Next
Text: Acts 13:44-52
Introduction
1. Illustration: As most of you know, in addition to my ministry here at the church I also sell insurance. I work for a company known as Aflac. One of the seasoned veteran agents that I work once gave me some good advice. He said not to take it personally when people tell you no they're not interested. He said when that happens you just have to say, "Next!"
2. The advice that this agent gave me also applies to evangelism. We need to be realistic and realize that no matter how hard we try or how much we do there will always be hard hearted people who will reject the message of the gospel.
3. The reality is...
A. Some People Just Won't Listen
B. Go To Those Who Will Listen
C. Sometimes We Have To Just Say "Next!"
4. Let's all stand together as we read Acts 13:44-52.
Proposition: We should always keep a positive attitude in preaching the gospel.
Transition: The reality of evangelism is this...
I. Some People Just Won't Listen (44-45).
A. They Were Jealous
1. In the 37 years that I have been a Christian, and the 18 years that I have been a Pastor, I've seen many people come to know the Lord. Unfortunately I have also seen many people who have not.
2. Sometimes no matter what you say, or how well you live out a life of faith in front of people, some people are just too stubborn and hardhearted to respond in a positive way.
3. But don't feel bad if that has happened to you because you're in good company. This reality of ministry is lived out in the life of Paul.
4. After a promising time of ministry at the synagogue in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas return the following week and "almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45 But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said."
A. Since the population of Antioch was mainly Gentile, almost the whole city indicates that the majority who showed up were Gentiles (Lane, ESV Study Bible).
B. The sight of the crowd filled the unconverted Jews with jealousy (quite a contrast to the believers who were filled with the Spirit and joy), and they "slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said."
C. This implies they were afraid of losing their influence over those Gentiles who had been looking to them for teaching.
D. It may also imply that they had a zeal for a Judaism that had no room for blessing Gentiles who did not first become Jews (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary, 247).
5. It was the hardness of their hearts and they're own sinful attitudes that caused them to reject the gospel that Paul and Barnabas were preaching to them. They allowed self-centeredness and vain ambition to stand in the way of accepting Christ.
B. Hard Hearts
1. Illustration: In his [Barna’s] new volume he flatly states that moral anarchy has arrived and rules our culture today. Moreover, Barna takes the argument farther and suggests that the United States is now in a state of spiritual anarchy as well. He mentioned that millions of people’s faith activity is no longer affected by parameters such as church loyalty, respect for clergy, acceptance of absolutes, tolerance of Christianity, reverence for God, a desire to strive for personal holiness, sensitivity to theological heresy, and appreciation of tradition. The rejection of these elements has created a void that has been filled by the customized spirituality that lacks biblical moorings.
2. We live in a culture that has hardened their hearts against God and His church.
A. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)
You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
B. We live in a society that has abandoned God.
C. We have rejected the truth and embraced a lie instead.
D. We believe not only that we don't need God but rather that He doesn't exist.
E. But we know that our God is not dead, but alive.
F. We know that Jesus still reigns at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
G. Don't be discouraged when people reject what you say, because it is not you they are rejecting but God himself.
H. Don't give up, don't stop trying, don't stop telling people about Jesus!
Transition: Instead, we should...
II. Go On To Those That Will Listen (46-49).
A. We Will Offer It To The Gentiles
1. Like my Aflac friend tells me, when some one tells you no you just simply say, "Next!" Keep moving on and don't take it personally.
2. That's what Paul and Barnabas did. In vv. 46-47 it says, "Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47 For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’”
A. Citing Isa. 49:6, Paul stated he was now turning to the Gentiles.
B. Paul and Barnabas can be seen as doing the work of the Servant because of their connection to Jesus.
C. It was necessary to begin with the Jews since they were God’s chosen people and had priority in salvation history.
D. Their stubborn resistance showed Paul that it would not be worthwhile for him to spend any more time trying to reason with them (ESV Study Bible).
E. This development should not have been surprising, however. Turning to the Gentiles was not really the apostles' own idea.
F. Rather it was part of God's plan, in obedience to the prophetic word given in Isaiah 49:6 concerning the Messiah, God's Servant.
G. Christ and His body (the Church, the believers) share in bringing the light of the gospel to the world (Horton, 248).
3. The result upon the Gentiles was as positive as the response from the Jews was negative. In vv. 48-49 we read, "When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. 49 So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region."
A. Hearing this, the Gentiles were kept rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord.
B. "And all who were chosen for eternal life became believers." This may sound as if the Bible is teaching arbitrary predestination here.
C. However, it is not said that God "appointed" them. The word "appointed" here can mean "fixed on."
D. The context helps in understanding Luke's meaning here. The Jews were indifferent to eternal life and refused to believe the gospel, whereas the Gentiles believed the good news and received the gift of eternal life.
E. Clearly human choice does play a part in saving faith. The response of believing or refusing to believe is not determined by a divine decree.
F. The Scriptures place the responsibility for one's response to the gospel on that person and never on God...
G. What Luke is teaching here is that God's great plan of salvation includes Gentiles and that it is irrevocably unfolding in the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.
H. By believing the gospel they were "chosen for eternal life" -- that is, the life of the age to come, which has dawned in Christ (Arrington, Full Life Commentary: Acts, 605).
I. The result was that "the word of the Lord spread" (Gk. diephereto, "was being carried"): The Gentiles responded to the apostles' witness by becoming witnesses who evangelized the whole region (Horton, 248).
B. Take The Gospel To Those Who Will Listen
1. Illustration: The preacher stood on the street corner preaching to anyone who would listen. A man approached him who looked like he had lived on the street forever. "Can I help you" asked the preacher. "I think you can" said the bum. "Would you like me to tell you about Jesus?" "No." "Would you like me to pray for you?" "No." "If you don’t want me to tell you about Jesus, and you don’t want me to pray with you, how can I help you?" "You can give me your Bible." "Why would you want my Bible if you have no interest in knowing more about Jesus?" "I noticed that the pages of your Bible are very thin; I can use the pages to wrap a cigarette (or a joint)." Wisdom came suddenly to the preacher, who said, "I’ll give you the Bible, if you will agree to read a page (of the Bible) before you smoke it." The bum agreed, took his new Bible, and left. The preacher thought he had seen the last of the bum, but he could get another Bible. Several months passed, and the preacher was on the street corner once again. A man came up to him dressed in a three piece suit. "You don’t know me, do you?" said the man. "No. I’ve never seen you in my life." "Yes you have. I’m the man you gave a Bible to (about four months ago)." The preacher couldn’t believe his eyes and ears. "What happened? Tell me what happened." "Well, I smoked Matthew, and then I smoked Mark, and then I smoked Luke--and then John smoked me."
2. Take the message of the gospel to anyone who will listen.
A. Revelation 2:7 (NLT)
“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
B. The message that we have to give is simply too important to keep to ourselves simply because we got our feelings hurt or we're discouraged.
C. There are people that we come in contact with everyday that desperately need to hear about Jesus.
D. Don't let those with hard hearts keep you from fulfilling the great commission.
E. Don't let those naysayers cause you to give up in the fight.
F. Don't let those whose who reject your message keep you from sharing it with someone who will receive it.
G. Don't give up; don't give in; don't give out.
H. Keep on preaching the good news of Jesus Christ!
Transition: The truth of the matter is this...
III. Sometimes You Just Have To Say "Next" (50-52).
A. Shook The Dust From Their Feet
1. Even the excitement of the Gentiles accepting Jesus didn't make things any easier with the Jews.
2. Filled with jealousy and rage "the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town."
A. The Jews used their contacts in high places—influential religious women and the leaders of the city—to drive Paul and Barnabas out of their part of the country.
B. Christianity was not an official religion like Judaism, and these women and men may have feared that Paul would disturb their fragile relationship with the Roman government.
C. By these means they "stirred up persecution" of Paul and Barnabas to the point that they were thrown out of the district (Horton, 249).
D. This was a sad moment: those so desperately in need of salvation driving from their city the bearers of the Good News—news of forgiveness, of justification before God. (Barton, Life Application New Testament Commentary, 521).
3. Now you have to love what Paul and Barnabas did next. In v. 51 it says, "So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium."
A. Often, Jews would shake off the dust of their feet when leaving a Gentile town, on the way back to their own land.
B. For Paul and Barnabas to do this to Jews demonstrated that Jews who reject the Good News are not truly part of Israel and are no better than pagans.
C. It was a gesture of utter scorn and disassociation. Jesus had told his disciples to shake from their feet the dust of any town that would not accept or listen to them.
D. This symbolized cleansing themselves from the contamination of people who did not worship God.
E. The disciples were not to blame if the gospel was rejected, as long as they had faithfully presented it (Barton 521).
4. Then look at the effect this had on these new believers, "And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
A. The persecution did not destroy the church in Pisidian Antioch, however. They were true "disciples" of the Lord, constantly studying His Word, and "were filled [Gk. eplērounto, "continually filled"] with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
B. Joy is a common experience when believers are filled with or full of the Holy Spirit.
C. Once again we see that Acts does not tell everything every time.
D. Though Luke does not mention it here, we can be sure that these believers were also baptized in water as well as in the Holy Spirit.
E. Then they continued in the Spirit and the Word and that brought the joy—as it will for us (Horton, 249).
B. Just Say Next
1. Illustration: Once Tina and I had the opportunity to shake the dust from our feet. We had faithfully served an extremely difficult church. We resigned and I preached my last sermon at the church the Sunday before Christmas. We went home and some of our friends from the church came and helped us load the moving truck. Now since it was December there was a significant amount of snow on the ground. So I got to the edge of town, got out of the truck, stood beside the side of the road and shook the snow off my feet. Then I got back in the truck and we moved to Arkansas. Now we could have allowed that church to destroy us and give up, but thank God we had the courage to say, "Next!"
2. We should have the resolve and courage to move on from difficult circumstances and people.
A. 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (NLT)
I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
B. We need to come to the realization that we are not in this to please people, but rather we are in it to please God.
C. If people reject us, and our message, we need to move on and say, "Next!"
D. If we are of the mind set that Jesus is coming soon, and I believe he is, then we must always persevere.
E. We must give all of our hearts and our efforts in telling as many people as will listen about Jesus.
F. The message is too important to quit.
G. The message is too important to keep to ourselves.
H. The message is too important to worry about getting our feelings hurt.
I. We must say, "Next," and keep following Jesus!
Transition: Are you ready to say next?
Conclusion
1. Even more so than Aflac, the gospel message is too important to not say "Next!"
2. The reality is...
A. Some People Just Won't Listen
B. Go To Those Who Will Listen
C. Sometimes We Have To Just Say "Next!"
3. Are you going to keep on moving forward and fulfill the great commission?
