Missions: Christian Conquest of Grace through Sacrifice
Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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· 39 viewsWe’re looking at mission as conquest, as Christ sends His church to the nations - not through means force, but through the means of grace and sacrifice.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Last week: “Missions is a work of the Spirit of God through the people of God spreading the Word of God”
Looked at how it’s foundation is the Word of God - or the Gospel and all it’s history and implications - so that missions efforts must ultimately result in sharing and teaching God’s Word.
We also saw how it’s driving force was God the Holy Spirit who inspires, calls, and empowers the work. This leads us to prayerful reliance on God, and a trust that He is working through His people, His Word, and His Spirit.
This week: We’re looking at mission as conquest, as Christ sends His church to the nations - not through means force, but through the means of grace and sacrifice.
That’s what He’s doing in Acts 13-14, let’s read together Acts 14
Pray for missionaries (Alexanders, John Stroup, Hannah and Bonny) for gospel witness in our church (guidance, zeal born of grace, and willingness to sacrifice for our Lord and the lost) and for Holy Spirit teaching in the text and message today.
Three themes:
Mission as Conquest (v.22)
Grace (13:43, 14:3) - God’s means of conquest is through sharing the truth of the grace He offers by faith
Sacrifice (v.22, context of entire trip) - The message is a message of sacrifice, shared through the sacrifices made by Believers on behalf of their King.
Two main points from which we’ll draw our conclusions:
God’s Goal for Missions: Spiritual Conquest
God’s Means for Missions: Grace through Sacrifice
God’s Goal for Missions: Spiritual Conquest
God’s Goal for Missions: Spiritual Conquest
Conquest is a hard pill to swallow
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) (Conquest)
1: the act or process of conquering
2 a: something conquered especially: territory appropriated in war
b: a person whose favor or hand has been won
No one likes to be conquered and when we think of conquest we think of oppressing armies coming into a land that isn’t theirs, destroying, killing, raping and plundering.
We think of the Roman Empire, with it’s legions of soldiers and iron grip.
Or we think of the Crusades, or the Spanish Conquistadors, or WWII and all the destruction brought on by the Axis powers.
But that is not at all the sort of conquest we see in the scripture.
Unlike any other conquest in history in it’s goal: God’s goal in Christian missions is not to conquer for power, lands, or resources (He has all of that). Neither is it to subdue and destroy. Christ conquers to save souls. Spiritual conquest.
Look again at the map of the Roman Empire, now look at the map of Paul’s missionary journeys.
Acts 14:22 reminds us that this whole thing of missions is about a King and His Kingdom. It’s about Christ claiming what is rightfully His - what He purchased with His own life - one soul at a time, one city at a time - until the whole world hears.
This spiritual conquest began here in Acts 13-14 - Paul’s first missionary journey
They spend two years traveling through four different regions and at least nine different cities.
Starting in Antioch, then from Selucia (Barnabas’s hometown). Acts 13:4
Sail to Cyprus, from Salamis across the island to Paphos where they meet with Elymas the magician who gets blinded. Acts 13:5-12
Then sailing to Perga, they lose John Mark, but travel on to Antioch (Pisidia), preaching in the synagogue the sermon in Acts 13:16-41. Really stir things up with the Jews.
They get ran off to Iconium, where they seem to have success (Acts 14:1), doing great wonders (*v.3), even spending a long time there until the divided city becomes a threat to their lives (v.5)
Fleeing again, they go to Lystra and Derbe, preaching and doing great miracles throughout the region (v.8-10)
For perspective - it’s estimated that they traveled over 1581 miles by land and sea. It would have taken them around 53 days of travel time, just to cover the distance.
Hard to see, but the equivalent for us might look like this:
By foot from Dixon - St. Louis - Nashville TN - Louisville KY - Indianapolis IN - Chicago IL - then by car (going very slow) from Chicago to KC and back to Dixon.
Why’d they do it? For a King and His Kingdom.
Our King has purchased a people, a domain, with His own divine, human, precious blood. He is worthy of receiving the reward of His work. One day every knee will bow before Him, either in judgement or in mercy. For now, He has sent His people on a mission offering pardon and grace.
I want to point out that God’s conquest is for all peoples, and for all of each person.
All peoples - Jew and everyone else - Matthew 28:18 - “of all nations”, Acts 1:8 - “to the ends of the earth”
How are we doing? Of over 16,500 people groups in the world, over 6,800 are still unreached (theJoshuaProject). Est. around 97% of these groups exist in 10/40 window (Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and non-religious). Area of focus for Christian mission.
Church, Jesus Christ has sacrificed to redeem. He wants the Nations and He wants to use us in that great work. Let’s give and pray for the work being done now. Will you join me in praying for a greater heart for mission, and direction for our church as we engage in Spiritual Conquest for our King?
All of each person
When you are a subject of a King, he has authority over you - all of you. God is not a tyrant, who abuses his power and his people, but gives Spiritual life and renewal to the soul.
When Christ comes to conquer, He wants all of us. He wants the whole heart - will, emotions, intellect.
The OT gives us the picture of the priest sanctified for His work, the NT says we are made unto Him an holy priesthood.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
He, by His cleansing Word, and His sanctifying Spirit is working to conquer our sinful flesh that we might be newly, perfectly made in Him. We join Him in this work.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
We are chosen, royal priests, sons and daughters, ambassadors - servants of Our Great King. May we grow in our love and devotion to Him! May His Word grow in us to conquer and to cleanse any sinfulness as we regularly devote ourselves to Him.
Paul and Barnabas were on God’s Mission, a mission of spiritual conquest. So are we. But let’s look at the means of conquest.
God’s Means for Missions: Grace through Sacrifice
God’s Means for Missions: Grace through Sacrifice
Unlike any other conquest in history in it’s goal, but also in it’s means. It is a conquest of grace, through sacrifice.
Conquest of grace - recurring theme is that the door to the Kingdom is the unmerited favor of God toward sinful rebels!
Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;
Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.
Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands.
Message of Grace: the word of God (13:5, 46), the good news of the promise (13:32), the grace of God (13:43), the word of the Lord (13:49), the word of His grace (14:3), the gospel (14:7, 21), the kingdom of God (14:22), the Word (14:25)
Good news is:
That in spite of their sin, God has made a way of forgiveness - That the door of the Kingdom is open in Christ
That the King Himself has paid the price for sin
That all who will come are welcome - no matter their past, no matter their ethnicity or background
That the gift of pardon, and of new, everlasting, spiritual life in Christ is available to those who don’t deserve it (none do).
Missions is about the Grace of our King. That’s what Paul and Barnabas did - went and preached His grace
13:4 - “they went”, 13:5 - “they… proclaimed the Word of God”
13:14 - “they went”, 13:16 - “Paul stood up, and ...said”, 13:46 - ”Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly”
13:51 - “they… went”, 14:1 - “they entered”, 14:1 - “they… spoke”
14:3 - “they spent a long time there”, 14:3 - “speaking boldly”
14:6 - “they fled to”, 14:7 - “they continued to preach the gospel”
Having been stoned and left for dead in 14:20, Paul “got up and entered the city”,
14:20 - the next day “he went away with Barnabas to Derbe”, what did they do there? 14:21 - “preached the gospel to that city and… made many disciples”
Missions is not some self-aggrandizing power grab, nor is it some ponzi scheme that somehow benefits the missionaries themselves at the expense of those who believe them. No, this is genuine love offered as a gift that is born of great sacrifice - First in Christ, and then by His followers who sacrifice to carry that message to the lost. It is conquest by Grace, but not only that, it is
Conquest by sacrifice
Absurd: the idea of conquest through sacrifice.
Ex. Fainting goat not likely to inspire allegience. Foolish.
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Our King is no fainting goat. He is the conquering lion of Judah who died and rose again.
The Mission is a message of grace offered through sacrifice.
Grace of God through the sacrifice of His Son
Message of grace, offered by those who are sacrificing in order to bring it to the nations.
Paul and Barnabas on this journey
Journey itself long and difficult (discussed earlier)
The work itself was dangerous - faced opposition almost everywhere they went
From an upset Magician trying to discredit everything they said (13:8-11)
Angry Jews in Antioch inciting persecution by leading people in the city (13:50)
In Iconium it eventually got really bad, with a known plot to capture, beat and kill them by stoning (14:5)
In Lystra, they get confused as gods (Hermes and Zeus) and are barely able to stop them from sacrificing to them before the Jews from Antioch and Iconium catch up to them and actually stone Paul til they think he’s dead and throw him outside the city.
Not only is missions centered on a message of grace through sacrifice, but it is demonstrated by grace-filled love and sacrifice of the missionary
Examples of spiritual conquests of grace through sacrifice (Missions)
Paul to the Roman Empire in the 1st century
Hudson Taylor who spent 50 years and eleven trips bringing the gospel to the Chinese (1832-1905)
David Livingstone who mapped out and preached Christ and mapped out Africa, while decrying the horrid slave trade he saw happening around him (1813-1873)
Hannah Marchbank spent the last 6 years giving herself full time to the care and rearing of orphans in India and the spread of the gospel in the region and is not working to expand so that similar gospel ministries can be established in unreached areas
John Stroup who just received his pardon from the Governor of Missouri after helping thousands find freedom from sin and addiction through Christ. He has devoted his life since 2011 to preaching the Word of God to those who need it most and is dedicated to spreading the Freeway ministry across the globe - with locations in Missouri, Nebraska and South Africa.
Bob and Bonnie Parker who in 2001 sold everything they had and left their home in Elizabeth, IN to teach the Word of God to kids in Africa.
Our God is working. His Kingdom of grace is growing. It happens through sacrifice - what will be your part? Ours?