formless and empty and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

The Holy Spirit is there.
But then…
He is only mentioned in passing in a few vague Psalms and prophecies.

He prefers to do his work in inconspicuous mystery.

But then?
Pentecost.
And the Holy Spirit goes out of his way to draw our attention to his presence.

Why?

Because…YOU.

The Holy Spirit wants you to pay attention.

He wants you to see how Jesus’ put YOU above his own life.
He wants you to know how God put YOU above his other plans.
He wants you to know that the Gospel places YOU above all else.

II. The Early Church’s “Above All Else”

Fast forward:
Now the scene is a courtroom.

Peter is there.
But this time…he’s in chains.

And the people surrounding him are not a crowd of believers.
But…
Violent angry men.
The same violent angry men that killed Jesus.

And unlike some of the people at Pentecost, these people want nothing to do with Jesus.

In fact, that’s the reason they have Peter arrested!
They want him to stop teaching about Jesus.
They want him to stop preaching the Gospel.
They want him to stop…or else.

And Peter looks around.
They’re glaring at him.
He knows they’re serious.
Serious…and blood thirsty.

But…
He doesn’t care.

“We must obey God; rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
 
In other words:
The Early Church would keep preaching the Gospel.
They would keep telling people about Jesus.
Because they would place the Gospel above all else.

This is just one story that illustrates that.
Because throughout the book of Acts, the devil does everything possible to try and shove the Gospel to the bottom of the Early Church’s priority list.
But the Book of Acts is filled with stories where the Gospel triumphs!
 
Where it is placed above…

(1) 1st Century Racial Prejudices
 
Because the Gospel started among the Jewish people.
And the Jewish people – they had developed a superiority complex.
They thought themselves as God’s special people.
Afterall, the Old Testament was all about them.
They were God’s special people – to the point that they wouldn’t interact with non-Jewish people.
They wouldn’t eat a meal with them.
They would definitely not spend time with them unless they were forced to!

Enter a guy named Philip.
He’s on the road to Gaza.
He comes across a man who is an Ethiopian.

Normally Jews avoided non-Jews, but the Gospel doesn’t discriminate. “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’” (Acts 8:29)
Philip walked right up to the chariot, got into the chariot, sat right next to him in the chariot and shared the Gospel.
 
The Early Church placed the Gospel above Racial Prejudices.
This isn’t the only time.
 
Acts 8, says Philip also went to Samaria to continue telling non-Jewish people about Jewish.
Acts 13 and 14, chronicles an entire missionary journey specifically to non-Jewish people!
At Pentecost itself, the Gospel was presented in languages beyond Hebrew of the common Jewish people!

The Early Church placed the Gospel above Racial Prejudices.

(2) Social Status
 
This is a big deal. Because at that time, the most common religious entity – the Pharisees—loved rich people.
They loved people who could contribute to the upkeep of their gathering spaces.
They loved people who could also afford fine jewelry and fancy robes.
They loved people who would make them look cool by association.

Peter and John?

In Acts 3, the very first individual described hearing the Gospel?
A beggar.
A blind beggar.
A blind, homeless beggar.
A blind, homeless beggar at the bottom of social status.

And yet Peter is sure to bring him the message about how Jesus gives him the status of God’s eternal kingdom.

The Early Church placed the Gospel above Social Status.

(3) Jewish Traditions
 
To be fair, the Gospel is above any tradition.
Specifically, for the Early Church, Jewish traditions had become an obstacle to the Gospel.
And some of the staunchest Jewish traditions at that time had to do with food.

The tradition was that Jews only ate certain foods.
The tradition was that Jews only ate after washing their hands in a ceremonial way.
The tradition was that Jews never at in the home of a non-Jewish person.

Acts 11, Peter, who is 100% Jewish and 100% a follower of Jewish tradition…receives a vision.
In the vision, God tells him to go ahead – to eat meat – from…traditionally, unclean animals.

In other words, God tells him to break tradition. Peter refused by saying, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:14)

As soon as the vision is over, Peter receives a knock at his front door.
It’s a servant from a Roman Centurion – a non-Jewish, Roman centurion – who has invited him over to eat.

That’d be breaking tradition…but God had told Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15)

Peter went because he placed the Gospel above even his own traditions – all God’s doing. Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Acts 10:34-35
The Gospel was above Jewish Traditions.

(4) Above Personal Vendettas

One of the more famous accounts in the first half of Acts is the account of a guy named Saul.
Saul, who did not like the Gospel.
He did not like Jesus.
In fact, he persecuted those who followed Jesus by threatening them, beating them up, and throwing them in prison.

Until…
Jesus appeared to him.
Then he became a believer.

In fact, Saul became such a committed believer that he wanted to help the disciples share the Gospel.
Acts 9:20, 26-27 “At once he began to preach in the synagogues [in Damascus] that Jesus is the Son of God…When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.”

Because it’s not about them and what they feel. It’s about Jesus. We support others who want to share God’s Word

They put the GOSPEL above their own personal issues.

(5) Above Their Own Safety
 
Back to where we started.

The disciples began shouting the message of Jesus…
…in the middle of the very streets where Jesus had been put to death.
…surrounded by the very people who had supported his death.

But they didn’t care.
And this continues.

In Acts 3, they are put on trial.
In Acts 5, they are imprisoned.
In Acts 7, Stephen has stones thrown at him until he is killed.
In Acts 8, they undergo the aforementioned persecution of Saul.
In Acts 12, Peter is put on death row.

And at no point do they stop preaching.
At no point do they stop telling about Jesus.
At no point do they put their own lives above the Gospel.
Because the Gospel is about how Jesus put US above his own life.

III. WHAT NOW?

Consider these two truths:
The Gospel places you above all else. The Early Church placed the Gospel above all else.
Because of God’s work with the Early Church, you have the Gospel in your heart.

A simple What Now?
 
Put the Gospel Above All Else
 
I mentioned those Facebook ads at the beginning.
I think the devil works pretty similarly in our lives.
He’s smart. He watches us.
He knows the things that will distract us.
The things that will tempt us to think:
“God didn’t love you that much.”  And “The Gospel’s not that important.”

Rather than the GOSPEL above all else…
He wants you to place the ALL ELSE above the Gospel.

Don’t let him.
Stay focused.
PLACE THE GOSPEL ABOVE ALL ELSE!
 
Throughout this summer I am praying that God works in your heart to:
(1) understand more fully how God placed you above all else,
(2) throw light on areas in which you have placed other things above the Gospel,
(3) guide us, as a church, to refocus on placing THE GOSPEL above all else. Amen.

Today we are finishing up our ACTS series for this summer and finishing up the first delegated and sponsored mission trip in the history of the Early Christian Church. To be fair – it’s had ups and down. From the highs of bringing governor Sergius Paulus to faith to the lows of being run out of Iconium, from the high of watching a host of Greeks believe in their Savior, to the low of watching their Jewish brethren hurl stones at Paul – the trip has been quite eventful.

Today we are going to find out what comes next. After they have “done mission work,” shared the Gospel and those who have heard have become believers – what comes next? That’s an important question for the Early Christian Church, but also for us.

Next weekend is Back to Church Sunday. You might invite someone to hear about Jesus. They might come. But after they’ve come, WHAT NEXT?
Curl up in these pews and take a nap?

Our goal is to examine what Paul and Barnabas do next to find guidance for what we should be involved in after “DOING OUTREACH.” Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. Discipleship

Our chapter starts with one verse that bring us to the end point of the mission trip: They preached the Gospel in Derbe and won a large number of disciples. (v.21) Then, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch…
 
First, praise God! They preached the Gospel in Derbe. It seems uneventful, but it is very eventful! There aren’t any stones or riots, but there are people whose broken sinful hearts are healed with the message that Jesus is their Savior form sin. It might not look all that impressive on the outside, but inwardly – it’s amazing! They have come to faith in their Savior. They are forgiven. They are saved. They now have the promise of heaven!

Second, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch.
Do you remember what happened there?
In Pisidian Antioch, a mob chased them out of the city.
In Iconium, a mob plotted to kill him.
In Pisidian Antioch, a mob threw stones at Paul in an attempt to kill him!

Why would Paul and Barnabas go back there?
To argue with the Jews?
To find a phone charger they left behind?
To stop at their favorite Chicken Wing joint?

Nope.
 
They went strengthening the disciples (v.22)
 
Have you ever had a personal trainer? I had one that seemed like a lot of fun. They smile a lot. They are excited to have you in their gym. They give you a lot of high fives. They work you until you start to sweat.
But then, about half way through the workout, something changes. You get tired. You drop the weight. You put your hands on your hips to take a break and they walk over to you, smile and shout:
“WHAT ARE YOU, LAZY? PICK THAT BACK UP! YOU NEED TO GET STRONGER!!!”
And you pick that weight up.
You cry a little. But you pick it up.
 
Why do coaches do that? To strengthen you. A good coach will push you in order to strengthen you, so you can be stronger.
 
Essentially that is why Paul and Barnabas return to these cities.  
They knew that there were believers in each of those cities.
They knew that those believers would be under attack.
They knew that those believers would need their faith exercised so it would be strong enough to endure those future attacks.
 
Here’s the truth for us: NEW believers/young in faith believers need their faith strengthened. No matter who it is; no matter how strong they seem to believe; our work is not done when someone says, “Thanks for inviting me to church that one time. I enjoyed it.” Nope. It doesn’t end when they confess their faith in Jesus for the first time. It doesn’t end with Baptism. It doesn’t even end when they become a member of our congregation. It doesn’t end with Confirmation, either.

After evangelism, the next step is discipleship.
Discipleship was key for the early Christian church.
Discipleship needs to be key for us.

 Here are some of the ways that Paul and Barnabas went about discipleship:

1) Encouragement

New Christians needed encouragement. While their life might be transformed by Jesus, they were still relatively new to this whole Jesus thing. They needed encouragement to remain true to the faith. It’s easy to see why:

Those around them worshipped other gods.
Those around them hated Christianity.
Those around them did not think they should be Christians and would have no problem reporting them to the authorities to get them to renounce their faith.
 
It was very important for Christians to encourage each other.
The same is true today.

Brothers and sisters, we need to encourage each other.

Encourage each other with God’s Word.
Encourage each other in prayer.
Encourage each other via email.
Encourage each other via text message.
Encourage each other via high five.
Encourage each other via an invitation out to lunch where you ask them how things are going, listen to their struggles and speak the Gospel to uplift them.
And while you are encouraging, don’t forget the second key thing for Church members to offer each other:

2) Reminders of the End Game

I remember when we were in Arizona at the beginning of summer, we had the chance to go down into the Grand Canyon. There is a 6-mile down walk that you can go down to get to this ledge in the middle of the canyon that is supposedly gorgeous.

About the first mile down, I was super excited.
About the third mile, I was still feeling ok about it.
About 5 miles in, soaked in sweat, sweltering in the desert heat and muscles aching, I thought: “Eh! You know what…I bet there are pictures of the Grand Canyon on Google Images…”

But we pushed through and can I tell you – it was beautiful.
It was gorgeous.
It was worth it.

The truth is that living the Christian faith can be very challenging.
Because the devil will do anything and everything to make you fall from faith.

Doubts arise.
Temptations increase.
Coworkers ridicule you.
Family members question you.
You start to feel a bit of the heat that Paul and Barnabas felt on their journey.

That’s why Paul reminded early Christians of the end game!
Because in the end, they would see Jesus.
In the end, they would see heaven.  
In the end, they would be guilt free.
In the end, they would live forever.
 
This is important for us to remember.
It’s important for us to remind new believers about.
It’s important for us to remind long time believers about.

3) Developed Ministry Positions to Address Discipleship  

Specifically, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord. (v.23) Because the reality was that Paul and Barnabas could not be in Iconium, Pisidian Antioch and Lystra all at once. If you add in Derbe and Cyprus and all the places that they still wanted to go, this was downright impossible. There needed to be people in the congregation whose specific job it was to disciple the other believers in the congregation.
 
It's kind of like when you delegate chores to your kids. Someone has to clean the bathroom. And here’s the thing – if you ever give kids the choice of what they’d like to do for a chore, none of them ever pick CLEANING THE BATHROOM! Who says, “I would really love to scrape old toothpaste scum from sister’s toothbrush off of the sink!” No one.

So, you delegate. Someone is assigned the chore. It gets done.
 
That’s exactly what Paul and Barnabas did at these churches that they went to. In each church, they delegated and specifically assigned leaders to the church with the express purpose of strengthening and encouraging the members when Paul and Barnabas weren’t there.
 
We have similar positions in our church. Did you know that? We have leadership whose specific purpose it is to disciple you. That’s what a pastor is. My goal is to share the Gospel with the unbelieving in the community and disciple you believers in this congregation. 
 
We also have elders who help specifically with the discipling aspect. They encourage you to get into church and Bible study. In other words, they tell you to get into God’s Word because they want you to grow your faith and stay strong against Satan’s attacks.
 
Could you do me a favor?
If one of these elders calls to talk to you or send you an email to encourage you to join us for church…
Please don’t be rude.
Don’t be upset.
Don’t start thinking “How dare they!”

Be thankful.
Be thankful because they care.
Be thankful because they are doing the task assigned to them by our church.
Be thankful because they are doing the task commanded by God.
Be thankful because they want you to have a strong faith.
Be thankful because they want you in heaven.

II. Celebration  

After Paul and Barnabas finish their tour of these new churches, they went back down to their home church in Antioch Syria. That’s the church that funded and commissioned the mission trip.  When they arrived, Paul and Barnabas did not just segue into congregational life. They don’t just go back to their daily business. They don’t just grab snacks and cookies from the fellowship hall and blend in near the back.

Nope. They had a task to do – even in this more mature in faith congregation.
What was it?

They celebrated.
They celebrated the work that God has done.
They gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. (V.27)
 
I think that’s key for us. We need to stay encouraged as people “doing outreach.” One way to stay encouraged is to share stories of God’s grace and love.
 
Like Lowell. Lowell was the brother-in-law of my Professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. A few weeks ago, my professor called me on the phone and left a message for me to call back. (Initially, I thought I was in trouble – maybe they found out that I was missing an assignment or something). But no – that wasn’t the case. He was calling to tell me that Lowell, who lived in Raleigh, hadn’t visited church since we had the Seminary Choir visit us – the choir that this professor directed – about 7 years ago.

He was sick.
He was near hospice.
He was troubled by his sins and needed a pastor.

I was able to visit him.
I was able to talk with him.
I was able to tell him about his Savior.
I was able (privileged and blessed) to hear him confess his faith in his Savior.

That’s awesome! Friends – we were a part of ushering someone to faith in Jesus – and ultimately – to his home in heaven!

And I do mean we!  
I’m not here if you didn’t call me.
I’m not joyful if you don’t encourage me.
I’m not freed up to do that ministry if you don’t bless us with gifts.
 
We do mission work TOGETHER.
 
Paul thought the same way. That’s why he gathered the church “Together” to talk about the mission work.  The whole church was a part of this mission work. The whole church had a part in the governor coming to faith, the Gentiles seeing the light, the Gospel making its way to Derbe! It wasn’t just Paul. It wasn’t just Barnabas. It was all of them.

And make no mistake.
When we do New Member Sunday in a week…
When visitors join us for Back to Church Sunday…
When new believers confess their faith…

It isn’t a testament to me.
It’s a testament to GOD.
Specifically, it’s a testament to God’s work through all of us…

Together.
 
Together we celebrate.
And…Together we recommence.

III. Recommencement 

Because it isn’t that long.
It isn’t that many words.
It isn’t that many chapters in Acts before the church decides to do this mission trip thing again.
In chapter 16, Paul and companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia…(16:6)
 
New mission trip.
New places.
New people with Paul.
Same message of Jesus.

Friends, Paul got it. The Great Commission is continuous.
Mission work is continuous.

And for us – the same is true.
The Great Commission is continuous.
Mission work is continuous.

As a church – the school being built is not the end. We need to use that building to share the Gospel with the many that will come.
Back to Church Sunday is not the end. We need to use the opportunity to follow up on family and friends who join us.
Baptizing our kids is not enough. We need to keep teaching them and uplifting them and sharing the Gospel with them.
One adult confession of faith in Confirmation is not the end. We need to be encouraged by that confession of faith, to confess our faith before others, in hopes that one day they might confess their faith in Jesus, too.

So…that’s what next!
When you get done doing mission work – you do some more mission work.
Whether that’s discipling, encouraging, or sharing the Gospel again – we keep on doing mission work.
Until God, our Savior, calls us home to heaven – and loving says; “Well done.” Amen. 

We are continuing our series on the book of Acts. Throughout the book, we have seen how the Gospel of Jesus confronts all kinds of sins. The self-righteousness of the Pharisees, the Satanic worship of Simon, the persecution of Saul…

But today, we are going to look at a time when the Gospel confronted a weird kind of sin. A kind of sin that is STRANGE, but not all that uncommon in our modern world. In fact, if we’re not careful, it can become a problem here at Gethsemane. In the next minutes, we want to identify (1) what the weird kind idol worship is (2) how does it manifest itself in our own lives and (3) how do we defend against it? Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. A Weird Kind of Idol Worship

The lesson starts in Acts 14:8 in a place called Lystra. Before we get into what happens there, let’s briefly recap where Paul and Barnabas have been so far:

Pisidian Antioch. While there, Paul and Barnabas had the opportunity to preach in the synagogue. The response? A few believed; others argued with them; shouted at them; and verbally abused them. When Paul responded by taking the Gospel outside the synagogue and to areas where people that weren’t even associated with the synagogue were, the opposers tracked him down, orchestrated a mob and threw Paul and Barnabas outside the city.
 
Iconium. While there, Paul and Barnabas again preached in the synagogue. Again, some believed. And again, some resorted to verbal abuse to get Paul to shut up. Paul responds by speaking boldly for the Lord (v. 4), but again the opposition is strong. The people of Iconium begin to plot, not just to throw Paul out the city, but to stone him to death – a fate avoided because of a few loving friends who sneak them out of the city.
 
In short, things weren’t going that well for Paul and Barnabas.
The Mission Trip had become a bit of a downer.
I imagine they hoped things would get better soon.
 
And…
They did…

In Lystra, there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking> Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. (v.8-10)
 
If you’ve been following this entire series, maybe you’re starting to think: “Another paralyzed man made to walk?” Isn’t that like three times already?
Yep.

Peter did it. (Acts 3)
Philip did it. (Acts 8)
Peter did it again. (Acts 9)
And now Paul did it.

But it doesn’t get any less impressive, does it?

He had been lame…from birth.
That means he had never walked.
He had never stood.
He had never taken a step.
Never ran.
Never jumped.
Never hopscotched.
Never done a burpee.

And all it takes is him hearing about Jesus’ incredible power…
About how He healed the paralyzed.
About how He healed the lame.
About how He walked again after his own predicament – this thing called death – where you really can’t move at all – and yet Jesus rose from the dead and walked again!
About how He promised all who believed in Him healing in heaven.

The man hears all of that, believes and is healed.

This wows the crowd!
They see the man healed.
And they started chanting…
…but not for God.
 
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul they called Hermes. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. (v. 11-13)
 
In the world of the Early Church, Greek was the main language that just about everyone knew. It was useful for trade and communicating between countries. It’s similar to English in today’s world. If you know English, you’ll be able to communicate in just about any country.

Paul had probably been speaking in Greek with the crowd. But when the crowd sees what happens, they are so excited that they immediately revert back to their Lycaonian language.
 
It’s kind of like if you’re practicing Spanish. And you’re thinking really long and hard about words to use. You’re considering tense and voice and mood. Until…you a get text message that your grades are in and you got an A” and you start shouting: “Awesome!” No Spanish; just English. It’s your heart language that speaks when you’re excited.
 
That’s the reaction of the crowd. They begin shouting in their native tongue with excitement because they believe that Paul and Barnabas are gods. More specifically; they call Zeus and Hermes.  Those are the names of the Greek gods which had a very prevalent religious following in the Ancient World. Zeus was the god of thunder. He’s the one who hurls lightning bolts from the sky. Hermes was the messenger god – he’s the one who brought messages from the gods of Mt. Olympus to the people of earth.

Nowadays there aren’t a lot of people that still believe in these gods. It’s kind of an ancient, defunct religion. But it still holds some power in Hollywood. Including one of my favorite versions from the movie Hercules: Zeus and Hermes.  (If this is what people thought of when they mentioned Hermes, I’d be a bit upset if I was Paul… Why does Barnabas get the big muscular guy?)
 
The people don’t stop at calling Paul and Barnabas gods; they want to worship them like gods. The priest of Zeus was nearby. He runs to the local temple. He opens it up with his keys. He grabs some of the oxen that they were going to sacrifice to Zeus later that week; he takes down some of the incredible, ornamental wreaths around the temple, and he makes his way back to the crowd – ready to offer his gifts to Paul and Barnabas.
 
The people are smiling.
They people are shouting.
The people are thinking that Paul and Barnabas are gods!

How are Paul and Barnabas going to react?

To be fair – this must have been pretty nice.
Recently, they had been verbally abused, rejected and threatened with being stoned.
It must have been nice to have a crowd that loved them so much that they LITERALLY: worshipped the ground they walked on.
 
Paul could tell them to “Go, get us a hammock.”
To “Go, grab us a margarita.”
To “Go, cut down some palm branches and keep them waving as we, your gods, begin our cushy new life and reign over the city.”

It might be nice to have people worship you like a god…
But…
That’s not what Paul and Barnabas do…

They get an interpreter.
They find out that the crowd thinks their gods.
They tear their clothes in agony.
And rush out into the crowd shouting:

“Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God.” (v.14-15)
 
Did you hear that?
Their message is to turn from THESE worthless things.
As turn from this worthless kind of idol worship.
And that worship kind of idol that you are worshipping…
 
…is us.
 
WRITE THIS DOWN: Idol worship is fearing, loving or trusting anything more than God. The specific weird kind of idol worship that the people of Lystra were dealing in was fearing, loving and trusting in Paul and Barnabas more than God. It was putting people – even Jesus preaching people - above God.

II. A Not So Weird Kind of Idol Worship  

But we are 21st century Americans.
We are an enlightened people.
We wouldn’t worship humans…right?
 
Remember the definition of idol worship:
It doesn’t necessarily mean that you bow down and worship them or that you hold worship services where you sing at a big statue of some person.
It means, loving, trusting, or fearing something or someone more than God.
And if that’s the definition, maybe this weird kind of idol worship is more common than we thought.

Here are a few ways that this weird kind of sin is plaguing society and maybe even plaguing your life.

Celebrities.
This might be an easy one to see. Because the truth is that humans spend more on Instagram to see if the Kardashians have any new hairstyles than they do in the Bible to see if God has anything holy we need to emulate.  
 
And it’s not just looking up to them either.

Imagine for a second that there a new social issue comes up. Some people say one thing about it. Other people say another thing.
But before you make a decision on how to react to the issue, you check to see –
 
What does Emma Stone have to say about that?
Did Arnold Schwarzenegger approve?
I can’t weigh in on the issue until the Rock posts a witty comment and tells me how to think.

Why go to a sinful people for how to think on an issue?
Why not go to God who is ALWAYS good and in fact invented absolute morality?

To trust a celebrity over God, that’s a weird kind of idolatry.
 
Scientists.
Notice I didn’t say science. I am not anti-science at all. I enjoy making a baking soda volcano as much as the next guy. Science is good. Science is valuable. Science helps you understand the complexities of God’s creation.
 
But science also has subjective presuppositions that go with it. When a scientist has the presupposition that there is no God and can be no God and anything not explainable by science must be a lie – then scientists will tell you that…

There’s no way that the miracles described in the Bible can happen.
There’s no way some dude died and then came back to life.
There’s no way some dude walked on water.
There’s no way some God made this world in 6 24-hour days. 
There’s no way some dude made some paralyzed guy walk by just telling him to.

Here’s where it gets dangerous: If you trust that scientist, more than the God’s Word, then who you are really trusting?

God wants us to use His Word to inform our understanding of science.  
Not scientists to inform your understanding of the Bible.


Because that’s trusting a scientist whose been here 40, 50, 60 years? More than God who was around since before eternity and has shown no signs of aging.
To trust a scientist over God… that’s a weird kind of idolatry.

Politicians.
This happens every time that elections roll around whether you are Democrat or Republican or any other kind of party. We listen to our favorite candidate speak. We become engrossed in their promises. We live and breathe whatever it is they are saying – and we put our trust in them to make our lives on this earth better.

And then when it doesn’t? We have a tendency to double down.
We have a tendency to defend that person no matter what they say and do.
Even if what they say and do is not godly. (And by the way. If you think I’m talking about one particular person right now, you’re wrong. This applies to a plethora of politicians from a plethora of political parties).

If the words of a sinful, fibbing politician become bigger dogma than the words of God, that’s a weird kind of idolatry.

Pastors.
Maybe you saw this one coming. This is essentially what happened with Paul and Barnabas. The people worshipped those who told them about worshipping the true God more than the true God. To be fair – this isn’t as obvious as it was in the story. There aren’t any hymns sung to the glory of me.

But…this is a danger.
A couple of years ago. I had been helping someone out over a few months. There had been counseling. There had been teaching. There had been phone conversations where I pointed them to Jesus and they found comfort.

But one week – as I had told this person – I was on vacation. I went up to the Midwest. I was visiting family and I saw his phone call. I saw it and tried to focus on my wife. They called again; I said …Nope I gotta focus on my wife. Finally, a third time… I figured it was an emergency.

“Yes, this is Pastor.”
“Pastor! We’ve got a problem. My wife said this, and I think she’s wrong. Can you please tell her so?”

Well…I’m kind of on my vacation.
Please, pastor? You’re the only one that can help.

Actually. No. God can help. Right now, I’m working on my family and I’m working on connecting with my wife.
But God can help. He speaks in his Word. He answers prayers.
Did you try any of that?

Silence.
 
“So, you’re not gonna help then?”

Did you know that I have never seen that person again? It wasn’t for lack of trying, but I think it highlighted an issue:
That person trusted me more than God.

And that cannot happen.

And if you trust me, or some other pastor, or some other theological speaker more than God…
That’s a weird kind of idolatry.
 
To be fair – we could keep going on with this list, but I think you get the point.

If you fear, love or trust a person…any person more than God, then you are just like those people in Lystra. You are committing idolatry.
If you have been committing idolatry, you need to do exactly God, the real God says and “Repent. Turn from these worthless things to the Living God.” (v14)

III. The Real God

Because the REAL GOD? He is capable of immensely more than any human being. Listen to three quick reasons that Paul gives for worshipping the Living God:

1. He made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them…(v. 15)   

We aren’t just talking about some celebrity who made one platinum record, but God who forged the very minerals necessary to make the entirety of all platinum within the bellows of earth.
We aren’t just talking about some scientist who has invented a way to identify one strand of DNA, but the God who invented and distributed every single strand of infinitesimal DNA in the history of the universe ever!
 
God is so much more powerful than any human could dream to be.
Worship him.

2. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons…and plenty of food... (v.17)

We aren’t just talking about some politician who might make your life on earth better for a bit…if they can get their laws to pass and if they don’t change their mind, but we are talking about the God
who has provided food for the whole world.
Who keeps the sun shining.
Who keeps the rain raining.
Who keeps the plans growing.
Who has given you broccolis and bananas, grapes and grape wine, corn on the cob and the corn necessary to make the Dorito!
God takes cares of you – even when you don’t believe in HIM and don’t give HIM glory – he takes cares of you.

And beyond that – God promises to take care of you for eternity.
God is so much more consistent than any human being could ever be.
Worship Him.

3. He Fills your hearts with Joy. (v.17)

We aren’t talking about some pastor -- who might be able to help you feel a bit better…if he isn’t distracted, if his training allows and if he’s not sleeping.
God is always able to help.
He’s never distracted.
He knows all things.
He has never slept and will never sleep…not even for an afternoon nap.

God is constant.

And God brings the ultimate joy! Because…who else do you know that can save you from sin?
Ellen DeGeneres?
Donald Trump?
The Pope?

Nope.
No human can save from sin.
Only God himself who came down as a human to save us from sin.

Want proof? Easy.
Most humans die. Many humans that many have looked up to over history have died:
 
Confucius? Dead.
Julius Caesar? Dead.
Mohammed? Dead.
Stephen Hawking? Dead.

Jesus? He died, but then…He did the one thing that no living human has ever been able to do – He brought Himself back to life.
 
This is Jesus.
This is the REAL, LIVING GOD.
 
If you put your faith in Jesus, He provides complete, absolute forgiveness for all your sins of idolatry.
For all the times you have trusted others more…
For all the times you have feared others more…
For all the times you have loved others more…

Jesus brings absolute forgiveness.
And…
Absolute Life.

IV. WHAT NOW?  

Look at how this lesson ends. Paul tells them that he’s not God and the people get rather upset.
In fact, what happens is that the riot group from Antioch meets up with the people who plotted in Iconium, they make their way to Lystra – rile up the crowds there and suddenly:
 
The very group that had previously been worshipping Paul, drag him outside the city.
They throw him on the ground.
They shout violent and vicious things.
They pick up stones.
They hurl them at his head.

He bleeds.
He fades.
He falls to the ground in the heap.

And the people? They cheer.
They high five.
They leave feeling pretty good – they’ve killed that God lover.

But Paul? He’s not dead.
God has given him life.
And he gets up.
And he brushes himself off.
He meets up with Barnabas and keeps preaching about Jesus.

Friends, you do the same.

Keep trusting in the TRUE God.
Keep preaching about the TRUE God.

And the true God…He will give you Life. Amen. 

Last week we heard about the beginning of the very first congregationally sponsored mission trip. Saul and Barnabas were commissioned by the Holy Spirit, fraternally supported and sent out on a mission to share the message of Jesus with countries that had never heard of him. They made their way to the Island of Cyprus and preached the good news along the coast. Many believed. Then, they were invited to the governor’s palace in Paphos where God struck a false prophet blind and brought the governor to faith! Amazing!
 
If I were Paul or Barnabas, I would feel pretty good about the mission trip so far.

They just beat a false prophet.
The governor is a believer.
People have been greeting their messages with high fives and hugs.
 
 If people always respond to the message of Jesus this way, then sign me up for a mission trip for the rest of my life.

Today we are going to look at the very city where Paul and Barnabas explored. It’s a city where the reaction is a bit different; in fact, it’s heartbreaking! Our goal with today’s study is to understand (1) why rejection of the Gospel is greatest heartbreak for God and (2) how to deal with heartbreak when you’re sharing the Gospel. Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. God’s Heart

The lesson starts in Acts 14 at a place called Pisidian Antioch. It’s called Pisidian Antioch to distinguish it from Syrian Antioch. Both cities called Antioch, different places. (It’s similar to Jacksonville, FL versus Jacksonville, NC – Same city name; very different places). Pisidian Antioch is located a couple hundred miles north of Paphos in a region of modern day Turkey.

When they arrive in Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas do what they normally do when they enter a town. They entered the synagogue and sat down. (v.14)
 
This was clever on their part.
 
The synagogue was the place where Jewish people gathered; Paul and Barnabas were Jewish people.
The synagogue is where they studied the Old Testament; Paul and Barnabas were scholars of the Old Testament.
The synagogue is where they taught about the Messiah who would come: Paul and Barnabas preached the good news of the Messiah who had already come.
 
It made sense to start their visit to a new city by attending the local synagogue. They had a lot in common with those people.

So that’s what they do in Pisidian Antioch:

They enter the synagogue.
They introduce themselves to other attendees.
They shake hands with the Rabbi.
They sit down in back.
They listen to the Rabbi talk about how the Messiah will come one day.

Then, the leaders of the synagogue invite them to speak. (v. 15)

Paul gets up and preaches. Interesting note – this is the Apostle Paul’s very first sermon that is chronologically recorded in Scripture. And it’s very specific. In the sermon, He has a few specific points that he wants to bring out for the Jewish audience that is there. It’s a longer sermon. We won’t tackle every verse, but…here’s a brief overview of his main points:
 
A. Old Testament History Shows God’s Heart for His People

This is the perfect start to the sermon. The Jews there would have been very familiar with the Old Testament stories that he’s about to reference. In fact, they would probably have learned them at their version of Sunday School – maybe even some of the Old Testament that they had just read in their synagogue service.

And it becomes a brief history of God’s heart for the people of Israel:

God chose their ancestors.
God made the people prosper in Egypt.
God used his mighty power to get them out of Egypt.
God endured their conduct in the wilderness.
God overthrew opposing nations.
God gave them the land of Canaan.  
God gave them a King. (v.17-22)

And….
More recently…
God did something even more amazing than any of this.
God sent a Savior because God’s heart is for his people.

B. OT Prophecy is Prompted by God’s Heart

This is important. Because God didn’t want his people to miss out on the Savior.

It’d be like your mom telling you that “Yes, you have one more birthday gift on the way. Keep an eye on the mail.  It’ll show up in about 4 days. It’ll be coming via UPS. It’ll be a box about 3-feet-wide by 2-feet-long. It should be in a bright red Package from SweatSocksRUs.com Don’t miss it! P.S. If it doesn’t have Sweat Socks in it, it’s not my gift.
 
Mom gives you the description, so you don’t miss the gift.
God gave prophecies in the Old Testament, so we didn’t miss his greatest gift, the Savior.

Paul mentions a few of those prophecies in verses 23-35:
 
OT Prophecy said that a voice from the desert would prepare the way for Jesus; John the Baptist lived in the desert and prepared the way for Jesus.
OT Prophecy says that the Savior would be pierced (Is. 53:5a); Jesus was pierced with nails.
OT Prophecy says that Jesus would be crushed (Is. 53:5b); Jesus’ lungs were crushed as he hung on that cross.
OT Prophecy says that Jesus would be punished (Is.53:5c); Jesus was crucified with the most common of Roman punishments.
OT Prophecy says that the Savior would be mocked (Psalm 22:7); Jesus was mocked (Luke 23:36; Mt. 27:31)
OT Prophecy says that the Savior’s mouth would be dry (Psalm 22:15); Jesus’ mouth was dry. (Jn. 19:28)
OT Prophecy says that the Savior’s bones would not be broken. (Psalm 22:17) None of Jesus’ bones were. (Jn. 19:33)
OT Prophecy says that soldiers would cast lots for the Savior’s clothing. (Psalm 22:18) That’s exactly what the soldiers did. (Jn. 19:24)
 
All of these things happened…just as OT Prophecy said…to help us identify God’s greatest gift.
 
But…
That’s not all the Scripture said.  
 
In Psalm 16:10 King David wrote this: “You will not let your holy one see decay.”
 
Paul quotes it in his sermon. He notes that it’s a strange statement for two reasons: 
(1) Most dead things decay.
(2) David died and decayed.

So, if his body decayed, who was David talking about?
 
I’ll let Paul answer: “David died…his body decayed; but the One whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.” (Acts 13:37)
 
That’d be Jesus.
An unmistakable prophecy fulfilled by the Savior.

C. God’s Heart Desires to Bring Forever Blessings to You

This is Paul’s conclusion – God did all those miracles, prophesied all those prophesies, and brought them all into fulfillment because He wants to bring forever blessings to you.  
Blessings that can only be yours through faith in Jesus.
 
It’s kind of like Starbucks rewards points. Do you have them? If you a Gold Card member, you receive free refills on coffee and tea. On your birthday, you get a free drink and every 125 points you receive a free drink, anything on the menu.  But if you don’t have your Starbucks card with you – then you don’t receive any of those blessings. Even if your membership is paid for – you don’t get a free refill. You don’t get a free birthday drink and you will have to pay for the White Chocolate Raspberry Mocha.

Spiritually speaking – Jesus has paid for all the blessings of God’s love.
But you need Jesus to experience those paid for blessings.
This is where faith comes in: like a wallet for your Starbucks card, faith holds onto Jesus.
Where Jesus is, there are His blessings.  

What blessings? Paul says it this way in verses 38-39. Write it down. Underline it. Put a big permanent marker star by it: “Through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law…” (Acts 13:38-39)

The three blessings are:

Forgiveness. It means that God forgives you. God forgives you for that big sin. God forgives you for that little sin. God forgives you for that medium sized sin. God doesn’t hold it against you. God isn’t seeking revenge. God is at peace with you and you are at peace with him. Sound nice? Want forgiveness? Believe in Jesus.
 
Freedom. Because sin can burden you. Sin can enslave you. It can tell you to keep sinning and trap you in guilt that you can never get away from. Jesus sets you free from that. He gives you God’s power to fight back. He breaks you free from the bondage of guilt to say of yourself: “God loves me; why do I need to sin anymore?” Want freedom from sin? Believe in Jesus.
 
Justification. That’s a courtroom term. It means “to be declared innocent by the judge.” That’s great news, especially if the crime requires a death sentence. Because if you are innocent, you don’t have to undergo the death sentence. To be spiritually justified means that God has declared you “spiritually forever innocent” and you don’t have to undergo the spiritual eternal death known as hell! How’s that for uplifting? Even when your inner voice says: “Guilty!” God’s divine gavel says: “Innocent!” Want that verdict? Believe in Jesus.
 
Forgiveness, freedom and an innocent verdict are all gifts of God’s heart, because… the heart of God’s heart is his love for you.  
God’s Heart Deeply Desires to Spend Forever with you.
 
In peace.
In love.
In joy.  

Do you know anyone else who cares for you that much?
Me neither.  
 
II. God’s Heartbreak   

When Paul finished his sermon on God’s love, some people believed him.  
But others?
Well…

They invited Paul and Barnabas back the following week.  
But it wasn’t to listen.
 
It was to shout: “Quiet! Stop talking. Shut up!”
It was to ridicule: “You’re a moron. What kind of a fool believes in this Jesus guy?” 
It was to contradict: “Jesus isn’t the Savior. The Savior is still coming and will give us freedom from the Roman government.”

They rejected Paul and his teaching.  

But rejecting Paul wasn’t all they were doing.  Look closely at Paul’s response: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentile.” (v.46)

This wasn’t a rejection of Paul.
It was a rejection of God Himself.
It was a rejection of God’s greatest gift -- the Savior. 

And a rejection of the Savior is a rejection of all the blessings that the Savior brings. 
It’s a rejection of forgiveness.
It’s a rejection of freedom.
It’s a rejection of the innocent verdict.
It’s a rejection of eternal life.

This is God’s heartbreak.
Not that God needs you to love him. He doesn’t. He’ll still be God with or without you.
But God’s greatest heartbreak is losing you because he knows what it means for you without Him in your life.
 
Do you reject Jesus?
If so, can I speak candidly to you on God’s behalf?

Please, please, please reconsider...you will miss out…on everything.
 
And to be fair, I’m not just speaking to those of you who have recently said: “I reject Jesus.”
Because you can reject something without ever saying it:
 
It’s like the first girl that I ever asked to dance. She just smiled. She said she had to use the restroom. She went out through the back of the auditorium where we held our dances. I waited for her near the back.
A minute.  
Two.
Fifteen.
Until I gave up only to return to the dance floor and see that she had already come back to the dance floor via the other door.
You know…the one that didn’t go by me. 
 
You can reject something without saying: “I reject this.”
You can Jesus without saying, “I reject Jesus.”
You can reject Jesus by continually rejecting opportunities to worship Him. You don’t have to say it out loud. You just have to hit the snooze button.
You can reject Jesus by rejecting that invite to grow in faith at Bible study. Again – no words necessary. Just click the delete button on the Google Calendar Invite.
You can reject Jesus by closing your Bible and never ever again looking at that part of Scripture that talks about the sin you really enjoy doing.

Here’s the truth:
Rejection of God’s Word, God’s counsel or God’s people is a rejection of God himself.
And that rejection puts you in grave danger.

Because eventually, after the people have been name-calling, shouting at and abusing Paul and asking him to leave – do you know what happens?
He leaves.

He leaves, and he shakes the dust off of his feet as he leaves.
Taking God’s Word with him.

Here’s a scary truth.
If you keep rejecting God,
If you keep asking God to leave your life.
Eventually…
He listens.

Stop rejecting your Lord.
Call out for God to stop shaking the dust and return to you.   

And? He will.

How do I know? Because God’s greatest joy is having you with him in eternity!
Do you get that?

You are the main reason behind God’s constant interaction with human history.
It’s why he interacted through miracles in the Old Testament to keep the promise of the Savior alive.
It’s why He recorded prophecy after prophecy, so you didn’t miss out on his greatest gift.
It’s why He died on the cross.
It’s why He rose from the dead.
It’s why He has you right here right now to hear this message that I am speaking.
And his greatest joy is making you His eternally.

If you call out to God in mercy, He returns. His love for you is that great!
So, call out to him and believe in Jesus.  
Believe in Jesus.
 
III. WHAT NOW? (Lessons for Missionaries)

Now if I could segue for a second.  I want to switch gears. I want to speak to those of you that have been trying to share Jesus with others.
I want to speak to those of you who have a family member or friend who just doesn’t listen and doesn’t want to believe.
Maybe that’s heartbreaking to you.

How do you deal?

Paul had to go through this. His fellow countrymen didn’t listen. How did he deal?
The lesson for today has a few tips:

1) Desire the Heart of God

When you are sharing the Gospel with someone repeatedly and they don’t listen, that hurts.  And you might be tempted become callous.
To develop this scarring.
To approach mission work like – “Meh! Whatever...” Because then it doesn’t hurt so much.

Don’t.

That is not God’s heart.
And it shouldn’t be yours.

To truly share the Gospel, we need a heart that breaks at the thought of someone missing out on eternal life.
That drives us.
That motivates us.
That leads us to share the Gospel. Again, and again and again.

That’s why Paul shared the Gospel! He had previously been apart from eternal life. Now he wasn’t.
He didn’t want others to miss out and it drove his mission work.
It’s why He didn’t stop after the rejection at Pisidian Antioch.

He kept going.

If your heart hurts, thank the Lord for that. It’s a key part of doing mission work.
If your heart doesn’t, ask God to give you a heart that sees – not people in no need of interacting with—but souls in need of saving.  
 
2) Understand the Recipient of the Rejection 

Because it’s easy to feel rejected. To think: I have invited that guy over 37 weeks in a row! You know what? If he doesn’t want to believe me, fine! I can’t believe he did this to me! I’m a nice guy. I have decent hair. I make good jokes. How could he reject me!?!
 
But…
Remember what Paul said.

Rejection of the Gospel isn’t rejection of you.
It’s rejection of God.
And God can handle it.   

You just keep sharing.
And what will help you in sharing?

Do what Paul did:

3) Rejoice in those Who Do Believe

Because did you notice at the end of the chapter in verse 52. It says: “The disciples were filled with joy.” It isn’t because they were excited that all those people were rejecting the Gospel.
Nope. They were simply focusing on those who received it.

We need to remember that simple tip.​

This happens to me just about every week. I get done with the service. I’m feeling pretty good. Then about 2 hours afterwards I’m scrolling on Facebook and I see someone who I invited, and I think: Wait? Why weren’t they here? And…why didn’t so and so come? And where was he? And where was she? And if only they had come too!
 
What terrible thinking.
What futile thinking.

Instead? Focus on the good.
Celebrate God’s victories.
Thank God for your faith and the faith of your fellow believers.

Because the reality is that there is heartbreak in mission work, yes.
But the heartbreak is outweighed by the incredible joy.

May God lift up your heart with that joy. Amen. 

Way back in 2002 when I was a junior in high school, I went on a Mission Trip to Puerto Rico. At first, it was a lot of fun. The climate was tropical. The buildings were beautiful. The beaches were pristine.

But then…we started to work. Up and down, in the streets, hour after hour – knocking on doors, telling people about Jesus and inviting them to our Vacation Bible School. The people weren’t always the friendliest. One man just so happened to be holding a machete. Another man threatened to release his dogs. One house didn’t have anyone in it - just a giant rooster – that wasn’t too keen on my visit.

To be honest – It was hot. It was sweaty. It didn’t seem to be much of a success.
I began to think to myself:

Why?

To be fair, I didn’t have it nearly as tough as some people doing mission work have it!
There are missions in the Middle East threatened by terrorists.
There are missions in East Asia threatened to be shut down by the government.
There are missions in India where church buildings get bombed.

All because of mission work. Is it really worth it?

We’ve been studying the book of ACTS and we have that sharing the Gospel was a key part of what the apostles did. Today we’re going to look at one Early Christian Congregation that thought mission work was so important – they sent out church members to go and do that mission work in different cities – in different countries. Our goal in this study of Acts 13 is to find out where the idea for mission work comes from and how much the church (our church) should be involved on a daily basis.

Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Mission Work is God’s Idea

Our text in Acts 13 deals with a congregation in Antioch, Syria. Antioch was over 500 miles north of Jerusalem. The congregation formed way back when the persecution started in Jerusalem. Christians had tried to avoid the persecution, so they ran away from Jerusalem and settled in Antioch. Eventually they had formed a Christian congregation there. And it had gone pretty well. Check out Acts 11:20-21: “Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”  
 
That sounds nice doesn’t it?
The group of Christians moved themselves away from the persecution.
They moved away from the uncomfortable unbelievers who were against them.
They had grown together into a nicely sized group.

What should they do next?

Maybe they could build a sanctuary?
Improve their morning coffee ministry?
Divvy up who brought treats to Sunday worship?

Check out Acts 13: While the congregation members in Antioch were worshipping the Lord…the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (v.1-2)
 
Did you hear that?
Did you hear who decided what to do next?

It wasn’t a group of men sitting in a board room trying to figure out the next best move for the church.
It wasn’t a state mandated next step.
it wasn’t something they found on Pinterest.
It wasn’t the result of a poll on Facebook.
A couple of guys didn’t say: You know what I’d like to do? Go on a mission trip to the beach – and you can all pay for it!

Nope.
 
Saul and Barnabas’ mission work was God’s idea.

Have you ever noticed a difference between who comes up with ideas at work? If it’s a fellow coworker, the idea is generally open to critiques and criticism. You might not do it. You might not listen.
But what happens if it is the Boss’ idea? “What’s that BOSS? A movie about tornados and sharks? That sounds rad! Let’s do it!”

What I mean is, the higher a person’s rank is the more you listen to their ideas.

Whose idea was mission work again?
How high does God rank?

No wonder the Antioch congregation follows through! Mission work was God’s idea!
 
And it shows God’s heart. Because people don’t naturally know about their Savior. Naturally, they need a Savior; but they don’t naturally know about their Savior. Without faith in their Savior, they must face God’s wrath against sin – all on their own. But God loves people that much. He directs affairs in his church and commissioned mission work with the express purpose of bringing the message of the Savior to all people.
 
Now…I don’t know how the Holy Spirit told the Antioch congregation this. Did he speak out loud? Did he write it on the wall? Did he give them a vision? It’s unclear.
 
But what is important is what the Holy Spirit clearly communicated:  Do mission work.

Now…I don’t see anything on the walls here today.
I can’t hear any voice speaking.
But…
 
We have the bible.
The Bible is God’s Word.
The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is confirmed by Jesus.
And the Bible says this:
Go and make disciples of all nations. (Mt. 28:19)
 
In other words:
Our mission work – is God’s idea too.
Sharing the message of Jesus in North Raleigh is God’s idea.

Not mine.
Not the elders.
Not some Synod official.

God’s.

I imagine ya’ll have busy weeks ahead.

There’s work to do.
Meals to make.
Things to clean.
Kids to chauffeur.

QUESTION: Do any of you have “Do Mission Work” written on your list this week?
Would you put it there?

It’s God’s idea.
It’s God’s command.
It’s God’s purpose for you.

II. Mission Work is Qualified by the Holy Spirit

The church at Antioch had a few different leaders in their congregation. You might recognize a couple of those names. Barnabas – He’s the guy who sold a field to help out his fellow Christians way back in chapter 4. Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen appear to be some guys who had learned from the Apostles and now were teachers of the Word. They all would have made sense as leaders of the church and choices for mission work.

But…there’s one name that isn’t quite like the others: Saul.
 
Do you remember him? Saul is the guy that a little over a year earlier had been leading the persecution against the church. He had thrown Christians in prison and made death threats against them. It was so bad that his persecution is the reason the Antioch Christian congregation had formed in the first place! Then, he saw Jesus and became a believer. Something that was hard for some Christians to stomach – a big, old sinner like that? Chosen by God to have forgiveness? Should we really let him into the church?

But not only did God do that…
Not only did God make Saul a believer…
Not only did God grant Saul forgiveness…
Not only did God make Saul a member of the church…

But God placed Saul in church leadership!
And then! At the outset of this mission, God specifically requests him for mission work! 
 
Humanly speaking, Saul might be one of the last people I choose for mission work. Can you imagine his work resume? “So, you are applying to go tell people about Jesus. What kind of experience do you have? Oh…you have experience killing people who believed in Jesus…”

Humanly speaking Saul’s past would have disqualified him from mission work.
But that’s humanly speaking…

Divinely speaking, Saul is 100% qualified.
He’s qualified because the Holy Spirit qualified Saul for mission work.
In fact, the truth is: The Holy Spirit qualifies mission workers for mission work.

This is key for you and me.
Because if we thought about our past, if we really, truly thought about our deeds, there’d be all kinds of disqualifications from doing mission work.

I don’t know enough.
I’m too big of a sinner.
I’ve done too much wrong.
I’ve not been here long enough.

But here’s the deal:
It isn’t your past that qualifies you.
It’s the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit has called you to faith, he has also called you to share in mission work…and qualified you.

He has qualified us.
And that doesn’t mean you have to go across state lines.
You might only have to go across the cubicle at work.
Across the street.
Across the bedroom in your hall.

Be confident.
Keep your eyes open and share Jesus.
 
III. Mission Work is to be Fraternally Supported

How would the rest of the church react to the mission? Take a look at verse 3. They fasted and prayed, then they placed their hands on Saul and Barnabas and sent them off. (v.3) The brothers and sisters in church, fraternally supported their work. Notice they supported the mission work in two ways:

(1)  Publicly
 
The congregation participated in the laying on of hands. What is laying on of hands? It’s (get this) the laying on of hands in support of a brother or sister in the ministry. Maybe you lay on hands and say a prayer. Maybe you say a verse of Scripture. Maybe you simply pat him on the back and say, “God’s blessings.” In our congregation, when pastors are installed – fellow pastors will attend the service, lay hands on the rookie pastor and speak Scriptures and blessings on his ministry.

When Saul and Barnabas were being sent out, the congregation laid hands on them, too. Whether it was all the church leaders or just the leadership, Barnabas and Saul are publicly supported.
And I am certain Saul and Barnabas were uplifted by it!

Imagine you are about to run a race. Your friends and family are there. They smile and immediately start booing you. They tell you how awful you are. They hold up signs that say, “You stink at running.”
That’s not very uplifting.

The same is true in mission work. Public support uplifts mission work; public complaints…Not so much.
 
If I can be honest, there was one Sunday a while back that a pastor friend of mine called. He was feeling pretty upset. To be fair – worship had gone well. There were visitors there. He had given high fives and been excited to share Jesus.
 
But then after worship – as he was walking to the back to get some cookies – he overhead a few long-time members say:
I don’t think does a very good job. He’s not that good at pastoring. I think he should think about leaving.  
 
Think about it – my friend had received a bunch of high fives and one complaint.
Which do you think he had spent the last day and a half thinking about?

Public support is uplifting; public complaints…Not so much. 
 
Even if it’s true!  It doesn’t matter. That’s called gossip. Publicly complaining is like cancer. Public support is uplifting; public complaints…Not so much.
But rather than public badmouthing, God calls us to publicly support mission work and those who do mission work.
 
How can you do it here? It’s not just supporting me. (Although I do appreciate that) It’s supporting the teachers at Precious Lambs, the teachers at Sunday School, small group leaders, elders, greeters, building committee members! You can do it with a high five. A pat on the back. A THANK YOU. A post on Social Media talking up the ministry at church. A like on your friend’s media who is sharing ministry at church.
 
That is uplifting.

To be honest, it’s doing what God has already done for you.  
Because it is God uplifts us.
He calls you His Child.
He calls you forgiven.
He calls you part of his kingdom.
He calls you a part of this ministry!

God supports us.
We support others.
God supports others through us.

And it’s not just publicly…
 
(2) Privately

Look at verse 3 again. They fasted and prayed.  It wasn’t just in public where they showed up in church, gave pats on the back and high fives, but then went home and totally forgot about the mission work.

Nope.

Instead they went home.
They fasted – meaning they didn’t eat much food in order to focus on the second thing they were doing: they prayed.
They were praying that God would bless the mission work.
They were praying that God would bless Barnabas.
They were praying that God would bless Saul.
They were praying that God would empower them to share the Gospel.
They were pray8ing that God would bless the Gospel in the hearts of those who would hear it.
They were praying that God would continue to bless the church in Antioch and keep them faithfully connected to his Word.
 
This is something for you to do, too.
To pray for the growth of God’s ministry in Raleigh.
To pray for God’s ministry around the globe.
To pray for those that are a part of that ministry.
To pray that God works through their ministry.
To pray that God’s Word works on the hearts of those touched by our ministry.
To pray that God continues to plant the message of the Gospel in the hearts of North Raleigh.
To pray that God continues to plan the message of the Gospel around the world.
 
IV. Mission Work is Powered by God Himself 

Back to the text.  
Saul and Barnabas are sent off. They make their way down to Seleucia and sail to an island called Cyprus (v.5). They are sharing Jesus everywhere they go.

Eventually they make their way to Paphos. (v.6) Paphos is headquarters for the Roman proconsul named Sergius Paulus. Now – the proconsul was very much like a governor. It was his job to rule over Paphos and report to Caesarea who was in charge of the entire Roman empire.

When Saul and Barnabas are in Paphos, Sergius Paul sends for them.
 
That seems really intimidating. They are standing before a Roman Governor, in a Roman palace, filled with Roman soldiers and Roman advisors. The last time that sort of thing happened was with a guy named Jesus and the governor Pontius Pilate. That ended with Jesus, dead, on a cross.

And as they are talking with the proconsul, his advisors get upset. One of them starts heckling them. He’s the advisor to the king and also a false prophet. In fact, his nickname, Elymas, means “sorcerer” and implies that he was connected with the dark, Satanic arts.

Elymas sees the proconsul hearing the Gospel and starts heckling Saul and Barnabas!
“These guys are idiots! They don’t know what they are talking about. Don’t listen to them. Listen to me.”
 
And Saul hears him shouting.
And Saul takes a deep breath.
And Saul shouts:
“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind.” (v.9-10)
 
And…
Immediately…
Elymas is struck blind.
The dark sorcerer sees nothing but darkness.

And the proconsul? He believes.

Here’s the truth:
Mission work is powered by God Himself.
Mission workers are powered by God himself.

God’s Power was with Saul.
God’s Power was with Barnabas.
God’s Power was with the other disciples.

God’s power is with you.
To be fair, God might not strike anyone blind through you…
But He might lead someone out of their blindness.

The other day I started Bible Basics with someone who was a bit unfamiliar with Christianity. In the first lesson, we talk about resurrection. I told her that Jesus died and on Easter came back to life. (No joke – this is about 5 minutes into class) And she says, “Oh!?! That’s real? I thought it was made up.”

Over the next hours, I didn’t do anything special.
I simply shared the powerful Word of God.

And now? She knows Jesus came back to life.
And she believes Jesus came back to life.
She believes Jesus is her Savior.

That’s why we do mission work.
That’s why God wants you to do mission work.

Be bold.
Be confident.
Do mission work. Amen.

Who here remembers King Herod?

Hmm, no, no not the King Herod who met with the wise men and then ordered all the infants in Bethlehem killed. That was his grandfather.

No, not the King Herod who ordered John the Baptist beheaded and later wanted to see Jesus perform a miracle. That was his uncle.

I’m talking about the King Herod who put the first apostle of Jesus to death and tried to do it again shortly after.

Of course, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were all the same king, right? The time-span is short enough that they could all be the same man and more to the point, they all behave very similarly. They have no regard for the true God. At best they are apathetic about it, and at worst they actively work against it just to further their own means.

And that’s exactly what’s happening in our reading today. This particular Herod, Herod Agrippa I, was just trying to secure his position as king. He was “king” of the Jews, but not in any way the Jews really recognized. He was put there by the Roman conquerors. The Jews hated the idea of any nation being over them, and this puppet king was just an ongoing reminder of it. So Herod had to deal with this constant distaste from them.

However, at this time, there was something else the Jews were starting to hate just as much. There were these men who were trying to subvert the Jewish religion. Followers of what was sometimes called The Way, but recently had started using the term “Christians”. The Jews hated these guys, too. And as the old saying goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Herod realized that if he attacked this new church movement, he’d earn himself some points in the polls with the Jewish people and that would make his job that much easier.

The first major target? James. Son of Zebedee, brother of John. Same John who later wrote the gospel of John, a few letters, and the book of Revelation. James was one of the original twelve, he’d walked with and learned from Jesus himself. And Herod, in true dictatorial power, had him executed. No trial or any sort of legal cause. Just, “you die.”

It’s not like being a Christian was a picnic so far, but this stepped it up even more. Yes, he wasn’t the first to die for Jesus, but he was the first of the twelve who was martyred. And this time it wasn’t just the Jewish leadership acting out, it was the Roman government. And not even because they opposed the message of Jesus, but because the king wanted to be popular.

So, if things weren’t already tense in Jerusalem for Christians, this was going to raise the bar. And it only went higher. The next target was Peter, probably the most prominent leader of the early church. And there was nothing Peter could do about it. Nothing any of them could do about it. Herod had all the authority, all the power. His word was law. He said kill somebody and it happened. Reasons didn’t matter. There was no law to protect from that. No justice. Herod was just in control of the situation and the Christians, the apostles were not.

And so, it happened that after his friend and travelling companion of the last four or so years was essentially murdered that Peter found himself in prison waiting a similar fate. Guarded by a rotating squad of soldiers, actually chained to the soldiers in the prison. The next day, probably, he was going to die. And it wasn’t going to stop there. Herod would keep on going until there wasn’t anyone left.

The rest of the believers, what could they do? They couldn’t storm Roman soldiers and force Peter free, they were just people, not fighters.

It’s a desperate situation. One of the most public leaders of the church was waiting to die. A man who opposed everything they stood for was in complete control. And the message of the gospel was in danger of being snuffed out by that man’s actions.

So why is Peter sleeping soundly? It wasn’t because he knew what was going to happen next. Because when an angel jarred him awake and the chains fell from his wrists, when he was led out of the prison unseen by any of the guards watching, Peter didn’t actually believe his eyes. He thought it was a vision, a dream. It wasn’t until he was out in the city proper when the angel left him, when he was hit by the cold of the night air and the silence that hung there after the angel left that he realized this was really happening. It was real.

Peter escapes. God rescued him. The believers had not sat idle but had prayed continuously for his rescue. God answered those prayers. He was free, and he would live to see another day.

And shortly after this event, Herod himself was struck dead by God. Go ahead and read the rest of the chapter when you get home today. Herod, being puffed up by some sycophants, was called a god. And he just soaked it in. God had enough and struck him down for such arrogance. The man in “complete control” died, just like that.

And the gospel spread. News of Herod’s death only set it further ablaze as it burned through the nations. Everything that seemed hopeless was overturned.

Brothers and Sisters, this is why Peter was sleeping soundly that night. Because he had utter confidence that it was God, not Herod that was in control. Peter thought he would die, but that didn’t matter to him because God is unstoppable. Peter knew that Herod’s plan couldn’t succeed in wiping out the gospel truth of Jesus because it was God’s gospel, with the power of God behind it. He knew for a fact that the gospel, by God’s power, is unstoppable.

Peter, by God’s power, was unstoppable. Every earthly power and authority came against him and it didn’t work because God didn’t allow it.

And before him, James, brother of John, son of Zebedee, by God’s power, was unstoppable.

You remember James, right? He was the first one Herod arrested and succeeded in killing.

Wait, let me rephrase that. He was the first one Herod tried to kill.

Maybe this whole time you were thinking about him. Maybe you were thinking “Great for Peter, what about James? God didn’t seem so keen on miraculously rescuing him!”

He didn’t? James was a sinner after all. We can even find that in the Gospels, like the time he and his brother arrogantly asked for a higher position than the rest of the twelve with Jesus. James deserved to die. And more than die, he deserved to be cut off from God and his mercy forever. He deserved hell.

But instead of that, God himself endured hell for James. He went in James’ place. And in return, he gave James the credit of a life lived without sin, in complete obedience to God. Jesus did those things for James. He lived and he died for James.

Herod did everything in his human power to stop James. But it didn’t work. The Roman sword that pierced him was what ushered him into the eternal arms of his Father. He didn’t die. He lives, forever, free of all pain and suffering and most especially free from the burden of sin. Peter was rescued from a cell. James was rescued from this life of pain and tears.

Peter’s time for that came eventually of course, but the point is that neither of these men were failed by God. And neither of them were overcome by the forces of this world. By God’s power, by the power of the gospel message, the message about Jesus, they were unstoppable.

I hope, by now, you realize this is not just a story about Peter and James. This is about you, too.

The gospel is unstoppable.

Peter, by God’s power, was unstoppable.

James, by God’s power, was unstoppable.

You, by God’s power, are unstoppable.

I don’t mean you can leave this building and go do whatever you want; that’s relying on your power and it’ll fail you every time. But the power of the gospel in you cannot be stopped.

It is this simple. You know the truth, that God lived for you, died for you, and rose to life for you. Because Jesus lived, died, and rose for you, you are forgiven and God will take you to be with him forever. That’s the good news that you know and trust, that is the gospel.

And there is no power here on earth that can stop you. Nothing can tear Jesus away from you. No human or natural agent can separate you from God’s love. And literally nothing that happens to you here on this earth can take away the salvation that God has given you freely by this truth. You are already saved. You are already rescued. Nothing can take that away from you. With the gospel truth in you, you are unstoppable.

It’s important to remember this perspective when your life seems anything but unstoppable. I doubt any of us will experience a night in prison awaiting execution, but that doesn’t mean we don’t find ourselves in situations where we feel beaten down, pushed around, and tempted to lose hope because whatever earthly situation we find ourselves in is not looking like it’s going to work out.

The message here is not “that earthly situation is going to work out”. It’s not “God will definitely miraculously free you from that earthly prison.” The message is that God has already freed you from a much more deadly prison. And that even if things don’t go our way here, it all leads to the same end – victory.

The troubles, the trials, the forces of this world will scream that they are in control of your life, and they will try to imprison you and beat you down. It may even seem like they are in control. Things we value, people we care about, even our own health might be taken away. But they can’t stop you. Because you have God and he cannot be stopped. Because of Jesus, you have already won. And the message continues.

I’m not saying God will never help you here and now either. He absolutely will. But that’s not where our hope is. Our hope is not in being delivered from bad bosses or car troubles or crushing debt or inoperable cancer. When it seems like he isn’t helping, when it’s like he’s not trying to rescue you at all, remember: he already has. Come what may, you are already saved.

God’s goal is to get you and anyone else he can to know and trust the gospel message so you can be safely brought to heaven with him. That mission will not be stopped. And while you are still here, God has chosen you to carry out that mission. Share the message that makes you unstoppable. The message cannot be stopped. No matter what powers try to stifle it, they will never succeed. Share it with confidence and share it out of love for those who need it.

You are saved, you are unstoppable in him. Share the truth so others may know the same rock-solid comfort. That is the path God has put before you: to speak his truth so long as you can. You will not be stopped on that path so long as God wants you to run. You cannot be stopped from sharing the truth so long as you are here.

Brothers and sisters, our God saves. Nothing in heaven above or on the earth below can stop him from carrying out his mission in you and through you. The gospel will continue.

Brothers and sisters, our God has saved you. Nothing in heaven above or on the earth below can stop you from being welcomed into his arms when this is all over.

Brothers and sisters, go out today, wake up every day after this absolutely secure in the certainty of this truth: God and his gospel are unstoppable.

Amen.

​Last week, we heard about how the Apostle Peter brought the Gospel to the Jews that lived in Lydda and Joppa. Today we’re going to hear about the first time that Peter brought the Gospel to people that weren’t Jews at all. As we study God’s Word, we’re going to delve into some very important and timely truths about the Gospel and Race. Before we do that, a prayer:

Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The Story

The lesson picks up right where we left off last week. Peter is still in Joppa. He’s still ministering to Tabitha. He’s still sharing the message of Jesus with people who were quite interested in hearing him, since he just brought a dead woman back to life. 
 
But eventually, Peter needs a break. Acts 10:9 says, “About noon...Peter went up on the roof to pray.”
 
Now, you don’t need to picture Peter trying to balance on a 45-pitch roof. (OSHA is not involved with this story). At that time, roofs were mostly flat. Since homes were commonly built in close proximity to each other to maximize space – it was used like a porch. It was relaxing and quiet, a good place for uninterrupted prayer.

And there must have been a lot of exciting things on Peter’s mind:   

He’s thankful the Outreach initiatives that have taken place in Lydda and Joppa.
He’s starting to brainstorm for a new group – a Jews for Jesus – outreach group for Jews about Jesus.
He’s thinking it might be wise to plan a church outing to the local Jewish Carpenter’s Baseball game.
He’s brainstorming how to take my favorite Jewish songs and melodies – and transform them into songs about Jesus.
 
In short, Peter is excited.
He’s thrilled.
He’s happy to see God work on the hearts of his Jewish compatriots.
And he heads to the roof for guidance from God!
 
While he’s up there, praying and praying and praying, he starts to get hungry.
But before he can head downstairs to the kitchen, he sees some food….
…Coming down from the sky.
 
Peter saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners…. like a picnic cloth… It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” (10:12-13)
 
And Peter looks at the animals on the sheet.
And Peter’s tummy rumbled.
And Peter was hungry.
And Peter said:
“Surely not Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” (v.14)
 
A bit of an explanation.

In the Old Testament, God revealed himself through the people of Israel. He chose to interact with them, do miracles on their behalf when they followed him, and against them when they didn’t. God did this – not because he loved the people of Israel more than other people – but because…He needed to choose some group of people to reveal Himself as the true God, lest all worship the sun, the moon, the stars, a pile of rocks, some dead scorpion, or some really bad abstract art.
 
It's essentially the Krispy Kreme Principle. Krispy Kreme lights up its sign to let you know when there are fresh, hot donuts available. The point of the sign is to get you to pay attention to the doughy goodness’ availability.  
 
To get the attention of the other nations, God did miracles among the nation of Israel. (He split the Red Sea. He sent bread from heaven. He made the walls of Jericho come tumbling down).
God did miracles in the Israelite nation so that people of any nation might see that he is the true God of all nations.
 
When God has the attention of the other nations, what does he want to teach them? Key truth #1: God is HOLY. He is a God who hated sin. A God who loved purity.
 
Why is this God’s number one truth? Because if we don’t realize that truth, we’ll just remain in our sin, blissfully unaware of how far short from perfection we have fallen. When we realize that God is HOLY and he demands HOLINESS and we aren’t HOLY and have zero HOLINESS, we fall to the ground and ask God for mercy – and he granted that mercy in sending a Savior – Jesus Christ.
 
Knowing God is HOLY is important in understanding the need for the Gospel.  
One way God taught his HOLINESS to other nations was through the Israelite diet.

Leviticus 11. It’s probably not a section of Scripture that any of you have memorized. It isn’t a part of Scripture that makes its way to Social Media posts. It doesn’t make for very good Scripture art around your home. But within Leviticus 11, God reveals strict dietary restrictions for the people of Israel. His goal? Make their diet so drastically different from that of other nations that people take notice, ask about the diet, and learn that God is HOLY.
 
Some of the restrictions were as follows:

Only finned sea creatures. This allowed for fish. But it meant that you couldn’t have lobster, crab or any kind of sushi.
Only domestic birds. Chicken and turkey were cool; pheasant, owl, vulture? Not so much.
Only animals that have a divided hoof and chew the cud. Again, beef and lamb are fine, but not camels and (the biggest tragedy of all) pigs. (Understand: NO BACON!)
 
When Peter looked at the picnic blanket from heaven, there were some animals there that would make fine cuisine: Oysters Rockefeller. Buttered crab. Stuffed Pheasant. Bacon Wrapped Bacon! He was hungry, but every animal on the blanket was one of the Old Testament forbidden animals and Peter didn’t want to disobey God’s Old Testament laws, so he replied to God: Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean!

And Peter must have felt pretty good about his answer.
He had just listened to God’s voice in the Old Testament;
He just ignored God’s voice that had just spoken to him in order to do so…but…
 
God responds:
“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (v.15)
 
At the end of the vision, while Peter was standing there – a bit dumbfounded– and deeply pondering the meaning: Is bacon OK now? Should I stop by the local BBQ shop? A knock came from the downstairs door. Being on the roof, Peter scooted to the ridgeline and peeked over at the visitors. From the third floor he could make out the unmistakable insignia of Roman soldiers. Gentiles. Non-Jews. Non-Jews that currently were enforcing an unwanted rule on their kingdom.
 
Peter’s first thought was to hide.
His second thought was “those lousy good for nothing Romans.”
His third thought was “I want nothing to do with their kind.”

Then, God spoke again:
“Simon…Get up. Go downstairs. Go with these men.” (v.19)
 
Remember I mentioned the Old Testament dietary law? It was one of the ways that God impressed his holiness upon Old Testament Israel. There were other ways. They wore certain clothing. They made certain altars. They sacrificed certain sacrifices. And – they worshipped with certain people.

To impress His holiness on all people – Old Testament Israelites circumcised their male children. That was different in ancient times. No other nation did it. God had Israel do it, as a symbol of cutting off the sinful nature and being made new in God’s mercy.
 
Since the Jews were circumcised and every other race of people wasn’t, this meant that oftentimes the Israelites did things by themselves.
In fact, over time Jewish leadership developed rules that helped to keep people obeying God. They made a rule that you could not eat with anyone who wasn’t a Jew. That you could not have someone who wasn’t a Jew enter your home; that you could not enter the house of someone who wasn’t Jewish, because you dare not spend time with people who were “impure.”

All Israel knew that.
All Israel practiced that.
Peter knew that.
Peter practiced that.

But God just said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
And God had just told him to follow these men to their home so…

Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. (v.23)
Peter started out with them the next day (v.23b)
Peter arrived at the house of a Roman centurion named Cornelius and he entered the home. (v.25)

Did you hear that? Peter just broke hundreds of years of Jewish tradition to follow the voice of God.
 
Then, Peter gets to talking with Cornelius and it turns out Cornelius had a vision, too. God had come to Cornelius and given him specific instructions to send a group of men to Joppa to the exact house that Peter was at and to ask for a guy named Peter.

This was no coincidence.

So… Peter says this:
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.” (v.34-35)
 
And Peter went on to tell these non-Jews people about Jesus.
He told them about how Jesus died for them.
He told them about how Jesus rose for them.
He told them about how Jesus fulfilled God’s plan to save them.
He told them about how anyone who believes in Jesus – any Jew – and even any non-Jew – receives forgiveness of sins in His name. (v.36-43)

He told them this because Peter now understood this important (and still relevant) truth: 
God does not have a favorite “race” of people.
In God’s eyes, people are people.
 
There’s not a racist bone in God’s body.
There’s not a racist tweet in the Bible.
There’s not an ounce of racism in His way of thinking.

God created every race of people.
God loved every race of people.
God saw that every race of people had fallen into sin.
God sent a Savior for every race of people.
God’s blood covered the sins of every person of every race of people.

In short, no matter who you are; no matter what race you are; no matter what culture you are:
Jesus loves you.
Jesus died for you.

And no matter who your neighbor is, no matter what race they are, no matter what culture they are:
Jesus loved them.
Jesus died for them.

II. What Now?  

The point of all this is still relevant today. It means not feeling guilty about a BLT sandwich. Guilty about bacon-wrapped, deep fried, pork chops? Maybe – but the guilt is for other reasons! 
The deeper truth isn’t about food; but people.

(1) Identify Your Own Prejudice (and Fight Against it)
 
Granted. You might be saying:
“But pastor! I don’t have any prejudice. I love all people. I love all cultures. I love all races of people.”

Fair enough.
I would hope that none of you openly confess to hating a certain race of people.
If you do openly confess that certain races of people are better than others, repent! That’s sinful. 
 
But even if you don’t openly confess it, be careful:
Our prejudices can be trickier than that.

For example, what if I had started preaching today in a turban?
Or what if I had planned for worship only Gospel songs? The ones with lots of clapping and plenty of “Amens.”
Or what if the snacks afterwards were nothing but sushi?
 
You might not love it.
You might complain about it.
You might say, “That’s not what we do.”
 
Friends, that’s prejudice.

And we shouldn’t be surprised that all of us suffer from prejudice, because that’s what sin does.
Sin selfishly, egotistically focuses inward and says, “I am the best. My culture is the best. My people are the best. God loves how we do it best.”

Repent. This is not Godly.

Thankfully God doesn’t have prejudice. (not even against people who are prejudiced – aka – all of us).

Jesus battled those sins of prejudice for us.
Jesus took them to the cross.
Jesus died for us and our subtle racism and all of our prejudices.
 
Thanks be to Jesus.
Now he asks us to lay them at his go out to fight against them.
And we do that by #2:
 
(2)  Obey God’s Call
 
The voice from heaven was not the first time Peter learned the less that God doesn’t play favorites. Jesus had taught that, too! He spent time with Samaritans. He spoke to a woman at the well who was a Samaritan. He healed the servant of a Roman soldier. Jesus even ordered Peter directly: “Go and make disciples of all nations.”
 
Up to this point, Peter had been thinking that “Go and make disciples of all nations” meant, “Go and make disciples of the Jews living in all nations.”
He was wrong.

And to his credit, when he realizes this, he obeys God right away. He takes the men into his home. He follows them to their home. He enters and shares the Gospel with them.

Do the same thing.

God didn’t say, “Go and make disciples of all the white people in Raleigh.”
He didn’t say, “Go and make disciples of all the Midwestern transplants in Raleigh.”
He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

Here’s the thing – when we do that – that kind of love reaches out past racial lines and unites people.
Honestly, it’s just like those Old Testament dietary restrictions. Only instead of watching what we eat, we watch how we act towards those who are different.

Because the truth is that America is divided by race. Racist pride is touted as desirable trait that leads to more and more divisiveness.

The Cross of Jesus is different.
The Cross of Jesus unites.
The blood of Jesus covers us all.

The church (our church) is to be a place where God has brought people of all languages, cultures and backgrounds – together.  That’s different. If done correctly, it will stick out like an Old Testament Jew ordering the lamb at a Pork BBQ place.

It’ll stick out in a good way.

How do we do this?
We love one another.
We reach out to those that are different from us.
We are willing to say, “My desires and my culture are different than yours. And that’s ok. In fact, my desires and culture will take a back seat for the sake of you, my friend, and your culture.”
 
Conclusion:
 
When you do this…
When we go to work on the sharing of God’s Gospel with all nations…

God blesses it.

Look what happened with Peter. In the middle of his speech, The Holy Spirit came upon all who heard his message. (v.44) It was God’s way of saying: “Yes! I approved. I don’t show favoritism. I love all people. And I am bringing this people into my kingdom at the same level as – and at the same equality as – you Jews who are also a part of my kingdom.”

God is behind the sharing of his Gospel message.
God is behind the sharing of his Gospel message to all people.
Let’s go to work.
Let’s share the Gospel with all people.

Amen.  

We’re picking up right where we left off last week in the book of ACTS. If you remember, last week we heard about a guy named Saul. Saul was the Commander-in-Chief of Destroying the Gospel and murdering any Christian he came across. He hated Jesus. He hated Christians. He persecuted Christians to death.
 
Then, something happened.
 
Jesus appeared to him.
Jesus spoke to him.
Jesus brought him to repentance.
Jesus forgave him.

And Saul came to faith. He was baptized. He learned from other Christians and soon began preaching the very message he had been persecuting.
 
Jesus visibly appeared to Saul.
And empowered Saul to turn his life around.

QUESTION:
Do you ever wish Jesus would do that to you?
Do you ever wish he would appear to you in the flesh, holes in hands, a reassuring pat on the back and a few magic tricks to prove that your faith is the truth?

Today we’re going to follow the Gospel as it makes its way to a few different cities filled with people who didn’t get to personally see Jesus and who hadn’t gotten to witness His miracles. Our goal is to discover, along with those people, that the Gospel is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. It’s powerful. It’s public. It’s proven.
 
 But before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Two Stories of the Gospel’s Power

The true stories we want to look at start in Acts 9:32. Both these stories center around the Apostle Peter. He is one of the original 12 disciples. He lived with Jesus, worked with Jesus, and learned from Jesus. He saw Jesus die. He saw Jesus rise from the dead. He was personally commissioned by Jesus to “go and preach the good news of forgiveness in Jesus.” 
 
At this point – Peter had done that. He had preached a sermon to over 3000 people at Pentecost. He had stood up for the Gospel in front of the enemies of Jesus. He had taught, commissioned and sent out newer disciples to share the Gospel.
 
Peter is kinda like District President (DP) Don Tollefson.

Who’s Don Tollefson? He’s a pastor. But a Pastor of a lot of people. Pastor Tollefson is the President of the North Atlantic District of our group of Lutheran churches. He encourages all the churches in the district. He helps facilitate ministry ideas. He shares resources. He travels from city to city to city, up and down the North Atlantic Coast uplifting congregations with the Gospel. Over the past couple of weeks, I know he’s been to Harrisburg, PA to help a mission congregation ready to get a pastor; he went up to Orleans, Ontario, Canada to commission a new pastor for our congregation up there; he made his way to Milwaukee, WI to meet with other District Presidents and develop plans for continuing to share the Gospel throughout the U.S In short, district presidents rack up quite the good number of frequent flier miles.

Peter was doing something very similar – without the frequent flier miles. He was travelling about the country. And he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. (v.32) Lydda was 27 miles to the Northwest of Jerusalem. Christians from Jerusalem had fled there during Saul’s persecution in Jerusalem and a tiny congregation had formed. Peter went to that small congregation at Lydda to encourage them.

While he was there, Peter did what pastors sometimes do when they visit other pastors. He went with local leadership into the community. Maybe grabbed some local fare, stopped by the local coffee shop and went by the park. It’s good to get to know the leaders of the local church and their community so that you can offer the proper advice and encouragement.

While Peter was doing this, he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for 8 years. (v.33)
 
He hasn’t been able to walk.
He lays on the side of the street.
He never leaves the bed-like mat that his friends set up.

And the local congregation leaders must have been like: “Oh him!?! He’s there all the time. It’s a sad story really. He can’t get a job. He doesn’t have a lot of money. Sometimes we stop and give him bits of leftover sandwich from our last potluck, but…he’s kind of a lost cause. Anyways Peter, have you ever tried Potato Rounds before…eh…What are you doing?”

Peter moved away from the other leaders.
Peter moved towards the bedridden man.
Peter said to him:

“Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.”
And immediately Aeneas got up. (v.34)
 
Let that sink in.
No physical therapy.
No pills.
No medicine.
No injection.
No knee braces.
No robotics.
Not even an Essential Oil treatment.

Just words spoken in the name of Jesus.
And immediate, incredible, complete healing.

Meanwhile – 11 miles Northwest of this miracle – another congregation is having a tough time. In the town of Joppa, a very important member of the congregation had just passed away. Her name is Tabitha. According to Scripture, Tabitha was always doing good and helping the poor. (v.36)

It appears she made clothes for them.
She made food for them.
She delivered food to them.
She helped a lot of people.

But she had gotten sick and died.
When the disciples in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”  (v.37)
 
Because this was a hard one.
Tabitha was such a blessing to the church and the community. Why would God take her? Why would she die?
Her death was confusing, maddening and saddening!

They needed answers. They needed comfort. They needed someone with a connection to Jesus like Peter had to uplift them with Godly words.

And Peter quickly realized this. He hurried up to Lydda. He went to Tabitha’s home.
 
When he arrived, it was filled with people.
Mourning.
In tears.
Holding up shawls and dresses that Tabitha had made for them.
Handing him a piece of cake – in the style of which Tabitha used to make.
Falling to their knees and asking Peter, “Why?”

Eventually, they led him upstairs.
They showed him to the room where there lay Tabitha’s body.
Her cold, dead body.

Peter fought back tears.
If only he had gotten here earlier. He could have asked Jesus to do what he did for Aeneas.
He could have helped her.
He could have healed her just like Jesus had done.

But…
Then again…
There was something else Jesus had done, too…

Peter asked everyone to leave the room.
They obliged because – “Peter probably needs a moment or two to process…”
When he was alone, he fell to his knees.
He prayed.  

Then, he looked up.
He turned to Tabitha’s cold, lifeless body and said:

“Tabitha, get up!”
She opened her eyes and seeing Peter she sat up. (v.40)

Alive.
 
II. Three Truths about the Gospel

There are a lot of interesting themes to explore in these two stories. We could talk about the importance of working for the Lord like Tabitha. We could talk about the value of getting into the community how Peter found Aeneas. We could discuss the value in sending Synod Leadership to encourage congregations in faith.

But the heart of these stories – is the heart of the entire Bible – Jesus.  
And Jesus is directly tied to the Gospel.
 
Here are three truths about the Gospel from these lessons:

(1) Jesus is Powerful
 
Look closely. Peter didn’t do the healing by himself.

Peter said to Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals you.” (v.34)
Peter got down on his knees and prayed. Then Tabitha was healed. (v.40)

Notice Peter didn’t say: “I heal you,” nor did he get down on his knees and pray: “Dear Me, Please help Me and Heal this lady for me.”
Nope.

Peter turns to God.
Peter turns to his Savior.
Peter turns to Jesus.

Jesus heals Aeneas and Tabitha!

To be fair – we shouldn’t be surprised! Jesus did the same thing while he physically walked the earth. He made the blind to see; the deaf to hear; the lame to walk; the sick to be well; the water to become a walking surface; the storms to become quiet; the bread to multiply; the water to become wine; the dead to come back to life.
 
But – I guess the only incredible caveat with these miracles, is that Jesus does them while he’s not even physically, visibly, tangibly there!

I’ve got some power. Sometimes the Office Supply company we work with delivers boxes of paper. Each box holds about 10 packages of 500 sheets of paper. They’re pretty heavy. About 50 pounds.
 
If I am around, I can lift it and put it away.
If I’m not around, I can’t do squat.
 
Jesus wasn’t even physically around, yet his power was able to:
 
(1) Instantly heal a man who had not been able to walk for the last 8 years.
(2) Bring to life a woman who had died!

Jesus is still Powerful.

He removes all your sins.
He destroys all your guilt.
He busts through the gates of hell itself.
He powerfully penetrates the preventive walls of unbelief and brings believers into his family.
 
(2)  Jesus is Public
 
But you might say:
Yeah, right! Peter is in on it! It’s all a big scam. Aeneas pretended to be unable to walk for 8 years just so that Peter could appear to be the hero with the message of Jesus – even though Peter probably wasn’t even a follower of Jesus when Aeneas began his ruse?
 
And Tabitha pretended to be dead – she held her breath (for days?) and got the hundreds of people mourning at the house to believe that she was dead just so that Jesus would “appear” powerful.
 
Really?

Here’s the deal. Both of these miracles are extremely public.
They aren’t done in private.
 
In regard to Aeneas it says: All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas and turned to the Lord. (v.35)
Notice it doesn’t say “All of Aeneas’ friends who were in on the 8-year ruse.” Nope. All the city. Everyone. Even the people who were kind of annoyed with Aeneas being bedridden, asking for money, day after day after day. Peter meets Aeneas. Many are watching. Aeneas stands up. They don’t think: “Faker.” They think: “Savior.”

And with Tabitha it’s just as public. Remember – She died. The people washed her body and cleaned it. They sent for Peter. Peter arrived when they were in the middle of the Ancient version of the “wake.” They are throwing Tabitha’s blankets in Peter’s face and everyone is talking about how she is dead and how sad it is.

No one is saying; “I think she’s faking it, Peter.”

After Jesus raises her through Peter: Peter called for the believers, especially the widows and presented Tabitha to them alive. This became known all over Joppa and many people believed in the Lord.  (v.41-42)
 
Because…She was dead and now. She was alive.
 
This is key for you and me. Because what Luke wrote down for us in Acts; he wrote down only a maximum of 10 years later. And this book of Acts was circulated throughout the churches. The people in Lydda read it and said, “Yep. That’s right. I remember when he healed Aeneas.” And the people in Joppa read it and said, “Yes. They got it right. I remember when Tabitha came back to life.”

The point? This stuff is public. It’s real.

It’s not that way in other religion.

It’s not like…
The Prophet Mohammed who went up on a mountain by himself.
Or Joseph Smith, found of Mormonism, who went into the forest by himself.
Or some scientist who hypothesizes this world must have started this way – even though I wasn’t even there.

Nope.

Jesus’ power is public. Real, visible, viewed by many.

Even at the highlight of his story…
Jesus died before hundreds.
He hung on a cross before hundreds.
He was confirmed dead by hundreds.

Then, he rose.
He appeared before hundreds.
He showed himself before hundreds.
He spoke again with hundreds.

Jesus is public!
 
(3) Jesus is Proven
 
This leads to our third “P” word.
If Jesus is powerful and public. Then, Jesus, is also proven.

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus offers visual proof of invisible truth.
Public visual proof of private invisible truth.
 
Aeneas visibly gets to his feet before hundreds.
Tabitha comes back to life before hundreds.
Jesus visibly dies and visibly is buried and visibly comes back to life.

It’s proof.
Proof that the Jesus is truth.
Proof of the invisible miracles that Jesus claims for us:

Proof that your sins are forgiven.
Proof that you have peace with God.
Proof that Jesus is the Savior.
Proof that by believing in him you will enter eternal life.

If you doubt!?! You’re doubting the power of a Savior that has done countless visible miracles in the face of tens of thousands of witnesses.
If you doubt!?! You’re doubting God. You’re doubting the Holy Spirit. You’re doubting Jesus.
Don’t doubt. Believe.
 
III. What Now? 

1. Turn

I don’t mean do a physical turn right here, right now. This isn’t P90x.  
The Bible tells us to “turn” spiritually.

That’s what the people in Lydda did. They saw the power of Jesus in healing Aeneas. They turned to the Lord. (v.35)
They stopped trusting themselves.
They stopped trusting their own abilities.
They stopped trusting some statue god.

They trusted their Savior.

Do the same. Even if you are a longtime Christian! Turn. Because the devil has a way of getting us to turn to ourselves, to money, to things and stuff and to trust them rather than Jesus.

Examine your heart.
See where you’re wrong.
Turn back to Jesus.

And if you’ve never trusted in Jesus, hear God’s plea:  
 
Stop trusting yourself.
Stop trusting your money.
Stop trusting your abilities.
Stop trusting your own modern fake gods and start trusting the real, only true God, Jesus Christ, who died to save you.
 
And he did so.
Powerfully.
Publicly.
 
2. Kneel

Because when Peter was faced with a dire situation. When he came face to face with death in the face of Tabitha. When he said to himself, there is literally nothing I can do to help – he got on his knees and prayed.

Do the same thing.

Too often when things get out of hand; when things are out of  our control; when things are beyond our control we keep thinking:
I can do this. I can figure this out. I can stand.

Jesus doesn’t want us standing.
He wants us kneeling.
Humbly in prayer before our God.

This isn’t necessarily physically; but a ‘kneeling’ in your heart. Humbly agreeing that you are a sinner and the situation is beyond your control and you need your almighty, all powerful, paralyzed man healing, dead widow raising, out of the grave conquering God.

Turn to your God.
Fall on your knees.
Trust in your powerful, public, and proven Savior.

Amen.​

Today we are taking a look at a guy with some really, really bad sins who is confronted by the Risen Lord Jesus himself. Our goal is to apply what he learns about his really, really bad sins and apply it to our own really, really bad sins. But before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. The Background 
The guy we want to talk about has already made a few cameo appearances in the book of Acts. Maybe you noticed? Maybe you didn’t.

First, flash back to the end of Acts 7. That’s the section about Stephen, the bread delivery guy who told widows about Jesus -- and got killed because he delivered bread to widows and told people about Jesus. At the end of his trial, as the religious leaders are angry and picking up stones to hurl them at Stephen, Acts 7:58 says this: “Members of the Sanhedrin laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul and he approved of their killing him.”

Have you ever tried throwing a baseball in a sports coat? Or toss the pigskin in a three-piece suit? It’s not very easy. Usually, you take off the coat, so your arms are a bit freer.

These guys? They took off their coats because they wanted as little friction as possible for throwing stones at the “Jesus lover’s” head.
And Saul – he’s not in the game – but on the sidelines – holding onto the non-violent-stone-hurling-clothing and nodding and approving.  
Essentially, this Saul guy got his start as the equipment manager for Stephen’s murderers.

In fact, this spurs Saul on to action. He didn’t want to be a benchwarmer forever. Look at 8:3 “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” He’s motivated. He sees a bunch of religious leaders kill an Ordinary Christian church member and he says, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” He goes on an assault as the main guy in charge of destroying the church.

He doesn’t just throw Apostles in jail.
He pursues ordinary church members.
 
And not just the guys either….
Saul crosses over into the field of throwing Christian women – usually untouchable because we should treat women with respect and take good care of them – but Saul brings his special form of violence against Christian women.

In short, if you are a Christian, you would have been a target for Saul.
 
Flashforward. The persecution in Jerusalem caused the church to spread. Christians scattered to the north south and west. As they spread, God’s Word spread.
The Unstoppable Gospel remained unstoppable. It’s what we talked about the last two weeks.
About how Philip shared the amazing, Unstoppable Gospel with Simon the dark arts magician and a town under his dark magic.
About how Philip dirty, rugged and sweaty shared the amazing, Unstoppable Gospel with the Ethiopian royalty in the middle of nowhere and he believed.

Saul persecuted the church in Jerusalem.
The church spread out and started growing outside of Jerusalem.
And Saul couldn’t stand it.

Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belong to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. (9:1-2)

It’s kinda like crabgrass. Any of you have crab grass? I’ve been trying to get rid of it by pulling the stuff that pops up or spraying on some crab grass killer. But then what happens is, I kill it in one spot and then it pops up in another spot. I’m thinking about torching the whole lawn, but the crab grass would probably be all that survived.
 
Saul viewed Christianity like crab grass.
He viewed it as a weed that needed to be destroyed.
He was willing to travel hundreds of miles to put a stop to it.

So, he asked the priests for letters – official recommendation letters stamped with the Pharisaical seal of approval – that he could take to synagogues in other towns. Letters he could give to his fellows Jews in the synagogue that read, “This is Saul. He’s cool. Let him kill off all the Christians in the area. It’s for the best.”

Saul asked for letters like that.
Saul received letters like that.
And Saul was empowered to kill because of letters like that.

II. The Confrontation 
One particular eradication journey was to a place called Damascus. It was about 150 miles to the North East of Jerusalem.
That’s not an easy trip. But Saul goes – cause his hatred for all-things-Jesus is that much.

It was hot.
It was sweaty.
It was long.

But Saul kept himself occupied. As he travelled, surrounded by a group of vicious henchmen, he practiced swinging his sword, picturing it plunging into the heart of “a mouthy Christian” and he whistled. He was so happy to be doing God’s work and totally eradicating the message of Jesus.
 
He was carefree.
He was happy.
He was right.

When…
Suddenly…
 
A bright flash. (v.3)
Not lightning.
Not the sun.

A brilliant, otherworldly like flash that filled the entirety of Saul’s vision.
Saul fell down.
He heard a voice:

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (v.4)

Who was it?
Those Christians?  
Was it Peter?
Was it John?
Was it one his friends playing a prank?

The voice spoke again:
I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. (v.5)

Wait.
What?

Jesus? As in the guy that I’m persecuting?
As in the guy that my associates killed?
As in the guy that was dead?
As in the guy that supposedly came back to life, but that’s impossible so I have been dedicating my life to completely and absolutely eradicating all of his followers?

That Jesus?

Yes.

Saul looked and believed the man.

And it wasn’t just the subtle glow of the light.
It wasn’t just the confidence in his voice.
It was the nail marks in his hands.

And a lump grew in Saul’s throat the size of a Passover matzo ball.

Jesus was real.
He had thought it was all a sham…
He had thought it was all phony…
He had thought it was all a demon inspired threat to the truth about God…

But…
He was wrong.
Jesus wasn’t the demon inspired threat.
He was.

And Jesus? He must have come for revenge.
To zap him.
To destroy him.
To breathe murderous threats against him and take him as a prisoner to the tortures of hell.
 
Just not yet.
Get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. (v.6)

Then, Jesus disappeared.
Thank God – he had a few more moments to live.
But…Saul blinked. He couldn’t see. The light was gone and there was only darkness. It was a chilling reminder of how he had been in darkness and completely wrong about Jesus.

He heard his companions voices:

Saul, are you alright?
Saul, we heard the voice?
Saul, what should we do next?

“Drop your swords.
Take my hand.
Get me to Damascus.”

III. The Change
Upon getting to Damascus, Saul changed his itinerary.

Instead of fighting Christians, he was fighting his own demons.

I was so wrong.
I am so guilty.
I persecuted God’s Son!
I killed his people.

I am a liar.
I am a murderer.
I am a sinner – guilty – and in danger of the fires of hell.
 
Saul didn’t eat.
Saul didn’t drink.
He allowed his physical body to go through the torture that his soul was going through. (v.9)
 
And then, on the third day…
A man named Ananias.
He was a disciple of Jesus.
He would have been one of the men that Saul came to kill.

Now he was blind.
He was weak.
Surely, Ananias had come to kill him.
 
“Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (v.17) You are his chosen instrument. He will work through you. He loves you. He died for you. He forgives you.

Saul listened.
It was hard to believe!
He was such a sinner.
He was so guilty.
He had done so much wrong!

But …as soon as Ananias finished his message…God did something to emphatically prove Ananias’ point:
Immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see again.  (v. 18a)

Visual proof of the invisible truth.
God had forgiven Saul.

And seeing…
Seeing physically…
But seeing spiritually that Jesus was his Savior.

Saul got up.
He got up and immediately was baptized. (v.18b)
He was loved.
He was accepted.

He was forgiven.
 
IV. The Truth 
This true story is a true story about Saul.
It’s a true story about God’s grace to Saul.
But it’s also a true story with one very important truth for you.
 
Jesus died even for the really, really bad sins.
 
We shouldn’t rank sins. God doesn’t do that.
But humanly speaking, we rank sins all of the time.
There are certain sins that just stick with us. Certain sins we feel extra guilty for. Certain sins that we become convinced Jesus would never have died for.
 
Is that actually true?

No.
Jesus died for all sins.
Jesus died for the small sins.
Jesus died for even the really, really bad sins.
 
For that arrest.
For cheating on your spouse.
For practicing homosexuality.
For those awful words you said.
For that violent thing you did.
For that racist blow-up at work.

Even the “worst” and most awful sins find their relief in Jesus.

Want proof? Saul later wrote this:
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. (1 Tim. 1:15)

Saul gets it.
He knows what it’s like to feel guilt.
Humanly speaking he did a great deal of sins.
Humanly speaking his sins rank up at the worst!

Yet he was forgiven.
If he was forgiven, you are forgiven too.

There is no sin too big.
No sin too bad.
No sin too “sin” for Jesus our Savior.

So…what now? Two things:
 
1) Lay Your Really, Really Big Sins at the Feet of Jesus

If Jesus removes even your really, really big sins, then stop carrying their guilt around.
You need to drop them.
You need to leave them at the foot of the cross.

At the gym, sometimes they make us carry Kettle Balls. Kettle Balls can be a lot of different weights. Sometimes, if you want to do the prescribed workout, the Kettle Ball can be up to about 70 lbs. You have to carry it in a lot of different ways. At your side. In a front rack. Even over your head. It can be tiring. Especially after walking a couple 100 meters.

Then, when you get to the end, you set them down at the rack and you stop carrying them. Like I never pick it up and go: “I wish we could carry these for another couple of hundred feet.” NEVER.
 
Why do the same thing with guilt?
Jesus died for your sin.
Jesus removed all your sin.
Jesus removed all your guilt.

There is no reason for you to pick it up and carry it with you.
God is strong enough.
God carried it to the cross.
Leave it at the cross.

2) Be Ananias for Others

Because Ananias had every reason to not share forgiveness with Saul! In fact, if we back up in the story – Ananias is a bit frightened to bring the message of Jesus to Saul, a known Christian persecutor, as he is a Christian.

I bet Ananias felt like saying: “Hi Saul! Ya big jerkface! I hope that God punishes you with hell.”

But he doesn’t.
Instead, he denies his own personal feelings and shares God’s forgiveness.

You do the same.

When someone has sinned greatly – against you – against someone else – share the Gospel.
Don’t do the thing where someone comes up to you and says, “I’m sorry,” and you’re like, “That was really, terrible and awful, what you did to me.”
And they say, “I know. I’m sorry.”
And you say, “Yes! It was awful! The worst!”
And they say, “I do regret it. I am terribly sorry.”
And you say, “You were so wrong. So very, very, very, very, very wrong.”

That’s not helpful.
That’s not God’s message to the repentant heart.

God’s message to the repentant heart is “Forgiven.”
That’s the message we share with the repentant heart. The message of “Forgiven in Jesus.”

This is not the end of Saul’s story. It’s only the page turn. Just wait – stick with it – you are going to watch Saul’s life totally transform in devotion to Jesus.
And that’s because Jesus was totally devoted to Saul.

That same Jesus was devoted to you.
That same Jesus devoted his life to you.
That same Jesus gave up his life for you.

In him, even the really, really bad sins are really, really forgiven. Amen.