How We Can Accomplish Our Mission for the Lord
Acts 13:5-12
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - May 18, 2014
*From 1990-2000, church attendance remained basically the same in churches across America. Unfortunately, during that same time, our population grew by over 30 million people. (1)
*Bob Ashcraft reported a 2001 study which said that every day in the United States 7 new churches are started. That sounded good, but the bad news was that 10 churches also shut down every day. We were losing 3 churches a day in the USA. And I seriously doubt the situation is any better today. (2)
*Shellie Tomlinson expressed the sadness of this situation in her News Star column yesterday. She talked about seeing pictures of abandoned churches on the internet, and Shellie wrote: "With each click my eyes took in images of abandoned church buildings strewn in big cities and small towns, all across our planet. The more I surfed, the more somber I became.
*As sad as it was to see those glorious cathedrals standing tomb silent as plaster cracked and fell from their elaborately carved architecture, the sagging walls of country churches being pulled to their foundations with snaking vines caught in my heart every bit as much or more. Towards the end of my 'research,' I sat studying the broken down pulpit where someone once read holy words and I thought I might cry." (3)
*Church: We are part of the most important work in the world today, and the work gets more urgent every day. How are we going to get the job done? Tonight's Scripture shows us some of the essentials.
1. First: We must have a strong commitment to spread God's Word.
*As Paul and Barnabas began their mission, they remind us how essential the Word of God is to our mission. In vs. 5: "When they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews."
*They were doing everything they could to spread the Word of God, and so must we. The primary focus of our mission must always be the Word of God. We can never fulfill our mission without it. And God's Word will accomplish what He intends it to do.
*Charles Spurgeon was one of the great preachers of the 1800's. One morning, he asked the Lord to direct him in what he should read for his morning devotions, and he was strongly moved to read the book of Joel.
*When Spurgeon came to Joel 3:3, he read: "They have cast lots for My people, have given a boy in exchange for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink." Well, that sounds like a commentary on today. But the Holy Spirit made sure that the word "girl" caught Spurgeon's eye. The preacher was curious about that word, and he checked his concordance to see how many times the word "girl" was found in his KJV Bible. To his great surprise, he found the word only occurred once.
*Later that same day, Spurgeon decided to take a walk. He had gone about a block and a half, when he looked up to see a certain house. Spurgeon knew that a radical atheist lived in that house. This hard-hearted unbeliever was very ugly to anyone who believed the Bible, but Spurgeon went up and knocked on the front door. In a growling voice, the atheist asked, "Well, what do you want?" "I would like to read the Bible to you," Spurgeon replied.
*The atheist began his usual abuse, but then suddenly he stopped and asked, "Will you tell me how often the word 'girl' is in the Bible?" Mr. Spurgeon immediately answered, "Once." Then the surprised atheist said, "Tell me where it is found, and I will let you in." Again, without delay, Spurgeon answered, "Joel 3:3."
*The shocked atheist then said, "Before I let you in, tell me: How did you know it?" And Mr. Spurgeon answered, "I haven't known it two hours. But in my morning devotions I read the book of Joel." The atheist let Spurgeon come in, and in half an hour he was down on his knees asking God to forgive his sins. (4)
*How did that happen? It was the supernatural Hand of God working through the infallible Word of God. And God's Word still works today! It even works on atheists today. But there are many people in our world like the Roman deputy in vs. 7.
*His name was Sergius Paulus, and the Bible tells us that he was a "prudent" man. That means he was a wise and intelligent man. The idea behind that word "prudent" was that his thoughts were put together the right way. Sergius Paulus was a thinker and a seeker.
*He also had access to almost anything the world could offer. That's because he was a "proconsul" or "deputy." Emperor Augustus had designated Roman provinces as either "senatorial" or "imperial" provinces, and the senatorial provinces were governed by proconsuls.
*Sergius Paulus was the ruler of a whole province. He had everything the world could offer. But he was hungry for God, so in vs. 7, he "called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God."
*There are still seekers in the world today, some are down and out, while others like Sergius Paulus are up and out. But they are hungry for God. And the Word of God is the only food that can satisfy that hunger!
*Church: We can accomplish our mission for the Lord. But we must have a strong commitment to spread the Word of God.
2. We also need strong courage to face our opposition.
*The gospel has enemies today, just as evil, just as deceptive, and just as ruthless as those Paul and Barnabas faced in vs. 6-8:
6. Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus,
7. who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
8. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
*Right now, God's church is facing ruthless, persistent opposition just as strong as the early church faced. Anti-Christian forces were somehow unleashed in the 1960's, And they have made exponential so-called "progress" over the last fifty years. With just a little research, I could give you hundreds of examples.
*In August of 2000, Pastor Alan Perkins said: "The news media, the entertainment industry, and higher education opinion leaders are the groups most hostile to our faith. They don't just disagree, but show open contempt for Christians."
*Alan then gave the example of a 1999 commentary from "The Boston Globe," where a staffer wrote: "I think it makes perfectly good sense that the Kansas Board of Education has deleted any mention of evolution from the state's science curriculum. A state's curriculum should reflect the intellectual level of its leaders. If, indeed, those leaders have second thoughts about evolution, it may be that they themselves have not evolved much from whatever crawled around eons ago."
*Pastor Perkins added that "Christians are routinely portrayed in the media as fools, as hypocrites, as dangerous intolerant bigots who threaten our democratic way of life." (5)
*In 2007, "One News Now" reported on a hostage drill at a high school in New Jersey. That drill portrayed conservative Christians as terrorists. A local paper reported that the drill at Burlington Township High School involved police portraying mock gunmen. And they were described as "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in the separation of church and state." The fake gunmen were said to have been "seeking justice because the daughter of one member had been expelled for praying before class."
*Historian and Wall Builders President David Barton said that the stereotyping used in that high school drill was an accurate indicator of what was being taught in public schools in the Northeast region of the country. (6)
*Now in 2014, the anti-Christian bigotry has gone light years beyond that, especially for the men and women serving in our Armed Forces. Even so, we can accomplish our mission for God's Kingdom! But we must have courage to face our opposition.
3. We also need strong confidence in God.
*We can never do the work of God in our own strength! We must have the help of Almighty God. And we can count on help from the same God who helped Paul and Barnabas in vs. 9-11:
9. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him
10. and said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
11. And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.'' And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
*This was a judgment miracle, and it was a very rare type of miracle in New Testament times. Jesus performed only one judgment miracle: the withering of a fig tree recorded in Matthew 21 and Mark 11. Then we saw Ananias and Sapphira struck dead in Acts 5 for lying to God. We also saw Herod Agrippa struck dead in Acts 12 for allowing the people to call him a god.
*God is sovereign in all of these things, but the important truth for us to see tonight is that we cannot do the Lord's work by ourselves. We must have His infinite strength and power to help us!
*The good news is that God is still as strong as He ever was!
*In March of 2007, I got to meet and visit with a Christian lady named Jewel Ingram. We met in a hospital waiting room, while Jewel's niece was having surgery. That day, Miss Jewel told me about a wonderful experience she had in the hospital in the summer of 2006.
*Mrs. Ingram coded when she was in the hospital, and almost died. She told me that she actually got to the edge of Heaven, and saw a vast multitude of people singing. She said that the music was the most amazing, beautiful music she had ever heard. Before she was resuscitated, Jewel saw a large, beautiful white horse. She looked to see who was on it, but the Light around Him was so bright that she could not see His face.
*It must have been Jesus. But since it was not her time, she could not see His face clearly. All she could see was the matchless glory of God. Jesus Christ is the almighty, infinite Son of God! -- King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
*And we must have His infinite strength to help us. That's why in John 15:4-8, Jesus said:
4. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
*King Duncan once said, "Whenever the church has forgotten who it is, it has lost its vitality. Our strength is renewed, first of all, when we are rooted in our dependence upon God.
*Arthur J. Gossip once used this analogy: He said that for a long time scientists in tropical lands could not determine how in even the longest droughts, when all the green things were burned up and the riverbeds were dry, that tiny little ants built their little hills with moist soil. Then it was discovered that the secret was a carefully constructed shaft which they dug downward into the earth sometimes as far as sixty feet to a perennial stream that no drought touches. Each night the whole busy little population hurried up and down that shaft, time after time, carrying life sustaining moisture to the surface."
*King Duncan added, "That is a good analogy to who we are as the body of Christ. Our roots go deep. We are the temple of the living God. His Spirit dwells within us. It is from Him that we draw our life and our strength." And let me say that we can only draw our life and our strength from Jesus Christ. (7)
*We can have total confidence in our God! And when we do, we will begin to see great things happen for the cause of Christ. Verse 12 gives us a good example, for there "the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord."
*Proconsul Sergius Paulus was saved! He believed. He was astonished at the teaching about Jesus. The word picture there is being struck by something. Sergius was smacked in his heart by the Good News about Jesus Christ! That's the greatest thing that can ever happen to anyone. And we can expect more great things like that, because we serve a Risen Savior!
*As Larry Sarver once said: "Jesus made a lot of exceptional and important claims about Himself. He claimed to be the one and only divine Son of God. He claimed to be absolutely the only way to go to Heaven. He claimed to be the one and only true source of life, life that is fulfilling and eternal. He claimed to be completely without sin and He claimed to be the perfect expression of God the Father.
*Certainly, even a cursory reading of the Gospels will show us that Jesus claimed to be a whole lot more than a 'good teacher', 'spiritual leader,' or a 'prophet.' Jesus did not claim to be one of many ways to God. Jesus claimed that He was God, and that He was the only way to God.
*Are all of these fantastic claims true? Should I believe them? Or should I listen to the many other people who in the past and still today made similar claims? After all many have claimed that they are somebody. Many have claimed that they have or can show us the right way or path to God. We see this with Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, New Age religions, and contemporary messiahs.
*Many people make many claims. Some even claim to be the Christ. Who is the real deal? Who is genuine and authentic? Who are we to believe in?
*An extremely educated man once said this to a little girl who believed in the Lord Jesus: 'My poor little girl, you don't know in whom you believe. There have been so many Christs. In which one of them do you believe?'
*That wise little girl wisely replied, 'I know which one I believe in. I believe in the Christ who rose from the dead!'" Church: So do we! (8)
CONCLUSION:
*That's why we are part of the greatest work on Earth. And we can accomplish our mission:
-With a strong commitment to spread the Word of God.
-With strong courage to face our opposition.
-And with strong confidence in our God.
*God will help us to get the job done. Trust Him to do it, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Original source unknown
(2) SermonCentral sermon "Bearing Fruit" by Bob Ashcraft - John 15:1-17 - 06/28/2001
(3) "Beware the incremental fade to our temples" by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson - Monroe News Star - May 16, 2014 - Filed Under: Accent
(4) "The Strange Providences of God" - Scripture: Joel 3:3 - Source: Pulpit Helps Illustration Database - Copyright 2001
(5) Alan Lupo, Boston Globe staff writer, 8/22/1999 - Source: SermonCentral sermon "Building Community - Encourage One Another" by Alan Perkins - 1 Thessalonians 5:11 - August 2000
(6) "Hostage drill at NJ school features mock 'Christian terrorists'" by Jim Brown - OneNewsNow.com - April 2, 2007
(7) Sermons.com sermon "Playing Church or Playing Jesus" by King Duncan - Leviticus 19:1-37
(8) SermonCentral sermon "The Meaning of the Resurrection" by Larry Sarver - Matthew 28:1-7 - Easter 2002
