Mission Accomplished (2)
Acts | Unfinished • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Mission accomplished because we are going to finish the Paul’s first missionary journey!
We could have titled this sermon many other things.
We will once again look at the battle that goes rages as we seek to live the great commission.
This chapter is so full and I’m going to try my best to tap into those things while not overloading you at the same time.
Wee are also going to share some excuses or lies we tell ourselves when it comes to witnessing.
You will see a theme - the ones we will mention are quite similar.
Though this is going to be a tough passage to work through, I hope you are encouraged!
1. The gospel causes division.
1. The gospel causes division.
1 Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. 3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4 But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
Let me stop and say this - though the gospel causes division it does not take away our responsibility to LOVE.
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
The gospel is a dividing line.
It is a stumbling block for the Jews.
It is foolishness to Greeks.
We spend too much time trying to figure out how to make the gospel less divisive when Scripture tells us that the true gospel exactly that!
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Here is the point I want to make.
I want to make sure I am communicating with you correctly that there is an unavoidable command we have.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The gospel is divisive but we MUST love our neighbor.
If your theology doesn’t start with love start over.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
We will see that from Paul all through Acts.
The gospel causes division.
(1) A. There was strong enemy resistance.
(1) A. There was strong enemy resistance.
Paul and Barnabas started as usual at the synagogue.
There was an incredible response from Jews and Gentiles.
“A great multitude believed.”
Many believed! but many did not.
The people of the city were deeply divided.
Just as the gospel causes unity among the family of God, it causes division in the world.
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
People don’t want to give up their sinful desires.
Satan has made sure of that.
That’s why salvation is such an incredible miracle.
When we see someone come to the point of repentance.
When someone understands the consequences of their sin.
When they grasp their own hopelessness and helplessness.
IT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF GOD!
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
The Jews began to poison the minds of the Gentiles.
They were spreading rumors.
They were stirring up division and wrath.
(1) B. There was bold perseverance.
(1) B. There was bold perseverance.
Paul and Barnabas stayed a long time.
The slander and lies didn’t stop them.
They didn’t give up just because things got hard.
Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly in the Lord.
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
Lie #1: “Because it is difficult to share the gospel, it must not be the right time.”
Lie #1: “Because it is difficult to share the gospel, it must not be the right time.”
Too often our circumstances rather than our theology determine our actions.
The easy thing is to make excuses and not witness when we face resistance.
We need to use wisdom but don’t simply think that God doesn’t want me to do this right now.
Instead, remember our calling and Christ’s promise!
Christ promised to be with us always as we make disciples.
We are also told that you and I are the only way the gospel goes out to the world.
Romans 10: “How will they hear without a preacher.”
You and I are it! We are the plan.
There is no plan B if we fail.
Maybe we need to spend a little time studying God’s Word.
The better understanding we have of salvation, the easier it is for us to share it the gospel.
Eventually it became too violent and Paul and Barnabas fled.
Time for them to share the gospel in this city ran out.
6 they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. 7 And they were preaching the gospel there.
Lie #2: “I can share the gospel later.”
Lie #2: “I can share the gospel later.”
Let me make something clear.
We have been teaching the importance of building relationships and allowing the Holy Spirit to work.
BUT - we still have a responsibility to PREACH or SPEAK the gospel.
That can be the hardest part.
We make excuses and we believe the lies our flesh tells us.
There might not be a later!
The door that is open in the moment may be the only open door you have.
Paul and Barnabas ran out of time.
They were kicked out of the city.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Look what Paul says… ESV
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
We are often reminded that God has us in a specific place for a reason.
Where we live.
Where we work.
Where we go to school.
It is all on purpose.
He put you there for a reason.
He also put you there at the right time!
The gospel causes division.
2. The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
2. The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
Notice that Paul and Barnabas didn’t go into a Synagogue to start preaching.
8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. 11 Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16 who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” 18 And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.
2. The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
2. The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
In sociology and especially the sociological study of religion, plausibility structures are the sociocultural contexts for systems of meaning within which these meanings make sense, or are made plausible.
In this case Paul and Barnabas were challenging their pagan religion.
The crowd confused the message with the messenger.
The healing of the lame man was to point the people to Christ.
Instead they thought they were gods that came down to earth.
Paul and Barnabas challenged their thinking.
They tore their cloths - a sign of humility.
They spoke against what they were doing and called them to repentance.
The gospel is pushing against their own way of thinking.
The gospel is counter cultural.
It will get more and more so.
The gospel goes against anything that makes sense in the world.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
What makes sense to the world?
Disobedience.
Living in the passions of the flesh.
Carrying out the desires of the body and mind.
1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young woman?
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
This goes against everything the world teaches.
“follow your heart”
“If it makes you happy then do it”
The gospel says I am not my own.
The gospel says I am a slave of Christ.
The gospel says I cannot do whatever I want and actually be a Christian.
The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
So…
Lie #3: “I can’t share the gospel here.”
Lie #3: “I can’t share the gospel here.”
We tend to compartmentalize our lives.
We may be willing to share the gospel but not in certain places.
If I share the gospel at school they won’t like me.
If I stand up for what I believe in I will be the outsider.
Maybe the teachers will even give me a hard time.
If I share the gospel at work I may not get that promotion I’ve been wanting.
Where is it that you know the gospel will go against their plausibility structure in such a way that you don’t want to share the gospel?
The gospel causes division.
The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
3. The messengers are the target of persecution.
3. The messengers are the target of persecution.
19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
(3) A. The world hates truth.
(3) A. The world hates truth.
Paul heals the lame man, preachest the Good News of the gospel, calls them to repent and be saved.
He gets stoned!
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
The world loves the life they are living.
They don’t know any better.
It fits their plausibility structure.
It makes them feel better about themselves.
They don’t want to change.
They LOVE darkness rather than light!
The gospel is not popular.
If the gospel is popular in the secular world it is not the gospel.
“make pastors uncool again.”
(3) B. To participate in persecution is to participate in the suffering of Christ.
(3) B. To participate in persecution is to participate in the suffering of Christ.
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
“If by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
The resurrection of Christ was the victory!
Paul wants to live in the resurrection.
Paul wants to live his new life in victory over sin.
He recognizes that suffering for Christ purifies us.
Do we have such a strong desire to live for Christ that we want to participate in His suffering?
17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
The gospel causes division.
The gospel threatens their plausibility structure.
The messengers are the target of persecution.
4. The gospel messengers remained steadfast.
4. The gospel messengers remained steadfast.
21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” 23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 24 And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
(4) A. The gospel messengers had the right perspective.
(4) A. The gospel messengers had the right perspective.
“We must through many trials enter the kingdom of God.”
Trials are part of God’s design and plan for His children.
Trails are never an “oops” with God.
Trials are never unplanned with God.
“Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.” – Charles Spurgeon
Trials produce the steadfastness we need to finish well.
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
(4) B. The gospel messengers continued to make disciples.
(4) B. The gospel messengers continued to make disciples.
They preached the gospel and made MANY disciples.
Paul and Barnabas return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.
They appointed elders.
They exhorted them to continue in the face of persecution.
Lie #4: Sharing the gospel is the pastor’s job.
Lie #4: Sharing the gospel is the pastor’s job.
Isn’t that what you pay the pastor to do?
I have a responsibility as a disciple of Christ to make disciples.
But it is not my responsibility to witness to YOUR friends, family, and neighbors.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
You pay me to equip you!
“The work of the ministry” - the idea of serving tables.
Every time Paul uses this word is talking about the gospel.
5. Mission accomplished - sort of…
5. Mission accomplished - sort of…
26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.
27 Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
(5) A. Paul’s first missionary journey is over!
(5) A. Paul’s first missionary journey is over!
The gospel has gone to the gentiles.
Churches have been planted.
Acts 1:8 is visibly happening.
(5) B. There are more people who need the gospel.
(5) B. There are more people who need the gospel.
Paul’s ministry will go on.
Paul will continue to persevere through many more trials.
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Acts Unfinished
An unfinished book. About an unfinished work. Carried out by unfinished people.
There will be trials.
There will be heartaches.
There will be struggle.
BUT… Jesus promised never to leave us!