Even Him?

When I first went to college I remember one of the challenges I had was finding a home church.

and I remember my first weekend at college a friend I made found a church online and was convinced it was the best church in the world.

So me and a few others asked if we could go with him and he warned us that we might not like it because it was a very structured church

you know a place where you break out your best suit and tie.

But we told him we will give it a shot because he mentioned it was in walking distance and non of us had a car so we had to walk.

So the next day we get up, and all of us have our nice dress shirts, ties, my friend bought nice new dress shoes for this church

and it turns out the one whose idea it was to go to the church actually had no idea how to get there.

So we walked miles trying to get to figure out where this church was and it was Late Augeust so it was a hot day

and we have our warm dress clothes on

and by the time

So we were drenched in sweat.

Then my friend that got his new dress shoes began to realize his new shoes were rubbing against his feet and ankles and were making him bleed.

So we are drenched in sweat

We probably don’t smell the best

my friend has blood on his shoes

and now we are late to church

And I remember we walked in the church and the faces on these sweet people were in shock.

and we definitely stuck out because they had a greeting time and during this greeting time I think we had half the church come up to us.

and some people asked if it was raining outside since we were so sweaty

But we were sitting in this service sticking out like a sore thumb and it was very clear that we were outsiders coming into this church.

But if you are like me there have been points in your life where it has been very clear you are the outsider in a group.

where you just stick out.

whether that is in a friend group, at a store, or wherever; I think it is a safe assumption to say all of us have felt that way.

And I want you to think for a second how it felt,

But the sad reality is that probably one of the places people feel this the most is at church.

Because the truth is a lot of people feel this way

and that is a real issue.

because church is a place where people can experience Christ and His free gift of grace and if we are standing in the way of that free gift by making someone feel like an outsider its an issue.

So today we are continuing our series “Tribe” and a large part of this series is we have been discussing what the church looks like.

and the book of Acts which we have been in is a great model for us to understand how we should look

And we have talked about how the church looks in general

We talked about how we can handle a conflict or problem in the church and in our lives.

Last week Pastor Benjamin spoke on how we can reach out to our neighbor

and this week we are really diving a little deeper and are going to be talking about how we can welcome people who feel unwelcomed.

because we will be in

Because this passage of scripture talks about a person named Saul who later on in the Bible changes his name to Saul and becomes a leader in the early church, but he comes to a church and he feels like an outsider.

who later on in the Bible becomes a leader in the early church, but he comes to a church and he feels like an outsider.

So turn with me to 9:26-31 because it says:

Acts 9:26–31 NIV

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. 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. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

So as I mentioned Paul is an outsider

So there is this man named Paul and this is probably a recap for a lot of you, but Paul is this person who would persecute Christians, but one of the times while he was on the road to persecute more Christians he had this amazing conversion which I don’t want to go to deep into today, but long story short he goes from being Jewish to being a Christian.

But because of this and because of his past not many people are a big fan of him.

because the Jewish people view him as a trader and then the Christians are scared of him.

and today in the story we are in Paul gets to this new church and they do not trust him because of his past (he persecuted Christians)

but you can just imagine how hard it would have been for Paul and how much of an outsider he was.

so there are a few points I want us to get today because we need to know how we can help people in our lives feel welcomed, not just to church but welcomed to the body of Christ because it is the Body of Christ where lives can be changed because of Christ dwelling in us.

So look at verse 27 because Paul gets to this church and while no one trust him and no one welcomes him there, there is one person who comes alongside Paul.

And this guys named Barnabas and Barnabas helps Paul out.

and what I love about this is this isn’t a one time thing.

Because in the book of Acts there are actually 4 other occasions where this guy named Barnabas comes alongside Paul to help him, not just in a way to make him feel welcomed but to live life with him.

There are actually 4 other occasions

and whats amazing is Barnabas’s name literally means “son of encouragement”

He was a person that throughout Sauls ministry he was there for him.

And we don’t see Barnabas dwelling in his past

looking at him going thats the man who killed my friend, who destroyed that church, who did that, but he views him as God views him.

and I believe Barnabas is able to see what God sees in Paul.

You know when I attended that church I was telling you all about in the beginning most of the people saw me and my friends as this sweaty mess.

but there was one guy who came up to us who looked at us like we were the most put together people he has ever seen and then he mentioned he could give us a ride home if we would like which we gladly accepted.

But he was able to see past the sweat, the blood, the stink and the filth to say these are people that God cares about and loves.

and really we are called to do the same. because people are sweaty and filthy arn’t they ?

not just litterly sweaty and filthy, but figurativly as well, because everyone has their problems

and junk that they deal with but what would happen if instead of looking at their junk or their sweat and filth thats in their life

what

what if we viewed them the way God views them where they are someone created in God’s image.

But here is the next point I want you to get, and really I want to hit on the other side of things.

because Barnabas vouches for Saul about how God moved in Sauls life and about his amazing conversion, but Saul also had a role in this because Saul had to change his life around.

Saul could have kept living the way he was and began persecuting Christians, he could have reverted back, but he decided that he was going to change his life to live a life glorifying towards God.

and we are called to do the same thing where when we have an encounter with God something about us changes

You would be surprised at the number of Christians who

Think about bleach whenever something touches bleach typically whatever touches it is going to change in someway,

maybe its color, maybe its something else but it changes

and whenever we have an encounter with Christ we should come out looking differently then how we looked before.

because what we do is we respond to what God is doing in our life.

So when we say “yes God I want to accept you in my life.” we don’t stay the same.

and what is so neat about this passage is that you see the attitude towrds Saul change

because Saul changes who he is but also because Barnabas was there for Saul.

Because at the beginning of the passage people are scared of Saul and no one would trust him, but by the end of this passage look what happens in verse 29

Because Saul gets in an argument with some Pharisees and its gets to a point where the pharasies

because Paul is having a heated debate with some of the jewish people and because of that these people try to kill him (which by the way if someone try to kill you in a debate it probably means you won)

But when the people in this passage heard this they go and protect Saul because he was no longer the scary guy that snuck in the back, but he was part of the body of believers!

Paul didn’t even come to them asking for help but they came to him.

because they adopted him into the body of believers.

and I have never adopted before but when you are adopt a child you don’t go this is my two children and bill my adopted son.

No you go these are my three children.

and they don’t say that is Paul who made all these mistakes and messed up but they say that is Paul who through the blood of Christ has been made clean.

You know whats amazing to think about is how Paul is probably one of the most well known people in the Bible and one of the best early church leaders.

But could you imagine if the people would have rejected him?

Could you imagine if the Barnabas would have ignored Saul and said nothing?

Could you imagine if Saul after he had this amazing encounter with God if he didn’t change his life around?

There are people all around us who need a Barnabas, there are people that need someone of even a group of people to adopt them so they can go where God is calling them.

But also maybe today you feel more like Saul. you feel like an outsider, can I encourage you that Jesus Christ died not for the forgivness of those who had their life together, but He died for those who were in the mess, those whose lives are sweaty and He died for you.

and if you feel like an outsider I would love to talk with you after the service. but will you pray with me?