Community of Missionaries

The Growth of the Early Church

At the end of Acts 2 there were about 3000 Christians, most recently saved.

Over the time frame covered by the book of Acts and to the end of the 1st century AD that number is thought to have swelled to over 25,000 Christians scattered throughout the Romans world.

22,000 new believers in under 100 years, all during a time of intense persecution from the Roman government and Jewish authorities.

By 310 AD, 3 years before Constantine made Christianity legal in the Romans Empire, there were estimates of 2.5 to 20 million Christians.

It had moved from a small sectarian group to upwards of 10% of the world’s population.

They didn’t have buildings and they didn’t meet in large groups.

The were forced to hide much of the time or risk persecution by the government.

And yet the church grew rapidly.

How did they do it?

There are all kinds of theories and explanations, but it seems the church continued to do they thing it started doing back in the beginning.

It gathered and scattered.

Gathering together in community, committed to the Word, committed to loving one another and those around them

And scattering into their towns, cities, neighborhoods, and social spheres living the life of a Jesus follower, showing and telling those around them about the Savior who loves them and offers them hope and freedom.

Maybe that sounds to simplistic, but when we read the NT we don’t read about strategies to church growth, or strategies for getting people engaged in ministry.

We read about followers of Jesus living lives of faith that brought them into contact with lost people whom they loved and lead back to Jesus.

What does that mean for us, 2000 years removed?

My hope is that we will be encouraged and challenged by the witness of our brothers and sister who have gone before us.

Encouraged by the example God’s faithfulness and provision to them in how He blessed them and produced significant fruit through them.

And challenged to not lose heart or grow weary, for the journey of faith is not easy and calls us to full submission, but is a journey that is so much more valuable than earthly treasures or temporal satisfactions.

Changing Paradigm

The question before us this morning is: How do we lead others to Jesus in the world we find ourselves in?

The word “Evangelism” often elicits a couple of emotions in us.

Excitement in the thought of people trusting in Christ and beginning a relationship with him.

While also having Fear; the fear of sharing with someone who doesn’t want to hear or who may ask us a question we have no answer for.

We don’t hate the idea of sharing the Gospel, it is just super intimidating for most of us if we are honest.

The most common way most of us practice evangelism is by inviting lost people to our church on Sunday or to an event where the Gospel will be shared.

In some ways this is the “Field of Dreams” method of evangelism, if we build it, host it, or put it on, then they will come and get saved.

What we do on Sunday is evangelistic, people come to Christ here.

God uses events we put on to save people. I don’t want to make light of those things.

But our culture is moving further and further away from Christian values and a view of the church as a good and necessary institution.

If we are going to reach our community for Christ we have to rethink how we lead people to Jesus.

Here is my thesis today: God has called us, is equipping us and gathering us together, in order to send us out together to lead others to Himself.

We have to understand the challenges we face when it comes to leading people to Jesus.

So that we can lean into the way of Jesus in leading people to Himself.

Read 1 Cor 1:18-2:5

The Struggle is Real

Our MESSAGE sounds FOOLISH.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Paul’s message to the Corinthians rings so true in our culture today.

The Gospel sounds like a foolish wives tale to many in our world today.

When we start talking about sin and eternal punishment, the cross and the resurrection, believing in and trusting in Jesus for salvation from our sin, many in our culture will and do think we are fools.

Regardless of how well we package it, how artistically and culturally relevant we try to display it, the message of the Gospel is foolish to those who are perishing.

The Gospel is not foolish, but to those far from Christ, there is a leap of faith required in trusting in Jesus that they just can’t seem to make.

In contrast, to those who are “being saved” it is the “power of God”/

Paul distinguishes two groups of people here.

Those who are perishing, meaning those who have not trusted in Christ and who continue to reject Him.

And those who are “being saved”, meaning those who may not have trusted in Jesus, but who are searching and seeking Him.

Paul wants us as believers to understand that there are many people we work around, live around, and interact with regularly who are going to think we are foolish and weird because of our faith in Jesus.

But there are some in those same groups that are in that second category, who God is pursuing and whom God has positioned you as a witness to them for Jesus.

We don’t know who falls into which category unless we as faithful followers of Jesus live and speak in such a way that brings them in contact with the truths of the Gospel.

It doesn’t matter how well we speak it, how well it is packaged, many will still see it only as a foolish story.

Our METHODS are UNATTRACTIVE.

We live in a world of entertainment.

On-demand video, video games, sporting events, concerts, clubs, and all kinds of avenues to be entertained.

We follow the rich, the famous, the influential and the beautiful.

The church has made many efforts over the years to compete with popular culture in order to win the masses by resembling what they find attractive.

But the Gospel was not intended to be attractive in the way pop culture is attractive.

The focus on a bloody cross, a fiery hell, and our sinful condition just can’t compete with Netflix and YouTube.

Regardless of how rocking the music is, how great the light show may be, or how attractive and flashy the preacher may be, we are just not going to attract people to Jesus with a song and a dance.

We will strive to be attractive, to do things with excellence, and to confront people with the truth of the Word in a way that connects to their life.

But we must accept that the way of Jesus is to be “insignificant and despised in the world”.

Often when we spend our time trying to “be something” we end up pointing the spotlight at ourselves and not at Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:30–31 ESV

30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Our MOTIVES are SUSPECT.

There is no doubt the world around us questions the motives behind our message as believers.

We are labeled bigots, hypocrites, close-minded, judgmental, and self-righteous.

They would say our work of leading people to Jesus is unloving, even though we would argue it is the very definition of love.

We can argue against those thoughts, or let them influence us to the point that we stop seeking to lead others to Jesus, but perhaps there is a better way to overcome the question of motive.

I think we all since that “better way”.

Barna research says this: Almost half of Millennials (47%) agree at least somewhat that it is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith. This is compared to a little over one-quarter of Gen X (27%), and one in five Boomers (19%) and Elders (20%). (Though Gen Z teens were not included in this study, their thoroughly post-Christian posture will likely amplify this stance toward evangelism.)

Of that same group, 96% would agree with the statement “Part of my faith means being a witness for Jesus. And 94% would agree “The best thing that could ever happen to someone is for them to come to know Jesus.”

It isn’t that younger Christians are opposed to leading other to Jesus, there seems rather to be a struggle with the way we lead them to Christ.

Without getting too deep into the weeds, there seems to be a hesitancy on the part of young Christians to share Jesus in a way that pushes their believe onto their friends.

Hear me out, I am not advocating that we stop challenging Christians to share their faith.

Rather, it seems younger Christians see the value of relationships in leading people to Jesus.

Which really is biblical:

1 Thessalonians 2:8 CSB

8 We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

Paul’s method of reaching the Thessalonians was two-fold:

Shared life

Shared Message

The power of his message was seen in his motive.

He was motivated by love and his love for the Thessalonians led him to share his life with them as he also shared the Gospel with them.

It is vital we all understand what Paul is saying.

He is saying that our primary motive for sharing Jesus is love for those far from Christ.

He is saying that building a relationship with someone far from Jesus is important in leading them to Jesus.

He is also saying that speaking the Gospel is a necessary outflow of building a relationship with someone. If you love them you will share with them how they can be saved.

Paul understood the need for humility, compassion, and intentionality when it comes to being a witness for Jesus.

We can’t convert people because we are eloquent speakers, good arguers, or flashy storytellers.

People come to Jesus when they experience His power in a powerful way.

Mission in Community

Okay so here is where I want to land the plane today.

There is no question that God calls each and every one of us who are believers in Jesus to be active and vocal witnesses of Him in all aspect of our lives.

He wants us to know the gospel and share the gospel regularly with those we love and those he places in our path.

But I believe He wants us to do the work of evangelism, leading others to Jesus, in community.

Let me show you why:

Think about the 3 struggles I just shared:

Our message sounds foolish

Our methods are unattractive

Our motives are suspect

What are ways we overcome these struggles?

1) Our STORIES validate the GOODNESS of the Gospel.

Jesus healed a blind man in John 9, who had been blind since birth.

The blind man was questioned by the religious elites of the the day because they didn’t like what Jesus was saying and doing.

They confronted him one last time to try and get him to incriminate Jesus so they could arrest him, but listen to the man’s response:

John 9:24–25 ESV

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Though the man didn’t share the Gospel message with the religious leaders, his words were a compelling picture of the power of the Gospel.

The message of the gospel does sound foolish to those who are far from God, but it is hard to dispute the story of someone who actually experience the freedom and forgiveness that comes from trusting in Jesus.

You can learn every apologetical argument for defending the faith, but when some one hears your story of how Jesus changed you it makes the message tangible and real.

God has given each and every one of us who know Him and follow Him stories of how He has changed us through the Gospel.

I can’t answer every question someone may have, but I can tell you I was once lost and hopeless, but now I am loved and filled with eternal hope.

2) Christ-Centered COMMUNITY is ATTRACTIVE.

Remember the words of Jesus to His disciples?

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

They will not know us by our flashy worship services, our well put together programs, or our snazzy buildings. They will know us by our love for one another.

There are many people who would feel really uncomfortable walking into a church service like this one for the first time.

Especially the growing number of people who have little to no background in the church.

It would be like you walking into the Hindu temple in Nashville for the first time. Trust me, it is intimidating.

But a small group of people gathering together for dinner, prayer, and a conversation about the Bible, that is much less of a leap.

Add in a group of people who seem to genuinely care for one another, who seek to encourage and build one another up in love.

A group of people who believe the Bible and seek to know it, apply it, and live it… that is attractive.

3) Shared HOPE is a COMPELLING RATIONALE.

You know this verse right:

1 Peter 3:15 CSB

15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Seems like Peter is telling us we each need to be ready to answer any question that comes our way about the Christian faith.

But that isn’t Peter’s purpose here:

First off, his statement is not directed at individuals, but the whole community of Christians, the church.

He is saying “All of you together must be ready to answer questions that are going to come from the shared hope in Jesus you all display together.

Secondly, his statement isn’t about having answers to questions like “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”

He is saying that people are inevitably going to ask us why we as a people share this unwavering hope in Jesus in the midst of the ups and downs of life.

Listen to this quote from Steve Timmis and Tim Chester’s book “Total Church” concerning 1 Peter 3:15:

“Too much evangelism is an attempt to answer questions people are not asking. Let them experience the life of the Christian community. Our commitment to one another despite our differences and our grace toward one another’s failures are more eloquent testimony to the grace of God than any pretense at perfection.”

We share a hope that make us different.

It makes us weird, but a community of weirdos is much harder to dismiss that one weirdo.

It also makes us compelling, because our faith isn’t just something we are yelling from a street corner or preaching from a pulpit, or reading out of a tract.

It is a tangible, genuine, shared message that comes from someone who really truly believes it and desires to see you believe it too.

Conclusion

God has called us, is equipping us and gathering us together, in order to send us out together to lead others to Himself.