Sermon Tone Analysis

*BEING A WORLD CHRISTIAN*

*Acts 11*

 

I want to begin this morning with a couple of principles about the Kingdom of God that are so preliminary, but are so foundational to understanding and believing in missions.

I think there is a lot of things we talk about that aren’t worth talking about.

There’s a lot of things we talk about in pulpits that aren’t worth explaining.

The Gospel is not one of those things.

The Good News is to be shared at all times, in all places, with all people, at all costs.

Now, we really believe Christ is for the whole world.

And any church that deserves to be called Christian is going to believe that.

Now, there are two principles that we begin with: first, */Jesus has commissioned his disciples to take on the world./*

Nobody could accuse Jesus of a lack of a vision.

He told his disciples, in Mark 16:15, *“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”*

So, if you’re a disciple of Jesus, you cannot think just locally.

You must think globally.

Our purpose in life is to love and save the world through Jesus Christ.

Now that purpose makes two assumptions.

Assumption number one is that the world needs saving.

And it assumes, number two, that Jesus is necessary for that salvation.

And that raises the fundamental question when it comes to missions.

Is missions a divine necessity or is it just a divine nicety?

In other words, do people really need Jesus or does it just make things better if they have Jesus?

If we’re going to believe that Christ is for the world, it’s going to demand this conviction that all of creation needs of the imputed righteousness of Christ to be able to stand before a holy God.

That’s not politically correct.

Especially in our age where all dogs go to heaven and there’s lots of ways to get to God.

What undergirds missions is the conviction that only the imputed righteousness of Christ allows anybody to stand before his holy God.

Now is that what the Bible teaches? 

* Listen to Peter in Acts 4:12, *“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”*

He does not say it’s one of the names.

He says there is no other name.

That’s what Peter thought.

* What did Paul think?

I Timothy 2:4-5, *“God wants all men to be saved and come to acknowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”*

Paul said there’s only one way to God. 

* What did John think?

I John 5:12, *“He who has the Son has life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”*

* And most importantly of all, what did Jesus think?

John 14:6, *“I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father expect through me.”*

It’s a simple as this folks; a man can die without many things, but Jesus cannot be one them.

He’s commissioned us to take on the world because the world needs him.

Missions is not just a charity, folks, it’s a necessity.

We exist to love and save the world through Jesus Christ.

Now, here’s the other principle: */Jesus is committed to reaching the world through his church./*

Now you may not think that you need the church, but Jesus thinks that the world needs the church.

In Matthew 16 it says, *“I tell you Peter, upon this rock of your confession I’m going to build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven ad whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”*

Jesus said, *“I’m going to build a church.”*

He does not promise to build a school.

He does not promise to build an organization.

He does not promise to build a country.

Although, all those things can serve God.

It’s through his church that hell’s going to be hampered and the reach of the kingdom of God is going to be advanced.

You know what will really shake up your understanding of the church is when you look closely at those words of Jesus in Matthew 16.

When Jesus said, *“I’m going to build a church that the gates of hell cannot stop.”*,

you need to remember that gates are a defensive weapon.

The idea that Jesus had was that His church was going to be militant.

His church is going to be aggressive.

His church is going to be advancing.

*/“I’m not going to build a church that hangs behind walls and hides.

I’m going to build a church that tears down walls and grows.”

/* The bible says in Ephesians 3:20-21, *“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, amen.”

*

 

Now, let me tell you something real quick.

When Jesus said, */“I’m going to build my church and my church is going to be my vessel, my instrument for advancing the will of God and pulling people of out the dominion of darkness,”/* when Jesus said that’s what I’m going to do He was not talking about some perfect ideal church that has never existed.

It has never existed.

The church has never been perfect.

The church has always been divine because Jesus is the founder.

But the church has always been human because clay vessels like you and me are her members.

When Jesus said, *“I’m going to build a church that’s going to take on hell,”* he’s talking about the church in Corinth, and the church in Rome, and the church in Ephesus, and the church in Seminole -- with all our flaws and with all our warts.

You mean God’s got to use people with all the mistakes we have, and all the flaws we have, and at the errors in our doctrines we have?

That’s the only church He’s got!

He doesn’t have another kind of church.

Somebody said, /“The church is like Noah’s ark.

If it wasn’t for the storm on the outside, you wouldn’t be able to stand the stench on the inside.”/

The Church has never been perfect.

The church has never been ideal.

The church has always been full of flawed people like you and me.

And when Jesus said, *“I’m going to build a church to take on the gates of hell,*” he’s talking about us.

He’s talking about churches like this one.

I know we have our weaknesses.

I know we’re full of frailty, but when you fuse the majesty of Christ with the frailty of the church, the gates of hell come down.

I think it is no wonder that Satan works overtime to sell the lie that the church is irrelevant because he knows -- the prince of this world knows -- that Christ plans through is church to take him on all over the world.

Now the question for every church -- for this church – is, are we going to be a church that honors and accepts Jesus’ vision?

Well, I want us today to look at one church that did.

I think it’s maybe my favorite church in al the New Testament.

Turn to Acts 11 and I want to introduce you to the church in Antioch.

You may remember that Paul and Barnabas when they left for what we call the first missionary journey, they were serving the church in Antioch.

In many ways, the genesis of Christian exodus began in Antioch.

World missions began, or was birthed, at the church in Antioch.

I think there are some reasons why God chose that church.

I’m going to begin reading with the 19th verse of Acts 11.  Follow along as I read, Acts 11:19-28, *“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen…” *Now this is the persecution in Jerusalem, out of the stoning of Stephen.

We’re talking here about Jews.

People who were down in what they called the province of Judea.

Those people – scattered by persecution* “traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.