Making Room in the Church
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Background
Background
The Jewish people believe that they are clean and pure, and they believe that the rest of the world is not. This means that they believe that they are the only people who are spiritually pure, because they keep the law of God. More than that, even those who keep the law of God but aren’t descendants of Abraham, are less than those who are descendants of Abraham.
The Apostle Paul, writes about this in the Book of Romans, asking them the question, “Are you better because you are descendants of Abraham? Absolutely not!” he says, “But it is by faith and faith alone that we are saved.”
Here, in this chapter, is the first encounter we have where the Jews did not readily receive these new Gentiles into the Kingdom of God, except by the testimony of the Apostle Peter.
A few days before the opening of this chapter, Peter goes down to Caesarea to preach to the man named Cornelius. Cornelius had gathered his friends and family to hear the preaching of the Word, and before Peter gets done sharing the testimony of what Jesus did on the cross and how He rose from the grave…the Bible says that the Holy Spirit poured Himself out on those Gentiles.
Context
Context
Where we pick up in chapter 11 is a few days later, as Peter returns to Jerusalem to answer questions about the Gentiles coming to faith.
What we’re going to see is this reality that we all share. That, whether we are Jew or Gentile, we tend to forget that our salvation doesn’t come from any good thing that we do…and it certainly doesn’t come from any from our own power and will…but that salvation comes by grace and grace alone through placing our faith in the Jesus.
This morning’s message is titled “Making Room in the Church”, because what is taking place here in chapter 11 is the diversification of the church. There are now, as of chapter 11 in the book of Acts, more than just Jews that will make-up the global church. In chapter 10, we saw Romans come to know Jesus Christ, come to be made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit…and now we are going to see that the same thing is happening to those who are Greek in their culture and in their religion.
So, if we want to make room in our church…the first thing we are going to have to do is understand the grace of God
I. Understanding the Grace of God
I. Understanding the Grace of God
Have you ever been to a church that feels cold and unwelcoming when you walk in? I’d be confident to say that an unwelcoming church is a church that doesn’t fully understand the grace of God.
I didn’t say they were lost…I didn’t say that they’ve never received the grace of God…I am simply saying that they don’t know how to apply the grace of God.
Now, in a minute, I am going to define grace, mercy, and justice according to the Bible.
But the first thing I want you to see in this chapter is v. 17.
I think that the entire chapter hinges on this verse…in fact, I believe that the rest of the Bible from this point on, hinges on this truth that was spoken by the Apostle Peter.
If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”
The issue with the world today, and with the world then, was that they wanted to and still want to, resist God.
The a major issue in the early church, the issue with the church at Rome, and the issue in every church since then, is a hard time accepting people who are considered to be different or unwelcome…and the root of that attitude is a resistance to the Word of God…for, as Peter said, “If God saved them, who am I to withstand Him?”
So, what I am saying, is that we need to have a sure understanding of God and His desire for all men. But to get there, we have to understand the reality for all men as they are without Jesus.
So, we’re going to define some terms so we’re all on the same page.
Justice
Justice
What is justice?
Justice is getting what you deserve
That is the definition of justice, that if you commit a crime or do something immoral, you get an equal punishment / it also works in reverse…that if you do something heroic or morally good, then you get an equal reward. Ok, so justice is getting what you deserve.
Who is the administrator of eternal justice / Who gives to humanity what they deserve? Well, it’s God…
Therefore, if justice is getting what you deserve, and God is the administrator of justice…then where does God fit into the definition of justice?
God’s justice towards man is His wrath.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
So, if justice is getting what you deserve, and God is the administrator of justice, who deserve the justice of God, and what is that justice?
In other words, what do you deserve from God? Friend, since God is going to give justice, since God is going to give you what you deserve, you deserve wrath and punishment from God.
Why? Because you are evil?
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This means that all men, everywhere, for all of time, except for Jesus Christ, have committed a moral evil and deserve the wrath of God. That’s justice…that we are evil, and we will get what we deserve…God’s wrath.
But you say, “Preacher, you might not be good, but I am.”
“No one is holy like the Lord, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.
“Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.
Therefore, you are not good, but you are evil…and only God is good. And since only God is good, and since you are evil…you will undergo His wrath and His judgement…because, as the Scripture says, “by Him actions are weighed.”
You might believe that you and your actions are good, but God says differently…and He is the final judge.
Now, let’s look at another definition…
Mercy
Mercy
Well, what is mercy?
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
In 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina, a boy walks into a church and opens fire on the people in attendance. Two days after 9 people in that church were killed, the daughter of one of those murdered, courageously and mercifully announces to the world and to that boy that murdered them, “I forgive you”.
Now that’s mercy…because that murderer deserved to be hated…he deserved to be resented…and he deserved to be unforgiven…but what he got instead was forgiveness…he received mercy from that family.
In the book of Exodus 25, the Bible talks about the Mercy Seat of God…the mercy seat was placed on top of the ark of the covenant and when the people would ask for forgiveness, God would meet them there.
And if the people wanted to be forgiven of their sins, if they wanted to receive the mercy of God, and not get what they deserve…they would offer the blood of a purified lamb on the mercy seat.
God’s mercy towards man is His forgiveness of sin
Ok, so here is where we are.
Justice is getting what you deserve; mercy is not getting what you deserve. God’s justice toward man is His wrath because of man’s sin; God’s mercy towards man is His forgiveness of that sin.
Now, the question is, “Why receives the mercy of God?”
To have justice and mercy, there must be a payment for sin
The payment for sin was the spotless lamb we know as Jesus Christ when He died on the cross.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
How did Jesus take away this sin? He paid in blood, just as the Scripture commands.
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (mercy).
Therefore,
The justice and mercy of God was fulfilled on the cross
God was paid in full and justice was served, because Jesus paid the penalty.
God’s forgiveness and mercy was complete because of Jesus’s blood offering.
and now, because of the cross and the resurrection, we can experience God’s grace.
Grace
Grace
This is grace..
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve
Justice is getting what you deserve, mercy is not getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you don’t deserve.
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
This means that God erased our sins, He gave us a clean slate when we didn’t deserve one.
[You are] heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
This means, not only did God save us and forgive us, but He is going to give us all the glories of heaven as if we were just as perfect as Jesus Christ.
That is God’s grace…
Let’s go through this one more time so we understand.
God will bring justice against all persons by His wrath. God offers all persons mercy through the blood payment of Jesus on the cross. God’s grace is the undeserved favor of God given to those who trust in Jesus.
When we talk about the salvation of God for man, when we are talking about how a person can get to Heaven, we are talking about God’s grace…
The grace of God says that even though all people are sinners that deserve to be punished (justice), that Jesus came and paid our way to be forgiven on the cross. And whoever believes in Him will not only be free from the justice of God, will not only be forgiven of their sins, but that they will spend eternity in heaven just like Jesus Christ.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
That is God’s grace.
Here is one final truth about grace before we move on
Grace can only be given to us, it cannot be earned by us
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.
If we try to earn grace by what we do, we will get the justice from God instead of getting mercy from God. We will get what we deserve, which is Hell, separated from God for all eternity, forever experiencing His wrath.
But, if we trust in Jesus Christ as our payment for sin, understanding that He is Lord and worthy of praise, then we get the unmerited favor of God, which we call grace.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift (grace) of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, justice is fulfilled in the death of Jesus on cross (that is, that God gave to Jesus what we deserved), mercy is given because of the blood of Jesus on the cross (that is, that Jesus was offered as a payment for sin)…but the grace of God is accomplished not only by the cross, but by the resurrection.
The truth is that we don’t deserve life in Heaven, but God gave it to us anyway…and made us just like His son Jesus…that is God’s undeserved favor…that is what we call grace.
Now, Peter has gone back to Jerusalem, and it becomes painfully obvious that these apostles and these other disciples, even though they have received the grace of God, do not fully understand the grace of God.
Why The Church Must Understand Grace
Why The Church Must Understand Grace
Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him,
saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”
This is why you as the church have to understand grace…
because if you don’t understand that God is the one who saved us, not the things that we do, not the way that we live, but by grace and grace alone, then you will be just like these early believers, and rely more on your own religion and your own customs than you do the Word of God.
What takes place in v. 4-16 of this chapter, is Peter explaining why he was there and what God showed him in his dream from chapter 10.
But I want you to look again and we are going to read v. 16-17 together.
Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”
Do you know what Peter was saying to these other apostles and believers? God has given them grace just like He gave us…it’s not my place to tell God Who belongs in the church…it’s not my place to tell God who belongs to His family.
You see, they didn’t understand grace…they thought they earned their salvation. They considered themselves to be clean because they were Jewish and followed the law…they believed that because of their ancestry that they were able to receive the gift of God.
There is an issue in churches that has existed since the very beginning. People professing to follow Jesus think this way,
“We only want people like us in our church…we think that only certain types of people can be saved…we want a church full of people with the same skin color, we want a church full of people with the same economic status, we want a church full of people who act like us, think like us, and are like us…”
Do you know why they believe this? Do you know why this is still a problem in church today? Do you know why some of you think like this?
Because you don’t understand God’s grace for you…that even when you didn’t deserve a place at the table, God made room for you at the cross.
Here’s the truth,
That when the Word of God begins to have authority in our lives…when we are, as the Scripture says, “transformed by the renewing of our mind” we are changed just as these disciples and apostles were changed.
First, they said, “you ate and visited with people who are unclean, Peter! How dare you!”
Now that Peter has explained the Scripture to them…and their minds are renewed…here is there new response,
When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”
If we want to be God honoring in our church, then we have to make room in the church for people who there is no room for. If we don’t make room in our hearts, and in our church, God will never send us the increase.
So then, if we want to make in room in our understanding, we have to understand the grace of God…if we want to fill the empty spaces of the church, we have to understand the mission of God.
II. Understanding the Mission of God
II. Understanding the Mission of God
I have a deep appreciation for the people of this church, because I am seeing and I am hearing about all the ways that you are sharing the testimony of Jesus Christ with the people around you.
Sometimes, people get the idea that it’s the preacher’s job to lead people to salvation…but my job is really to show you and to teach you how to lead people to Jesus. One of the ways that I do that is by preaching…preaching to you how justice, mercy, and grace all fit into the picture.
But now, we come across a circumstance where there are no apostles, there are no deacons, there are only people who have been scattered because of persecution, and people who have a burning desire to share the testimony of what Jesus did on the cross. They have a desire to teach people about God’s Amazing Grace.
The Mission to Save
The Mission to Save
Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.
But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
Now there are the two camps discussed here. We have the Jews, and we have the Greek speaking Jews known as the Hellenistic Jews.
Hellenism: A blend of Greek culture, philosophy, and ethics
A Hellenist is someone who practices these things is some form or fashion.
Now, the reason that we see what are known Hellenistic Jews, is because these are Jewish people who speak the Grecian language.
So, here’s the story:
The Jews, which includes the Hellenistic Jews, are scattered because of persecution.
The Jews were sharing the testimony of Jesus Christ only to other Jews.
The Hellenistic Jews were sharing with the Jews and the Gentiles.
Why were they doing this?
Well, the Hellenistic Jews didn’t have the prejudice that the Jews had. They were willing to share with anyone who would listen, and their religion, they’re skin color, nor their economic status mattered.
The Bible says that they were from the island of Cyprus and Cyrene (North Africa), and I can see right here in plain English that they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why?
Because the Bible says that the “hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and were saved.”
Now, you tell me who understands grace…you tell me who understands the mission of God.
In this occasion, it was the Hellenistic Jews…why? Because they know what its like to be discriminated against. They know what it’s like to be looked down on.
The people who are able to give the most grace, and the people who are able to effectively share the testimony of Jesus without embarrassment, without regarding skin color, social status, or physical appearance, are people who, in the course of their life have experienced great tragedy or who have been rescued out of deep dark sin.
Listen to me, if you’re a believer, if you have received the grace and salavtion of God, and you think you’re too broken to share the testimony of Jesus Christ, if you think you’re too unworthy to lead people to salvation in Jesus Christ, then you don’t have a good understanding of God’s grace either.
If I am not worthy because of what I’ve done, then you’re not unworthy because of what you’ve done.
If anything, you can speak to people and you can understand people, and you can call people out of darkness and sin that others can’t.
Whether you were a choir boy or a drunk, God wants to use you to complete His mission.
Well, what’s His mission? His mission is to make His Son Jesus known to every person.
That’s what these Hellenists were doing…and the Bible says that a great number turned to the Lord.
The Mission to Disciple
The Mission to Disciple
Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.
When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.
For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.
And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Now, Barnabas was sent first to confirm, and then to disciple…
What does discipleship mean?
Well, it means to be an encouragement. The Bible says that Barnabas encouraged the people to continue in their faith.
Discipleship also means to get down into the mud of life and to teach.
Enlisting the help of Saul
Enlisting the help of Saul
Now look here, there is a person that we haven’t seen in about 10 years… the time lapse from chapter 9 and Saul’s conversion to this point in chapter 11 is about 10 years long.
What that means is that Saul, spent 10 years studying the Scripture, 10 years serving in the local church, 10 years in submission to his teachers which includes the physical, bodily, Jesus Christ, and is now being assigned by Barnabas to co-teach in this new church, the Church of Antioch.
Why did it take so long for Saul (Paul) to get this assignment?
Well, very simply, you cannot become a teacher or a leader unless you are willing to be taught and willing to be led.
Church, it’s true that we need leaders. It’s true that we need people qualified to teach the Scripture…it’s true that we need people, especially men, to submit themselves to God and to be faithful in the church and in their families…
But if you think that this is a quick process, if you think that, as a church, we can allow you to be thrown into leadership, then you don’t understand the mission of God.
The mission of God is first to save people…but then to disciple them and to teach the the ways of Godliness.
Unfortunately, too many people think that teaching and leading is a status to be taken instead of an honor to be given.
Look in the scripture…
Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.
Did Saul ask for this leadership role? No…
Then how did he get it?
The Scripture says that Barnabas recognized Saul’s calling, that he recognized the fruit in Saul’s life, and that Barnabas observed Saul selflessly serving in the church, preaching the gospel in the community, and gaining understanding of the Scripture by submitting to his teachers, for 10 years.
If we are going to make room in our church, and if we are expecting God to fill the empty spaces, then we need men and women to faithfully and sacrificially serve the church, proclaim the testimony of Jesus, and submit under the leadership that God has established here.
I know what you’re thinking…does it really take 10 years?
For what Saul was called to do, yes…
But I can’t put a time limit on your life because I don’t know…but what I do know is what the Scripture says.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
If you try to exalt yourself to leadership, it won’t work. If you allow the Lord to do it, you’ll see what the early church saw, “a great many people added to the Lord.”
Because Barnabas and Saul were faithful to submit, they were prepared to spend a year in Antioch discipling the new believers there.
This is Discipleship:
Discipleship means giving instruction on total commitment to Jesus Christ
Much deeper than that, it is you yourself being totally committed to Jesus Christ and making your life the example or the pattern to follow.
If we want to make room, then we need faithful disciples to faithfully disciple new believers. God is not going to outpace our own willingness to grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
To make room in the church…we have to make room in our lives for God’s will to be done.
First, we have to remove any prejudice or assumptions from our minds and begin to fully understand God’s grace
Second, we must begin to submit to Jesus Christ by sharing His testimony of salvation
Lastly, to make room in the church, we need faithful disciples, full of humility, ready to take instruction and to grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ. So submitted to the Lord in their life, that they are able to be used as a pattern or as an example for the new and immature believers.
