The Five City Tour

The Gospel Changes Lives

Now this morning I’m going to do something a little different. I’m not going to just give you one sermon. I’m not even going to stop at two. Rather I’m going to give you three messages (but I might make them a little shorter than normal).

But in each of the three messages, I want to ask the same question: what is the power of the gospel?

You see, the gospel is an interesting thing. The word itself essentially means - good news.

Now when something good happens to you, you want to quickly tells everyone the good news. Normally however, your good news might make people smile. It might even get them really excited, particularly if the good news applies to them. But you wouldn’t describe the news as having power though.

But when we talk about the gospel - we’re talking about the good news of Jesus - that he came to earth, that he died and rose again, and that he made a new way for us to live.

So, what is the power in that message?

The Second trip begins

Well, I want to take you on tour with Paul as he spreads this news, and I want to show that there is something extraordinary about this message.

Now this is actually what we call his second missionary journey. His already gone on a whirlwind tour where amazing things happened.

If you have your bibles open, you might be able to follow along as I describe the start of this second trip.

Well, Paul and his companions, which at least include Silas and Timothy set out on foot, heading in a roughly North Westerly direction which takes them through some regions that are really hard to pronounce.

These hard to pronounce names are actually the regions we saw in the first trip Paul took.

Asia is no-go

But something happens this time. Paul seems to be positioning himself for a further ministry in the region adjoining the area just covered - but...

Somehow or other, they’re stopped from going into that region. The bible tells us that the “Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to”. What that looked like in real life - well you might need to use some imagination.

The vision

Instead, Paul gets a vision. The vision is of a Macedonian man begging him to come into his region.

Macedonia is an entirely new region - the start of what we might call Europe.

And so with this vision, we get the second trip of Paul going into brand new territory.

Philippi

The first major stop is Philippi!

Now in my preparation, I learnt something interesting about Philippi. For the history buffs here, this is where Mark Antony avenged the death of Julius Caesar and as a result, all of the citizen here were granted citizenship of Rome. But that’s just an interesting side note.

But what we’re about to see, is what happens when the gospel enters a new region.

Lydia

Now, Paul’s normal practice is to start at the Synagogue, but it would seem that in Philippi, there was no Synagogue, but Paul becomes aware that there is a place a prayer by the river, which seems to be acting as a pseudo synagogue.

Now by the water, it is mostly women there - and Paul starts speaking to them.

Now this is where you start to see the power of the gospel in action.

You see, I just imagine these women sitting there praying, while a man comes and starts telling them some story about a Jewish man who was crucified like a common criminal , but rose again. I can imagine how it must have sounded a bit like a fantasy.

But, the power of the gospel was stirring. We’re told of one of the women named Lydia who was a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart, and she believed.

Not only did she believe, but her entire household were baptised.

Female Slave

But the gospel hasn’t finished it’s work in this region just yet.

This time we meet a female slave who acts as a fortune teller for her owners, making them a lot of money.

It’s starts with something somewhat ironic. This fortune teller starts speaking a truth. For days she would keep saying that Paul and Silas will tell you how to be saved.

Now maybe you might think Paul would like the free advertising, but he gets annoyed, and finally drives the spirit out of her.

At this, the female slaves life is changed.

The Prison Guard

But without the spirit to predict the future, the slaves owner loses income, so they have Paul and Silas thrown into prison.

Now, this is one of those great bible stories, but I want you to watch the power of the gospel on the life of the prison guard.

Now you might think that things couldn’t get worse for Paul and Silas. They get stripped and severely flogged.

But yet, as evening wears on and they find themselves sitting in the prison cell around middnight, the gospel is stirring in them, and they find themselves praying and singing hymns.

Suddenly a violent earthquake happens and all the doors fling open.

You might think now is the time to run for your life. But the gospel is again stirring.

The jailer, woken by the earthquake, sees the doors open, thinks that he is doomed and so moves to end his life. But Paul shouts: “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

In an extraordinary scene, the jailer takes Paul and Silas to his house, and his entire household believes in Jesus.

The Gospel Changes Lives

So the first lesson I want you to learn today, is that within the gospel, there is power to change lives.

It is easy to become discouraged as people brush aside this good news as some sort of fairy tale - but a fairy tale does not have the power to change lives so dramatically like we see in Philippi, or like we’ve seen throughout history.

Within the gospel, we truly see a power like no other, one that really does make people change in dramatic ways.

But we’ve still got a bit more to look at, but you’re just going to have to wait now...

The Gospel has power in all culture

Earlier I was speaking about some good news that we might receive and then that desire to tell other people.

One of the things that I think we all quite quickly realise is that depending on who we tell we might get a different reaction.

Let’s take a hypothetical. You get a new job in a town where you have some great friends - or for the children here, your mum or dad gets a job in a new town where you already have friends.

Now, assuming you are excited about the move, when you tell this news to the friends who already live in the town you are going, it will be really easy. It’s a message that’s really suited to them.

But, telling your friends in your existing town is going to be a whole lot harder. And so we tailor the message to a way that might be more palatable for them.

Now with the gospel, something very similar can happen.

If someone is into spiritual type things, you’ll really emphasize the spiritual aspect of the gospel. If they’re more skeptical of such things, well, you might tone down that part of the message.

Now, to a degree, there can be some wisdom in doing that. But, what I want to explore in this second short message is the power of the gospel throughout different cultures.

You see, as Paul leaves Philippi, and goes to the next few towns and cities, he’s going to witness some very different cultures.

To Thessalonica

The next main stop he makes is Thessalonica.

Now, one thing we realise quite quickly about this city is that they are very passionate. Although, passionate might just be the polite way to say, hotheaded.

You see, as is his custom, Paul goes first to the synagogue.

What I want you to notice here is how Paul alters the gospel… or more accurately, he doesn’t alter it at all.

He just says it as it is. The Messiah has come. He has suffered. And he has risen from the dead.

As a result, we see both Jews and Gentiles alike coming to faith in Jesus.

But like the pattern that has become well established throughout these trips, with the change, comes the opposition, and on this occasion, the whole city is thrown into turmoil.

To Berea

And so Paul and his companions go to the next city, namely Berea.

Now in Berea we see quite a different culture. Unlike the passionate (or hotheaded) Thessalonians, here we have people who are described as being of more noble character. In fact, they’re described as being eager to learn and discerning with what they hear - making sure it matches up with what they already know from scripture.

For the gospel here, it almost seems too easy - that is because the gospel is based on truth so that it can stand to any amount of scrutiny.

But unfortunately, when we see the gospel moving powerfully, we also see opposition, and this time it comes in the form of the Thessalonians where they’ve just come from. And so Paul moves on once more.

To Athens

It is at this next stop where I think things get really interesting.

You see, this next stop is Athens - what is well described as the intellectual capital of the world.

I love the way that the people of Athens are described in verse 21. It says: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spend their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas”.

Athens was home to the Areopagus - a sort of intellectual meeting place. Before Paul’s time, we had famous philosophers like Plato and Aristotle.

Coming here, Paul had a very different task at hand.

Intellectuals often have a different way of thinking, and so Paul starts in a different way to normal. Rather than starting with the scriptures, he starts with something that matters to the Athenians - their idols.

You see, Paul was observant and he noticed something. He noticed all of the idols and other religious articles - but there was one that caught his eye… an altar labelled: “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”.

And so Paul uses this as his starting point, letting them know that he can fill in the gap to their knowledge.

Now it’s a powerful speech he makes, and I’d encourage you to read it for yourself, but there is one aspect of it that I want to draw to your attention.

You see, while he frames the talk in such a way that the Athenians will understand, have a guess at how he changes the gospel...

Let me tell you the answer - not one little bit.

You see, at the heart of this talk, is the resurrection of Jesus.

While Paul is a master at framing the message to suit his audience, he never changes the essence of his message. That’s because he knows that in the essence, that is, the gospel, there is real power.

All cultures

And this therefore brings me to the second main teaching point that I want to bring today.

Not only does the gospel have power to change lives like we saw in Philippi. The gospel has power in every culture in the world.

Whether you’re in the city, suburbs or outback… whether you’re in PNG, India or any other foreign land… the gospel is powerful to bring change.

We might need wisdom to communicate it effectively, but the core of the message never changes. The gospel is powerful in all cultures everywhere!

Now we’ve got one more stop of Paul’s trip, but we’ll get to that shortly.

The Gospel protects us

Well, we’ve seen so far that the gospel is powerful to change lives, and that it crosses all cultural barriers.

But there is one more aspect that I want to explore today.

You see, let me go back to the example I’ve started with during my last two short messages. That is, that piece of good news that we are so excited to tell others.

Well, sometimes that piece of information which we are so excited about telling other can actually put us in a spot of bother. That’s because, what might be good for us, from another perspective, it might seem like bad news for others.

And so the final things I want to explore, is the power of the gospel when things get tough.

So let’s jump back onto the last of the main stops Paul makes on his second missionary trip. If you’re following along in your bible, we’re now in chapter 18.

To Corinth

So, for his last major stop, Paul finds himself in Corinth.

Now Corinth is an interesting city. You see it is located on this thin stretch of land which for those of you who like there geographical terms, is known as an Isthmus.

The reason that makes things interesting, is because this city saw a lot of through traffic. It has a lot of land traffic as people went from north to south (or vice versa), and it saw a lot of seafarers as boats could come and go from multiple directions.

And unfortunately, when people come and go all the time, there can be a tendency to poor behaviour. And so this city had a rather bad reputation.

But Paul knows the power of the gospel. He knows it changes lives (and these lives really need changing). He knows that the message has power to everyone, and that includes those living immoral lives.

And so he preaches the message and as you might expect he sees change.

Now Paul is no stranger to opposition. We’ve almost seen it every single time.

But when the Jews of Corinth become abusive, it is like it is the last straw - because he finally says he’ll now only go to the Gentiles - rather than his normal practice of staring with the Jews.

Level of tolerance

Now each of us has a level of tolerance. When someone starts acting annoying around you, at first you can ignore them. When they keep on going, ignoring them becomes a bit harder. Often, most of us will get to a point where we snap at them, that’s because we’ve reached our level of tolerance.

Now when we get close to our level of tolerance, we still need to act in a Christ like way - but as I’m sure you’re aware, that is not always easy. We need something that can keep us going.

Well, in Corinth, it would seem that Paul is reaching that level. He’s endured so much. Can he keep going?

Well, let me read verses 9 and 10 for you:

Acts 18:9–10 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’

It would seem God has noticed Paul’s distress, but I’m going to suggest that his words of comfort are essentially the essence of the gospel itself.

You see, what is the gospel? That the risen Lord Jesus is with us and protecting us.

This man who has done so much to spread the good news to others, needs to be reminded that the same good news that is saving others, is the same good news that is protecting him.

But I love the reminder, that not only is the risen Jesus with Paul in the thick of the trouble, but Christ has placed other people in the city.

It can be so easy for us to think that we are all alone in our endeavours. But more often than not, God has actually placed far more people than we realise to get the job done. Just because we are not aware of them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

We should never underestimate the ways in which God will move in powerful ways to achieve his purposes.

Now I don’t want to sound like I’m minimising the struggles that we can face when we are working for the Lord.

The struggles come because there is an evil one who is threatened when the gospel is on the move. We can see just how real they are for Paul.

On his first trip he was stoned and left for what people thought was death. In Philippi he was severely flogged. In Thessolonica, he was chased out by a riotess mob.

And just after these words of comfort, Paul faces a united attack on his, taking him to the proconsul.

If you want to know what opposition is like today, just listen to stories from Jacqui about Gono, or from Josifus about what happens in India.

The struggle is real.

But this is the power of the gospel. Not only does it bring people to salvation, but it has power over the evil one.

The evil one will not prevail, because the gospel spelt the end of the evil one’s power.

Do not fear

The third lesson for us then is that we don’t need to fear the attack that we face, because the gospel has the power to protect.

When you start sharing the good news, you will notice kick back. But do not fear, the Lord is with you and he will always protect you.

The gospel really is powerful.

It has power to change lives.

It is powerful through all cultures.

And it is powerful to protect.

So let me pray...