SERIES: “LESSONS FROM THE EARLY CHURCH”
TEXT: ACTS 9:19-31
TITLE: “THE NEEDS OF A NEW CHRISTIAN”
INTRODUCTION: A. One criticism of the church-at-large is that when we produce new Christians, we
“dunk ‘em and drop ‘em”
--I personally believe that criticism is a legitimate criticism
1. When you bring a new baby home from the hospital, you don’t say to the baby:
“Here’s the house. This is the living room. The kitchen is in there. The
bathrooms’ down the hall on the right and your bedroom is across the hall from the
bathroom. We’re tired so we’re going to bed. Breakfast is at 7:00 a.m. so don’t
forget to set the alarm. We both have to go to work tomorrow so you’ll have to find
something to do until we get home. The TV Guide and remote control is on the
coffee table. You’re on your own. Make yourself a home.”
2. Would that newborn grow to maturity?
--Definitely not! But that’s what we tend to do with babes in Christ. We expect
them to fend for themselves.
B. There is some very clear biblical teaching on the necessity of nurturing new
Christians:
1. Eph. 4:13 tells us that God’s purpose is that… “we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole
measure of the fullness of Christ.
2. Col. 1:28 – “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all
wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
--“perfect” in Greek means “complete; lacking nothing; mature”
3. Mt. 28:19-20 – “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age."
4. The process of nurturing new Christians goes by a lot of different names:
discipling, shepherding, assimilating, mentoring
--whatever Christian “buzz word” you want to use, Jesus said, “Just do it!”
5. If we’re baptizing people yet fail to nurture them, we’ve failed to meet the
requirements of obedience to the Great Commission.
C. The average congregation loses 50% of its new converts within a five year period
--The primary reason for high figure is because of the failure to nurture
1. Some just fall through the cracks
--We need to plug up those cracks as best we can
2. Others come and remain on the fringe
--Only because we have failed to teach our people that we are “saved to serve”
3. I would say with confidence that most of you could quickly visualize the face of
those who were onetime active members of our congregation at one time but have
drifted away
a. Some of them to the very lifestyles they had before
b. Sad thing is that most of the time we just stand around with our hands in our
pockets and just can’t begin to figure out how it happened
4. I will make a qualification to what I’ve just been saying
--It’s not always the church’s fault
a. Parable of the Sower in Mt. 13
--Not going to read but tell you one of the things Jesus says
b. He said that some of the seed would fall into soil and begin to grow but would be
choked out by the weeds and the thorns
--Jesus said those weeds and thorns represent the cares, riches, and pleasures of
this life.
c. However, it’s still the responsibility of the church to weed the garden and to
fertilize the soil to ensure the best growing environment possible.
D. Jesus gives us an opportunity to receive great blessings from being involved in
meeting the needs of new Christians and helping them to grow into maturity.
1. Jesus told His followers: “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They’re ripe for
harvest.”
2. There is preparation work involved in receiving the harvest
--Too many times, we sing Bringing In the Sheaves but don’t have any procedure
for handling the harvest and wouldn’t know what to do with it if it were delivered
to our doorstep
E. There is a familiar sequence of events that is played out time and again in churches.:
1. People are attracted to churches
2. They are initially welcomed and wooed
3. They find no place to use their gifts
4. Authentic relationships don’t happen
5. They’re soon take for granted
6. Their spiritual growth stagnates
7. They leave
F. I want us to look at four basic needs of new Christians
I. First Need: ACCEPTANCE
A. New and immature Christians need the acceptance of fellowship of other Christians who care about them
1. They need to experience real love and encouragement
2. They need to know that their sins have been forgiven by Christ and that now they are accepted as true
brothers and sisters in Christ.
3. Especially need the acceptance and encouragement of more mature Christians
--The maturity, wisdom, and grace of more mature Christians will do more for new and immature
Christians than just admonition to study the Bible and pray.
B. Notice that Paul’s former friends didn’t want to have anything to do with him
--In fact, they wanted to kill him!
1. There are times in the lives of new Christians when they feel alone or bored and they wonder: “What
have I gotten myself into?”
2. Giving up the pleasures of the world and the defection of former friends is not easy to accept
3. When other Christians are stand-offish and cold, new Christians sometimes wonder why they gave up
their old life where they were at least accepted to hang around with people that don’t even like them
--It’s important that we include new people in our circles of friendship
C. Notice that Paul experienced acceptance at Damascus but the Jerusalem church at first refused acceptance
--v. 26 – “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.”
1. Obviously, news of his conversion didn’t travel back to Jerusalem as fast as news of his vendetta
against the church traveled to Damascus
2. Bad news usually travels faster than good news
--Even among Christians (which shouldn’t be the case but is)
3. John Dillinger lived around Paragon, IN as a boy. Around the age of eight, he began to attend
the local Christian church. The more he attended, the more he desired to be baptized into Christ.
One Sunday, he stepped out of the pew to walk forward when one of the older men stopped him and
told him he was too young. It so angered the young Dillinger that he turned to that man and said,
“Well, then, I don’t need this church and I don’t need this Jesus you talk so much about.” He stormed
out the door and never returned. The rest is history.
4. We want people to believe that Jesus will take them just as they are. We even sing that invitation
hymn: “Just as I am…Jesus I come.”
--When they do decide to become a Christian, we don’t want anything to do with them because they’re
just too much trouble!
II. Second Need: ENCOURAGEMENT
A. A man named Levi, nicknamed Baranabas stepped up and did the job no one wanted to do
--vs. 27 – “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his
journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had
preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
1. “Barnabas” – “son of encouragement”
--it’s obvious how he got the nickname and why it stuck
2. We need more Barnabas’ to encourage new Christians and help them find acceptance in the body of
Christ.
--Sadly, we’re usually prone to tearing down instead of building up
B. Notice the results of Barnabas’ encouragement on Saul:
1. Saul continued the course he started and eventually became the vessel God used to bring the Gospel
to much of the Roman empire
2. He also wrote the largest portion of the New Testament.
3. When you see geese flying along in "V" formation, you might consider what science has
discovered as to why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird
immediately following. By flying in "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater
flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it
alone - and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in
front.
When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. Geese
honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. Finally - and this is important –
when a goose gets sick or is wounded, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that
goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able
to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to
catch up with their group.
--If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.
III. Third need: PROTECTION
-v. 23-25 – “After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan.
Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by
night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.”
A. When babies are born in the hospital, nursing staff scours everything with disinfectant to protect the
newborns from germs
--We need to do the same thing with baby Christians
1. False teachers will come with false teaching to lead them astray
2. Satan is roaming around like a roaring lion seeking to devour them
--When you watch a nature program about predatory animals, you always find that they don’t attack the
healthy, strong mature animals but always the young and the weak.
B. Jesus told about a man who had a demon in his house.
1. The man got the demon out of his house but failed to fill the void that was left.
2. Seven demons worse than the first came in and occupied the house and the man was worse off than
before.
3. We need to be vigilant in protecting new and immature Christians because they are very vulnerable to
the dangers thrown at them by Satan and his minions.
a. They are not able to protect themselves – yet.
b. There are a lot of pitfalls they can avoid if more mature Christians will take them under their wing
and help them until they’re ready to fly spiritually
IV. Fourth Need: INSTRUCTION
A. We need to teach them the word of God
1. When you bring home a new-born only a few days old, you don’t say, “Now, there’s the refrigerator
and your formula is in there. And there’s your bottle on the shelf and there’s the microwave to heat
it. Good luck!”
2. You have to feed that baby yourself
a. Sometimes they’re hungry and readily look forward to receiving those essential nutrients and
building blocks for growth.
b. Sometimes they’re cranky and you have to coax and coddle them until they accept the feeding.
c. Newborn Christians are the same way
d. If a newborn has a problem with their appetite for quite some time, it can be an indicator that
something is wrong.
--Likewise with the new Christian
B. As they progress, then teach them how to study the word of God on their own
1. Eventually, children reach the point where you can say, “There’s the peanut butter and jelly, the
bread, and the milk. Fix yourself a sandwich and something to drink.”
a. It’s an important stage in their development to maturity
b. When it first happens, it can be kind of messy
--But the more they do it, the better they get at doing it.
2. It’s important to our growth and maturity for us to learn how to study the word of God
a. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good
work.”
b. 2 Tim. 2:15 – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not
need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
1). KJV has “divide”
2). Word in original language means “to cut straight”
3). God wants us to know that it’s important for us to know how to study the Bible and learn its
precepts so that we can properly discern its meaning and application.
V. Fifth Need: PATIENCE
A. Patience with their immaturity
1. Personally, hard thing for me.
a. I want people “to get their stuff together.”
b. But I tend to be like the people Jesus told us about who try to get the speck out of someone else’s
eye when I have log in my own.
B. Patience with their enthusiasm
1. Paul Harvey wrote article entitled Love in Three Stages:
a. Romance – excited and infatuated and the electricity is flowing – a time of enthusiasm.
b. Tolerance – now each partner has found out that the other has faults and they have to put up with
each other
c. Maturity – have shared experiences and develop a deep relationship with each other.
2. New Christians go through stages, too
a. Early on, infatuated with the church and the Lord and are eager to tell everyone about their new life
b. They can make great evangelists because they still have a wide circle of unsaved friends
c. But they can also be obnoxious and inflexible
3. Saul of Tarsus was much like what I just described
a. v. 22 – “Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving
that Jesus is the Christ.”
b. He was determined to win the Jews over by the sheer force of his infallible argument
--and they wanted to kill him because of it
c. Tried to do the same thing in Jerusalem
--v. 29 – “He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.”
4. In both cases, his fellow Christians stepped in and saved his life
a. v. 25 – “But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in
the wall.”
b. v. 30 – “When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to
Tarsus.”
5. We have to be patient with new believers and try to avoid dampening their enthusiasm
-- Carl Ketcherside told about one of the churches he served. He described it as a “dead church.”
In this congregation was a woman who had been a prostitute but had recently given her life to the
Lord.
She was very excited about her new-found faith and was inviting all of her friends and former
“business associates” to come to church with her. A few of them accepted the invitation and it
upset some in the congregation that people like them were coming to “their” church.
The elders became concerned and in one of their meetings, confronted Ketcherside and said,
“We appreciated the apparent conversion of this woman but we need to be careful that her
enthusiasm doesn’t get out of control.” Ketcherside replied, “Don’t worry. If she hands around
you guys long enough, she’ll lost it.” He reports that she did.
6. D.L. Moody: “I’d rather try to restrain a fanatic than resurrect a corpse any day.”
CONCLUSION: A. Lynn Anderson, They Smell Like Sheep:
Ordinarily, Tuesday morning’s mail makes my day. I love feedback from the church!
But the following note from George spoiled my whole week. George’s words exploded
off the page:
They ought to sue this church for false and misleading advertising. Your PR blurbs
promise all this good stuff, “Help, Hope, and Home.” Yes, your worship services seemed
warm and upbeat when I visited. Then, I joined. But this church has delivered none of
its promises. Maybe the sermons offered a bit of hope. But no one gave me any help.
And I sure never felt at home! It would take a safecracker to break into your circles. I’ve
been here nine months and still feel like a stranger. Take me off your roll, and don’t
send me any more of that phony propaganda.
Church leaders hear outbursts similar to this one every once in a while. And likely,
far more [outbursts] are thought but never spoken out loud. Most disappointed
newcomers simply vote with their feet. Too many churches seem to lose people out the
back door as fast as they come in the front. Why? The problem may not always be cold
welcomes or irrelevant programs. Often the real villain is ineffective assimilation –
failure to usher new members into the heart of the church and make them feel at home
and failure to help them use their gifts.
B. Patients who undergo organ transplants are routinely taken to the ICU after surgery.
1. There, they’re classified often as being in “critical but stable condition” even if the
operation went well.
2. The staff keeps a constant watch over them until they become strong enough to be
transferred to a less intensive state of care.
C. New believers in Christ have undergone a very serious organ transplant
1. They’ve received new hearts
2. They need careful follow-up and nurture if they’re going to make it
3. Try to remember they’re in “critical but stable” condition
D. How about you?
--have you received your new heart yet?
