Sermon Tone Analysis

There a many metaphors in English that deal with the hand.

For instance, 'don't bite the hand that feeds you.'

If you are benefiting from someone you don't treat them badly or you might loose the benefit.

'A bird in the hand,' it is better to look at what you have now then loose it and hope for something better in the future.

'Getting your hands dirty' well that can either mean working very hard or doing something you shouldn't be doing.

I use to get my hands dirty all the time, when I was a mason.

Metaphors use figures of speech at times to explain something other times just to hammer home a point.

Scripture is filled with Metaphors and one of my favorites involves the hand.

It is the phrase "the Hand of the Lord."

This metaphor packs a punch, no pun intended.

This phrase in the Old Testament alone is used over 200 times.

And the exact phrase the hand of the Lord is only used three times in the New Testament twice in Acts and the third in Luke's gospel.

Each time that Luke references this metaphor it is always positive, pointing to God's active work in blessing.

God is an active God and when it comes to the church, His church, He has always been and will always be active in His church.

This of course is not just any church, it is not just any group of people who come together He is only active in churches with distinct markers.

We will see those markers as we will explore this metaphor of the hand of the Lord this morning as the church spreads, grows and thrives.

The Hand of the Lord in Growing His Church

If you have your Bible's turn with me to Acts 11:19-30

Acts 11:19-30

God's hand was with the church and those who were sharing the gospel.

We see here in these first three verses that the gospel spread far off.

Notice up to this point who has been focused on when it comes to sharing the good news.

We have seen Peter giving the gospel, we have seen Philip and Stephen.

All of whom were commissioned in some sense to go fourth.

Peter was commissioned by Jesus Himself, he was an apostle, a sent out one.

Philip and Stephen were both commissioned by Peter and the other apostles so the apostles could spend time in prayer and the study of the Word of God.

These are the ones who have taken the spotlight in spreading the gospel message.

Now as we look at Antioch and the spread of the gospel in this vast city we see that there are no names associated with the evangelistic efforts of these Christ followers.

Peter is not mentioned and neither is Philip.

In fact only one name is mentioned in the first three verses of this text and it is only for the purpose of establishing a time line.

The spread of the gospel was not contingent on a person who was a mover and a shaker, the spread of the gospel was never intended to be solely in the hands of the leadership.

Those who shared the gospel in Antioch were ordinary believers with an extraordinary love for God and a deep hatred for sin.

Those who shared the gospel were those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose in the church.

These are the Jewish Christians, the Hellenistic Jews of chapter 7. God was at work in spreading the gospel and using these people to spread the gospel and in bringing large numbers of people to a saving knowledge of Himself, from Jew to Greek, the church was growing.

All because the hand of the Lord was with those who shared the gospel.

Scattering the Church

We see this in verse 19, "So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occured in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone."

The church spread.

The spreading of the church as you know, was in Acts 7 and the catalysis for this scattering was the persecution that arose after Stephen's martyrdom.

Remember the Stephen was the trigger and Saul was the hammer that shot the church clear across Judea all the way up into Asia Minor.

What is today called Turkey.

(Put up map to show the spread of the church)

Stephen's martyrdom brought about Saul's ravaging of the church and those who were followers of the way and this scattered the church far and wide.

Luke opens in verse 19 pointing to God's hand at work even in the evil act of Stephen's murder by the Jews in Jerusalem.

Luke states here, "So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews alone."

While the events that happened in Acts 9-11 the church was growing.

God, being omniscient and omnipresent, was not only working in those events but He is sovereign and His hand was working in the spreading of the gospel message.

God moved Stephen to speak out in the temple against his accusers by pointing to God's hand at work through out Israel's history.

God used Stephen's murder to scatter the church and it scattered to the outer reaches of the apostles.

The church is now moving to Asia minor.

The areas that are today known as Syria and Turkey.

So you see the church has spread incredibly in under five years.

Stephen was martyred in about 35 AD and Paul's conversion happened shortly after in the same year, and this takes place about 40 AD around the same time that Peter goes to Cornelius' house.

All of this is about 10 years after the events of Pentecost.

Now when Jesus had told the apostles in Acts 1:8 to spread the gospel to the outer most parts of the earth, He knew the apostles weren't going to be the ones to go all over the earth spreading the gospel.

They were intrusted with the message but they were not the only ones with the message.

God scatters His message with anyone who is willing and who He sees fit to use to spread the message.

God worked in those that were scattered because of the persecution, He worked in scattering them, He worked in bringing them to the city and areas that are mentioned here, and He worked in the hearts of those who heard the message.

Man is nothing but a tool in the hands of God.

As God scattered the believers they moved up the coast.

They went through Phoenicia which is a region the very next region beyond Israel.

So Luke is making the point the gospel has spread passed Israel's boarder.

It has even made its way to this little island here in the middle of the Mediterranean called Cyprus.

So boarders and water is not stopping the spread of the gospel message.

Then the message comes to Antioch.

Now Antioch is the focal point here.

Antioch becomes the hub for Paul's missionary journeys.

In order to understand the gospel's impact on Antioch, you need to understand a little about Antioch.

Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.

It was third to Rome and Alexandria.

The city was located on a navigable river so it became a hub for those traveling up and down the Orontes River to the Mediterranean Sea.

It's population was about a half million people in an area of about 5.8 square miles.

Just to give you a comparison, Ocean County is roughly 820 Square miles with a population with a little more then half a million people.

From Lacey Township to Little Egg the population is about 200,000 people.

So this was a big cramped city.

It was also a hot bed for many different religions, most of them revolved around fertility gods, and there was gambling, chariot races, brutal sports spectacles, brothels, for the most part it was an ancient Las Vegas.

It was a hot bed of sin and degradation.

The silver lining on the whole thing were the amount of Hellenistic Jews who lived there.

When the gospel came in with a message of hope it spread through the city like wildfire.

The city was very welcoming to the Jews and there were many synagogues in the city.

So when the the Jewish Christians were being persecuted they went back to the home towns and they would go to these synagogues and they were preach the gospel to them.

God's hand was in this because as it stood they were all communing in Jerusalem until Saul began to persecute them.

What is important here is the fact the evangelism was done by ordinary people, in a sense no name people.

God didn't send Philip there to evangelize the people, He didn't send Barnabas, Peter or anyone else to evangelize.

Yes, Barnabas does go and while there he also joins in the evangelistic endeavor but that was not the purpose for his going there.

We will see that next week.

The point is for the church to scatter far and wide there is a need for sowers, those who sow the seed.

So as we see the church spreads without the leadership making the push but God using ordinary believers who have a love for God and a desire to share the truth of the gospel.

They are only workers in the harvest.

Jesus mentions needing workers, in Luke 10:2.

God is the One who calls us to be His laborers in the harvest.

The people are ripe for the picking and there are so many ripe for the picking but not enough laborers.

When we look at the work that needs to be done and we say well I know I need to give the gospel but if I don’t God will send someone else.

Ok, but God has also sent you.

The great commission may have been spoken directly to the apostles but that doesn’t mean they are the only ones who are to go out and spread the gospel.

Their job is to equip and the disciples job is to go out.

You need to be the laborers in God’s field, it is harvest time and God’s servants are not out for themselves but the are looking to glorify God by spreading the gospel

Now the message of the gospel has gone out, and it is spreading like crazy.

It has gone beyond the boarder of Israel.

This was not by accident but was purposed by God.