Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When is the last time you asked a fellow church member a question that you knew would be uncomfortable… for both of you?

When is the last time you disagreed with a church member, but the solution to your disagreement was commendable by other church members?

When is the last time you knowingly set aside your own freedoms or willingly suffered some pain of loss for the sake of showing love for fellow Christians… or even non-Christians?

Oh, friends… my heart is heavy today.

There are certainly many reasons to be heavy-hearted after last week.

My heart breaks for those families who lost children at the hands of a wicked young man in Uvalde, TX.

My heart rages at the thought that there may have been protocols or even cowardice that prevented law enforcement from stopping him sooner.

And my heart grieves that we live in a fallen world, where human dignity and life itself has to be defended with violence.

But there was other news this last week that also hits close to home and also contributes to the weight upon my heart this morning.

During the 2021 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, the messengers present overwhelmingly approved of a third-party investigation into the dealings of the Executive Committee of the SBC with regard to evidence of unaddressed sexual abuse among SBC churches and agencies.

Not only did that report come out last week, but it was also horrifically damning.

The report shows undeniable evidence that there has been an intentional and consistent effort on the part of those who knew the most to evade further investigation and to limit liability, rather than to deal with sin and to minister to those who have been victimized.

In addition, some of the staff of the Executive Committee and/or the lawyers they kept on retainer, we now know, were keeping an unofficial record of abusers, spanning the last 20 years, which totals more than 700 names… all pastors, staff, or church volunteers and leaders who were credibly accused or, as in most cases, actually convicted of some form of sexual abuse.

At the very least such a list could have been used to make it harder for convicted abusers to jump from one church to another without dealing with their sin.

Let me just say clearly here, this is wickedness and sin of the most heinous type.

When those who ought to be most trusted with the care of souls violate that trust by abusing those under their care, it is monstrously wicked.

But the truth is, local churches are not immune from monstrous wickedness… church members and pastors are not immune from outrageous and scandalous sin.

This is why we must not ever pretend that “we’re ok” and “we don’t really need anyone’s help.”

If you’ve been the victim of someone else’s sin, or if you are yourself trapped right now in bondage to shameful sin, then don’t be quiet about it… and don’t isolate yourself from the very means of grace God has given you.

Come talk to me; call me; call one of the other pastors/elders; call a fellow church member; and let’s deal with sin together.

This is one of the main reasons Jesus instituted the local church in the first place!

The author of Hebrews reminds us, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb.

10:24-25).

This is a clear admonition to regularly meet together with your church members on the Lord’s Day, but it’s about more than just showing up.

These verses assume that the weekly gathering of the saints will serve as a sort of rhythm and hub of life-on-life discipling efforts.

Regular Sundays together keep relationships among church members familiar and centered upon Scripture.

All of this is more specific in application than I often am, and I’m still in the introduction.

If you have questions about this stuff, if you want to talk more about any of it, then you should know that I’ll probably say more during our upcoming members’ meeting on June 12.

This topic will certainly continue to show up in our prayers on Wednesday evenings and during our once-a-month praise and prayer gatherings.

But I believe that our passage today speaks directly to the face-saving, individualistic, and self-centered way of thinking and acting that has so pervaded American Evangelicalism to the point where many church members expect to live as isolated and autonomous units, many local churches never publicly address sin, and many churches and Christians (though they would hardly admit it) care nothing about the spiritual well-being of other churches or Christians.

Ok… that’s the end of the unusual part of my intro… but please allow me to introduce our text for today… which (again) I believe at least allows for my unusual content… and maybe it even evokes it.

Our passage today spans the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

The chapter and verse divisions in the Bible aren’t original, so I don’t feel bad for having divided the text in the way I have for our study.[1]

In fact, it seems to me that Luke intentionally ordered his content in the book of Acts by using certain phrases and statements to tell us where each section begins and ends.

Specifically, Luke repeated similar refrains at the end of each of his sections: he kept saying that the “word of God” or the “church” was “multiplying” or “increasing” or being “strengthened” or “built up” after each segment.

For example, Christianity grew first in Jerusalem (after Pentecost), but there arose a fundamental threat the unity of the church when there was an administrative bottleneck in the daily distribution of the resources.

Some church members were being overlooked in a very practical way, and the problem was solved by appointing a handful of godly deacons… which, I think, is always a good way to solve practical problems in the church (Acts 6:1-7).

Luke tells us that afterwards, “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7).

The next threat was from persecution.

In Acts 8, the church in Jerusalem was being persecuted terribly, and a man named Saul of Tarsus was leading way.

But the risen Lord Jesus confronted Saul personally, and saved his wretched soul, such that Saul became the leading Christian evangelist and missionary.

And afterward, Luke said, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.

And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (Acts 9:31).

This same result happened when God stopped Herod Agrippa (King of Judea) from persecuting what was apparently the same population of Christians.

God supernaturally “struck him down” at the very moment when Herod seemed to be most powerful (Acts 12:1, 21-23).

And after that, Luke said, “the word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:24).

Do you see the pattern emerging?

The churches are growing, the gospel is being preached, sinners are being converted, and then some threat to the universal Church arises.

Then God resolves the threat – either supernaturally, or by directing His people – and the churches grow all the more, the gospel is preached all the more, and sinners are converted all the more.

That’s where we are in this fourth section of the book of Acts this morning.

If you were here last week, or if you’ve been reading through the book of Acts between Sundays, then you might remember that Acts 15 dealt with yet another major threat to the universal Church’s unity.

Some preachers “from Judea” were teaching a Faith Plus Works gospel,[2] telling the Gentile believers that they could not be “saved” unless they were “circumcised” and “kept [or “observed”] the law of Moses” (Acts 15:1, 5).

This was a direct contradiction to the gospel of God’s grace which is to be received through Faith Alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, which the Apostles had been preaching from the beginning.

And, therefore, it was another fundamental threat to Christian unity, but this time it was theological and pastoral, not merely administrative and practical (as in Acts 6).

So, the Apostles (who were still mostly living in Jerusalem), along with the elders and members of the Jerusalem church, decided to send a letter to the largely Gentile churches who were being “troubled” by the Faith Plus Works teachers (Acts 15:24).

The letter clarified that Christian unity was not to be found in observing the Mosaic law but in clinging to Christ and following Him.

The letter also reaffirmed the Christian unity that was shared between Jews and Gentiles, and it asked Gentile Christians to lovingly bear with their Jewish brethren who had a hard time letting go of the ceremonial laws that impacted their lives for so long.

This letter was sent by the hands of Paul and Barnabas, as well as Judas and Silas, who were leaders among the Jerusalem church (i.e., they were Jewish Christians with a good reputation and pastoral heart).

And when the letter was received by the churches in Antioch, Syria, Cilicia, and elsewhere, the result was “rejoicing” (Acts 15:31) and edification (see “strengthening” in Acts 15:41 and 16:5).

In fact, Luke concluded this fourth section of Acts in the same way as the previous three.

Luke wrote, “So [or “therefore” or “thus”] the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5).

But that’s where our passage ends.

It begins with a pastoral visitation, it progresses into a practical disagreement, and it shows us what prudent discipleship can look like.

Finally, in the end, our passage promotes unity and growth in the kingdom of Christ, even across geographical and ethnic barriers.

Let’s stand together as I read Acts 15:36-16:5… and then we will consider all of this together.

Scripture Reading

Acts 15:36–16:5 (ESV)

36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.

38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other.

Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.

A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

Main Idea:

Real Christian living is messy, and it requires wisdom and humility, but it produces lasting growth.

Sermon

1. Pastoral Visitation (15:36)

Acts 15:36 says that “after some days” wherein Paul and Barnabas were “teaching and preaching the word of the Lord” in Antioch (Acts 15:35), Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

This is something like what Paul and Barnabas had done before, but it was also different.

Remember that Paul’s first missionary journey was completed by setting up or establishing “elders… in every church” which he and Barnabas had planted along the way (Acts 14:23).

Luke said that Paul and Barnabas also “strengthened the souls of the disciples” and “committed” these young churches “to the Lord” when they left (Acts 14:22-23).

When we were studying through Acts 14, I made a point of arguing that this sort of practical and ordinary work – discipling Christians and raising up elders – is the stuff of profound and powerful Christian mission.

I also pointed out that this work often feels to be slow and mundane; we don’t often see spiritual growth in terms of days or weeks, but in terms of years and decades.

That whole sermon on Acts 14:21-28 still applies with this brief expression in Acts 15:36, “Let us return and visit the brothers… and see how they are.”

But today, I want to emphasize the necessity of ongoing pastoral care and Christian discipling.

The phrase, “see how they are,” is so open-ended, isn’t it?

I mean, what does Paul want to “see”?

Does he want to see if “the brothers” in Iconium are doing well financially?

Does he want to see if the church in Lystra is bigger or smaller than it was before?

Does he want to see if the congregation in Derbe is being persecuted?

Maybe… all of these are important aspects of their lives.

It seems to me, however, that the phrase “see how they are” is generally aimed at their spiritual health.

Paul wanted to know, “How are these churches doing spiritually?

Is the church in Lystra still united in the gospel?

Are the brothers in Iconium loving and forgiving and teaching one another?

Is the church in Derbe dealing honestly with sin among its members, or is it naively overlooking some potentially disastrous doctrine or practice?”