Sermon Brief
Date Written: October 9, 2010
Date Preached: October 10, 2010
Where Preached: Oak Park Baptist Church (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Reaching Our Community – Sermon 2
Sermon Title: Encouragement – The life of the fellowship
Sermon Text: Acts 9:26-27 [ESV]
26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
Introduction:
The old man walked in off the street, smelling of whiskey and garbage. His looks brought the ire of all who saw him, and quickly murmurs spread throughout the church about this unsightly and smelly man who DARED to come to church.
The chairman of the deacons thought that he needed to do something because people were beginning to talk. He walked over to the man and gave him a half hearted good morning and proceeded to tell him that if he intended to come back, that he needed to pray about what he was wearing and ask God what would the appropriate attire be…
The old man was very respectful and sat the rest of the service in the back away from most of the sparse crowd. He quietly left after the service. The next Sunday the old man was back and he was just as unkempt as he had been the previous week. As he entered the church, the murmurs quickly became rumblings and before you knew it there were people outright disgusted by this man’s appearance.
The chairman of deacons went up to the man and ask him if he remembered what he spoke with him about last week… He asked this man if he had prayed to God about what was the appropriate attire to wear to this church… The man quietly answered the deacon. Yes, I did pray about it and God answered my prayer!
The deacon asked him, Well what did God say? What was His answer when you asked Him what the appropriate clothes were to wear to our church? The old man looked at the deacon with a solemn and sad face and said, “God told me that He had NO idea what the appropriate clothing was to wear to this church because He had not been there in 20 years!
Now I know that’s a silly story that you saw right thru… but it is an attitude that I believe FAR too many believers have when it comes to those who visit the church or those in our community that, look different, smell different, or dress different!
The place their focus on the exterior of the person, on what society has labeled this person to be, and they make their judgments based on TOTALLY superficial and outward appearances!
You may think that this attitude was something the modern church has perfected and carried on, but I want you to know that as long as there has been a ‘church’ to go to… there have been those who have looked down on others who did not fit into their neat and tidy little picture of what a believer or church attender should look like…
Today I want us to look at a situation that happened in the earliest part of the church of the 1st century… Turn with me to Acts 9 and we are going to look at the background to this situation… the situation itself… and FINALLY we are going to look at the solution to the situation…
First let’s look at the background for this situation… let’s look at the SETUP!
THE SETUP…
Summarize Acts 9:1-25
Saul was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord
He gained permission to go to Damascus and imprison any believers he could find
On his way to Damascus – Jesus gets his attention
blinding light – knocks him to his knees and he is blinded
hears a voice from heaven – Saul why are you persecuting Me?
ME… not the church… not My disciples… but ME
Saul is confused… Who are YOU? Jesus tells him, It is Jesus, the One you are persecuting! Again, ME not the church, not His disciples, Jesus wanted Paul to know that his persecution was directly against Him
It is here Saul’s heart is convicted and converted as he asked Jesus, What do I do now? Jesus tells him to get up and go into the city and wait for instructions…
Jesus then sends a believer named Ananias to Paul…
Paul had had a vision of a man named Ananias coming to see him
Ananias shows up and it is a confirmation for Saul
Saul is healed and filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized, this is Saul’s calling into the ministry to serve God as a messenger to the Gentiles
Saul begins to preach… the Jews turn on him and plot to kill him
Saul escapes out of a window in the wall of the city
Saul was a threat and a menace to the church but God changed his life, his heart and his outlook…
Have you ever been around someone like Saul of Tarsus? Someone who thought they know ALL the answers and did not care who they hurt to prove they were right… I know we have all run into those types of people, and so often we want to write these people off as a lost cause… a throw away… as one with NO hope!
Lost causes seem to be God’s way of showing His sovereignty and might:
Moses – murdered a man and ran away into the wilderness to hide, but God went TO him and called him out and used him…
David – murdered a man after committing adultery with his wife and then lying about it… then tried to cover it all up, but God went to David and restored him and used him in a great way…
Peter – turned his back on Jesus in His most desperate hour… denied him 3 times with cursing and anger… Jesus went to Peter and restored him and challenged him to Feed My sheep
You are NOT a lost cause in the eyes of our Savior – it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done
It doesn’t matter what others think about you- they don’t control your eternal destiny
Jesus is working right now in YOUR life – to reclaim your life from the ENEMY and from the sin in your life. Jesus sees NO losers… because He sees thru His eyes of love, compassion and mercy.
The fact of the matter was that Saul had done some pretty nasty things to the church, but Saul had met Jesus and EVERYTHING had changed…
THE SITUATION – v.26
Here was Paul, newly saved, freshly called of God and had a real zeal and presence about him that proclaimed the Gospel in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS!
He had confounded the religious ldrs of Damascus and had preached with zeal and had come under threat of death from the Jews but when he turns to the church for support – and it is NOT there for him.
Saul wanted to associate with the church… now when you hear the word associate, what do you think about? To spend time with someone or to be involved on a professional level with others…
The term ‘associate’ as we define it in the English language does not carry with it the strong nature of its Greek counterpart… kol-lah-oh which means literally to cleave to, or to fasten yourself firmly to, or to cement or glue yourself to…
This carries with it a nuance of the marriage vows that we have today… Saul of Tarsus, who later became known as Paul had the desire to bond permanently with the church in Jerusalem!
Saul was not seeking a loose fellowship or someone to ‘hang’ out with on the weekends… His desire was to bond with these men spiritually and fasten himself to their wisdom and experience so that the Kingdom of God could grow!
Saul wanted to be glued into the very fabric of the church in Jerusalem, but we see that they were not too excited about Saul coming into their fellowship, and they certainly did not want to ‘bond’ with him on a spiritual level or fasten themselves to him…
Now outside of the obvious… that we find listed in v.1 of this chapter!
[read v.1 here] 1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord
Outside of his murderous threats against the believers, why do you think that the church did not want Saul to ‘bond and attach’ himself to their fellowship?
It may have been that in all of Saul’s exploits he had imprisoned or had put to death, some family members of the church in Jerusalem…
It may have been that the disciples did not feel Saul to be worthy of their attention or camaraderie… after all it was THEY who had spent 3 ½ yrs at the feet of the Master not him…
It could have been that they saw Saul as one of THEM… an outsider… one of the religious leaders Jesus had denounced time and time again… surely he was not worthy of their fellowship!
It could have been that they felt Saul was trying to trick or mislead them into a false sense of security only to have them ALL put into prison or martyred...
Or it could have been that Saul’s background and birthright of Roman citizenship caused many of these men to be suspicious of Saul…
Whatever the reason may have been… they were firm in their resolve to reject Saul and NOT associate with him… they did NOT want him to be a part of their fellowship!
Saul had done some pretty nasty things, and he could have done them to some of their family members…
Saul had NOT been with Jesus and because of that was not worthy to bond with the Apostles…
Saul WAS a Pharisee… a religious leader that had fought long and hard against the church…
Saul was not trustworthy in their eyes… after all he could be luring them into a trap…
Saul was connected with the religious leadership AND he had Roman citizenship, and this could spell doom for the church…
But the face of the matter was simple… Saul had met Jesus and now EVERYTHING had changed.
How receiving are we to those who come into our fellowship and have questionable background…
those who have been in prison…
those who have had their brushes with the law…
those who dress different from us…
those from another part of town…
those who are from a different culture than ours…
those who are battling with very difficult problems…
Do we shun them like the church shunned Saul when he came to associate with them in Jerusalem? Why NO pastor, we don’t shun anyone, we say hello, we shake their hands during the fellowship hymn, in fact we even talk to them after the service is over…
But that is not what I am asking… do we truly open up our hearts and lives to these new members… these new believers… and FULLY accept them into our fellowship… are we willing to bond with them… are we willing to ATTACH them to our fellowship… are we willing to glue them into the very fabric of our church?
The truth is that there will ALWAYS be those in the church whom we don’t trust… there are always going to those who make us feel uncomfortable… but again, that is NOT the issue here… the issue is ARE WE WILLING to invest our lives into the new members and believers that God brings into our fellowship!
Do you know that we have had 17 new members come into our fellowship this year? Did you know that we have had 11 new believers enter into the kingdom of God thru our church this past year?
My question to you is how many of you have opened up your lives to just ONE of these new members or new believers? How many of you have reached out to bond with these people… to cement them into the fellowship and glue them into the fabric of who we are here at Oak Park?
You may be sitting there and asking yourself, Preacher that all sounds good, but how can I do that? Well I believe we can take a lesson from v.27 this morning, and we can come to the realization that when Jesus shows up in a person’s life… EVERYTHING changes!
This leads me to the solution that we can find in v.27… [read v.27 here]
THE SOLUTION – v. 27:
27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
I am sure at this point Saul was very low and I am also just as sure that the disciples believed that they were justified in their decision to shun Saul from their fellowship…
However, Barnabas stood up and said, “THISI IS WRONG!” He may not have used those words BUT his actions were clear! And that is the central idea here… Barnabas took action! Barnabas was intentional… Barnabas refused to sit idly by when this was taking place!
This verse reveals to us that Barnabas took Saul and brought him to the disciples… he did not go to them and talk to them on his behalf… He took Saul with him and wanted these men to face Saul… face to face!
Barnabas explained to these men all of what had happened to Saul… I am sure that it was the exact same story that Saul had tried to share with them, but they had rejected. But Barnabas demanded respect and an audience because of his service to the Lord!
Barnabas was a man of great reputation… and they listened to him. And after Barnabas stands up and begins to invest his life into Saul, the people accept Saul…even if it is begrudgingly at first!
In this story Barnabas’ actions reveal 3 very simple but 3 very profound truths about this thing we call CHURCH…
EVERY new believer and EVERY new member needs a ‘Barnabas’… they need mentor/friends to help them bond into the fellowship, they need someone to be the glue that attaches these new members/believers to the rest of the fellowship!
ALL believers are called to this ministry! Preacher, that is what we hire you for… that is what the paid staff is for… that is why we have deacons! These are all false assumptions that are made by believers every day! You see Barnabas was NOT a preacher… he was NOT a paid staff member… he was NOT a deacon… you see Barnabas was simply a member of the fellowship! Someone who was willing to invest himself into the lives of others! In fact, we see Barnabas doing this again later in the book of Acts with a young man named John Mark… who went on to write the Gospel of Mark…
Finally and I believe most importantly, we need to understand that…
A church is only as strong and effective as its fellowship is true… What I mean by that statement is that TRUE fellowship in Christ… is a bonding of lives… a cementing of lives together for the sole task of Kingdom work! This glue of fellowship enhances the spiritual lives of those within the fellowship! It produces strong believers and a strong overall church.
We have to understand that we will NEVER be the effective church God has called us to become if our fellowship with each other is shallow and not sincere… Shaking hands with a nod and a hello on Sunday mornings does NOT create a strong fellowship…
Don’t get me wrong, those things are ok and are needed, but that is merely scratching the surface… that is merely the beginning… we have to be willing to share our lives with those whom God chooses to send into our fellowship! Regardless of their background, appearance or social standing!
We have to come to the understanding that when a person meets Jesus… EVERYTHING CHANGES!! And we have to be willing to be a part of those changed lives! We must be willing to accept those whom the world has cast aside… those the organized church has deemed as unwanted or not desireable!
God can and will use those of us who are willing to be used by Him! God is not looking for our ability to serve Him… God is seeking our obedience to serve Him! I want you to take a look at this young man … a man who the world has deemed as unworthy, unloveable, and undesireable… take a look at how God is using him in a mighty way in His kingdom…
[show video here]
Would you be willing to invest your life into a person like that… it is easy to say yes after we have seen this video, but what about when Nick was young and did not know Jesus… there had to be someone to share with him… someone to believe in him and someone to encourage him…
Are you ready to invest your lives into those people whom God places here at Oak Park Baptist church? Earlier I asked a question… How many of these new members and new believers have you committed to investing your life with…? Are you ready and willing to allow God to use you to be the Encourager and mentor that He has called you to be… the question is are you ready to STEP UP as a servant of the King…
Today as Steven comes to lead our hymn of invitation… again we won’t be singing as a congregation, but once again I remind you of the season of prayer and fasting I have called our fellowship into… I call you today to step out and come down to this altar and pray!
Come and allow God to move in your heart and place someone on your heart… Come pray for the courage to be the mentor and encourager that God wants you to be… come and confess your sin of ignoring the new believers and new members and pray for strength to be what God wants you to be… come now as Jason begins to play!
